Warhammer Fantasy: A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism

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Dang what a battle then again fighting chaos is always going to be a downer especially when you lost the very people you met along the journey, and it was expected we would lose beloved characters along the way
 
torroar said:
It was never about her, from Mena's perspective at least. It was about her boys and girls. Sure, a lot of the Blue Wolves were pure - in flesh at least, but they had no real prospects either. The majority of the Knightly Orders in the world don't recruit from commoners, and most nobles who joined the Blue Wolves were the spares of spares, or those whose star had fallen significantly for one reason or another. But yes, a number of them were mutants. And if she ever, ever left, if she wasn't there to run herd and keep things tight and controlled, if she wasn't there to be able to use her status to protect them, they would surely have collapsed as a group. It wouldn't really work if she just tried to pump funds into their lives and grant them status' they would not be regarded as worth having by much of society. But they deserved more than that, by Mena's thinking. They did. And if Ulric truly does take the worthy, the strong, then she would make them exactly that. Because that way, even if the body failed, the spirit might endure and be granted its own reward.

Mena's panic when her father informed her that she would have to leave the Blue Wolves in perpetuity did, yes, somewhat involve her overall distaste for the courtly life, her dislike of the restrictions on her freedom, but it also had a whole, whole lot to do with the status of the souls of the Blue Wolves. They needed salvation through battle and death, and if they couldn't get that, then their mutations and the Dark God would inevitably drive many of them mad - and regular suicide would not be enough to escape their grasp. This is why she was asking so carefully if the last Blue Wolf still heard the Dark Gods, and his weeping when he realized that finally, finally they had gone silent on him.

Through death, victory. Glory. Honor. The sorts of things that mean that, as stated in the update, their ashes and urns can rest in places of holy power having earned their places there. She knew that was the eventual end goal, and it had already come about plenty of times in the years beforehand as the Blue Wolves took casualties in their pursuit of war in Ulric's name. But that doesn't prepare you for losing all two thousand and some such over the course of only a few weeks. Of course, she always thought she'd have more time, until she didn't. More time to mentally prepare herself, but of course she didn't.

Hence the description behind her trait. True victory, for all of the Blue Wolves, was dying gloriously in battle in Ulric's name, earning their ashes safe havens and hopefully their souls a place in Ulric's Halls.

Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when the men and women she's spent the vast majority of her time with - far more than with her children and husband - are all gone.
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And she couldn't share this even with people she trusted with her life and bared soul (Magnus and Reinhardt) because they weren't her secrets I imagine.
 
Chaosbrain said:
At the start, and now the end. Note that "at the start" refers to the end of AA 2, any lost in AA 1 and 2, if any, are not counted.

So we lost what looks like 11 Journeymen Wizards, 125 Greatswords, 400 Knights, and all 2000 Blue Wolves.

Thats 5/8 Greatsword Casualties, and 80% Knight casualties.
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Another thing to note is that Mena's Flammenfaust seems to be completely destroyed and Flammenwulf seems to be damaged.
torroar said:
Magnus and Reinhardt were frozen in place as they stared at the smoking arm that lay on the ground on the other side of the barrier, the red metal of the half-shattered gauntlet blackened and sizzling. Charcoaled meat that had once been an arm tumbled out of the opening to crumble immediately into nothing as the rain fell upon it. The enchanted rubies lay upon the ground broken so thoroughly that they formed a glittering smear on the grass which was soon swept away by the rain.
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torroar said:
Mena did not turn back to face them, instead reaching down to pick up her axe, itself badly cracked with several parts simply missing from the blade and stood still as the rest of the Fimir rushed up the slope towards her and the Blue Wolves.
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I hope that we don't get censured by the Colleges for this. It was a massive loss in manpower for them. For apparently nothing as far as they are concerned. We might not be able to get wizards for awhile. Besides that The loss of an entire knightly order, nearly half of the Great swords of our province and more than half of the Knights of Verena is going to raise eyebrows.

