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RHUNRIKKI STROLLAR (Warhammer Fantasy Golden Age Dwarf Runelord Quest)

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On Thread Etiquette:
I'm not going to weigh in on the logic of either side's arguments, but I will ask that everyone read over what they write and really consider if the words they used are polite and won't be inflammatory intentionally or not. You cant account for people's tolerances perfectly but at least try to say your piece without saying things that can be easily construed as overly dismissive of the other side of the argument, thank you.

Please endeavour to be cordial. :^)
 
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Where are the Manlings in all this? I want our guy to go the way of Alaric the Mad and create a sane human faction in the north.
 
soulcake said:
Behind a good four meters of hard, rune fortified, granite, is the entrance hall. A small thing, only 10 meters from floor to ceiling and 25 feet across,
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Stick to a measurement here, either feet or metres. Don't interchange, as you create something silly like a 10 metre high hall, which is considerably taller than even the width of the building.
 
Solid start, we can finish runes for the hold next turn and look into either improving our workshop or diving into some research. Also we are getting the hold progressing quicker which is always good
 
we must prepare for anti skaven combat. wait anyone remember what exactly is incoming event wise for the timeline?
 
tri2 said:
we must prepare for anti skaven combat. wait anyone remember what exactly is incoming event wise for the timeline?
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With the Ancestors themselves still around and leading and Kraka Drak at the beginning of its founding, I believe what's next should be the major Chaos Incursions.

soulcake said:
Though there are rumblings about a colonizing convoy following the mountains northward coming from Izril in a few decades. Planning takes time as all dwarfs know. (Gain: The Iron Peak, the hold is established and well connected. There is always work for a Runesmith in a place so famed for its tools and crafts. The majority of requests will be weapon and armour based. Few chances for unique rune events. Convoy heading northeast from Izril)
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This bit seems to be implying the convoy going northeast is what will establish themselves in the Dark Lands and, after/during the Chaos Incursions, become the Chaos Dwarfs, which also leans towards putting us in the Time of the Ancestors pre-Huge Daemon Invasion That Threatens to Overrun the World.
 
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HanEmpire said:
Where are the Manlings in all this? I want our guy to go the way of Alaric the Mad and create a sane human faction in the north.
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Currently performing subsitence living(granted a good chunk of dwarfs are too) down south and south east and Alaric the Mad's great-great-great-great grandfather probably hasn't been born yet.

soulcake said:
They come, in their handfuls, journeymen and young masters begin making their way northward hoping to ply their trade in the now confirmed bounty of the north.

To your consternation, a few young master runesmiths, barely into their 3rd century, pass by your little temporary set up to pay respects when they arrive.

You don't like it.

Not because you're some antisocial secret hoarder, but simply because it's shameful to host company in a place like this! Damn hut will barely last the century before you need to do repairs, absolutely shameful
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Oof. Poor guy.

Also heh, by age and experience Snorri is basically Guildmaster when it comes to social ettiqute.

soulcake said:
Runes of Light and Air, just as in the rest of the building, are set up first, clearing the air and giving the room a consistent level of brightness. Structural supports hardened with Runes of fortification, the main area marked with Runes of Warding and Preservation. But most importantly, the area where you will conduct your most sensitive research is warded with some of the most potent Runes of Protection for threats within and without.

Do you trust it to handle the potential magical feedback of experimenting with a Master Rune? Only if you were insane, but this area could handle most anything else.

You needed something special for this workshop to handle the awesome might of handling something as inherently powerful as a Master Rune.

With everything square away and room for expansion built into the base of the plan, you've got a fine workshop and home to go about doing your duties in, with room to build up over time.

Defence in depth my apprentice! POCKET TONGUE, HA HA!

