The electors and the emperor maybe ( if it's really the only way, which i doubt) the witchhunters, cults of sigmar, Ulrich and more definitely not and the common public will see the colleges as undermined chaos worshippers.
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.
If you have to bring out the magical power point to explain why something is necessary today and was not necessary yesterday I am quite sure you are not going to get a consensus on human sacrifice. That is more saved for 'Archeon is at the gates of the city, Bloodthirsters fly overhead.'
If it is absolutely necessary (which it might not be) or an alternative is prohibitively difficult, I don't see the problem. We'd probably be sacrificing criminals or something, not innocent people. If it did need innocents (because they need to be willing or something) then that would be a big issue.
The institutions of the Empire have generally been depicted as being pretty reasonable in this story, so I feel like there would be a decent chance of them accepting it if we were completely up front about everything, although obviously there would still be a great deal of unhappiness in the best case scenario. I will concede that I might be overestimating their trust, though.
I mean, this was necessary yesterday, it just wasn't getting done. But I do see what you mean.
Hold on, don't people of Albion have the same thing going on the Isle of Wights? Unless it is torroar's OC
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
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I'm not fond of the idea of sacrificing anyone, period.
Even beyond the fact that the Empire won't have the most modern sense of what makes someone a criminal. Like, people pull out the "but what if it's just criminals?" like with Strygos, as though these polities somehow have perfect ability to determine that someone is a criminal, and all criminals deserve to be killed.
At the moment, we don't know if the carving was depicting human sacrifice, if human sacrifice is necessary for the Belthani waystones, or if we have better options available or ways to get around it.
I don't think canon says anything about the Isle of Wights other than that it exists.
(It's a play on the Isle of Wight in the British Isles)
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Codex
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I read Shadows over Albion, which might be one of the only main sources on Albion. Aside from general descriptions and a map, things were kept pretty vague, There is definitely an "Isle of Wights" and there is a description below it that says "many barrows here", but that's all you get. I'm pretty sure Torroar had to make a bunch of stuff up for his Albion arc.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I think it's just that and a G&F novel (I think Giantslayer)
So tl,dr the island is canon, there are wights and barrows there, any detail beyond that is fanon.Gotcha. Thanks for clearing it up.
I know that if we did large-scale sacrifice of criminals we'd be sacrificing a significant number of innocents. I'm not talking from a position of morality (although there are definitely moral arguments that could be used from my position) but rather from a position of feasibility, because I don't care about morality very much when it comes to fiction.
Also, I said in the very post that you quoted that human sacrifice might well not be necessary, so I'm not sure why you decided to repeat my own point in your post.
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- Location
- Washington
People in universe do not really believe any issues with the waystone network is immediate enough to pull out the human sacrifice, even if they could be convinced that it was necessary to pull out in the event that it was that immediate.
That's probably true. Honestly, I'm not really sure how urgent the ways tones are myself. Obviously they are important, but it doesn't seem like more are really needed for the Empire within at least the next few decades. Kislev probably would like them as soon as possible, though.
- Location
- Australia
The Salzenmund book has a nice little reference to the lore discussion channel on the WFRP discord server.
WFRP 4e: Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver, page 55
WFRP 4e: Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver, page 55
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
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Well, if it's something about the material properties of the metals instead of like, the association with value, platinum would be a good fit.
It was considered a waste metal from gold mining and mainly used to forge currency, to my understanding.
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To just quickly throw an idea out there before I head to bed: maybe we could put Max on the Lornalim action when we get to it?
About Killing Blow... While I've had some thoughts that were related to Gazul and Okkam's Mindrazor for some time, I wonder if there could be a connection between my musings and theory-crafting, and the Killing Blow rule that some Warhammer people have.
So, that bit of how the Eye works. And the reason my mind went to thinking about the Penumbral Pendulum and Okkam's Mindrazor, is due to short one or two lines of fluff descriptions of them. (And, for that matter, almost all Lore of Shadow battle magic actually.)
A ghostly razor-edged pendulum materialises in the air above the Wizard. On his single word of command, the pendulum swings
towards the enemy, picking up speed as it does so. Is the pendulum real enough to kill or is it just a conjurer's trick? Only a fool would stand in its path to find out.
The Wizard summons phantasmal weapons far his allies that shred the folds of consciousness and reason. Victims of these mindrazor believe themselves slain, and so they are.
What do both of these descriptors have in common with Gunnars conversation about Gazul? Well, it made me think that the Mindrazor or Pendulum and the Eye might work by similar principles; namely, that the "real, or just a conjurer's trick?" "shred the folds of consciousness and reason... believe themselves slain, and so they are" bit isn't a sign of 'your mind makes it real'. But rather, a sign that these two spells might work on Aetherical principles. The Mindrazor cuts through the Aethyr. Through the connection between mind and soul.
The Mindrazor weaponizes a unit's psyche or willpower and pits it against the flesh of the enemy. It's not willpower-against-willpower; Mindrazor still hits against the enemy's Toughness rather than their Willpower, it just uses the buffed units Willpower instead of their Strength.
And also, I think the Lore of Shadow spells function on the idea of borders between the physical and the immaterial.
Oh, sure, a lot of their trappings look like they're doing the "Your mind makes it real" "What is reality? What is illusion? Who can tell!" thing. But I think that that's Grey Wizard "mystic showmen and conmen" tendencies. Part of the reason I think that, is because it also has the Pit of Shades and the Steed of Shadows transport or teleport spell. Combined with how, in this quest anyway, the secret behind Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma was that it was actually time-fuckery.
So. The illusion isn't the spell. The illusion is the idea that the spell is an illusion or a mental effect. It's not. The spell really will Fuck You Up. It'll just do so using the principles and natural laws of the Aethyr to do so. Or, put another way; yeah, it's using the power of the mind and imagination to do stuff... but that's because "the power of irreality and imagination" is a valid way to describe the Aethyr.
(Admittedly, some spells probably are illusions of course. But I think a lot of the time when the Lore of Shadows describe what sounds like it could be psychosomatic effects, it is potentially possible that the truth is that the magic is doing something in the Aethyr and is using metaphor and trickery to occlude things.)
So, anyway, how does this connect to Killing Blow and stuff?
Well, I was wondering if maybe (one of) the ways that some Warhammer units achieve Killing Blow is by... well. By sufficient concentration of deathliness, or sufficient focus on death and killing the enemy.
It's not a "your mind makes it real" effect though. Rather. It is an effect in the Aethyr.
Heroes or elite champions having enough focus or willpower, that they can hold their soul together in the afterlife? Or maybe not alone, but with the aid of mortuary practices? And this resulting in Wights having Killing Blow?
Well, maybe what the "able to keep your focus and channel your willpower" does, is it means that you can have a... a sort of edge in Aethyric combat. That is, it is because Wights are people who are so keen of will, that they can have that will still have an effect on the Aethyr. Or possibly not. I don't think that alone is enough; Vampires don't have Killing Blow after all. The mortuary practices and Necromancy or Shyish is required.
