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I believe the title of Lady Magister mean that Mathilde is officially a noble and thus immune to most taxes.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Doesn't being Dame Weber of Stirland mean that she actually is a noble and has been for years? I don't quite remember if that means she owes the Elector Count(ess) taxes.
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Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
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Yeah, she does. Those get paid from the cactus fief's coffers, and we don't need to involve ourselves in that process, since the place more or less runs itself.
Mathilde WFRP 2e Charsheet
Codex
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I've spent a very long time reading through tons of WFRPG books. That doesn't necessarily mean that I understood the rules properly, because the ruleset confuses me because there's so many goddamn rules and it makes things complicated. That being said, I contemplated constantly what Mathilde's stats would look like, so I made a profile for her. Huge disclaimer, I'm not all that good at the rules for WFRP, and I cribbed most of the stats off existing profiles, primarily Markus Fischer from Shades of Empire because he's an excellent example to steal from. Grey Lord Magister and the like. I modified the stats to fit Mathilde and then chose Talents and skills based on what felt right then following through the Career/Advance schemes that the rulebook sets out, so this clearly isn't balanced properly.
Finally, it should be noted that WFRP does not work on the same ruleset as the tabletop, so if the stats look unreasonably high, it's because Mathilde isn't supposed to be a PC in WFRP. It is a lower level game. That being said, that doesn't mean she can't be an antagonist or quest giver NPC, since they can be pretty powerful compared to the PCs to set the scales properly.
I can't go over every detail, but an overview of what the abbreviations mean: It's Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower, Fellowship, number of Attacks, Wounds, Strength Bonus, Toughness Bonus, Movement, Magic (4 is the max), Insanity Points (not touching that) and Fate Points in that order. Fate Points are two to represent Ranald's two Gamble bonuses per turn.
If you're curious about anything you can ask me questions and I'll try to answer.
Finally, it should be noted that WFRP does not work on the same ruleset as the tabletop, so if the stats look unreasonably high, it's because Mathilde isn't supposed to be a PC in WFRP. It is a lower level game. That being said, that doesn't mean she can't be an antagonist or quest giver NPC, since they can be pretty powerful compared to the PCs to set the scales properly.
Mathilde Weber:
Skills: Charm, Command, Concealment +20%, Gamble, Gossip, Intimidate, Perception +20%, Ride, Search +10%, Silent Move +20%, Academic Knowledge (Magic +10%, Necromancy +20%, Greenskins +20%, Skaven +10%, Dhar +10%), Channeling +20%, Common Knowledge (Empire, Dwarfs +20%, Laurelorn, Halflings), Dodge Blow, Magical Sense +20%, Read/Write +10%, Secret Signs (Grey Order), Shadowing +10%, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language (Reikspiel +20%, Old Reikspiel, Eltharin, Khazalid, Queekish), Torture.
Talents: Aethyric Attunement, Alley Cat, Arcane Lore (Shadow), Dark Lore (Necromancy), Dark Magic, Petty Magic (Arcane), Lesser Magic, Coolheaded, Fast Hands, Keen Senses, Lightning Parry, Lightning Reflexes, Linguistics, Luck, Mighty Missile, Night Vision, Quick Draw, Savvy, Schemer, Seasoned Traveller, Sixth Sense, Specialist Weapon Group (Blackpowder, Two-Handed), Stout-Hearted, Streetwise, Strike Mighty Blow, Strike to Injure, Strong-Minded, Sure Shot, Super Numerate, Warrior Born
Armor: Helldrake Scale Robes. When activated grants AP5 on all locations for around 10 minutes. Takes a full day to recharge.
Weapon: Branulhune. Runic Hand Weapon (shaped like a Greatsword). Don't ask me to translate this weapon into WFRP, I don't know.
Trappings: I'm bailing out here. Just know that Mathilde's Toughness is so high up there because of the Belt.
| WS | BS | S | T | Ag | Int | WP | Fel |
| 60% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 68% | 80% | 80% | 54% |
| A | W | SB | TB | M | Mag | IP | FP |
| 3 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | ??? | 2 |
Skills: Charm, Command, Concealment +20%, Gamble, Gossip, Intimidate, Perception +20%, Ride, Search +10%, Silent Move +20%, Academic Knowledge (Magic +10%, Necromancy +20%, Greenskins +20%, Skaven +10%, Dhar +10%), Channeling +20%, Common Knowledge (Empire, Dwarfs +20%, Laurelorn, Halflings), Dodge Blow, Magical Sense +20%, Read/Write +10%, Secret Signs (Grey Order), Shadowing +10%, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language (Reikspiel +20%, Old Reikspiel, Eltharin, Khazalid, Queekish), Torture.
