Magnus also doesn't have any children, which makes Sigismund an 'only child' in a sense (Oskana is Freddy's only gryphon 'child', but she knows he has human offspring who are also part of her pack under Frederick). He's probably a bit of an entitled little shit.
His daddy is the Pack Leader of Pack Leaders, spends all his free time flying and hanging out with him when not working, has been given the best tutors (trainers), lots of magical support from both colleges and cults, only goes out to fight/hunt the biggest threats that need his daddy, he gets access to the best care and meat he could want, has the best nest there is, can regularly talk to humans who can understand him, and his daddy pimped him out with runed up gromil armor fitted just for him! Heck, his daddy delivered a potential mate to him rather than him having to go to her!
I imagine he is used to usually getting only the best since Magnus spoils his griffin rotten in general without impacting his flying/fighting ability. Oskana has likely been the very first thing/person who not only denied him but conquered him. I wouldn't be surprised if that is why he is attracted to her and may want to mate again later, this time working hard to be on top in relationship.
Its a nice symbolic comparison really between the North and South of Empire where they were raised from.
I dont think that magnus truly has the time to fly with his gryphoon all the time,so oskana is more active.
You know what is say,a gilded cage is still a cage.
swift-soaring-death-nest-defender is an excellent name. The intellect makes me wonder, can Griffons be religious? Because some of those wolves have Ulric's blessing you know, so. Why not Griffons?
I feel like Peak Magnus the Pious is conveying the teachings of Sigmar so well that his Griffon becomes a Sigmarite as well. I mean, the man was probably the Best Man, and he thought Griffons were Best. Sounds like a pretty smart guy to me tbh . .
Would it fill her with pride, to know of the resilience of her nest-makers who survive, return, and rebuild, and that's why it's not better, because they keep getting ground to dirt and have to start over?
Or would she consider it a sign of weakness to lose the best over and over again?
Probably the former, but she doesn't quite grok that sort of thing, as it hasn't quite been ever explained to her. Gryphons are noted to have a keen intelligence, and the Ulthuani kind are either even smarter or have just had thousands of years of co-habitation to really learn things with ways that humans didn't have until now.
I wonder if this will result in Sigismund (that's apparently Magnus's gryphon's name, right?) clamoring at Magnus to let him get into more fights and campaigns.
Having met somebody who fought just about every year, and finding something to feel jealous or desirous about. And so, he'll ask Magnus for more things to fight, more campaigns or patrols to be taken out on...
Not sure if somebody else has said this already, but I'd be pretty into getting Oksana some kind of enchanted amulet (or whatever) that can cast The Talking Beast on her. That's... probably not an IC thing for Freddy to think of getting, though.
Not sure if somebody else has said this already, but I'd be pretty into getting Oksana some kind of enchanted amulet (or whatever) that can cast The Talking Beast on her. That's... probably not an IC thing for Freddy to think of getting, though.
Conversation be like
FH: Amber Wizard. You can talk to animals.
AW: Yes.
FH: Is there a spell for that? Is there a magical Item for that?
AW: Yes
FH: Could I purchase it from you? Or could you point me in the direction of someone who can?
AW: Amber College gotcha covered homie.
He'd have to find them first, and while all wizards stand somewhat apart from society, all Amber wizards are grumpy old men that live out in the woods so they can be alone. Even the ones that aren't old, or men. More importantly, based on what Torroar wrote about the beastmen a significant portion of the Amber college is dead, slain in their isolated forests.
He'd have to find them first, and while all wizards stand somewhat apart from society, all Amber wizards are grumpy old men that live out in the woods so they can be alone. Even the ones that aren't old, or men. More importantly, based on what Torroar wrote about the beastmen a significant portion of the Amber college is dead, slain in their isolated forests.
The only family willing to strong arm griffons into learning restraint and discipline are the Hohenzollern's.
Magnus's griffon is probably less skilled in fighting with others and alone compared to Oskana, because the Pack/Herd likes to spar with sharp weapons until bloody and dying.
Further down the line it could be that Deathclaw is a descendant of her, but the line is remembered by the male line and only the Amber college follows the dominant partners line.
Imagine a griffon dynastic tree, the House of the offspring is determined by the dominant partner in the mating. If Oskana always wins the offspring are her line, the kratocracy of the griffon pride and mating habits could ensure only the best fighting bloodlines are bred. It could explain how they survived alongside Dragons and other terrible creatures of the forests, they practiced eugenics by instinct. The griffons that lose terribly gets killed, providing only the strongest for the future lines.
Deathclaw was rather explicitly given, as an egg, to Karl Franz, from the Wood Elves. Who in turn retrieved it from one of the highest peaks in the Grey Mountains. Supposedly. That's what is written, anyhow.
It is noted in the army books / wiki entries that generally, purposefully bred Imperial Gryphons are very, very few, generally only ever raised as prized mounts of the Elector Counts - but are notably stronger and larger than their wild counterparts. It is purported to be because of selective breeding, but I think it also has plenty to do with the far more regular feeding and care that they can receive as such prized beasts. In Karl Franz's time, Elector Count Theodoric Gausser of Nordland had one, Elector Count Wolfram Hertwig had one, Gregor Martak the Patriarch of the Amber Brotherhood had one, and so we can assume that at least a few of the other Elector Counts had a gryphon to call their own. Storm of Magic declares that 'many Elector Counts' claim to possess one in their personal menageries. But that could entirely be because of the current 'canon' era, and may not have been true throughout the entire history of the Empire, yeah? Possibly because Karl Franz hatched his in like, 2503 IC? That's a good little chunk of time from 2503 to 2522 for other Elector Counts to do the same, but eh, not quite relevant at the moment.
