You can't ask the question inside the Library of Mournings without starting a raging debate about whether Zoats count, which are the only arguable Lizardmen that have any real information present inside the Library. There's only very passing references to the Slann, and you'd need to ICly know a lot more about them to recognize those references as such. Currently I think the most information Mathilde has on the Slann is one of the Wizards she's met once fought a 'magical frog'.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
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You can't ask the question inside the Library of Mournings without starting a raging debate about whether Zoats count, which are the only arguable Lizardmen that have any real information present inside the Library. There's only very passing references to the Slann, and you'd need to ICly know a lot more about them to recognize those references as such. Currently I think the most information Mathilde has on the Slann is one of the Wizards she's met once fought a 'magical frog'.
The « Ahah, you mist ! » spell.
1. Riddle me this: how many Battle Wizard equivalents (BWEQ) would an Everchosen have? No one knows for sure, but between Tzeentchians, other sorcerers, demons, beastmen and whatever else he will bring it is entirely plausable that those hundreds of battle wizards and dozens of battle altars would be barely enough for parity. But even if the Empire does end up having magic superiority over the army of an Everchosen, that is still not a reason to leave Mathilde out. You do not win wars by fighting fair, you win by stacking the deck in your favour as high as possible. At that means getting Mathilde on the battfield aling with battle wizards and other wizard lords and the altars and whatever else you can bring. While we are at it, do you really think there is a wizard more suited to lead knightly countercharge across otherwise impossible terrain then Mathilde?
2. Oh yes. Dhar. That incredicly safe and predictable substance we have great skill and experience in practical use of. But seroiusly, we have seen ulgu dhar tongs in use once. From afar. We never tried it, ww never trained with it. Doing it on that battlefield would be the first time ever. And we would have to do it fast and multiple times. With "multiple angry demons released from their bindings" as a target goal. How on earth do you believe it to be safer then a single BM cast?
25 times 8 is 200 so barely hundreds on a technicality.
Why was Mathilde needed to lead the forces of Karak Eight Peaks against the skaven? Why was she needed to rescue Vlag and help the Ice Witch claim the Chalice? Why did she have to take command and counterspell after both Van Hal and the Amethyst Patriarch died?
She was the only one on the spot.
We can expect to participate in multiple major campaigns with multiple battles each going forward - just as it happened in the past. It is extremely unlikely that Mathilde only has the 1 big battle to end all battles (until the next Everchosen) to look forward to.
- Probably a lot, probably more than us... probably not so overwhelmingly more than us that you throw the assassination expert desperately into the role of artillery. After all they probably have more assassins than us too
- Yes that substance we have runic protection from, which we would not be touching with our souls and would in fact be trying to dispel. As for those daemons well they will mostly be pissed off at the Chaos dwarfs that bound and used them, you know the crew that is right next to the exploded hellcanon. But you know what if that seems too unsafe for you fair enough, the entire army is not going to be hellcanons, we can just go fight something else.
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CrabMonarchy
Allegedly Dutch
- Location
- the Netherlands, apparently
You're missing the 5 Elite Battle Wizards per college, which brings it to 30*8 = 240 (250 was b/c I included the Graduated Battle Wizards by accident which brings it up to 248, but close enough).
OK but if it is not the big battle we have to fight with everything on the line we are back to the Kislev situation of 'use your mobility to get battle mages' and if you cannot and there are overwhelming numbers of battle mages on the field leave. Knowing one single battle magic spell only helps in the narrow number of situations where one battle magic spell is the difference between victory and defeat and we have never seen any major battles like that from what I recall.
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Already on the developable spells list iirc.
Well Mathilde's staff does allow her to cast certain spells like Rite of way as Fiendishly Complex instead of battle magic, meaning that not only can she cast it way more often, but more importantly she can cast it safely and reliably.
I can't tell if that guy is an understated badass, the Slann was literally asleep, or he truly had no idea just how close to death he was that entire 'fight'
Possibility all three at once.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
On the topic of Eike's Field Trip, I have an idea that she probably shouldn't follow through with, but that might be worth thinking of.
Middenheim is the home of the WIzards and Alchemists Guild. It is theoretically possible for them to do Chamon at our charcoal. Maybe to turn it into something lighter?
Middenheim is the home of the WIzards and Alchemists Guild. It is theoretically possible for them to do Chamon at our charcoal. Maybe to turn it into something lighter?
NexusEye
Aspiring God
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Quite possibly the Slann let him live to tell the tale so those annoying monkey Wizards would know not to mess with any magical frog and just let them nap.
