Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Burned_Cookie]

Mathilde easily but accidentally dropped Roswita's first name and the only explanation she gave for how they got so close is she "worked with her". The conclusion Egrimm will draw is as incorrect as it is salacious.

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Roswita is also conveniently cured of her magic fear, and Mathilde doesn't carry a grudge.


Interesting Interesting.

 

[Fayhem]

Mathilde easily but accidentally dropped Roswita's first name and the only explanation she gave for how they got so close is she "worked with her". The conclusion Egrimm will draw is as incorrect as it is salacious.

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It's not technically incorrect. He's just seeing into my personal AU.

Of course, if that were actually true, he'd be even more confused trying to figure out why the hell an Elector Countess is moonlighting as a barista.

 

[Codex]

It's not technically incorrect. He's just seeing into my personal AU.

Of course, if that were actually true, he'd be even more confused trying to figure out why the hell an Elector Countess is moonlighting as a barista.

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Ah, the classic coffeeshop AU. It never gets old.

I'm not sure if you're thinking modern AU or not, but I've actually been thinking of an AU like that. All I've been able to come up with is that Panoramia would 100% wear a beanie and smoke weed. And Mathilde would be completely ignorant of social media and technological trends, preferring one of those old fashioned indestructible nokia phones over a smart phone.

I had this scenario of Panoramia trying to convince Mathilde to make a twitter account and explaining to her what "Oomf" and "mutuals" meant. Never got far into the process of making more details other than another thing about Mathilde and Johann meeting at the gym because Johann got stood up and needs someone to spot him.

 

[Andres]

Ah, the classic coffeeshop AU. It never gets old.

I'm not sure if you're thinking modern AU or not, but I've actually been thinking of an AU like that. All I've been able to come up with is that Panoramia would 100% wear a beanie and smoke weed. And Mathilde would be completely ignorant of social media and technological trends, preferring one of those old fashioned indestructible nokia phones over a smart phone.

I had this scenario of Panoramia trying to convince Mathilde to make a twitter account and explaining to her what "Oomf" and "mutuals" meant. Never got far into the process of making more details other than another thing about Mathilde and Johann meeting at the gym because Johann got stood up and needs someone to spot him.

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As an owner of one such old fashioned (well, 2012ish or something) Nokia phones, let me tell you that it is great. Battery lasts days and recharges from low to full in like two hours, it's got keyboard buttons for easier texting than a touchscreen keyboard, and it's legit durable. I've dropped it more times than I can count and the only thing wrong with it is the flashlight doesn't work anymore. A smart phone would've cracked by now for sure.

As for Twitter, I've seen a lot of people complaining about how bad it is and how it ruins their sleep and gives them anxiety, and never ever in all my years have I seen someone say that Twitter made them happy and improved their life. (Seeing Twitter memes that other people post is still good though.)

 

[Ericwinter]

Ah, the classic coffeeshop AU. It never gets old.

I'm not sure if you're thinking modern AU or not, but I've actually been thinking of an AU like that. All I've been able to come up with is that Panoramia would 100% wear a beanie and smoke weed. And Mathilde would be completely ignorant of social media and technological trends, preferring one of those old fashioned indestructible nokia phones over a smart phone.

I had this scenario of Panoramia trying to convince Mathilde to make a twitter account and explaining to her what "Oomf" and "mutuals" meant. Never got far into the process of making more details other than another thing about Mathilde and Johann meeting at the gym because Johann got stood up and needs someone to spot him.

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Weird, I always kinda figured Mathilde would be one of those ultra hackers that could take apart government security with ease and min-maxes all her D&D characters to the extreme—"How the hell does a Paladin/Mage/Rogue multi class even work!?"—but doesn't actually know how to socialize, so she just acts like the heroines from her harem animes. Which she watches a lot of, of course.