Talents: Aethyric Attunement, Alley Cat, Arcane Lore (Shadow), Dark Lore (Necromancy), Dark Magic, Petty Magic (Arcane), Lesser Magic, Coolheaded, Fast Hands, Keen Senses, Lightning Parry, Lightning Reflexes, Linguistics, Luck, Mighty Missile, Night Vision, Quick Draw, Savvy, Schemer, Seasoned Traveller, Sixth Sense, Specialist Weapon Group (Blackpowder, Two-Handed), Stout-Hearted, Streetwise, Strike Mighty Blow, Strike to Injure, Strong-Minded, Sure Shot, Super Numerate, Warrior Born
Armor: Helldrake Scale Robes. When activated grants AP5 on all locations for around 10 minutes. Takes a full day to recharge.
Weapon: Branulhune. Runic Hand Weapon (shaped like a Greatsword). Don't ask me to translate this weapon into WFRP, I don't know.
Trappings: I'm bailing out here. Just know that Mathilde's Toughness is so high up there because of the Belt.
If you're curious about anything you can ask me questions and I'll try to answer.
I think the best way to model Moonlight Whit would be to give it the power to cause more wounds to the target, like enough so that anything with a base human number of wounds can easily die in one hit but something like a troll or a giant is able to weather it
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
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Just a few points to address, otherwise this looks like a solid enough import to 2e's mechanics:
1) Academic Knowledge(Magic) covers all theoretical expertise on magics, including Dhar, so there's no need to list them separately. There is one for Necromancy, but is considered as being knowledge about the undead specifically, not the magic that animates them.
2) Greenskins and Skaven should be listed under the Common Knowledge skill, since that would be general knowledge of society, social norms and current power structures for the people in question.
3) In 2e, the Charm skill also governs your ability to lie convincingly, so it should probably have at least one level of mastery on it.
Codex
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I think that's improper terminology tbh. Mathilde's knowledge of Greenskins and Skaven isn't "Common Knowledge", it's Academic in nature, and involves aspects that 100% wouldn't count as common. Second, just because someone knows about magical stuff shouldn't mean they're experienced in Dhar. I'm trying to translate Mathilde's Dhar Insight, which requires that I separate the two to show her particular expertise. Also, if Academic Knowledge (Necromancy) is about undead, then it should be Academic Knowledge (Undead). Necromancy is the magic, not the subgroup. That's just bad terminology if that's what they intend.
I did consider that about Charm. Frankly, I didn't want to give her Charm, because I don't think Mathilde is all that good at Charming people, even if she's good at linguistic maneuvers. Bluff should honestly be a different skill rather than grouped up under Charm. This is why I split the difference and made it so that she has Charm, but no boost to it stat wise.
If it was just Bluff, I'd give her +10% at least.
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I thought Dame/Knight was one step below being a true noble, but I could easily be wrong. The Empire is based on the historical Holy Roman Empire, and it's judicial and privileges system was complicated as fuck.
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
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Common Knowledge doesn't denote what everyone in the world could reasonably be expected to know about the subject, but rather what someone who has lived as part of that society could be expected to know. In the case of the Skaven, things like a broad scope of current Clan politics and power blocs, the unique numerology they've developed, the names of important figures and general beliefs. We didn't know of these things until Qrech, who has lived in Skaven society his entire life, told us about them in extensive detail.
The names are very generic and abstract, yes. Mechanically, it doesn't make all that much difference, and the actual greater details ought to be left to the game master to handle, through such means as assigning a lower difficulty to Academic Knowledge(Magic) tests if the specific subject is necromancy/Dhar. A Shallyan and Sigmarite priestess will both simply be noted as having Academic Knowledge(Theology), though they do get unique cult skills and talents as well. And if you wished to translate Mathilde's insights into Dhar, you already did that by giving her the Dark Lore(Necromancy) talent.
