Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Voikirium
SV's Estalia Guy
- Location
- Ruritania Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Gods are Weird
More seriously I think it's yet another sign to take the gods as a vortex as, like, the baseline, but not necessarily the only things that can be called gods, which is good since understanding would be the death of wonder and mystery there? If we are limiting ourselves to the emotional vortex type then I imagine it physically incarnated similar to Valten, then got riggidy riggidy rekt son.
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- Location
- A Pit Of My Own Making
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My first thought was "No, Gods leaving remains is pretty standard," and then I realised how... daft that is.
Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Just this update, Mathilde mentioned that some of the Gods that the Empire worship would be considered simply powerful spirits in Kislev. It's possible to bind the body of a spirit in an object, Arabyans already did that and Niedzwenka has demonstrated it. I can see a situation in which Elspeth managed to trap a minor god into an object and it "died".
You know, kind of like how we trapped a snake in a box and now it endlessly bleeds, and we're using its blood to create magical artifacts that could revolutionise the Colleges.
Chlof
Her Ladyship
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ive never actually seen the 'remains of a dead god' thing referred to as anything but a rumour in canon sources, so I'm going to go with that specific aspect of it being bullshit.
Eike Quest: Divided Loyalties 2 - Character Creation
Eike Quest – Divided Loyalties 2 Omake - Preparing to set forth (Character creation)
Your name is Eike Hochschild, (former) Apprentice of Lady Magister Mathilde Weber, and today is your graduation day. Today you are no longer an Apprentice, but a Journeywoman. Ahead of you lies a life of potential.
Today you leave behind a Master, proud and fretful. Leave behind a life flitting between the Eight Peaks and the Woods of the Eonir, and set out into the world, ready to make your mark.
You have lived a life that many might describe as charmed. Daughter of a professional mistress, taken in by your Grandmother and made heir to a trade Empire at eight. At 12, discovered to have talent for Magic when visiting Lady Magister Weber, your Grandmother's business Partner and your eventual Master. It is a life many would envy, and its gifts have left their mark on you.
Shinies:
You have 5 Shinies to spend in character creation. Choose from the traits below, or save them for the next vote section which determines Eike's first destination. Unless otherwise noted traits cost one shiny. Please bear in mind that as a character from Divided Loyalties Eike has a number of existing character traits.
Background related traits:
[] A Grey(t) sword – Dae Weber is famously sklled with her runed Greatsword Branalhune. You are not her equal but you have taken inspiration. Begin with Greatsword (skilled). +1 Martial, easier to advance Sword skills. You start with a (minorly) enchanted sword as a gift from your Master. [3 Shinies]
[] Windseer. Your Master is famed for many things, but amongst these is the strength of her windsight. You are not yet her equal, but your aptitude for reading the winds was the first indicator of your potential, and you have honed it vigorously. +2 Learning. [4 Shinies]
[] Dawongr – Your Master has virtually transcended the term Dwarf Friend, and some of that regard has been passed on to you. You will find a warm welcome in most dwarf holds. +1 Diplomacy.
[] Grandaughter of a Merchant Queen. +2 Stewardship, able to use EIC outposts to access the rumor mill anywhere. Before you discovered your aptitude for the winds, your Grandmother trained you to be the heir to a merchant empire, and given your Master is the co-owner, you have had plenty of opportunity to keep your hand in. [2 Shinies]
[] Novice Wind-Herder. Your Master has developed an intuitive grasp of how Winds interact, when they'll interfere with each other, and when they'll mix and curdle into Dhar. By watching her practice enchanting and her work with other magic users, you have begun to earn a very basic grasp on the same. Makes basic multi-Wind Enchantment and Spellcasting possible, as long as other Wizards provide the other Winds. Requires access to a high quality lab, this is not something you can do in the field. [4 Shinies, requires Enchanter also be picked]
Mystical traits:
[ ] Apothecary: You have the equipment and the training to brew potions and identify useful ingredients, though you will have to experiment or research to find what you can do with local sources.
