Warhammer Fantasy: A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism

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[CANON] Twilight's Grief - Massgamer
  • Sidestory
    • Twilight's Grief​

    Ever since his return to Athel Loren Scarloc and his Scouts had not been without a great deal of tasks that was needed of them throughout the eternal realms whenever they were needed. After a relatively short time within the realms of the humans it was shocking to return home to see it in such a chaotic state than when he first left it, especially after hearing and then seeing the results of the human Frederick von Hohenzollern's action that would seem more fair tale than fact if not for several prominent high lords speaking to the truth of it all. Scarloc could still scarce believe the idea of a mortal fighting and defeating King Orion even if he was mad due to the influence of the avatar of Anath Raema and not at the peak of his power.

    However, for the most part what mattered now was not the event but its aftermath as Scarloc and his men were constantly sent across Athel Loren to do what had to be done to restore order.

    This would involve hunting down escaped parts of the Wildwood after losing their leadership alongside the remains of its rangers, hunting down those who followed Anath Raema during the battle and fled at its end, striking out against beastmen and greenskins who took advantage of the chaos to run wilder than usual, helping in the constant struggle to hold back the corruption of Witherhold and more. Throughout it all Scarloc was not blind to the scars left behind from the conflict, of those lost in one way or another even if in the end victory was won. This was especially apparent from what he knew of the Sisters of Twilight.

    This was because the sisters had lost more than most in that battle against the avatar of Anath Raema, for their loyal mount and companion the noble Caeithin-Har by their and Orion's hands.

    They say that after the battle's end that the sisters grieved in such a way as never seen nor thought possible, spiriting away the forest dragon's body to see to his spirit's passing themselves. Afterwards though... afterwards grief was as obvious as it was deadly for all enemies of the forest.

    Dragons are meant to be eternal as the elves themselves, and thus their passing is always a great tragedy, more so for the sisters whom counted him one of their closest friends. Even the Great Eagle Gwindalor, noted rival of the dragon and second mount to the sisters, mourned his passage for he was a friend as well. Unlike the the sisters sadly, Caeithin-Har would not return so long as they lived... something that the kindreds say drove them into even deeper grief for they were not overly familiar with loss.

    So it was that the Twilight sisters channeled this grief in frighteningly effective ways, namely fighting, fighting, and more fighting seemingly with rest, pause or end of any sort across Athel Loren. Sometimes they fought upon the grim Gwindalor, sometimes on their own, but each time it was noted how even-headed Naestra would always throw herself into the fighting while her sister Arahan did not fight with the wanton joy she once did against the enemies of the forest. Spending most of their days in Witherhold against the seemingly endless threats there without abandon.

    Worst of all was how they actively avoided Orion, their distaste for their king clear and uncaring of how all others in the realm reacted to that fact. Only missives directly handed to them by the Sisters of the Thorn can turn them away from their constant fighting for still they served their queen loyally, but without they as without sleep and constant nightmare for any foolish enough to enter their forests.

    Scarloc could not deny the effectiveness nor the desire to grieve in their own way... but he among many were worried about the Twilight Sisters' recklessness and hoped in time they would return to some form of equilibrium Athel Loren needed, but he also knew it was out of his hands. Therefore all he could do was his duty and hope for the best that one day their home would return to normal...

    Scarloc prayed it would be so.
    ---
    AN: We didn't interact with them much at all, but I imagine given their nature that the loss of their close friend would have seriously hurt the Twilight Sisters, and given they are nigh-immortal elven killing machines... their grief is a problem for a lot of enemies.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Weeks are eight days long on Mallus. How does that interact with Khorne?

    edit: Nevermind, I get it now. Fighting every week.
     
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    For the climax, and we somehow managed to assault the Fimir citadel well enough.

    I propose we stick with the druids and whatever they target. So we can avoid the same scenario of what happen to Boudica.
     
    I decided after reading how Nordland changed its borders and officially gave a lot of land to Eonir to make a crude map to visual it.

    Granted most of the land was unsettled by Nordland beforehand even if it belonged to them on paper, with Laurelorn Forest as a whole off limits for all of its history, but you can really see now how concentrated Nordland is in the eastern parts of province while the Eonir have basically everything else which is a lot of physical land, plus whatever space warping they have going on in the forest itself.

