The fact that we don't have a Chapter House of Morr so far is a shame I can't withstand. This must be rectified immediatelly.
The Old World: Dark Age of the Empire
- Thread starter Warkeymon
- Start date
- Fantasy
We should get that group of Knights that follow Myrmidia to have a chapter House here
In fairness, we haven't even started the Vampire Wars. Necromantic threats exists in the Empire but never so widespread until Vlad showed its dangers. Some of the famous Chapters like the Ostland Black Guards and Knights of the Raven aren't yet established. We as Questers do have the benefit of foresight and wikiwalking. At least now though, Bismarck has the justification to do so.
- Pronouns
- Warkeymon
The Cult of Myrmidia has a few Orders in part due to her patronage of warfare. In Nuln the High Temple will have a small number of Righteous Spears, they are like the Black Guard of Morr in that their primary purpose is to defend temples of Myrmidia and the High Priestess as well. The Order of the Merciless Titan are Templars, like the Inquisition of Verena or the Silver Hammers of the Iron Tower. And the Myrmidians have minor knightly orders all across Estalia, Tilea and Araby. In the Empire the Cult of Myrmidia's main militant arm is the Order of the Blazing Sun who are based out of Talabheim at the moment. Also on the Empire; their smaller, more niche cousin the Order of the Verdant Field serves as Templars in Talabecland alongside the Longshanks.
The Cult of Morr also has a few options. The Order of the Knights of Morr, better known as the Black Guard are headquartered from the Theatre of Ravens in Luccini where the Custode del Portale leads the Cult as a whole, he is responsible for assigning Black Guard out across the continent and beyond to ensure that all Gardens of Morr have someone to watch over them. The largest formations of Black Guard are therefore those who garrison Luccini itself where the Cult has significant sway over local politics.
The Fellowship of the Shroud are the Morrite version of Templars and generally other Templar Orders don't mind working alongside them. Even minor Cults can get along with the Fellowship provided there's no undeath or death deity toes being stepped on. The Fellowship however has a more militant arm, and more controversial arm, which is sometimes proscribed due to its volatility in the form of the High & Chivalric Order of Deserved Rest or better known as the Raven Knights. They recruit from veteran Shrouds but also from the most militant and aggressive Shrouds and in theory serve as the more offensive counterpart to the more defensive Black Guard. In the end both sides of the Morrite armed forces answer to the Custode del Portale but the Raven Knights have more autonomy.
Given the fact that the Black Guard are more defensive, and have significant ties to a foreign power, and the Raven Knights are often proscribed, the main Templar Knightly Order in the Empire is actually the Order of the Black Rose which is in Wurtbad currently under siege.
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- Location
- USA
We also did that dwarf diplo action to okay opening some mines and I think Kruetzhoften is one area we got the okay to prospect in (we had a crit fail and took the waagh attack instead of the mines being under Scharmbeck so I feel like we should follow that, also will help the countess relax a bit by diversifying her economy a bit
I 2nd this, we lost our ambassador and paid 10K for those mining privileges, I say we actually used them next turn. We're sure gonna need them seeing how many marks & materials we burn through.
Turn 26 - Late 2012IC
- Pronouns
- Warkeymon
The Little Election
The death of Empress Magritta of Marienburg was a slow and drawn out affair. News of her ill health was a matter of speculation in the Gazette for a few years before she eventually passed. Her heir, the new Grand Baron of Westerland, has passed through the ceremonies of the Marienburg Stadsraad to be confirmed as Grand Baron. Such ceremonies often require behind-doors concessions to the Great Families of the Marienburg Burgomeisters, though you've no idea what the Grand Baron has yielded this time.
Grand Baron Mannes has invited the Elector Counts to Marienburg to vote for a new Emperor in the wake of the previous Empress' passing. Four Electors arrive; yourself, the Grand Duke of Averland and the Elder of Mootland joining the Grand Baron. During the Last Election, the High Order of Honourable Freetraders heavily worked to sponsor young Magritta as Imperial Candidate. This time however the Freetraders are nowhere to be seen, perhaps having fallen into poverty in the intervening period or perhaps unwilling to expend effort one what is so clearly not a true Election.
All the same, the Grand Baron greets you with all the ceremony of an Election and you indulge his fiction. The four of you gather in the fortress palace of Rijker's Isle, and the election itself passes swiftly. Three counts of abstain, you're not here to vote, and one count in favour a new Emperor of Marienburg. With a wry smile the Grand Baron concedes the Imperial Title and sends for messengers to announce to the Provinces that the Empire is without an Emperor. In time you imagine the Marienburgers will return to the Sigmarite fold and support Altdorf.
What you're really here about is Van Hal's Conference. You've mused somewhat while reading old military journals from the time of Van Hel what exactly the historians will call this period of the Empire's history. Certainly future generations will wonder how a whole Province was subverted in this way.
You sit with Mannes to bring him up to date on the Conference, there is a Witch Hunter General based out of Marienburg who attended and he's generally aware of the threat of von Carstein. But Marienburg is as far away as one can be in the Empire from Sylvania, and concerned more with stabilising its position post-succession and dealing with the Sea of Claws. The First Imperial Navy is charged by old Imperial Laws to defend the coastlines of the Empire from all dangers, and so much of the Province's military expenditure goes to the construction of new ships.
However, the First Imperial Navy has suffered recently. There are two occasions in the past ten years that it was bested by Norscans even if only by being outmanouvered and worse, two significant sections of the First Imperial Navy were sank in the 1990s by the Sea Elves who have forbidden any man to see the shores of their homeland.
Rebuilding the First Imperial Navy has been ongoing for years, and in truth most accounts describe it as a significant expansion these days rather than a rebuilding effort. Most armament is ballistae and scorpions, and most of the Navy hasn't even that and must rely on the Cult of Manann's Templars and Knights Mariner or the archers that Marienburg supplies to the Navy. The Imperial Great Cannons of Nuln are heavy and powder expensive and not very well suited to any but the largest of ships. You point out to the Grand Baron that Dwarfen warships are equipped with the more powerful Dwarf Pounder so it is possible to float the pieces, but he seems much more interested in your Heavy Guns. They have more competition in the Old World, rumours suggest Hochland and Talabecland are working together on inventing some sort of smaller cannon and the Kislevites have been using the aid of Karak Kadrin to work on their own.
You're willing to aid the First Imperial Navy by supplying Heavy Guns from the Imperial Gunnery School, on the provision that if called to action the Province of Westerland will support Wissenland with military arms in the face of Sylvania. You have some ambition, one day soon enough, of calling the second Conference and beginning the war against the Vampires. Grand Baron Mannes of Westerland may well attend in person.
[ ] The First Imperial Navy
Sell Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy in exchange for a pledge to join the war against Sylvania when it starts. (Spend 10,000 Materials, Gain 25,000 Marks)
[ ] The Second Conference
Sell Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy at discount for a pledge to join the Second Conference when you call it and put the land-side Westerland State Troop in the command of the Conference. (Spend 10,000 Materials, Gain 20,000 Marks)
[ ] United Behind Wissenland
Donate Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy for a pledge to begin a concerted effort against the Sylvanians. (Spend 10,000 Materials, may Write-In 1 action per turn for Marienburg to work on.)
[ ] The Far Side of the World
Leave Marienburg to its own devices.
Grenzstadt is in the midst of a rebuilding project after the battle to defend the Black Fire Pass saw Waagh! Zurgad slam against the fortress town and driven back into the Lands of the Border Princes. The Grand Duke of Averland is devoting significant resources to the effort, no expense spared, and is dedicated to upholding the ancient duty of the Leitdorfs in ensuring that the famed Pass remains secure.
You've reached out to Grand Duke Achim in a drawing room of Rijker's Isle to discuss matters. It takes a bit of effort to convince him that a neighbouring Province of his is subverted by Vampires, the Averlanders haven't the strongest of ties to any Templar organisations and the news from the Conference seems to not have filtered through Averheim very effectively.
You choose not to disabuse the Grand Duke however of his realisation that the Anti-Sylvanian Pact he agreed to concerning eastern Stirland is a sign you've known about this for a while and been working to save the Empire from von Carstein this whole time. Certainly letting the other Provinces think you more competent and better informed than you are can't be too terrible an idea. In truth you've no idea where Van Hal is right now, two dozen Witch Hunters of the Iron Tower went with him down the Alimento and into Tilea in the middle of Summer.
He dislikes the idea of holding the Averlander State Troop at Raab, the East Reach of Averland is not especially fortified or well garrisoned since it sits behind Grenzstadt and several Dwarfholds on the south and is shielded by the entire Empire from the north so is a relatively peaceable land. The East Reach is actually very similar to Mootland in truth.
Once Wurtbad falls and Prince Lutz becomes Grand Count, he intends to retreat into Averland and secure the crossings of the Reach. You'd like to arrange to aid the Grand Duke. Grenzstadt is the perfect forification for Nulner Engineers to work on especially when it comes to the idea of deploying Great Cannons. You're even considering supply the State Troop with guns and training.
[ ] The Noble Sons
Sell guns to the Averlander State Troop at a discount so they can form a mounted regiment armed with pistols, they may well be a critical part of the defence of the East Reach. (Spend 400 Materials, Gain 1,000 Marks)
[ ] Grenzstadt
Pledge to aid in the Fortify Grenzstadt Action, Nulner Engineers and weapons will make it a greater fortress faster and free up the Averlanders to focus on the Sylvanian Problem sooner. (Current state is 1,500/2,500, fortify Action for Grenzstadt only costs Materials)
[ ] Insist on Raab
Provide both the guns for the State Troop and the Engineers and Great Cannons for Grenzstadt for free, but the Averlander State Troop will defend the Stirland-Sylvanian border as well as the East Reach.
[ ] The Anti-Sylvanian Pact
Let the Averlanders make their decisions on how to handle the threat of their next door neighbour.
Ulriczeit at Middenheim
The Grand Duke of the Midden presides over Middenland, Drakwald and Nordland, maintains one of the largest if not the largest State Troop in the Empire and patronises a number of Knightly Orders. His recent war to bring the Nordland into his imperial faction doesn't seem to have significantly wounded his military strength, there are parades all throughout the Province. You dock at Carroburg, where you note the damage to the fortifications from the war on the Reik and the celebrations in honour of their Emperor's wedding.
Reiklander barges outside of Carroburg threaten to put a damper on proceedings, certainly your own barge is stopped more than once en route to the city. But after partaking in festivities in Carroburg you progress out into the Middenland towards Ulricsberg and the city that sits atop her peak. Village militias parade or celebrate in their uniforms in the villages you pass through and processions of Knights make their way along the roads towards Middenheim.
The road to the City of the White Wolf rises on a great viaduct up the slopes of ancient Ulricsberg to the Fauschlag plateau and one of the four huge gates of the fortress-city. The Ostwald Gate commands a view down towards the Altdorf-Middenheim Road and as you pass through into the City it becomes clear that the Wolf Emperor is beloved amongst his subjects.
Ribbons, banners, paintings, all manner of artistry decorate the whole city. You spot portraits of the Wolf Emperor through windows and the procession of Knights into Middenheim is unending. You were concerned that they would delay your arrival but Knights of the White Wolf ride out onto the viadect and force the procession to one side to allow you to ride into the city ahead of them.
Led by the White Wolves you progress to the Grafsmund, a hill that sits between Ulricsmund and the Middenplatz Palace. Here the ambassadorial estates include several guest houses and manses where the upper nobility maintain their city residences and the Wolf Emperor keeps his most prized guests. The shadow of the Ulricsmund however looms large, the Temple District is on the far side of the city and the Temple of Ulric far dwarfs any other structure in the City. You are somewhat surprised to find that the Temple of Verena in Middenheim is the only other temple on the Ulricsmund, though the Shallyans have a temple at the foot of that hill.
You spy from your manse the elite Teutogen Guard in the distance atop Ulricsmund and spend the week leading up to the wedding mostly enjoying the luxuries of the Grafsmund estates and visiting Ulricsmund. You know you're being watched when you do. By the other attendees, and by the Ulricans though they manage to be more subtle.
After another visit to the Temple of Verena you begin walking down towards Grafsmund when an Ulrican priest stops you and tells you that the Ar-Ulric is ready to see you. And as you enter the Temple, amongst the huge crowds flocking to see Ulric's holiest of sites and divine Flame of Ulric, you spot the Hochlander contingent and future Empress who are being housed here in the temple.
What you don't spy are very many White Wolves. Of course, you were advised that the Ar-Ulric relies foremost on his own Teutogen Guard but the Wolves are the largest of the knightly orders sworn to Ulric and the huge temple complex certainly warrants their numbers. You pass the white flame, recalling that the College has the ability to create coloured fire through the use of powders. And your Verenan mind clicks through the logic surrounding the fact this is a truly extraordinary miracle.