Turn 41 Results - 2490 - Part 3
[*] Attempt to codify Rite of Way so that others can learn it. (The Gambler)
[*] Tributary: Water Spirit (Stirland) (Baba Niedzwenka, Zlata, Max)
[*] KAU: Seek an exchange arrangement with another Library or a Karak's archives to be able to make copies of their corpus (Nuln; use KaK Metalsmithing Guild Boon)
[*] EIC: Attempt to establish a trade route with the Eonir (charcoal)
[*] SERENITY: The Black Orc Warboss' worship of Only Gork, and what you saw of the Rogue Idol ritual (FADED)
[*] Eike Actions: EIC action
[*] Eike Study: Study Petty spells
[*] Tributary: Water Spirit (Stirland) (Baba Niedzwenka, Zlata, Max)
[*] KAU: Seek an exchange arrangement with another Library or a Karak's archives to be able to make copies of their corpus (Nuln; use KaK Metalsmithing Guild Boon)
[*] EIC: Attempt to establish a trade route with the Eonir (charcoal)
[*] SERENITY: The Black Orc Warboss' worship of Only Gork, and what you saw of the Rogue Idol ritual (FADED)
[*] Eike Actions: EIC action
[*] Eike Study: Study Petty spells
Aethyric Impluvium requires the presence, if not necessarily the cooperation, of a water-spirit, as well as a solid grasp of the magical vocabulary of the Scythian language. While Baba Niedzwenka is certainly more than capable, you're not going to get anywhere if you plan on having the Waystone's contributors personally erect every single tributary themselves. Your job here is to find, recruit, and equip the people who will spend many years building them. Considering that this will be a long-term project that will involve huge swathes of the province in question, it will almost certainly need to be done with the cooperation of the Elector Count in question. That makes Stirland the natural choice for the first place to start rolling out the tributaries - you have significant history and a good working relationship with the powers there, and more than most provinces it has a strong interest in keeping the levels of ambient magical energies in check. The wind blowing from Sylvania currently bodes ill for a lot of towns and villages in the more eastern parts of Central and Southern Stirland.
Sadly, deploying them within Sylvania is not going to be a possibility. They need to be within a few miles of a functioning Waystone to work, and between its own history and the destruction of Mordheim, the Waystone Network has very little presence within Sylvania.
"At this point we're not talking about modifying or adding on to the network of Waystones," you're currently explaining reassuringly to Roswita. "We're using tributaries to redirect magical energy to where they can be more reliably gathered by the existing ones. Unlike the Waystones themselves, there's no active magic occurring within them. It's akin to street gutters - they don't actually apply any force to make the movement happen, it's just supplying a place where it will move by itself."
"And the process of creation? My understanding is that there's no form of magic that cannot go wrong, no matter how benign the intended result."
"The danger there is in the water spirit being used breaking free of the control of the caster. But since the ritual uses the nature of a water spirit as a metaphysical template, rather than using them as a power source, even the least of them will suffice. That keeps the danger to the caster manageable and eliminates any danger to the general area."
"I assume you intend for this to be performed by Jade Wizards?"
"That would be a likely candidate, but if you wish to make it, the decision is yours to make. Anyone capable of magic and familiar with water spirits could do the job. The Taalites and Rhyans come to mind, or the Cult of Altaver, or we could see about bringing in spirit-wranglers from Kislev. Or this might be within the wheelhouse of the Council of Manhorak."
She considers that for a while. "I suppose the least disruption would come from using the Jades. Especially since I presume the ritualists would tend to be less eccentric than the Battle Wizards."
"Significantly so. The Jade Wizard that is part of this Project was actually working in Sylvania until recently - Magister Tochter Grunfeld."
"She was working the Hunter's Hills, right? Something about clearing the worst of the taint out of the soil?" You nod. "If she's willing to vouch for the Jade candidates, I'll sign off on it. I want them to touch base with the Council, though, make sure none of the spirits they round up for it are significant to them. What would the timetable be?"
"It would take a full survey of the existing Waystone and tributary network to say for sure, but my best estimate right now would be about five Wizard-years of effort to really nail down the eastern edges of Central and Southern Stirland, and about the same to bolster the network throughout the rest of Stirland."
"Ten years, just to bolster the least part of a largely intact network in a single province?"
"Ten years for wholesome harvests and healthy children and restful corpses. Ten years to change the world that Stirlandians live in."
She smiles at that. "Very well. You have my authorisation."
---
[Rolling...]
Tochter confers with her College and then disappears up north to winkle out her quarry: a trio of Journeymen with a knack for rituals, currently employed by the swineherds of Grimmenhagen. After prying them loose she, Max, and Niedzwenka take them into Kislev for a crash course in Scythian, spirit-wrangling, and the ritual of Aethyric Impluvium, and then back south to Stirland to begin their work. Meanwhile, you, Zlata, and Cadaeth have been busy surveying the Waystone network of the Stirland-Sylvanian border, finding it in about as good a condition as you could reasonably have hoped. It seems to serve as an eye-opening experience for the two, as Zlata had thought that the hard-worn stubbornness of a people who only know a life under siege only existed in Kislev, and Cadaeth had required several patient evenings explaining to her that no, there really are no other defences beyond the scant few that are plainly visible. She'd been rather taken aback when you told her that if something came from the east that those defences could not handle, then in all likelihood any of the local population that couldn't or wouldn't flee would die. She'd been significantly more taken aback when she heard the same from a local, who then told her that it had happened twice in the past century, but not to worry, if it happened again the restless dead wouldn't have long to chew on their bones before the Hunter's Daughter would bring the army down upon them.
