Ericwinter
Definitely not a Skaven Infiltrator
- Location
- America
Thread madness is never late, nor is it early. It always arrives precisely when it means to.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
And here I simply assumed it was everpresent and never left, just lurking beneath notice in the background until the next flash-flood of it hits.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
Shh. We're supposed to keep that a secret so the newbies won't get scared off.
Does this even count? It's not all that madder than the average
Ericwinter
Definitely not a Skaven Infiltrator
- Location
- America
We'll yes, but that doesn't sound as cool, nor is it a reference. That I realize at least.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
Yet across the gulf of time, madness that is to our minds is as sanity to those of the other threads, madness vast and unfathomable and ever-present, regarded this thread with hungry eyes, and slowly and surely drew its plans against us. And late in the thread came the great disillusionment.
Well, now we're starting to get somewhere
- Location
- Australia
@Codex, your White Raven omake was a great breath of fresh air. It's said that Ranald is sometimes thought of as a woman and is majority seen as such in the southern countries, but we never actually see that. No cult or individuals in a story or character or voice line or in-universe text invoke a female Ranald. Even in fan works it's the same: the only time I've found it properly shown an example of Ranald being seen as a woman is your omake. It heartens me to finally get an example of it.
Only thing is now I'm back to wandering if Ranald has a different name when referred to as a woman or if Ranald really is unisex, as in White Raven. I blame GW for the lack of clarity on this matter.
Only thing is now I'm back to wandering if Ranald has a different name when referred to as a woman or if Ranald really is unisex, as in White Raven. I blame GW for the lack of clarity on this matter.
His Machinations Lay Undetected For Years
- Location
- Aotearoa
If only there was some clue.
"Roight," says Egrimm, looking down at the golden arm, "Oi' thunk it'z Noo Wurld. It'z fulla glinty-shiny gubbinz, dey say, and dem roight Brutal scaly fings wot gard 'em. If dose scaly fings're about az biggaz an 'oomie, ittud fit."
"Are we sure it's gold?" you ask.
He considers that. "Cunnin' finking," he concludes.
You summon a Shadowchisel, frown at it, then dismiss it. Better not to introduce unnecessary magic. "Do you have a blade?"
He pats his robes. "Blunty-fun or reg'lar?"
"Regular, just need to take some scratchings to assay."
He frowns as he draws a plain steel dagger from inside his robes and leans over the arm. "It'z bin bashed but gud. If scratchinz'd makeda magik go boom, it'ad reddy 'appened." He carefully scratches at part of the arm far from the joints, and then his frown deepens as he puts some force into it. "Rekon it'z glintymetal," he grunts. "I'z jus' makin anuvva blunty-fun shiv."
"That might imply this has a practical use - a prosthetic rather than an ornament."
"Roight, dat dere 'and looks proppa bendy."
"You think it's articulation? If so, it's seized tight." You carefully grip one of the clawed 'fingers' to demonstrate.
"Cud be gubbinzed up, cud be magik makkit go. ...den it cud jus' be pretty-shiny fing. It'z a bendy statoo?"
"Or a mobile one. A war-construct, like Nehekharan statues?" You frown. "Are we sure this isn't Nehekharan?"
He looks down at the arm in alarm, then relaxes and shakes his head. "No, wudda 'ad deyz Roonz on den, and wudda bin rok-n-glinty. Dat'd bin a roight proppa laff, bringin' a Dedking army 'ere." He tucks his dagger away. "We need gubbinz. A glintymetal scratcha, touchroks. Cunnin' smellyfings, mebbe?"
"Maximillian should be able to take care of that."
"Oi thunk'd der magiks waz hurtybad on deeze 'ere sortz of gubbinz?"
"No, he can do it normally. He takes an interest in that sort of thing."
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Meanwhile, in BelegarQuest 6
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
Hey- so, I was thinking about K8P and what the current council and situation looked like, Since Mathilde has been looking away for a while. Kinda turned into...
Belegar Quest!
You've just seen off your former loremaster and good friend, and now the time has come to take a pickaxe to the work of the Karak. No more stories about exotic dwarfholds on the edge of chaos or offhanded comments about what one of the dragons had told her, but truth be told you were looking forward to things really settling down. And with that thought, you look around the council table.
Stewardship: With the smelters finally operating at capacity and a deal inked with Ulrikardin for sufficient charcoal to run them and the still-small forges, the main challenges seem to have been resolved in this most dwarven of industries. Edda now proposes to:
-[] Deep Waters
"Focus on the reservoirs under Kvinn-Wyr. The water from the silver tarn is sufficient for now, but at current rates of consumption, replenishment and usage growth, we will be facing severe restrictions in as little as forty five years. If we build out a number of sampling and filtering stations we should be able to ensure that the errors which lead to the fall of the Karak will not be repeated."
-[] Barns, fences, and field grading.
"Focus on the caldera. With dwarven help the halflings tell me they will have no trouble laying out paddocks and dividing walls that will let us begin raising livestock in large numbers. It will also allow us to expand beer production, with more acreage devoted to wheat and barley now that the food supply is mostly proven from the East valley."
-[] Shallow roads.
