Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[BeepSmile]

snip good points

Click to shrink...

On thing to note is that there is the possibility that Alric may not know Mathilde was involved in the Tabelhiem - credit was given to the Longshanks, and it was explicitly noted that he would have to stare at his own failure to learn the truth. I personally think that he's the sort to not let that get in the way when there's the "how was the cultist killed" thread to pull on but I could be wrong.

Obviously not something we can rely on, but there is a chance.

(Semi related: I'll have to reread the updates in question to be sure but iirc, the ritual had Alric as a target, so if Mira ever asks us why we went so far beyond what she asked, we have the excuse of wanting to stop him from getting credit for stopping the attacker while also saving the life of one of the best anti-chaos wizards in the Empire)

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

For those concerned about Alric taking the project, remember that the Patriarch of the Golds tried to steal the Skaven tech from us, and got slapped so hard he had to apologise and bribe us. And we were merely a magister back then.

Here's the quote:

I would quite like to accelerate that schedule, and I've spoken on the matter to Dragomas and to Algard, who have pointed out both precedent and law give you the power to share or not as you see fit.

Click to shrink...

If Alric tries to take the waystone project from us, he's going to run into the same problem—precedent and law make this our project, and no one else's, and if he wants a slice of the pie—especially when his order already has a very large slice—he has to beg us for it.

Also, speaking of secrets, Johann had a dispentation to study Skaven warpengineering. Not only does that break Article 7, but it also breaks the Conspiracy of Silence. If Feldmann, Dragomas and the Emperor felt that signing that order was an acceptable level of secrecy, then Mathilde studying Waystone-Dhar should also be acceptable.

 

[The Phoenixian]

[X] College Dispensation

 

[BagFullOfLizards]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

 

[Boney]

HWG?

Click to shrink...

My understanding is that HGW is the acronym for 'chuj go wie', which is Polish for something along the lines of 'who the fuck knows' and used as slang for an unknown person. I tweaked that into Chuj Gowie as Kislev's equivalent of Max Mustermann or Okri Okrisson.

 

[TreP]

Thanks for the great update!

As we all know, stone is an excellent insulator of magic

Click to shrink...

I ed very hard.

[X] Imperial Dispensation
I prefer going straight to the Emperor. And afterwards, to Dragomas. Explain to him whats going on, and that he does not have to follow usual procedure this time. And then explain same thing to our researchers from Colleges.
I don't really see danger in Alric, it's more like I see telling everyone that we are going to study a bit of dark magic for the greater good could be troublesome, exposing a weak point in our research. I mean, weaker than "This thing is unlikely to work at all". But alas, this is not that important decision to strongly argue about.

in hindsight, it's probably a really good thing that we have house Tindomiel for the construction.

Depending on how important that mechanism is, we might have had big trouble with finding enchanters both good and discreet enough to do that part without touching the Dhar.

Click to shrink...

...I guess it's a good thing that we graciously allowed House Tindomiel to make the Waystones of the Empire if the project ever reaches that point. If constructing a Waystone requires mucking around with Dhar then we couldn't have used human enchanters anyway.

Click to shrink...

We can change our deal with Tindomiel at any point before actual construction of Waystones. They will never argue against getting more territory for Hekarti-dedicated Waystones.

I am operating on the assumption that all our College Wizards (and in fact all of our participants in general) are going to be more loyal to their home institution than to this task force we set up a month ago.

Click to shrink...

The official chain of command is more official, which Mathilde would bypass.

Click to shrink...

It's actually less official. We're skipping the normal chain of command to get the Emperor to directly sign a new law, rather than going through our representative to the government, who is also our bosses boss, to write that law with the Emperor.

Click to shrink...

Aren't, according to Articles, Wizards legally binded to be more loyal to the Emperor than to the Colleges?

The Elves are working with Mathilde; because only Mathilde can connect them with the Runesmiths of the Karaz Ankor; the Runesmiths

Click to shrink...

If I recall correctly, they are working with Mathilde because they are sure that Mathilde has some secret way to reactivate Waystones. Dwarves, while being important, are bonus.

I now want Alric to try something just for the chance to politically humiliate him again. He did not know it was us last time.

Click to shrink...

Do you have an extra AP just to deal with him though?

Do we really want that sort of reputation to stick to the project at this stage? Because I really don't.

Click to shrink...

I mean, it's either that or "We have to research a bit of dark magic, to counter". Which is better I don't really know.