The Journeymen make tentative contact with the Council of Manhorak, confirm that the lesser naiads they were planning on cajoling into service bear no relation to the Swamp-Gods of Sylvania, and then begin their work with a gusto. A gusto that will undoubtedly fade as it sinks in that they'll be spending the next four years of their lives on this. But Roswita had had the local authorities thoroughly explain that the Wizards were taking away the bad magic and making sure it would stay away and that's all that they were doing, and then you'd had a word in a few ears to make it known that the lads could guarantee a good harvest or a bountiful lambing season in their off hours if they were made to feel welcome. A boring but important job somewhere that appreciates you with plenty of opportunities to make friends or shillings on the side is far from the worst of assignments a Wizard could be assigned.
[Stirland Tributaries underway. Estimated completion date: late 2493.]
---
"There is a wagon of charcoal in Middenheim," you say to Eike one morning. "I want there to be a wagon of charcoal in Tor Lithanel. Everything about how that happens is up to you."
Eike takes only a moment to adjust, and frowns in thought as she considers the idea. "Does it have to be that specific charcoal that gets there?"
"It does not."
She stays motionless for some time, her lips moving as she thinks. "Very well, Master," she remembers to say to you before she turns and walks out the room at a pace just under a jog, her fingers moving to a scroll pouch on her belt where she keeps maps. You smile and turn to other business.
When you try to check in a few days later, you find that she's sold the charcoal and is nowhere to be found. You raise an eyebrow at that, but decide against chasing her down immediately. If she's prone to slacking off in the absence of any direct supervision, it's best to learn that now.
---
You see Eike next in Tor Lithanel, where she nervously leads you into a room where she's drawn a large map of the northern Empire onto a chalkboard and festooned it with many paths in different colours of chalk. "As I'm sure you're aware, Master," she begins as soon as you take your seat, "the direct route from Middenheim through the Schadensumpf is possible, as the villagers of Kammendun should be able to navigate the route with some trial and error and already have established respect for the Eonir. But it would still be a difficult and miserable trip, and the conditions might be damaging to the cargo if the route is used for anything else.
"Another obvious route is along the Northern Road to Salzenmund and from there to Tor Lithanel, but the Eonir are currently against them being easily accessible from Nordland and the Nordlanders themselves seem likely to interfere with the route, or at the very least toll it ruinously. Salzenmund was, after all, the heart of extracting wealth from the Laurelorn, and it seems very unlikely that any route could involve it without them sticking their oars in.
"I considered a route from Westerland, going from Loenen to the Se-Athil path or even directly from Aarnau to the tower itself, but involving Marienburg's territory in this seemed potentially problematic, as did sourcing charcoal from somewhere where the easiest source would be the Laurelorn forest itself. A route up the Schaukel from the Sea of Claws would also be possible - I understand that is the planned route for imports of stone - but the Eonir vessels that will be making those trips aren't built yet, and they're still leery about foreign visitors to their city.
"So in the end, I settled on the village of Hargendorf, at the mouth of the Demst. I told them the Eonir could be pacified by sacrificing trees of the Empire to them, as it was the killing of the trees of Laurelorn that had angered them in the first place. That I'd have a cargo of 'sacrifices' delivered to them, and that they'd be paid to move it upriver and drop it off at a marked point, and if all goes well this could mean lasting safety for Hargendorf." She wraps up her presentation and looks to you for your evaluation, trying and failing to keep nervous expectation from her expression.
"It's a clever framing - almost true and playing to their biases," you muse. "It would be hard to convince Nordlanders so close to the lost villages to see the Eonir as trading partners, but a forest horror that needs propitiating is a lot easier to fit into their current mindset."
"The other pieces of the route were easy, it's only twenty miles along an established path from the drop-off point to Tor Lithanel, which is doable in a single day so Cityborn can fetch it. It was trivial to find ships sailing from Erengrad willing to drop off charcoal in Hargendorf - most of them hug the coast anyway, and a number of them anchor overnight in the shelter of the nearby islands of Lugren and Odner just a few miles along the coast from Hargendorf. The prices at Erengrad for charcoal are fairly competitive, sourced from the nearby Grovod Wood, so the route is profitable as-is. If better river-boats were supplied to Hargendorf, or if the Forestborn can be convinced to allow a towpath along the river, then the route can be scaled up massively without problem. If this is to be a long-term concern, then a deal with the Boyar of Chebokov or the establishment of charcoaling and shipping infrastructure in Ostland would be viable ways to increase the route's efficiency, but the overall return on investment would likely be less than other opportunities currently available to the EIC."