"Keep working on establishing our metal working. With the smelters working at full capacity now, the surplus of ore we have been stockpiling is dwindling quickly. The seams of ore are good, so they main bottleneck is hauling it all back to the Karak. Give me a few of gotri's engineers and a mining crew, and I'll carve out roads and tunnels to make the trip mostly at a descending grade. We'll install elevators or winches to hoist the ore carts up verticals where we need to gain elevation. This should allow us to keep up with the smelters at full speed, even if they want to do that expansion they're already talking about. Speaking of which, did you talk a black smithing clan into gracing our halls yet?"
Military: Dreng is dour. That's not unusual, for the dwarves with the job of worrying about all the threats immediately around you (as opposed to just the habit of it) tended in that direction. What worried you was the thickness of the report he had in front of him. He opens his mouth:
-[] Choke the orcs.
"The main threat right now is the Red Toof orcs. The gauntlet I'd consider secure against anything short of Grimnir himself, but it's kicked out a million-strong waaagh once and it's just a matter of time until it does it again. I think we should step up the cordon around them. With a network of watchposts and towers holding cannon and those umgi mortars, we can pin them in the mountain above as well as below. It'll force them to eat squigs and mushrooms in a closed loop, which should keep their population from growing any more. I just hope it isn't too big already."
-[] Goblin precautions
"Da Howlaz are getting bold. I've got reports that they've been seen by almost every ship that Barak Var has sent up the river for the last two months, and we've seen them from the West gate at well. They're watching us, trying to get an idea what we are bringing in and sending out. If we don't do something, they will escalate. Give the order and send the gyrocopter corps to break up some of their raiding parties; make them fear our displeasure."
-[] Show the flag at Mad Dog Pass.
"I did as you asked and took a look into the proposals the thanes in Barak Var had for Mad Dog pass. I think we can safely detach a throng of about five thousand, and Hubert tells me the winter wolves will provide two thousand of their own. We can be at the mouth of Mad Dog pass in three weeks, and prepare a fortified location for the expedition to reclaim the watchtowers in the five weeks before the throngs arrive from the north. I'm sure you will have the high king's gratitude for it, but I'm more interested in having gratitude from our new neighbors to the north."
Diplomacy: Kazarik is back from his trip to the small holds around Blackfire Pass, and he tells you that there may be a problem. The canal project promises to capture (and multiply) much of the trade that currently moves through the pass, which is bad for the holds and towns along it. So there's that.
-[] Back the High King's gambit.
"Look, it's a long shot, but I might be able to persuade the bandit princes in Mad Dog pass to give up the watchtowers without a fight, or even recruit sooner of them as auxiliaries. Once they get a sense that the Karaz Ankor is serious it would save a lot of lives on both sides for them to have a way out without dying."
-[] Power behind the throne
"I know that Barak Var has offered Sir Ruprecht very generous terms in their negotiations with his father, Hubert has kept me informed. But it is mainly in the form of gold and mercenaries and right of retreat. I think it would be wise to send one of our own with him, to advise and help administrate, and to handle things with the watchtower clans when their throng shows up on his doorstep. He's not had much experience around dwarves, really- even during the expedition I'm told he was mainly out of the wagons on his wolf, so leaving him on his lonesome with them might go wrong."
-[] Marienburg outreach
"So I ended up taking to a traveling merchant on my way back south and he told me a lot of very interesting stories about Marienburg. So many different people struggling to be in charge! It is like Nuln was, in a way, with none of the guilds and thanes quite seeing eye to eye. Which means that if we have enemies there, they have enemies there too, and I mighty be able to find a way to keep them snarled up, or at least have a line to them that doesn't go through the empire and their sabre rattling."
Engineering: Gotri is as distracted as you've ever seen him, scratching in the margins of his report with a full quill and a restless air. You wonder if it has anything to do with that clanless fullplait he'd been spending so much time with lately. You remember her- most clanless don't come in looking kings in the eye and telling them they were here to see if your Karak's offer was worthy of her husband's death. You didn't know anything about any offers... And then you realized you were distracted at the same time Gotri did, and you both coughed to cover it.
-[] One big family
"Look, we both know that the only engineering clans with the talent you need might as well have their boots cemented to the stone in Zuftbar and Everpeak. But you've got me. And I can train up a cadre of engineers, forge you a new clan. From whatever rebels and dregs I can get my hands on- there's no way I can follow the usual training procedures and make this work, and it'll still take a while. A decade, at least, once I can get them into a workshop. Twice that before we can start building gyrocopters for you from scratch. Just give me the go ahead to recruit from the clanless and those willing to leave their clan, and it will be done."
-[] Forward operating base
"If you intend on using your aircorp to intervene in Mad Dog Pass, let me know now and I'll see about building out a base to operate from a bit closer up there. A repair bay, a few fuel bunkers, and an armory full of bombs means we can do four or five sorties for every one we could do if we needed to fly the round trip, and carry more ordinance when we do it!"
-[] Power lifting
"Princess Edda has been sounding me out about elevators or winches of the sort we build for mines, and I've come up with a wonderful idea! It's a direct reverse-application of a simplified gyrocopter blade assembly and a sequential multi-counterweight to store the energy for the primary lifting platform! ...um. I can build out windmills to power the mine cart elevators Edda wants."
Loremaster: The empty chair hurts a little bit to look at, and you give a nostolgic grumble as you are forced to move past the point of consideration and into just filling the damn seat. You already know you won't like them as much, but that's fine, someone who can recruit for you and not find solutions like 'a magic stone that turns people into dragons' to do it is what the Karak needs now. That said, the one you've actually chosen is:
-[] Helga Angrund. A formidable matron who spent much of her life in the service of Valya as a buyer of those things the temples needed, she is well connected among the clans in Everpeak and a loyal member of clan Angrund. Her grasp of grudgelore is weak, but more than made up for in your opinion by her encyclopedic knowledge of the intermarriages and alliances between the clans who once called Vala Azril Ungol their home, and the clans who gave them shelter. All the better to tease them apart.