What is required, is the ability to... I dunno. Sort of like the Mystic equivalent except for channeling Shyish. The idea of being so close to death, or so focused on killing the enemy, or being so suffused in Shyish (thanks to Necromancy or Shyish magics) that you can have a Killing Blow.
And this, perhaps, is how Wights and, for example, Druchii Executioners might be able of having Killing Blow; a sheer concentration of killing intent, and sheer immersion in Shyish, that they have an Aethyric effect. ((Again, echoes or similarities to the Kislev Winged Lancer thing. In that of carving a groove into the Aethyr. Or following a groove that somebody else put in. In this case, the groove is about deadliness and suffusion of death.))
And that, of course, makes me wonder if it's possible for somebody to pick up Killing Blow if they had the right sort of Swordsmanship training and traits and lifestyle; if they suffused in death and focused on dealing death, or if they had weird mental super-focus like a monk. Do Eshin Assassins also having Killing Blow? Can't recall off the top of my head... I think they do, or at least I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
Codex
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I've been musing a little on our Elven members' magical ability. I think we can all assume that Hatalath is a master of all Eight Winds and High Magic. Maybe it's overestimating him to expect him to automatically be like that just because he's an Archmage, because technically only Hoethian/Sapherian Mages are actually required to be like that, but I think it's best to just assume that is the case for now.
Cadaeth I don't think is a traditional Hoethian caster. I assume she's incredibly experienced with Jade Magic and some weird esoteric fields of magic that she has access to as the possible Spirit Hybrid that she is. She did have some weird pocket dimension stuff, and her soul is, as Mathilde explains:
As for Sarvoi, that is one question I'm mulling over. There are very few characters that practice both High and Dark Magic. People like Ariel do it for example. But for the most part, High Elves refuse to use Dark Magic, Dark Elves refuse to use High Magic, and the Asrai have specialised "Darkweavers" and "Highweavers". I'm pretty sure Sarvoi is probably proficient, if not a master, in the Eight Winds. I'm not sure if he's proficient at High and/or Dark Magic, although he certainly knows the theory behind it.
Technically, it is possible to be really good at theory but lack practical skills. We really don't know where Sarvoi stands.
Cadaeth I don't think is a traditional Hoethian caster. I assume she's incredibly experienced with Jade Magic and some weird esoteric fields of magic that she has access to as the possible Spirit Hybrid that she is. She did have some weird pocket dimension stuff, and her soul is, as Mathilde explains:
Side note, I still think it's funny that Mathilde likely finds Cadaeth attractive not just because she's physically attractive, but because her soul is interesting.
As for Sarvoi, that is one question I'm mulling over. There are very few characters that practice both High and Dark Magic. People like Ariel do it for example. But for the most part, High Elves refuse to use Dark Magic, Dark Elves refuse to use High Magic, and the Asrai have specialised "Darkweavers" and "Highweavers". I'm pretty sure Sarvoi is probably proficient, if not a master, in the Eight Winds. I'm not sure if he's proficient at High and/or Dark Magic, although he certainly knows the theory behind it.
Technically, it is possible to be really good at theory but lack practical skills. We really don't know where Sarvoi stands.
As far as I can recall Boney told us that the Eonir broadly see Dhar as 'powerful, destructive and not worth the risk' sort of like shooting some combat drugs before battle. Sure it might work, but you will pay for it and so will the people around you.
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I checked and Boney said that it's basically viewed like Steroid abuse:
People agree it's bad, but it still happens. I think Sarvoi probably knows the theory behind it, but it's not super likely he's a master at it. High Magic sounds like something he'd like because it's all eight winds merged into one, and we all know he's attracted to magic.
Just noticed that Tochter was added to the Dramatis Personae yesterday:
Turn 39 Results - 2489 - Part 2
As rocks go, the one you've been taken to in central Middenland is far from the most impressive you've seen. It barely manages to stand taller than you, which is a low bar to clear in the first place, and you have to squint to see the faint remains of ancient carvings that have barely withstood millennia of wind and rain. You can find ones like it just about everywhere on the continent if you bother to look, and the only reason this one stands out is that it in despite of a moderate amount of ambient magical energies that have soaked into everything else around you, the stone is completely empty of magical energies. Stone might have a high capacity for absorbing magical energy, but given enough time any stone exposed to the elements would eventually accumulate as much earthbound energy as everything around it. But this one is, you expect, sending its magic to a nearby Waystone. "So," you say. "This is one of the Belthani tributaries."
"Yes, Lady Magister," Magister Tochter Grunfeld says. "As typical a specimen as I could find."
Cadaeth begins to examine the vegetation growing around it, and Baba Niedzwenka purses her lips as she looks the stone up and down. "Hm. Curious, but if I came across it I wouldn't stop to prod at it unless I was very bored."
"That's probably why they're still around," you observe. "They're just rocks. For mundane purposes they're not large enough to bother bringing tools to quarry them, and for magical purposes there's nothing to work with, and if for some reason you want magically neutral stone you can get as much as you need from any mine or quarry. There's not even anything to corrupt like there are with Waystones, the magical inflow is through the natural tendency of earthbound energies to seek equilibrium. If you broke the outflow somehow they'd just become normal rocks and eventually become no more filled with magical energy than any other rock."
"Can you observe the flow of energies?" Tochter asks curiously.
You shake your head. "Not this far north, it took me a week of meditation to spot a Waystone-sized leyline in Reikland. Maybe if there were any in, say, southern Tilea or Estalia the background magic might be low enough for me to be able to spot it..." You consider further, then shake your head. "No, then there'd be less magic flowing to spot. By the mechanics of the tributary, the amount flowing out will never be higher than the background magic level I'd be trying to spot it through."
"Perhaps you could spot the channel itself," Zlata says from somewhere behind you.
"The channel might not be a distinct piece of magic," Cadaeth says. "The Waystones are already absorbing magic, if you release magic into the earth deep enough the magic will be pulled towards it as it diffuses. It doesn't take long before there's basically a magical rivulet that carves out a magically conducive channel using nothing but the absorbed ambient energies."
"I take it that's how the Lornalim work?"
She only hesitates for a moment before answering. "Only once their roots grow deep enough, otherwise the magic just 'floats' back up to the soil." She places her palm against the dirt at the base of the tributary. "And the depth required is significantly deeper than this stone goes."
"Which way is the Waystone from here?"
"Remind me to organize a Wayshard for you." Cadaeth concentrates for a moment, then points.
"Roughly west," Tochter says after glancing at the sun.
"We can do better than roughly." You pull the compass you borrowed from the Gyrocarriage's cockpit from a pocket and consult it, then look in the direction Cadaeth indicated. "In fact, I'd say it's exactly west."
"Surely not exactly," Cadaeth says, standing and moving to look over your shoulder, then frowns as she looks at it. "Okay. Exactly. That would explain why they're able to maintain a flow from so much shallower. How, though? The Waystone is far enough away that it wouldn't be visible even if you levelled all the trees and hills in the way."
