Beastman are like, the main foe for a lot of areas in the empire. The empire tends to be pretty damn good at taking care of them due to sheer experience. But even then things can go completely out of control if a competent warherd pops up.
There should have been some survivors fleeing than. Because while a murder of dryads are effective Beastmen always seems to have a few survivors. But we have got none. Which means the dryads are far more numerous and dangerous than normal or the Beastmen are gathering to push back. What I am trying to get at is there should be small groups of enemies fleeing the Forrest or the enemy is powerful enough to kill all its enemies in a Forrest bigger than some countries.
Sure there would be survivors shivering in their hollows, but would they be seen by people at the edges of the woods? Keep in mind there is more forest in the empire than there is anything else, plenty of places for them to hide and lick their wounds
Apart from the whole Dum situation, every time beastmen have been mentioned in the quest they've been the punching bag. They are not doing too well at the moment, and I can't help but wonder if they are being driven into a corner or something and are just waiting to burst out or something.
I see what you mean form a narrative PoV, but it is worth keeping in mind that as far as the history of Warhammer is concerned beastmen should be the punching bag, of all the servants of the dark gods they are the least favored, their age, the Age of the Beast has been done since Sigmar's day and for all the death and ruin they have wrought it has never returned, because the Children of Chaos are ironically incapable of change and so while men adapt and grow in numbers and in their arts the beastmen are the same.
There is also the possibility that beastmen could well... be breaking free from the influence of the dark gods. This is of course would be a no go in canon (Kinda). But Boney has absolutely hinted at this being possible and it would be one hell of twist.
There is also the possibility that beastmen could well... be breaking free from the influence of the dark gods. This is of course would be a no go in canon (Kinda). But Boney has absolutely hinted at this being possible and it would be one hell of twist.
Not quite, what he hinted at, well more told us point blank, was that beastmen were not damned by birth, but even so between the culture of the herds the fact that other societies are too fearful and filled with hate and so will not bear the company of the mutant if they can help it and the sheer malignat will of Chaos throughout their lives you would need the mother of all miracles to change anything with the beastmen.
On the subject of the Beastmen and honestly a lot of the forces of Disorder be they Chaos, Beastmen, Undead, Skaven or Greenskin is that they are heavily reliant on their leaders to maintain cohesion in their armies.
This is primarily because generally when they are in their natural state they tend to infight or have issues controlling their troops (or in the case of undead cause their troops to crumble). That is until a strong enough leader arises who has the ability and vision to act as the glue for their forces.
Of course that also means that successful assassinations can cause considerable damage to their forces, even more so than killing off leaders does to enemy forces to begin with.
Not quite, what he hinted at, well more told us point blank, was that beastmen were not damned by birth, but even so between the culture of the herds the fact that other societies are too fearful and filled with hate and so will not bear the company of the mutant if they can help it and the sheer malignat will of Chaos throughout their lives you would need the mother of all miracles to change anything with the beastmen.
I could see a situation where a beastherd is extremely isolated and naturally breaks off from chaos. In the old world? Extremely unlikely. But in the Southlands? Much more likely. Hell its even noted that the Apemen seem way different than normal beastmen in canon.
This isn't even getting into the apparent crow people of Cathay, the monkey people of southern Cathay and Ind, and the Tigermen of Ind. And going with this trend, I'd be extremely unsurprised if their was Tengu in Nippon.
Technically he successfully destroyed Ostland and almost destroyed Hochland. 6th Edition makes him out to be a badass, and the Elector Count of Hochland was a real nasty piece of work who was just as horrible as Gorthor and used seriously awful tactics like using innocent civilians as meatshields to slow Gorthor down. Then the Knights of the Blazing Sun came back from the Crusades and formed a pincer attack, pinning Gorthor's Herd against the mountains and running his forces down. Gorthor and Mikael Ludenhof fought for two hours until the Count managed to deal a finishing blow.
It took decades to fully rebuild Ostland and Hochland. I am a big critic of the sheer lameness that is the Beastmen, but at least Gorthor is notable enough to put him in the same level as Gorbad Ironclaw and Grom the Paunch.