Because yes, the College can create a white fire. But a white flame burning continously for thousands of years, older than the Empire itself, contiuously watched by thousands of pilgrims and clergy... It would require a logistical network far beyond the Cult of Ulric to have reaped enough of the materials the College uses to make such flames. And through question, Lady Verena reveals truth, and upon truth is built faith. The might of Ulric is a weight here, you'd need to be a fool not to see it.
The rearchambers behind the Flame of Ulric are home to the bureacracy of the Cult, clerks and cleric and administrators and the Ar-Ulric himself. And in the Ar-Ulric's study the Grandmaster of the Howling Wolves. As the name of the order might suggest, the Howling Wolves are supposed to bring warnings back to the Ar-Ulric of dangers to the faith throughout the world. Many priests of Ulric are members of the Order and are trained to serve as Templars. The Howling Wolves at the Conference have been howling loudly on the Ulricsmund and the Ar-Ulric has been fighting a battle to bring the Cult into line ahead of the war to come.
He tells you that the Cult is currently divided into three main factions. The Ar-Ulric's faction, the Emperor's faction and the Women's faction. The Wolf Emperor, the nobility and the Order of the White Wolves are hesitant to cast off the friendship of the Sylvanians. In a heated moment the Ar-Ulric accused some of the faction of being subverted already, which might not be untrue. This faction claims that the quarrel with Vampires is technically a Sigmarite problem, and that it would be better for the Cult to be aligned against the Sigmarites even if it meant siding with the Sylvanians. After all, its been two hundred years and von Carstein has done nothing but overthrow Chaos. The Emperor's faction is made up of Ulrican Supremacists mainly.
The Ar-Ulric meanwhile is supported by the Teutogen Guard of course, the Order of the Howling Wolves and the Duke of Carroburg. His faction believes that it would be better to align against the Sylvanians; they aren't pleased with the idea of siding with Sigmarites and have therefore been leaning towards siding with the Taalites to secure the Northern Empire from the Vampiric threat. The Ar-Ulric's faction is made up of Old Pantheonic Supremacists mainly.
And the Women's faction is at an arm's length being based out of Nordland where the Baroness of Nordland, the Wolf Emperor's sister, has allied with the Sudfast Order of Priestesses which has long championed the rights of women within the Cult. On the vampiric front the Women's faction is concerned about the Howling Wolves' warning that Lahmians have been sent to Middenland to supplant true Teutogen women. This faction has lynched a few supposedly Sylvanian women in the Province and has been harrassing Strigany travellers to the point that they have fled the region. The Women's faction is made up of Teutogen Supremacists mainly.
Of the three factions the one most in line with your own thinking is probably the Ar-Ulric seeing as he sees the threat posed by von Carstein. You're interested in the idea of offering the services of the Industrielplatz to equip the Ar-Ulric's faction, the Cult has its own means of sourcing war materiel however.
[ ] The Ar-Ulric's Faction
Pledge to supply the Cult of Ulric with war materiel from the Industrielplatz when war breaks out with Sylvania.
[ ] The Howling Wolves
The divisions within the Empire only weaken it, pledge to build a temple of Ulric for the Howling Wolves to base a Templar Order out of in Nuln such that they can regularly report news out of Wissenland to the Ar-Ulric.
[ ] Go Another Way
You'll not wade into the politics of the Cult of Ulric today.
The wedding itself is a grand affair done before the altar of the Flame of Ulric, the temple filled with crowds of the noteworthy from throughout the span of the Empire. You don't spot a significant Sylvanian contingent, Grand Count von Carstein is not here in person at least, but you can't be sure the Wolf Emperor has left the province out. Indeed you'd be surprised if he had. Someone here must be the Sylvanian ambassador.
Mariele is in attendance, somewhere in the crowd keeping in touch with her own contacts. Fiorella meanwhile on your arm has even less familiarity with the small differences between the provinces that would flag a Sylvanian out in a crowd. So you decide to leave your conversation with the Wolf Emperor to a later point in proceedings.
The Tussen-Hochens of Bergsberg are Barons who preside over much of western Hochland and the border with the Midden. Besides the Ludenhofs of Hergig they are the most powerful of Hochland's nobility. You understand Hochland's nobility are generally divided into the Ulricans in the west and the Taalites in the east but that the schism is almost entirely on paper and that in practice the small province is largely unified.
The new Empress Hildegarde is the baron's sister, and a devout Ulrican. She appears in the temple and proceeds through the crowd, Teutogen Guards opening a space for her through the pilgrims at the back and the attendees at the front. You and Fiorella take some time to discuss the Wolf Emperor's reaction to her arrival and agree to settle on the idea that he's more pleased than displeased by his future bride.
Fiorella admits that she was more enthisiatic about your own future nuptials than she let on all those years ago. Apparently a key activist on the Trantine side of things back in the day had been her pushing for the marriage shortly after her first stay in Nuln. You take the opportunity to mock her eagerness to marry the brutish Imperial barbarian, she tells you that its nothing her Tilean friends haven't said already.
And as the ceremony comes to a close the temple begins to empty of attendees and is returned to the crowds of pilgrims. Most of the attendees continue on to the Middenplatz where the parkland surrounding the Palace is alight with braziers burning against the cold of the night and tables groaning under the weight of the food.
You are treated to shows throughout the Middenplatz park, much of it involving displays of skill handling fire from fire breathers to horsemen riding while swinging what appears to be burning hawk-lures. A light in the dark, a fire in the cold, an Emperor amidst crisis. Or so the theme of the night seems to your eye as imperial standards fly and the Wolf Emperor gives grand speeches while giving out grand titles. Old titles such as those used by the leaders of pan-imperial institutions. You note the Duke of Carroburg has been offered the position of Grand Marshal of the Roads and Rivers for example.
In the early hours of the morning you find your way into the Palace itself, here the Wolf Emperor is holding court until moonset. Tomorrow he and Hildegarde will retreat to enjoy some privacy and eventually honeymoon together somewhere. Perhaps across the huge Dwarfen bridge from Fauschlag to the Middle Mountains to the comfort of some alpine estate.
You take this time then, when there are fewer people around, to discuss the aftermath of the Conference. Your talk with the Ar-Ulric has made it clear that the Wolf Emperor is familiar with the Howling Wolves' report on the matter. And yet the Wolf Emperor seems more inclined to side with the Sylvanians as an allied province than against them as a Vampiric threat. Your suspicion is that von Carstein intends to be Emperor in time, but you suppose that the Wolf Emperor is hoping that von Carstein makes his play for the throne at a later date. A vampire has forever to wait after all.
You try to convince the Wolf Emperor to take a stand against Sylvania. He is however unwilling to turn away an allied province for nothing, he would have your fealty in exchange. A province for a province.
[ ] The Graf
The Grand Duke of the Midden controls a powerful military, even after the war on the Reik. If his imperial ambitions continue you would imagine that his next target would be attempting to force a crossing into Reikland while the province is still wounded. Agree to supply his next war, in exchange he won't intervene on the Sylvanian side when the Second Conference is called.
[ ] The Wolf Emperor
Submit to the Wolf Emperor, swear allegiance to the Imperial Throne once more. And the Wolf Emperor will cast the Sylvanians aside at the Second Conference.
[ ] An Imperial Winter
Leave Middenheim without an agreement with the Wolf Emperor.
Expand Staig Bargeport
The village of Staig was entirely without a dockside when first the Chamberlain of the Province visited a decade ago. Now the village has a barge that runs to Pfeildorf and a ferry that crosses to the Averland. Apparently some old hermit on the other side is willing to run the other side of the ferry post and rents out a wagon to allow travellers to go up or down river to the nearby towns of the Averland. Baroness Toppenheimer has a strong suspicion that Averlander authorities aren't exactly aware of the breach in their border.
Staig can support a larger dockside, the village sits at a major junction of the Sudenland wagon network and the barge operators of the village are eager to expand the barge port at Staig. Ostensibly to improve the exports of Solland, but the road that links the west and east sides of the Sudenland is one way of getting from the Soll to the Reik without passing the tolls of Söllufer.
The Chamberlain brings workcrews to Staig to expand the barge-port and give the village some investment. It does offer more work to locals and a few families even move in from the surrounding area. Shipments to Pfeildorf and even Nuln increase. The Baroness of Geschburg is unconcerned about the possibility that Söllufer is being avoided, but in theory whenever the barges are loaded at Staig you'll still be getting your dues.
Establish Agents in Stirland
In the wake of the Conference you've decided that a more pro-active approach to intelligence gathering will be needed. So far you've mostly been getting your news from the wider world by reading the Wissenland Gazette, the daily newsheet in Nuln rarely touches on affairs abroad but the monthly newspaper collates news from the other Provinces as well. And intelligence comes either from the pro-active efforts of Van Hal, or from interrogating foreign agents captured in the Wissenland.
But the recent troubles with Stirland and Sylvania mean you want to begin feeling out the world of intelligence out to the east. You give the Confidante her new orders, to establish a group of agents into the Stirland with the express purpose of identifying other intelligence assets in the region rather than attempting to embed saboteurs, kidnappers or assassins into the Stirland.
She rides out into the country, an escort of the Black Guard to protect her amidst the war, and a Ranaldian rides with her to bring her into contact with some cells of the Cult hidden out east. The town of Potting sits on a crossroads in the heart of Stirland, from there travellers can go north to Wurtbad, south to Averheim, west to Nuln and east to Raab. The Old Dwarf Road passes straight through the town and travellers from abroad often stop in Potting. Stop; and gamble.
The Confidant wiles away a few days in the gambling dens of Potting meeting with representatives from the Cult throughout Stirland, usually the leaders of little more than a handful of the faithful. The Cult itself might be a useful tool within the province but hasn't the numbers to operate a widespread surveillance program and the rumours she hears indicate that Stirland is a hub of foreign agents.
With the local Cults unwilling to pit themselves directly against the larger embedded networks in Stirland the Confidante must decide whether to develop an organisation in Nuln which then goes out to spy in the wider world or whether she will attempt to subvert local organisations to allow her to indirectly surveil the intelligence networks already in the province.
[ ] The Night Service
An expansion of the Confidante's wing of the Imperial Palace; specially trained officers from across the Province who then emigrate to other Provinces and live out the rest of their lives or at least a decade or so of it in their new home, reporting back to the Imperial Palace.
[ ] The Maria Stokes Whittlers
A merchant company that operates in Stirland has fallen on hard times. The Confidante believe that they can be quietly bought and by propping up their existing business routes or expanding them she can spy on the Stirland.
The Flintlock
In Nuln there are half a dozen different long-arm guns in manufacture, throughout the Wissenland a further three models of gun and the Sudenland boasts another. Across the whole Empire, there's maybe another dozen different types of guns being made throughout the year by gunsmiths or even foundries and that's only talking about human blackpowder guns of a particular size.
All of them have slightly different mechanisms, slightly different borings, slightly different everything. And the Imperial Gunnery School has been hard at work attempting to codify a single rifle which so surpasses the existing models that it will be come the standard Blackpowder long-arm and put lesser models out of the Iron Companies if not out of business.
The main concerns at the current time are the matter of all-weather usage and of bright flashes that prevent accurate aiming of the gun. This means developing an enclosed firing mechanism is foremost on the minds of the engineers toiling away in the laboratories of the School. And then, perhaps as some miracle, an engineer manages to build the Flintlock. This firing mechanism allows a well made gun to fire twice as fast, and to misfire less often especially in poor weather.
The Imperial Gunnery School immediately beguns a large-scale project to retool huge sections of the manufacturing portion of the School to allow for it to move from the Nulner Rifle to the Flintlock and the Militarstutz has begun drawing up paperwork to requisition enough of the new gun to equip the entire Great Company.
Word of the new mechanism has filtered down into the Ironsides swiftly enough that the workshops are growing overcrowded in their Company Quarter on the Militarstutz, but every effort has been made to prevent the details of the mechanism from spreading to the gunsmiths of Marienburg or Hergig.
The Stirland Crisis
The siege of Wurtbad continues without any meaningful progress. Sure, the Grand Marshal has had the Ironsides surveying the walls of the City of Wurtbad and observations from distance indicate that the bombardment of the walls has wearied the defences and that the bombardment of the city has wearied the defenders. But the city is not really any closer to falling.
Barges from Reikland and from the eastern Stirland have been making the journey to Wurtbad, no doubt enjoying the opportunity to hike up prices, but unfortunately for you still supplying the city with food and probably ammunition. Some care is taken to watch for any barges that might be transporting soldiers or, more importantly, cannon.
But for the time being the Iron Companies are not interested in starting another international incident and firing on the Stir's river traffic lest Talabecland and Reikland suddenly decide they would like to formalise a much more active position. Fortunately the Fathers of Suns have been taking more care with their experimental drakepowders, the most volatile stock has been left to one side and their rate of fire is certainly lowered but there have been no more explosive incidents in the midst of the Iron Companies at least.
[ ] No New Orders
Continue the bombardment of Wurtbad but make no other changes to the ongoing operation.
[ ] Fire on Barges
Wurtbad will not yield and will be too prepared to handle an assault if it continues to receive regular resupply. Fire on barges attempting to reach the city.