 

[Codex]

Weird, I always kinda figured Mathilde would be one of those ultra hackers that could take apart government security with ease and min-maxes all her D&D characters to the extreme—"How the hell does a Paladin/Mage/Rogue multi class even work!?"—but doesn't actually know how to socialize, so she just acts like the heroines from her harem animes. Which she watches a lot of, of course.

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I'm under the impression Mathilde would be more of a book and analogue kind of gal. I don't think she particularly enjoyed the calculus she learnt for the Matrix, and she prefers scholarly pursuits. So I don't think she'd be much of a hacker.

I can totally see her being a huge nerd though.

 

[B_omega]

EDIT: Or maybe they imported all their obsidian from Ulthuan back when they were a colony. That's an option.

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Thousands of years ago, some elves deviced a long and convoluted way to make obsidian and marble, until an elven version of khaby lame go to nearest merchant and order a shitload of marble with a chest of gold.

 

[Ericwinter]

I'm under the impression Mathilde would be more of a book and analogue kind of gal. I don't think she particularly enjoyed the calculus she learnt for the Matrix, and she prefers scholarly pursuits. So I don't think she'd be much of a hacker.

I can totally see her being a huge nerd though.

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Maybe? On the one hand, yeah math was bad, but she also really likes enchantment, which is about the closest magic can get to coding, especially when you consider how the Rite of Way spell works and her ability at countering other magic. That's why I said a hacker rather than, say, a physicist. (I'll be honest, I also know nothing of coding, but was under the impression that it's less math skills than it is language skill—of a sort—so that also influenced things.)

Like, I was thinking less literal translation, and more thematic.

 

[Andres]

On AU Mathilde, it's worth noting that she works out every day and one of the things she's best at is swordsmanship, so going to some martial arts club would probably fit her.

 

[Ericwinter]

On AU Mathilde, it's worth noting that she works out every day and one of the things she's best at is swordsmanship, so going to some martial arts club would probably fit her.

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It started out as a chuunibyou obsession—or maybe just LARPing?—But then she realized she really liked it and made it a regular thing. So now she's one of those nerds who looks like she should be a cheerleader, and has watched enough really weird shit on the internet she could get away with murder really easily.

 

[Andres]

It started out as a chuunibyou obsession—or maybe just LARPing?—But then she realized she really liked it and made it a regular thing. So now she's one of those nerds who looks like she should be a cheerleader, and has watched enough really weird shit on the internet she could get away with murder really easily.

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Could've gone the other direction. She started out a jock and then got into nerd stuff. Mathilde got ripped in the Stirland arc and only became a magical researcher of her present skill during the Eight Peaks arc.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

So this is something I've wondered ever since I first read it:

I've already questioned how the Eonir get all of their building material like the Marble that forms every wall and building, the giant tower here and the flagstones used for the Agora. But what's even weirder than the sheer abundance of marble the Eonir have is where the hell they got enough obsidian to make a tower.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression obsidian is formed from cooled down lava and as a result it's found in places where eruptions have taken place like next to volcanos and calderas. As far as I know, there are no volcanos anywhere near Laurelorn. Maybe the Middle Mountains have a volcano, but that's out of the bounds of the forest. Where did they get that obsidian? Can obsidian be formed without volcanos involved?

EDIT: Or maybe they imported all their obsidian from Ulthuan back when they were a colony. That's an option.

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I'd like to point out that obsidian is absolutely shit as a building material. It's incredibly brittle, and fractures into shards so sharp that the Aztecs made edged clubs (called Macuahuitl) that were capable of penetrating steel armour. Making blocks out of it for construction purposes is completely out of the question; as such, magic had to have been heavily involved in its construction.

It's also a Lord of the Rings reference; in the movies, the tower of Orthanc in Isengard is depicted as being made of obsidian (I don't think the books specific the material).

 

[Saidoro]

It's worth noting that "knows a lot about technology" and "knows nothing about what people use technology for" aren't mutually exclusive. One can find plenty of real world engineers who didn't have any idea why someone would want to use twitter or facebook, thought google glass was the coolest thing and view every single instance of them having to sign up for an account somewhere as a substantial imposition.