-[] Gotmek Grimbrow. A distant relation to the Princess, his branch of the family has taken on the responsibility of record keepers and historians for the clan. A bit of a fussy fellow, preferring people in text to those of flesh, but he knows chapter and verse on a thousand different points of dispute between guilds and obscure traditions. He's going to be a lifesaver keeping everything running smoothly and taking responsibility for adjudication off your hands, unless you choose to step in.
-[] Captain Ernst Norgrimlinson. A daring choice, one of Barak Var's dreadnought captains who retired from the seas a decade ago. His speciality is trade law, that tricky area in dwarven practice where the way one Karak does things has become slightly different than another. This makes him an expert in the lore of commercial relations between Karak, and he is something of a celebrity due to his previous command, so you are willing to bet he can sooth over any concerns the clans newly moved here will have about maintaining connections to where they had been living.
Belegar Quest!
You've just seen off your former loremaster and good friend, and now the time has come to take a pickaxe to the work of the Karak. No more stories about exotic dwarfholds on the edge of chaos or offhanded comments about what one of the dragons had told her, but truth be told you were looking forward to things really settling down. And with that thought, you look around the council table.
Stewardship: With the smelters finally operating at capacity and a deal inked with Ulrikardin for sufficient charcoal to run them and the still-small forges, the main challenges seem to have been resolved in this most dwarven of industries. Edda now proposes to:
-[] Deep Waters
"Focus on the reservoirs under Kvinn-Wyr. The water from the silver tarn is sufficient for now, but at current rates of consumption, replenishment and usage growth, we will be facing severe restrictions in as little as forty five years. If we build out a number of sampling and filtering stations we should be able to ensure that the errors which lead to the fall of the Karak will not be repeated."
-[] Barns, fences, and field grading.
"Focus on the caldera. With dwarven help the halflings tell me they will have no trouble laying out paddocks and dividing walls that will let us begin raising livestock in large numbers. It will also allow us to expand beer production, with more acreage devoted to wheat and barley now that the food supply is mostly proven from the East valley."
-[] Shallow roads.
"Keep working on establishing our metal working. With the smelters working at full capacity now, the surplus of ore we have been stockpiling is dwindling quickly. The seams of ore are good, so they main bottleneck is hauling it all back to the Karak. Give me a few of gotri's engineers and a mining crew, and I'll carve out roads and tunnels to make the trip mostly at a descending grade. We'll install elevators or winches to hoist the ore carts up verticals where we need to gain elevation. This should allow us to keep up with the smelters at full speed, even if they want to do that expansion they're already talking about. Speaking of which, did you talk a black smithing clan into gracing our halls yet?"
Military: Dreng is dour. That's not unusual, for the dwarves with the job of worrying about all the threats immediately around you (as opposed to just the habit of it) tended in that direction. What worried you was the thickness of the report he had in front of him. He opens his mouth:
-[] Choke the orcs.
"The main threat right now is the Red Toof orcs. The gauntlet I'd consider secure against anything short of Grimnir himself, but it's kicked out a million-strong waaagh once and it's just a matter of time until it does it again. I think we should step up the cordon around them. With a network of watchposts and towers holding cannon and those umgi mortars, we can pin them in the mountain above as well as below. It'll force them to eat squigs and mushrooms in a closed loop, which should keep their population from growing any more. I just hope it isn't too big already."
-[] Goblin precautions
"Da Howlaz are getting bold. I've got reports that they've been seen by almost every ship that Barak Var has sent up the river for the last two months, and we've seen them from the West gate at well. They're watching us, trying to get an idea what we are bringing in and sending out. If we don't do something, they will escalate. Give the order and send the gyrocopter corps to break up some of their raiding parties; make them fear our displeasure."
-[] Show the flag at Mad Dog Pass.
"I did as you asked and took a look into the proposals the thanes in Barak Var had for Mad Dog pass. I think we can safely detach a throng of about five thousand, and Hubert tells me the winter wolves will provide two thousand of their own. We can be at the mouth of Mad Dog pass in three weeks, and prepare a fortified location for the expedition to reclaim the watchtowers in the five weeks before the throngs arrive from the north. I'm sure you will have the high king's gratitude for it, but I'm more interested in having gratitude from our new neighbors to the north."
Diplomacy: Kazarik is back from his trip to the small holds around Blackfire Pass, and he tells you that there may be a problem. The canal project promises to capture (and multiply) much of the trade that currently moves through the pass, which is bad for the holds and towns along it. So there's that.
-[] Back the High King's gambit.
"Look, it's a long shot, but I might be able to persuade the bandit princes in Mad Dog pass to give up the watchtowers without a fight, or even recruit sooner of them as auxiliaries. Once they get a sense that the Karaz Ankor is serious it would save a lot of lives on both sides for them to have a way out without dying."
