I assumed that was the case, but it might not be. They only say "Guildmaster of the Guild of Engineers" in 8th and some wiki articles say Karaz-A-Karak but I can't confirm since they cite Stone and Steel and 4th Edition Dwarf Army Book, neither of which I want to check at the moment. I am not well versed in either source.
I can confirm that Burlock is connected to KaK in 4th edition- it's stated to be the location of his Workshop that blew up and cost him his arm (and sent his collaborator Sven onto a path of exile).
I'm already thinking of Eike as a Duckling now, but that got me thinking about the whole Duckling thing. It first started because Mathilde's internal narration when she first met Hubert, Adela and Gretel described them as nervous ducklings clinging to their mother duck through a pond underneath the tunnels of K8P, and the thread latched onto it. It was reincoroporated several times within the narrative and became the name of the Wizards Club, and it just stuck.
I'm still a bit amused at how it all started. What even inspired Boney to describe the Journeymanlings as ducklings of all things?
Is it worth it to put much effort into mapping the Waystones ourselves before we recruit the Ambers? I've seen a lot of speculation that the Ambers probably know a lot of Waystone locations.
And if we're not putting in effort to map the Waystones ourselves, do we gain any benefit from the Ten Kingdoms of Ulthuan as a book topic?
I am not sure whether "waystone locations" will ever be our limiting factor, but I do expect that mapping the flows might be an action at some point. For Ulthuan books, I was thinking less in terms of "where the Waystones are" and more in terms of "the historical context surrounding various Asur colonies." It's wildly speculative, but I think that it's likely we'll want books about Ulthuan eventually, if we're studying and attempting to decipher one of their greatest projects as a people. Boney's worldbuilding emphasizes the importance of historical context a lot (cf the infopost recently about the pre-unification tribes and how their social politics directly affect the modern Empire).
Interesting! That is even more of a finished good than I was expecting, if they are importing garments directly and not the fabric that would be cut and sewed to make those garments. I guess it's a little ambiguous whether it's "underwear made from the finest Cathayan silk" or "finest silk underwear straight from Cathay."
Yeah, probably. I was just using "spools of thread" as an example of something that might plausibly be imported, because raw silk was never imported historically except by places that had already developed local sericulture.
Do you think it's possible that Imperial and Dwarven books on Textiles might still be applicable in a roundabout way, i.e. giving a partial bonus in the same way that our books on Dragons only gave half a bonus on helping integrate the Helldrake scales to our current robes?
I think that's totally plausible, now that you mention it. Belegar originally tried to recruit weavers who had experience with a wide variety of fibers, because he obviously couldn't get anyone experienced with silk, so the diversity of knowledge base is a factor.
If not, personally I'd go with something less practical and more idealistic for the purposes of K8P - books on Medicine. I'm sure we won't see any visible benefits from it, but it seems like something a respectable library could use. Maybe stick it to Nurgle while we're at it?
Currently trying to catch up after a bad bout of depression. Please don't reply with any information concerning what happened in the quest during or since April 2021 when I was last here, I'm still catching up and want to find out everything on my own.
I have no idea about Boney, but I can report from elsewhere in the Anglosphere that describing awkward students who don't quite know what they're doing yet as ducklings is a pretty common metaphor. I definitely encountered it in my college days, and my partner (who is a professor) uses it as well. So for me, at least, it slotted in to an existing referent rather than being a novel turn of phrase.
If we are gonna map waystones by ourselves, Johann should be a big help, since his MageSight is really good. We might also want to take the obvious "try to improve you MageSight" option (seeing through the pall of darkness).
I have no idea about Boney, but I can report from elsewhere in the Anglosphere that describing awkward students who don't quite know what they're doing yet as ducklings is a pretty common metaphor. I definitely encountered it in my college days, and my partner (who is a professor) uses it as well. So for me, at least, it slotted in to an existing referent rather than being a novel turn of phrase.
If we are gonna map waystones by ourselves, Johann should be a big help, since his MageSight is really good. We might also want to take the obvious "try to improve you MageSight" option (seeing through the pall of darkness).
It's less that his Magesight is really good, it kind of is but Mathilde's is better. What he excels at specifically is directional sense, because his Sight essentially makes him a perfect compass. He can determine exact angles at a far greater degree than almost anyone else because of his type of Magesight.