Sure there would be survivors shivering in their hollows, but would they be seen by people at the edges of the woods? Keep in mind there is more forest in the empire than there is anything else, plenty of places for them to hide and lick their wounds
Heck, the Forest of Shadows alone stretches over an area far greater than Hochland. The Athel Loren host is hanging out in the vicinity of Gryphon Woods, there's plenty of forest left for any beastmen to run to even within the same forest.
Just thought of something funny, you know how Baba here is mostly helping because she does not want to be pestered by the Jades. How do you think she will tale Mathy's reaction if she can see it:
Baba Brzeginias: Well we have stuck a hands in the knothole and come out unbitten, the storm will pass us by... Mathilde: *Rides straight east in a thunder of Shadow hooves* Opportunity Ho! Baba Brzeginias: *is very glad that she stayed in her village like a sensible person and did not go off to no college of magic*
Aren't there digital boardgame versions of those games? Or at least generic boardgame simulators modded to play Warhammer stuff? I haven't personally used any but I feel like I've seen it before.
I don't think there's any source that I've read that ever said that. Either it's before 6th Edition or it's from a non-main book. Of maybe it's deeper in the End Times then where I have reached.
6th edition has it. Page 79 of the Bretonnia Army Book. "After twenty glorious years on the throne, Louen still appears to be in the prime of his life, though scholars whisper he is close to his nintieth year".
Of course that means Louen was 70-ish when he became King, but still makes him the oldest oif the three by a significant length of time.
[*] Opportune There are individuals and organizations within Kislev you would benefit from a closer relationship with, and this presents an opportunity to forge those relationships. Offer your services to Kislev in restoring order to the region.
There was a knock on the door, and a familiar voice reached Captain Loza. "Kovnik?"
"Yes, Bedrich?" Captain Loza replied, not looking up from his paperwork. Bedrich was the kind of underling he prized above all others: large, strong, and dim, but the kind of dim who knew they were dim, and so could be counted on to follow the instructions they are given exactly and to come and get him when they were confused by something. In his experience, a steady stream of small concerns from a self-aware idiot was much better than an occasional complete disaster that could only come from a slightly clever person who thought they were a very clever person.
"There is a professor from a school in Alt-dorf here, but their papers do not look like what the book says Alt-dorf school papers are supposed to look like."
"Have you arrested them?"
"They also say they are a noble, and their bodyguard has metal claws."
Loza looked up at that, frowning. If the bodyguard was a mutant Bedrich would already have called in reinforcements, so he must mean... "Oh, Indic fist-knives. Some Imperinyi druzhina with an exotic bodyguard, who thinks they are too important to have proper papers?" Loza rose from his seat, grinning at the opportunity to ruin the day of some petty foreign noble.
---
You'd expected it to take some time crossing the border into Kislev. Though you've been to Kislev multiple times before, this time you do so as a passenger of the Fortenhaf ferry arriving at the docks of Rakhov, rather than flying far above in a gyrocarriage or crossing as part of a Dwarven steam-wagon convoy. As such you are subject to the border bureaucracy of Kislev. The letters patent of the Colleges seemed to confuse the border guard you presented then to, and you did your best to explain it to him as best you can through his very shaky grasp of Reikspiel and your very modest smattering of Kislevarin.
You'd expected him to finally reach his limit and escalate the matter to a superior; you'd not expected said superior to arrive with a look of eager anticipation, nor for said expression to shift to shock and alarm as soon as he set eyes on the two of you, before settling into a mask of professionalism. You explain the matter all over again, and the Kovnik studied your papers closely before disappearing.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Johann asks again. "I could head back to Tor Lithanel if this is about me."
"It isn't. I know everyone says Kislev has a problem with male Wizards, but it's a bit more complicated than that. The Ice Witches have a major problem with anyone male trying to use Ice Magic, so they only recruit women, and any men of Kislev who can't or won't stop trying to use magic are killed or banished or Pacified. But one look at you would be enough to tell any magic user that you're as spoken for as any Wizard could possibly be. And besides, the Ice Witches are out of favour at the moment, so they wouldn't be dictating border policies."
"So what's the problem, then?"
"It's possible they've literally never had a Wizard try to cross the border here. Most Empire visitors to Kislev would go through Erengrad or just get a ferry right up the Urskoy. Even from Bechafen it would be quicker and easier to get a ferry to Zavstra. The only reason we're here instead of one of those is we started from Gerdouen."
He still looks troubled, but doesn't object further. "So what's our plan?"
