These diagrams are available in Collection of Important Information. While Redshirt was the one who made them, Boney has approved of them and put them in the threadmark:
I made the first diagram, the second was made by Redshirt based on the information in the first. I've tweaked the threadmark to be a bit less ambiguous.
Does that mean she has an opinion for every god she has met? (Which would be, if I am not forgetting anyone... Stromfels, Gazul, Mork or Gork can't remember who, Slaanesh, Khorne, Vaul, and the Kislevite pantheon)
(Edit: ...and of course Ranald, but that goes without saying)
It would be rather hard to see actual divine intervention and come away with a neutral opinion.
To head off any follow-ups, if anyone is about to ask me what each and every one of those opinions are, you can find out by going to the point in the quest where Mathilde encountered them and extrapolating from there how she might feel about them.
I know this originated by mixing up Ulric and Ursun, but to expound on this a little, there's a few different ways you could apply 'pantheon'. At the broadest level there's the Old World Pantheon, which includes every God worshipped in the Old World and recognized by the states within it, including the Halfling and Dwarven Gods. On a broader level there's division based on origin - 'Classical Gods', those that rose in what is now Tilea and Estalia, 'Old Gods', those that arrived with the tribes that eventually formed the Empire, and 'Kislevite Gods', those that arrived with one of the horse nomad tribes that eventually formed Kislev. Then there's Halfling Gods, Ancestor Gods, and the miscellaneous category of 'Patron Gods' for deities like Sigmar and the Lady. You could also use 'pantheon' more generally to refer to all Gods worshipped by a specific people, but that ends up very blurred as Gods hop borders all the time - there's human worshippers of Grungni in Tilea and Stirland, Ulric is worshipped in Kislev, Myrmidia has spread throughout most of the Old World, and then there's suspicious grey areas like Salyak in Kislev, 'Toar' in Talabecland, and 'Karnos' and 'Loerk' and 'Vallich'.
One big example of a major god's classification being ambigous is Morr. Morr is both a Classical and Elder God. He is theorised to be the patron god of the Ostagoths, Ostermark's pre-Imperial Tribe (Page 9 of Tome of Salvation 2E), which is why Ostermark is so heavily Morrite, and he is also a Classical God, known as Verena's husband and Myrmidia/Shallya's father in Tilea and Estalia.
[X] Gunnars about the emergency Conclave that declared us a "Dwarf"
[X] Carcassonne/Bretonnia to inquire about their willingness to join the waystone project
[X] House Fooger, for their view on the canal project and Marienburg situation
[X] Cult of Verena about the possibility of entering into an agreement with our library
[X] Stirland about the state of the war and who has become Markgräfin
[X] Middenland about how the Eonir-Ulric partnership is going
[X] Okri: The new Loremaster of Karak Eight Peaks is Okri Drakkisson of Clan Bronzebeard, formerly of Karak Norn. Meet your replacement and gauge what kind of person he is.
[X] Give a prayer of thanks to Ranald, stumble into the crowd without looking and see where fortune brings you.
[X] Follow up on the newfound partnership between the Light Order and the Cult of Gazul
You could also use 'pantheon' more generally to refer to all Gods worshipped by a specific people, but that ends up very blurred as Gods hop borders all the time - there's human worshippers of Grungni in Tilea and Stirland, Ursun is worshipped in Kislev, Myrmidia has spread throughout most of the Old World, and then there's suspicious grey areas like Salyak in Kislev, 'Toar' in Talabecland, and 'Karnos' and 'Loerk' and 'Vallich'.
Wouldn't that definition of pantheon also include the chaos gods, technically speaking? The witcherhunters may do their hyper murdery best, but those cults are still there.
Wouldn't that definition of pantheon also include the chaos gods, technically speaking? The witcherhunters may do their hyper murdery best, but those cults are still there.
You could also use 'pantheon' more generally to refer to all Gods worshipped by a specific people, but that ends up very blurred as Gods hop borders all the time - there's human worshippers of Grungni in Tilea and Stirland, Ursun is worshipped in Kislev, Myrmidia has spread throughout most of the Old World, and then there's suspicious grey areas like Salyak in Kislev, 'Toar' in Talabecland, and 'Karnos' and 'Loerk' and 'Vallich'.