"The sun and the stars," Tochter says simply.
"To within a degree, though?" Cadaeth asks doubtfully.
"Yes," she replies firmly. "The Belthani placed great importance on the angle of the sun. I once saw some rubbings that..." She frowns as she thinks. "Actually, I might be able to do better than rubbings. Lady Magister, may I use the authority of the Project to lay claim to some carvings in Talabecland?"
"Whose authority do they currently fall under?" you ask warily.
"It's disputed. The Taalites and Rhyans claim it because some of the symbols are ones they adopted, and the Order of Life is disputing them but haven't wanted to do so too hard because some of the rituals depicted are potentially questionable."
"How questionable?"
"Human sacrifice and the summoning of what we believe to be Sevirric spirits."
"Ah. Not the sort of thing we generally like associated with the Colleges." She nods. "Do it. We're going to be casting so wide a net that this wouldn't seem out of place. Tell them that the Grey Order will vet the carvings. Then, as long as there's nothing in the carvings that's too improper, the Jades can have them once the Project is done."
"Thank you, Lady Magister."
You nod. "Okay, let's take rubbings and samples off this and head back to civilization."
---
Magister Tochter Grunfeld has been busy, as the next time you see her it's with the fragments of a shattered decades-old jurisdictional deadlock in her wake. As a result thirteen ancient stone steles known as the Talastein Carvings have been transferred to the custody of the Colleges and transported five hundred miles to Tor Lithanel. Nine of them are dedicated to either depictions or instructions for specific religious rituals, two of them to the kind of measurements of sun and stars Tochter spoke of, one to the history and creed of the Belthani, and one either a shrine or a lexicon, filled with larger individual runes rather than pictographic sentences. Under Tochter's nervous eye you scrutinize the two that the Jades didn't want to lay too strong a claim to, and while the carvings are faint and damaged in places, the depiction of a human stretched out upon an altar is hard to mistake for anything else. "I can see why this would be the sort of thing you'd want to distance yourself from," you say neutrally.
Tochter nods. "Some accuse the Druids of sacrifice to justify their faith being replaced by the Taalties and Rhyans, either by saying they were no different to the Cult of Ahalt or outright accusing them of involvement with Daemonic powers. This could be used to play right into that sort of narrative."
You peer at the pictographs. "Well, to my eye this looks a lot closer to Eltharin than Dark Tongue. Weirdly close, actually. Too close. Tochter, talk to me about this language."
"That's something I wanted to bring up with you in private. Your mention of 'silver ships' got me thinking of these in the first place, because this stone here," she points to one of the other steles, "is of the history of the Belthani. And these runes here," she points to a specific pair of pictographs, "were translated as meaning 'silver ships'."
"Translated by?"
She smiles. "Teclis."
"Teclis translated this?" There was a time when you would have not questioned Teclis having knowledge of any language, but your time among the Dwarves and Eonir had introduced you to other perspectives on the Asur. "Why would an Elf of Ulthuan speak a language of the humans of the Old World? Even if they had bothered to learn the local languages when they were colonizing the Reik Basin, why would Teclis have gone to the trouble of learning one that by all accounts is entirely extinct?"
"I have a theory about that, one that ties in to old legends about the Belthani coming from the west, just as the Scythians came from the north, the Tylosians from the south, and the Imperial Tribes from the east. Teclis was only able to translate a few scraps of the surviving symbols, but of those..." She begins to point. "'Came from beyond', 'deep waters', 'silver ships', 'nurture Her land'. What if the Belthani 'came from beyond' the Great Ocean? What if Ulthuan could interpret scraps of this language because it's a cousin of Anoqeyån? Because the Belthani were students of the Old Ones, just as the Elves were?"
"Are you suggesting the Belthani came from Ulthuan?"
"And they were taken across the 'deep waters' on these 'silver ships' to 'nurture Her land'. Is that not what we did? When the Elves got too caught up in their wars, the Belthani completed the network."
You note and decide not to comment on the 'we' slipping through. "The idea is intriguing," you say, "and if it's true, then it means it might be possible to translate these symbols further. Teclis might have been able to pick some low-hanging fruit, but he was operating purely from memory. We, on the other hand, have the Library of Mournings to draw from."
"Which means," she goes to one of the other rite steles, "that we might be able to translate this, the consecration ceremony, into something we can perform."
"That seems like it would be reliant on Teclis being completely correct that the Druids only ever communed with the Jade Wind. He had something of a blind spot for the existence of divine magic."
"Would it be so bad if we were able to reconnect the Jades to the Earth Mother?" Her tone is carefully neutral.
"No, it wouldn't, but that's not the only possibility. Just because we have Her in mind doesn't mean She's the only one that might answer if we go around knocking on doors."
"Ah. I see what you mean."
"We'll keep the possibility in mind, but we'll start from the start. We'll commission some menhirs of various materials and start planting them, if we can recreate the tributaries with just a theodolite then we should. Failing that, we'll try enchanting techniques to make it work, and then try to operate within the paradigm of Gods we know the current mailing address of. This seems like it could fit neatly within the paradigms of both Halétha and the Ancient Widow."
"Yes, Lady Magister."
"Meanwhile, I'll try to find a hard answer for you about those two potentially dodgy steles."
---
Spoken Eltharin, as you're very aware, is a beast of a language. Every word has multiple meanings, sometimes to the extent of being their own antonyms. It has sixteen different vowels, four of which are only ever used in proper nouns. To speak it is to constantly battle against ambiguity, which is part of why it's part of the basic syllabus for the Grey Order.
Written Eltharin is even worse. Any given rune can be used to represent a specific idea, or to modify another rune, or as part of a phonetic rebus, and individual runes can be combined in various ways to give rise to new meanings. These are often deeply rooted in culture which inevitably shifts over time, meaning that to fully understand a given piece of writing you need to understand the time period of the author.
Both are said to be greatly devolved and simplified from the arcane language of Anoqeyån, said to be the original language of the Elves and based on the language of the Old Ones. So you're feeling some trepidation at the idea of using Anoqeyån to try to translate severely damaged carvings with an unknown level of relation to that language. But the alternative would be trying to come up with a ritual completely from scratch, which is a lengthy and often dangerous process at the best of times. So you unleash Cadaeth on the Library of Mournings, and it's not long afterwards that books, scrolls, and tablets on both Anoqeyån and the Old One Tongue begin to emerge. That they do so in a trickle indicates that they're still carefully vetting what they give you, but it's an improvement over their previous complete stonewalling of you over any topic they considered magical.
[Mathilde's study: Learning, 12+29+10(Polyglot)+10(Windherder)=61.]
[Tochter's study: Learning, 74+18+10(Druid)+10(Ritualist)=112.]