[ ] Storm Wurtbad
Time is of the essence, launch an assault on Wurtbad immediately and drive the defenders back into Eagle Castle.
The Ranaldian Agreement
Not all of this year's most notable affairs were those your counsellors spent months working towards, expending the resources of the Palace to develop new structures or technologies. Some of them came to being inside your study, ink on paper. The Ranaldian Agreement comes in three main parts. The simplest is the legalisation of the Cult of Ranald. There is a representative of the Cult who reports to the Pontiff whenever the Cult needs to answer questions or whenever someone attempts to claim Ranald's will as a legal argument. But by and large the Cult will remain in underground gambling halls, thieves guilds and the like.
A more public facing Shine to Ranald, you understand will be installed near the South Gate to well-wish any travellers leaving through it into the Province. You are warned that legitimising the Cult of Ranald is a radical position to take, not only is it a Classical Cult but it is one that comes with significant negative aspects and hasn't been legalised in any of the other Provinces. Some care is made in your decree to remark on the aspects of Ranald that are valuable in decent society. Ranald the Protector, Ranald the Roadfarer, Ranald the Risk-Taker.
Which leads directly into the other two parts of the Agreement. The Defence of the Realm Act is written into law and mandates that legal recognition within Wissenland requires that those legitimised Cults must act in the interest of the Defence of the Realm whenever faced with threats of total destruction. The Act defines these threats as Beastmen, Greenskins, Servants of Chaos and Necromancers. You dither about specifying Vampires but the Empire hasn't been significantly troubled by Vampiric threats since Sigmar and even then they were a footnote against the backdrop of Necromancers.
Wording too strongly anti-Vampire might push Grand Count Vlad von Carstein to a realisation that he has been discovered. And after Middenheim the possibility of a faction in Imperial politics that doesn't intend to expunge the Vampires leads you to wonder if anti-Vampire wording is necessarily useful. After all, Van Hal's conference posed the possibility of von Carstein using necromancy to conquer the Empire but didn't definitively prove that he has yet crossed the line into necromancy.
Regardless the Defence of the Realm Act doesn't actually impact most Cults, the Great Cults have Templar Orders and tenets requiring them to act for the good of mankind. The Pontiff does make an effort to ensure that the Cults aren't too disturbed by the Act, the Shallyans for example need not militarily engage such threats of total destruction; you're not about to lift the ban on the Plague Wardens anytime soon. The Minor Cults meanwhile are covered by a clause that simply requires clergy to make the proper authorities aware of the presence of such threats. And you doubt any Old Faither Druid would refuse to raise the alarm about a Brayherd or warband of Goblins.
Even the Cult of Soll is unconcerned about the Act, they abhor Necromancers as much as any other Cult. And yet you know the clergy of the Cult of Soll face frequent accusations of sheltering sorcerors. You have a strong suspicion that the portion of the Cult that sympathises with sorcerors fails to identify them correctly as servants of Chaos. All good Imperials should know that sorcery is a creation of Chaos and therefore all sorcerors are, however otherwise well-meaning they may intend to be, servants of Chaos. The Pontiff agrees to speak with the Inquisition to see about enforcing the Act in the Sudenland.
Behind the scenes the Defence of the Realm Act targets the Cult of Ranald in particular, it doesn't officially have a Templar Order and you don't think it even has one unofficially but it is hard to know given the secretive nature of the Cult. The Confidancy is a pathway for the Confidante and the Cult of Ranald to co-operate. The Cult is required, as part of the terms of its legitimisation, to support the Confidante in all of her efforts where they have the resources to bring to bear.
The final part of the Ranaldian Arrangement is the Industrielplatz Safety Reform. A series of small laws that together create huge changes for the way the Industrielplatz works. It forbids children under the age of fourteen from being employed on the Industrielplatz, it establishes the Industrial Safety Board whose inspectors must look into any death which occurs in any of the businesses of the Industrielplatz and will create smaller safety reforms to impose on the Industrielplatz and of course will mandate that the business at fault pays a pension to the family of the deceased.
The Industrielplatz Safety Reform is controversial, the Bank and the Industrielplatz dislike it and even some of the lower class are concerned that you're cutting their incomes. Two provisions laid out include an overcrowding rule and forbids children from the working floor which means fewer jobs in each factory and fewer possible workers in each family. But the Cult hails it as a real step forwards, the Shallyans seem to agree and even the Secessionists hail it as a landmark piece of legislation.
Another key feature of the year, which doesn't immediately make waves or really cross your desk very often, is the deal that Mariele has agreed with the Di Miragliano School of the Sciences. The College has sold the secrets behind the Dry Compass, which Di Miragliano is already working on improving using a few quick diagrams he sketched of Elven instruments, and the Gypsum Fertiliser which you imagine will see some use in Tilea but the market isn't as interested in the product as the Wissenland. Indeed the Di Miragliano school is even negotiating a deal with Kreutzhofen to provide the sheer mass of fertiliser needed for some of the Upper Vales.
And the Imperial Gunnery School, very reluctantly, agrees to share the secrets of Blackpowder. The formulae used by the School descends directly from the designs used by the Dwarfs and is superior to some strains used elsewhere in the Empire. The Di Miragliano has made a wise decision to choose to buy the secret therefore from Nuln, it is the best lineage after all.
The other side of the deal is of some interest too of course. One of Di Miragliano's famed Steam Engines has been shipped to Nuln. After a fight between the various institutions over who gets to enjoy the privilege of hosting it, the Grand University has won and the Steam Engine is in a central hall of the University. Fill it with water, light the boiler, and it can spin at high speeds or even spin a heavy weight at slower speeds. There's been a discussion about powered mills lately.
Other things to come out of Di Miragliano's School are two of Di Miragliano's personal journals. The Di Ottica and the Di Machinis. One of the topics in the Ottica that has gathered substantial interest is an Elven Far-Seer, a handheld device that allows Elven captains to see over great distances. And the Di Machinis has gotten attention for its description of an unweighted spring that should apparently allow for smaller clocks. You're not exactly sure why smaller clocks should be so interesting, except maybe two clocks together for use in co-ordinating maneuvers between two fighting forces. But High Master of the Schools, Gerhard Moehring, has advised you that like most of Di Miragliano's inventive works these are likely intended for use at sea.
Word from the rest of the Old World is slim however. Besides the wedding in Ulriczeit at Middenheim, nothing of note seems to happen at all. You choose to take it as a good sign, the other attendees of the Conference acting quietly to prepare for a future war. And some voice in the back of your mind worries that it is a sign the other attendees aren't actually doing anything at all.
On the Sylvanian front nothing seems to change, the camp outside Raab is still there. The Averlander Ambassador brings notes from the frontline that the Sylvanian State Troop have certailny been doing something, there's plenty of coming and going from their camp but they haven't moved an inch. In fact since they raised an embankment and a palisade around their camp, about a year into their stay outside of Raab, they haven't even launched patrols to keep the Stirlanders hemmed in. The ambassador remarks at one point that the Averlanders are doing more to keep the Stirlanders at Raab than the Sylvanians are.
Meanwhile the Wissenland Gazette has news concerning the wider Empire.
The Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire has announced a new Imperial Engineering School in Altdorf and is reaching out to engineers across the Old World including Dwarfs.
The Ottilian Empress has marched the wounded Talabeclander State Troop into Mordheim once more, bringing the fledgling Ostermarker State Troop with her. Perhaps she hopes the Ostermarkers will have an easier time of securing the ruined city.
The Wolf Emperor has married Hildegarde Tussen-Hochen of Bergsberg and retired to the Middle Mountains to honeymoon. In the meantime Carroburg has been rebuilding under the guidance of their Duke and Bergsberg has founded its own Middenball football team.
Intelligence Report:
The Confidante of the Seat has been overseeing efforts to watch over the underworld of Wissenland.
- Sabotage in the siege camps, someone in Stirland and you can probably guess who, has tried to poison the water supplies.
- The Silent Tome has identified a couple of people lately trying to check out restricted books on engineering secrets that are for members of the various institutions only. Nothing has come of it however.
You have 10 Action Dice. You must apply at least one Action Die to the Province. One Action Die is locked into the Stirland Crisis.
Target: 50
Skill: +16 Diplomacy, +10 Fiorella
Council Effect: +42 Ambassador-At-Large
Other Modifiers: -36 Emperor of Reikland, +5 Polite Fiction
Roll Result: 37+37 = 74 Success
Skill: +16 Diplomacy, +10 Fiorella
Council Effect: +42 Ambassador-At-Large
Other Modifiers: -36 Emperor of Reikland, +5 Polite Fiction
Roll Result: 37+37 = 74 Success
Grand Baron Mannes has invited the Elector Counts to Marienburg to vote for a new Emperor in the wake of the previous Empress' passing. Four Electors arrive; yourself, the Grand Duke of Averland and the Elder of Mootland joining the Grand Baron. During the Last Election, the High Order of Honourable Freetraders heavily worked to sponsor young Magritta as Imperial Candidate. This time however the Freetraders are nowhere to be seen, perhaps having fallen into poverty in the intervening period or perhaps unwilling to expend effort one what is so clearly not a true Election.
All the same, the Grand Baron greets you with all the ceremony of an Election and you indulge his fiction. The four of you gather in the fortress palace of Rijker's Isle, and the election itself passes swiftly. Three counts of abstain, you're not here to vote, and one count in favour a new Emperor of Marienburg. With a wry smile the Grand Baron concedes the Imperial Title and sends for messengers to announce to the Provinces that the Empire is without an Emperor. In time you imagine the Marienburgers will return to the Sigmarite fold and support Altdorf.
What you're really here about is Van Hal's Conference. You've mused somewhat while reading old military journals from the time of Van Hel what exactly the historians will call this period of the Empire's history. Certainly future generations will wonder how a whole Province was subverted in this way.
You sit with Mannes to bring him up to date on the Conference, there is a Witch Hunter General based out of Marienburg who attended and he's generally aware of the threat of von Carstein. But Marienburg is as far away as one can be in the Empire from Sylvania, and concerned more with stabilising its position post-succession and dealing with the Sea of Claws. The First Imperial Navy is charged by old Imperial Laws to defend the coastlines of the Empire from all dangers, and so much of the Province's military expenditure goes to the construction of new ships.
However, the First Imperial Navy has suffered recently. There are two occasions in the past ten years that it was bested by Norscans even if only by being outmanouvered and worse, two significant sections of the First Imperial Navy were sank in the 1990s by the Sea Elves who have forbidden any man to see the shores of their homeland.
Rebuilding the First Imperial Navy has been ongoing for years, and in truth most accounts describe it as a significant expansion these days rather than a rebuilding effort. Most armament is ballistae and scorpions, and most of the Navy hasn't even that and must rely on the Cult of Manann's Templars and Knights Mariner or the archers that Marienburg supplies to the Navy. The Imperial Great Cannons of Nuln are heavy and powder expensive and not very well suited to any but the largest of ships. You point out to the Grand Baron that Dwarfen warships are equipped with the more powerful Dwarf Pounder so it is possible to float the pieces, but he seems much more interested in your Heavy Guns. They have more competition in the Old World, rumours suggest Hochland and Talabecland are working together on inventing some sort of smaller cannon and the Kislevites have been using the aid of Karak Kadrin to work on their own.
You're willing to aid the First Imperial Navy by supplying Heavy Guns from the Imperial Gunnery School, on the provision that if called to action the Province of Westerland will support Wissenland with military arms in the face of Sylvania. You have some ambition, one day soon enough, of calling the second Conference and beginning the war against the Vampires. Grand Baron Mannes of Westerland may well attend in person.
[ ] The First Imperial Navy
Sell Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy in exchange for a pledge to join the war against Sylvania when it starts. (Spend 10,000 Materials, Gain 25,000 Marks)
[ ] The Second Conference
Sell Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy at discount for a pledge to join the Second Conference when you call it and put the land-side Westerland State Troop in the command of the Conference. (Spend 10,000 Materials, Gain 20,000 Marks)
[ ] United Behind Wissenland
Donate Heavy Guns to the First Imperial Navy for a pledge to begin a concerted effort against the Sylvanians. (Spend 10,000 Materials, may Write-In 1 action per turn for Marienburg to work on.)
[ ] The Far Side of the World
Leave Marienburg to its own devices.
Grenzstadt is in the midst of a rebuilding project after the battle to defend the Black Fire Pass saw Waagh! Zurgad slam against the fortress town and driven back into the Lands of the Border Princes. The Grand Duke of Averland is devoting significant resources to the effort, no expense spared, and is dedicated to upholding the ancient duty of the Leitdorfs in ensuring that the famed Pass remains secure.
You've reached out to Grand Duke Achim in a drawing room of Rijker's Isle to discuss matters. It takes a bit of effort to convince him that a neighbouring Province of his is subverted by Vampires, the Averlanders haven't the strongest of ties to any Templar organisations and the news from the Conference seems to not have filtered through Averheim very effectively.