Sigmar is even worshipped in a village in Bretonnia- a Questing Knight made friends with a large number of Imperials on his Quest, and when he drank from the Grail, some of them joined his fief (with certain legal guarantees).
[X] Gunnars about the emergency Conclave that declared us a "Dwarf"
[X] Carcassonne/Bretonnia to inquire about their willingness to join the waystone project
[X] Middenland about how the Eonir-Ulric partnership is going
[X] Karak Vlag about the possibility of entering into an agreement with our library
[X] Check in on how Karak Vlag is managing and inquire about sharing books on magic and supernatural phenomena with our library.
[X] Cult of Verena about the possibility of entering into an agreement with our library
[X] Give a prayer of thanks to Ranald, stumble into the crowd without looking and see where fortune brings you.
Sigmar is even worshipped in a village in Bretonnia- a Questing Knight made friends with a large number of Imperials on his Quest, and when he drank from the Grail, some of them joined his fief (with certain legal guarantees).
Sigmarsheim. A small outpost on the edges of the Forest of Arden in Lyonesse. Established "fifty years ago", which taking the timeline into effect, would be around the 2470s.
"The young people of the village have a tradition of going to the Empire for a year or so when they reach adulthood and of bringing back a spouse. As a result, the language of the village is Reikspiel, and the whole place feels like it could have been picked up from the Great Forest and put down in Bretonnia. Indeed, gullible visitors are told exactly that." Page 76-77 Knights of the Grail 2E
I can't speak for Salyak but Kalita is a part of the divine court of Dazh as well as a god, which mostly makes me think he's like, the city state bud on divine turf form of god making and therefore an extension of Dazh within the Pantheon.
Or Bear Grandma was just talking about the most important gods and not giving a rundown on every single one.
I checked. I assume you're taking Page 82-83 of Realm of the Ice Queen as evidence. The Salyakans ask for aid and funding, but they stubbornly refuse to name their temple for Shallya and insist on maintaining traditional Salyak values. It says nothing about considering themselves the same, it just says that they were willing to ask for funding from a cult who are known for being incredibly generous and whose values largely intersect with theirs.
After the Lubjanko fell into disuse as a place of healing, the disenfranchised Salyakarin Priests commissioned the Shallyan temple at Couronne for monies to construct a mission in Kislev. After much wrangling, their request was granted, and the "Shallyan" Mission was built. [...] No matter its official title, most Kislevites stubbornly refer to the Mission as "The Temple of Salyak", and there has been significant pressure from locals for the Shallyans to accept traditional, thus better, Salyakarin values.
This isn't asking the Cult of Shallya to move into Kislev, this is asking for money to build a mission themselves. Wrangling was involved and then the word 'Shallyan' was used in quotation marks, which suggests that while the Salyakarin just wanted money, the Shallyans would only acquiesce if the temple was built with their branding, ways, and people. Despite the iconography, the name, and the different way of doing things, the locals still consider it a Temple of Salyak, and rather than replace or expel the Shallyans, they want them to adopt the local way of doing things, "when in Rome" style.
It's plausible that the request for money is the cults of two friendly and similar but separate gods - like Clio and Verena - working together, just as it's plausible it's a case of a money request between coreligionists. However, nothing else is like how things are done by gods that are similar but still seen as distinct. I might have overstepped in saying the Shallyans and Salyakarin are one cult, but I'm certain the book is presenting a situation where two groups are disagreeing on how to view and worship the same god, but do agree that it's the same god. Like the Abrahamic religions I guess, or the various branches of those religions.
[X] Okri: The new Loremaster of Karak Eight Peaks is Okri Drakkisson of Clan Bronzebeard, formerly of Karak Norn. Meet your replacement and gauge what kind of person he is.
[X] See if you can find a Priest of Ranald. You are duty bound to play at least one round of cards or dice with them. Ask how things up North are doing, and how the faith is doing in K8Ps. You've tried to stay out of it, for the most part, but you are curious.