The project proves to be as gruelling as you feared, and your own agonizing and plodding research is quickly outstripped by Tochter filling page after page with notes. Unfortunately, having the Druid judge whether the Druids can have access to the questionable Druidic stele is not in keeping with the institutional paranoia of the Grey Order, so this doesn't mean you can drop the matter in her much more skilled hands and leave her to it, so you continue determinedly on. It doesn't take long for her to have broken the consecration ritual into what she believes to be discrete and translatable steps, and after receiving your praise for doing so she takes the first drafts to Cadaeth, Aksel, Zlata, and Niedzwenka for the five of them to see whether they can translate it into their individual paradigms. And you, meanwhile, continue at a cracking pace of two to three pictograms a day.
---
It grates at you that you have to hear about progress with the rituals in dribs and drabs as Tochter reports back to you instead of being involved with the whole process, but vetting the steles is the price you paid for the leap forward that they represent, and you're not overburdened with free time to do both. So you suppress your desire to breathe down necks and let information trickle back to you as you make your gradual progress with understanding the steles.
Tochter, to her very visible frustration, has had little progress adapting - or, in her words, updating - the ritual to something in the Jade Order's wheelhouse, and Zlata's work has been equally fruitless. But Cadaeth has what she feels is a very solid ritual for encouraging the forest itself to anchor a tributary stone, Aksel has very straightforwardly swapped out the Earth Mother for Halétha and is ready to give it a try, and Niedzwenka thinks she knows just the spirit to make power start flowing. That's certainly promising, but if there's anything you learned about rituals during your lessons at the Colleges, it's that you can never be entirely sure how well you've done at crafting one until you actually do it. And considering the potential repercussions a botched ritual can lead to, you'll have to carefully consider whether to go for a blunderbuss approach and approve all of them, or try to decide which of them is the most promising.
[New action unlocked: attempt to create a tributary (select one or multiple: Dreaming Wood tributary, Haléthan tributary, Bereginya tributary)]
"This one," you say to Tochter as you indicate the stone, "was an enormous pain. It turns out it's not describing a specific ritual, it's warning against a general type of ritual. If I'm right in that the left half of this rune here is a precursor to 'Urithair', and this one is to 'Tyloir' - which I'm not sure about, as the main meaning of 'Tyloir' indicates that its meaning has shifted in Elven tongues - then I suspect it's the result of some sort of schism or corruption of a branch of the Belthani faith, where sacrifices were made to empower or enrich individuals instead of for the good of the whole. Whatever the full story, it's my judgement that it's benign."
"I'm glad to hear it, Lady Magister. Though it's a bit sad to hear that even back then they had those sorts of problems."
"There's black sheep in every flock. Now this one," you say with a wave to the second one, "was challenging for separate reasons. A lot of the runes it used are defined only very vaguely by the books and scrolls, when they're defined at all. If you compare the depictions on the two sets of carvings, can you spot the differences?"
Tochter looks from one to the other. "The subject on the warning one has their arms up as though bound, while the other doesn't." She peer closer. "They're also closer to the edge of the altar, instead of central to it."
"Correct. I presume so they'd be properly accessible to a second participant in the ritual, who would be wielding something quite different to an athame."
Tochter looks closer, and a touch of pink comes to her cheeks. "Oh."
"Mm. I would guess the mix-up is because the runes for procreation have a lot of overlap with those for summoning, which raises the kind of metaphysical and philosophical questions I don't have time to pursue. I don't know whether the act to be performed is the target of the ritual or just a component of it, but while it might be best not to broadcast the details of it too loudly, I don't see a problem with releasing it to the custody of the Order of Life when we do the others."
She nods, a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you, Lady Magister."
---
To the gathered crowd of Hatalath, Thorek, Sarvoi, Elrisse, and Zlata, you begin discussing the third facet of the current investigation into the leylines. "At its broadest," you say, "the term 'leyline' has been applied freely to any underground passage of energy. For the purposes of this study, by 'leyline' I refer to the flow of energy between Waystones and Nexuses of the Waystone Network. This brings me to my first question: how does this work in the first place? By all accounts, stone is... not especially conducive to magic. And yet I know for sure that the energy flows beneath the bedrock, as I've seen it flowing with my own Magesight."
"That would be an advantage for something like this," Hatalath says. "Channelling it through the air would be easier, but it would also be disrupted the first time a bird flew through it, let alone what a storm of magic would do. Planting the leylines in stone frontloads your difficulties - it's a huge challenge to set up, but once it's set up it'll last."
"Magic may not flow through stone particularly quickly, but it does so reliably," Thorek says in agreement. "It doesn't change its speed based on the time of day or phase of the moon or because of the emotions of passers-by."
"I'll grant you that, but that answers the 'why', not the 'how'. If you just pumped magic deep underground it'd radiate out in every direction, it wouldn't conveniently flow to wherever you directed it."
"Momentum?" Elrisse hazards. "A constantly-maintained effect that makes the leylines the most conducive path?"
"Or a permanent change," Sarvoi says, "either comparable to an enchantment, or an actual physical channel running between the Waystones."
"Whatever it is, either it's inherently reversible or bidirectional, or the Ice Witches are already capable of recreating them, considering that magic currently flows from Kislev City to Praag."
All heads to Zlata, who closes her eyes as she carefully considers her answer. "What I know of how that came about indicates that they are either bidirectional or impermanent," she eventually says.
You nod as you digest that. "That seems like it would be testable," you say. "Find a suitable chain of three Waystones connected to a nexus, deactivate all three, and reactivate the two furthest from the nexus. If energy begins to flow again, we can conclude that the effect is permanent. If it does not, then it must require a connection to the rest of the network, and either draws power from it or relies on the attractive force of the Great Vortex. If it's permanent, we get a shovel and a pickaxe and go see exactly what it is."
"Is it necessary?" Elrisse asks abruptly. "It strikes me that this may be chasing perfection at the expense of sufficiency. How much of a river do we need to understand to be able to upend a bucket into it?" For a moment it strikes you as strange that this would be coming from a Light Wizard, but it occurs to you that they must be as trained to guard against perfectionism as a Grey Wizard is against an excess of paranoia.
"Are there places where the Waystone network has been completely eliminated?" Sarvoi asks.
One possibility occurs immediately. "Sylvania, I suspect," you say. "The Von Carsteins and their pretenders knew to target Waystones, and the nexus for most of them would have been Mordheim."
"The Badlands," Thorek says shortly.
"Mousillon, perhaps," Elrisse says.
"So there would definitely be opportunities lost if we can't extend the reach of the Waystone network," you conclude, "but being able to strengthen it only where it still exists would still have significant value. What possibilities do we have for these 'buckets', then?"
"Point-to-point line-of-sight transmission of magical energy is a well-trod path," Sarvoi points out.
"If you don't mind the wind taking half of it on a good day," Hatalath counters.
"It all would have been in the wind anyway," Sarvoi says. "Efficiency isn't so important as long as they're funnelled directly into a Waystone, our pseudo-Waystones could just suck it all back up and try again."