You run your eye over the figures in question and nod. "Couldn't have done better myself," you say honestly. You'd expected the trade route to run at a loss since it's more of a convenience than a need, meaning there's only so much you could charge for it before buyers decide they don't really want it that much. For her to have delivered a result that is not only profitable, but also scalable and helping ease some of the anti-Eonir sentiment in Nordland, is not only a better result than you expected from her, but also a better job than you expected at all. You suppose that shouldn't have been quite so unexpected - you might have a great deal more life experience than her in general, but she did spend many years completely dedicated to learning the workings of the EIC. You'll need to make visits to Hargendorf and Erengrad to establish a recurring supply and make sure that everyone knows better than to try anything clever, but that still leaves you with a few extra weeks that you didn't expect to have available to you.
[New EIC Operation: Charcoal from Erengrad to Tor Lithanel via Hargendorf.]
Stat discovered: Stewardship: 6+3+1+1=11
Trait discovered:
Keep The Wagons Rolling: Eike believes implicitly that logistical efficiency is absolutely essential for the continued survival of the Empire and its allies. +2 Learning, +3 Stewardship.
With your and Eike's time freed up, you reward her by personally supervising and tutoring her through her expanding of her magical capabilities.
[Studying Spells: Learning, 73+13+20(Grey Tower)+5(Library: Ulgu)+10(Tutoring)=121.]
Sleep and Drop prove to come easily to Eike. Both of them rely on the same basic principle of bypassing someone's mind to nudge their body into performing a specific action, so everything she grasps about one is mostly transferrable to grappling with the other, so she boasts a grasp of them in less than a week.
[Studying Spells: Learning, 31+13+20(Grey Tower)+5(Library: Ulgu)+10(Tutoring)=79.]
Magic Dart proves trickier for Eike to grasp, but as it is her very first offensive spell, you do not discourage her from taking every step carefully in wrapping her mind around how to turn one's will into an offensive weapon. Several times as you patiently walk her through it you have to refuse to reminisce about the time you accidentally knocked a knight unconscious with the spell. In time, it, too, falls under Eike's control.
[Studying Spells: Learning, 10+13+20(Grey Tower)+5(Library: Ulgu)+10(Tutoring)=58.]
Sounds proves most difficult of all, and you spend some time watching her grapple with the magical fundamentals of the spell before her voice growing fainter as the days go on clues you in to something deeper going on here. With gentle effort you manage to draw out of her just enough to learn that being the bastard daughter of a professional concubine has left its mark on the girl, and as you go over your interactions with her you can see how a deep instinct for not drawing unnecessary attention has influenced her behaviour in the past. She's having trouble with a spell to create sounds because part of her believes fundamentally that she needs to avoid making noise. You allow the subject to be dropped, much to Eike's relief, and move on to something more psychologically compatible with her.
Trait discovered:
Seen, Not Heard: Eike learned at a very young age not to draw attention to herself, an instinct that serves her very well in some ways but holds her back in others. +3 Intrigue, +1 Piety, -2 Diplomacy
[Studying Spells: Learning, 75+13+20(Grey Tower)+5(Library: Ulgu)+10(Tutoring)=123.]
Aethyric Armour is a very basic but very powerful spell, as the effect it has grows with the caster's grasp of Ulgu. There were times during your first fumbling steps as a Journeywoman where it probably saved your life, and at the very least reduced the number of scars you accumulated over the years. As Eike's grasp of Ulgu is bolstered by it having left its mark upon her, you judge it within her capability to safely and reliably cast the spell, so you set about teaching it to her. Not the textbook version of the spell - you'd need to get the textbook to remember what that actually was - but your own, personal understanding of it that you've developed and refined over many adventures. Most would be unable to grasp the concepts and ideas that have never before needed to venture outside of your own head, but Eike's understanding of Ulgu has already been shaped enough by your tutelage for her to follow along without even realizing that she's having to do so. When she first performs the spell successfully and magic spreads not just over her skin but through the muscles underneath, the rush of pride you feel buoys you for days.
Updated Eike spell list:
Drop, Glowing Light, Magic Dart, Marsh Lights, Sleep
Aethyric Armour (Mastery - Indefatigable)
---
After travelling to Nuln, you find Grand Count Konstantin von Liebwitz where he can usually be found in recent months: shouting instructions over the din of construction and excavation in the sinkhole where the Imperial Gunnery School used to be. One of his attendants sees you approach and shouts something in his ear, and he tromps over to you immediately. "This is what victory looks like, apparently," he yells as he leads you towards a quieter corner of the work area. "I'd rather have lost my bloody palace. If the amount of cannon this was costing the Empire were lost on a battlefield instead, the world would be aghast."
