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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Nerdasaurus Rex said:
I'm going to pin my expectations a little lower—we'll hang out with some cool people (maybe even Alith Anar?), learn some new shadowmagic, maybe unlock "Grandmaster Swordswoman 1/5" with a focus on doublegreatswording (shadowsword spell when?), and get to add some druchii loot to our trophy room. And I'm very excited for that, I think it'll be very cool.
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I agree! That's the value for Mathilde herself, anyway. But since she's gonna go there for three whole months, it means her apprentice and employees can also go to Ulthuan without y'know peeling them off of other things she's doing at the moment, and I really want Eike to have fun in Lothern too. That just sounds exciting!
 
I can't help but suspect Johann would quite enjoy three months in the foreigner's quarter furthering his shonen journey in underground fight clubs and learning from fighting styles from all over the world... probably while fighting off people after his shiny bits on occasion to boot.

Everyone else though? Not really?
 
Completely unrelated to any ongoing discussion, when we do publish Aethyric Vitae, I want to make sure we describe exactly how we trapped the Wisdom's Asp.
Boney said:
I somehow captured the Wisdom's Asp in such a manner that it got stuck threading between the mirrors, so it's half alive and half dispersed, half in the material realm and half in the Warp... it's not going to be able to reform like slain demons usually do, not while the box exists. Unfortunately the method wouldn't work safely on anything but a Wisdom's Asp..." You frown at a sudden thought. "Unless there's other types of warp entities out there that use untainted winds... anyway. It'd have to be a very, very unlucky or extremely stupid entity to get stuck in this exact manner."

"A shame, but considering the cost, it's unlikely that the same method would enter a Witch Hunter's standard arsenal. Still, once your studies are concluded, if there's nothing unusually sensitive about the information have it written up and sent to the Archives in Altdorf. Undistributed knowledge is wasted knowledge."
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It's been over a decade since Abelhelm asked/ordered us to do it. I don't think he was expecting all of *waves hands vaguely* this, but it's one of the last unresolved requests of his.
 
DragonParadox said:
Can we though? We are a research institute for specialists in poking holes in hell and extracting power from it. I am not sure people who reach the pinnacle or near it of that profession would take it well if we say 'I am paying you to stand around in an elf trading port'.
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Elf trading port may be a technically correct way of describing Ulthuan's commercial and political capital and one of the world's greatest cities but it is also somewhat misleading - it is a bit like saying that Mathilde has a good reputation amongst dwarfs.
 
infinityDivided said:
Completely unrelated to any ongoing discussion, when we do publish Aethyric Vitae, I want to make sure we describe exactly how we trapped the Wisdom's Asp.

It's been over a decade since Abelhelm asked/ordered us to do it. I don't think he was expecting all of *waves hands vaguely* this, but it's one of the last unresolved requests of his.
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In fairness, 'able to power multiple types of superweapon' probably does count as 'unusually sensitive.'
 
Zero Gravitas said:
Elf trading port may be a technically correct way of describing Ulthuan's commercial and political capital and one of the world's greatest cities but it is also somewhat misleading - it is a bit like saying that Mathilde has a good reputation amongst dwarfs.
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The scale does not make it anymore their job, the thing that they are being paid for. What do we tell them 'I just want you around as good luck charms'.
 
Mopman43 said:
Alith Anar is basically a myth in-universe.

I don't think we're running into him unless we run into some Plot. Serious Plot.
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No, see, we don't actually meet Alith Anar. We just meet some shadowy, mysterious elf late at night who ambiguously might be Alith Anar. If you squint your eyes and tilit your head just right. We could meet 'Alith Anar?' who may-or-may-not be the real Alith Anar. But we'll never know.
 
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ReImagined said:
In fairness, 'able to power multiple types of superweapon' probably does count as 'unusually sensitive.'
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Which just narrows the circles we're gonna share this with, because right now the multiple types of superweapon are being powered by the output of one small fragile box with a singular Thorned One in it, and I'm sure the upper echelons of the Colleges would very much like for this knowledge to not have a limited lifespan of even theoretical usefulness.
 
infinityDivided said:
Completely unrelated to any ongoing discussion, when we do publish Aethyric Vitae, I want to make sure we describe exactly how we trapped the Wisdom's Asp.

It's been over a decade since Abelhelm asked/ordered us to do it. I don't think he was expecting all of *waves hands vaguely* this, but it's one of the last unresolved requests of his.
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The trouble is the answer is, in character 'I was stupidly, absurdly lucky' and out of character 'the GM rolled a meta-crit'. To actually get more of this stuff Mathilde's safe little book on AV is probably not where you want to look, that is in daemonology books with all the risks that normally come with opening holes in the warp and letting things in for power intentionally.

We had this conversation a long time ago, around about the time it became clear we could use this to charge up anvil runes I think.
 
DragonParadox said:
The scale does not make it anymore their job, the thing that they are being paid for. What do we tell them 'I just want you around as good luck charms'.
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They'd probably just enjoy a couple months of paid sabbatical in one of the greatest cities in the world and probably try to gain something out of it be it by buying exotic trinkets to study, boxing with elven athletes or trying to find some tutelage.

There's a lot of counterarguments for not having WEB MAT's members chill out for months but I don't think that the actual members are going to be against it.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
They'd probably just enjoy a couple months of paid sabbatical in one of the greatest cities in the world and probably try to gain something out of it be it by buying exotic trinkets to study, boxing with elven athletes or trying to find some tutelage.