[ ] Power Mist: Perhaps you met with Adela too often. Perhaps seeing Mathilde's Orbs of Sorcery inspired you too much. Either way, demonstrating a shocking amount of hubris, tried to construct a Power Stone. Though you didn't even get close and knocked yourself out for weeks, you did replicate Adela's feat using Ulgu. Grabbing and wrestling a strand of Ulgu back on itself until a mist formed. Perhaps you can use this to bolster your abilities like Adela uses her own. And you do remember the rest of the steps to make a power stone, if you're ever arrogant enough to try the whole process again.
[ ] Ritualist: You know the basics of ritual magic, and if given a few months to a year to research, may be able to figure out how to enact large-scale changes to a significant area. Whether those changes are the ones you originally envisioned is entirely up to the whims of the circuitous and contradictory logic of ritual magic.
[] Enchanter: You have a talent for taming the winds of Ulgu and trapping them within objects. You can create very minor magical trinkets, and have a bonus to learning the more advanced forms of enchantment.
[] Tool Free Enchanter (Requires Enchanter): Ever fearful of the return of the baneful curse of Wizard Chic, Mathilde taught you the series of cantrips and small spells that can be used to replace the typical lab equipment of an enchanter. – Does not allow for use of windherding without a lab if both traits are picked. The trait(s) would require further development to allow this.
Physical traits:
[X] Existing traits Locked:
[X] Fitness.
[X] Skill - Pistols
Mental traits:
[ ] Animal Kinship: You have a gift for getting along with and training animals. Regular animals, that is; it'd take a lot of work and luck to apply the knack to, say, hippogryphs. You do know how to give wolf really good headrubs though! +1 Diplomacy
[ ] Brave: You can withstand terrors that make others flee. +1 martial
[ ] Eidetic Memory: Unless severely distracted, you are able to memorize anything at a glance and recall it in perfect detail later. Unfortunately this means you can remember every line of Mathilde's depressingly large collection of romance novels. +1 Stewardship. Narrative effects.
[ ] Loyal: You're no less beholden to what drives you, but you've convinced yourself it's not actually a division of loyalties, and if forced, you can explain why with the ring of belief. Perhaps a more accurate name would be 'self-deception'. At least it's a good mindset for Ulgu. +1 Piety
[ ] Organized: Through habit or obsession, you keep everything neat, tidy, and in its place. The Librarian Spiders love you. +1 Stewardship
[ ] Polyglot: You easily pick up new languages. Handy when you spend so much time around different cultures. +1 Diplomacy
[ ] Quick: You're naturally brighter than the average person. +1 to all stats, though no more nebulous advantages like the other mental traits
[ ] Supernumerate: You can crunch numbers with ease, making bookkeeping and trigonometry a snap. Grandmother would be envious. +1 Stewardship
[ ] Superstitious: You know a hundred different superstitions for averting bad luck and keeping the evil eye off you. Maybe some of them work. +1 Piety.
Connection traits:
[] Priesthood: You have always felt a connection to Shallya, and you know her rites and prayers well. The temples of Shaallya are places of ease to you, and her Priests will be more favourable to your presence from you ability to display obvious piety.
[] College: You made friends and allies back in Altdorf during your apprenticeship, and they may be able to help with research and resources. Though the roads to Altdorf may be long and treacherous, depending where you go. Or perhaps you may find old classmates also making their journeys across the lands.
[] Merchants. You were not allowed outside the colleges during your early apprenticeship, but your grandmother helped set you up as the centre of a network of penpals from merchant's children across the Empire. Your name may therefore carry a certain weight amongst those children grown or their parents.
[] Knights: You have worked closely with the Undumgi, the Winter Wolves of Ulrikadrin, and various other Martial Knights. You have an affinity for Knights, and perhaps a few letters of introduction.
FLAWS
Of course, no-one is perfect, and for all other might envy you or claim you to have led a "charmed life", it was hardly without some trials. Perhaps that has left its own scars on you?
You may choose to take on additional Flaws to generate more Shinies.