    I do not pity the stupid Druchii, Norscan, Greenskin, or otherwise who attempts to make landfall on what is the Eonir's coast now. Any setting up camp on Wrecker's Point not safe either from them or Nordland's fleets.
     
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    Top right should be expanded a smidge. Neus Emshrank doesn't exist in this timeline, it's still the tiny fishing village of Pugsblatter, and that's gone too. Remember that the treaty explicitly denotes the river is the border, then scooting around the Silver Hills, and then trailing south to the border of Middenland along the roads. Sorry, should have remembered when you PMed me.
     
    torroar said:
    Top right should be expanded a smidge. Neus Emshrank doesn't exist in this timeline, it's still the tiny fishing village of Pugsblatter, and that's gone too. Remember that the treaty explicitly denotes the river is the border, then scooting around the Silver Hills, and then trailing south to the border of Middenland along the roads. Sorry, should have remembered when you PMed me.
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    Fixed! Hope that looks better now.
    pucflek said:
    Didn't the Eonir canonically attempt to treat with Druuchi?
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    Yes, but doubt they will do the same now since obviously treating with Everqueen.
     
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    Didn't Magnus (Emperor) mention something about the Elector Counts approaching each other over the last trade deal (the one that was metaphorically torn apart by Frederick) to decide a treaty beneficial towards the entire Empire? I don't remember anyone coming to Ostland to present us with a revised version and I'm certain, that neither Ortrud nor Stefan mentioned anything during the yearly meetings.

    So they either dropped the subject or came up with a new scheme fir the next one. I don't have high hopes.
     
    pucflek said:
    Didn't the Eonir canonically attempt to treat with Druuchi?
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    Don't know if that's entirely right. For one, the Eonir of this universe just chose that name within the last decade, where before they identified as Asrai because of the aforementioned timeline/source material issues of the past. I.E. I already created a Laurelorn as a distant High Realm of Asrai with all the internals and wanted to use it before I found out there was more source book material on the Eonir. As it is, even when I look at the original canonical Eonir material, it seems more that they apparently just hold vague sympathies to the Druchii over the Asur because both Eonir/Asrai and Druchii were ostracized by the Asur. Which...is kind of silly to me. Because the Druchii launched the first strike, the Asur wanted help, and the Old World colonists refused to leave. Which...doesn't really work for me.

    Furthermore, the Druchii really, really don't care who or what you are. If you've got limbs, and a body that can move, you're enslavable. They love enslaving Asur, and have deliberately fucked with the Old World Elves in the past given the whole thing with Morathi and manipulating the Asur and Athel Loren elves into warfare and killed one of the only elves that could have possibly changed Malekith's mind. They love enslaving people, and they've shown no hesitation in messing with the Asrai on occasion, to the point that I am sure that there are at least some Asrai inside cages/arenas/etc. somewhere in Naggaroth. Besides which, I'm reasonably sure that the now-Eonir mentioned at least once that they've had conflict with the Druchii in the past to Frederick.
     
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    Massgamer said:
    I decided after reading how Nordland changed its borders and officially gave a lot of land to Eonir to make a crude map to visual it.

    Granted most of the land was unsettled by Nordland beforehand even if it belonged to them on paper, with Laurelorn Forest as a whole off limits for all of its history, but you can really see now how concentrated Nordland is in the eastern parts of province while the Eonir have basically everything else which is a lot of physical land, plus whatever space warping they have going on in the forest itself.

    I do not pity the stupid Druchii, Norscan, Greenskin, or otherwise who attempts to make landfall on what is the Eonir's coast now. Any setting up camp on Wrecker's Point not safe either from them or Nordland's fleets.
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    I imagine also mass you will probably get a greedy Wasterland Merchant lord trying something as well still the fact even after Gruber's actions he is able to even have a tentative claim on that territory is impressive.
     
    Massgamer said:
    I decided after reading how Nordland changed its borders and officially gave a lot of land to Eonir to make a crude map to visual it.

    Granted most of the land was unsettled by Nordland beforehand even if it belonged to them on paper, with Laurelorn Forest as a whole off limits for all of its history, but you can really see now how concentrated Nordland is in the eastern parts of province while the Eonir have basically everything else which is a lot of physical land, plus whatever space warping they have going on in the forest itself.

