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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Romance of the Ten Kingdoms 1: The King & Scholar
  • Apocrypha
    • In a white-stone tower above a bustling city, there is a finely decorated study, covered by bookshelves and magical paraphernalia. The untidy desk has four visible draws; and a fifth hidden one. Inside is a roughly made book, with the title written in Reikspiel; Romance of the Ten Kingdoms 1: The King & Scholar. There is also a patch, adhered to the cover, with words written in Eltharin; Banned & Burnt in 8 out of 10 Kingdoms!. The blurb on the back, again in Reikspiel, reads;

    Every 500 YEARS, the LOREMASTERS of ULTHUAN call upon the Empire's COLLEGES OF MAGIC to deliver a BRIDE-FEE to their FOUNDER & MASTER, TRION the WHITE. This time, the RIVALS of KNIGHT-WIZARD MAGDA WESSEN, JEALOUS of her IMMENSE MAGICAL SKILLS & MANY GREAT DEEDS, have MANEUVERED events so that SHE is CHOSEN for this SACRIFICAL ROLE! Before she can say goodbye to her FRIENDS & LOVED ONES, she is BOUND IN CHAINS and taken to MYSTERIOUS ULTHUAN, where her DESTINY AWAITS!

    Arriving in MAGIC INFUSED SAPHERY, MAGDA is brought to HOETH HALLS, greatest SCHOOL OF MAGIC in the known world! There she meets her HUSBAND-APPARENT; but instead of a PROUD SORCERER-KING, she finds TRION to be a HUMBLE SCHOLAR, SCARRED by CHILDHOOD ILLNESS. TRION himself sees the tradition of the BRIDE-FEE as an EMBARRSING FORMALITY, and Instead he wishes MAGDA to be his COMPANION as he STUDIES the MYSTERIES of MAGIC! In truth, MAGADA has little choice; a MORTAL cannot see the KINGDOMS of ULTHUAN and LEAVE ALIVE!

    Still, there is DANGER wherever MAGADA goes. Tekkile, TWIN of TRION, & FAMED WARRIOR-KING of LOTHERN, is SUSPICIOUS of MAGDA and her RELATIONSHIP with HIS BROTHER. The other KINGS OF ULTHUAN, such as MRIK the DRAGON-KING of CALEDOR, wish to use her in their POLITICAL GAMES, played out in the PHOENIX COURT. And in the SHADOWS, perhaps more SINISTER FORCES walk. In the LAND OF IMMORTALS, MAGDA has never been so CLOSE TO DEATH!!!
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Zedman7054 said:
    Well, technically speaking that line uses SV's inline spoiler to cover the words up, and that's different from setting the text color to transparent. It's similar, in that they both hide words, but not the same.
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    There's a setting that makes invisitext show identically to inline spoilers which is where the confusion probably came from. Posts with Invisitext will have a little eye symbol in the top right next to the bookmark/share buttons that can toggle that setting on/off. This post should have it
     
    Jreengus said:
    There's a setting that makes invisitext show identically to inline spoilers which is where the confusion probably came from. Posts with Invisitext will have a little eye symbol in the top right next to the bookmark/share buttons that can toggle that setting on/off. This post should have it
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    I didn't know that, thank you for telling me.
     
    Zedman7054 said:
    I wanted a quick nod to the fact that in the End Times Nagash was the Incarnate of Shyish, and it tied nicely with my idea of Mathilde being put in a compromised headspace due to using and being exposed to a lot of Dhar putting down Nagash. Besides, if any Wind could be won over by killing the most qualified person, then it would be Shyish. Which is a problem because being human and attuned to Ulgu, becoming the Incarnate of another Wind is probably a breeding ground for Dhar.
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    Based off how well that went in said End Times, it would most likely result in Mathilde's horrific death. No, really. Teclis could just about manage two Winds and it was slowly killing him, and then when Mannfred murdered Gelt, Teclis attempting to bind a third instantly vapourised him, dooming the world.