"Some form of aqueduct for magic," Thorek suggests. "Needn't even be that large. Rope or wire, perhaps."
"I suspect unattended rope or wire would have a habit of disappearing entirely overnight," you reply.
Thorek frowns. "In areas where Grobi and the like lurk, aye, but what of more civilized areas?"
"When rope is a denga a yard?" Zlata says. "It might be safer with the Grobi."
"Would manlings really dismantle the Waystone network for free string?" Thorek asks, disbelieving.
"Yes," is the instant response from everyone else.
As Thorek splutters in outrage, Elrisse pipes up. "Even before its current form, magic flowed down the Great Vitae River. The Empire is built on rivers and they're already flowing in the direction we want it to go."
"Ooh, yes, and-" Sarvoi begins, only to fall silent at a glance from Hatalath.
You sigh. "You do remember that the path from the Ward of Rain, which we've all been using to come and go from the Empire, goes right past the Rainbow Falls, right?"
Hatalath considers that. "While that is true that its general existence can be deduced, the source of-"
"Portal at the bottom of the Tarn of Tears," you interrupt. "Have I made my point, or do we need to talk about tunnels and Smith-Priests too?" Hatalath seems to be quite perplexed at that, and falls into silence. "Okay, we can try to figure out the leylines, or we can try to make our own through air, string, or rivers. What do we think is the most promising approach?"
[ ] Leylines
Investigate and seek to recreate the existing leylines of the Waystone network. Unknown difficulty, potentially extreme.
[ ] Air
Begin working on a way to transmit magic from point to point through the air. Relatively simple, but results may be unsatisfactory.
[ ] Material
Begin working on a way to transmit magic through string or wires. Magically trivial, the challenge is finding a way of doing so that will not result in every nearby peasant making new tunics or cotton cards out of them.
[ ] River
Seek to understand and replicate how Nehekhara and Laurelorn transmit magic through rivers. Likely to be difficult, but could work very well for the Empire.
---
You've decided to make a return to Castle Drakenhof, where under the ruins produced by the finest of modern artillery presumably lies untold generations of tunnels, tombs, catacombs, crypts, secret chambers, and, you hope, libraries. Not only are legends of the place thick with mentions of them, you know for a fact that it is possible for forces to have moved from the castle to a network of tunnels underneath the surrounding wilderness. But if you desire results, you're going to have to do more than go there with a shovel and a hopeful attitude. While your reputation and some of Belegar's gold will be enough to get you sufficient amounts of Dwarven miners who won't ask inconvenient questions, Sylvania remains Sylvania, and you're going to need forces to stomp down anything that might still be stirring and to keep watch against the ambient nastiness of the area. Zhufbar could likely be convinced to send a Throng to put a few more nails in the coffin of the Von Carsteins, or the Army of Stirland is already in the area and you'd likely be able to borrow a cohort or so. There's still Battle Wizards in Sylvania if you prefer quality over quantity, and the Knights of Morr are, of course, very well versed in holding off undead forces.
But while there are all of those easy and straightforward options, it occurs to you that all of them might hold some strong opinions on the materials you might be unearthing, and may not be as open minded as you are about the diamonds that can be found in the very rough. And it's not really an idea that would be very easily communicable to most, is it? "I read the Liber Mortis and found it enlightening and not at all hazardous to one's soul!" is a conversational gambit that you don't have high hopes for. If you want to have full freedom to winnow through the books you might find, you might need to get creative about where you find the necessary forces.
There's also the question of who else you might bring along on this adventure. The Celestial Order, though they usually prefer to make airy predictions that only make sense six months later and if you give them the benefit of the doubt, are actually quite capable of answering questions like 'what is the exact direction of the nearest book'. The Amethysts, judging by their showing last time they were in this neck of the wood, have some idea of where to find interesting buried secrets, and might be a bit more willing to share that information after they've replaced their Magister Patriarch and you've been promoted twice. There's a number of organizations that might be willing to help out in exchange for payment or access to some of the revealed information, such as the many varieties of Vampire Hunters or the Cult of Verena.
And more personally, there are a number of trusted compatriots you've worked with that would be willing to go on another adventure with you, if you think they can be trusted to not ask too many awkward questions. There's Johann and Max, of course, as well as Egrimm and Adela. There's Kasmir, who's currently active in the area and is a lot more flexible than he used to be. Heidi is unlikely to be willing to join in in person, but she might have some useful insight - she was a Countess here for quite a while, after all - and might also be able to refer you to trustworthy coreligionists who might be able to help. You might be able to convince Cython to join in if you spin it enough tales about the legendary libraries of the Von Carsteins, though that's likely to result in it laying claim to a portion of the proceeds, and the sort of books most likely to be intriguing are the sort that it's hard to find a scribe trustworthy enough to make a copy of. And... well, you could go on for quite some time. Over your career you've worked with all sorts of skilled individuals.
- There will be a twelve hour moratorium.
- Part of this update was originally posted here.
- The vote for the leyline investigation is separate to the vote for a plan for excavating Castle Drakenhof. The chosen leyline option will take place this turn, the others can be pursued in the future.
- This plan is more freeform than usual, but Mathilde has enough clout and contacts that in this case it's not really practical for me to curate all the possibilities down to a finite list without cutting out a lot of interesting and creative options. If you have questions about a possible approach, let me know.
- Example vote:
[*] Plan No Flaws Whatsoever
Garrison: Hire the Cursed Company
Institutions: Hire a Skink Oracle, bring in the Cult of Alluminas
Individuals: Fozzrik, Eshin-Friend, Templar Diederick Kastner
"Yes, Lady Magister," Magister Tochter Grunfeld says. "As typical a specimen as I could find."
Cadaeth begins to examine the vegetation growing around it, and Baba Niedzwenka purses her lips as she looks the stone up and down. "Hm. Curious, but if I came across it I wouldn't stop to prod at it unless I was very bored."
"That's probably why they're still around," you observe. "They're just rocks. For mundane purposes they're not large enough to bother bringing tools to quarry them, and for magical purposes there's nothing to work with, and if for some reason you want magically neutral stone you can get as much as you need from any mine or quarry. There's not even anything to corrupt like there are with Waystones, the magical inflow is through the natural tendency of earthbound energies to seek equilibrium. If you broke the outflow somehow they'd just become normal rocks and eventually become no more filled with magical energy than any other rock."
"Can you observe the flow of energies?" Tochter asks curiously.
You shake your head. "Not this far north, it took me a week of meditation to spot a Waystone-sized leyline in Reikland. Maybe if there were any in, say, southern Tilea or Estalia the background magic might be low enough for me to be able to spot it..." You consider further, then shake your head. "No, then there'd be less magic flowing to spot. By the mechanics of the tributary, the amount flowing out will never be higher than the background magic level I'd be trying to spot it through."
"Perhaps you could spot the channel itself," Zlata says from somewhere behind you.