Fair enough, though I would argue a good bit of Mathilde's successes have come about from being able to persuade the people with the needed skillsets/authority to come and work together at the current goal. I suppose the Schemer talent gives an appropriate enough mechanical boost for the purposes of deception, anyway.
- Location
- USA
I assumed that being granted knighthood was the same as being admitted into the nobility, at least in Stirland. I mean, she basically asked for both as her reward in the same breath...
- Location
- Utrecht
So far we are being reasonably successful at not letting the Eonir know we have no cards... Probably a bit more than 10%.
Mathilde, Shadowed shaman of the Mountain ring clans
Apart from the runes, not very. It's based on the Empire's greatswords and was made by a blacksmith too unfamiliar with the weapon to feel comfortable embellishing. But from a certain point of view, a sword made of gromril doesn't really need ornamentation - adding things like filigree or jewels to it would actually decrease its value to weight ratio.
NuclearConsensus
Herald of the Thorned One
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Probably. It's possible that in the process of dying the Karaz Ankor's population could have diminished enough that the current power supply would suffice, but at that point I'd say it might as well be dead anyway.
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While I was getting a stick shoved up my nose causing me to tear up, I had an epiphany on how to implement Branulhune into WFRP 2E.
Branulhune, despite being shaped like a Greatsword, technically counts as a hand weapon, which means it deals SB (Strength Bonus)+ 1d10 wounds damage on a successful hit. Greatswords have the Slow (+10% bonus to attempts to parry the weapon) and Impact (roll 2 1d10s and choose the higher result when calculating damage) qualities. Hand weapons don't have any additional qualities, they're simple.
The way I reconcile it is that Branulhune wouldn't have the Slow quality because of the interdimensional space shenanigans. Branulhune would however have the Impact quality. The weapon should also have the Unstoppable Blows Talent (-30% to attempts to parry) to represent its damage.
On top of that, Branulhune should have a set Strength Bonus of 10. This means that Branulhune would deal 1d10+10 damage on a successful hit, and the 1d10 is rolled twice and the best one is chosen. Branulhune would also be very hard to parry for obvious reasons, but dodging doesn't inflict any penalties. It is a lot, but it should be noted that AP and TB reduce the damage of a successful hit, so it's not a death sentence if you have more than 10 Wounds and good defences.
Once Mathilde masters the Branulhune fighting style, I would represent it as being able to do a Swift or Gaurded Attack as a Half Action instead of a Full Action. To those who don't know the mechanics, most Attack actions only allow you take one attack regardless of your attack characteristic. Swift Attack lets you attack more than once, but it's a Full action. Gaurded Attack lets you attack only once at a -10% WS penalty, but gives you a +10% bonus to Dodge or Parry until your next round. You can only take one Attack action per round, so even if Guarded and Swift Attack were half actions each, you wouldn't be able to do both despite the action economy allowing for it. You choose one or the other.
But this does mean that Mathilde could take a Gaurded or Swift Attack as a half action, and Feint as a half action. Feint is an opposed WS skill, if you're successful the enemy can't Dodge or Parry. There's also Parry Stance, which is a half action that lets you parry a successful attack within the next turn as long as you expect it.
EDIT: There's also the Aim half action which gives +10% WS to the next attack, which could be taken.
Branulhune, despite being shaped like a Greatsword, technically counts as a hand weapon, which means it deals SB (Strength Bonus)+ 1d10 wounds damage on a successful hit. Greatswords have the Slow (+10% bonus to attempts to parry the weapon) and Impact (roll 2 1d10s and choose the higher result when calculating damage) qualities. Hand weapons don't have any additional qualities, they're simple.
The way I reconcile it is that Branulhune wouldn't have the Slow quality because of the interdimensional space shenanigans. Branulhune would however have the Impact quality. The weapon should also have the Unstoppable Blows Talent (-30% to attempts to parry) to represent its damage.
On top of that, Branulhune should have a set Strength Bonus of 10. This means that Branulhune would deal 1d10+10 damage on a successful hit, and the 1d10 is rolled twice and the best one is chosen. Branulhune would also be very hard to parry for obvious reasons, but dodging doesn't inflict any penalties. It is a lot, but it should be noted that AP and TB reduce the damage of a successful hit, so it's not a death sentence if you have more than 10 Wounds and good defences.