[X] Know collectors and patrons of the Arts and Sciences among the guests. K8Ps is footing the bills for the Library, but there are plenty of tomes and artefacts only found in private collections.
[X] The best way to make connection is to party have mathilde relaxes herself and have some fun(hopefully make some connections with some powerful people while partying)
Since there is an 8 vote gap between House Foger and Verena I suspect that is where the cut off will be, all in all a pretty good spread. We will if nothing else know where we are welcome to poke when it comes to Marianburg and Bretonia, the Gunnars thing is interesting, but probably less actionable
Boney I imagine will default to the person present who would have the closest opinion as gunners (probably another priest of gazul) I think pretty much any dwarf has an opinion on the exact level of dwarfyness Mathilde possesses
There was another wording of the same general idea that didn't list someone specific, it just got lumped together under the one that specified Gunnars because it didn't make enough of a difference for me to bother juggling them around to get the other one to show on the tally.
[*] Talk to a Priest that was present during the Emergency Conclave and ask what's up with being declared a "Dwarf".
[*] Carcassonne/Bretonnia to inquire about their willingness to join the waystone project
[*] House Fooger, for their view on the canal project and Marienburg situation
[*] Cult of Verena about the possibility of entering into an agreement with our library
[*] Middenland about how the Eonir-Ulric partnership is going
[*] Stirland about the state of the war and who has become Markgräfin
[*] Okri: The new Loremaster of Karak Eight Peaks is Okri Drakkisson of Clan Bronzebeard, formerly of Karak Norn. Meet your replacement and gauge what kind of person he is.
[*] Follow up on the newfound partnership between the Light Order and the Cult of Gazul
Gunnars sighs when you ask him about the Conclave's declaration of you as having a Dwarven soul, and guides you to a part of the crowd where the only people close enough to eavesdrop on a hushed conversation are those who don't speak Khazalid. "It's plausible on two levels," he says. "On one level, there's the level that most Dwarves understand - that upon death a soul is either directed towards the Underearth to join the Ancestors by the proper rites, or it fails to get those rites and returns to the Aethyr, eventually returning as another Dwarf and having another chance to end up where it should. Given that framework, it's plausible that a soul that was once a Dwarf and would have been returning to be one once more could be redirected into a human body. But I'm sure you spot the part that'll make most Dwarves uncomfortable if you pick at it."
"There's a big leap between the departing and returning."
"Right. The other death Gods all claim to have an answer, but Gazul can only speak for those that go to the Underearth. If some or all souls are those that have walked the world before returning for another go, there's no metaphysical maker's mark that anyone's been able to find that proves they keep coming back the same species. So yes, maybe you were a Dwarf before, and maybe your Ranald is responsible for you being a human now. But it's just as plausible that any other human was a Dwarf before. Maybe any bird or goat or Goblin was. That's the part that no Dwarf wants to think about too hard - that someone not given the proper rites might come back as something other than Dwarven. We like to think of ourselves as a species apart from the world, and the world does a lot to reinforce that, but one way in which we're exactly the same is that the origin of our souls is as unknown to us as it is to you."
"I can see why Dwarves wouldn't be comfortable with that. But the announcement the conclave gave was a lot more than just saying it was plausible. What takes it from 'it's technically possible' to them being sure enough to announce it to the world?"
"More than the need to assuage the guilt and shame of a Karaz Ankor that had given up on Karak Vlag? Well, I speculate, but if they were able to communicate with your Ranald and put the question to Him, would He have given them a straight answer?"
You consider that. "Ah."
---
It took some waiting for her conversation with Soizic to finish, but you manage to ensnare the Damsel that had come with the Bretonnian delegates in conversation. "We are, in the abstract, not uninterested," she says with a coy smile once you broach the subject of the Waystone Project. "And had you accepted our invitation to pursue your research in Carcassone, we would already be working hand in hand with you. But you chose otherwise, and while our hearts can recover from being snubbed so, those you did choose are ones with whom entangling ourselves could be problematic - both in regards to their distant kinship with our own, sometimes-troublesome neighbours, and in regards to baser matters of conflict and trade."