"How long until you can resume production?" you half-shout.
"The other forges in the city are retooling to pick up the slack, but they'll be worse guns for it. We haven't even got the foundations down here yet, we have to work around the excavations still underway, which can't be hurried because most of what we're looking for are books and documents. My grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be dealing with people trying to make claims about records lost down here. Thankfully we won't have lost any actual capabilities, everything we did in the Gunnery School, we had someone who knows how to do it over in Karak Eight Peaks."
"That rather neatly illustrates the purpose of a project I'm working on. I've been building a library in Karak Eight Peaks to preserve the sorts of records and knowledge that are too often lost in disasters like this, and the Universität District is one of the greatest centres of learning on the continent. I want your help in convincing the colleges and universities of Nuln of the wisdom of allowing my scribes access to their libraries. In exchange, I can offer you the resources and expertise of the Karaz-a-Karak Metalsmiths Guild in restoring the foundries of the Gunnery School - all to the latest human designs, and to the highest Dwarven standards."
He considers that. "You're phrasing this like you're doing these librarians a favour, but they'd squeal like stuck pigs if they were forced into that sort of deal, wouldn't they?"
"Many probably will, yes."
"You get me those Dwarves and Verena'll need earplugs, you have my word."
[Rolling...]
---
The Grand Count proves as good as his word, and then even more so to an extent that might be considered concerning. As soon as the Dwarves arrive in Nuln and set to work, he begins having words with the various institutions within his city, which you hear later turned very stern every time he hit the slightest hint of resistance. The Elementalists, who the Grand Count had apparently included in the deal, apparently became very cooperative the moment they were told that the Grand Count would happily 'trade the lot of you for a spiked culverin', and that they should be rather thankful that he'd been given better terms than that - which might have rather soured things with them if their leader had not spun it to the rest of the organization as a chance to clear out their stacks for free without actually losing access to any of the books within, which is quite a coup since space is at a premium within the Universität. The other institutions settle into a more neutral state about the circumstances once it's firmly established that they won't have to bear the expense of copying the books. While they're not happy about being strongarmed, that they will have access in perpetuity to the copies kept safe in a Karak does appeal to them, as Waaagh Grom still lives vividly in their institutional memories. Another factor is that they're unlikely to see a library all the way over in Karak Eight Peaks as a serious competitor to their own libraries.
The cloud to all these silver linings is that the local Verenans apparently got their noses quite out of joint when they learn about all this after the deed was already done, with nobody so much as checking in with those that considered themselves the divinely-appointed authority over libraries. They raised objections with the various Colleges, who had no desire to rehash the entire business and told them to butt out. They raised them with the Elector Count, and then had no real counterargument for when he asked how many cannon foundries they were going to build for him. So their ire turns, inevitably, to you. They aren't quite denouncing you from the pulpit, but this is likely to have an influence on any future dealings with the Cult of Verena.
Still, if not an unalloyed success, it is very much a success. Having unfettered access to the libraries of the Grand University of Nuln, the Imperial School of Engineers, the Imperial Gunnery School, and the Nuln branch of the Aquila Academy is quite impressive even before you begin to count up the seemingly endless number of lesser institutions that Nuln seems to be absolutely swarming with. And there's a few interesting surprises among the more expected volumes you now have possession of from the Elementalists.