"The channel might not be a distinct piece of magic," Cadaeth says. "The Waystones are already absorbing magic, if you release magic into the earth deep enough the magic will be pulled towards it as it diffuses. It doesn't take long before there's basically a magical rivulet that carves out a magically conducive channel using nothing but the absorbed ambient energies."
"I take it that's how the Lornalim work?"
She only hesitates for a moment before answering. "Only once their roots grow deep enough, otherwise the magic just 'floats' back up to the soil." She places her palm against the dirt at the base of the tributary. "And the depth required is significantly deeper than this stone goes."
"Which way is the Waystone from here?"
"Remind me to organize a Wayshard for you." Cadaeth concentrates for a moment, then points.
"Roughly west," Tochter says after glancing at the sun.
"We can do better than roughly." You pull the compass you borrowed from the Gyrocarriage's cockpit from a pocket and consult it, then look in the direction Cadaeth indicated. "In fact, I'd say it's exactly west."
"Surely not exactly," Cadaeth says, standing and moving to look over your shoulder, then frowns as she looks at it. "Okay. Exactly. That would explain why they're able to maintain a flow from so much shallower. How, though? The Waystone is far enough away that it wouldn't be visible even if you levelled all the trees and hills in the way."
"The sun and the stars," Tochter says simply.
"To within a degree, though?" Cadaeth asks doubtfully.
"Yes," she replies firmly. "The Belthani placed great importance on the angle of the sun. I once saw some rubbings that..." She frowns as she thinks. "Actually, I might be able to do better than rubbings. Lady Magister, may I use the authority of the Project to lay claim to some carvings in Talabecland?"
"Whose authority do they currently fall under?" you ask warily.
"It's disputed. The Taalites and Rhyans claim it because some of the symbols are ones they adopted, and the Order of Life is disputing them but haven't wanted to do so too hard because some of the rituals depicted are potentially questionable."
"How questionable?"
"Human sacrifice and the summoning of what we believe to be Sevirric spirits."
"Ah. Not the sort of thing we generally like associated with the Colleges." She nods. "Do it. We're going to be casting so wide a net that this wouldn't seem out of place. Tell them that the Grey Order will vet the carvings. Then, as long as there's nothing in the carvings that's too improper, the Jades can have them once the Project is done."
"Thank you, Lady Magister."
You nod. "Okay, let's take rubbings and samples off this and head back to civilization."
---
Magister Tochter Grunfeld has been busy, as the next time you see her it's with the fragments of a shattered decades-old jurisdictional deadlock in her wake. As a result thirteen ancient stone steles known as the Talastein Carvings have been transferred to the custody of the Colleges and transported five hundred miles to Tor Lithanel. Nine of them are dedicated to either depictions or instructions for specific religious rituals, two of them to the kind of measurements of sun and stars Tochter spoke of, one to the history and creed of the Belthani, and one either a shrine or a lexicon, filled with larger individual runes rather than pictographic sentences. Under Tochter's nervous eye you scrutinize the two that the Jades didn't want to lay too strong a claim to, and while the carvings are faint and damaged in places, the depiction of a human stretched out upon an altar is hard to mistake for anything else. "I can see why this would be the sort of thing you'd want to distance yourself from," you say neutrally.
Tochter nods. "Some accuse the Druids of sacrifice to justify their faith being replaced by the Taalties and Rhyans, either by saying they were no different to the Cult of Ahalt or outright accusing them of involvement with Daemonic powers. This could be used to play right into that sort of narrative."
You peer at the pictographs. "Well, to my eye this looks a lot closer to Eltharin than Dark Tongue. Weirdly close, actually. Too close. Tochter, talk to me about this language."
"That's something I wanted to bring up with you in private. Your mention of 'silver ships' got me thinking of these in the first place, because this stone here," she points to one of the other steles, "is of the history of the Belthani. And these runes here," she points to a specific pair of pictographs, "were translated as meaning 'silver ships'."
"Translated by?"
She smiles. "Teclis."
"Teclis translated this?" There was a time when you would have not questioned Teclis having knowledge of any language, but your time among the Dwarves and Eonir had introduced you to other perspectives on the Asur. "Why would an Elf of Ulthuan speak a language of the humans of the Old World? Even if they had bothered to learn the local languages when they were colonizing the Reik Basin, why would Teclis have gone to the trouble of learning one that by all accounts is entirely extinct?"
"I have a theory about that, one that ties in to old legends about the Belthani coming from the west, just as the Scythians came from the north, the Tylosians from the south, and the Imperial Tribes from the east. Teclis was only able to translate a few scraps of the surviving symbols, but of those..." She begins to point. "'Came from beyond', 'deep waters', 'silver ships', 'nurture Her land'. What if the Belthani 'came from beyond' the Great Ocean? What if Ulthuan could interpret scraps of this language because it's a cousin of Anoqeyån? Because the Belthani were students of the Old Ones, just as the Elves were?"
"Are you suggesting the Belthani came from Ulthuan?"
"And they were taken across the 'deep waters' on these 'silver ships' to 'nurture Her land'. Is that not what we did? When the Elves got too caught up in their wars, the Belthani completed the network."
You note and decide not to comment on the 'we' slipping through. "The idea is intriguing," you say, "and if it's true, then it means it might be possible to translate these symbols further. Teclis might have been able to pick some low-hanging fruit, but he was operating purely from memory. We, on the other hand, have the Library of Mournings to draw from."
"Which means," she goes to one of the other rite steles, "that we might be able to translate this, the consecration ceremony, into something we can perform."
"That seems like it would be reliant on Teclis being completely correct that the Druids only ever communed with the Jade Wind. He had something of a blind spot for the existence of divine magic."
"Would it be so bad if we were able to reconnect the Jades to the Earth Mother?" Her tone is carefully neutral.
"No, it wouldn't, but that's not the only possibility. Just because we have Her in mind doesn't mean She's the only one that might answer if we go around knocking on doors."
"Ah. I see what you mean."
"We'll keep the possibility in mind, but we'll start from the start. We'll commission some menhirs of various materials and start planting them, if we can recreate the tributaries with just a theodolite then we should. Failing that, we'll try enchanting techniques to make it work, and then try to operate within the paradigm of Gods we know the current mailing address of. This seems like it could fit neatly within the paradigms of both Halétha and the Ancient Widow."
"Yes, Lady Magister."
"Meanwhile, I'll try to find a hard answer for you about those two potentially dodgy steles."
---
Spoken Eltharin, as you're very aware, is a beast of a language. Every word has multiple meanings, sometimes to the extent of being their own antonyms. It has sixteen different vowels, four of which are only ever used in proper nouns. To speak it is to constantly battle against ambiguity, which is part of why it's part of the basic syllabus for the Grey Order.
Written Eltharin is even worse. Any given rune can be used to represent a specific idea, or to modify another rune, or as part of a phonetic rebus, and individual runes can be combined in various ways to give rise to new meanings. These are often deeply rooted in culture which inevitably shifts over time, meaning that to fully understand a given piece of writing you need to understand the time period of the author.