-[] Power behind the throne
"I know that Barak Var has offered Sir Ruprecht very generous terms in their negotiations with his father, Hubert has kept me informed. But it is mainly in the form of gold and mercenaries and right of retreat. I think it would be wise to send one of our own with him, to advise and help administrate, and to handle things with the watchtower clans when their throng shows up on his doorstep. He's not had much experience around dwarves, really- even during the expedition I'm told he was mainly out of the wagons on his wolf, so leaving him on his lonesome with them might go wrong."
-[] Marienburg outreach
"So I ended up taking to a traveling merchant on my way back south and he told me a lot of very interesting stories about Marienburg. So many different people struggling to be in charge! It is like Nuln was, in a way, with none of the guilds and thanes quite seeing eye to eye. Which means that if we have enemies there, they have enemies there too, and I mighty be able to find a way to keep them snarled up, or at least have a line to them that doesn't go through the empire and their sabre rattling."
Engineering: Gotri is as distracted as you've ever seen him, scratching in the margins of his report with a full quill and a restless air. You wonder if it has anything to do with that clanless fullplait he'd been spending so much time with lately. You remember her- most clanless don't come in looking kings in the eye and telling them they were here to see if your Karak's offer was worthy of her husband's death. You didn't know anything about any offers... And then you realized you were distracted at the same time Gotri did, and you both coughed to cover it.
-[] One big family
"Look, we both know that the only engineering clans with the talent you need might as well have their boots cemented to the stone in Zuftbar and Everpeak. But you've got me. And I can train up a cadre of engineers, forge you a new clan. From whatever rebels and dregs I can get my hands on- there's no way I can follow the usual training procedures and make this work, and it'll still take a while. A decade, at least, once I can get them into a workshop. Twice that before we can start building gyrocopters for you from scratch. Just give me the go ahead to recruit from the clanless and those willing to leave their clan, and it will be done."
-[] Forward operating base
"If you intend on using your aircorp to intervene in Mad Dog Pass, let me know now and I'll see about building out a base to operate from a bit closer up there. A repair bay, a few fuel bunkers, and an armory full of bombs means we can do four or five sorties for every one we could do if we needed to fly the round trip, and carry more ordinance when we do it!"
-[] Power lifting
"Princess Edda has been sounding me out about elevators or winches of the sort we build for mines, and I've come up with a wonderful idea! It's a direct reverse-application of a simplified gyrocopter blade assembly and a sequential multi-counterweight to store the energy for the primary lifting platform! ...um. I can build out windmills to power the mine cart elevators Edda wants."
Loremaster: The empty chair hurts a little bit to look at, and you give a nostolgic grumble as you are forced to move past the point of consideration and into just filling the damn seat. You already know you won't like them as much, but that's fine, someone who can recruit for you and not find solutions like 'a magic stone that turns people into dragons' to do it is what the Karak needs now. That said, the one you've actually chosen is:
-[] Helga Angrund. A formidable matron who spent much of her life in the service of Valya as a buyer of those things the temples needed, she is well connected among the clans in Everpeak and a loyal member of clan Angrund. Her grasp of grudgelore is weak, but more than made up for in your opinion by her encyclopedic knowledge of the intermarriages and alliances between the clans who once called Vala Azril Ungol their home, and the clans who gave them shelter. All the better to tease them apart.
-[] Gotmek Grimbrow. A distant relation to the Princess, his branch of the family has taken on the responsibility of record keepers and historians for the clan. A bit of a fussy fellow, preferring people in text to those of flesh, but he knows chapter and verse on a thousand different points of dispute between guilds and obscure traditions. He's going to be a lifesaver keeping everything running smoothly and taking responsibility for adjudication off your hands, unless you choose to step in.
-[] Captain Ernst Norgrimlinson. A daring choice, one of Barak Var's dreadnought captains who retired from the seas a decade ago. His speciality is trade law, that tricky area in dwarven practice where the way one Karak does things has become slightly different than another. This makes him an expert in the lore of commercial relations between Karak, and he is something of a celebrity due to his previous command, so you are willing to bet he can sooth over any concerns the clans newly moved here will have about maintaining connections to where they had been living.
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Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Thanks. I will admit a large part of why I started writing is that I wanted to be self indulgent and write about things I wanted to see. Once I started I just couldn't stop. I got way too many ideas bouncing around right now. I will say that no matter what I write, it's always inspired by something I want to see.
Your omakes are always incredibly funny. My brain hurt trying to read this but I consider that a positive.
This is excellent. It's exactly the kind of options I would expect Belegar to have, with a few ones that I didn't wholly expect. I don't personally expect Gotrek's wife to take up Gotri's offer, but I do hope that she does honestly. We need more notable dwarf female characters in Warhammer. They're so rare.
I realise that only a quarter of the Dwarf population is women, but there isn't a single female Dwarf hero unit in any of the books I've read. One of the main three Ancestor Gods is Valaya, a women who created the Rune that protected the Dwarfs from chaos. Yet there isn't a single woman that's supposed to represent her, even though there are plenty of Dwarf characters that represent Grimnir (Ungrim, Gotrek) or Grungni (Thorgrim).
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- Location
- Richland
When did we get the scraven reveal/remember?
- Location
- Aotearoa
Thanks! I feel like it's the quality of the source material here that helps make the humour.
And yeah, as Warhammer Orcs are basically Satirical (80's) English Football Hooligans, and Orcy Speak is basically Satirical (80's) Southern English Football Hooligan Accent, I imagine the ease of reading rests significantly on whether you can 'voice' it internally in something approaching the 'real thing'.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No wonder I'm so bad at visualising Orc speak and writing it. The only British accent I can even visualise is RP, and that's because of how prolific it is when portraying "British" characters in media.