Anyways, the question I'm asking is what was the first workable prototype of a usable shotgun in history, what are the limiting factors or advantages of it, and what stops people from implementing it.
As I understand it (not an expert) the use for a dedicated weapon for shot cartridges kind of fell away as more advanced smoothbore firearms became more universal, being capable of using their own small shot cartridges in addition to singular bullet cartridges. The shotgun would then emerge as a hunting weapon for birds (geese, waterfowl, etc) and be adapted by Americans for cavalry use around the time of their civil war as they wouldn't be able to simply use their rifled weapons to deliver shot, which is when the first true single and double barrels you'd know of would be developed.
Dwarves have rifled weaponry iirc, so it would definitely make sense for them to make some developments in that area but everyone else simply wouldn't need it yet. I think we even saw this once with that skaven council emissary who crit the eshin sorcerer using pistols filled with warpstone shot.
As I understand it (not an expert) the use for a dedicated weapon for shot cartridges kind of fell away as more advanced smoothbore firearms became more universal, being capable of using their own small shot cartridges in addition to singular bullet cartridges. The shotgun would then emerge as a hunting weapon for birds (geese, waterfowl, etc) and be adapted by Americans for cavalry use around the time of their civil war as they wouldn't be able to simply use their rifled weapons to deliver shot, which is when the first true single and double barrels you'd know of would be developed.
Dwarves have rifled weaponry iirc, so it would definitely make sense for them to make some developments in that area but everyone else simply wouldn't need it yet. I think we even saw this once with that skaven council emissary who crit the eshin sorcerer using pistols filled with warpstone shot.
And with an explosion of warpstone-laced gunpowder, the Sorcerer is arrested mid-flight and falls to the ground, smoke rising from a dozen holes shredded into his chest. With unhurried motions, the Emissary sheathes that pistol, draws a second, and unloads another cloud of warpstone fragments into the downed Sorcerer. The next item he draws is a quill, and he frowns down at the document and makes an entry at the bottom.
I completely missed that. I thought you needed a bigger barrel for something like that, but he just used a pistol for it, and it seemed to work just fine.
In fact, wouldn't shot be very good for tunnel fighting? I mean, aside from issues with friendly fire, but the same could be said of grenades, which Dwarves still use.
It definitely would and I think off the top of my head that irondrakes(or ironbreakers maybe, ironsomething) might come equipped with something like that, but I can't remember the exact details.
It definitely would and I think off the top of my head that irondrakes(or ironbreakers maybe, ironsomething) might come equipped with something like that, but I can't remember the exact details.
Irondrakes have something that's uh... much worse. Short ranged flamethrowers that ignite an "alchemical concoction" over people. Excessively painful and probably not very fast and efficient. I would prefer the Irondrakes with Trollhammer Torpedos. At least those ones blow people up straight away.
In fact, wouldn't shot be very good for tunnel fighting? I mean, aside from issues with friendly fire, but the same could be said of grenades, which Dwarves still use.
I do believe dwarfs already have shotguns, they're called Grudge-rakers. They're double-barreled in an over-under configuration, and are supposedly powerful enough to kill up to a dozen Orcs if they're clustered together. They're not exactly common, but they exist.
I do believe dwarfs already have shotguns, they're called Grudge-rakers. They're double-barreled in an over-under configuration, and are supposedly powerful enough to kill up to a dozen Orcs if they're clustered together. They're not exactly common, but they exist.
I already mentioned them. 8th Edition says the Grudge Raker is a personal prototype of Grimm Burloksson, who is very young by canon's time, which is around 30 years from now. The only time in which the Grudge Raker became usable by others is when Warhammer made video games that wanted to use it, like Bardin using a Grudge Raker and Engineers in Total War gaining access to it. It's supposed to be a one of a kind radical invention that a rebellious kid made, not an actually developed weapon.
I'm already thinking of Eike as a Duckling now, but that got me thinking about the whole Duckling thing. It first started because Mathilde's internal narration when she first met Hubert, Adela and Gretel described them as nervous ducklings clinging to their mother duck through a pond underneath the tunnels of K8P, and the thread latched onto it. It was reincoroporated several times within the narrative and became the name of the Wizards Club, and it just stuck.
I'm still a bit amused at how it all started. What even inspired Boney to describe the Journeymanlings as ducklings of all things?