[] Sneerful of Sigmar. The priesthood of the Man god of the Empire has a famously poor relationship with wizards. Your Master has an even worse opinion of Sigmar than most, and despite her best efforts, she has passed this along to you. Sadly you are less adept at hiding this than she. -1 Diplomacy. Penalty to interactions with Sigmarites. Other minor narrative effects. +1 Shiny
[] Very Divided Loyalties: Pick a second Ambition. [+3 Shinies.]
[] Pacifist. As you have aged you have come closer to your favoured god. You do not simply favour Shallya, but are strict in your observance of her commandments. You will not wield violence except in self defence or against the Servants of Nurgle. A hard stance for a Wizard of the Grey order to live by. Note – You may still use grey magic in non-violent ways for infiltration and such. For example, Eike would not consider using mindhole to cause guards to forget they have seen her as being violent. She would also consider fighting in an army against invading Beastmen self-defence. [+2 Shinies.]
[] Heart on your sleeve. The Grey College teaches its members to hide their emotions, to keep a straight face and an unflappable demeanor no matter if they are angry, sad, confused, scared, or anything in between. You have always struggled with this, feeling strongly and allowing your emotions to show freely. [+1 Shiny] Though seen as a weakness for a grey wizard, this might someday be considered its own kind of strength.
[ ] The Sins of the
[ ] Ranald's Debt: You can go up to three shinies in debt, but each will turn a failure into a critical glitch at a time most amusing to the Trickster God.
AGENDA
But it is a terrible thing too to be apprenticed to one of the greats. Could any apprentice of Kragg the Grimm live up to his legacy unless they were Thungi reborn? Could any apprentice of a Lady Magister hope to settle for merely being acceptable?
No. You have an ambition, a force that drives you. Something that has consumed you, and divides your loyalties even at the very beginning of your career. What are the ties that bind your story?
CHOOSE ONE:
[] Redemptionist
When your Master took you up as a formal apprentice, the first thing she revealed to you was the redemption of the unredeemable. A skaven, turned to good. You believe that all are capable of redemption. Even those that your Oaths to the Grey Order may declare utterly unredeemable.
And perhaps, there is a more personal reason for your beliefs…
[] Forbidden Knowledge.
Your Master desires to own the greatest library in the known world, and has made great strides in achieving this. One day you delved too far and too deep into those great stacks, guarded by Enormous Spiders and terrible traps. There you found a book, and read all unknowing knowledge that the Empire would deem the territory only of Black Magisters. Knowledge that you now know can be used for good. Perhaps some knowledge is black or white, but most of it truly exists in shades of Grey.
But you wondered, how did such a forbidden tome end up in your Masters Library, escaping the knowledge of its guardians….
[] Creature Comforts
Child of a professional Mistress. Heir to a trade Empire. Apprentice to a Lady Magister. Perhaps it was inevitable you would grow used to the finer things in life, and as both the EIC's heir and Mathilde's apprentice, you have seen the sheer power of Gold to do good in the world.
The Oath of Poverty feels stifling on the road, and you crave the comforts and charms, and power of gold and of the high life.
But for a wizard of the Grey, the lines are cobweb thin, and eyes on all sides watch you closely, seeking a way to your Master…
[] Stranger in a Native Land.
All wizards are alienated from regular folk, but Lady Weber dwells farther from the Empire than most. Your closest companions for years have been Dawi, Elves, and Wizards from across the known world. You care for the Empire of the Elves, for the Holds of the Dwarves, and for the Spirits of the Land far more than you care for Sigmar's Empire, in spite of your oaths.
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AN:
So this kind of got out of hand. My original idea for this was an update of the "Mathilde becomes a vampire or vampire adjacent creature" plot from my Omake here, except we were playing as Eike discovering this. Then I thought backwards to how it might get to that point and came to this. Each of the Agenda's would lead into a different initial plotline (which can mesh). Of which one would be the original idea that resulted in this whole omake.
Many of the traits are adaptations or tweaks of options originally provided by @Boney in Mathilde's character creation, though I have endeavoured to at least provide some flavour for most of them to fit Eike's circumstances,
[] Redemptionist leads to the discovery that Mathilde has become some form of Magical creature akin to a vampire, that is sustaining herself on AV. Eike must then choose between her oaths to the Empire and her love of her Master and personal beliefs.