You choose not to disabuse the Grand Duke however of his realisation that the Anti-Sylvanian Pact he agreed to concerning eastern Stirland is a sign you've known about this for a while and been working to save the Empire from von Carstein this whole time. Certainly letting the other Provinces think you more competent and better informed than you are can't be too terrible an idea. In truth you've no idea where Van Hal is right now, two dozen Witch Hunters of the Iron Tower went with him down the Alimento and into Tilea in the middle of Summer.
He dislikes the idea of holding the Averlander State Troop at Raab, the East Reach of Averland is not especially fortified or well garrisoned since it sits behind Grenzstadt and several Dwarfholds on the south and is shielded by the entire Empire from the north so is a relatively peaceable land. The East Reach is actually very similar to Mootland in truth.
Once Wurtbad falls and Prince Lutz becomes Grand Count, he intends to retreat into Averland and secure the crossings of the Reach. You'd like to arrange to aid the Grand Duke. Grenzstadt is the perfect forification for Nulner Engineers to work on especially when it comes to the idea of deploying Great Cannons. You're even considering supply the State Troop with guns and training.
[ ] The Noble Sons
Sell guns to the Averlander State Troop at a discount so they can form a mounted regiment armed with pistols, they may well be a critical part of the defence of the East Reach. (Spend 400 Materials, Gain 1,000 Marks)
[ ] Grenzstadt
Pledge to aid in the Fortify Grenzstadt Action, Nulner Engineers and weapons will make it a greater fortress faster and free up the Averlanders to focus on the Sylvanian Problem sooner. (Current state is 1,500/2,500, fortify Action for Grenzstadt only costs Materials)
[ ] Insist on Raab
Provide both the guns for the State Troop and the Engineers and Great Cannons for Grenzstadt for free, but the Averlander State Troop will defend the Stirland-Sylvanian border as well as the East Reach.
[ ] The Anti-Sylvanian Pact
Let the Averlanders make their decisions on how to handle the threat of their next door neighbour.
+3 Relationship with Westerland and Averland
-1,500 Marks
-1,500 Marks
Ulriczeit at Middenheim
Target: 50
Skill: +16 Diplomacy, +10 Fiorella
Council Effect: +7 Ambassador-At-Large
Other Modifiers: -36 Emperor of Reikland, +10 Electoral Wedding, -10 Cult Politics
Roll Result: (45+57)-3 = 99 Success
Skill: +16 Diplomacy, +10 Fiorella
Council Effect: +7 Ambassador-At-Large
Other Modifiers: -36 Emperor of Reikland, +10 Electoral Wedding, -10 Cult Politics
Roll Result: (45+57)-3 = 99 Success
Reiklander barges outside of Carroburg threaten to put a damper on proceedings, certainly your own barge is stopped more than once en route to the city. But after partaking in festivities in Carroburg you progress out into the Middenland towards Ulricsberg and the city that sits atop her peak. Village militias parade or celebrate in their uniforms in the villages you pass through and processions of Knights make their way along the roads towards Middenheim.
The road to the City of the White Wolf rises on a great viaduct up the slopes of ancient Ulricsberg to the Fauschlag plateau and one of the four huge gates of the fortress-city. The Ostwald Gate commands a view down towards the Altdorf-Middenheim Road and as you pass through into the City it becomes clear that the Wolf Emperor is beloved amongst his subjects.
Ribbons, banners, paintings, all manner of artistry decorate the whole city. You spot portraits of the Wolf Emperor through windows and the procession of Knights into Middenheim is unending. You were concerned that they would delay your arrival but Knights of the White Wolf ride out onto the viadect and force the procession to one side to allow you to ride into the city ahead of them.
Led by the White Wolves you progress to the Grafsmund, a hill that sits between Ulricsmund and the Middenplatz Palace. Here the ambassadorial estates include several guest houses and manses where the upper nobility maintain their city residences and the Wolf Emperor keeps his most prized guests. The shadow of the Ulricsmund however looms large, the Temple District is on the far side of the city and the Temple of Ulric far dwarfs any other structure in the City. You are somewhat surprised to find that the Temple of Verena in Middenheim is the only other temple on the Ulricsmund, though the Shallyans have a temple at the foot of that hill.
You spy from your manse the elite Teutogen Guard in the distance atop Ulricsmund and spend the week leading up to the wedding mostly enjoying the luxuries of the Grafsmund estates and visiting Ulricsmund. You know you're being watched when you do. By the other attendees, and by the Ulricans though they manage to be more subtle.
After another visit to the Temple of Verena you begin walking down towards Grafsmund when an Ulrican priest stops you and tells you that the Ar-Ulric is ready to see you. And as you enter the Temple, amongst the huge crowds flocking to see Ulric's holiest of sites and divine Flame of Ulric, you spot the Hochlander contingent and future Empress who are being housed here in the temple.
What you don't spy are very many White Wolves. Of course, you were advised that the Ar-Ulric relies foremost on his own Teutogen Guard but the Wolves are the largest of the knightly orders sworn to Ulric and the huge temple complex certainly warrants their numbers. You pass the white flame, recalling that the College has the ability to create coloured fire through the use of powders. And your Verenan mind clicks through the logic surrounding the fact this is a truly extraordinary miracle.
Because yes, the College can create a white fire. But a white flame burning continously for thousands of years, older than the Empire itself, contiuously watched by thousands of pilgrims and clergy... It would require a logistical network far beyond the Cult of Ulric to have reaped enough of the materials the College uses to make such flames. And through question, Lady Verena reveals truth, and upon truth is built faith. The might of Ulric is a weight here, you'd need to be a fool not to see it.
The rearchambers behind the Flame of Ulric are home to the bureacracy of the Cult, clerks and cleric and administrators and the Ar-Ulric himself. And in the Ar-Ulric's study the Grandmaster of the Howling Wolves. As the name of the order might suggest, the Howling Wolves are supposed to bring warnings back to the Ar-Ulric of dangers to the faith throughout the world. Many priests of Ulric are members of the Order and are trained to serve as Templars. The Howling Wolves at the Conference have been howling loudly on the Ulricsmund and the Ar-Ulric has been fighting a battle to bring the Cult into line ahead of the war to come.
He tells you that the Cult is currently divided into three main factions. The Ar-Ulric's faction, the Emperor's faction and the Women's faction. The Wolf Emperor, the nobility and the Order of the White Wolves are hesitant to cast off the friendship of the Sylvanians. In a heated moment the Ar-Ulric accused some of the faction of being subverted already, which might not be untrue. This faction claims that the quarrel with Vampires is technically a Sigmarite problem, and that it would be better for the Cult to be aligned against the Sigmarites even if it meant siding with the Sylvanians. After all, its been two hundred years and von Carstein has done nothing but overthrow Chaos. The Emperor's faction is made up of Ulrican Supremacists mainly.
The Ar-Ulric meanwhile is supported by the Teutogen Guard of course, the Order of the Howling Wolves and the Duke of Carroburg. His faction believes that it would be better to align against the Sylvanians; they aren't pleased with the idea of siding with Sigmarites and have therefore been leaning towards siding with the Taalites to secure the Northern Empire from the Vampiric threat. The Ar-Ulric's faction is made up of Old Pantheonic Supremacists mainly.
And the Women's faction is at an arm's length being based out of Nordland where the Baroness of Nordland, the Wolf Emperor's sister, has allied with the Sudfast Order of Priestesses which has long championed the rights of women within the Cult. On the vampiric front the Women's faction is concerned about the Howling Wolves' warning that Lahmians have been sent to Middenland to supplant true Teutogen women. This faction has lynched a few supposedly Sylvanian women in the Province and has been harrassing Strigany travellers to the point that they have fled the region. The Women's faction is made up of Teutogen Supremacists mainly.
Of the three factions the one most in line with your own thinking is probably the Ar-Ulric seeing as he sees the threat posed by von Carstein. You're interested in the idea of offering the services of the Industrielplatz to equip the Ar-Ulric's faction, the Cult has its own means of sourcing war materiel however.
[ ] The Ar-Ulric's Faction
Pledge to supply the Cult of Ulric with war materiel from the Industrielplatz when war breaks out with Sylvania.
[ ] The Howling Wolves
The divisions within the Empire only weaken it, pledge to build a temple of Ulric for the Howling Wolves to base a Templar Order out of in Nuln such that they can regularly report news out of Wissenland to the Ar-Ulric.
[ ] Go Another Way
You'll not wade into the politics of the Cult of Ulric today.
The wedding itself is a grand affair done before the altar of the Flame of Ulric, the temple filled with crowds of the noteworthy from throughout the span of the Empire. You don't spot a significant Sylvanian contingent, Grand Count von Carstein is not here in person at least, but you can't be sure the Wolf Emperor has left the province out. Indeed you'd be surprised if he had. Someone here must be the Sylvanian ambassador.
Mariele is in attendance, somewhere in the crowd keeping in touch with her own contacts. Fiorella meanwhile on your arm has even less familiarity with the small differences between the provinces that would flag a Sylvanian out in a crowd. So you decide to leave your conversation with the Wolf Emperor to a later point in proceedings.
The Tussen-Hochens of Bergsberg are Barons who preside over much of western Hochland and the border with the Midden. Besides the Ludenhofs of Hergig they are the most powerful of Hochland's nobility. You understand Hochland's nobility are generally divided into the Ulricans in the west and the Taalites in the east but that the schism is almost entirely on paper and that in practice the small province is largely unified.
The new Empress Hildegarde is the baron's sister, and a devout Ulrican. She appears in the temple and proceeds through the crowd, Teutogen Guards opening a space for her through the pilgrims at the back and the attendees at the front. You and Fiorella take some time to discuss the Wolf Emperor's reaction to her arrival and agree to settle on the idea that he's more pleased than displeased by his future bride.
Fiorella admits that she was more enthisiatic about your own future nuptials than she let on all those years ago. Apparently a key activist on the Trantine side of things back in the day had been her pushing for the marriage shortly after her first stay in Nuln. You take the opportunity to mock her eagerness to marry the brutish Imperial barbarian, she tells you that its nothing her Tilean friends haven't said already.
And as the ceremony comes to a close the temple begins to empty of attendees and is returned to the crowds of pilgrims. Most of the attendees continue on to the Middenplatz where the parkland surrounding the Palace is alight with braziers burning against the cold of the night and tables groaning under the weight of the food.
You are treated to shows throughout the Middenplatz park, much of it involving displays of skill handling fire from fire breathers to horsemen riding while swinging what appears to be burning hawk-lures. A light in the dark, a fire in the cold, an Emperor amidst crisis. Or so the theme of the night seems to your eye as imperial standards fly and the Wolf Emperor gives grand speeches while giving out grand titles. Old titles such as those used by the leaders of pan-imperial institutions. You note the Duke of Carroburg has been offered the position of Grand Marshal of the Roads and Rivers for example.
In the early hours of the morning you find your way into the Palace itself, here the Wolf Emperor is holding court until moonset. Tomorrow he and Hildegarde will retreat to enjoy some privacy and eventually honeymoon together somewhere. Perhaps across the huge Dwarfen bridge from Fauschlag to the Middle Mountains to the comfort of some alpine estate.
You take this time then, when there are fewer people around, to discuss the aftermath of the Conference. Your talk with the Ar-Ulric has made it clear that the Wolf Emperor is familiar with the Howling Wolves' report on the matter. And yet the Wolf Emperor seems more inclined to side with the Sylvanians as an allied province than against them as a Vampiric threat. Your suspicion is that von Carstein intends to be Emperor in time, but you suppose that the Wolf Emperor is hoping that von Carstein makes his play for the throne at a later date. A vampire has forever to wait after all.
You try to convince the Wolf Emperor to take a stand against Sylvania. He is however unwilling to turn away an allied province for nothing, he would have your fealty in exchange. A province for a province.
[ ] The Graf
The Grand Duke of the Midden controls a powerful military, even after the war on the Reik. If his imperial ambitions continue you would imagine that his next target would be attempting to force a crossing into Reikland while the province is still wounded. Agree to supply his next war, in exchange he won't intervene on the Sylvanian side when the Second Conference is called.
[ ] The Wolf Emperor
Submit to the Wolf Emperor, swear allegiance to the Imperial Throne once more. And the Wolf Emperor will cast the Sylvanians aside at the Second Conference.
[ ] An Imperial Winter
Leave Middenheim without an agreement with the Wolf Emperor.
-2,000 Marks
+4 Relationship with Middenand
+4 Relationship with Middenand
Expand Staig Bargeport
Target: 0/100
Skill: +11 Stewardship, +15 Fiorella
Council Effect: +17 Chamberlain of the Province
Other Modifiers: +15 Local Support, +25 Jengen Quarry
Roll Result: 72+83 = 155 Complete
Skill: +11 Stewardship, +15 Fiorella
Council Effect: +17 Chamberlain of the Province
Other Modifiers: +15 Local Support, +25 Jengen Quarry
Roll Result: 72+83 = 155 Complete
Staig can support a larger dockside, the village sits at a major junction of the Sudenland wagon network and the barge operators of the village are eager to expand the barge port at Staig. Ostensibly to improve the exports of Solland, but the road that links the west and east sides of the Sudenland is one way of getting from the Soll to the Reik without passing the tolls of Söllufer.