I have no idea about Boney, but I can report from elsewhere in the Anglosphere that describing awkward students who don't quite know what they're doing yet as ducklings is a pretty common metaphor. I definitely encountered it in my college days, and my partner (who is a professor) uses it as well. So for me, at least, it slotted in to an existing referent rather than being a novel turn of phrase.
More broadly, it's a somewhat common metaphor for either groups of young people associated with a single more experienced leader or individual young persons looking around for a more experienced person to guide them due to the distinctive (and adorable) way baby ducks follow their mother.
I do believe dwarfs already have shotguns, they're called Grudge-rakers. They're double-barreled in an over-under configuration, and are supposedly powerful enough to kill up to a dozen Orcs if they're clustered together. They're not exactly common, but they exist.
IRL it was not at all uncommon for smoothbore muzzle-loading handguns to be loaded with shot instead of or in addition to a ball. A shotgun being a specialized item distinct from other longarms only happened after relatively modern rifles became a thing.
The main thing about modern shotguns is that they keep the masses of small shot from falling out the front of the barrel if pointed downwards. If you try to do this with a muzzle loader, either you have to wedge stuff in the barrel, damaging it when it is fired, or get sewn pouches of shot that so they little bits can't fall out independently.
I'm pretty sure Dwarves have breech loading, and I know for certain that Cathay uses breech loading. Come to think of it, they have a shotgun unit in the form of the Ironhail Gunners.
So this is the real reason Teclis taught the Jade Order how to extract only Ghyran from Waystones: he favored 7-Up and was afraid the human mind would decide to mix carbonated beverages together if they had the power to do so.
I'm pretty sure Dwarves have breech loading, and I know for certain that Cathay uses breech loading. Come to think of it, they have a shotgun unit in the form of the Ironhail Gunners.
Breech loading is one of those things that was invented really early but needed industrial techniques to catch up before it could be used as anything but an expensive novelty. Muzzle loaders are easy to make at a low tech base because you just make a tube that only opens at one end and then drill a touch hole for ignition, whereas for breech loading you need to develop a mechanism for opening and closing the breech that is able to seal tight and withstand gunpowder explosions. For small arms this was made possible with the development of integrated cartridge ammunition and for artillery the interrupted screw and later Welin breech block, both of which require a fairly advanced industrial technology to be economical to supply on an army-wide scale, which historically wasn't reached until the early 1800s.
I'm hopeful that whatever Adela's grenades use for impact fuses can be adapted for integrated cartridge ammunition primer. Mostly because I want to see a non-warpstone machine gun after spending so much effort on the ratling gun. No one will be making enough ammunition for it to be useful but one working example with a clear lineage to that research would be very satisfying.
I'm hopeful that whatever Adela's grenades use for impact fuses can be adapted for integrated cartridge ammunition primer. Mostly because I want to see a non-warpstone machine gun after spending so much effort on the ratling gun. No one will be making enough ammunition for it to be useful but one working example with a clear lineage to that research would be very satisfying.
The biggest problem is not the primer, that surprisingly easy. It's the powder, you need smokeless powder to get a effective Maschine gun. Blackpowder fouls the barrels, and throws up unwanted smokescreens.
The biggest problem is not the primer, that surprisingly easy. It's the powder, you need smokeless powder to get a effective Maschine gun. Blackpowder fouls the barrels, and throws up unwanted smokescreens.
The gatling gun predates smokeless powder. Even with fouling and smoke they kept being made and deployed though it did limit them. And like I say, I don't expect a weapon fit for adoption, just a proof of concept. The mechanical knowhow, skillful craftsmanship and cleverness definitely exist to make a small handful of very expensive such guns but does the chemistry for a reliable percussion cap?
The timeline in the 8th edition Tomb Kings army book says that the Dark Elves marooned in Nehekhara in -1968 IC, so that was when he learned Dark Magic (at 32 years old).
Combining Dark Magic with Nehekharan magic to create Necromancy would probably have been some time between that and 18 years later, -1950 IC, when he killed his younger brother Thutep and seized the throne of Khemri.
So this is the real reason Teclis taught the Jade Order how to extract only Ghyran from Waystones: he favored 7-Up and was afraid the human mind would decide to mix carbonated beverages together if they had the power to do so.