"As far as I am aware, there is no conflict between Athel Loren and Laurelorn-"
"As far as you are aware," she echoes. "As far as I am aware, too. But we would have to become much further aware for that to be a safe endeavour. And the effort of becoming so much further aware is effort that could be spent elsewhere - such as, for example, the Iron Orcs of the Irrana Mountains. But if you were to come to us with something more tangible than dreams, then perhaps we might be tempted." She gives you a parting smile and a little wave before she disappears back into the crowd.
---
"So now you'll be able to row from Black Water to the Aver, so what?" Arkat Fooger, head of House Fooger and the only Dwarf on Marienburg's ruling council, says to you. "Marienburg isn't built on a single accident of geography. Idiots think Marienburg has a stranglehold on the Empire, but what difference does it really make that all sea trade goes through us? Bretonnian trade can as easily go through Helmgart as through us, Tilean trade already has the River of Echoes, the Karaz Ankor is half built on the Empire's borders and the rest could go through Black Fire Pass. If some idiot has bet their shirt on something like supplying Arabyan coffee to Averheim then they're sunk, but if that's the foundation of a family then they're already underwater. No, what this means is that for a few years a bunch of amateurs and dilettantes are going to try to undercut Marienburg by going through Barak Varr, and apart from a handful of goods from Estalia and Araby they'll find that Marienburg has more going for it than the Reik and most of the routes will be back through us in ten years."
"Not everyone from Marienburg seems to agree."
"Pfah, it's because they're manlings. Right and proper they put their elders in charge, but their elders have maybe a decade of living left in them, and they go whenever they go instead of when they're at peace with going. They feel Morr's breath on their neck, and it makes them as hasty as a beardling in a brothel. Things going back to normal ten years from now might as well be never for them, because it means that they'll be less rich for the rest of their lives. So they fret and moan and rattle their sabres until they do something stupid enough to get their hands slapped and remember they've got a lot more to lose than to gain."
"Stupid things such as...?"
He snorts. "I take it you're getting at that business with the mine on the river? I'd be happy to throw the de Roelefs under the boat since they're the ones that stand to lose the most from the canals, but truth of the matter is I haven't a clue. All I know is that if anyone had come to me with an idea like that, I'd have buried them myself and saved you the trouble. Things like this, the big problem is that you aren't limited to the few who might actually benefit, there's also all the people who are stupid enough to think they might benefit."
---
"The Cult of Verena does not have the rigid hierarchy of, say, the Cult of Shallya, or even that of your own Orders," says the small man with large, round glasses and a sword on his waist that almost scrapes the ground. "We of the Order of Mysteries are one of the few formal organizations within the Cult, organized as we are under the High Priest of Altdorf, and there are also the Templars of the Order of the Everlasting Light and the Order of the Sword and Scale. In contrast, the other 'Orders' within the Cult are better thought of as schools or philosophies. Each courthouse and library is subject only to law, truth, and Verena, and I'm sure you can imagine how opinions may differ in what these all have to say. It is with regret that I say that short of divine intervention, you have no option but to approach each library as its own entity."
"Can you give me any advice for doing so?
He considers that. "There are two distinct groups of people within the Cult of Verena who seek dominion over libraries: the Lorekeepers who see knowledge as sacrament and wish to spread it, and the Scrollbearers who see knowledge as power and wish to hoard it. Identify which you are dealing with as soon as possible, as you will need two entirely separate kinds of bait to ensnare each. The Lorekeepers would value an institution who can guarantee the safety and spread of knowledge entrusted to it, and if you wish to present yourself as positively as possible to such people, a chapter of the Knights of the Scroll to guard your library would be the most effective way of doing so. The Scrollbearers, however, do not have a better nature that can be enticed thusly, and so you must resort to a quid pro quo approach if you find yourself in need of what only they can offer."
---
"My Lord," you say to the teenager who stands a foot taller than you already and doesn't seem done with growing.