There's a lot of counterarguments for not having WEB MAT's members chill out for months but I don't think that the actual members are going to be against it.
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I do not think they would mechanically actually because it kind of goes against what WEB MAT is, at its core, a meant for wizards to collaborate on the college's dime. We do not interact with it mechanically but part of that Great Deed we paid is our employees, all four of them including Adela are drawing a salary commensurate to their skills, so at least 50 gold per month, maybe more for the Magisters, certainly more for Ergrimm us 'doing an action' that is claiming that we are collaborating and then just let sending them off to stand around in Lothern for 99 days or the like is embezzling from the Colleges
 
Zero Gravitas said:
They'd probably just enjoy a couple months of paid sabbatical in one of the greatest cities in the world and probably try to gain something out of it be it by buying exotic trinkets to study, boxing with elven athletes or trying to find some tutelage.

There's a lot of counterarguments for not having WEB MAT's members chill out for months but I don't think that the actual members are going to be against it.
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I do, I think both Max and Egrimm would resent it, Max because if there's nothing work related needed he'd rather be working on his own stuff, and Egrimm because getting yanked around to another continent basically at random is not a particularly happy association for him. Johann is the only one with the mix of Diplo savvy and openness to new opportunities that might have the attitude to enjoy and make something of it.
 
Glau said:
Ok. You'd just have no way of knowing if that other Waystone was active and connected to the network, and you'd have no idea if the verbal commands given did anything or not.

Windsight seems like a non-negotiable part of this to me.
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If you can get Waystones down to the point where the construction technique of "have someone who knows what they're doing put lots and lots of flags down to show exactly where stuff should and shouldn't go", that does seem like a net win even if you need Windsight for the initial survey.

That being said, we're also working on a visual Sevirscope and a lot of people seem very enthusiastic about an auditory one. Windsight may be less necessary for this once one or both of those can be part of a Waystone Installation Kit.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
Yeah, but due to Mathilde's status they're not going to be particularly eager to call us out on it. In fact after Orb flex I suspect anyone who raises the question will get bonked with a large Orb.
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So to be clear you want to embezzle... a vacation to elf-land for a man laser focused on self improvement who already lives with elves (ones who actually like him) a workaholic blacksmith and a member of one of the ascetic orders?

Yeah I am going to pass on that.
 
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I'd buy that Johann would be interested if we went "Hey, I'm going to Lothern; are you down for me paying for you to stay there for a few months with a budget and some purchasing criteria, and whatever you don't spend on that you can keep?", because Lothern probably does provide some unique opportunities for self-improvement and he seems to have a general appreciation for the value of money.

I am dubious that this would be a WEB-MAT action.
 
Redshirt Army said:
What matters is the implication - that we made any deal with the Druchii at all is something that Ulthuan will need to keep in mind when they show up, since if they overplay their hand and try to lean on the stick instead of the carrot... well. We have options, yeah?
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This feels like over playing our hand, I would agree, but we're also trying to work with the most rabidly anti-druchii sub-faction of Ulthuan and bringing in what's probably the most rabidly anti-druchii human nation in the old world with Bretonnia.

It feels a bit weird to say 'we should just bring in Bretonnia out of good fellow feeling and to try and ensure this is a project the Old World is cooperating so we have a stronger bargaining position'... and bring them in right as we're going to talk to the slavers that lead them to developing what's probably the strongest human navy in the Old World. Maybe bringing them in after the Druchii negotiations are quietly resolved, maybe Boney will arrange the order of operations so that's how it goes down anyways, but it still seems to be risky. And I say this as someone who genuinely does want to do the Druchii negotiations.
 
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Might not have internet later today, so closing vote now in case writing happens during that time.

Adhoc vote count started by Boney on Jul 28, 2023 at 5:18 PM, finished with 1798 posts and 242 votes.
[rider] [seviroscope] Default
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DragonParadox said:
So to be clear you want to embezzle... a vacation to elf-land for a man laser focused on self improvement who already lives with elves (ones who actually like him) a workaholic blacksmith and a member of one of the ascetic orders?

Yeah I am going to pass on that.
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Not particularly.

I just don't think that the College leadership or the WEB MAT members would protest as culturally this level of taking advantage would be entirely expected.

I also don't think we'd gain any benefits from sending WEB MAT to Ulthuan - except perhaps for getting Max to take a vacation. He probably really needs one. Then again if Elfcation is Mathilde's idea of vacationing then Max may swear off the concept of vacations in its entirely.

Redshirt Army said:
What matters is the implication - that we made any deal with the Druchii at all is something that Ulthuan will need to keep in mind when they show up, since if they overplay their hand and try to lean on the stick instead of the carrot... well. We have options, yeah?
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I'd think this would work better if we don't do deals with the Druchii.

Just say that the Druchii offered a deal but surely Ulthuan will be a lot more generous (and of course if Ulthuan hurts our most sincere feelings of friendship and betrays our expectations... well we'd have no choice but to re-evaluate our position; why we'd even have to assume that the Druchii aren't so bad after all).

If we negotiate a deal beforehand then relations with the Asur will be more tense.
 
Alright, here's what we do: We can take Johann to Nagarythe if we can convince them that he's essential combat equipment. We use the Deciever side of the Coin and have Johann act golem-like in public. Lots of flexing poses, repeated catchphrases, and his ability to hold his breath should be enough to pull it off.

I know we wanted to use the Protector to help build reputation, but this way we get even better rewards: Friendship adventure time with our Punchbuddy, and combat training for the both of us.
 
I wish the Great Cat Knight won, but can't say I'm disappointed with what did win. Especially since it won by a margin of like 30 points. That's a mandate right there. Can't wait for the future in-universe arguments about whether or not the Dämmerlichtreiter was ever a real person or was always a Grey spell. (Or the arguments about whether or not it's really a spell or if the Grey wizards are just lighting an Ulgu beacon to tell Mathilde that it's clobberin' time)
 
Looking over the votes I suspect Boney's going to have... Fun... with figuring out what to combine and what not to this round, so I'm not counting most options out until we see what he decides in that regard.
 
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