Both are said to be greatly devolved and simplified from the arcane language of Anoqeyån, said to be the original language of the Elves and based on the language of the Old Ones. So you're feeling some trepidation at the idea of using Anoqeyån to try to translate severely damaged carvings with an unknown level of relation to that language. But the alternative would be trying to come up with a ritual completely from scratch, which is a lengthy and often dangerous process at the best of times. So you unleash Cadaeth on the Library of Mournings, and it's not long afterwards that books, scrolls, and tablets on both Anoqeyån and the Old One Tongue begin to emerge. That they do so in a trickle indicates that they're still carefully vetting what they give you, but it's an improvement over their previous complete stonewalling of you over any topic they considered magical.
[Mathilde's study: Learning, 12+29+10(Polyglot)+10(Windherder)=61.]
[Tochter's study: Learning, 74+18+10(Druid)+10(Ritualist)=112.]
The project proves to be as gruelling as you feared, and your own agonizing and plodding research is quickly outstripped by Tochter filling page after page with notes. Unfortunately, having the Druid judge whether the Druids can have access to the questionable Druidic stele is not in keeping with the institutional paranoia of the Grey Order, so this doesn't mean you can drop the matter in her much more skilled hands and leave her to it, so you continue determinedly on. It doesn't take long for her to have broken the consecration ritual into what she believes to be discrete and translatable steps, and after receiving your praise for doing so she takes the first drafts to Cadaeth, Aksel, Zlata, and Niedzwenka for the five of them to see whether they can translate it into their individual paradigms. And you, meanwhile, continue at a cracking pace of two to three pictograms a day.
---
It grates at you that you have to hear about progress with the rituals in dribs and drabs as Tochter reports back to you instead of being involved with the whole process, but vetting the steles is the price you paid for the leap forward that they represent, and you're not overburdened with free time to do both. So you suppress your desire to breathe down necks and let information trickle back to you as you make your gradual progress with understanding the steles.
Tochter, to her very visible frustration, has had little progress adapting - or, in her words, updating - the ritual to something in the Jade Order's wheelhouse, and Zlata's work has been equally fruitless. But Cadaeth has what she feels is a very solid ritual for encouraging the forest itself to anchor a tributary stone, Aksel has very straightforwardly swapped out the Earth Mother for Halétha and is ready to give it a try, and Niedzwenka thinks she knows just the spirit to make power start flowing. That's certainly promising, but if there's anything you learned about rituals during your lessons at the Colleges, it's that you can never be entirely sure how well you've done at crafting one until you actually do it. And considering the potential repercussions a botched ritual can lead to, you'll have to carefully consider whether to go for a blunderbuss approach and approve all of them, or try to decide which of them is the most promising.
[New action unlocked: attempt to create a tributary (select one or multiple: Dreaming Wood tributary, Haléthan tributary, Bereginya tributary)]
"This one," you say to Tochter as you indicate the stone, "was an enormous pain. It turns out it's not describing a specific ritual, it's warning against a general type of ritual. If I'm right in that the left half of this rune here is a precursor to 'Urithair', and this one is to 'Tyloir' - which I'm not sure about, as the main meaning of 'Tyloir' indicates that its meaning has shifted in Elven tongues - then I suspect it's the result of some sort of schism or corruption of a branch of the Belthani faith, where sacrifices were made to empower or enrich individuals instead of for the good of the whole. Whatever the full story, it's my judgement that it's benign."
"I'm glad to hear it, Lady Magister. Though it's a bit sad to hear that even back then they had those sorts of problems."
"There's black sheep in every flock. Now this one," you say with a wave to the second one, "was challenging for separate reasons. A lot of the runes it used are defined only very vaguely by the books and scrolls, when they're defined at all. If you compare the depictions on the two sets of carvings, can you spot the differences?"
Tochter looks from one to the other. "The subject on the warning one has their arms up as though bound, while the other doesn't." She peer closer. "They're also closer to the edge of the altar, instead of central to it."
"Correct. I presume so they'd be properly accessible to a second participant in the ritual, who would be wielding something quite different to an athame."
Tochter looks closer, and a touch of pink comes to her cheeks. "Oh."
"Mm. I would guess the mix-up is because the runes for procreation have a lot of overlap with those for summoning, which raises the kind of metaphysical and philosophical questions I don't have time to pursue. I don't know whether the act to be performed is the target of the ritual or just a component of it, but while it might be best not to broadcast the details of it too loudly, I don't see a problem with releasing it to the custody of the Order of Life when we do the others."
She nods, a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you, Lady Magister."
---
To the gathered crowd of Hatalath, Thorek, Sarvoi, Elrisse, and Zlata, you begin discussing the third facet of the current investigation into the leylines. "At its broadest," you say, "the term 'leyline' has been applied freely to any underground passage of energy. For the purposes of this study, by 'leyline' I refer to the flow of energy between Waystones and Nexuses of the Waystone Network. This brings me to my first question: how does this work in the first place? By all accounts, stone is... not especially conducive to magic. And yet I know for sure that the energy flows beneath the bedrock, as I've seen it flowing with my own Magesight."
"That would be an advantage for something like this," Hatalath says. "Channelling it through the air would be easier, but it would also be disrupted the first time a bird flew through it, let alone what a storm of magic would do. Planting the leylines in stone frontloads your difficulties - it's a huge challenge to set up, but once it's set up it'll last."
"Magic may not flow through stone particularly quickly, but it does so reliably," Thorek says in agreement. "It doesn't change its speed based on the time of day or phase of the moon or because of the emotions of passers-by."
"I'll grant you that, but that answers the 'why', not the 'how'. If you just pumped magic deep underground it'd radiate out in every direction, it wouldn't conveniently flow to wherever you directed it."
"Momentum?" Elrisse hazards. "A constantly-maintained effect that makes the leylines the most conducive path?"
"Or a permanent change," Sarvoi says, "either comparable to an enchantment, or an actual physical channel running between the Waystones."
"Whatever it is, either it's inherently reversible or bidirectional, or the Ice Witches are already capable of recreating them, considering that magic currently flows from Kislev City to Praag."
All heads to Zlata, who closes her eyes as she carefully considers her answer. "What I know of how that came about indicates that they are either bidirectional or impermanent," she eventually says.
You nod as you digest that. "That seems like it would be testable," you say. "Find a suitable chain of three Waystones connected to a nexus, deactivate all three, and reactivate the two furthest from the nexus. If energy begins to flow again, we can conclude that the effect is permanent. If it does not, then it must require a connection to the rest of the network, and either draws power from it or relies on the attractive force of the Great Vortex. If it's permanent, we get a shovel and a pickaxe and go see exactly what it is."
"Is it necessary?" Elrisse asks abruptly. "It strikes me that this may be chasing perfection at the expense of sufficiency. How much of a river do we need to understand to be able to upend a bucket into it?" For a moment it strikes you as strange that this would be coming from a Light Wizard, but it occurs to you that they must be as trained to guard against perfectionism as a Grey Wizard is against an excess of paranoia.
