- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
The only problem with this line of thinking is that Mathilde is not a priest and likely never will be.
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.
DarkLight140
Credit to Team
- Location
- Lost in my thoughts
This is somewhat misleading. Apprentices-In-Perpetuity are not necessarily non-daring. If you are unfortunate enough to be born with magic, but not enough of it to ever raise your Magic score past 1 (and remember that more than half of all people born with magic fall into this category), then that is the highest magical rank you can achieve in the Colleges. You'll never be able to become a Journeyman not because of personality or lack of skill, but because you'll never be able to cast even something as simple as Skywalk or Aethyric Armor without a miscast chance.
Of particular note is that the Grey College in general is more likely to let their apprentices out of the College facilities than most if they accompany their master on investigation/diplomacy tasks around the Empire, and experienced and trusted perpetuals are likewise more likely to be allowed out of the College to do things like run spy networks (though their master is always legally responsible for their actions and use of magic, just as with any other apprentice or journeyman). Which they do sometimes, because they are not actually all unadventurous types and they have been indoctrinated with the Grey College mindset just as much as any Journeyman or Magister has, they just have less personal power to exert in pursuit of its cause.
Last edited:
- Location
- Aotearoa
Not a WHFRP Priest Career with access to the Divine Lore of Ranald, no.
But a lowercase, non-miraculous priest? Arguably we passed that threshold last night.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
By the standards you laid out, I don't think there are any priests of Ranald. He doesn't have any kind of formal priesthood, no hierarchy or conclaves. Those who are his priests are thieves and conmen, tricksters and gamblers.
Ranald's probably the single most decentralized and least formal cult in the Empire.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
'Hey Mathilde, do you want a job doing this thing? You seem pretty good at it.'
'No thank you, I was just trying to help out. I feel that my skills would be of more use to the Empire elsewhere.'
'Oh, okay. Have a nice day.'
No misunderstandings needed.
You say this, but I disagree, based on the argument that this is Warhammer, and that word means something different. Mathilde has a close relationship with her god, and regularly manifests miracles. They're so close that even if she couldn't do magic at all she'd still be able to use Ranald's power in a roughly similar way, assuming their relationship was the same.
In Warhammer, that makes you a priest. The only thing that makes you more of a priest is doing all that and also using your god's lore, which we only don't do because multiclassing in Warhammer isn't very good for you.
Aegon Targaryen
Dragonking of Fuyuki
- Location
- Romania
How expensive would a copy of Ghal Maraz be?
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
There is no threshold to cross. We have not decided to pursue the path of priesthood. We have not undertaken the tasks and tests that fellow priests lay out for priest hopefuls. We are not a priest. Until we decide to walk that path no matter how pious or how many visions we get we will never be a priest.
No can call themselves a priest. There are steps that need to be taken and Mathilde has not taken those steps. What are the steps to being a priest to Ranald? I don't know but until other priests confirm all the tests and requirements have been passed Mathilde will not be a priest.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
It was created by an ancestor god, and blessed by Ulric.
So, we'd at least need to wrestle Gorkamorka a few times and come out on top.
(We would die just trying to pick the fight, much less getting into it; I am implying that it is likely impossible to even attempt this course of action).
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
Not necessarily, but there might be for a bit. Or some idiot who thinks he knows better than Mathilde about Mathilde. It's unlikely, I grant, but keeping possibilities in mind is always good.
I have several objections to this idea.
- Location
- Berkeley
You know, I could see Mathilde putting the various romance book-swap networks that she's been a part of in contact with each other and forming an Empire-spanning multi-species secret organization beyond the dreams of all but the most paranoid of spy hunters.
Of course, said network doesn't actually do anything objectionable. But god help you if you cross one of their members, for even if your mother, sister, and grandmother aren't part of it, your friend's are.
Of course, said network doesn't actually do anything objectionable. But god help you if you cross one of their members, for even if your mother, sister, and grandmother aren't part of it, your friend's are.
- Location
- Canada
Mathilde is much more than a priest of Ranald at this point, anyway. She just cut him in on a share of the WAAAGH!
She's not a priest, she's an Accomplice.
You are imposing a very narrow standard based on the real world that just doesn't apply (not even in the real world). Saying that other priests control who gets to be a priest is just wrong. If a god says you are a priest, then you are. The judgement of other priests is just a way to approximate that in the absence of that word.
And not all priests tend to flocks. A sigmar battlepriest has the mission of smashing evil. The same goes for the religious knightly orders. And lets not even get into the priests of evil gods.
- Location
- Brazil
Yeah, don't compete against them, co-opt them.
There can simply be academic types, too.
Enchanting doesn't necessarily need much power, Mathilde's literal first act of magic was enchanting.
We are technically not allowed to have money. The Grey College's coin is favours, that's been established for a while.
Dropping a bunch of enchanted staves at the college is, plain and obviously, getting some credit with it.
I'm not sure it might be feasible without a lot more effort, tho, because Boney doesn't like "farming" favors on the background like that.
Mathilde is a Magister, she is essentially a Senior Wizard. "They might force her to sit in a room turning staves because she made some once" is absurd.
Last edited:
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
I've actually read the book. The answer is, summarizing off the top of my head, 'first a priest notices another guy who looks like he'd make a good priest. Then, he hires him for a thiefy job without telling him about the priest thing, and spends a while making sure he's trustworthy and stuff. Then, the thiefy job usually turns out to be an entirely different situation, and he has to think on his feet. If he survives, he gets a victory party, and only then finds out he's been ordained'.
Edit for posterity: the potential priest is informed before the final job, so they do give consent.