And generally, when adventurers steal from the nests in the mountains, it's noted that they don't get eggs, but outright chicks that had already been born - selecting the 'strongest, cleverest, and most ferocious for their lords'.
As it is, the way I'm envisioning things, gryphons are great, prestigious, sacred animals in the Empire. They are extremely expensive to care for, in terms of fresh meat per day once fully grown if nothing else. And I would argue that the economies of the Empire's various provinces were not super great after the Era of Three Emperors and the Great War Against Chaos, yeah? So probably not too many of those running around in general. At the moment, Frederick has two, and the Emperor has two. And that's it. Is it likely that the number of gryphon's under Imperial control might increase on from this point? Potentially. Who, when, where? I'm not telling you that, obviously. It'll happen if/when it happens.
huh, so I wonder how long until people start trying to bred our gryphons to give one to each member of our family and make it a status symbol for our family?
Griffons might grow more affordable over time as the Empire starts to produce more food for less labour via engineering, wizardry and the conquest of its arable hinterlands.
Then again, the same could be said for Ogres, friendly Giants, Winter Wolves and other exotics.
Oskana, as a fully grown gryphon (larger than wild gryphons due to being raised from captivity with regular feedings) is about, hmm, let's use the Total War concept art as shorthand on size descriptors:
So, let's say that she can devour an entire cow a day, or more. Rated as amongst the most intelligent of all beasts, they do not generally kill indiscriminately, and are precise and and graceful in their hunting. In the wild, they can stalk prey for days at a time before swooping in. Oskana has never once required that. Oskana flies out daily, and hunts and fights relentlessly, far in excess than wild gryphons are required to do as they watch over their territories, as often defending that means from other mega fauna who might threaten them, not necessarily every single goblin tribe or beastmen warherd that trundles through far, far below. So her caloric needs are considerable compared to wild gryphons, as well as with her increased bulk.
I've spoken as to how the numbers are fudged a bit when it comes to stuff like population and certain costs from sourcebooks, such as how even capitals can barely have a few thousand people in them = not how I'm running things. But let's look at the Livestock Costs in Sigmar's Heirs regardless.
A single cow is about 10 GC, not allowing for any bartering or gifts, while a nice drafthorse is around 40 GC, at least according to Sigmar's Heirs. Which, on some things, I'm willing to agree to.
There are 394 days in the Imperial Calendar.
If Oskana requires, at minimum, a fully grown cow (preferably alive and screaming as is the gryphon preference) every single day, that means that over the course of a single year she requires 394x10 = 3,940 GC worth of expenses in FOOD ALONE. And that presupposes that one never rewards her with positive food reinforcement (semi-vital for training animals) or rewards her for especially good deeds such as killing that minotaur that was about to break the flank, etc. So round it up to 4,000 GC a year for food costs. Then there's nesting stuff, straw, down, etc. shelter, medical care if required, saddles, and so on, based around Sigmar's Heirs cost lists. We can, however, reduce that with 'favorable' deals, such as the Elector Count purchasing from your farm giving you greater prestige in other deals, negotiations for supply lines, bulk purchases, etc. reducing things from such a staggering number. So more like 3,500, or even 2,000 in Food.
She swallows a non-small portion of your literal Farming Income yearly into her gullet, from cows, chickens, goats, etc. that are purchased for feeding her.
I haven't made it a straight numbered 'Gryphon Maintenance Costs' thing on the front page, I've just been straight deducting it from the Farming Income and small portions of the Infrastructure Maintenance. It's why Farming Income hasn't risen even further from various improvements even with things like Seeding Drills, because of the 'Oskana Tax' on such measures. Also, because massive increase in crops doesn't really necessarily feed her, as she is like 80% carnivore.
If you want, I can change this. Farming Income and Infrastructure Maintenance will change, but Gryphon Costs will be, as demonstrated, quite extensive. Heck, now that I write it out, seems silly I haven't yet. Hrmm.
Anyway, TLDR?
Gryphons are expensive. Few people have them for a reason beyond their ferocity and the difficulty in acquiring them.
If Oskana requires, at minimum, a fully grown cow (preferably alive and screaming as is the gryphon preference) every single day, that means that over the course of a single year she requires 394x10 = 3,940 GC worth of expenses in FOOD ALONE. And that presupposes that one never rewards her with positive food reinforcement (semi-vital for training animals) or rewards her for especially good deeds such as killing that minotaur that was about to break the flank, etc. So round it up to 4,000 GC a year for food costs. Then there's nesting stuff, straw, down, etc. shelter, medical care if required, saddles, and so on.
So now that we have two Gryphons it's going to cost about 8000 in maintenance? That seems incredibly high, that's about a third of our current total income in just feeding our Gryphons. For context our 50,000 men strong army costs a tenth of that in upkeep
So if Oskana costs about 3,500 gold per year, and who doesn't receive the best stuff possible, how much money does Sigismund cost Magnus?! Like holy shit, even with Magnus's prestige lowering costs, it's probably double the upkeep. And another griffon chick who will receive the same.