    I do not pity the stupid Druchii, Norscan, Greenskin, or otherwise who attempts to make landfall on what is the Eonir's coast now. Any setting up camp on Wrecker's Point not safe either from them or Nordland's fleets.
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    ok so that actually explains why some would be pissy about it. They are losing enough land that it may actually impact their prestige. Since they are going to suddenly look really really small on the map. That kind of dramatic shrinking will create at least a perception of weakness among som.
     
    random_npc said:
    ok so that actually explains why some would be pissy about it. They are losing enough land that it may actually impact their prestige. Since they are going to suddenly look really really small on the map. That kind of dramatic shrinking will create at least a perception of weakness among som.
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    It's not really shrinking so much as the map finally accurately reflecting how big Nordland actually is, since they never controlled Laurelorn.

    The Rumor Mill didn't raise much of a fuss about it, for what it's worth, and that asshole loves belittling the Trident when he can.
     
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    It's important to remember that, even prior to the Grubering which removed all of those settlements west of the river by way of Nurgle, each and every one of those settlements was only allowed in by the permissions of the elves in the first place. And they were strictly controlled - by the edicts of the elves - on how many of them there could be in each settlement, how big the settlements were, with extremely severe restrictions on what could be harvested from the forest. And though it was never said explicitly, I don't think it needs to, that anyone who went over such limits was likely punished immediately and painfully by the elves. Even then, humans keep trying to shirk those restrictions and kept forming new illegal settlements which in turn has the elves threatening the Nordland nobles to either remove themselves or be forced out and in turn has the Nordland nobles protest to the Elector Count that surely this is the time that Nordland shall rally up its troops and quash the foolish elves who are trying to prevent them from rightfully settling and developing the land that is theirs because it is because they say so. This was literally a problem up to Elector Count Theodoric Gausser of Nordland's time aka the time of Emperor Karl Franz.

    It's not really hard to see why the elves of Laurelorn, in any incarnation, might be somewhat fed up with humans because they Just. Keep. Doing. It. And pretty much every time, it's the humans that are the aggressors, demanding they get to enforce their 'claims' and 'rights' to the land, because...they really want it. And that's pretty much all they've got.

    As it is, the nobles of the all those heavily restricted settlements west of the Salz either died fighting Gruber or joined Gruber...and then died. They've been empty ruins, overrun by nature, since the war against Gruber concluded. And due to the sheer cut back on the noble numbers in Nordland afterwards, with Stephan working to slowly resettle his province properly, nobody who had even a thimble of blood's worth of claim there bothered either. They were focused on trying to divide up the territories of dead peers east of the Salz. Which, in turn, Stephan used - the jockeying and negotiating and slice carving I mean - to bind the remaining noble houses better, as well as the newly founded houses of those more loyal to him from loyal and pious knights/Greatswords. Thus, everyone already agreed to give up any claims west of the Salz or outside of the Silver Hills - the latter being the domain of House Von Kessel anyhow - and that was that.

    Of course, this doesn't mean squat to many of the greater Empire, who are squinting heavily at Nordland giving up even the pretense of the claims, both in Laurelorn and in the Middle Mountains. The Empire very, very rarely gives up its claimed territories.

    The issue here, of course, is both the elder generations before Magnus, and those born just around the time the Great War Against Chaos ended and afterward. The former have many who think things should go back to the way they were, and how dare this young whipper snapper just give up on rightful Imperial territory (pfft). The latter are young, impetuous, still growing up, and have no personal experience/context of/for the Great War Against Chaos or even the War Against Gruber. This is, again, one of the issues that Mena brought up which also somewhat ties into the whole prestige/gravitas chunker of a post from a while back. Stephan didn't send his troops in heavy number to Sylvania, nor did he participate in Karak Ungor. He simply has a lot less martial prestige, power, and presence compared to Frederick, or even Ortrud. A lot of the young folk are seeing this man...just give up land, and territory, and claims, and he doesn't even fight so much, busy as he is with the logistics/stewardship/rebuilding process of the province. Which, then, ties back into the culture of Nordland, who are violently loyal, and constantly striving to fight and prove their loyalty despite their mixed Norscan blood, and yet Stephan has kept his troops close at home almost constantly. The patrols and purges are simply not nearly as prestigious as claiming swathes of the Middle Mountains, or patrolling the former Forest of Shadows, or fighting consistently alongside the dwarfs in the World's Edge Mountains. There is a solid generational core of those who support him because of his fight against Gruber - but even then it was Frederick and Ortrud who finished it out - and those who fought in the Vampire War, but there are those afterwards and before that are proving to be the issues. And even then there are children of those generations who would nominally support Stephan and his family, who have their own issues/beliefs. Then there's the whole thing with Stephan having a consort, not a proper legal wife, and having to legalize each and every one of his children repeatedly.