"Lady Magister," says Baron Heinrich, illegitimate son to Grand Duke Boris Todbringer of Middenheim. "I had expected that we would meet before long, but thought it would be closer to home. I forgot that you have a foot in both worlds of the Elder Races, how do you manage it?"
"It's easier than you might think. Even for those as long-lived as they, their enmity is ancient history, and the world has no shortage of foes that have given them fresher scars."
"An interesting perspective. Many of those I've spoken to about Dwarves seem to characterize them in terms of opposition to the Elves."
"I suspect they would be most familiar with Imperial Dwarves, whose ancestors built kingdoms in the Reik Basin and lost them during the War. But it is the Elves I wished to speak to you of today, My Lord, and how Middenland's partnership with them is progressing."
"Damned slow it seems to me, but at what I'm told is a breakneck pace for Elves. One of their Houses has taken responsibility for the Ulrican faith among the Eonir and is building a temple to Him in their city, and the Graf couldn't be happier. This whole matter was an unexpected windfall after an already advantageous beginning - the Beastlord who he was pursuing into that swamp is one that he had faced before and taken the eye of, and ever since it seemed determined to avenge itself upon the citizens of Middenland. The timely intervention of the Eonir helped bring the matter to a close, where otherwise it would have just been one more bloody chapter in an already too-long saga."
"So no problems at all, then?"
"Oh, Nordland is still furious, and they keep nudging the Nordlander Ulricans into mumbling something condemning about it all, but honestly they got their hands caught in the cookie jar and they need to take their lumps and be thankful they're not getting what Drakwald got. The only real problem is where to go from here. They want to start trading and so do we, but they refuse to build a road through their swamp - can't blame them, considering how useful it was against the Beastmen - and the only other alternatives will piss off Nordland or Marienburg or both. So perhaps we just have to be patient and let things simmer down before we escalate things even further."
"Glad to hear it. Give my best regards to the Graf."
"And mine to the Queen."
---
"Gustav," you say as you approach the former Outrider and current Marshal of Stirland, clasping his arm in yours. The two of you didn't work together for long enough to quite call each other close friends in comparison to the relationships you'd built with Wilhelmina and Markus, but the two of you did fight alongside each other against the horrors of Sylvania. "How fares Stirland?"
"Well enough that I'm getting nervous," he replies. "One of the remaining Vampires now decorates the Grand Countess' mantlepiece, and the other has fled into the swamp and is being pursued by what seems like half the Battle Wizards in the Empire. Sylvania is once more ruled by Stirland in truth rather than just on paper."
"That is welcome news. What's to become of the administration thereof?"
"There's talk of establishing a Markgraf, but no firm details yet. Rumour has it that Baron Anton was offered it and was sensible enough to turn it down. It looks like the Black Guard are going to get the County of Tempelhof and Kasmir has been talking a lot about a local religious coalition getting control of the Barony of Mikalsdorf, but Waldenhof and Nachthafen are still untaken. The problem with Sylvania is anyone competent enough to stand a chance has much better offers from literally everywhere else. But we have to fill those seats or the Vampires'll do it for us."
You nod and commiserate with him for a while before moving on.
---
You have to have Okri Drakkisson of Clan Bronzebeard pointed out to you, though once he is you're easily able to identify him due to some sort of multi-lensed loupe strapped to his forehead. "Loremaster Okri?"
"Aye?" he says as he turns. "Ah, you must be my predecessor. I hear you've left mighty large shoes to fill."
"More of a clear slate to build on what you wish."
"Aye, and build I will. That Gotri does his best but his heart is in the sky, he's more familiar with a swashplate than an inclined plane. The way of the future is in Dwarf-portable weaponry, and Zhufbar's Drakegun is just the start. I had a few ideas to start with, but having seen some of the reading material you managed to nab from the former inhabitants of here, I've got much more than a few now. Been working with the manling engineers here, including that Zharrzhufokri of yours, and have been exchanging letters with the Gorlzhufokral to hammer out a few ideas. We refound Karak Eight Peaks Ironbreakers, give 'em something that holds real punch but can still be carried around, and pile 'em into those flying machines of Gotri's, and we'll be able to deliver a proper kicking to anywhere that needs it on a moment's notice."