I don't even know what "English Football Hooligan" sounds like, much less the 80's version. I guess the Orks in Total Warhammer is the only time I've ever heard it then.
- Location
- Aotearoa
I dunno if there are many shared references. Ever seen, I dunno... Jason Statham playing a violent thug in a Guy Ritchie movie? That's rough ballpark.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I spent a little while wondering what you meant, but I assume you mean the memory pack unlock scene for the Skaven? If so, it was March to Karak Eight Peaks Week 3: Forest of Gloom:
I have not in fact seen that, but I'll be sure to study accents if I ever have to make dialogue between Orcs and Goblins.
Sylvanian Stories 1
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sylvanian Stories 1
Roswita van Hal stood to attention, her loyal spymaster Lucas by her side, as she watched the doors to Eagle Castle's council meeting chamber open to welcome a personage she had not seen in years. She had known her uncle was coming to visit, but she hadn't seen him since… Da's funeral. She was understandably nervous.
The Greatsword holding the door open heralded her Uncle's arrival. Witch Hunter General of the Holy Order of the Templars of Sigmar, Johann Van Hal had arrived.
His short cropped reddish brown hair and his well groomed beard were starting to gray. Roswita could see a few additional scars and wrinkles added to his weatherbeaten, leathery face. Most notably a scar trailing off the left of his lips all the way up to his cheek, giving him a permanent smirk. Despite that, when her uncle saw her, his eyes crinkled into that oh so familiar look that set his blue eyes sparkling, the reason for the crow's feet growing on such a gnarled face. When he fully entered the room, he stopped, took off his witch hunter hat, holding it to his chest as he bowed.
"Greetings, Elector Countess Roswita van Hal. It is my pleasure to see you again, after all this time."
When the Greatsword closed the door, Johann placed his hat back on his head, stood from his bow and gave a nod to Lucas, who returned it. Looking at Roswita, he laid out his arms wide open.
Without a word, Roswita rushed up to tackle her uncle with a hug. Johann grunted with a laugh as he briefly spun his niece around and laid her to the ground.
"Woah there! Hah, you gotta go easy on me Rosie. These old bones can't handle what they used to." Johann exclaimed with a chuckle.
"I missed you." Roswita mumbled into his shoulder, then craned her neck upwards to give her uncle a stern glare and a look that certainly was not a pout. "And I'm not a kid anymore! Stop calling me Rosie!"
Johann grinned. "Sure" he said as he ruffled Roswita's hair. She grumbled as she fended off the offending appendage impugning her honor.
A polite clear of the throat from Lucas got the attention of both uncle and niece, however, as they were reminded of their current surroundings. Roswita blushed a bright red while Johann simply grinned and then assumed a serious posture and expression.
"Well, as much as I would be satisfied with catching up and telling you how proud I am of your achievements, I did come here on official business. I've been quite busy over the last few years climbing the ranks, earning myself the title of "Witch Hunter General" as I'm sure you're aware. My current assignment is to assist the Margravine of Essen in Ostermark in ensuring that the Dead Wood is free of "Enemies of the Faith" so to speak. Since my station is so close to Sylvania, I saw fit to coordinate with the Elector Countess who has been so busy tangling with said enemies in Sylvania for a while now." Johann ended with a wink.
Straightening her posture, Roswita attempted her best facsimile of a serious and authoritative position, despite her misgivings about assuming such over her uncle. She had known all of those things of course, he had told her in a letter in advance. She had prepared for this.
"Lucas, please prepare the maps." Roswita projected with force as she retreated to the comfort of her seat at the head of the conference table while Lucas began arranging several maps of Stirland, Sylvania and southern Ostermark and weighing down the edges.
Johann followed. He kept up with his niece's activities, but he was interested in hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.
"I'm sure you know a lot of what I'm going to say, but I want to make sure we're still on the same page. A lot has happened in Stirland and Sylvania since last you were here." Roswita began, becoming more steady and analytical as she went on.
"Da's done a great job with the Haunted Hills- currently the Hunter's Hills by the way. They've been cleared out of ghouls, undead and monsters for the most part and the land's been sold to a number of ex-military who are taking advantage of the land and can keep themselves safe. The Ghoul Woods to the south have been cleared out and are being clear cut so fast that I'm sure you've heard of the timber prices crashing. There's not much left and no creatures left that find it appealing to hide in. Castle Drakenhof was toppled and the Countess von Carstein accounted for; we found her corpse in the rubble. With that, we had control over most of the county of Drakenhof.
"Nachtafen and Pfaffbach were ripe for the taking after the Countess of Nachtafen was taken down by the Witch Hunters. We then secured Hel Fenn and Grim Moor to keep necromancers from dredging up corpses there, and took over Grim Wood and Eigisfurt to cut off the supplies of the Vampires in Teufelheim and Mikalsdorf. Thanks to support from Karak Eight Peaks, who were grateful for Stirland's contribution to their campaign, the Vampire in Teufelheim was assassinated." Roswita pointed past the River Templa next to the Tangled Wood.