The Chamberlain brings workcrews to Staig to expand the barge-port and give the village some investment. It does offer more work to locals and a few families even move in from the surrounding area. Shipments to Pfeildorf and even Nuln increase. The Baroness of Geschburg is unconcerned about the possibility that Söllufer is being avoided, but in theory whenever the barges are loaded at Staig you'll still be getting your dues.
-1,000 Marks and -200 Materials
Staig Bargeport Completed
+7 Relationship with Pfeildorf
Staig Bargeport Completed
+7 Relationship with Pfeildorf
Establish Agents in Stirland
Target: 100
Skill: +14 Intrigue, +14 Fiorella
Council Effect: +22 Confidante of the Seat
Other Modifiers: -30 The Stirland Crisis, -10 Hostile Network Strength, +10 Local Counteragent Strength, +15 Ranaldian Support
Roll Result: (66+55)+35 = 156 Success
Skill: +14 Intrigue, +14 Fiorella
Council Effect: +22 Confidante of the Seat
Other Modifiers: -30 The Stirland Crisis, -10 Hostile Network Strength, +10 Local Counteragent Strength, +15 Ranaldian Support
Roll Result: (66+55)+35 = 156 Success
But the recent troubles with Stirland and Sylvania mean you want to begin feeling out the world of intelligence out to the east. You give the Confidante her new orders, to establish a group of agents into the Stirland with the express purpose of identifying other intelligence assets in the region rather than attempting to embed saboteurs, kidnappers or assassins into the Stirland.
She rides out into the country, an escort of the Black Guard to protect her amidst the war, and a Ranaldian rides with her to bring her into contact with some cells of the Cult hidden out east. The town of Potting sits on a crossroads in the heart of Stirland, from there travellers can go north to Wurtbad, south to Averheim, west to Nuln and east to Raab. The Old Dwarf Road passes straight through the town and travellers from abroad often stop in Potting. Stop; and gamble.
The Confidant wiles away a few days in the gambling dens of Potting meeting with representatives from the Cult throughout Stirland, usually the leaders of little more than a handful of the faithful. The Cult itself might be a useful tool within the province but hasn't the numbers to operate a widespread surveillance program and the rumours she hears indicate that Stirland is a hub of foreign agents.
With the local Cults unwilling to pit themselves directly against the larger embedded networks in Stirland the Confidante must decide whether to develop an organisation in Nuln which then goes out to spy in the wider world or whether she will attempt to subvert local organisations to allow her to indirectly surveil the intelligence networks already in the province.
[ ] The Night Service
An expansion of the Confidante's wing of the Imperial Palace; specially trained officers from across the Province who then emigrate to other Provinces and live out the rest of their lives or at least a decade or so of it in their new home, reporting back to the Imperial Palace.
[ ] The Maria Stokes Whittlers
A merchant company that operates in Stirland has fallen on hard times. The Confidante believe that they can be quietly bought and by propping up their existing business routes or expanding them she can spy on the Stirland.
-2,000 Marks, -400 Food
The Flintlock
Target: 200
Skill: +20 Learning, +14 Fiorella
Council Effect: +27 High Master
Other Modifiers: +25 Armoury of the Empire, +5 Vault of Inventions, +5 Princessly Patronage
Roll Result: (82+93+24+54)+99 = 352 Success
Skill: +20 Learning, +14 Fiorella
Council Effect: +27 High Master
Other Modifiers: +25 Armoury of the Empire, +5 Vault of Inventions, +5 Princessly Patronage
Roll Result: (82+93+24+54)+99 = 352 Success
All of them have slightly different mechanisms, slightly different borings, slightly different everything. And the Imperial Gunnery School has been hard at work attempting to codify a single rifle which so surpasses the existing models that it will be come the standard Blackpowder long-arm and put lesser models out of the Iron Companies if not out of business.
The main concerns at the current time are the matter of all-weather usage and of bright flashes that prevent accurate aiming of the gun. This means developing an enclosed firing mechanism is foremost on the minds of the engineers toiling away in the laboratories of the School. And then, perhaps as some miracle, an engineer manages to build the Flintlock. This firing mechanism allows a well made gun to fire twice as fast, and to misfire less often especially in poor weather.
The Imperial Gunnery School immediately beguns a large-scale project to retool huge sections of the manufacturing portion of the School to allow for it to move from the Nulner Rifle to the Flintlock and the Militarstutz has begun drawing up paperwork to requisition enough of the new gun to equip the entire Great Company.
Word of the new mechanism has filtered down into the Ironsides swiftly enough that the workshops are growing overcrowded in their Company Quarter on the Militarstutz, but every effort has been made to prevent the details of the mechanism from spreading to the gunsmiths of Marienburg or Hergig.
-5,600 Marks, -400 Materials
+16 Relationship with the Imperial Gunnery School
The Flintlock developed.
+16 Relationship with the Imperial Gunnery School
The Flintlock developed.
The Stirland Crisis
Target: 50
Skill: 0 Companies Abroad
Council Effect: +22 Grand Marshal
Other Modifiers: +20 Iron Company Professionalism, -15 Wurtbad, -25 Eagle Castle, -10 Recent Resupply
Roll Result: 16+2 = 18 Fail
Skill: 0 Companies Abroad
Council Effect: +22 Grand Marshal
Other Modifiers: +20 Iron Company Professionalism, -15 Wurtbad, -25 Eagle Castle, -10 Recent Resupply
Roll Result: 16+2 = 18 Fail
Barges from Reikland and from the eastern Stirland have been making the journey to Wurtbad, no doubt enjoying the opportunity to hike up prices, but unfortunately for you still supplying the city with food and probably ammunition. Some care is taken to watch for any barges that might be transporting soldiers or, more importantly, cannon.
But for the time being the Iron Companies are not interested in starting another international incident and firing on the Stir's river traffic lest Talabecland and Reikland suddenly decide they would like to formalise a much more active position. Fortunately the Fathers of Suns have been taking more care with their experimental drakepowders, the most volatile stock has been left to one side and their rate of fire is certainly lowered but there have been no more explosive incidents in the midst of the Iron Companies at least.
[ ] No New Orders
Continue the bombardment of Wurtbad but make no other changes to the ongoing operation.
[ ] Fire on Barges
Wurtbad will not yield and will be too prepared to handle an assault if it continues to receive regular resupply. Fire on barges attempting to reach the city.
[ ] Storm Wurtbad
Time is of the essence, launch an assault on Wurtbad immediately and drive the defenders back into Eagle Castle.
The Ranaldian Agreement
Not all of this year's most notable affairs were those your counsellors spent months working towards, expending the resources of the Palace to develop new structures or technologies. Some of them came to being inside your study, ink on paper. The Ranaldian Agreement comes in three main parts. The simplest is the legalisation of the Cult of Ranald. There is a representative of the Cult who reports to the Pontiff whenever the Cult needs to answer questions or whenever someone attempts to claim Ranald's will as a legal argument. But by and large the Cult will remain in underground gambling halls, thieves guilds and the like.
A more public facing Shine to Ranald, you understand will be installed near the South Gate to well-wish any travellers leaving through it into the Province. You are warned that legitimising the Cult of Ranald is a radical position to take, not only is it a Classical Cult but it is one that comes with significant negative aspects and hasn't been legalised in any of the other Provinces. Some care is made in your decree to remark on the aspects of Ranald that are valuable in decent society. Ranald the Protector, Ranald the Roadfarer, Ranald the Risk-Taker.
Which leads directly into the other two parts of the Agreement. The Defence of the Realm Act is written into law and mandates that legal recognition within Wissenland requires that those legitimised Cults must act in the interest of the Defence of the Realm whenever faced with threats of total destruction. The Act defines these threats as Beastmen, Greenskins, Servants of Chaos and Necromancers. You dither about specifying Vampires but the Empire hasn't been significantly troubled by Vampiric threats since Sigmar and even then they were a footnote against the backdrop of Necromancers.
Wording too strongly anti-Vampire might push Grand Count Vlad von Carstein to a realisation that he has been discovered. And after Middenheim the possibility of a faction in Imperial politics that doesn't intend to expunge the Vampires leads you to wonder if anti-Vampire wording is necessarily useful. After all, Van Hal's conference posed the possibility of von Carstein using necromancy to conquer the Empire but didn't definitively prove that he has yet crossed the line into necromancy.
Regardless the Defence of the Realm Act doesn't actually impact most Cults, the Great Cults have Templar Orders and tenets requiring them to act for the good of mankind. The Pontiff does make an effort to ensure that the Cults aren't too disturbed by the Act, the Shallyans for example need not militarily engage such threats of total destruction; you're not about to lift the ban on the Plague Wardens anytime soon. The Minor Cults meanwhile are covered by a clause that simply requires clergy to make the proper authorities aware of the presence of such threats. And you doubt any Old Faither Druid would refuse to raise the alarm about a Brayherd or warband of Goblins.
Even the Cult of Soll is unconcerned about the Act, they abhor Necromancers as much as any other Cult. And yet you know the clergy of the Cult of Soll face frequent accusations of sheltering sorcerors. You have a strong suspicion that the portion of the Cult that sympathises with sorcerors fails to identify them correctly as servants of Chaos. All good Imperials should know that sorcery is a creation of Chaos and therefore all sorcerors are, however otherwise well-meaning they may intend to be, servants of Chaos. The Pontiff agrees to speak with the Inquisition to see about enforcing the Act in the Sudenland.
Behind the scenes the Defence of the Realm Act targets the Cult of Ranald in particular, it doesn't officially have a Templar Order and you don't think it even has one unofficially but it is hard to know given the secretive nature of the Cult. The Confidancy is a pathway for the Confidante and the Cult of Ranald to co-operate. The Cult is required, as part of the terms of its legitimisation, to support the Confidante in all of her efforts where they have the resources to bring to bear.
The final part of the Ranaldian Arrangement is the Industrielplatz Safety Reform. A series of small laws that together create huge changes for the way the Industrielplatz works. It forbids children under the age of fourteen from being employed on the Industrielplatz, it establishes the Industrial Safety Board whose inspectors must look into any death which occurs in any of the businesses of the Industrielplatz and will create smaller safety reforms to impose on the Industrielplatz and of course will mandate that the business at fault pays a pension to the family of the deceased.
The Industrielplatz Safety Reform is controversial, the Bank and the Industrielplatz dislike it and even some of the lower class are concerned that you're cutting their incomes. Two provisions laid out include an overcrowding rule and forbids children from the working floor which means fewer jobs in each factory and fewer possible workers in each family. But the Cult hails it as a real step forwards, the Shallyans seem to agree and even the Secessionists hail it as a landmark piece of legislation.
Another key feature of the year, which doesn't immediately make waves or really cross your desk very often, is the deal that Mariele has agreed with the Di Miragliano School of the Sciences. The College has sold the secrets behind the Dry Compass, which Di Miragliano is already working on improving using a few quick diagrams he sketched of Elven instruments, and the Gypsum Fertiliser which you imagine will see some use in Tilea but the market isn't as interested in the product as the Wissenland. Indeed the Di Miragliano school is even negotiating a deal with Kreutzhofen to provide the sheer mass of fertiliser needed for some of the Upper Vales.
And the Imperial Gunnery School, very reluctantly, agrees to share the secrets of Blackpowder. The formulae used by the School descends directly from the designs used by the Dwarfs and is superior to some strains used elsewhere in the Empire. The Di Miragliano has made a wise decision to choose to buy the secret therefore from Nuln, it is the best lineage after all.
The other side of the deal is of some interest too of course. One of Di Miragliano's famed Steam Engines has been shipped to Nuln. After a fight between the various institutions over who gets to enjoy the privilege of hosting it, the Grand University has won and the Steam Engine is in a central hall of the University. Fill it with water, light the boiler, and it can spin at high speeds or even spin a heavy weight at slower speeds. There's been a discussion about powered mills lately.
Other things to come out of Di Miragliano's School are two of Di Miragliano's personal journals. The Di Ottica and the Di Machinis. One of the topics in the Ottica that has gathered substantial interest is an Elven Far-Seer, a handheld device that allows Elven captains to see over great distances. And the Di Machinis has gotten attention for its description of an unweighted spring that should apparently allow for smaller clocks. You're not exactly sure why smaller clocks should be so interesting, except maybe two clocks together for use in co-ordinating maneuvers between two fighting forces. But High Master of the Schools, Gerhard Moehring, has advised you that like most of Di Miragliano's inventive works these are likely intended for use at sea.