Humorism +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Hydrology +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Meteorology +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Mineralogy +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Physics +2 - Extensive Imperial
Chaos Dwarves +9 - Extensive and Obscure Imperial / Extensive and Esoteric Dwarven / Skaven (Only Esoteric) (from +8)
Ogre Kingdoms +8 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Extensive and Obscure Dwarven (from +6)
Architecture +7 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Extensive Dwarven (from +4)
Medicine +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Ghyran - Life Magic +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial (from +2)
Aqshy - Fire Magic +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Indic (from +2)
Azyr - Celestial Magic +5 -Extensive and Esoteric Imperial (from +2)
Elementalism +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Asur
Potions +5 - Extensive and Obscure Imperial / Extensive Kislevite
Elementals +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Kislevite
Gut Magic +2 - Extensive Imperial
Manann, Lord of the Seas +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Rhya, Earth Mother +2 - Extensive Imperial
Taal, King of the Wild +2 - Extensive Imperial
Dazh, God of Fire and Sun +2 - Extensive Kislevite
Addaioth, Bringer of Wrath and Fire +2 - Asrai, Asur
Hukon, the Sunderer +2 - Obscure Asur
Great Maw +1 - Imperial
Hashut +3 - Extensive Imperial / Dwarven
Hydrology +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Meteorology +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Mineralogy +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Physics +2 - Extensive Imperial
Chaos Dwarves +9 - Extensive and Obscure Imperial / Extensive and Esoteric Dwarven / Skaven (Only Esoteric) (from +8)
Ogre Kingdoms +8 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Extensive and Obscure Dwarven (from +6)
Architecture +7 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Extensive Dwarven (from +4)
Medicine +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Ghyran - Life Magic +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial (from +2)
Aqshy - Fire Magic +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Indic (from +2)
Azyr - Celestial Magic +5 -Extensive and Esoteric Imperial (from +2)
Elementalism +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Asur
Potions +5 - Extensive and Obscure Imperial / Extensive Kislevite
Elementals +6 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial / Kislevite
Gut Magic +2 - Extensive Imperial
Manann, Lord of the Seas +5 - Extensive and Esoteric Imperial
Rhya, Earth Mother +2 - Extensive Imperial
Taal, King of the Wild +2 - Extensive Imperial
Dazh, God of Fire and Sun +2 - Extensive Kislevite
Addaioth, Bringer of Wrath and Fire +2 - Asrai, Asur
Hukon, the Sunderer +2 - Obscure Asur
Great Maw +1 - Imperial
Hashut +3 - Extensive Imperial / Dwarven
---
Codifying Rite of Way is in some ways easier than it would be for other spells, and in some ways much harder. The core of the spell is a heavily modified Skywalk, and those modifications were ones you made entirely 'by the book' instead of based in some entirely personal conception of Ulgu that needs to be translated, so that part is very easy to get down on parchment. The difficult part is instructing the spell where Skywalk needs to go, and in doing so simultaneously over a wide stretch of track and continuously as you advance across the terrain, while also maintaining the outflow of those Skywalks and of the underlying delivery mechanism. It's a mindset somewhere between multitasking and meditation, and a difficult one to communicate by written word alone. But that's what you have to do - if you need to be around to explain and clarify, then the spell dies with you. For this spell to become part of the Grey Order's corpus, it needs to still be learnable from parchment alone, long after you're dead and gone.
[Codifying Rite of Way: Learning, 68+29+5(Library: Ulgu)=102.]
There is no moment of inspiration, nor any moment of great struggle. It is just day after day turning into week after week of grappling with your personal conception of Ulgu to try to warp it into something that there are words to describe. Several times you find yourself prodding at the Coin you wear around your neck, wondering if your prayer for assistance has gone unheard, or if some greatly distracting event you'll now never hear about has been diverted away from you. At long, long last you turn a small stack of drafts into a single scroll - tradition dictates that spells are always written on scrolls - and send it away to the Grey College for evaluation.
Instead of the expected response from the Library of the Grey College, the first response you get is sealed with a coat of arms you don't recognize, and find within a missive describing a battle in the Furdienst, a wetland of some sort just downstream of Altdorf, where an attempted colonization of it by Fimir was detected and destroyed by the Knights of Judgement with the assistance of a Grey Wizard attaché, without which it would have been impossible as the terrain there is apparently notoriously variable. The only time you've heard of such an order is in the context of the Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels, where it rode through the streets of Altdorf to assist the Grey Order. Learning that they still exist answers one question and raises many more, none of which are answered by the brief missive. Following soon after is a much more prosaic note from the Library confirming that the spell has been judged learnable and useful, and has been added to the corpus of the Grey Order's Battle Magic.
[Rite of Way codified, proved in battle, and adopted. +8 College Favour.]
Your other academic endeavour is an attempt to extract useful intelligence from the Only Gork business without disclosing the part where you may have technically, briefly, and inadvertantly become an Avatar of Mork. This proves easier said than done, as your conclusions about the nature of that shrine largely come from the words spoken through you, and it's hard to justify reaching the conclusions you have if you invent a fictional scenario where you simply stabbed your way through the Black Orc attendants without anything unexpected happening. Leaning heavily on your reputation for insight into the Greenskin, you draw from attestations in human and Dwarven writings of historical Waaaghs to gather evidence for the overall point you are trying to make, and as you do so the paper stops being about a single encounter and starts being a hypothesis where the Shrine of Only Gork is merely one point among many. You draw a continuum where on one side can be found Night, Forest, and Swamp Goblins, and on the other are Black and Savage Orcs, with the 'normal' Waaaghs containing the 'regular' examples of Orcs and Goblins falling in the middle.