Once Mathilde masters the Branulhune fighting style, I would represent it as being able to do a Swift or Gaurded Attack as a Half Action instead of a Full Action. To those who don't know the mechanics, most Attack actions only allow you take one attack regardless of your attack characteristic. Swift Attack lets you attack more than once, but it's a Full action. Gaurded Attack lets you attack only once at a -10% WS penalty, but gives you a +10% bonus to Dodge or Parry until your next round. You can only take one Attack action per round, so even if Guarded and Swift Attack were half actions each, you wouldn't be able to do both despite the action economy allowing for it. You choose one or the other.
But this does mean that Mathilde could take a Gaurded or Swift Attack as a half action, and Feint as a half action. Feint is an opposed WS skill, if you're successful the enemy can't Dodge or Parry. There's also Parry Stance, which is a half action that lets you parry a successful attack within the next turn as long as you expect it.
EDIT: There's also the Aim half action which gives +10% WS to the next attack, which could be taken.
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Too many unknown factors and branching possibilities to say, including how much reserve time the Dwarves of the Golden Age thought was a sufficient amount of battery life for the life support system of their entire race. Maybe Belegar would have eventually won without her, or his descendants might have. Maybe the next Everchosen would have knocked a Young Hold off the map and restored the balance. Maybe some other Hold would have been retaken, either by another Belegar or a future High King more dedicated to rebuilding the Karaz Ankor. Maybe Thorek might have eventually dug up enough secrets to figure out a stopgap. Maybe the entire setting might have been blown up.
Droman
𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍
TBH Phoenix Kings all being frauds and Aenarion popping back out of the Chaos Wastes and going "Wait, what's happened since last I left?" is kind of a funny image.
Asheram
Not quite altogether
- Location
- Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
As good Boney said, it's impossible to tell. That said, Thorgrim was fully set on making sure that the Karaz Ankor would die the Slayers death instead of slowly dwindling into nothing. In the end the Dawi would have died, one way or another.
- Location
- Washington
Honestly the Empire as generally presented in the "present" of Fantasy is progressing and expanding it's capabilities fast enough that absent the setting getting end-times-ed I think whether eventually they'd be able to take enough pressure off the dwarves that the dwarves having a serious shot at retaking an old hold is a when, not an if. So the question really becomes exactly how much juice is left in the runes of Valaya.
Turn 35 Social - 2487 - Part 3
[*] Qrech, who is putting the finishing touches on his tome on the Chaos Dwarves.
[*] The Karak Azul Architects, to get involved in the design of your Library in detail.
[*] Vicarius Galenstra, to get to know him and his Ward.
[*] The Karak Azul Architects, to get involved in the design of your Library in detail.
[*] Vicarius Galenstra, to get to know him and his Ward.
It is commonly believed by the uneducated that swamps are lifeless expanses of death and decay that stand in utter contrast to the fertility of the woods, but apart from a few prominent Dhar-poisoned exceptions, this is entirely untrue. Almost all wetlands are veritably bursting with life in all kinds of forms, often more so than forests, where too unified a canopy can choke all life out of the understory. But a wandering naturalist that seeks to make a judgement of their own and perhaps go on to set the record straight in the public consciousness will find many reasons to believe their efforts best turned towards a less offensive form of landscape: initially as their arrival is heralded by a choking swarm of insects eager to feed or lay eggs on their body, next as they find their way obstructed by murky waters of varying depth, sucking muds thick with strands of rotting vegetation, and stretches of plant life not thick enough to walk on but too thick to push a punt through, and if they are very unfortunate, lastly and often fatally as they run afoul of the larger and more dangerous creatures that like to call these areas home - fen worms, bog octopi, Fimir, Swamp Goblins, and River Trolls, to name a few.