    As it is, I doubt that there were ever a truly significant amount of people in the west-of-the-Salz settlements, the legal ones, that the elves would allow. The illegal ones are long gone, their pride at 'rightfully claiming what is theirs' from the elves buried with them beneath the roots of the trees they were merrily chopping down illegally.

    But yes, it has not helped Nordland's greater Imperial standing that they have 'shrunken' so much. On the other hand, their participation in the Trident hasn't helped in some cases, but has helped in others. Plus, with Magnus the Pious absolutely livid about the poison hidden within the trade package at the last Elector's Meet, even what little inter-provincial rivalry and pokings that existed have gone down even further.
     
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    random_npc said:
    ok so that actually explains why some would be pissy about it. They are losing enough land that it may actually impact their prestige. Since they are going to suddenly look really really small on the map. That kind of dramatic shrinking will create at least a perception of weakness among som.
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    Nordland is now compared to Hochland in size, which naturally makes people mock others for being smaller in general despite being a more accurate representation of Nordland in general. Most Nordlanders might get it, but as the GM said Stephan has been lacking in military achievements lately so people are kinda straining over it and the wider Imperial opinion is not as great either since its seen as a sign of weakness willingly giving up 'rightful claims' and such.
     
    Okay...So Mena is of...I want to say Nordland, and Reinhardt is of Ostland right?
    And if I recall, Mena's semi-peeeved because she WAS doing the whole martial fight for power/glory thing that would bring Prestige back to her province...
    But then her "Bright" older brother went 'screw you guys I'm loyal to the Collages!' and dumped the burden of ruling on her.
    So now she's suddenly having to drop the martial fight in favor of gotta learn how to rule and no I don't get to axe-slap this idiot noble getting huffy over some stupid land dispute because these peasants can't keep the lawn within regulations. Basically the beginning of quest Freddy experience for poor Mena.
    Reinhardt on the other hand...is of Ostland, and of...Lady with the Demon-killing blade that Perma-killed Gruber. And would really like more screentime/focus. But I would argue, he hasn't gotten it because his mother can kick butt with the best of them and did not get a Gruber blowing up her province to kingdom come nor angry Elves trying to take back their land. So Reinhardt is kind of wanting more XP, more fame and glory, but is smart enough to not get TOO bad about it.
    Do I have the vague narrative of the other two Trident Heirs correct?
     
    Zaealix said:
    But then her "Bright" older brother went 'screw you guys I'm loyal to the Collages!' and dumped the burden of ruling on her.
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    He did not "dump" inheriting Nordland on her, mages are strictly forbidden from holding higher titles, especially one with a Runefang and elector vote attached to it. Her brother really did not want to go to the collage, but no one is exempt, which is why he is training to be a full blown Battle Wizard to burn out. He has no choice once his magic gift was noticed.
     
    Zaealix said:
    And if I recall, Mena's semi-peeeved because she WAS doing the whole martial fight for power/glory thing that would bring Prestige back to her province...
    But then her "Bright" older brother went 'screw you guys I'm loyal to the Collages!' and dumped the burden of ruling on her.
    So now she's suddenly having to drop the martial fight in favor of gotta learn how to rule and no I don't get to axe-slap this idiot noble getting huffy over some stupid land dispute because these peasants can't keep the lawn within regulations. Basically the beginning of quest Freddy experience for poor Mena.
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    Not quite.
    Her brother awakened to mage-powers rather late in life, and the colleges are a new thing. Before them, the usual way to treat those with magic powers, that were not obviously priests, was to kill them ASAP, usually via burning, and even by the time of Karl Frantz, no mage, nor priest for that matter, could hold a position as a landed noble, much less an Elector-count.
    Most of the empire population absolutely loathes and fears the mageborn, not without some reasons, I hasten to add.
    So, yeah, Draken didn't choose colleges against his family, he grew to resent his mother, and by extension the rest of the family, for the 'curse' of being mageborn, and his entire life yanked out from underneath his feet, and the Bright college did it's very best to at least channel his rage/grief/self-hatred in semi-productive fashion, and reduce his chances of falling to chaos.
     
