Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Also I had never heard of Pharology before this paper on the Pharological Perspective. It is apparently "the scientific study of lighthouses and signal lights", which seems like an excellent term for the research of the Light Order
All the colleges have fancy legal names:
Colour
Common Name
Runic Name
Associated Organization
Associated Lore
Nickname
Legal Term
White​
Light​
Hysh​
The Order of Light​
Light​
Hierophants​
Pharological Thaumaturgy​
Blue​
Celestial​
Azyr​
The Celestial College​
Heavens​
Astromancers​
Astrometeorological Thaumaturgy​
Yellow​
Gold​
Chamon​
The Golden Order​
Metal​
Alchemists​
Alchemical Thaumaturgy​
Green​
Jade​
Ghyran​
The Order of Life​
Life​
Druids​
Agrological Thaumaturgy​
Brown​
Amber​
Ghur​
The Amber Brotherhood​
Beasts​
Shamans​
Zoological Thaumaturgy​
Red​
Bright​
Aqshy​
The Bright Order​
Fire​
Pyromancers​
Pyromantic Thaumaturgy​
Grey​
Shadow​
Ulgu​
The Grey Order​
Shadow​
Shadowmancers​
Cryptoclastic Thaumaturgy​
Purple​
Amethyst​
Shyish​
The Amethyst Order​
Death​
Spiriters​
Cessationary Thaumaturgy​
 
That significantly exceeded my expectations, honestly it's good enough I'm not really in a rush to make a different design.

I'm strongly leaning towards asking, with Runesmith to Runesmith seeming to make a lot of sense for the approach in the abstract. With the only issue being the two most influential members being at odds. I feel like that's not necessarily a deal breaker though, we've seen that both of them can put it aside and focus on the bigger picture when needed.
 
Currently leaning empire to empire, as we just signed that international treaty for this exact purpose. So let's start bothering the exact same people who just signed that treaty promising to work together on waystones, and tell them to make good on those promises. I suspect it will be quite difficult to refuse, given we just got the prototype working. Anyone who refuses to share will suspect they'll get bumped down the priority list for waystones, while other leaders might share to get first in line. I suspect Throgrim will be the most likely to refuse given how stubborn dwarfs can be, and Kislev will be the most likely to pay up, assuming Boris feels like he is militarily capable of defending the reclaimed bits of troll country.
 
So asking what Karaz-a-Karak does with the magic is the sort of thing that the only one who knows is the High King. Which means Empire to Empire, or on behalf of Belegar. Asking on behalf of Belegar has the potential to either mitigate the bad feelings between the High King and Belegar... or to magnify them immensely. Meanwhile, asking Empire to Empire "as your ally, how important is it that we send magic to you instead of Ulthuan" is a lot more likely to go over well and get a truthful answer.

...

Unrelatedly I still want to make a Dawi Only waystone.
 
Empire to empire also has the advantage that we aren't in Thorgrims realm of control. The empire has to be handled as an equal which means no snubbing through arcane rules set down before man made weapons.
 
How much do tributaries extend the reach of a waystone? 2 times as far? 8 times as far? Just wondering how much of a bottleneck waystones production rate is if we are assuming that they will all be accompanied by as many tributaries as will help.
 
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Actually, I just thought of something. Where is this new Waystone going to go? We haven't done a survey of Kislev's network yet, so I don't think it would be wise to just plunk it in there right now, but the whole "first Waystone creates by the project" is a milestone that only comes once, and I can see a number of potential political uses and issues for wherever we wind up putting it.
 
Thorek's part in this needs to wait until the stone cladding is put over the assembled components - as necessary as it is for insulation and durability, hiding away the clashing aesthetics of the multiple components is equally important in your eyes - but once it is done, Thorek spends several days running his hands over it and examining it from every angle while taking copious notes, and then a mere afternoon chiselling a Rune - three diagonal lines coming off one horizontal one - into one side of the new Waystone. Nothing visibly changes but you can feel the faint suction already pulling on Ulgu in the room strengthen slightly but insistently. Similarly invisible but inexorable is that within the Waystone the Winds are drawn constantly downwards, greatly reducing the chances of any Winds managing to escape as they are passed from one component of the Waystone to the next.