In the privacy of your warded room, you shudder.
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Hah, just barely halfway to acceptable. Work can be done. I want murder holes, and spinning blade traps. Lots of buzzsaws.

soulcake said:
So, with the intuition only the elderly could possess, you saw fit to double the order. Now, the tricky part, as you begin to explain to your charges, is that the Dwarfen contracts, in spirit, demanded equal compensation for the work done. But being a people who prided themselves on doing more with less, it was common enough for craftsmen to go beyond the bounds of the contract. This, of course, meant the craftsman had now arguably given something worth more than they were receiving, and to some this too would not do. The client, therefore while not honour-bound, was heavily incentivized to compensate the Craftsman for the extra work done. This happened often enough that it became a tradition to have a percentage of the commission in reserve for just such an occasion. It became so common, in fact, that reckoners began to account for it in their rulings, and eventually, the practice became a normal part of most traditional, and therefore proper, Dwarfen contracts.

Now, there were just as many craftsmen who adhered to the contract, both in word and in spirit, because by their reckoning all this faffing about with extra compensation was not what the client asked for. Such a division could be seen along trade lines, with artisans and specialty crafts, runesmiths included, often being the type to overdo things, while masons, cabinet makers and engineers tended to adhere to the latter. But more often than not it all came down to the orders themselves. After all, someone ordering a bag of nails at a certain length probably didn't want as much flair as a thane commissioning a tapestry for his wife.
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Goooood I love love love these little cultural tidbits. Mwaaa chefkiss.

soulcake said:
With the order out of the way, the rest of your efforts were spent setting up runes in the newly excavated portions of the hold. A rather standard affair all things considered, Runes of Light, Protection and Preservation were applied as needed, and you got the Main hall covered properly. The sight of you inscribing Runes while your apprentices were following the motions on clay tablets while wearing gloves that restricted their dexterity and forced to recite the Chant associated with that Rune became a common one. But much to your consternation the dwarfs of the hold had already moved along and excavated enough of the arterial hallways that there were clans now moving in and carving their homes out of the stone as well. Making yet more future work to be sure.

Bah, better to suffer too much success than not enough, but it was best to be exactly on schedule.

Your fault really, you'd admit that much, but it was also those beardlings fault for not taking your sheer productivity in account.

Shameful really, you did better in your day with only a half-sharpened chisel and a sheet of limestone of all things, yeuch. Terrible surface to inscribe on in your opinion, no rock should be that soft.

Still, with the hall completed, it made for a good place to celebrate your grandniece's coming of age.

It was a joyous occasion, her family coming north for the occasion rather than the other way around, thoughtful of them. Nothing quite like a young beardling offering their first piece of work to the Ancestors. It brings a wave of nostalgia rushing through you, now young Fjolla was garazi no more, she was now a young adult member of the clan, a Gnutrommi.

Still a beardling though, as you're sure to remind her when she wakes up the day after with a splitting hangover by dropping a sack of flour at her and Dolgi's feet for the day's training.

Baking stonebread while having gravel thrown at you! Just like Master Yorri taught you all those centuries ago.

Ah, youth.
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Heh! Memories...

As for things to do next turn I think we have a couple of options, with some mix and matching possible. We can go all in on Runeing the Main Hall and then do that up nice and Proper, possibly causing overflow to other options? Not sure on that. We could also begin work on the other hold options opening up. Or working on getting our workshop to the point where working on Master Runes is sane, probably increasing various bonuses along the way. Or we could plop a few actions into The Secrets of Light or something else. If we did one action into Light turn 2 on turn three we could dump four actions into it and complete it via Student of the Odd. Going out to poke some of Yorri's weird places is also on the table and who bloody knows what we'll find out there.

Personally I favor either going all in on the Main Hall or dropping three on the hall and one action on making progress in making the workshop better.
 
When exactly Skaven appeared we don't know, because each individual Skaven cares very little for the time before their existence. So their history has been whittled away by apathy and time. At the very least even if they do exist now they will not be strong enough to do anything of importance until -1600 IC. As that is the time they conquered Tylos and formed Skavenblight. Which is thousands of miles from us and you really can't compare a petty human kingdom to Karaz Ankor at the height of its power. So no they aren't really a problem for Karaz Ankor, they could become a problem for the very outlying southern settlements of the realm. That could be how they come to our attention if the GM wants to include them.