The Schadensumpf which fills most of the Ward of Rain is, to its credit, one of the safer examples of its kind. Travellers along the Great North Road between Marienburg and Middenheim can feel confident of making it from one side to the other with no worse than a handful of welts and a strong desire for a bath as long as they stick to the ancient road that divides it down the middle, and until recently the village of Verbegwerk was able to harvest a modest but reliable living from the plentiful wildlife and resources with no more casualties than any other isolated and unprotected village. But as the Beastherd that Laurelorn and Middenland joined forces to defeat discovered, just because it is not directly fatal does not make it easy to pass through. For this reason it serves to defend Laurelorn not just by acting as a formidable barrier to any that would approach from the south, but also an ideal killing grounds to flush intruders into, forcing them into either ignominious retreat through tens of miles of swamp while being harried by Elven archers at every step, or turning and trying to charge back into the teeth of their pursuers who will have fortified their position atop the Misty Hills.
"The Warden of Storm," Vicarius Galenstra says to you as the two of you make your way through the Schadensumpf, "must concern herself with a hundred miles of the Old North Road that runs along the western treeline of Laurelorn, and the Marienburger towns and villages built along it, all filled with humans eager to fill the heads of passers-by with tales of fountains of youth and magic swords to be found in our lands. There are holy places less than a dozen miles from a human village. The Warden of the Sun must turn her eyes to the Schaukel and Demst, which can so easily allow anyone with a boat to penetrate into the heart of our realm - such as the innumerable raiders of Norsca, or the Nordlander fleet lurking just down the coast. And the Warden of Frost, such that they are, must stare across three hundred miles of tense borders, upon which are built five of the largest Nordlander towns.
"But I?" He laughs. "I need watch only the Schadensumpf, and only three kinds of beings I need watch for. There are those that wish to invade our forests, who are foreign to the swamps and easy prey while they stumble through it. There are those that wish to colonize the Schadensumpf, who are always weak from struggling through the endless forests they would have had to travel through from the Delb or the Mirror Moors. And there are the humans, most of whom only need fishing out of the muck after wandering off the road."
"No attempts to retake their village?"
"None, though a handful have attempted to return to hunt the crane flocks for their feathers - apparently the human fashion is to wear them in their hats." He draws an arrow from his quiver, studying the shimmering black fletching. "To my eyes they look quite foolish after we assist them with their desire to have feathers jutting from their head, but I never was one for fashion."
You're not entirely comfortable with an Elf speaking so casually of slain humans, but if they were caught poaching by Middenland's patrols they'd face the same fate, just from a noose instead of a bowstring. "And the village of Kammendun?" you ask carefully. Vorbegwerk in the north of the Schadensumpf was a tiny village too small to appear on most maps and too poor for anyone to bother to work out who they should pay tax to, but Kammendun in the south is significantly larger and part of the Graf's demesne.
"They are far from the temptation of the nesting grounds, and further from the heart of Laurelorn. They know what not to do, and sometimes identify and alert us to a threat before we notice it." He pauses for a moment, an odd look on his face. "They sometimes erect shrines to us. Leaving us rare flowers, or smoked fish, or particularly large lumps of bog ore. Nothing we desperately need, but it's better to have an extra tincture or ration or quiver than not, so we take what might be useful and repay them with the occasional trinket from the city."
You're pretty sure Galenstra is ignorant of how much 'trinkets' like that go for in Marienburg, and how much dearer they get as you get further from the sea. No wonder the villagers give offerings. "Does House Fanpatar live in the Pass of Stone?" you ask, changing the subject.
He gives you a searching look. "Why do you ask?"
Sensing a touchy subject, you form your words carefully. "There seems to be a great deal of importance placed on whether one lives inside or outside the city, yet until recently two of the three most influential families had their powerbase outside of it."
He watches you for a moment longer before replying. "It is an observation that has been made a number of times through the years, often by those jealous of that influence. House Fanpatar are Cityborn, and as such we live in Tor Lithanel. The Pass of Stone has only very basic living facilities for when our defence of Laurelorn requires us to spend time away from our true home."
"And if it had more than very basic living facilities, it would undermine your claim of being Cityborn?"
"There are those that would make that argument. So the majority of the tower remains in ruins as a symbol of our dedication to Tor Lithanel."
"That seems like it would be quite a hardship."
He gives you another long look. "The contrast is good for the soul. Silk is all the smoother after weeks of bark and leather." He cocks his head, running his eyes along the terrain. "Do you hear that?"
You turn your focus to the constant background whine of insects, much of which is trying fruitlessly to find purchase on your Aethyric Armour. "The... sort of a rasping chirp?"