[] Forbidden Knowledge leads to the eventual revelation of Mathilde's secret forbidden studies. The question of where the line is drawn, and potential for an attempted Chaos Corruption plotline.
[] Creature Comforts is a more straightforward story of Eike trying to do good while also wanting some of the creature comforts Mathilde has discovered, but Eike has less convenient fish jumping onto the boat, and as heir to both Mathilde and the EIC, faces much more scrutiny than early Mathilde.
[] Stranger in a native land would have a few potential early focuses. Firstly, (depending where Eike was employer) a much less free hand to use magic than she would expect. Empire wizards are in principle barred from casting magic unless it is directly in service to their employer or to defend the Empire. Growing up in Eight Peaks and Laurelorn, which have a much more permissive attitude to casting (thanks to respectively, Mathilde and general Eonir culture). Secondly, issues like the Dwarven war over the owed Penny or the Laurelorn border conflict, or even conflicts with native spirits (if Eike had much contact with our resident Hagwitch). Eike finding herself having far more sympathy and good feeling for these other cultures than the angry, suspicious and unwelcoming Peasants. A good angry mob scene might appear here, either going for Eike directly or a child displaying magic, much like young Mathilde did.
Frankly I'm most partial to [] Redemptionist, so if I continue it would probably follow that path.
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Codex
Fantasy Addict
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The description of the staff in the book uses "it is said that...", which may support your point of view, but it also says "Elspeth has spent most of her unnaturally long life studying its mysteries".
The more I think about it, the funnier the comparison between it and the AV box becomes.
Given up closely following this thread. But I have a question. Was Deathfang's story something from Warhammer Cannon or something invented for this quest? And did the Old Ones actually have a Plan for the Warhammer word or did they just have a regular plan? I'm wondering because I can imagine that the whole Slann moving the continents thing is because they found a survey map and decided it was all part of some grand design rather than something relatively mundane.
The description of the ancient world pre old ones is canon I believe, but I don't know about any of the rest like dragons being aliens.
- Location
- UK
I have summarised the potential findings re:warpstone.
Eshin:
Throwing star, still dripping venom. Warp Venom
Eshin Sorcerer crystal sword. Warp Glass
Eshin Sorcerer amulet, shattered. Warpstone broke the amulet
Moulder:
Electric whip, stolen from Clan Moulder. Mysterious external power source?
Vials, stolen from Clan Moulder. Flecks of warpstone in every single one
Skryre:
Firearms; jezzails, pistols, bullets, gunpowder. Warpstone powder leads to weapon designs incompatible with regular gunpowder
Warp Lightning Cannon (misfired, possibly broken) The clue is in the name
Lighting mechanism, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Adela)
Breathing apparatus, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Johann)
Brass orb, stolen from Clan Skryre. Highly dangerous; keep it sealed in the vault.
Throwing star, still dripping venom. Warp Venom
Eshin Sorcerer crystal sword. Warp Glass
Eshin Sorcerer amulet, shattered. Warpstone broke the amulet
Moulder:
Electric whip, stolen from Clan Moulder. Mysterious external power source?
Vials, stolen from Clan Moulder. Flecks of warpstone in every single one
Skryre:
Firearms; jezzails, pistols, bullets, gunpowder. Warpstone powder leads to weapon designs incompatible with regular gunpowder
Warp Lightning Cannon (misfired, possibly broken) The clue is in the name
Lighting mechanism, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Adela)
Breathing apparatus, stolen from Clan Skryre. (shared project with Johann)
Brass orb, stolen from Clan Skryre. Highly dangerous; keep it sealed in the vault.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
Mathilde also captured the contents of a Skryre engineer's library.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Humbaba
[] Plan Bad At Cards
-[] Dawongr -1 Shiny
-[] Grandaughter of a Merchant Queen -2 Shinies
-[] Animal Kinship -1 Shiny
-[] Brave -1 Shiny
-[] Polyglot -1 Shiny
-[] Superstitious -1 Shiny
-[] Priesthood -1 Shiny
-[] Heart on your sleeve. +1 Shiny
-[] Ranald's Debt x3 +3 Shinies
-[] Write-in: Gambling Habit +1 Shiny
-[] Stranger in a Native Land.