You use Grom the Paunch and his slaying of all the Orcish Big Bosses of the Gutstabba Tribe as an example of an eruption of 'Morkish' sentiment, and Morglum Necksnappa and his claim that 'da east belongs to da Orcs' as a 'Gorkish' counterexample. Bax Deadtoof of the Bloody Sun Boyz and his 'Six Goblin Suit' joins the fray, as does Drilla Gitsmash, self-proclaimed King of the Dark Lands, and his regular assaults on Night Goblin strongholds. Against them emerges Snitgit, the legendary Black Gobbo, hated by Dwarves for his many thefts of their treasures, as does Great Grillzer-Griff Makiki da Cunning, leader of the Wolf Rider nomads who travel freely throughout the Badlands in defiance of all territorial claims made by other tribes. But you feel in your bones the absence of a centrepiece, twin exemplars of Cunning and Brutality to cap off the paper and hammer the point truly home, but they fail to make themselves known no matter how many records you delve into - no cunningest of all Goblins, no mightiest of all Orcs. You frown to yourself and search for the origin of that sentiment within you, but you can find nothing to logically explain why you're so sure that something should be here, but isn't. You swallow your misgivings and put the finishing touches on the paper.
[Writing about Only Gork: Learning, 41+29+4(Library: Waaagh Magic)=74.]
[Making a larger point: Learning, 54+29+12(Library: Greenskins)=85.]
[Faultlines in the Greenskin Continuum, 2490. Subject: Uncommon, +0. Insight: Revolutionary, +2. Delivery: Compelling, +1. Varied, +1. Alien, +1. Tactically Relevant, +1. Speculative, -2. Total: +4.]
Thus concludes the work Mathilde performed these past months, but not every waking moment was filled with work. With whom did she spend her free time? The five with the most votes will be chosen, not counting those locked in.
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
Laurelorn
[ ] House Filuan
House Filuan seems to be pursuing the import of large amounts of marble, much more than might be needed for small goods or maintenance. See if you can find out what sort of construction project might be in the works.
[ ] Swordplay
Test your newly-completed swordfighting style against the swordsmen of Tor Lithanel.
Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] Sofia
Meet and learn a bit about Panoramia's new Apprentice, Sofia de Siernos.
[ ] Gretel
She's apparently getting involved in the Karaz Ankor's ambitions in the Border Princes.
[ ] Okri
You've met Loremaster Okri of Karak Eight Peaks once before. Pay him a visit and see how his great ambitions for heavily-armed Ironbreakers delivered by Gyrocarriage are going.
Foreign Relations
[ ] Middenland
See how the Ulricans are going with their new Eonir coreligionists.
[ ] Nordland
See what's going on with the Ulrican schismatics that Nordland is backing.
[ ] Wissenland
Though the Elector Count is his usual self, some of their actions recently have hinted at the hand of someone a great deal defter. Investigate who took the job of his Spymaster after you turned it down.
[ ] The Black Water Canal
Pay another visit to the canal project, and see if there's any further signs of sabotage.
[ ] Druchii Diplomats
Check in on these unexpected visitors to Tor Lithanel.
Friends Abroad
Following Up
[ ] Amber College
Check in on the salamanders.
[ ] Gold College
See what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[ ] Skull River Ambush
Look into the investigation of the mining of the Skull River, and any consequences of it.
[ ] Elementalism
Now that you're sitting on a massive stockpile of magical texts, explore what 'Elementalism' actually is from an inside perspective.
- There will be a six hour moratorium to allow for people to suggest social actions.
- The thread was invited to brainstorm ideas for Eike's charcoal assignment here, which ended up giving Eike enough ideas that she came up with something quite suitable.
- If there's a book topic that you think the Elementalists should have had - not that you wanted them to have had, something that it's so self-evident that they would have it that you think the lack of it is an oversight on my part - let me know.
- No, I did not forget the Coin was applied to the Rite of Way codification. As it happened, Ranald didn't have anywhere he could make a significant difference in a matter of Mathilde quietly sitting in a room and writing, so he intervened elsewhere to get it a better reception. Sometimes things just don't have that much random chance (or dice rolls) for Ranald to stick his oar into.
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1. You seem to operate on the presumption that assassination and figgting in a battle are mutually exclusive. They are not. Assassination would taking place before the setpiece battle because trying to do so in the middle of aka exactly when your enemy is ready for a fight and in the middle of his equally ready comrades is rather counter productuve.
AS for chaos assassins, I do not recall any such entities bar the changeling. And even if cultist have some, most of Everchosen's army would be Chaos Warriors. Those guys are many things, subtle is not one of them.
Lastly, you seem to underestimate the consequencez of losing the magic battle. A single BM spell can decimate a unit or swing an equal fight completly in favour of one side. Imagine what happens if one side gets to consistently get those effects?
2. The belt will protects us from exposure, it would nit protect us from fumbling and miscasting. No more then it would protect us against Ulgu BM miscast anyway. And while unbinding would take less raw power then BM part of said raw power would be in Dhar, so overall cgance of miscast and average nastiness of a miscast would be comparable. At which point we are back to the fact that Mathilde will be abke to train and practuse BM in controlled environment and would only need one cast of BM vs having to improvise the unbinding from theory with 0 practical experience and cast the result multiple times.