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    Zaealix said:
    Okay...So Mena is of...I want to say Nordland, and Reinhardt is of Ostland right?
    And if I recall, Mena's semi-peeeved because she WAS doing the whole martial fight for power/glory thing that would bring Prestige back to her province...
    But then her "Bright" older brother went 'screw you guys I'm loyal to the Collages!' and dumped the burden of ruling on her.
    So now she's suddenly having to drop the martial fight in favor of gotta learn how to rule and no I don't get to axe-slap this idiot noble getting huffy over some stupid land dispute because these peasants can't keep the lawn within regulations. Basically the beginning of quest Freddy experience for poor Mena.
    Reinhardt on the other hand...is of Ostland, and of...Lady with the Demon-killing blade that Perma-killed Gruber. And would really like more screentime/focus. But I would argue, he hasn't gotten it because his mother can kick butt with the best of them and did not get a Gruber blowing up her province to kingdom come nor angry Elves trying to take back their land. So Reinhardt is kind of wanting more XP, more fame and glory, but is smart enough to not get TOO bad about it.
    Do I have the vague narrative of the other two Trident Heirs correct?
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    Sorry to say, but you have those narratives very very wrong.

    Reinhardt is of Ostermark, since that's, you know, the province he is heir of. Draken (the former heir of Nordland) was discovered to be magic and was forcibly sent to the College, which no one especially wanted but is forced upon them. Mena is already married and treated as a highborn noble lady and so on (unlike Freddy, who was all but exiled to live as a blacksmith) but very much so prefers going around and killing evil to doing courtly duties or administration or whatever else, and as official heir now needs to rein that in and actually start learning how to rule a province.

    Reinhardt, as a Knight of the Order of Everlasting Light, has more than enough on his plate with regards to martial prestige. Ostermark and Ortrud have also spent a shit ton of time helping out the dwarves, so there's no lack of martial prestige there either. It was Mena who wanted a last hurrah before she's stuck in her duties as heir, not Reinhardt.

    So yeah, that whole narrative is pretty wrong.
     
    Raichu1972 said:
    Sorry to say, but you have those narratives very very wrong.

    Reinhardt is of Ostermark, since that's, you know, the province he is heir of. Draken (the former heir of Nordland) was discovered to be magic and was forcibly sent to the College, which no one especially wanted but is forced upon them. Mena is already married and treated as a highborn noble lady and so on (unlike Freddy, who was all but exiled to live as a blacksmith) but very much so prefers going around and killing evil to doing courtly duties or administration or whatever else, and as official heir now needs to rein that in and actually start learning how to rule a province.

    Reinhardt, as a Knight of the Order of Everlasting Light, has more than enough on his plate with regards to martial prestige. Ostermark and Ortrud have also spent a shit ton of time helping out the dwarves, so there's no lack of martial prestige there either. It was Mena who wanted a last hurrah before she's stuck in her duties as heir, not Reinhardt.

    So yeah, that whole narrative is pretty wrong.
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    regrading mena I would add that she basically spent all her time in blue wolves enough that the rumors about her(that she was a beast and the rite of getting in was having sex with ther, exc) she wasn't aware of until some noble or solider tried joined to have sex with her

    also her situation with her husband isn't best cause she was barely every in the capital
     
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    Woltaire said:
    regrading mena I would add that she basically spent all her time in blue wolves enough that the rumors about her(that she was a beast and the rite of getting in was having sex with ther, exc) she wasn't aware of until some noble or solider tried joined to have sex with her
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    Sure Mena had/has a bad reputation, but there's no denying that she's the daughter of an Elector Count.

    Freddy was essentially exiled to Jegow to be forgotten as some random blacksmith, and people only tracked him down because the rest of his family was slaughtered by Chaos Worshipers.
     
    Raichu1972 said:
    Sure Mena had/has a bad reputation, but there's no denying that she's the daughter of an Elector Count.

    Freddy was essentially exiled to Jegow to be forgotten as some random blacksmith, and people only tracked him down because the rest of his family was slaughtered by Chaos Worshipers.
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    Yah I wasn't denying I just emphasizing the severity of situation with mena and how she not exactly treated with the most respect in nornland right now
     
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