 

[Ericwinter]

Could've gone the other direction. She started out a jock and then got into nerd stuff. Mathilde got ripped in the Stirland arc and only became a magical researcher of her present skill during the Eight Peaks arc.

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Sure, but she was already a Wizard out of college—relatively speaking, at least—and a somewhat skilled enchanter with high learning. For us it looked early—and so would fit as a background detail— but Mathilde was already in her twenties when she made that lifestyle change, and it was done out of a sudden necessity. Canonically that was nearly getting killed, in Modern AU… well, either what I said—with the sudden need being comparatively benign—or maybe she went for self-defences classes after a mugging.

 

[pucflek]

It's also a Lord of the Rings reference; in the movies, the tower of Orthanc in Isengard is depicted as being made of obsidian (I don't think the books specific the material).

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Its black. Doesn't mean it needs to be from obsidian. (Its also durable enough that it withstands the fury of the Ents, so either its heavily magical, which is not really something that works in the context of LotR in that case, or its just built with #superiorSkills)

Also, i don't see how Eonir having obsidian is a mystery. They have magic, history stretching back 6000 years part of which they have been part of global nigh post-scarcity hegemony and maintained peaceful relations with dwarfs for quite a while. Trade and requisitions exist, you know. Transportation isn't exactly a riddle.

 

[Codex]

Sure, but she was already a Wizard out of college—relatively speaking, at least—and a somewhat skilled enchanter with high learning. For us it looked early—and so would fit as a background detail— but Mathilde was already in her twenties when she made that lifestyle change, and it was done out of a sudden necessity. Canonically that was nearly getting killed, in Modern AU… well, either what I said—with the sudden need being comparatively benign—or maybe she went for self-defences classes after a mugging.

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I'd like to think enchanting would translate less to software engineering and more directly to Mathilde just being really good at building stuff and shopping at Home Depot for home improvement supplies. Maybe she met Panoramia by building a new table for her or something. Certainly you can't translate wizardry into a modern AU.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

AU Mathilde is clearly a Pol Sci graduate with an interest in philosophy and classics who got her start as an analyst for an intelligence agency, but likes to pretend she's James Bond, or some other Hollywood spy, hence the martial arts and firearms training. Later, she accompanied her commander Van Hel on a few field ops, one of which went wrong and resulted her being reassigned to a dead end career track under an allied general in an active war zone with a bunch of other misfits; her successes there allowed her to be promoted and assigned her own department,

Wait, this stopped being a coffee shop AU and became a spy thriller AU. Man, I am not very good at this.

 

[NuclearConsensus]

AU Mathilde is clearly a Pol Sci graduate with an interest in philosophy and classics who got her start as an analyst for an intelligence agency, but likes to pretend she's James Bond, or some other Hollywood spy, hence the martial arts and firearms training. Later, she accompanied her commander Van Hel on a few field ops, one of which went wrong and resulted her being reassigned to a dead end career track under an allied general in an active war zone with a bunch of other misfits; her successes there allowed her to be promoted and assigned her own department,

Wait, this stopped being a coffee shop AU and became a spy thriller AU. Man, I am not very good at this.

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Maybe the intelligence agency she joined is subordinate to a coffee shop megacorp?

 

[Fayhem]

Could've gone the other direction. She started out a jock and then got into nerd stuff. Mathilde got ripped in the Stirland arc and only became a magical researcher of her present skill during the Eight Peaks arc.

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Hmm. So... let's say Kendo Club transitioning into LARP? I can vibe with that.

I'd like to think enchanting would translate less to software engineering and more directly to Mathilde just being really good at building stuff and shopping at Home Depot for home improvement supplies. Maybe she met Panoramia by building a new table for her or something. Certainly you can't translate wizardry into a modern AU.

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Huh. Enchanting -> carpentry, huh?