Word from the rest of the Old World is slim however. Besides the wedding in Ulriczeit at Middenheim, nothing of note seems to happen at all. You choose to take it as a good sign, the other attendees of the Conference acting quietly to prepare for a future war. And some voice in the back of your mind worries that it is a sign the other attendees aren't actually doing anything at all.
On the Sylvanian front nothing seems to change, the camp outside Raab is still there. The Averlander Ambassador brings notes from the frontline that the Sylvanian State Troop have certailny been doing something, there's plenty of coming and going from their camp but they haven't moved an inch. In fact since they raised an embankment and a palisade around their camp, about a year into their stay outside of Raab, they haven't even launched patrols to keep the Stirlanders hemmed in. The ambassador remarks at one point that the Averlanders are doing more to keep the Stirlanders at Raab than the Sylvanians are.
Meanwhile the Wissenland Gazette has news concerning the wider Empire.
The Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire has announced a new Imperial Engineering School in Altdorf and is reaching out to engineers across the Old World including Dwarfs.
The Ottilian Empress has marched the wounded Talabeclander State Troop into Mordheim once more, bringing the fledgling Ostermarker State Troop with her. Perhaps she hopes the Ostermarkers will have an easier time of securing the ruined city.
The Wolf Emperor has married Hildegarde Tussen-Hochen of Bergsberg and retired to the Middle Mountains to honeymoon. In the meantime Carroburg has been rebuilding under the guidance of their Duke and Bergsberg has founded its own Middenball football team.
Intelligence Report:
The Confidante of the Seat has been overseeing efforts to watch over the underworld of Wissenland.
- Sabotage in the siege camps, someone in Stirland and you can probably guess who, has tried to poison the water supplies.
- The Silent Tome has identified a couple of people lately trying to check out restricted books on engineering secrets that are for members of the various institutions only. Nothing has come of it however.
You have 10 Action Dice. You must apply at least one Action Die to the Province. One Action Die is locked into the Stirland Crisis.
Develop Diplomacy
You're not terrible at diplomacy but you're also not a particular expert. Take some lessons to advance your Diplomacy skill.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 160
Engage with a Noble, Notable or Cult (Write-In which Person of Power)
The Wissenland is made of varied Estates, Cults and the City, improving the relationship between yourself and one of your People of Power can improve their investment in the Province. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the person)
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
Engage with an Elector (Write-In which Elector)
The Empire is made up of several provinces and improving the relationship between yourself and their Elector can create inter-province agreements and support. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the Elector)
Cost: 1,000 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 150
Engage with a Neighbour (Write-In which Neighbour)
The Old World is made up of several nations and improving the relationship between the Wissenland and one of her neighbours can create international agreements and support. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the Neighbour)
Cost: 1,000 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 100
Family Matters
You've a family now, and certain dynastic obligations. Engage with the entirety of your family, likely at the retreat of Castle Liebwitz, make light, make fun and enjoy yourselves. Electors have a need to relax, as does your family.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 25
Unveil the Vampire
Van Hal's Conference has revealed a most terrible secret. Sylvania has been subverted by dark forces. The attendees of the Conference are working in secret to prepare for the inevitable war, many of them will be advising patrons and the Conference's subject cannot remain a secret for long. Indeed von Carstein might already know. End the games of intrigue. Publically declare Vlad von Carstein a vampire.
Cost: 500 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
You're not terrible at diplomacy but you're also not a particular expert. Take some lessons to advance your Diplomacy skill.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 160
Engage with a Noble, Notable or Cult (Write-In which Person of Power)
The Wissenland is made of varied Estates, Cults and the City, improving the relationship between yourself and one of your People of Power can improve their investment in the Province. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the person)
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
Engage with an Elector (Write-In which Elector)
The Empire is made up of several provinces and improving the relationship between yourself and their Elector can create inter-province agreements and support. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the Elector)
Cost: 1,000 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 150
Engage with a Neighbour (Write-In which Neighbour)
The Old World is made up of several nations and improving the relationship between the Wissenland and one of her neighbours can create international agreements and support. This may also be an opportunity to have more complex discussions about their wants and needs or to make a proposition. (May write-in a suggestion for the discussion you want with the Neighbour)
Cost: 1,000 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 100
Family Matters
You've a family now, and certain dynastic obligations. Engage with the entirety of your family, likely at the retreat of Castle Liebwitz, make light, make fun and enjoy yourselves. Electors have a need to relax, as does your family.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 25
Unveil the Vampire
Van Hal's Conference has revealed a most terrible secret. Sylvania has been subverted by dark forces. The attendees of the Conference are working in secret to prepare for the inevitable war, many of them will be advising patrons and the Conference's subject cannot remain a secret for long. Indeed von Carstein might already know. End the games of intrigue. Publically declare Vlad von Carstein a vampire.
Cost: 500 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
Develop Martial
You're noteworthy for being a skilled leader of men and for your military mind. But there's always more progress that could be made.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 300
Expand an Iron Company (Select an Iron Company)
Recruit, train and equip men to expand one of the Iron Companies. +10% Company size.
Cost: 2,000 Marks, 500 Food, 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: 0/300
Fortify the Border (Select a Settlement)
Invest effort in the improvement of the fortifications around a border settlement of the Wissenland.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: See List of Options
Call up Free Company (Select a Free Company)
Send out the word that you're commanding a Free Company to come into order and assemble.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
Improve Free Company (Select a Free Company)
Issue equipment to volunteers, send out sergeants and spread the word that all men should join their Reserve.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 100 Materials per Die.
Required Effort: 0/200
The Stirland Crisis
The Iron Companies have marched into Stirland to overthrow Haupt-Anderssen and replace him with Lutz.
Must Beat: 50
The Officer's Academy
As its name suggests the Officer's Academy in the Militarstutz trains up officers for the Iron Companies it is also home to libraries of military manuals where tactics, strategy and doctrine are discussed and debated. In light of the Conference old manuals on warfare against necromancers will need to be dusted off and as something of an expert in tactics and strategy you shall go to the Academy and begin writing your own manual to revise the current doctrine of the Iron Companies.
(Write-In one change to make to the tactics, strategy or doctrine of the Iron Companies)
Cost 500 Marks per Die
Required Effort: 0/100
Re-equip the Great Company
The Imperial Gunnery School is still spooling up its new equipment to mass produce the new rifle. To supply the whole Great Company will take time and resources and the School could be selling these rifles commerically instead. There are old contracts with the School to arm the Militarstutz at a priority but those only name the Nulner Rifle. Put in a contract to re-equip the Great Company with the new guns.
Cost: 3000 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: 0/240
You're noteworthy for being a skilled leader of men and for your military mind. But there's always more progress that could be made.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 300
Expand an Iron Company (Select an Iron Company)
Recruit, train and equip men to expand one of the Iron Companies. +10% Company size.
Cost: 2,000 Marks, 500 Food, 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: 0/300
Fortify the Border (Select a Settlement)
Invest effort in the improvement of the fortifications around a border settlement of the Wissenland.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: See List of Options
The City of Nuln - 0/2,500
Grissenwald Town - 243/1000
Kreutzhofen Town - 0/1000
Nehren Town - 0/1000
Sonnefurt Fort - 0/1000
Kroppenleben Village - 0/1000
Heisenburg Village - 284/500
Jengen Village - 0/500
Grissenwald Town - 243/1000
Kreutzhofen Town - 0/1000
Nehren Town - 0/1000
Sonnefurt Fort - 0/1000
Kroppenleben Village - 0/1000
Heisenburg Village - 284/500
Jengen Village - 0/500
Call up Free Company (Select a Free Company)
Send out the word that you're commanding a Free Company to come into order and assemble.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 50
Improve Free Company (Select a Free Company)
Issue equipment to volunteers, send out sergeants and spread the word that all men should join their Reserve.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 100 Materials per Die.
Required Effort: 0/200
The Stirland Crisis
The Iron Companies have marched into Stirland to overthrow Haupt-Anderssen and replace him with Lutz.
Must Beat: 50
The Officer's Academy
As its name suggests the Officer's Academy in the Militarstutz trains up officers for the Iron Companies it is also home to libraries of military manuals where tactics, strategy and doctrine are discussed and debated. In light of the Conference old manuals on warfare against necromancers will need to be dusted off and as something of an expert in tactics and strategy you shall go to the Academy and begin writing your own manual to revise the current doctrine of the Iron Companies.
(Write-In one change to make to the tactics, strategy or doctrine of the Iron Companies)
Cost 500 Marks per Die
Required Effort: 0/100
Re-equip the Great Company
The Imperial Gunnery School is still spooling up its new equipment to mass produce the new rifle. To supply the whole Great Company will take time and resources and the School could be selling these rifles commerically instead. There are old contracts with the School to arm the Militarstutz at a priority but those only name the Nulner Rifle. Put in a contract to re-equip the Great Company with the new guns.
Cost: 3000 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
Required Effort: 0/240
Develop Stewardship
You're below average at this whole Stewardship thing, perhaps numbers aren't quite your field. Perhaps you need to work on your skill.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 110
Prospect the Mountains (Select a Settlement)
Send out Prospectors into the Province around one of the Mountain-side settlements.
Cost: 400 Marks per Die
Must Beat See List of Options
Expand Mines (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the existing mines to dig deeper and more greedily around already known veins.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
Expand Farms (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the fertile land of the Rivers of the Wissenland to expand the farms of the estates.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die.
Effort Required: See List of Options
Riverine Docks (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the dockyards of a river-side settlement to improve trade through it.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die.
Effort Required: See List of Options
Invest in City Institutions (Select an Institution)
Dedicate your efforts to expanding and improving the facilities of a City Institution.
Cost: 1,600 Marks and 300 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
The Wissenland Road Network
In the Sudenland there is a road network that runs throughout the Province as a significant rival to the riverine network. The Wissenland however has no such network, most Baronies and Counties are connected to their neighbours only by river. It is time to weave the Wissenland together by road, which means major infrastructure projects.
Cost: 1,500 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
You're below average at this whole Stewardship thing, perhaps numbers aren't quite your field. Perhaps you need to work on your skill.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 110
Prospect the Mountains (Select a Settlement)
Send out Prospectors into the Province around one of the Mountain-side settlements.
Cost: 400 Marks per Die
Must Beat See List of Options
Tierhugel - 200
Scharmbeck - 100
Dotternbach - 100
Halgerbach - 100
Owingen - 25
Heisenberg - 25
Nehren - 25
Weilerberg - 25
Kreutzhofen - 25
Rohrhausen - 25
Oshausen - 25
Kroppenleben - 25
Ummenbach - 25
Jengen - 25
Scharmbeck - 100
Dotternbach - 100
Halgerbach - 100
Owingen - 25
Heisenberg - 25
Nehren - 25
Weilerberg - 25
Kreutzhofen - 25
Rohrhausen - 25
Oshausen - 25
Kroppenleben - 25
Ummenbach - 25
Jengen - 25
Expand Mines (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the existing mines to dig deeper and more greedily around already known veins.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
Tierhugel - 0/400
Dotternbach - 0/200
Halgerbach - 0/200
Scharmbeck - 0/200
Jengen Quarry - 0/150
Dotternbach - 0/200
Halgerbach - 0/200
Scharmbeck - 0/200
Jengen Quarry - 0/150
Expand Farms (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the fertile land of the Rivers of the Wissenland to expand the farms of the estates.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die.
Effort Required: See List of Options
Geschburg - 0/200
Meissen - 0/150
Steingart - 0/150
Althausen - 0/150
Eigenhof - 0/150
Wusterburg - 0/150
Rotenbach - 0/150
Durbheim - 0/150
Wittenhausen - 0/150
Auggen - 0/100
Erbshauen - 0/100
Hausern - 0/100
Hornfurt - 0/100
Hinkend - 0/100
Pahl - 0/100
Salmfahre - 0/100
Waldbach - 0/100
Wissenburg - 0/100
Wurmgrube - 0/100
Meissen - 0/150
Steingart - 0/150
Althausen - 0/150
Eigenhof - 0/150
Wusterburg - 0/150
Rotenbach - 0/150
Durbheim - 0/150
Wittenhausen - 0/150
Auggen - 0/100
Erbshauen - 0/100
Hausern - 0/100
Hornfurt - 0/100
Hinkend - 0/100
Pahl - 0/100
Salmfahre - 0/100
Waldbach - 0/100
Wissenburg - 0/100
Wurmgrube - 0/100
Riverine Docks (Select a Settlement)
Invest in the dockyards of a river-side settlement to improve trade through it.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die.
Effort Required: See List of Options
City of Nuln - 0/350
Kreutzhofen - 0/250
Geschburg - 0/200
Wissenburg - 0/200
Wusterburg - 0/200
Bedernau - 0/150
Jengen - 0/150
Mauchen - 0/150
Meissen - 0/150
Pfeildorf - 0/150
Sonnefurt - 0/150
Steingart - 0/150
Ballenhof - 0/100
Sexau - 0/100
Osterzell - 0/100
Rohrhof - 0/100
Kreutzhofen - 0/250
Geschburg - 0/200
Wissenburg - 0/200
Wusterburg - 0/200
Bedernau - 0/150
Jengen - 0/150
Mauchen - 0/150
Meissen - 0/150
Pfeildorf - 0/150
Sonnefurt - 0/150
Steingart - 0/150
Ballenhof - 0/100
Sexau - 0/100
Osterzell - 0/100
Rohrhof - 0/100
Invest in City Institutions (Select an Institution)
Dedicate your efforts to expanding and improving the facilities of a City Institution.