    NobodyImportant said:
    My assumption is that Tor, Dazh, and Ursun are all ellinilli whose elven names have been forgotten. As for the Ancient Widow… has it ever been established who the ellinilli's mother was?
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    Sure, they could be (although the Elves almost certainly know the names of all the Ellinilli). The discussion was about whether they matched with the known Ellinilli.

    IronFist said:
    It's an example of how different the blessings of the gods were at the time.
    Nehekharan Gods were interventionist, which is probably how Nagash managed to kill them, and why the other gods won't distribute blessings on the same way.

    Edit: in short, i don't think its a unique thing even though my evidence for it is lacking. My theory goes that if it was unique, ka-sabar would be the pre eminent city of Nehekhara, not Khemri. It was an arms race of divine blessings, and Ka-sabar didn't win.
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    Khemri became the most powerful state because Settra sacrificed enough to the gods to start getting good harvests again and then set out on a bunch of conquest. By the time any divine arms race started, Khemri would have been already established, which is an advantage that's not easy to overcome.

    K von Carstein said:
    Ulthuan has 10 kingdoms😉
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    Technically that depends on whether you count Nagarythe, which canon doesn't.
     
    Nagarythe's status is one of those things that flip flops all over the place. Sometimes it's mentioned as barely a kingdom, but most of the time it's included implicitly in the "Ten Kingdoms of Ulthuan", because it wouldn't be ten kingdoms otherwise. Even Alith Anar's status is uncertain in the lore up until he's confirmed to exist in End Times.
     
    deathofrats0808 said:
    Based off how well that went in said End Times, it would most likely result in Mathilde's horrific death. No, really. Teclis could just about manage two Winds and it was slowly killing him, and then when Mannfred murdered Gelt, Teclis attempting to bind a third instantly vapourised him, dooming the world.


    Sure, they could be (although the Elves almost certainly know the names of all the Ellinilli). The discussion was about whether they matched with the known Ellinilli.


    Khemri became the most powerful state because Settra sacrificed enough to the gods to start getting good harvests again and then set out on a bunch of conquest. By the time any divine arms race started, Khemri would have been already established, which is an advantage that's not easy to overcome.


    Technically that depends on whether you count Nagarythe, which canon doesn't.
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    I'm not aware offhand of "the 9 kingdoms of Ulthuan" ever being stated.
     
    K von Carstein said:
    It definitely does, it is counted as one of the outer kingdoms.
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    Codex said:
    Nagarythe's status is one of those things that flip flops all over the place. Sometimes it's mentioned as barely a kingdom, but most of the time it's included implicitly in the "Ten Kingdoms of Ulthuan", because it wouldn't be ten kingdoms otherwise. Even Alith Anar's status is uncertain in the lore up until he's confirmed to exist in End Times.
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    silentorphan said:
    I've always thought it as "technically a kingdom, but in reality it has a long way to go," in the same way "kingdoms" exist in the Borderlands.
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    Mopman43 said:
    I'm not aware offhand of "the 9 kingdoms of Ulthuan" ever being stated.
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    Although Ulthuan is still called the Ten Kingdoms, canon is pretty consistent in referring to Nagarythe as being destroyed in the Sundering, with the remnants being referred to as the Shadowlands instead. It's much more likely they simply kept the name, even though it's no longer technically accurate. Stuff like that happens. Consider for example that Peking University retained that name, despite the city's transliteration becoming Beijing. A similarly consitent piece of lore is that the Banner of Nagarythe is flown not by whatever peoples still inhabit the Shadowlands but as the Witch King's personal standard.
     
    Since we're in the DL thread, I should mention that Nagarythe is enough of a presence in Ulthuan that they take a turn in the rotating Ambassador program for the Imperial Embassy as a means of Finubar appeasing whichever Kingdom is out of favor in court. Daroir was literally there to recieve the Druchii.
     
    Honestly stopping referring to Nagarythe sounds like a political thing that occurs as they move in and out of accepted and pariah in Ulthan politics.
    Never an actual change, just elves being snooty at their opponents.
     
    deathofrats0808 said:
    Although Ulthuan is still called the Ten Kingdoms, canon is pretty consistent in referring to Nagarythe as being destroyed in the Sundering, with the remnants being referred to as the Shadowlands instead. It's much more likely they simply kept the name, even though it's no longer technically accurate.
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    The Shadowlands are just a synonym for Nagaryth as it is now.