"A type of small, timid frog. If there was anything amiss, they would not be calling. The equivalent of a woodlands hunter knowing a predator is near if the birds stop calling, I suppose. You wanted to know about House Fanpatar? This is what we spend much of our time doing - making sure the balance of the swamp is as it should be, and finding out what has changed if it is not."
You flinch and jerk your head away as some sort of midge tries to find purchase on your eyeball. "And the insects? Is it some sort of family secret that keeps them from trying to feast on you?"
He laughs. "The Grey Lords make a potion that makes Elven blood poisonous to insects. Anything that sees Elves as a meal has long since gone extinct. And that's another sign of change for us to watch for - if we're getting bitten, it means that there's something new doing the biting, and that often indicates some greater source of imbalance. Swamp Goblins especially like to cultivate their own strains of pests."
"Ah," you say simply. There's a larger discussion there you're tempted to try to touch on about whether the natural state of the swamp is something to venerate in itself, or simply the raw material to be shaped, but you're worried it might be one of the points of contention between the Cityborn and the Forestborn, and decide not to chance it. If you're going to risk offending, it should be for answers with more meaning to you than mere curiosity. "Is that how you see an alliance with Middenland? One more type of frog to listen for the chirp of?"
He gives you an amused smile. "Words are cheap. If a frog had enough of a mind to ask me what I thought of it, I would flatter it for its contribution to the defence of the swamps. But I have no need to do so for your kind. We do not have an island paradise for us to sneer across the waves at the world from. The High Council has spent far too much time contemplating the results of a conflict with Nordland turning into all-out war between your peoples and mine to dismiss you so easily. One cannot spend a lifetime staring up the shaft of extinction at the hands of humanity and still dismiss them so easily. And by all indications, your kind will be easier to coexist with than the beings our erstwhile cousins of Loren Faen joined themselves to."
Smarter than a frog, easier to get along with than a tree daemon. Not the most glowing assessment of humanity you've ever heard, but you'll take it.
---
If one were to visit the University of Altdorf and ask what the residents thought of Quirin Waramunt BPhSSc(NE)(Alt), one would not encounter anyone who knew the name with a mild opinion of the mysterious correspondence student. There are those who hate him for his relentless inability to let a topic go, there are those frustrated by his constant bombardment of letters to anyone he thinks has information that could be of use, there are those that are driven to distraction by the mystery of who he is and why he is always able to communicate but never able to visit in person. From this last category one might hear all kinds of outlandish theories: that he is a nobleman under house arrest, that he is a secret mutant unable to move in public, that he is a Wizard unwilling or unable to leave his native campus, that he is an Elf or Dwarf rejected by their own species' institutions who has resorted to human ones.
But for those interested enough in Near-Eastern Studies and willing to look past his quirks, Quirin Waramunt represents an amazing resource, combining exhaustive knowledge, bottomless interest, access to all sorts of eclectic materials, and a burning hunger to make an impression into an ideal penpal for students and faculty alike. Every now and then an academic feeler goes out as someone grows suspicious of the breadth of knowledge this strange and remote figure seems to hold and tries to determine if the source can be trusted, and the fact that those feelers are invariably intercepted and replied to from the highest level with a very firm 'yes, and all further details are classified' inevitably increases the level of interest and mystery. After the Karag Dum Expedition a rumour begin to spread that Quirin Waramunt had been on that Expedition, and that rumour was incorporated into the cover story by having it listed as a source for fictional research materials to create a fictional source for some of Quirin's knowledge. It is not so outlandish to imagine that the Expedition might have encountered Chaos Dwarves or Ogres and sent bodies or prisoners back west for study, after all, and the point of contact for anyone who might seek to disprove this hypothetical would be yourself.
From the center of this spiderweb of correspondence Qrech has been busily evaluating all the information available and finding plenty of room for his own contribution to the corpus. As he once said to you, someone who has ever set eyes on a living Chaos Dwarf represents a rare depth of personal experience among scholars in the Empire, but Qrech spent years clashing with them and their slave-soldiers. It is difficult to say whether having feasted on the flesh of the subject in question represents a tangible academic advantage, but Qrech certainly feels that it does, even after he is convinced to drop all mentions of taste from the tome he is constructing.
An unexpected contribution to this quarter is the Grey College's Editors getting involved. The simplest understanding of this office is that these are the people responsible for making sure that all publications of the Grey Order have the proper classification to protect the means, methods, and sources the Order makes use of from enemy scrutiny, but it is also their responsibility to take any information that might be of use to the Empire, separate it from its origin, and launder it in such a way that it develops a plausible new source that cannot be traced back to the Order. Qrech represents an ideal beneficiary of this, as his identity already needs to be kept secret and his correspondence already needs to be monitored. Through this Qrech gains access to two significant sources of information to filter into something more suitable for general consumption: the notes covering bits and pieces that Lady Magister Grey has not gotten around to publishing, and the translation of a book on Chaos Dwarf anatomy by Magister Grey and Journeyman Gold, who you assuredly know nothing about but might venture the observation that they sure sound like wise and insightful individuals.
Over two years all of this insight, access, and correspondence has been distilled into a loosely-bound stack of paper covered in scrawled handwriting that always takes you a few minutes to readjust to, and you make your way through it during the time you spend at Karak Eight Peaks. Most extant writings on the Chaos Dwarves and the beings associated with them are written like bestiaries, where each variety is given a general description, notes on habitat, and observations of what they have been seen to be doing, rather as if an outside observer of the Empire wrote a book on it divided into individual sections on humans, horses, pigs, cows, sheep, and dogs, without any mention of provinces or the ranks of nobility. One of many oddities of this approach is that the Chaos Dwarves themselves are the least written about, as the fact that they're seen throughout the Dark Lands doing all sorts of things makes it difficult to draw conclusions from the outside. Qrech has written his own take on the Chaos Dwarves as a study of their society, and at each strata Chaos Dwarves have their own entries, including the insignia and armament one can use to identify their role in the military apparatus of Zharr-Naggrund. There are still a great many parts of their society left uncovered, as Qrech's insights are mainly limited to their military and the parts that proved vulnerable to raids by Skaven or Grey Wizard. But it still represents a sizable step forward from the previous materials.
"Li-cen-tiate," Qrech says, squinting at a letter from the University. He seems to be doing that a lot lately, and you make a note to look into eyeglasses for him. "Quirin has not sought lesser title, why does the University give it?"
"The timing of it suggests that it is in response to your book - perhaps they want you to have the higher title in the attribution."
"Ah, protect many egos from being seen up by a mere buphessc," he says with a pleased chitter, and you suppress a wince at his habit of pronouncing post-nominals as a word. "Much easier for it to be a licphessc. Quirin is no mere Packmaster, Quirin is practically a Moulder, no vulnerability in being surpassed. Perhaps it is not so foolish to leave defeated rivals uneaten, as it is good knowing they will live many, many years knowing that Quirin has bested them. So, this means the University will publish the book?"
"My Order has given it the go-ahead for general publishing, as those the Chaos Dwarves might hold responsible for it are either already their enemies or sufficiently protected by secrecy. So it seems so."
Qrech pauses for a moment. "Publish how far?" he asks, in that quiet tone of voice that he uses when his instincts are screaming at him not to reveal a vulnerability.
You consider the question. "The University of Altdorf has reciprocal agreements with the other provincial institutions, so they'd all get copies - the Collegium Theologica, the Royal Academy, Nuln, Streissen, Salzenmund. Copies would go to each of the Orders. Diesdorf would want a copy, so then Bergo and the Aquilas would want them, so then the Myrmidian institutions would want them. Once you factor in libraries and private collections, I'd say a hundred copies wouldn't be unreasonable."
Qrech is quiet for a long time. "Yes," he eventually says. "This is good. Little parts of Quirin everywhere, impossible to stamp out." He's quiet for a moment longer. "Licentiate Quirin, though. Not Doctor Quirin. Not yet. Still not done." He flexes a paw, then takes up his quill. "Still more work to do."
You smile as Qrech seems to forget your presence as he returns to his writing, and let yourself out of his cell. It seems that Qrech is still far from done paying dividends for the Empire and its allies.
[Book published: The Loathsome Chaos Dwarves and All Their Vile Kin]
---
Kvinn-Wyr is the sight of a great deal of work, as the masons of Karak Azul have arrived and are making themselves busy with establishing a more suitable entrance at ground level while they await the decisions of how the library itself will be built. It takes you a while to grapple with the terminology you're bombarded with and wrestle it into terms you can make use of, but eventually you manage to establish a foundation of understanding with the masons that boils the infinite possibilities of unworked stone into a much more manageable list based on what priorities you wish to build into the very bones of your library. While you will, of course, seek to make a library that is reasonably capacious, comfortable, pious, well-ordered, enduring, and secure, your involvement here lets you decide what you will focus on to a truly unreasonable extent.
[ ] Capacity
You could focus on sheer size, making a library that can be conveniently scaled pretty much indefinitely. Your library is always going to be able to grow, but if you want to go completely off the rails and dedicate yourself to collecting literally every written work ever made, this library will be able to handle that without any problems.
[ ] Comfort
You could focus on a library that will be a delight to visit or even study at for prolonged periods, with a focus on easy accessibility, well-lit reading areas, plentiful study rooms, private quarters, and built-in taverns and restaurants.
[ ] Holy
Most libraries are dedicated to one God or another, so why not follow the trend? Carve dedications to Verena, Valaya, Quinsberry, and Hoeth into the very bedrock alongside subtle nods to Ranald, and make allowances for large public shrines to the more acceptable Gods.
[ ] Order
Despite the best efforts of librarians, practically every library eventually has to resort to The Stacks when the amount of books outstrips the ability to impose order on them. Every scholar has known the experience of delving deep into a maze of dimly-lit shelves many times their height in search of a volume that the library's records insist is in there somewhere. Seek from the outset to ensure that no visitor to your library ever suffers this fate.
[ ] Preservation
You could focus from the outset on the preservation of the gathered materials from both natural disaster and the march of time. The masons will use techniques meant for facilities built atop live volcanoes to create a library that could withstand being the epicentre of the beginning of a second Time of Woes, and a great deal of care paid to air shafts and ambient humidity will create separate sections of the library tailored for the different needs of paper, parchment, and papyrus, and a means of completely securing the entire facility such that it could last another few millennia of enemy inhabitation unbreached.
[ ] Security
Your personal library is split into three sections: general access, Collegiate access, and completely secret. A larger facility will need a commensurately more complex system. Build the library from the ground up so that there will be different sections dedicated to different levels of access, and in such a way that every visitor will be convinced that the highest level they have access to is the highest level that exists.
- There will be a three hour moratorium.
- If you have ideas for a different general focus for a library, let me know.
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- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
Before the French revolution any noble title at all gave you tax exemption from pretty much all taxes. Clergy didn't pay either. Everyone else paid a confusing and convoluted array of taxes based on whichever of half a dozen overlapping jurisdictions they belonged to (church parish, noble land, province, court jurisdiction ect) of which no two shared the exact same area. And if you also count things like guild dues and tolls among the taxes then that could amount to quite a bit.
Since we are on the subject, for a while now I really wanted to recommend "Revolutions Podcast" by Mike Duncan. A lot of the stuff mentioned there feels relevant to society in the time (equivalent) this game is set in or soon after.
How do they even track income? I mean, I get why young Grey Wizards pay a relatively accurate income tithe. They get indoctrinated with a strong mix of loyalty and paranoia over multiple years while also being actually taught just how subtle personal surveillance can be. To a lesser extent this is probably also true for other Wizards. And maybe even for members of the more organized guilds in larger towns. But beyond that I never understood how pre-modern income taxes could work.
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[] Preservation
We're building a library into a dwarfhold, might aswell double-down on the longevity aspect.
We're building a library into a dwarfhold, might aswell double-down on the longevity aspect.
By the magic of whichever writer made that canon not having done their research. In practice it's probably more like a land tax in that income tied to farmland and herds would be the only one it'd be hard to conceal so it's what would be focused on, and licenses and guild dues would make up the lost taxes from urban professions that can trivially hide the majority of their income.
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- He/Him
They couldn't - the beucratisation and value from labour just isn't there yet. It's why pre-modern states usually were funded off goods taxes and tarrifs than income taxes. And it's not like that's gone in the present day - VAT or sales taxes are still large chunks of budgets in states worldwide.