Cost: 1,600 Marks and 300 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
The Industrielplatz - 0/600
- An expansion of the City's industrial district can be a great economic boon if the forges can be fed.
Imperial Gunnery School - 0/400
- An expansion of the School's manufacturing departments will allow for the manufacture of more of its products quicker.
The Bank of Nuln - 0/250
- Partnering with the Bank of Nuln on one of their own investments can open up opportunities throughout the Old World or perhaps even beyond.
College of Engineering - 0/250
- An expansion of the College's commercial departments will allow their civilian inventions to boost the economy. Of note the College is looking to build a Fertiliser Manufactory Wing to supply the huge quantity of Gypsum Fertiliser needed to improve the Wissenland's arability.
- An expansion of the City's industrial district can be a great economic boon if the forges can be fed.
Imperial Gunnery School - 0/400
- An expansion of the School's manufacturing departments will allow for the manufacture of more of its products quicker.
The Bank of Nuln - 0/250
- Partnering with the Bank of Nuln on one of their own investments can open up opportunities throughout the Old World or perhaps even beyond.
College of Engineering - 0/250
- An expansion of the College's commercial departments will allow their civilian inventions to boost the economy. Of note the College is looking to build a Fertiliser Manufactory Wing to supply the huge quantity of Gypsum Fertiliser needed to improve the Wissenland's arability.
The Wissenland Road Network
In the Sudenland there is a road network that runs throughout the Province as a significant rival to the riverine network. The Wissenland however has no such network, most Baronies and Counties are connected to their neighbours only by river. It is time to weave the Wissenland together by road, which means major infrastructure projects.
Cost: 1,500 Marks and 400 Materials per Die
Wissenburg-Wurmgrube Road - 0/400
(Includes the Wissen Bridge across the River Dottern)
Dotternbach-Wurmgrube Road - 0/400
(Includes the Dottern Bridge across the River Dottern)
Wurmgrube-Meissen Road - 0/300
(Includes the Harrach Bridge across the River Harrach)
Meissen-Salmfahre Road - 0/500
(Includes the Salm Bridge across the River Salm)
Trulben-Wusterburg Road - 0/200
Nehren-Weilerberg Road - 0/300
Wusterburg-Weilerberg Road - 0/400
(Includes the Wissen Bridge across the River Dottern)
Dotternbach-Wurmgrube Road - 0/400
(Includes the Dottern Bridge across the River Dottern)
Wurmgrube-Meissen Road - 0/300
(Includes the Harrach Bridge across the River Harrach)
Meissen-Salmfahre Road - 0/500
(Includes the Salm Bridge across the River Salm)
Trulben-Wusterburg Road - 0/200
Nehren-Weilerberg Road - 0/300
Wusterburg-Weilerberg Road - 0/400
Develop Intrigue
You're alright at Intrigue, plots come together, and intelligence efforts are effective enough. But you could certainly improve.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 140
Investigate Threat (Select a Threat)
Your expanding network of informants and counter-agents means nowhere in Wissenland is a safe space for hostile forces.
Cost: 100 Marks per Die
Must Beat: See List of Options
Assault Threat (Select a Threat and Aim)
Your counter-agents are capable of seizing or killing hostile targets throughout Wissenland, though sometimes the Black Guard must ride down the enemy.
Cost: 400 Marks and 40 Materials per Die
Must Beat: See List of Options
Establish Agents (Select any faction you can perform diplomacy with)
Train and deploy intelligence staff capable of spying, stealing, kidnapping and killing on your orders with discretion and subtlety.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Food per Die
Must Beat: 100
Establish Counteragents (Select a Region)
Train and deploy intelligence staff capable of detecting, arresting or killing agents within the Regions of the Wissenland. (Nuln, Wissenland, Sudenland)
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Food per Die
Must Beat: 100
You're alright at Intrigue, plots come together, and intelligence efforts are effective enough. But you could certainly improve.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 140
Investigate Threat (Select a Threat)
Your expanding network of informants and counter-agents means nowhere in Wissenland is a safe space for hostile forces.
Cost: 100 Marks per Die
Must Beat: See List of Options
Secessionists - 100
Sollander Independence Movement - 50
Sollander Independence Movement - 50
Assault Threat (Select a Threat and Aim)
Your counter-agents are capable of seizing or killing hostile targets throughout Wissenland, though sometimes the Black Guard must ride down the enemy.
Cost: 400 Marks and 40 Materials per Die
Must Beat: See List of Options
Secessionists - Arrest 100 - Kill 200
Sollander Independence Movement - Requires military expedition.
Sollander Independence Movement - Requires military expedition.
Establish Agents (Select any faction you can perform diplomacy with)
Train and deploy intelligence staff capable of spying, stealing, kidnapping and killing on your orders with discretion and subtlety.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Food per Die
Must Beat: 100
Establish Counteragents (Select a Region)
Train and deploy intelligence staff capable of detecting, arresting or killing agents within the Regions of the Wissenland. (Nuln, Wissenland, Sudenland)
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Food per Die
Must Beat: 100
Develop Learning
You're known to be a learned man, a natural consequence of your Cult and the city of your birth. But a learned man knows firstmost, there is always more to learn.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Heavy Handgun
The Flintlock is suitable for most purposes, it can handle accuracy at some measure of rnage and can put out a consistent rate of fire. The real reason behind building it was reliability in truth. But if the massed undead should arise and march to war, you suspect sheer mass of fire will be useful. The Heavy Handgun is a sort of unrifled flintlock that can be packed with grains of shot the size of a finger tip and blasts it outwards in a cloud of smoke and fire with little accuracy but a capacity to utterly demolish the space in front of it. Or at least that's the hope espoused by the optimistic paper that hits your desk asking for funding.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 150 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Shot Package
The Imperial Gunnery School believes that while the Great Cannon fires huge cannon balls quite well there's an argument to be made, they could fire more than one at once if only they could work out how to pack it.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 300
Develop the Gimbal Compass
The Dry Compass has been a great hit and proved that a magnetic compass is worth making and selling. But there's one major market where navigation is invaluable and where the Dry Compass doesn't work; sailors at sea. The College of Engineering believes it can develop a mechanism to allow the Dry Compass to still operate in environments with heavy pitching.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 800 Marks and 50 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 100
Develop the Mechanical Knitting Machine
The College of Engineering and the Cult of Myrmidia have an idea that should hopefully prove particularly valuable in the Sudenland. A machine that is capable of knitting by using needles that roughly follow the movements of hand-knitting. The more needles in the smaller a space, in theory the higher quality the cloth that would result.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 1,500 Marks and 100 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 150
Develop the Telescope
The Di Ottica describes an Elven Far-Seer, a handheld device by which Elven captains can see over long distances at see. Elven eyes can already see further than those of men supposedly and therefore the Di Ottica describes several adjustments that need to be made to the Far-Seer to make it suitable for human usage. Apparently it requires high quality glasswork however, a field that the Tileans have an advantage in over Nuln.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Mainspring
A mechanism of powering clocks without hefty weights, the mainspring is described in Di Miragliano's Di Machinis. It apparently makes clocks far smaller and far more portable without losing too much accuracy. Or at least that is Di Miragliano's hope. Apparently it will be yet another useful instrument for ships.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 800 Marks and 100 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 100
The Steam Piston
A device which spins rapidly or less rapidly but while spinning heavy weights, the Steam Engine could have any of a number of uses. Milling grain is the first that comes to mind, though what miller could afford a Steam Engine their mill. But the Industrielplatz could afford a few, all that it needs is a mechanism to attach the Steam Engine to heavy industrial machinery in such a way as to produce useful work.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 500 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 300
Invest in the Schools
Expand and improve the facilities of the institutions of learning that Nuln boasts.
Cost: 1,600 Marks and 300 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
You're known to be a learned man, a natural consequence of your Cult and the city of your birth. But a learned man knows firstmost, there is always more to learn.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Heavy Handgun
The Flintlock is suitable for most purposes, it can handle accuracy at some measure of rnage and can put out a consistent rate of fire. The real reason behind building it was reliability in truth. But if the massed undead should arise and march to war, you suspect sheer mass of fire will be useful. The Heavy Handgun is a sort of unrifled flintlock that can be packed with grains of shot the size of a finger tip and blasts it outwards in a cloud of smoke and fire with little accuracy but a capacity to utterly demolish the space in front of it. Or at least that's the hope espoused by the optimistic paper that hits your desk asking for funding.
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 150 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Shot Package
The Imperial Gunnery School believes that while the Great Cannon fires huge cannon balls quite well there's an argument to be made, they could fire more than one at once if only they could work out how to pack it.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 300
Develop the Gimbal Compass
The Dry Compass has been a great hit and proved that a magnetic compass is worth making and selling. But there's one major market where navigation is invaluable and where the Dry Compass doesn't work; sailors at sea. The College of Engineering believes it can develop a mechanism to allow the Dry Compass to still operate in environments with heavy pitching.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 800 Marks and 50 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 100
Develop the Mechanical Knitting Machine
The College of Engineering and the Cult of Myrmidia have an idea that should hopefully prove particularly valuable in the Sudenland. A machine that is capable of knitting by using needles that roughly follow the movements of hand-knitting. The more needles in the smaller a space, in theory the higher quality the cloth that would result.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 1,500 Marks and 100 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 150
Develop the Telescope
The Di Ottica describes an Elven Far-Seer, a handheld device by which Elven captains can see over long distances at see. Elven eyes can already see further than those of men supposedly and therefore the Di Ottica describes several adjustments that need to be made to the Far-Seer to make it suitable for human usage. Apparently it requires high quality glasswork however, a field that the Tileans have an advantage in over Nuln.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 1,000 Marks and 200 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 200
Develop the Mainspring
A mechanism of powering clocks without hefty weights, the mainspring is described in Di Miragliano's Di Machinis. It apparently makes clocks far smaller and far more portable without losing too much accuracy. Or at least that is Di Miragliano's hope. Apparently it will be yet another useful instrument for ships.
(The Di Miragliano School is interested by this project)
Cost: 800 Marks and 100 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 100
The Steam Piston
A device which spins rapidly or less rapidly but while spinning heavy weights, the Steam Engine could have any of a number of uses. Milling grain is the first that comes to mind, though what miller could afford a Steam Engine their mill. But the Industrielplatz could afford a few, all that it needs is a mechanism to attach the Steam Engine to heavy industrial machinery in such a way as to produce useful work.
Cost: 2,000 Marks and 500 Materials per Die
Must Beat: 300
Invest in the Schools
Expand and improve the facilities of the institutions of learning that Nuln boasts.
Cost: 1,600 Marks and 300 Materials per Die
Effort Required: See List of Options
The Grand University - 0/300
The Imperial Gunnery School - 0/300
The Universität - 0/100
The College of Engineering - 0/150
The Imperial Gunnery School - 0/300
The Universität - 0/100
The College of Engineering - 0/150
Develop Prowess
For all the effort you've put in, you're not perhaps as dangerous as you'd like to be.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 160
For all the effort you've put in, you're not perhaps as dangerous as you'd like to be.
Cost: 200 Marks per Die
Must Beat: 160
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I just skimmed the update, but I didn't expect the following:
He's a vampire, he wants to kill you and desecrate your corpse. What's wrong with you? Honestly, you don't even deserve to be a candidate for the position of emperor. "He's on my side right now" is so short-sighted.
He's a vampire, he wants to kill you and desecrate your corpse. What's wrong with you? Honestly, you don't even deserve to be a candidate for the position of emperor. "He's on my side right now" is so short-sighted.
"Other Modifiers: -36 Emperor of Reikland"
Damn, I swear to Verena, I fucking hate the Sigmarites sometimes. Is this penalty due to an actual Intrigue action from Reikland or is it mere opinion disposition acting as a passive interference?
Other than that, finally, we have eyes in Sylvania (kinda). That said, I'm kinda leaning on the merchant company there. Sending agents from our lands seems a bit too expositive from our part, like, an influx of strangers getting into a province while all this mess is going on? Slightly suspicious not matter how subtle.
Damn, I swear to Verena, I fucking hate the Sigmarites sometimes. Is this penalty due to an actual Intrigue action from Reikland or is it mere opinion disposition acting as a passive interference?
Other than that, finally, we have eyes in Sylvania (kinda). That said, I'm kinda leaning on the merchant company there. Sending agents from our lands seems a bit too expositive from our part, like, an influx of strangers getting into a province while all this mess is going on? Slightly suspicious not matter how subtle.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean…this is kind of huge, isn't it? We are partially controlling one of the most economically prosperous regions of the divided Empire that isn't our own. We may as well be printing money if we play our cards right, as well as uniting them against Sylvania early.