So we've been around Ranald since we've been an apprentice, and he knows we're good. We have other priest friends (well, just one now) who we're also around, and they thought we were great. We've been through a few jobs with Ranald, which puts us an order of magnitude over the average priest, and the latest one was a sneak mission that turned out to secretly be a literally mythical heist of pure divine power. Then, we went on to lead about six thousand men in knowing and willing worship of Ranald.
Last edited:
Quest
The Great One
- Location
- Everywhere
This isn't about Mathilde owing Ranald cash. But if the Inn/Tavern/Casino will have some religious aspects dedicated towards Ranald, then it's better to have his tenant of one in ten coins being his built in.
- Location
- Aotearoa
In the context of Ranald's completely decentralised cult, I reject this characterisation completely. For say, Sigmar (that ass)- absolutely.
For Ranald- who's to say that the trials and comedies Mathilde has undergone aren't exactly what is required of any faithful aspirant to the priesthood?
Who anointed Heideck and Wolf? Or did they just decide "We're getting old, Wolf." "Yep, that's enough banditry, lets retire to Wurtbad, play cards, and minister to a flock of loosly organised thieves."
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
The first line in the Warhammer fantasy wiki on priests is this.
Priests are ordained men and women who administer to the needs of the faithful throughout the old world.
One can not ordain themselves. Until other priests ordain us or Ranald explicitly states we are a priest Mathilde will not be a priest.
There is also the fact that Mathilde doesn't really administer to the needs of Randal's faithful as her job. It's not her primary concern. So right now you are free think what you want but I will really stand strong on the fact that Mathilde is not a priest.
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Yet we have to be ordained as you have stated. Ordination is not some event that can happen without you knowing about. Everything else we have done is meaningless without that ordination. Until ordination happens Mathilde can not be a priest. It is as simple as that.
- Location
- Brazil
She is a priest of Ranald, not a Christian one.
You are right that, by those standards, she will never measure up. So wouldn't Wolf.
Good thing then, that those aren't the standards she is being measured by.
Last edited:
- Location
- Canada (eh)
Didn't they sign that in front of some longbeards as well? Also, aren't the administrative papers under the care of Edda and her longbeard cousins?
DarkLight140
Credit to Team
- Location
- Lost in my thoughts
While there's something to what you're saying here the meaning of "tend to the needs of their flock" can get really variable in Warhammer. Consider that all the Knights of Morr- all of them- are considered priests. They can't even talk due to their vow of silence, and the "needs of their flock" that they tend to consist largely of smiting the undead and keeping graveyards from being defiled. Likewise the Grandmaster of the knightly order of Ulricans here is considered a priest of Ulric but he's a knight commander and spends his time and energy on battle, not on attending to Ulrican religious ceremonies- he just does that on the side.
This kind of "priest but spends their life on their job, not on their religion" situation is commonplace and Mathilde fits into it really well. The clergy of Ranald is informal and highly variable. While you're right about the recognition of one's peers (or god directly, in the absence of peers, but Ranald hasn't expressed his opinion on this) is needed for someone to legitimately be a priest, that is as a practical matter the only thing that Mathilde needs before qualifying as one of Ranald's. I don't think it's particularly likely that she'll pursue the course, but it would take 1-2 action slots of talking to his cult members that she knows to learn a few formalities and get rubber-stamped, and she'd get the title.
Last edited:
- Location
- Brazil
Closer to a Ranaldian Saint than a mere priest, then.She's not a priest, she's an Accomplice.
- Location
- Aotearoa
I mean, we've got a lot of recognition from Ranald over the years.
He's amongst other things directly intervened (OK, via cats) to save our life. More than once (the +20 bonus on Shyishkebabs and the mirror box construction).
He's amongst other things directly intervened (OK, via cats) to save our life. More than once (the +20 bonus on Shyishkebabs and the mirror box construction).
Last edited:
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
Eye of the beholder was mentioned, and we know they like warpstone a whole lot. Try and paint a stone on the edge of a large group with magic to pull them over, then let the spell lapse and start on another rock at the edge of the new group location before they can disperse or wander back? Kinda kite them like this while under take no heed and/or invisibility.
Rules are that each weapon can have no more than 1 master rune, and 3 runes max (including a master rune). What runes should we get for our greatsword, and what runes for our pistol?
I'm thinking at least one Rune of Dismay on our greatsword to make us even more terrifying.
I love the idea of the following:
Master rune of flight. Rune of cleaving. Rune of striking. Synergize with teleportation battlemagic and dread aspect.
So picture a battlefield:
Orcs pressing the shield wall of armoured men, dragging them out of formation. Suddenly, a burst of smoke puffs up and shadow tentacles lash out, ripping limbs off while a greatsword decapitates the closest orc. Without stopping the arc of the full swing, the newly materialized Mathilde flings it at a nearby champion.
Puff! She dematerializes before the sword has made a rotation in flight.
Puff! She appears with a revolver in hand, three quick shots snapping out.
Puff! The sword completes it's second rotation, sheering halfway through a torso before wrenching itself out and back the way it came.
Puff! Mathilde reappears and the sword flies to meet her, pasting an unfortunate goblin on the way. She grabs the hilt and with a final puff of smoke, disappears. Swapping stories later, the rescued unit hears that the wizard had been active all up and down the front, breaking enemy advances with a flying sword and a writhing shadow, never more than a moment in any place. Sometimes mounted on a shadowy horse, sometimes shooting her revolver, sometimes throwing magic with both hands while the sword flew on a deadly errand.
Oh! Also had a thought about using snake juice as ink? Drawing a circle of it should be a pretty benign test to see how it adds or bends power from known symbols. Being able to lay out one use, self-powered runes (human runecraft is a class at the college, right?) with a quill and bottle would be pretty awesome.
Last edited: