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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Ok, going back to the book sections now that I can concentrate:
Boney said:
In Karak Eight Peaks, Kvinn-Wyr is a hive of industrious activity. The excavation crews, drawn from the local mining population, have begun work on what is to be the fifth hall. In the fourth, masons have begun work on the rough edges of the pickmarked stone with chisels and polishing pads to create the smooth surfaces of the finished rooms. In the third, flagstones are being laid out to protect the natural stone from the wear of passing feet. In the second, metalsmiths are laying down an inset pattern of branching minecart tracks in gaps left between the flagstones, with masons following behind and filling the space between the tracks with cobblestone.

And in the first hall, the prototype of the first bookcase waits for your approval.
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Boney said:
At a stroke, the Kvinn solves a great variety of potential problems. In exchange the amount of space it will take up and the amount of effort it will take to build them is greatly increased, but that is the benefit of being bankrolled by a King: not only does Belegar have the wealth to afford this, it actually isn't that expensive to him because all the labour is being drawn from the local population, with local mining, mason, and metalsmithing clans paying labour in lieu of their usual tax obligations.
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I'm an avid believer in getting to know your construction crew and appreciating them, so let's have a round of applause for the people who made this possible:
Codex said:
IronfingerK8POKASmeltersMhonarMediumLarge and prominent, but they split half their clan to come here instead of abandoning Azul.
FlintheartK8POBVMetalsmithsMhonarSmallActed as tinkers in Barak Varr
IrkokriKIN/AMasonsKaragrilMedium
StonebackK8POG/BMasonsKaragrilMediumUsed to be freelancers
NorgrimlingK8POZMinersKaragrilMediumUsed to be Ironbreakers, but their armor belonged to Zhufbar
IronbackK8POKAMinersKaragrilMediumDeep shaft miners
BronzefistK8POKILode WardensKaragrilMediumPrecursors to Ironbreakers. Had their own mountain in the vaults.
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I'm not sure how involved the Ironfingers, as Smelters, were in the project, but Flintheart were definitely involved in the mining tracks. Bronzefist and Ironbacks seem to be focused on different types of mining than the one useful here, but I'm sure Norgrimling played a part in the construction. Irkokri and Stoneback get a hefty pat on the back for carrying this project.
Codex said:
IronspikeK8POKHCarpentersRhynSmallHeavy duty carpentry
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Most of the stuff that was mentioned is inexplicably made of stone, but let's not forget the carpenters. I appreciate every single one of these Dwarves.
Boney said:
The skeleton of the Kvinn looks very much like a short and sturdy stone bookcase with the shelves removed, and it theoretically could be used that way, and perhaps sections could be set up for copies of the more in-demand books if the library starts to attract enough visitors that individual tomes could become bottlenecks. But for the initial collection, your priority is that everything will stay where it is left until it is needed, whether that be an hour or a week or a century later, and over a long enough time period the forces of gravity, moving air, ambient damp, and the friction of books being pulled out and returned begins to accumulate. So in place of shelves can go an array of other carefully-crafted modules. For most books, labelled sliding shelves of varying size will be the answer, with individually-crafted felt-lined cavities for each item. A clever latching mechanism leaves a handle visibly protruding if a shelf isn't fully closed and locked in place, and it requires the proper weight inside of it before it will allow itself to be latched. This is intended to be more a proof against misplaced books than a security mechanism, and it can be replaced with a key lock for the more valuable or dangerous tomes. A similar module has been designed for holding scrolls of various widths and diameters, and as a proof of concept, purpose-built modules for containing various awkward items ranging from a broken pick to a large boulder have been roughly hewn from scrap stone to demonstrate that the system could be adjusted to almost any contents.
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Here's what I'm curious about. A lot of the conditions that Mathilde mentions about ambient damp and moving air and decaying glue and fraying threads seems like the kind of stuff that Dwarven libraries minimise. I believe that Dwarves have an air control system through runes similar to air conditioning, they have a water control system that sucks up condensation which we've seen with Mathilde's home (her morning glass of water is acquired from atmospheric vapour I think), and the craftsmanship of the Dwarves reduces the wear and tear of the books. Although I understand if Mathilde still worries about that stuff because multiple layers of safety is better than just relying on Dwarven craftsmanship for everything and hoping it'll be ok.

I also believe that "preservation runes" were mentioned, and I was curious on how they worked. Since most written material is done on animal skin like parchment, perhaps those preservation runes are kind of like stasis runes that slow down decay. The Dwarves have also shown the ability to create runes that allow a speaking individual to transcribe their words to text. Sure it only works like Khazalid, but it seems like that's the kind of thing that would make copying their books insanely easy right? Create a Rune that copies the words of one book to another?

It sure would make the Khazalid section of the library stress free. If the runes worked like that. I might be totally off-base here.
 