"Are there places where the Waystone network has been completely eliminated?" Sarvoi asks.
One possibility occurs immediately. "Sylvania, I suspect," you say. "The Von Carsteins and their pretenders knew to target Waystones, and the nexus for most of them would have been Mordheim."
"The Badlands," Thorek says shortly.
"Mousillon, perhaps," Elrisse says.
"So there would definitely be opportunities lost if we can't extend the reach of the Waystone network," you conclude, "but being able to strengthen it only where it still exists would still have significant value. What possibilities do we have for these 'buckets', then?"
"Point-to-point line-of-sight transmission of magical energy is a well-trod path," Sarvoi points out.
"If you don't mind the wind taking half of it on a good day," Hatalath counters.
"It all would have been in the wind anyway," Sarvoi says. "Efficiency isn't so important as long as they're funnelled directly into a Waystone, our pseudo-Waystones could just suck it all back up and try again."
"Some form of aqueduct for magic," Thorek suggests. "Needn't even be that large. Rope or wire, perhaps."
"I suspect unattended rope or wire would have a habit of disappearing entirely overnight," you reply.
Thorek frowns. "In areas where Grobi and the like lurk, aye, but what of more civilized areas?"
"When rope is a denga a yard?" Zlata says. "It might be safer with the Grobi."
"Would manlings really dismantle the Waystone network for free string?" Thorek asks, disbelieving.
"Yes," is the instant response from everyone else.
As Thorek splutters in outrage, Elrisse pipes up. "Even before its current form, magic flowed down the Great Vitae River. The Empire is built on rivers and they're already flowing in the direction we want it to go."
"Ooh, yes, and-" Sarvoi begins, only to fall silent at a glance from Hatalath.
You sigh. "You do remember that the path from the Ward of Rain, which we've all been using to come and go from the Empire, goes right past the Rainbow Falls, right?"
Hatalath considers that. "While that is true that its general existence can be deduced, the source of-"
"Portal at the bottom of the Tarn of Tears," you interrupt. "Have I made my point, or do we need to talk about tunnels and Smith-Priests too?" Hatalath seems to be quite perplexed at that, and falls into silence. "Okay, we can try to figure out the leylines, or we can try to make our own through air, string, or rivers. What do we think is the most promising approach?"
[ ] Leylines
Investigate and seek to recreate the existing leylines of the Waystone network. Unknown difficulty, potentially extreme.
[ ] Air
Begin working on a way to transmit magic from point to point through the air. Relatively simple, but results may be unsatisfactory.
[ ] Material
Begin working on a way to transmit magic through string or wires. Magically trivial, the challenge is finding a way of doing so that will not result in every nearby peasant making new tunics or cotton cards out of them.
[ ] River
Seek to understand and replicate how Nehekhara and Laurelorn transmit magic through rivers. Likely to be difficult, but could work very well for the Empire.
---
You've decided to make a return to Castle Drakenhof, where under the ruins produced by the finest of modern artillery presumably lies untold generations of tunnels, tombs, catacombs, crypts, secret chambers, and, you hope, libraries. Not only are legends of the place thick with mentions of them, you know for a fact that it is possible for forces to have moved from the castle to a network of tunnels underneath the surrounding wilderness. But if you desire results, you're going to have to do more than go there with a shovel and a hopeful attitude. While your reputation and some of Belegar's gold will be enough to get you sufficient amounts of Dwarven miners who won't ask inconvenient questions, Sylvania remains Sylvania, and you're going to need forces to stomp down anything that might still be stirring and to keep watch against the ambient nastiness of the area. Zhufbar could likely be convinced to send a Throng to put a few more nails in the coffin of the Von Carsteins, or the Army of Stirland is already in the area and you'd likely be able to borrow a cohort or so. There's still Battle Wizards in Sylvania if you prefer quality over quantity, and the Knights of Morr are, of course, very well versed in holding off undead forces.
But while there are all of those easy and straightforward options, it occurs to you that all of them might hold some strong opinions on the materials you might be unearthing, and may not be as open minded as you are about the diamonds that can be found in the very rough. And it's not really an idea that would be very easily communicable to most, is it? "I read the Liber Mortis and found it enlightening and not at all hazardous to one's soul!" is a conversational gambit that you don't have high hopes for. If you want to have full freedom to winnow through the books you might find, you might need to get creative about where you find the necessary forces.
There's also the question of who else you might bring along on this adventure. The Celestial Order, though they usually prefer to make airy predictions that only make sense six months later and if you give them the benefit of the doubt, are actually quite capable of answering questions like 'what is the exact direction of the nearest book'. The Amethysts, judging by their showing last time they were in this neck of the wood, have some idea of where to find interesting buried secrets, and might be a bit more willing to share that information after they've replaced their Magister Patriarch and you've been promoted twice. There's a number of organizations that might be willing to help out in exchange for payment or access to some of the revealed information, such as the many varieties of Vampire Hunters or the Cult of Verena.
And more personally, there are a number of trusted compatriots you've worked with that would be willing to go on another adventure with you, if you think they can be trusted to not ask too many awkward questions. There's Johann and Max, of course, as well as Egrimm and Adela. There's Kasmir, who's currently active in the area and is a lot more flexible than he used to be. Heidi is unlikely to be willing to join in in person, but she might have some useful insight - she was a Countess here for quite a while, after all - and might also be able to refer you to trustworthy coreligionists who might be able to help. You might be able to convince Cython to join in if you spin it enough tales about the legendary libraries of the Von Carsteins, though that's likely to result in it laying claim to a portion of the proceeds, and the sort of books most likely to be intriguing are the sort that it's hard to find a scribe trustworthy enough to make a copy of. And... well, you could go on for quite some time. Over your career you've worked with all sorts of skilled individuals.
- There will be a twelve hour moratorium.
- Part of this update was originally posted here.
- The vote for the leyline investigation is separate to the vote for a plan for excavating Castle Drakenhof. The chosen leyline option will take place this turn, the others can be pursued in the future.
- This plan is more freeform than usual, but Mathilde has enough clout and contacts that in this case it's not really practical for me to curate all the possibilities down to a finite list without cutting out a lot of interesting and creative options. If you have questions about a possible approach, let me know.
- Example vote:
[*] Plan No Flaws Whatsoever
Garrison: Hire the Cursed Company
Institutions: Hire a Skink Oracle, bring in the Cult of Alluminas
Individuals: Fozzrik, Eshin-Friend, Templar Diederick Kastner
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- Location
- A Pit Of My Own Making
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ah, humans. If they saw a button marked "DO NOT PRESS" they'd press it to see what happened. Bless 'em
It's not even that, is more like "if the button is made out of gold they will pry it out of the housing and sell it."
- Location
- Leeds
Brings a whole new meaning to sacrificing a virgin.
Thorek really thought the best of us there