You allow him to talk your ear half off about said ideas, including an entirely mechanical equivalent of the Ratling Gun, an explosive charge launcher based on Adela's design but not reliant on being carried by a Bright Wizard, and refinements to be made to the current Drakegun designs to extend their range and increase the damage inflicted upon those caught on the wrong end of them, before you thank him for his time and escape. He's clearly ambitious and seems to know what he's talking about, but you can't help but feel he might be biting off more than he can chew. You're intimately familiar with the inside of a Ratling Gun and the many insane yet inspired ways it exploits the nature of warpstone to function. Is there really any chance of a machine so portable as to be carried to be able to replicate its functioning? Surely not.
---
"Oh, Gunnars," you say as you find the Cleric of Gazul once more.
"Yes?"
"Did anything come of those introductions I made between you and the Light Order?"
"We sent some notes over about some tricky buggers they're dealing with, and they sent some notes over about tricky buggers we're dealing with, and we established an agreement to do it some more if we encounter more tricky buggers."
"That's it?"
He shrugs. "If they wanted to come up to the mountains and chase demons we wouldn't say no, and if we wanted to go down to the lowlands to chase demons they wouldn't say no either. But we both have our own problems, and we're going to prioritize dealing with our own problems before we even think about going to chase someone else's problems."
You suppose that makes sense, though you'd hoped for something a bit more ambitious to come from the introduction you made.
---
After the announcement is made that Clan Grimbrow has decided that Prince Kazrik's gift is the most worthy and that he is to wed Princess Edda, the room shakes with cheers and quickly becomes awash with freshly-broached barrels. After thousands of years of isolation the brewers of Karak Azul are finally able to explore the full range of their ancestral recipes once more, and the first batches have been deemed too amateurish to be worth ageing but just good enough to be drunk and have been donated to this celebration to be disposed of, a task the crowd gets to with vigour. The opportunities to have meaningful and informative conversations quickly evaporate after that point, and you let yourself become part of the atmosphere of general camaraderie rather than trying to pursue any final scraps of dialogue, and the rest of the day becomes something of a blur.
To Dwarves, once the decision is made and agreed upon, the union becomes an accepted fact and the Harazdeg ceremony itself is merely a formality. It's also only open to the family of the spouses, you suspect because the ceremony includes taking both spouses aside and having them confirm in private that they're entering into the union of their own free will, and if the Priestesses of Valaya have to announce the wedding is off and then beat any objectors with hammers until they stop objecting, that's a lot easier without bystanders around to complicate matters. But that doesn't stop a number of people who attended yesterday's celebrations from loitering in the halls near the Temple of Valaya, some of them with leftover barrels to keep them company in their loitering, forming an entirely unofficial celebration almost as lively as yesterday's, though significantly more difficult to navigate. If the happy couple emerges as anything but, the crowd will quickly dissipate and pretend to have never been a crowd in the first place. But when it's Kazrik and Edda that emerge smiling and hand-in-hand, they find themselves having to make their way through a cheering gauntlet of back-slapping and ribald advice to progress towards the Grimbrow Clan Hall, where quarters suitable for royalty have been prepared for them. You know for a fact they've had quite a head-start on their nuptial duties already, but that's no reason for them not to hone their respective edges even further, and you clap them on their backs as they pass and yell something to that effect.
The next morning you go through your incoming correspondence and find reports from the EIC confirming what you heard during the Barazdeg celebrations: the long siege of the remaining holdouts has concluded with one Vampire killed and its remains under guard and the other currently being pursued through the countryside, and with extremely light casualties sustained by the Army of Stirland. Some are grumbling that this proves the sieges were unnecessary, but most agree that it's a result of the sieges serving their exact purpose. Exactly whose problem Eastern Stirland will be is still up in the air, but with it no longer an active warzone there's hope that some semblance of peace might settle upon Stirland. Wilhelmina has taken the opportunity to enter into agreements with the Black Guard of Morr and something calling itself the 'Council of Manhorak' to handle trade into and out of the new provinces, and presumably the second anyone accepts rule over the remaining areas they'll find Wilhelmina looming behind them with a contract and a quill. At this point there's no disputing that the EIC has complete dominance over trade and transportation within Stirland.