"I'm still deciding that. This is an opportunity to make friends, but who with? The first possibility is the Tsarevich, who wanted to host the Waystone Project in the first place because he didn't think he'd see any benefits from it unless he did so. This could be a way to demonstrate that I'd be a good friend for him to have even if I wasn't living in his back pocket.
"Second is the Ice Witches. They're on the outs with the Tzar, but the Boyars still hold them in high esteem, which means that they'd be the ones the local Boyar would be relying on to make sense of the troubles in the Shirokij Forest. I've worked with them before, and I've been thinking of trying to bring them into the Waystone Project.
"Third is the local leaders of the settlements actually within the Shirokij. Even more than most Kislevite stanitsas, the forest stanitsas are very reliant on Hag Witches to placate the local spirits, and they're right in the middle of all of this. Hag Witches are said to know a great deal about pacifying the spirits of the land and cleansing the taint of Chaos. If that involves Waystones, great, and if it doesn't, then they're somehow able to do the same thing that Waystones do."
"Wouldn't it make the most sense to go right to the top? Better the Emperor as your friend than some local baron, right?"
"In theory yes, but in Kislev City, the Shirokij trouble would just be one more regional concern among dozens, so it'd only make sense to go there if my objective is to get close to the Tsarevich himself. The Boyar of Rakhov would be a lot more concerned with the Shirokij he lives on the outskirts of than Kislev City would be, so working with him would give me a lot more sway with the Ice Witches than the Tsarevich would. And the atamans within the Shirokij could very easily be facing an existential threat, so I'd be able to win a lot of gratitude from the local Hag Witches if I help them ride this out. So it comes down to who would be the most useful to me, rather than simply who's got the biggest title."
You and Johann debate the issue for a while, and by the time the Kovnik returns you've settled on an answer. He is carrying a dusty and yellowed piece of parchment to compare against your papers, and spends quite some time in quiet scrutiny. "Your papers are in order," he eventually says, sounding half relieved, half disappointed. "Where are you traveling to from here, and what is your business there?"
[ ] Tsarevich Boris Bokha You are travelling to Kislev City to offer your services to the Tsarevich himself.
[ ] Ice Witches You are staying right here in Rakhov, to offer your services to the local Boyar and to work alongside the Ice Witches.
[ ] Hag Witches You are travelling deeper into the Shirokij Forest, to offer your services to the local atamans and their resident Hag Witches.
All things told as we do not have any proof of Hedgewise favor I think we should go with either the price or the Ice Witches, basically don't try to surprise people you have never seen before in your life with your odd shadow mage help.
I think I prefer the Ice Witches, basically because prince would mean politics and he person cannot help with the Waystones while the witches can, while hag witches may be extremely helpful, but I doubt that very much, since I expect them to have the same problem as the Hedge - inability to translate their sorcery into anything other people can work with.
From what Mathilde says, it seems that each option will get us a different amount of favour: the Tsarevich the least, the Hag Witches the most, and the Ice Witches seem to be the middle option.
I was pretty sold on going to Boris, but the Hags are an interesting alternative. I might just vote for both.
They almost certainly do not know it, but the local atmans they wok for should be able to wrangle up a translator, this is the border after all, you are going to have a lot of people making their living off trade. I am more worried about how they would take our presence to start with.
Isn't there meant to be a lot of crossover between the hag witches and the hedgewise on the border? I'd actually expect them to be more likely to know it.
while hag witches may be extremely helpful, but I doubt that very much, since I expect them to have the same problem as the Hedge - inability to translate their sorcery into anything other people can work with.
I don't get why people keep saying that. We have no indication that Ice Magic is easier to 'translate' than Hag or Hedge magic. It's weird and alien to Mathilde's understanding of magic, but so is any other non-Teclisian magical tradition.
Isn't there meant to be a lot of crossover between the hag witches and the hedgewise on the border? I'd actually expect them to be more likely to know it.
Since we don't have the coin turned to the Father, our only in with the local Hedgewise is Kurtis' recommendation. Trusting someone on the word of a friend is one thing, trusting someone on the word of a friend's friend is another. It might be that the Hedgewise are willing to say that we're probably not terrible to the Hags and that will probably be good enough, but I can certainly see the Hedgewise not feeling comfortable vouching for us to the Hags.