    Boney said:
    The Sundering really did a number on Ulthuan:

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    Tiranoc was even more hit by the Sundering and still exists as a kingdom, there's no reason for it not to be the case with Nagaryth.
     
    deathofrats0808 said:
    Based off how well that went in said End Times, it would most likely result in Mathilde's horrific death. No, really. Teclis could just about manage two Winds and it was slowly killing him, and then when Mannfred murdered Gelt, Teclis attempting to bind a third instantly vapourised him, dooming the world.
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    What little I know of the End Times is very sporadic, so this is the first I heard of it. If your worry was Mathilde being Incarnate of Ulgu and Shyish at the same time then have no fear, Mathilde was not intended to be the Incarnate of Ulgu and may not even be Incarnate of Shyish. The whole thing about being a human wizard is that Mathilde's soul is tied up with Ulgu on intrinsic levels, so even just traces of Shyish attracted to the killer of it's Incarnate would probably lead to Dhar being formed. Enough to, combined with fatigue, stress, and ambient Dhar, overwhelm Mathilde's rationality enough to tempt her into full-blown necromancy.

    Or maybe an Ulgu wizard just so happened to become the Shyish Incarnate by killing the previous one. Which I think would lead to the same result. The Ulgu and Shyish in one vessel mingling and curdling into Dhar and corrupting her.

    I kept it open-ended and vague about what exactly is going on with Mathilde at the end because I like leaving questions for readers to talk and think about.

    Either way, Mathilde is probably not in for a much longer life, though combined with it being the End Times and the canon start of the End Times being around the time Mathilde would be 80+, one could argue that Mathilde didn't have a huge life expectancy anyway. Even with wizard lifespans.
     
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    Codex said:
    Since we're in the DL thread, I should mention that Nagarythe is enough of a presence in Ulthuan that they take a turn in the rotating Ambassador program for the Imperial Embassy as a means of Finubar appeasing whichever Kingdom is out of favor in court. Daroir was literally there to recieve the Druchii.
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    This is entirely true. I was making a poitn about canon rather than the state of affairs in-quest.

    K von Carstein said:
    The Shadowlands are just a synonym for Nagaryth as it is now.


    Tiranoc was even more hit by the Sundering and still exists as a kingdom, there's no reason for it not to be the case with Nagaryth.
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    Tiranoc might have been harder hit by the actual Sudnering, but it wasn't reduced to a blasted wasteland by the preceding civil war, or have the majority of its population die or become Druchii. Like, canon says "The Shadowlands are a dark and desolate region, but was once part of a mighty Elven kingdom called Nagarythe.", "Nagarythe was destroyed and many of its people fled with their evil master to the cold lands of the New World" and "what little remains of the once-proud Kingdom of Nagarythe is treated with fear and distrust. It is uninhabited but for wanderers and beasts".
     
    deathofrats0808 said:
    Tiranoc might have been harder hit by the actual Sudnering, but it wasn't reduced to a blasted wasteland by the preceding civil war, or have the majority of its population die or become Druchii. Like, canon says "The Shadowlands are a dark and desolate region, but was once part of a mighty Elven kingdom called Nagarythe.", "Nagarythe was destroyed and many of its people fled with their evil master to the cold lands of the New World" and "what little remains of the once-proud Kingdom of Nagarythe is treated with fear and distrust. It is uninhabited but for wanderers and beasts".
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    So basically Eriador if Eriador was also Angmar.
     
    The filter SV currently has on is unbearable. My eyes hurt. I'm not sure if this is the place to ask, but how do I change that?
     
    Codex said:
    The filter SV currently has on is unbearable. My eyes hurt. I'm not sure if this is the place to ask, but how do I change that?
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    I'm with you, I strongly dislike the current filter SV has, I know it's April Fool's, but still.

    I'm also seeing SV as how you would see it on a phone, does anyone know how I can change this?
     
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