We'd be sharing no more information about the project from this.

Click to shrink...

We would expose weak point for the arguments against the Project. Whenever they will arise or not, I have no idea.

It is though. Either two people know, Heidi and the Emperor

Click to shrink...

I don't think Heidi needs to know details about Dhar. Just that we need to talk to Emperor about the Project.

 

[Lightwhispers]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

It's got the possibility to make Mathilde seem even more sus, but this is also something that a Lady Magister is expected to use her discretion on.

 

[ctulhuslp]

It's not really about Alric specifically, it's about limiting the degree to which anyone else can stick their oar in and mess with our project. Alric's just the most obvious example.

The only person who'll know we went over their head is Dragomas - the other Patriarchs are explicitly not finding out. Dragomas, of the Wind of "artificial social barriers cause more problems than they solve". Who went and negotiated a whole damn treaty with Cathay and got retroactively promoted to Wizard Lord for it. He won't just be fine with it, he'll approve.

[x] Imperial Dispensation

Click to shrink...

Who in Imperial wizardry would mess with this project?

Thing that makes this one special is that Articles are a tricky subject and we kinda want optics of this one to look very by-the-book.

 

[WorldSlayer]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

I get the feeling it's more of a formality than anything to get the permission here. Everyone who cares will support the project anyway, but it's also important to keep it as quiet as possible. The wizards directly involved are going to know but there's no reason to have it spread beyond that if we can help it.

Anyway we cultivated connections for a reason, may as well use them to smooth the way. Going through the College would probably be fine, but since we have a more advantageous method we may as well make use of it.

 

[LilyWitch]

[x] Imperial Dispensation
[X] College Dispensation

 

[ScottishMongol]

[x] Imperial Dispensation

 

[Kornet]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

 

[Lord Necromancer]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

 

[Tobtorp]

Who in Imperial wizardry would mess with this project?

Thing that makes this one special is that Articles are a tricky subject and we kinda want optics of this one to look very by-the-book.

Click to shrink...

The same who would make cleaning out Sylvania a political issue or the cleansing of Mordheim. People make important things into politics all the time. Global warming has been a political tool for as long as it has been in the public eye.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

"The Karaz Ankor has one. Laurelorn has one. Kislev, we just learned, has one. Athel Loren, I deeply suspect, has one. We won't ask anyone to give up the secrets of what they're doing or how they're doing it, but they do need to be considered and anyone feeling like sharing those secrets would be very welcome to do so. Are there any others we should be considering?"

"Nehekhara," Elrisse says, "made of obelisks and pyramids, and the Mortis River itself. Walled off by border forts from Ka-Sabar to Zandri, across the southern border of the Badlands, and from Lahmia to Lybaras to Rasetra."

You nod as you take notes. "Presumably Araby has one too," you say, "though I don't know whether I'd call that a separate network - it would connect to Ulthuan and work the same way as that of the Old World." You blink as something occurs to you. "Probably via the Sorcerer's Islands, I know someone who'd be able to confirm whether that's the case. So that makes five different polities, aside from Ulthuan, that are using the Waystone Network for their own betterment." Glances are exchanged around the table, as the unspoken thought hangs in the air that there's no reason there couldn't be a sixth.

Click to shrink...

I wonder what the odds are that Vlad tried to make a similar network in Sylvania? He would have had access to Nehekharan lore, and he must have picked Sylvania as his home base for a reason. Even if he didn't build any waystones, he could have rerouted it like the Ice Witches did.

We should check out that map the Amethysts have of the Sylvanian waystone network, just in case.

 

[Phrux]

Go to the Emperor but talk to Dragomas about what we're doing and why- our desire for secrecy.

 

[spiritualatheist]

[x] Imperial Dispensation

This is what we have connections and great deeds for.

 

[TreP]

I wonder what the odds are that Vlad tried to make a similar network in Sylvania?

Click to shrink...

By the way, do I understand correctly, that while creating new Waystones is considered impossible, messing with existing ones is much more common?

 

[Mopman43]

and he must have picked Sylvania as his home base for a reason.

Click to shrink...

Well, in-quest he'd been there personally before when he tutored Vanhel.

Might have figured his prior experience, along with all the Dhar and horribleness Sylvania was known for even before the Vampire Counts made it their home, might have led him to decide it'd be perfect.

 

[Tobtorp]

By the way, do I understand correctly, that while creating new Waystones is considered impossible, messing with existing ones is much more common?

Click to shrink...

well we messed with one. and if you clog up a waystone you make lots of dhar so dark magic users like it
also beastmen make herdstones out of them. so ye, people mess with them.

 

[Parabola]

I wonder what the odds are that Vlad tried to make a similar network in Sylvania? He would have had access to Nehekharan lore, and he must have picked Sylvania as his home base for a reason. Even if he didn't build any waystones, he could have rerouted it like the Ice Witches did.

We should check out that map the Amethysts have of the Sylvanian waystone network, just in case.

Click to shrink...

...

What also complicates matters is the sudden departure of Hexensohn and the Battle Wizards. You seek out the men that were with him, and they tell of a mad delve through tunnels underneath the town, crawling with undead. From what you can piece together, the three Amethyst Wizards seem to have been searching for something, and had commandeered a significant portion of your men in the town to fight a path through the undead. But when he found whatever it is he was looking for - a small stone structure embedded in the deepest part of the tunnels, deeper than the undead of the town above had penetrated - Hexensohn had gone in, but hadn't come out. Eventually his Battle Wizards had followed after him, and then come out again carrying their Patriarch, who was deathly pale and quite possibly dead - none of the men got a good enough look to tell. That was the last of the Battle Wizards any of the men saw, carrying Hexensohn into the darkness of the tunnels, and they had to make their own way out using chalk marks they had left in their path.

Click to shrink...

...What if, that was what Hexensohn was trying to investigate? It was a "A small stone structure". He went in alone, something happened, and then he came out dying or dead.

It couldn't be a full waystone, but I wouldn't put it past Vlad to do something. And naturally the Amethyst Order would have wanted to look into that.

 

[flotter]

[X] Imperial Dispensation

Alaric can get fucked, I won't give him the slightest chance of screwing this up. Dragomas should at least tolerate this too, and that means my two biggest concerns are alleviated.

 

[Nerdasaurus Rex]

By the way, do I understand correctly, that while creating new Waystones is considered impossible, messing with existing ones is much more common?

Click to shrink...

Yep—the Ice Court has done that, and the Druids made a religion out of it.

Beastmen also mess with them, and this is considered to be a Bad Thing.

edit:

[X] Imperial Dispensation

Alaric can get fucked, I won't give him the slightest chance of screwing this up. Dragomas should at least tolerate this too, and that means my two biggest concerns are alleviated.

Click to shrink...

And how exactly would Alric mess things up? One day he'll get a letter in his mailbox saying "the emperor and the supreme patriarch have given two of your lords magister permission to study dark magic". What is he going to do with that information?

 

[TreP]

Yep—the Ice Court has done that, and the Druids made a religion out of it.

Beastmen also mess with them, and this is considered to be a Bad Thing.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! Got a bit confused between "This Project is unlikely to succeed" and "Oh, you know, that one was changed, this one was reactivated and these ones were looped into mini-Vortex."

 

[Briefvoice]

Just like to say, I have some real sympathy for Boney trying to write this update. That is a lot of character to have in a single scene and to be tracking. Hell, it's difficult in real life to have that many people in a room where they are all supposed to be co-equals who are free to speak and respond to each other. You need a delicate touch to moderate something like that. I'm not surprised to see that Mathilde is already thinking about how they're going to have to break up into sub-research groups to tackle the various topics, only meeting in full to present updates.

"I really don't like the idea of Marienburg being able to hold half the continent hostage," you say faintly. "Are there any other links to the west?"

Click to shrink...

"On the other side," you say, "it would have to go through Athel Loren. Who are... not particularly cooperative these days, so let's put that as a last resort. Okay, from Couronne it would go to L'Anguille, and from there-"

Click to shrink...

The idea of presenting troublesome neighbors with knowledge that they can hold the contintent hostage comes up for both Marienburg and Athel Loren. Really shows that discretion is important.

"Probably via the Sorcerer's Islands, I know someone who'd be able to confirm whether that's the case.

Click to shrink...

Really? Who does Mathilde know that knows about the lands of Araby?

"The Rune, the capstone's metal, the foundational wheel, the leylines, the tributaries, and the other networks. Six different avenues of investigation for us to discuss further.

Click to shrink...

So there we have our six choices, and I have no doubt that if the project doesn't get killed in the crib we're going to get a vote on which one Mathilde participates in. (If we're very lucky, it'll be one per Action.) What does everyone think?

[X] Imperial Dispensation

Think I'll go with this one. I always like to see more of Heidi.