In the short term we are probably going to see some political heckling. But it is worth it to keep chaos slightly down.
 
>100 Knights of the Everlasting Light (Only 100 Have Horses)
...Somehow, that's funnier than it should be. Then again, perhaps that's just me unwinding after...That.
 
EVA-Saiyajin said:
And she couldn't share this even with people she trusted with her life and bared soul (Magnus and Reinhardt) because they weren't her secrets I imagine.
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As seen by Reinhardt's uncomfortable questioning...there...are laws about Mutants in the Empire. Important, unyielding ones. And so, you know, not even just as a Verenan, but as a loyal citizen of the Empire...

That they are already all dead, and in service against the darkness, in the service of Ulric, having died to the last fighting the forces of Chaos, well...yeah.

But still, I did mean for there to be a smidge of tension there, at that moment.

Zaealix said:
>100 Knights of the Everlasting Light (Only 100 Have Horses)
...Somehow, that's funnier than it should be. Then again, perhaps that's just me unwinding after...That.
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Ah, whoops. No. All their horses are dead. Really bad terrain for 'em towards the end there.
 
This whole thing did show something very important though. Extremely so. If you have faith in your god after being mutated, cursed, it is still possible to go your god after death. That means the Order Gods do indeed have more sway over the souls of their followers. And that the grip of chaos can be broken.
 
torroar said:
Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when the men and women she's spent the vast majority of her time with - far more than with her children and husband - are all gone.
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It always should hurt, and hopefully she will learn to live with loss and live in honor of their memory since that is what they would have wanted.

Puts more into perspective just how the successful fighting in Ostland was a downer since she was so worried that her Wolves would be lost without her, but they can now rest easy in Ulric's halls no doubt.
 
Image said:
I hope that we don't get censured by the Colleges for this. It was a massive loss in manpower for them. For apparently nothing as far as they are concerned. We might not be able to get wizards for awhile. Besides that The loss of an entire knightly order, nearly half of the Great swords of our province and more than half of the Knights of Verena is going to raise eyebrows.

In the short term we are probably going to see some political heckling. But it is worth it to keep chaos slightly down.
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Eh, Freddy played a big part in magic being more accepted in the northern Empire than it otherwise would have been, and we've been a solid patron otherwise. I doubt we won't be able to get more wizards in the future.

The Blue Wolves were never a Knightly Order, and their days were numbered anyway. I don't think that was half of the Knights of Everlasting Light either.
 
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Image said:
I hope that we don't get censured by the Colleges for this. It was a massive loss in manpower for them. For apparently nothing as far as they are concerned. We might not be able to get wizards for awhile. Besides that The loss of an entire knightly order, nearly half of the Great swords of our province and more than half of the Knights of Verena is going to raise eyebrows.

In the short term we are probably going to see some political heckling. But it is worth it to keep chaos slightly down.
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It probably will get harder to get more wizards but that's because 11 journeymen from only 3 colleges is a big loss. Any censure would go to the magisters rather than the heirs
and I don't think they'll get any either because they're alive to write the reports.
 
Image said:
I hope that we don't get censured by the Colleges for this. It was a massive loss in manpower for them. For apparently nothing as far as they are concerned. We might not be able to get wizards for awhile. Besides that The loss of an entire knightly order, nearly half of the Great swords of our province and more than half of the Knights of Verena is going to raise eyebrows.

In the short term we are probably going to see some political heckling. But it is worth it to keep chaos slightly down.
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Are you serious? The Magisters who were with us would likely stomp any hecklers into oblivion. The knights would be much less pleasant. We just rescued an entire nation from the power of Chaos, and every Imperial who isn't corrupted or a moron would agree that even ten times the price would be worth it for those stakes.
Also, there are 500 Greatswords in all, and we lost 125.
 
What a climax and ending for the arc. Damn...

Amazing. Thank you for the update torroar! I cannot say enough how much I loved reading it, and this quest in general.

