I am total down for this I really love the worldbuilding and everything with kislev in this quest so any chance to interact with that more I am down for(also very good others reason too that @Nerdasaurus Rex outlined) and I am down to learn the other too
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Druhir is the Druchii dialect for Eltharin. It's mutually intelligible with other Eltharin dialects, despite thousands of years of linguistic drift, for the same reason that the Eonir are understandable to Mathilde despite them being even more isolated than the Druchii. We don't need to learn it for Nagarythe, particularly as they don't speak Druhir there. If we need an expert on Druhir, there certainly will be a bunch in Nagarythe. I don't see why we would need to learn it, for the same reason we don't need to learn Bretonnian.
Nehekharan on the other hand, has two variants that Boney has laid out before:
Nehekharan on the other hand, has two variants that Boney has laid out before:
There's High and Low Nehekharan. We can learn High from the Colleges and Low from Araby. I should note that Nehekharan isn't the language of Necromancy. Modern Necromancy uses the standard Arcane Language. Only the oldest of Vampires and those who have studied the ancient lore of Nehekhara would bother learning the language, because modern Necromancy is so far from its original roots. If we expect to explore Nehekharan ruins, then sure, but otherwise I wouldn't spend the AP on learning this language.
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Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
To be fair, the library of Drakenhof is exactly the place I'd expect Nehekharan texts to show up.
Both because of Vlad, and Mannfred's study trips down to Nehekhara.
I think I remember reading somewhere that Nehekeran tombs can be found as far north as Averland? There's certainly some in the Border Princes at least.
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I will point out that if we get specific cool texts from bookmining, we don't need to learn a whole language to make use of them: we can do like we did for the Cathayan books and pay CF to have them translated. We have a ton of CF, a fair amount of nearly-passive CF income, and not a lot of good uses for it. Spending an AP for another language just for the sake of book bonuses seems like the sort of thing that will only be worth it when we reach the stage of "copying the entire corpuses of libraries from other countries", which will be a while.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I imagine you mean Gretel.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yes there are some. It's very rare, and the ruins that haven't been plundered have not been plundered for a reason. Usually because there's a deadly mummy inside. We could go on adventures, but only if we can somehow justify the journey.
This is a valid point, but we can have those books translated. There are benefits to learning the language itself for reading (being able to discern meaning more accurately, causing less eyes to come upon the books), but the question is if learning Nehekharan is worth the 3 AP or so required for it.
Yeah I did Gretel is most likely being a princess in the borderlands. Or Tomb hunting. I would like to find out what she is doing there.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Gretel Maurer: Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
She'll have to contend with Clarissa Lohft, Canon Warhammer Character.
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Codex
Fantasy Addict
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She died in her first appearance to a trap that she didn't check. I didn't feel particularly bad at it cus she was attempting to plunder cultural artifacts.
I did not think that was a character. But for everyone who did not either Clarissa Lohft - Warhammer - The Old World - Lexicanum
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
There's also an Indiana Jones expy.
Jacob Stacheldhorf
Jacob Stacheldhorf (or Stackeldhorf[6d]), Collector of Antiquities, is an explorer, cartographer and "archaeologist" of the Empire -- a brash and resourceful man who has succeeded in many dangerous "digs." He is often accompanied in his expeditions by Andrea Munch, a tough woman who holds...
warhammerfantasy.fandom.com
I feel that this needs more clarification to show exactly how dumb her death was
Yup ,she apparently made it through half a dozen super complicated Nehekharan traps before falling for the equivalent of a "Really not a trap!!!" sign...
As a former DM, the idea of a fountain marked "Eternal Life" in a trap filled dungeon made by a mummy made me flinch, because I just know it would result in an hour long argument between the party before one player gets bored and tries it anyway.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
1e is so different from any other edition that comparing it is basically fruitless. Like, that passage seems to be assuming widespread public libraries? So it's possible books are worthless in 1e. Maybe they had the printing press for longer.Reading WFRP 1e: Castle Drachenfels, and I am disappointed by this author. Page 23:
"They are of no real value". Really. Mate, even entirely mundane books cost a lot of money. They're absolutely worth taking, heretical or no. This many books of these kinds in 4e would be enough to buy hundreds of swords, and swords are expensive! "No real value". Bah.
For those curious, the library is locked and closed, so even if someone has gone exploring in Castle Drachenfels and lived to tell the tale, they wouldn't be able to say the castle had a library, nor what was in it. As such I believe it isn't a valid target for a book acquisition adventure.
I don't think he'd be that much scairer in the College actually. His pocket dimensions seem pretty fragile. He collapsed them by daemon checking Mathilde after all. Could be dangerous, but I think mostly as traps and enchantments, rather than spells.
Apart from the quote pickle found, Boney also said this:
So it seems to be variable.
Just play as a single cla instead of the entire Skaven. Or have the clans be unruly and difficult to get to work togetehr. Prevents you from having the power to overrun everyone, while not actually nerfing the Skaven.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
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- She/Her
I mean, that's what I'm assuming? I'm operating under the assumption that the pocket dimension stuff is not a spell, but more likely an enchantment. The stuff he was using for holding papers was clearly for utility. If he decided to weaponise it, it would probably be far more deadly and less likely to be destabilised by stuff like the Daemonchecker. I doubt he'd throw the Daemonchecker in his own office if it would destabilise any traps he might have (and chances are high that he has traps in his office).
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
I'm not sure he would. He technically has an open door policy, and wizards are nosy. I'd think there's too much risk of someone setting it off by accident. I'd guess that he'd have traps he could put up when he's out of the office, but not for when he's in there.
I don't really think they'd be that much less fragile honestly. Like, sure, the paperwork thing is clearly for utility, but there's no real reason to not make it as resistant as possible. It could even be argued that the fragility is an advantage for traps, as they can get set off when you aren't expecting it.
- Location
- Denial
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Given the context is books from the big library o' Necromancy I don't think we can pay to have them translated. The entire reason Mathilde is being allowed to dig them up is so no-one else can get them, handing them over to someone else to translate means that person has access to any knowledge in them. And without being able to understand them ourself we can't separate out the safe ones from the dangerous ones.
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Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Even if the Old World of 1e had equal levels of literacy to today's world, and the same availability of books (unlikely, given the lack of an Internet equivalent or a reliable global shipping service), a library's worth of books would still be a ton of money, especially given that the RPG PC's are supposed to be wandering types not possessed of extraordinary wealth (even most of the Noble's assets are tied up in their jewelry and clothes rather than legal tender).
- Location
- Australia
We should learn Nehekharan if we find Nehekharan texts in Drakenhof, otherwise there's not really any other use we can put the language to. Classical isn't the best language to learn. Learning either Tilean and Estalian would let us read Classical just fine and let us speak to both Tilean and Estalian speakers, but while learning Classical would let us read Tilean and Estalian, it wouldn't let us speak to Tilean and Estalian speakers as Boney seemed to be saying here. As for AP, it takes a single AP to learn another language.
"Standard Arcane Language"? Lingua Praestantia was invented by Teclis for the Colleges. I don't think vampires would be using that.
Spending 1-4 CF for each subject is likely not a very good idea compared to learning a language. Also, Mannfred's library was brought over from Nehekhara, so assuming it survived, it'll be the corpuses of a library from other another country we'll be looting.
3 AP was before we got Polyglot. Now with Polyglot, learning another language only takes 1 AP.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
Welcome to the front lines! Codex has already pointed to the informational bookmarks, so I'll make my pitch for the apocrypha- there's some really fun stuff in there! And much like you, this quest was my first and main exposure to Warhammer Fantasy, and I think I much prefer this version to the published one. It just works better.
Problems and solutions. We really should be keeping an eye on the participants, at very least so we can counter-spy anyone who approaches them, and so trickling out some college favor each turn to keep our bases covered seems smart.