Here you assume that we are going to have a perfect choice of engagement. We are not. In the example I gave Mathy and knights would have to deal with hellcannons, otherwise they would be shot to pieces. But it also could be the case that he unit was under orders to destroy the enemy artillery. Or it could be that Mathilde were ordered to destroy the guns prior to the battle. Or it could simply be that the enemy outplay us or our commander and we are forced into an unpleasant engagement. In short- no we would not always have the choice to fight who we want.
I think the battle magic conversation may be going around in circles by now, lets actually wait for the next plan vote to see what we are arguing about.
In the meantime Update.
Thoughts on that incoming
NexusEye
Aspiring God
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Somic
It's meow or never
- Pronouns
- She/Her
RoW, RoW, RoW the boat
Into piles of College Favor
Thanks for showing it off, Ranald! With such a quick turnover (codified, sent, learned from a scroll and used within a turn), I wonder how that wizard felt about a perfect solution to an immediately appearing problem having dropped into their lap so conveniently...
And now we have our very own original Battle Magic spell proven useful and added to the Grey Order's corpus! Aaawesome. This scratches such an itch!
Into piles of College Favor
Thanks for showing it off, Ranald! With such a quick turnover (codified, sent, learned from a scroll and used within a turn), I wonder how that wizard felt about a perfect solution to an immediately appearing problem having dropped into their lap so conveniently...
And now we have our very own original Battle Magic spell proven useful and added to the Grey Order's corpus! Aaawesome. This scratches such an itch!
Actual reaction to the update in a bit. In the meantime, @Boney small typos/mistakes I noticed:
Also, I hate to say this but did we get too many favours?
"and" eliminated any danger?
It seems that you've forgotten to apply the Library and Tutoring bonuses to those results, both should be higher by 15
Kislev books inconsistent (Kislevite / Kislev)
Also, I hate to say this but did we get too many favours?
We got +12 new favours and now have 46, but I'm pretty sure we had 32 to begin with, not 34.
Asheram
Not quite altogether
- Location
- Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
A very good way of framing it. Our Taming of Stirland is going to go down in history.
I was frankly a bit concerned about this, but Journeymen are rather pliable. I'm glad to have contributed to their rise.
The Hunters Daughter. That's trust you work lifetimes to get, and her work ethic, along with her fathers legacy, has earned it already. I'm glad for the little scholar.
Schadensumpf, literally Damage Swamp... Curious as to what the translation would be? Wounding Mire? Legbreaker Swamp?
A wonderful thing to have internalized. She's going to do the best she can to keep trade flowing, while paying as little as possible for it.
And I'm very proud of her for having learnt the indefatigable version. Scion of the Dämmerlightreitter indeed.
And there we have the charge across a swamp that I dreamt of. Ah, it feels good to have made something that's going to see direct application of the Greys in the future.
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- Location
- Utrecht
But I want moar.
Mathilde Weber, responsible for half of the Grey College battle magic spellbook.
Oh no! Anyway
You're right, there won't be any difference in the on-screen results from me fixing this but I've bumped Eike's learning by 1 for knocking it out of the park so hard on these.
Who hurt daughteru and how do we murder that motherfucker?!
This here is peak chiselfinger. Also get is written twice
Knights of Judgment or Knightly order of Judgment?
Yeah, cause we butterflied them both. Suck it Mork(or Gork)!
- Location
- California, USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I am intensely curious about all of these:
[ ] House Filuan
[ ] Okri
[ ] Middenland
Filuan is a giant question mark, I don't think I've ever seen the thread with no good theories about a mystery. Middenland is the last remaining social that really feels important to the waystone project, that is to say the last major partner we know very little about. And I want to know more about Okri's whole deal- see if the guy specifically selected to be our less exciting successor is still cool enough for Mathilde to befriend.
Recognizing a common thread, I have crafted a plan for the bit:
Plan Resting? Maintaining Friendships? But... There's Work!
[ ] House Filuan
[ ] Okri
[ ] Middenland
[ ] Wissenland
[ ] Gold College
[ ] House Filuan
[ ] Okri
[ ] Middenland
Filuan is a giant question mark, I don't think I've ever seen the thread with no good theories about a mystery. Middenland is the last remaining social that really feels important to the waystone project, that is to say the last major partner we know very little about. And I want to know more about Okri's whole deal- see if the guy specifically selected to be our less exciting successor is still cool enough for Mathilde to befriend.
Recognizing a common thread, I have crafted a plan for the bit:
Plan Resting? Maintaining Friendships? But... There's Work!
[ ] House Filuan
[ ] Okri
[ ] Middenland
[ ] Wissenland
[ ] Gold College
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