"Alkharad, the Vampire in question was harassing out forces weekly. With him gone, and information acquired letting us track down suppliers in Southern and Central Stirland, we began cutting off supply routes to the remaining Vampires at the same time as the Battle Mage edict was released. I had my misgivings about them at first, but they proved to be invaluable military assets. The Blood Dragons in Templehof were wiped out in record time, and with combined Battle Mage support and the newly made Stirland Repeaters, we routed the feuding Strigoi forces in the Hunger Wood. All that was left; all that is still left; are the Lahmians in Mikalsdorf and Waldenhof." Roswita's tone soured here as she pointed at the remaining holdouts in Sylvania.
Johann leaned in to look closer at the maps. "They giving you trouble?"
"Not exactly. I'm not willing to spend lives that don't need to be spent to quell my impatience. The Lahmians are bottled up in their holds and fortresses, which are very defensible and would cost far too many lives to take. I decided on a siege. Vampires can't be sieged in the normal way, but a fortress with a discontent populace from lack of resources is ripe for the taking, so we cut off their suppliers and confiscated the peat they used for trade. Our projections for how long the siege was supposed to last have been continuously wrong, but the Vampires do grow weaker so I'm not keen on rushing things." Roswita finished with a grumble.
Johann let out a hum in thought as he contemplated the map with his fingers rubbing his chin. "I assume these are simply the visible holdouts, yes? What about the Red Abbey and the Vampire Cultists?"
Roswita shared a look with Lucas, prompting him to clear his throat as he began his report.
"The majority of our efforts in Sylvania have been done with military force. Of course, only the boldest of the Vampires would have responded to our campaign, so we're quite certain there are many remaining hostile forces in Sylvania that would reveal themselves once Stirland's army withdraws, which it will soon enough. Our current solution is to bring in a competent and skilled individual to lead Sylvania's efforts in purging the Vampires and sympathisers from Sylvania, preferably in the form of Witch Hunters and Vampire Hunters who are skilled in that sort of thing." Lucas gave Johann a searching look.
Johann simply chuckled and waved it off. "Yea no. I've got a lot of other duties, and Sylvania already seems to be in good hands"
Lucas nodded and continued. "Very well then. In terms of the Red Abbey, we've confirmed its status. We could only perform a cursory inspection as going too deep results in the… inhabitants, attacking quite viciously. It is occupied with undead, but they never leave the Abbey and only attack those who they deem to be intruders. We couldn't justify the costs of clearing it out when there were other, more pressing concerns."
Johann nodded. He pointed at Siegfriedhof at the map, marked with several annotations. "I know the Raven Knights and Black Guard are there, but who else is gathering there?"
"The Dreamwalkers, Helhunten's, Order of the Sacred Scythe and the Andanti. There are also rumors that some members of the Fellowship of the Shroud are there, but if so then they've miraculously managed to avoid confrontation with the other Morrites." Lucas replied.
'Fellowship and the Andanti huh? Looks like things are about to get interesting eh Wilhelm?' thought Johann as he traced the lines of his twin tailed comet necklace.
"Well, this has been quite informative. I'll stick around in Wurtbad for a few days in case either of you want to catch up. Then it's off to Siegfriedhof."
Johann was quite happy to see his niece light up at the thought of catching up. He really should come around more often; letters were too impersonal. Lucas simply nodded, as the man was known to do.
'I hope you're watching Abel. It's thanks to you and your daughter that the Van Hal name is no longer synonymous with that bastard Frederick. I'll make sure to keep it that way'
AN: Whew. This one was a doozy. I ended up having it be all setup, which kinda sucks, but what I wanted to write was far more involved than my previous omakes. I hope to be able to release sequels to this so you can see where it's going. If you're confused over Roswita having an uncle, I made it up. I just wanted to see Roswita have positive interactions with a father figure. Johann is a canon character but I've done a lot of tweaking to him.
I look forward to revealing what's in store.
Roswita van Hal stood to attention, her loyal spymaster Lucas by her side, as she watched the doors to Eagle Castle's council meeting chamber open to welcome a personage she had not seen in years. She had known her uncle was coming to visit, but she hadn't seen him since… Da's funeral. She was understandably nervous.
The Greatsword holding the door open heralded her Uncle's arrival. Witch Hunter General of the Holy Order of the Templars of Sigmar, Johann Van Hal had arrived.
His short cropped reddish brown hair and his well groomed beard were starting to gray. Roswita could see a few additional scars and wrinkles added to his weatherbeaten, leathery face. Most notably a scar trailing off the left of his lips all the way up to his cheek, giving him a permanent smirk. Despite that, when her uncle saw her, his eyes crinkled into that oh so familiar look that set his blue eyes sparkling, the reason for the crow's feet growing on such a gnarled face. When he fully entered the room, he stopped, took off his witch hunter hat, holding it to his chest as he bowed.
"Greetings, Elector Countess Roswita van Hal. It is my pleasure to see you again, after all this time."
When the Greatsword closed the door, Johann placed his hat back on his head, stood from his bow and gave a nod to Lucas, who returned it. Looking at Roswita, he laid out his arms wide open.
Without a word, Roswita rushed up to tackle her uncle with a hug. Johann grunted with a laugh as he briefly spun his niece around and laid her to the ground.
"Woah there! Hah, you gotta go easy on me Rosie. These old bones can't handle what they used to." Johann exclaimed with a chuckle.
"I missed you." Roswita mumbled into his shoulder, then craned her neck upwards to give her uncle a stern glare and a look that certainly was not a pout. "And I'm not a kid anymore! Stop calling me Rosie!"
Johann grinned. "Sure" he said as he ruffled Roswita's hair. She grumbled as she fended off the offending appendage impugning her honor.