With the Waystone complete and almost functioning with only a single major flaw, most of the members of the project begin testing the functioning parts of the Waystone prototype, turning the Schaukel slightly more magical in the process, while Tochter and Elrisse coordinate on seeking a solution to the incompatibility between their components. Monitoring their work with careful discretion, you're unsurprised to learn that the Jades are hesitant to turn over the details of their side of things, but as the Lights are working with someone else's secrets they don't hesitate. This brings a new set of eyes onto the vivisected enchantment and before long another paper is in the works and the Jades are able to make the necessary corrections on their side to bring the two components into harmony. You don't have time right now to give the papers more than a skim, but what you do manage to grasp from them convinces you that it could be wise to find the time in the near future.
One last post before i get to sleep like i should have an hour and a half ago :V

I find it interesting that, unless i'm completely misremembering, the option for the dwarf struck rune wasn't "just" that a runesmith would apply some principle of "how we make runes suddenly be a Single Metaphysical Thing like we saw with kragg's work on our tower(s)" to the usual waystone rune, but a bespoke Rune™️

Also, i look forward to the social action along the lines of the elementalism readings that i think the second highlighted line is hinting at XD
 
Actually, I just thought of something. Where is this new Waystone going to go? We haven't done a survey of Kislev's network yet, so I don't think it would be wise to just plunk it in there right now, but the whole "first Waystone creates by the project" is a milestone that only comes once, and I can see a number of potential political uses and issues for wherever we wind up putting it.
I'd be ok with plonking it down in laurelorn. Though iirc we haven't checked their network either...
 
It is undoubtedly extremely gratifying to see that our project has achieved success, which no one in the past has been able to accomplish in the foreseeable history. Even if our project faces huge difficulties in the future, we have already justified the efforts that were put into our project.

The only thing I would like to note is that I would like to have two other opportunities to ask a question.

1. Karak to Karak. But in this case we are asking the question on behalf of Karak Azul. Considering that Torek is the main master of Karak, this is quite possible.

2. From Collective to Guild. We are asking a question on behalf of an international project that creates new stones to the Rune Guild.
 
I think Empire to KaK is best since the ones that'd be shared are most likely to only be those of tactical relevance, like the Eyes that are now online.

The sharing of these tactical level secrets are even relevant because it'd make it easier for the dwarfs to explain in the future if they need the Empire to do something big like for example evacuating people from that place I forgot the name of.
 
Actually, I just thought of something. Where is this new Waystone going to go? We haven't done a survey of Kislev's network yet, so I don't think it would be wise to just plunk it in there right now, but the whole "first Waystone creates by the project" is a milestone that only comes once, and I can see a number of potential political uses and issues for wherever we wind up putting it.

I would vote for Sylvania. We have already begun to create a system there to reduce the amount of dark magic, and this will only speed up the work in this direction. We still do not fully understand why Mordheim stopped working, nor do we have complete information about the Kislev network.
 
I think Empire to KaK is best since the ones that'd be shared are most likely to only be those of tactical relevance, like the Eyes that are now online.

The sharing of these tactical level secrets are even relevant because it'd make it easier for the dwarfs to explain in the future if they need the Empire to do something big like for example evacuating people from that place I forgot the name of.
If Your thinking about the works that pump the blackwater dry... No, that won't be happening because iirc that will flood averlands best grazing pastures and also kill lots of people...
 
How much do tributaries extend the reach of a waystone? 2 times as far? 8 times as far? Just wondering how much of a bottleneck waystones production rate is if we are assume that they will all be accompanied by as many tributaries as will help.

The 'standard' deployment would be eight tributaries per Waystone with each tributary being right on the horizon from the Waystone, but that assumes a flat featureless plain that geography rarely cooperates with and the Empire's topographical surveying techniques struggle with. Up to 48-to-1 is doable for areas that don't have high background magic levels, while places like Praag can benefit from just blanketing the area with Waystones and then throwing in tributaries anyway until the walls stop bleeding.
 
The 'standard' deployment would be eight tributaries per Waystone with each tributary being right on the horizon from the Waystone, but that assumes a flat featureless plain that geography rarely cooperates with and the Empire's topographical surveying techniques struggle with. Up to 48-to-1 is doable for areas that don't have high background magic levels, while places like Praag can benefit from just blanketing the area with Waystones and then throwing in tributaries anyway until the walls stop bleeding.
Will we get a [] De-Praag-ify Praag option next turn, in the Waystone section?
 
Actually, I just thought of something. Where is this new Waystone going to go? We haven't done a survey of Kislev's network yet, so I don't think it would be wise to just plunk it in there right now, but the whole "first Waystone creates by the project" is a milestone that only comes once, and I can see a number of potential political uses and issues for wherever we wind up putting it.
Given that it was described as being a sort of beachhead, that may be placed in the most hostile places of the continent, Sylvania may be a good starting point. No amount vampire-killing, no matter how extreme, is going to siphon away the Dhar in the land by itself.