-[] 2 Shinies reserved for next part
This Eike is one who is great at making all kinds of friends! Only, all the friends she made were outside the Empire, and due to a bit of bad luck, that's exactly where she's headed. Also, she may have losta lot a few hands of cards during her apprenticeship... (The Mathilde-related traits are really expensive, so I went with a build that's more quirky than punchy.)
[] Plan Bad At Cards
-[] Dawongr -1 Shiny
-[] Grandaughter of a Merchant Queen -2 Shinies
-[] Animal Kinship -1 Shiny
-[] Brave -1 Shiny
-[] Polyglot -1 Shiny
-[] Superstitious -1 Shiny
-[] Priesthood -1 Shiny
-[] Heart on your sleeve. +1 Shiny
-[] Ranald's Debt x3 +3 Shinies
-[] Write-in: Gambling Habit +1 Shiny
-[] Stranger in a Native Land.
-[] 2 Shinies reserved for next part
This Eike is one who is great at making all kinds of friends! Only, all the friends she made were outside the Empire, and due to a bit of bad luck, that's exactly where she's headed. Also, she may have lost
Why would Mathilde using AV to keep herself immortal be a bad thing?
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
If that were something we had any idea of how to do, sure, I think most of us would be down. However, the fact that AV can do a lot of different desirable magical things does not mean it can do any desirable magical thing. It's not an arbitrary wish-granting fluid, it's a specific substance with specific properties that Boney worked out and which we have been slowly learning. We can't just say "let's use AV to do X" any more than IRL we could say "let's use radiation to do X."
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
I believe that was in response to Humbaba's omake above that had that as a premise.
Parabola
Divided Loyalties Librarian
- Location
- The Destination of Fate
- Pronouns
- She/Her
MAP was a Relatively Simple spell created with a nat 100, and then the result of codifying it was over 100 (non-natural), rendering it simple enough that it could be downgraded to Lesser Magic for more accessibility from others.
But Rite of Way is A) Battle Magic, which is not nearly so simple, and B) was made with Warrior of Fog, which depends very much on Mathilde's mentality and perception of Ulgu. I wager that "Use Ulgu to create smooth terrain for many people to move through" is not quite something that other Ulgu users would be able to come up with and help deconstruct into a better form.
That is why we're using The Gambler. That said, I was describing a rather pessimistic scenario which would not be typical of Boney.
AV can't be used to make herself immortal. Not sure why you have that impression.
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Wait, we have enemies? Specific enemies? I though we killed everyone who might be in a position to hold a grudge. And mostly keep their skulls around as paperweights.
…so? Vampires are enemies because they are a) cannibalistic arseholes b) tyrannical megalomaniacs and c) living Dhar generators.
If Mathilde is keeping herself alive by drinking AV but is not otherwise hostile or damaging then good for her. A bit expensive but a lord magister of her power is worth a lot of upkeep.
Seriously though, awesome Omake.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
Well, there's the varied forces of Chaos. Particularly Slaanesh.
Drycha as well.
Well one way I can think of for AV to lead to immortality is by using AV to strengthen Mathilde's soul. A stronger soul should lead to a less mortal Mathilde. Another way that doesn't involve AV but is AV adjacent is by studying the Wisdom's Asp producing AV; it's trapped in a state of being both dead and alive you see.
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Since this is likely post-Elfcation, Mathilde might have some Druchii enemies—or just Druchii in general as an enemy—depending on if any Druchii are able to live to tell the tale of that weird Grey Wizard running around cutting Druchii in half with her super-greatsword.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
It's daemon blood. We could successfully argue that it's legally distinct, but if Eike saw us doing it and hid that knowledge from us we wouldn't exactly have the opportunity to calm her down about it.
This post is in regards to the Eike-quest omake.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In this story, sure, but just about 90% of the superhero genre runs on this One Neat Trick.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
In theory, them being Druchii, killing Druchii might proc the Protector for the Druchii that the Druchii she killed were planning on killing later. Because Druchii.
Druchii.