Codex said:
Here's what I'm curious about. A lot of the conditions that Mathilde mentions about ambient damp and moving air and decaying glue and fraying threads seems like the kind of stuff that Dwarven libraries minimise. I believe that Dwarves have an air control system through runes similar to air conditioning, they have a water control system that sucks up condensation which we've seen with Mathilde's home (her morning glass of water is acquired from atmospheric vapour I think), and the craftsmanship of the Dwarves reduces the wear and tear of the books. Although I understand if Mathilde still worries about that stuff because multiple layers of safety is better than just relying on Dwarven craftsmanship for everything and hoping it'll be ok.
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Most Dwarven libraries achieve this in part by only allowing a very small number of librarians to have access the libraries, which lets them minimize airflow and thus carefully control atmospheric conditions, basically turning the entire library into a climate-controlled storeroom. Having something that's meant to allow a whole bunch of people to come and go means larger entryways that are open more often, and that means that the mechanisms of preservation needs to be concentrated on the bookcases instead.

Codex said:
I also believe that "preservation runes" were mentioned, and I was curious on how they worked. Since most written material is done on animal skin like parchment, perhaps those preservation runes are kind of like stasis runes that slow down decay. The Dwarves have also shown the ability to create runes that allow a speaking individual to transcribe their words to text. Sure it only works like Khazalid, but it seems like that's the kind of thing that would make copying their books insanely easy right? Create a Rune that copies the words of one book to another?

It sure would make the Khazalid section of the library stress free. If the runes worked like that. I might be totally off-base here.
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A large-scale deployment of this sort of thing would require either a single large-scale and extremely difficult Runic array, or a lot of individual Runesmiths who don't mind mass-producing Runes, so that would require a KAU action to either recruit a Runelord or bring in Vlag once the library is up and running.
 
[] [LIBRARY] Library of Mournings: name two non-magical topics to hire Cityborn scribes to copy all available Laurelorn books on.
-[] Hekarti and Atharti
-[] Loec

[] [PURCHASE] Minor Gods (The Empire) Extensive and Esoteric (250 Gold)

This is I think the optimal way to find the Daughters if we want to go about that, we get books on the prime elf candidates and then on Loec himself and then use money to buy books that includes the goddess of the Goddess of the Hedgewise, otherwise, we could go just

[ ] [LIBRARY] Back-fill.

There does not seem to be much point to buy the books on Imperial minor gods from the dwarfs, they would have little reason to go poke the depths of the forests of shadow for to ask about the gods of the local illegal wizards.
 
Boney said:
A large-scale deployment of this sort of thing would require either a single large-scale and extremely difficult Runic array, or a lot of individual Runesmiths who don't mind mass-producing Runes, so that would require a KAU action to either recruit a Runelord or bring in Vlag once the library is up and running.
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I finally find something that I'd be interested in asking the Vlag Dwarves to help us with only to realise that our actions have consequences and actively hiring them to rune our library would be endorsing them, which would cause chaos in the Runesmith's guild.

What a bummer.
 
Codex said:
I finally find something that I'd be interested in asking the Vlag Dwarves to help us with only to realise that our actions have consequences and actively hiring them to rune our library would be endorsing them, which would cause chaos in the Runesmith's guild.

What a bummer.
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Maybe we can do it after the chaos we already caused for Thorek is starting to play out.
 
Codex said:
I finally find something that I'd be interested in asking the Vlag Dwarves to help us with only to realise that our actions have consequences and actively hiring them to rune our library would be endorsing them, which would cause chaos in the Runesmith's guild.

What a bummer.
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We could always ask Thorek what he thinks of the move, it might even be beneficial for his purposes of getting the guild to advance by kicking them in the teeth with how much things have changed already will they nil they.
 
The Phoenixian said:
The Library is going to be so cool.

Just... the image instantly at play of a Library where the shelves themselves are constantly shifting and moving as new material comes in. Very iconic.
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It sounds like the beautiful dream that is the answer to Borges' nightmare.

Dwarves are so awesome. Have I mentioned that before? "Oh, you want a library, let me just casually solve some of librarians' greatest headaches."
 
DragonParadox said:
We could always ask Thorek what he thinks of the move, it might even be beneficial for his purposes of getting the guild to advance by kicking them in the teeth with how much things have changed already will they nil they.
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Getting Vlag involved? I don't think Thorek ever mentioned his opinion on Vlag to us yet, but I don't think he'd be all that comfortable with it. This is purely my take on him, but I think he'd understand the necessity of what happened and why they had to do things that way, but I also think he'd disapprove of the Runesmith career line being so diluted. Thorek produces a lot of apprentices, but he has high standards, and the people who taught the Rhunkit were barely selective. Their standards were as low as they could possibly get them while maintaing their standards. I can't imagine that he'd be fine with that.

There was a joke about Thorek picking them all up as apprentices, but 6667 additional apprentices is a bit much.

My suggestion is that he sets up a pyramid. He's at the top, his graduated Runesmiths below him, then the Journeyman, then the Apprentices, and each Master, Journeyman, and Apprentice gets 5 Rhunkit assigned to them. You get a pyramid scheme of Runesmiths that way. It would never happen, but MLM Thorek makes me laugh.
 
Boney said:
Dwarf Favour Purchases
Aethyric Vitae can be spent instead of favour at an exchange rate of 3 favour per gallon; for Rune-related purchases, this will also guarantee the cooperation of Runelords who may otherwise be disinterested. To use this, simply add 'paid by Vitae' or similar to an item you are voting for.
[ ] [DWARF] No purchase.
[ ] [DWARF] Write-in.
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Don't suppose there is a rune of super intelligence or something like that?
 
lancelot said:
Don't suppose there is a rune of super intelligence or something like that?
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There is the rune of kingship, but that was talked though a long time ago. It taps into the kinship of all dwarfs, which we do not share no matter what the Council of ancestor priests thinks. :V

Master Rune of Kingship - Gotrek Starbreaker was the first great Dwarf Lord to have his crown adorned with this rune. Such a crown is a priceless artefact and the loss of one is dearly mourned as it absorbs the wisdom of its former master and passes this on to the next crown bearer.
 
Both Ages and Kingship are useless on a newly made artifact. Nevermind no one knows how to make Ages and no material that won't fuck it up can handle the Rune.

So no Rune of Focus, or Rune of Memory, or Rune of Fuck sleep?
 
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lancelot said:
What list are you working off of so we don't have to waste your time with these questions? I assume you have a link as it isn't on the thread?
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I'm not Boney, but I think I can give a few insights on this topic. Boney has extensive notes that he curates for himself in a personal wiki. We are not privy to these notes. Boney also likes to give himself creative freedom, as he is a bazaar writer. If he has a chance to not reveal what's behind the curtain just in case he feels he wants to switch things up behind the scenes, I think he would prefer to take it.

So in the case of a definitive list, the 8th Edition Army Book is a good source, but don't expect it to be a list of every single rune that Boney will ever use. If he feels like a Rune fits with the lore and its effect makes sense, he will take it and he will use it.
 
From a previous discussion of this topic:

Boney said:
Some rough breakdowns that might be useful:
Big Four: Asuryan, Kurnous, Isha, Khaine. The ones worshipped as head of the pantheon by one of the Elven realms.
Major Cadai: Asuryan, Kurnous, Isha, Hoeth, Vaul. The more important of the 'nicer' Gods.
Major Cytharai: Khaine, Hekarti, Atharti, Ereth Khial, Morai-Heg. The more important of the 'less nice' Gods.
Patron Gods of Ulthuan: Asuryan, Kurnous, Isha, Hoeth, Vaul, Ladrielle, Loec, Mathlann. The most prominent Gods of Ulthuan.
Patron Gods of Laurelorn: Asuryan, Isha, Vaul, Hoeth, Hekarti. The most prominent Gods of Laurelorn.
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Codex said:
Whenever I get irritated at the way GW portrayed my ethnicity in Warhammer, I remember the way they treated Africa and shut up. It can always be worse I suppose.
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It does seem they're going for a new direction with them in recent times, though it does seem there's only a single culture there going by how there's a language called 'Southlander'.

WFRP 4e: Enemy in Shadows Companion, p60; WFRP 4e, p65
Keiti Ouala
A representative of a far-off merchant prince, from a land whose real name few Reiklanders could begin to pronounce, Ouala has seen more of the world than most Humans even dream exists. Ouala has eyes for one thing only: business. She heard not the singing of the Elves from the glittering towers of Lothern, nor witnessed the immense splendour of Copher, for the only song she hears is the ringing of coinage. She only has eyes for the furs and spices that are her charge.
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EDIT:
Codex said:
Rune of fuck sleep is called Coffee. It's a new invention, but I hear it's quite useful.
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WFRP 4e: Enemy in Shadows Companion, p61
[Ouala] lets Characters that suitably impress her try some of her unusual spices, and will engage in proper haggling over a cup of delightfully strong brown 'tea' she calls 'ka-feh'. One of the things she is willing to trade are the roasted brown beans she makes the ka-feh from — a commodity that Reiklanders would actually love, but have not really been exposed to as they've given Ouala less business as a foreigner.
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OK, so I think this is what my vote is going to looks like, it gives us the most bang for our limited buck when it comes to looking for the Daughters of Ranald both on the elf and the humans side. I have always been an advocate of focused library purchases and using our gold for wizardly purchases as opposed to letting it accrue. It just feels like a good rule of thumb for a Grey Wizard with out levels of funds, we do not want people asking about what we need all that for after all.

[] [LIBRARY] Library of Mournings: name two non-magical topics to hire Cityborn scribes to copy all available Laurelorn books on.
-[] Major Cytharai: Khaine, Hekarti, Atharti, Ereth Khial, Morai-Heg.
-[] Patron Gods of Ulthuan: Asuryan, Kurnous, Isha, Hoeth, Vaul, Ladrielle, Loec, Mathlann.

[] [PURCHASE] Minor Gods (The Empire) Extensive and Esoteric (250 Gold)
 
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