Library Purchases:
[ ] [LIBRARY] Colleges of Magic Name four magical, non-divine topics to acquire all available Empire books on.
[ ] [LIBRARY] Barak Varr booksellers Name three public topics to acquire all available Empire and Dwarven books on.
[ ] [LIBRARY] Library of Mournings Name two non-magical topics to hire Cityborn scribes to copy all available Laurelorn books on.
[ ] [LIBRARY] Back-fill. Instead of seeking books on specific topics, fill in some of the sections of your existing library where you have some of the available books from the Empire and the Dwarves on a subject, but not all. Will acquire more books total than other options, but cannot be directed.
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.
College Favour Purchases
[ ] [COLLEGE] No purchase.
[ ] [COLLEGE] Write-in.
Other Purchases
[ ] [PURCHASE] No purchase.
[ ] [PURCHASE] Write-in.
I'll do the EIC report and have the purchase options up in a temporary threadmark that'll be appended onto the above post once I shake off this headache.
"Aye, and build I will. That Gotri does his best but his heart is in the sky, he's more familiar with a swashplate than an inclined plane. The way of the future is in Dwarf-portable weaponry, and Zhufbar's Drakegun is just the start. I had a few ideas to start with, but having seen some of the reading material you managed to nab from the former inhabitants of here, I've got much more than a few now. Been working with the manling engineers here, including that Zharrzhufokri of yours, and have been exchanging letters with the Gorlzhufokri to hammer out a few ideas. We refound Karak Eight Peaks Ironbreakers, give 'em something that holds real punch but can still be carried around, and pile 'em into those flying machines of Gotri's, and we'll be able to deliver a proper kicking to anywhere that needs it on a moment's notice."
We refound Karak Eight Peaks Ironbreakers, give 'em something that holds real punch but can still be carried around, and pile 'em into those flying machines of Gotri's, and we'll be able to deliver a proper kicking to anywhere that needs it on a moment's notice."
You allow him to talk your ear half off about said ideas, including an entirely mechanical equivalent of the Ratling Gun, an explosive charge launcher based on Adela's design but not reliant on being carried by a Bright Wizard, and refinements to be made to the current Drakegun designs to extend their range and increase the damage inflicted upon those caught on the wrong end on them, before you thank him for his time and escape.
This dwarf. I like this dwarf, and I want to see more of him. Yes, definitely on the radical side...but oh, the things he might do. Recoilless rifles/antiarmor, what's essentially aircav/airmobile infantry, exploring machine guns...gatlings aren't too far from dwarfen tech levels now. Ambitious, definitely. But I like where his head's at, he clearly understands the glory of DAKKA.
Also, can I say how nice it is to be able to watch Mathilde speak to so many disparate factions and peoples and be respected by each one? For a wizard especially, even if these are a lot of the more open-minded parties. She's done good.
the Beastlord who he was pursuing into that swamp is one that he had faced before and taken the eye of, and ever since it seemed determined to avenge itself upon the citizens of Middenland.
He's clearly ambitious and seems to know what he's talking about, but you can't help but feel he might be biting off more than he can chew. You're intimately familiar with the inside of a Ratling Gun and the many insane yet inspired ways it exploits the nature of warpstone to function. Is there really any chance of a machine so portable as to be carried to be able to replicate its functioning? Surely not.
It is probably doable for elite units with Runecraft and College enchantment though purely mechanical versions are probably still out of reach.
If Okri can break the concepts down for some journeywizards and Vlag rune-pokers to integrate with engineers then the Karaz Ankor could gain some very potent tools.
I wonder if we can do an end run around the actual full 'ask the Damsels what they want to join the project' and just do an orc killing action that ends up with showing up in Carcasone and asking for Damsels? That would spare us a month of work.