Also loving the hilarious interactions between us and any beardlings, particularly our apprentices and poor Snorri's PTSD flashbacks. I suppose its because it's a great sign of how dwarfs in this time are looking more to the future, rather than just surviving the present. Making it both worldbuilding and funny at that same time. In that vain @soulcake it would be funny and interesting to see Snorri's reaction to certain new creations, as Morgrim will still be alive and inventing. In the end times Runelords usually complain about "new" inventions. So a Runelord of this more open minded time period's reaction to them would be fun. Ideas include the invention of crossbows, blast furnaces, telescopes and or waterwheels if you don't think any of them have been invented yet.
 
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tri2 said:
so we only have 300 turns or 1500 actions to prepare for the rats, we might just make it in time :p
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This hold needs more murder holes, buzzsaws, traps, traps to embarrass the enemies of dawli (eleven spears!), dwali atom crushers, ect.

Time to dwarf fortress the hold untill even chaos goes "Nope" and leaves the area, to the disappointment of the mad-dwarves screaming about defense in depth!

Also this hold needs more defensive depth to it.
 
BungieONI said:
Also heh, by age and experience Snorri is basically Guildmaster when it comes to social ettiqute.
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By rank, he might be the social equal to a king. That's the case in "modern" Warhammer anyway. Of course, that's after Runesmiths became a whole lot more precious, so it might not be so rarefiedyet. On the other side, kings are a lot rarer too, since so many holds fell, and more important since each hold is more self-reliant.

We also don't know if "There is a fixed number of Runelords, and you can only become one after another dies" is already a thing. I would guess not, but then it's not clear what differentiates a runesmith and a runelord.
 
I'm hoping that we get to meet the ancestor gods soon and hopefully find a way to avoid the separation between the Norse dwarfs and the karaz a karak
 
Kingell16 said:
I'm hoping that we get to meet the ancestor gods soon and hopefully find a way to avoid the separation between the Norse dwarfs and the karaz a karak
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That is something of a mixed bag, as the separation protected the northern holds from the war of vengeance and the time of woes. While both those things are a long way off, we should not discount the advantages of self sufficiency. Along with having Karak that doesn't have a network of tunnels underneath it that let Skaven, Greenskins and Chaos exploit their superior numbers.
 
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heads up folks, next turn will have the last mechanic (at least for a while, but I'm pretty sure it's the last I'll have to codify) I had. Thankfully its pretty straightforward.
 
justlove said:
That is something of a mixed bag, as the separation protected the northern holds from the war of vengeance and the time of woes. While both those things are a long way off, we should not discount the advantages of self sufficiency. Along with having Karak that doesn't have a network of tunnels underneath it that let Skaven, Greenskins and Chaos exploit their superior numbers.
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Yeah but with a united dwarf nation that should tip the scales in many future events
We may even manage to not lose the nor
scans to chaos that would help a lot
 
Kingell16 said:
Yeah but with a united dwarf nation that should tip the scales in many future events
We may even manage to not lose the nor
scans to chaos that would help a lot
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Fair comeback. I suppose this is a very long term goal so we will see how the quest evolves. In the mean time we should look at some more short term projects to better our soon to be Karak.

Perhaps we could consider new sorts of weapons that might work well for dwarfs. Dwarfs are known for their stout strength and discipline so a pike formation might do them good, particularly against cavalry. Or at the very a least a combination of spears and a shield wall. Really anything that adds some range, I know Dwarfs like to get in close with axes but I could see a lot of Dwarfs appreciating a weapon and formation that gives such strong defence in the middle of a battle.

Another thing to consider would be looking at possible sled designs to work better in the snow. Which if we get working means we must build a flying sled pulled by reindeer.