A polite clear of the throat from Lucas got the attention of both uncle and niece, however, as they were reminded of their current surroundings. Roswita blushed a bright red while Johann simply grinned and then assumed a serious posture and expression.
"Well, as much as I would be satisfied with catching up and telling you how proud I am of your achievements, I did come here on official business. I've been quite busy over the last few years climbing the ranks, earning myself the title of "Witch Hunter General" as I'm sure you're aware. My current assignment is to assist the Margravine of Essen in Ostermark in ensuring that the Dead Wood is free of "Enemies of the Faith" so to speak. Since my station is so close to Sylvania, I saw fit to coordinate with the Elector Countess who has been so busy tangling with said enemies in Sylvania for a while now." Johann ended with a wink.
Straightening her posture, Roswita attempted her best facsimile of a serious and authoritative position, despite her misgivings about assuming such over her uncle. She had known all of those things of course, he had told her in a letter in advance. She had prepared for this.
"Lucas, please prepare the maps." Roswita projected with force as she retreated to the comfort of her seat at the head of the conference table while Lucas began arranging several maps of Stirland, Sylvania and southern Ostermark and weighing down the edges.
Johann followed. He kept up with his niece's activities, but he was interested in hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.
"I'm sure you know a lot of what I'm going to say, but I want to make sure we're still on the same page. A lot has happened in Stirland and Sylvania since last you were here." Roswita began, becoming more steady and analytical as she went on.
"Da's done a great job with the Haunted Hills- currently the Hunter's Hills by the way. They've been cleared out of ghouls, undead and monsters for the most part and the land's been sold to a number of ex-military who are taking advantage of the land and can keep themselves safe. The Ghoul Woods to the south have been cleared out and are being clear cut so fast that I'm sure you've heard of the timber prices crashing. There's not much left and no creatures left that find it appealing to hide in. Castle Drakenhof was toppled and the Countess von Carstein accounted for; we found her corpse in the rubble. With that, we had control over most of the county of Drakenhof.
"Nachtafen and Pfaffbach were ripe for the taking after the Countess of Nachtafen was taken down by the Witch Hunters. We then secured Hel Fenn and Grim Moor to keep necromancers from dredging up corpses there, and took over Grim Wood and Eigisfurt to cut off the supplies of the Vampires in Teufelheim and Mikalsdorf. Thanks to support from Karak Eight Peaks, who were grateful for Stirland's contribution to their campaign, the Vampire in Teufelheim was assassinated." Roswita pointed past the River Templa next to the Tangled Wood.
"Alkharad, the Vampire in question was harassing out forces weekly. With him gone, and information acquired letting us track down suppliers in Southern and Central Stirland, we began cutting off supply routes to the remaining Vampires at the same time as the Battle Mage edict was released. I had my misgivings about them at first, but they proved to be invaluable military assets. The Blood Dragons in Templehof were wiped out in record time, and with combined Battle Mage support and the newly made Stirland Repeaters, we routed the feuding Strigoi forces in the Hunger Wood. All that was left; all that is still left; are the Lahmians in Mikalsdorf and Waldenhof." Roswita's tone soured here as she pointed at the remaining holdouts in Sylvania.
Johann leaned in to look closer at the maps. "They giving you trouble?"
"Not exactly. I'm not willing to spend lives that don't need to be spent to quell my impatience. The Lahmians are bottled up in their holds and fortresses, which are very defensible and would cost far too many lives to take. I decided on a siege. Vampires can't be sieged in the normal way, but a fortress with a discontent populace from lack of resources is ripe for the taking, so we cut off their suppliers and confiscated the peat they used for trade. Our projections for how long the siege was supposed to last have been continuously wrong, but the Vampires do grow weaker so I'm not keen on rushing things." Roswita finished with a grumble.
Johann let out a hum in thought as he contemplated the map with his fingers rubbing his chin. "I assume these are simply the visible holdouts, yes? What about the Red Abbey and the Vampire Cultists?"
Roswita shared a look with Lucas, prompting him to clear his throat as he began his report.
"The majority of our efforts in Sylvania have been done with military force. Of course, only the boldest of the Vampires would have responded to our campaign, so we're quite certain there are many remaining hostile forces in Sylvania that would reveal themselves once Stirland's army withdraws, which it will soon enough. Our current solution is to bring in a competent and skilled individual to lead Sylvania's efforts in purging the Vampires and sympathisers from Sylvania, preferably in the form of Witch Hunters and Vampire Hunters who are skilled in that sort of thing." Lucas gave Johann a searching look.
Johann simply chuckled and waved it off. "Yea no. I've got a lot of other duties, and Sylvania already seems to be in good hands"
Lucas nodded and continued. "Very well then. In terms of the Red Abbey, we've confirmed its status. We could only perform a cursory inspection as going too deep results in the… inhabitants, attacking quite viciously. It is occupied with undead, but they never leave the Abbey and only attack those who they deem to be intruders. We couldn't justify the costs of clearing it out when there were other, more pressing concerns."
Johann nodded. He pointed at Siegfriedhof at the map, marked with several annotations. "I know the Raven Knights and Black Guard are there, but who else is gathering there?"
"The Dreamwalkers, Helhunten's, Order of the Sacred Scythe and the Andanti. There are also rumors that some members of the Fellowship of the Shroud are there, but if so then they've miraculously managed to avoid confrontation with the other Morrites." Lucas replied.