...

oh my god Kragg is Ron Swanson in the AU

 

[Dark as Silver]

AU Mathilde is clearly a Pol Sci graduate with an interest in philosophy and classics who got her start as an analyst for an intelligence agency, but likes to pretend she's James Bond, or some other Hollywood spy, hence the martial arts and firearms training. Later, she accompanied her commander Van Hel on a few field ops, one of which went wrong and resulted her being reassigned to a dead end career track under an allied general in an active war zone with a bunch of other misfits; her successes there allowed her to be promoted and assigned her own department,

Wait, this stopped being a coffee shop AU and became a spy thriller AU. Man, I am not very good at this.

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Naïve, clearly this AU is based on the premise where Starbucks grew to the point that it was carrying out its own Banana wars.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

Naïve, clearly this AU is based on the premise where Starbucks grew to the point that it was carrying out its own Banana wars.

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Wait, does AU Mathilde work for a modern day East India Company?

 

[Imugi]

Wait, does AU Mathilde work for a modern day East India Company?

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It be the other way around wouldn't it, the modern day East India Company works for her.

 

[K von Carstein]

As far as Alric having some actual, legitimate concerns the thing is that I wouldn't look at Egrimm Van Horstmann being the source of those concerns.

Because if Alric is looking into the death of Hexensohn? or talking to Elspeth about "certain sensitive matters?" Neither of those have been mentioned in the quest about before have anything to do with Egrimm, but they both have a history that has a great deal to do with the very certain grey wizard who stole his right hand man to begin with. And in the former case a certain little book too, if he found enough.

So yeah, taking for a moment the assumption as axiom there's someone in particular connected to his actions, then I'm pretty sure right now that Alric is looking into Mathilde's past.

After all, our actions were directly connected to the death of a great many plotters in the twilight hours of our journeying, which Regimand had to contract out for, and earlier to the death Hexensohn as well, even if the latter is removed by degrees and chance alike. Now he's looking into Tabalecland, and I'm wondering about whether our time as a spymaster (or the EIC currently) has any connection to all that. Because it certainly looks like the path a man might take looking back through our own actions, starting from a notable incident he might have been hired for.

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What if Alaric wants to keep Egrimm close to him because he witnessed something suspicious, and was keeping an eye on him? That's basically what the thread is doing. And a Grey Wizard poaching him looks suspicious as hell too, so he investigates on us?

So this is something I've wondered ever since I first read it:

I've already questioned how the Eonir get all of their building material like the Marble that forms every wall and building, the giant tower here and the flagstones used for the Agora. But what's even weirder than the sheer abundance of marble the Eonir have is where the hell they got enough obsidian to make a tower.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression obsidian is formed from cooled down lava and as a result it's found in places where eruptions have taken place like next to volcanos and calderas. As far as I know, there are no volcanos anywhere near Laurelorn. Maybe the Middle Mountains have a volcano, but that's out of the bounds of the forest. Where did they get that obsidian? Can obsidian be formed without volcanos involved?

EDIT: Or maybe they imported all their obsidian from Ulthuan back when they were a colony. That's an option.

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Trade with the Dwarfs? A mix of Ghyran and Chamon, maybe even Aqshy?

And as someone else said, there must be magic that allows the tower to stand.

It's also a Lord of the Rings reference; in the movies, the tower of Orthanc in Isengard is depicted as being made of obsidian (I don't think the books specific the material).

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In the book it's a material made by some Numenorean technology, just like the outer wall of Minas Tirith.

 

[pucflek]

oh my god Kragg is Ron Swanson in the AU

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Why does this fit so much.

 

[Omegahugger]

I'm under the impression Mathilde would be more of a book and analogue kind of gal. I don't think she particularly enjoyed the calculus she learnt for the Matrix, and she prefers scholarly pursuits. So I don't think she'd be much of a hacker.

I can totally see her being a huge nerd though.

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"Of course I'm great at hacking. These guns aren't just for show, I've been practising the zweihänder as a hobby for a decade now."