I know we are a Runelord so these things fall a bit outside our purview but there is no reason we could not take an interest in such things. As for runes, new combinations of runes are always something to look for, along with Runes more focused on the magic rich environment around us that might not even work in the south.
 
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Kingell16 said:
Yeah but with a united dwarf nation that should tip the scales in many future events
We may even manage to not lose the nor
scans to chaos that would help a lot
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justlove said:
Fair comeback. I suppose this is a very long term goal so we will see how the quest evolves. In the mean time we should look at some more short term projects to better our soon to be Karak.

Perhaps we could consider new sorts of weapons that might work well for dwarfs. Dwarfs are known for their stout strength and discipline so a pike formation might do them good, particularly against cavalry. Or at the very a least a combination of spears and a shield wall. Really anything that adds some range, I know Dwarfs like to get in close with axes but I could see a lot of Dwarfs appreciating a weapon and formation that gives such strong defence in the middle of a battle.

Another thing to consider would be looking at possible sled designs to work better in the snow. Which if we get working means we must build a flying sled pulled by reindeer.

I know we are a Runelord so these things fall a bit outside our purview but there is no reason we could not take an interest in such things. As for runes, new combinations of runes are always something to look for. along with Runes more focused on the magic rich environment around us that might not even work in the south.
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Its worth considering as well that a lot of these big events may not happen, or will be significantly changed. I'm a big fan of planning ahead in quests and encouraging long term planning but hinging it around expected canon leaves plans rigid, not to mention it takes a long time to ever get to those events, usually.

Better in my mind to use the context and situation presented to us at the moment: which in this case is that Yorri's right. We haven't much of a bledding clue what's out there in the Far North all around us, so prepoare for something godawful nasty. Like Frost Wyrms. In packs.

Or other such problems. Preparing that way and putting our utmost into it is about the best we can do anyway.
 
BungieONI said:
Its worth considering as well that a lot of these big events may not happen, or will be significantly changed. I'm a big fan of planning ahead in quests and encouraging long term planning but hinging it around expected canon leaves plans rigid, not to mention it takes a long time to ever get to those events, usually.

Better in my mind to use the context and situation presented to us at the moment: which in this case is that Yorri's right. We haven't much of a bledding clue what's out there in the Far North all around us, so prepoare for something godawful nasty. Like Frost Wyrms. In packs.

Or other such problems. Preparing that way and putting our utmost into it is about the best we can do anyway.
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I guess it will come down to how important our new home becomes. If it becomes important enough, quickly enough, to deserve a connection to the underway that changes things. If we have a say in the matter we should seriously consider it. But the decision will ultimately be about, how under threat Karaz Ankor is at the time and the relative advantages of isolation and connectivity as they present themselves.
 
justlove said:
I guess it will come down to how important our new home becomes. If it becomes important enough, quickly enough, to deserve a connection to the underway that changes things. If we have a say in the matter we should seriously consider it. But the decision will ultimately be about, how under threat Karaz Ankor is at the time and the relative advantages of isolation and connectivity as they present themselves.
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I expect there's already an underway connection, the clans have to get here somehow and primary expansion was via the underway iirc.
 
BungieONI said:
I expect there's already an underway connection, the clans have to get here somehow and primary expansion was via the underway iirc.
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I don't see how there could be an Underway here, there isn't even an Under-mountain. I assume they went overland.

Expansion at least at parts had to have traveled overland. They definitely didn't dig an Underway to the Mountains of Mourn.
 
Mopman43 said:
I don't see how there could be an Underway here, there isn't even an Under-mountain. I assume they went overland.

Expansion at least at parts had to have traveled overland. They definitely didn't dig an Underway to the Mountains of Mourn.
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Also I'm not sure Kraka Drakk ever had an underway. It was my understanding that the lack of one was a primary reason for its disconnection from the rest of Karaz Ankor.

Anyone know for certain, because I'm mostly going on it not being mentioned rather than anything I have read.
 
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