'Fellowship and the Andanti huh? Looks like things are about to get interesting eh Wilhelm?' thought Johann as he traced the lines of his twin tailed comet necklace.
"Well, this has been quite informative. I'll stick around in Wurtbad for a few days in case either of you want to catch up. Then it's off to Siegfriedhof."
Johann was quite happy to see his niece light up at the thought of catching up. He really should come around more often; letters were too impersonal. Lucas simply nodded, as the man was known to do.
'I hope you're watching Abel. It's thanks to you and your daughter that the Van Hal name is no longer synonymous with that bastard Frederick. I'll make sure to keep it that way'
AN: Whew. This one was a doozy. I ended up having it be all setup, which kinda sucks, but what I wanted to write was far more involved than my previous omakes. I hope to be able to release sequels to this so you can see where it's going. If you're confused over Roswita having an uncle, I made it up. I just wanted to see Roswita have positive interactions with a father figure. Johann is a canon character but I've done a lot of tweaking to him.
I look forward to revealing what's in store.
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- Location
- Germany
Minor nitpick, she died when the fake countess awoke her moments before aWitchhunter killed her.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I remembered that, but I got confused because of this line:
Wilhelmina said she "disappeared". But then I remembered that while Wilehelmina might not know what happened to Gabriella and assumed she just disappeared, Roswita would. So you're right, I'll edit that.
Do you really think this topic needed to be imported into the thread?
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- Location
- Australia
No. It was a mistake.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Boney I have my own ideas about the structure of the Templars of Sigmar and how Johann could fit into it, but I'd like your take on it so I don't bungle it up.
The "Witch Hunter's Handbook" says the hierarchical structure of the Order is the following:
Lord Protector at the top. Then the "Supreme Council" consisting of 12 "Knights of the Inner Circle" (Knights? My understanding is that the Witch Hunters aren't Knights). Below them is the "Chamberlain" (chamberlain of what?). Then the Witch Hunter Captains followed by the Witch Hunters themselves. The hierarchy below consists of the non-Witch Hunter staff in charge of Priestly duties and maintaining the structure of the organisation.
Johann van Hal is also described as a "Witch Hunter General", which isn't part of this hierarchy. The way I've come to reconcile it is that Johann is one of the 12 members of the Supreme Council. Would that be correct?
The "Witch Hunter's Handbook" says the hierarchical structure of the Order is the following:
Lord Protector at the top. Then the "Supreme Council" consisting of 12 "Knights of the Inner Circle" (Knights? My understanding is that the Witch Hunters aren't Knights). Below them is the "Chamberlain" (chamberlain of what?). Then the Witch Hunter Captains followed by the Witch Hunters themselves. The hierarchy below consists of the non-Witch Hunter staff in charge of Priestly duties and maintaining the structure of the organisation.
Johann van Hal is also described as a "Witch Hunter General", which isn't part of this hierarchy. The way I've come to reconcile it is that Johann is one of the 12 members of the Supreme Council. Would that be correct?
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
threads -> threats
he -> He
his -> His
The official Sigmarite Witch Hunters are the Knightly Order of the Silver Hammer. They're (legally) knights.
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The word 'knight' has a whole bunch of different definitions attached to it. Originally, the words that preceded it just meant 'professional warrior' and then it became associated with the most dominant type of professional warrior, the heavily armoured person on horseback, which eventually became an official noble title - equivalent to the Bretonnian Knight. About the same time it also became associated with the Feudal system, where those professional warriors were granted land in exchange for their service and to pay for their equipment, but over time many 'knights' started to pay their dues in taxes rather than combat - equivalent to Mathilde's title of Knight. During the Crusades there arose various military orders empowered by the Catholic church instead of a monarch - sort of equivalent to the Empire's Knightly Orders associated with Cults. After this period, a variety of people founded chivalric orders of all sorts inspired by the earlier military orders, some noble, some religious, and some neither, and from this point on someone being a 'knight' doesn't really tell you anything about who they are or what they do. This is where the Empire's secular Knighty Orders come in.
The Holy Order of the Templars of Sigmar are a Holy Order empowered sort of by the Cult of Sigmar and sort of by the Emperor, so it is not technically incorrect for them to call themselves knights, but it probably would get them side-eyed by all the guys who actually do ride around on horses in heavy armour.
Originally, 'chamberlain' just meant a servant that tended to a noble in their bedchambers, but it quickly became noticed that this person ended up having a lot of influence over said noble, so people who wanted that influence started to want to be a chamberlain. So the title started being given as a sign of favour and trust, rather than just because the person knows how to make a bed properly. And of course these are important people that don't actually want to spend their time making beds, they just want to have the noble's ear, so they delegate the actual work to a servant and over time 'chamberlain' becomes completely divorced from the original meaning - it just means 'a person who the noble trusts'. From there it splits into a bunch of largely unrelated roles - a chamberlain might be the person that manages a noble's household, or it might be a person who collects rent in a specific area, or it could be a fancy title for any economical position, or an entirely honorary title that actually has no duties or privileges associated with it at all. The position of 'Chamberlain' in the Witch Hunters has probably been on a similar journey, where it was originally an assistant to the Lord Protector that was eventually made an official part of the chain of command.
That title means that the person has the authority to sanction people to act as Witch Hunters, basically like a sheriff forming a posse. So he'd have a separate title within the hierarchy of the Templars.
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