- Location
- Texas
Oh you, you're disssssspicable........
- Location
- Someplace USA
Canon event tbh they were always going to. The change is probably Nuln having a much better relationship with mr not di vinci.
The Mainspring & The Steam Piston give me dreams of making steam cores. But alas, it's such a faraway goal... But in the meantime, will there be some synergy if we develop the Mechanical Knitting Machine & Steam Piston in that the Steam Piston would make the Knitting Machine more efficient, or even allow more research in developing steam powered Knitting Machines that can potentially even be run automatically? Cause if that's the case, maybe this could have a butterfly effect to the point where we can even develop machine tools for blacksmiths and factories.
Edit: I don't get it, is the 'Heavy Handgun' an upgraded blunderbuss, or is it just a flintlock with a larger caliber of bullet? Would be able to price multiple undead and if so how many would it be able to shoot through until it stops if shot at a hord? How effective is it against more monstrous foes like be Crypt Horrors, Grave Guard, & Vargheist? Is it a one-shot one-kill for them?
Edit: I don't get it, is the 'Heavy Handgun' an upgraded blunderbuss, or is it just a flintlock with a larger caliber of bullet? Would be able to price multiple undead and if so how many would it be able to shoot through until it stops if shot at a hord? How effective is it against more monstrous foes like be Crypt Horrors, Grave Guard, & Vargheist? Is it a one-shot one-kill for them?
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Excerpts from the Writings of Elector Count Bismarck von Liebwitz
- Location
- Canada
Excerpts from the Writings of Elector Count Bismarck von Liebwitz
Assumed to have been written circa 2012 IC, prior to the first battles of the Vampire War
... avoid sieges at all cost, both offensive and defensive; Undead do not possess morale to damage, are unharmed by disease (and could probably use it offensively, would they work with Chaos like that? Prioritize sanitation), and have unlimited endurance due to no need of resupply (unless Necromancers/Vampires can't keep them active 24/7?). All attrition favors them...
Corpse disposal takes priority. Locating sufficient firewood will be an issue; any battle from which you must abandon the field without cremating all the dead benefits the opponent. Given the sheer amount of Warpstone available (sabotage missions?) we must win every battle or take the fallen with us. Perhaps the Cult of Morr has options?... Seek allies from Luccini; overtures from the local Cult, or perhaps a word with Fiorella's brother?
More intel is needed. How many vampires are there, how many can use necromancy, how many undead can one support? Necromancers were always vulnerable to decapitation tactics; is that viable against vampires? Need more information on vampiric weaknesses, need to disseminate such tactics alongside general anti-undead methods to the armies. Perhaps a liaison from the Witch Hunters and the Cult of Morr?
... the threat posed by lone Necromancers cannot be compared to an entire Province of the Empire given over to vampiric sorceries. Sheer numbers alone will swamp any attempt to defeat the foe with conventional methods. Targeting all necromancers will be the first priority, but attritional warfare will inevitable ensue. How can we even identify a necromancer hiding among the undead? Do they even need to be on the same battlefield? Can multiple necromancers...
Field battles risk being overrun by sheer numbers (unless the landscape can be shaped? How do the undead fare in river crossings?). Sieges risk total annihilation, but provides time to explore other options. Pin the enemy in place and catch in a vise? But undead labor means investments of hard points will be easy, contravallations and circumvallations will be significant...
... ordering additional artillery will be vital. Usefulness of current armaments will need to be assessed; how effective are firearms against skeletons? How effective is shrapnel?...
"Sisters of Lahmia" are another priority; vampiric infiltration, both on and off the battlefield, is something few have experience in. What are their abilities and what are the available countermeasures? The Tower should have more information.
Assumed to have been written circa 2012 IC, prior to the first battles of the Vampire War
... avoid sieges at all cost, both offensive and defensive; Undead do not possess morale to damage, are unharmed by disease (and could probably use it offensively, would they work with Chaos like that? Prioritize sanitation), and have unlimited endurance due to no need of resupply (unless Necromancers/Vampires can't keep them active 24/7?). All attrition favors them...
Corpse disposal takes priority. Locating sufficient firewood will be an issue; any battle from which you must abandon the field without cremating all the dead benefits the opponent. Given the sheer amount of Warpstone available (sabotage missions?) we must win every battle or take the fallen with us. Perhaps the Cult of Morr has options?... Seek allies from Luccini; overtures from the local Cult, or perhaps a word with Fiorella's brother?
More intel is needed. How many vampires are there, how many can use necromancy, how many undead can one support? Necromancers were always vulnerable to decapitation tactics; is that viable against vampires? Need more information on vampiric weaknesses, need to disseminate such tactics alongside general anti-undead methods to the armies. Perhaps a liaison from the Witch Hunters and the Cult of Morr?
... the threat posed by lone Necromancers cannot be compared to an entire Province of the Empire given over to vampiric sorceries. Sheer numbers alone will swamp any attempt to defeat the foe with conventional methods. Targeting all necromancers will be the first priority, but attritional warfare will inevitable ensue. How can we even identify a necromancer hiding among the undead? Do they even need to be on the same battlefield? Can multiple necromancers...
Field battles risk being overrun by sheer numbers (unless the landscape can be shaped? How do the undead fare in river crossings?). Sieges risk total annihilation, but provides time to explore other options. Pin the enemy in place and catch in a vise? But undead labor means investments of hard points will be easy, contravallations and circumvallations will be significant...
... ordering additional artillery will be vital. Usefulness of current armaments will need to be assessed; how effective are firearms against skeletons? How effective is shrapnel?...
"Sisters of Lahmia" are another priority; vampiric infiltration, both on and off the battlefield, is something few have experience in. What are their abilities and what are the available countermeasures? The Tower should have more information.
Gotta show off that 30 Martial skill! I assume poor Bismarck is quietly panicking at the thought of having to fight such a new opponent with no prior experience to fall back on, especially since he's going up against an entire Province with 200 years of preparation, enough Warpstone to make the Skaven emasculated, and very little backup.
This is me trying to capture his frantic brainstorming of all the possible ways Sylvania is gonna turn into a meatgrinder. Just him musing about the woodchipper he has to stick his arm in.
This is me trying to capture his frantic brainstorming of all the possible ways Sylvania is gonna turn into a meatgrinder. Just him musing about the woodchipper he has to stick his arm in.
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This is why I recommend we make significant investment in developing better light Caverly (give them guns) and upgrading our free company militia. If we can't do sieges and field battles without getting overrun & if the undead horde can just fortify any positions against artillery, we need faster, flexible, & maneuverable troops & Caverly (specifically Pistolers) to either bait large clusters of undead to be headed into artillery/gunner kill zones or harasses/distract more monstrous forces of the undead to prevent/delay them from smashing our frontlines. For the protracted war of attrition, we need to invest in free company militias (aka gib more guns) so that they can effectively conduct guerrilla warfare against Vlad, forcing him to disperse his slow-moving forces or even more valuable monstrous assets to put down well armed partisan groups in random places that are harnessing the local forces there. In conclusion, if we can't fight open-field battles or sieges against Vlad, we need to spam light Caverly and free companies to harass & divide his forces enough so that we can withstand the war of attrition and make the conditions necessary to eventually win the larger field battles.
Also, have we notified all the cults about the Salvynains, cause the Cult of Shallya and most others seem to be in the dark and think we are arming up to fight our neighbors? I say we tell them so we can coerce them to join in the mobilization by giving us more surgeons and devising means to fight the undead or at least prevent new ones from occurring.
Edit: I don't know whether to consider rolling an 18 fail in The Stirland Crisis as either a disappointing omen about our current military abilities or a blessing in disguise by Ranald to keep the vampires from suspecting anything to buy us more time.
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- Location
- Someplace USA
@Jonny_boy
site doesn't like double posts. Normally if we have more to say and are the last poster we edit it it in often under a
Edit:
site doesn't like double posts. Normally if we have more to say and are the last poster we edit it it in often under a
Edit:
- Location
- Germany
Thank god there have been at least some ambiguous reaction to Von Carstein in Middenland.
It would have broken my SoD if literally everyone had instantly united against Vlad, in this age and situation.
The Empire didn't even manage to unite against the Everchosen without Magnus.
And Vampires are a minor and unknown threat.
It would have broken my SoD if literally everyone had instantly united against Vlad, in this age and situation.
The Empire didn't even manage to unite against the Everchosen without Magnus.
And Vampires are a minor and unknown threat.
- Location
- Over the next hill.
Vlad's about to start something. If he's not busy here and content to keep us at Wurtbad, he's doing something somewhere else.
It will soon be very necessary for us to make progress in weapons research. It's good that we got over 200, but I noticed one thing, even if it probably doesn't change anything:
It is 352 in total, the modifiers were not taken into account. This would have meant we could have achieved 300 at once, our "most expensive" project.
- Location
- Over the next hill.
What are the limits to what actions we can make Marienburg do? Can we ask them to build stuff within Wissenland? Or ask them to help add a die to one of our actions doing so? Or does the Marienburg action have to be a totally separate write-in?
I had the idea of letting them help build the fortress at Grenzstadt while we do other stuff and I was wondering if that was possible.
Edit: Oh and if we pick United Behind Wissenland does the extra action kick in this turn or next turn?
@Warkeymon
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- Pronouns
- Warkeymon
The Heavy Handgun is an advanced blunderbuss. It shoots shot rather than single balls. It's been a long time since the last necromantic crisis so the effectiveness of any black powder weapon against the undead is something that human military journals make little mention of. You'll have to shoot the various undead and see how it works.
Thanks for pointing it out. I've updated the numbers. Fortunately I don't need to re-write the section.
Marienburg can be asked to act anywhere you have permission to act, so they could work on Grenzstadt or in Wissenland; thread willing. And they can be used as a bonus die on your own projects instead.
The extra Marienburg die becomes available next turn rather than this turn and remains available until the Second Conference or the Marienburgers feel that the war has started in full (whichever comes first).
The Marienburg die will need to be noted to say which die it is in a given plan since people will react to it differently.
- Location
- Over the next hill.
[ ] United Behind Wissenland
[ ] Insist on Raab
I think we should take these two. We have 70k materials in stockpile so we can afford both of these costs. United Behind Wissenland gives us an extra die we can use to speed up the fortification of Grenzstadt.
Politically, the combination of these actions are incredibly good. We tie the Averlanders and Marienburgers more closely to our sphere. We make plans for the future defense of the southern Empire and protect Stirland. We won't need to fortify Jengen as fast with Grenzstadt more heavily fortified. Lastly, we screw over Reikland by courting the only province who could possibly join their faction. THe Grand Theogonist is going to feel some massive regret passing us over as the Sigmarite candidate for Emperor.
Speaking of Emperorship, we have the opportunity to become the biggest Imperial Candidate if we so choose if we grow our sphere a bit and solidify our ties. Marienburg, Stirland, Averland and us make four votes. If we can get the Moot that brings us up to five. I know the Sigmarites in Reikland are omega cringe but we can snipe their Imperial Candidacy from them. Just pointing it out, deal with Vlad and the vampires first.
[ ] The Ar-Ulric's Faction
[ ] The Howling Wolves
[ ] An Imperial Winter
I'm of the opinion that Todbringer is a lost cause. The Ar-Ulric seems to be the only one taking Vlad seriously. If he wants to be dumb and attack Reikland let him. That's two possible rivals weakened. If he tries to attack us while Vlad is going full vampire he'll never get the support of any of the other electors.
[ ] Insist on Raab
I think we should take these two. We have 70k materials in stockpile so we can afford both of these costs. United Behind Wissenland gives us an extra die we can use to speed up the fortification of Grenzstadt.
Politically, the combination of these actions are incredibly good. We tie the Averlanders and Marienburgers more closely to our sphere. We make plans for the future defense of the southern Empire and protect Stirland. We won't need to fortify Jengen as fast with Grenzstadt more heavily fortified. Lastly, we screw over Reikland by courting the only province who could possibly join their faction. THe Grand Theogonist is going to feel some massive regret passing us over as the Sigmarite candidate for Emperor.
Speaking of Emperorship, we have the opportunity to become the biggest Imperial Candidate if we so choose if we grow our sphere a bit and solidify our ties. Marienburg, Stirland, Averland and us make four votes. If we can get the Moot that brings us up to five. I know the Sigmarites in Reikland are omega cringe but we can snipe their Imperial Candidacy from them. Just pointing it out, deal with Vlad and the vampires first.
[ ] The Ar-Ulric's Faction
[ ] The Howling Wolves
[ ] An Imperial Winter
I'm of the opinion that Todbringer is a lost cause. The Ar-Ulric seems to be the only one taking Vlad seriously. If he wants to be dumb and attack Reikland let him. That's two possible rivals weakened. If he tries to attack us while Vlad is going full vampire he'll never get the support of any of the other electors.
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