I don't know how you do it. You've captured the atmosphere and best parts of Warhammer Fantasy for me. Awesome stuff.
 
I feel like it'll be very hard for the College to be upset about these losses, considering what the Fimir were planning on doing here. Magic becoming even more chaotic (as it undoubtedly would have done if they subverted the Great Ogham) would have been absolutely disastrous for mages as a whole after all.
 
January 6, 1865? -midnight77
  • Sidestory
    • January 6, 1865?

    Colonel Andrew Lawrence Keane stared at the shoreline from the deck of the transport Ogunquit. The storm had abated after that damnable tunnel of light, and now they were aground some fifty yards from the beach. The sound of carpentry came from behind him, as the ship's crew sought to repair the storm damage. He scanned the shore, watching as the men of the 35th Maine dug in and created entrenchments. These were veterans, of Antietam, of Gettysburg, of the trenches of Petersburg. The cannons of the 44th New York were already emplaced. Captain Cromwell, of the Ogunquit, was carrying on a tirade at his sailors, as they cut away the ruined masts and rigging and tried to patch the hole in the hull.

    Colonel Keane turned and looked at Dr Weiss. "How are the wounded?" "Just some scrapes and broken bones, but we have 3 dead from the crash." Colonel Keane grimaced. Another loss to his regiment, this time outside of battle. "Nurse O'Reilly is with them now. She's doing a fine job." Colonel Keane looked out at his men on the shore. Just then, there was a call from the crows nest. "There's something in the trees!" Colonel Keane raised his field glasses and looked at the trees. There was something moving there, alright. He called to a sailor "Prepare a lifeboat, I wish to go ashore as quickly as possible."

    Once ashore, it was apparent what they faced. Monsters, out of some madman's mind. Horrific horned and hoofed brutes bayed from the treeline, likely seeking to make them afraid. Unfortunately, it seemed to be working. The men were nervous in their entrenchments. Keane stepped up to speak to them. "I don't know where we are, I don't know what's going on, but what I do know is that we will put the fear of the 35th Maine into these things if they come for us. Uncase the colors!" With that, the colors of the 35th Maine and 44th New York were uncased and raised.

    With a baying cry, the beastmen attacked, charging into the guns of the 35th Maine. Fire lashed out and the cannons bellowed. The beastmen continued on, heedless of losses. A 12 foot minotaur wielding a bone axe clambered up the lip of the entrenchment, only for Keane to put all six shots of his revolver into its head; the beast crashed to the ground. The fighting broke into a confused melee as the tide of flesh attempted to break the fortress. Keane got his sword bloody a few times, but eventually, the larger beasts were slain and the rest retreated in disorder to the woods.

    "Colonel, flags!" shouted a man. Keane whipped around to see a host of armored warriors approaching. First beastmen, now knights? What mad world had they come too? A man in ornate armor rode at the head of a party, which stopped politely some distance away. Colonel Keane and his right-hand man, Sgt Schuder, crawled down the embankment and approached the knights. The one in ornate armor removed his helm and revealed a ferociously bushy beard and a series of serious scars. Glowering at the Colonel, he said "Ich bin Frederick von Hohenzollern. Wo bist du?"
     
  • Sidestory
    • torroar said:
    As seen by Reinhardt's uncomfortable questioning...there...are laws about Mutants in the Empire. Important, unyielding ones. And so, you know, not even just as a Verenan, but as a loyal citizen of the Empire...

    That they are already all dead, and in service against the darkness, in the service of Ulric, having died to the last fighting the forces of Chaos, well...yeah.

    But still, I did mean for there to be a smidge of tension there, at that moment.
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    There was definitely some tension, yeah.
     
    We also did not lose all our wizard journeymen. We only lost all the journeymen sent to Albion. Some of the amber journeymen might still be available. And there's still one Jade journeyman still around. From what I can tell, all the fire journeymen are dead though.
     
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