As you say, we also need to look at Kislev's network first, but Praag is probably second on the list.
 
"Barely enough time to have begun accumulating momentum. If that was all there was to it, the ones that connect the Karaks could not have survived the millennia that have passed, or earthquakes like those that marked the beginning of the Time of Woes. That these Runes have survived to this day means they can only have been carved with a full understanding of the discontinuities, catchment funnels, and gap winds that act on the mountains over time, so that these forces will carve the Runes deeper, rather than obliterating them. I cannot even begin to fathom how they were able to so deeply understand an unbroken chain of mountains from Karak Azgal to Karak Vlag more truly than we today do those of our own Karaks."
... Something-something Elementalism maybe?

Maybe they somehow changed something about the very mountains themselves? It's not that they carved Runes on top of the mountains; it's that they altered the mountain to express a Rune on its mountaintop. Like somehow altering a tree to grow in a certain way or to produce a certain fruit. How the hell you do something like that to a mountain, I don't know.

Maybe the Dwarfs designed the Mountain-Runes, and the Elves used magic or earth-shaping to design those. ... Or maybe the Old Ones created the mountains that way, created them in a way that they would be conducive to being used for this. I mean... we were told that the Old Ones and Slann had moved continents; continental movement involves stuff like smashing tectonic plates together which might form mountains. Or rearranging where previous mountains already were.

Maybe it relates to vaguer-than-vague legends ((actual "Well, the wiki says this is a story told by ogres... no clue if it's anything more than just a story" type legends) about some Mountains of Mourne mountains being alive, and Sky-Titans turning into mountains. And maybe related to Dwarfs having the metaphorical nature of stone; perhaps they know how to shape stone in a special way because they were born of it.

Or maybe some Runes are self-reinforcing; when you carve them onto a thing, they affect that thing and/or bond to it, and become set in a way that normal links aren't.

... Or maybe the Throne of Power is doing more than just sending power to Great Works. Maybe there's also back-end infrastructure (rune-magical or otherwise) on the part of the Throne of Power and the system as a whole, that involves readjusting or clarifying the mountains themselves. i.e. The Ancestor Gods themselves are sometimes poking and prodding at the network Mountain Runes to keep them ship-shape.
 
At some point Praag is going to be in the very amusing position of being the least Chaos-y city in the world purely because the infrastructure designed to clean it up from being massively corrupted on an emergency basis is still running full tilt.
 
This was a fun update Boney!

You wonder how keen they'll be to take advantage of their right of first refusal for constructing the Waystones after this preview.
Even if there was no other benefit of the storage, this would be enough to make me vote for it out of spite. :V

"We could go out today and carve the same runes upon a mountain, and it would last until the next rain or snow or rockslide," Thorek says as you near the base of the chosen exemplar. "Barely enough time to have begun accumulating momentum. If that was all there was to it, the ones that connect the Karaks could not have survived the millennia that have passed, or earthquakes like those that marked the beginning of the Time of Woes. That these Runes have survived to this day means they can only have been carved with a full understanding of the discontinuities, catchment funnels, and gap winds that act on the mountains over time, so that these forces will carve the Runes deeper, rather than obliterating them. I cannot even begin to fathom how they were able to so deeply understand an unbroken chain of mountains from Karak Azgal to Karak Vlag more truly than we today do those of our own Karaks."
I'm curious who did the carving of the Rune. They definitely could have pulled a similar trick as Karak Vlag did: find every dwarf with so much as a single drop of Thungni's heritage in them and gotten them to swarm the mountain and carve out the rune one chasm at a time.

Somewhat disappointing that it is impossible to replicate, but I wasn't expecting anything different.

"That would especially be the case if there are existing tensions," Thorek says, his voice carefully neutral, and you nod. He might be talking about tensions between, say, Laurelorn and the Empire, or the Karaz Ankor and Ulthuan. He's not, but he might be. "So the first question must be whether questions should be asked at all, as they cannot be un-asked."
Thorek is a really fun Dwarf to read. Him trying to act shifty like this just makes him stand out wonderfully as a character. Dwarves will tiptoe around shame, like Karak Vlag did with Borek. Or like with Ulthar and his father. You can see his political astuteness here too.

"It might be less potentially troublesome to keep our investigation entirely about the point-to-point logistics instead of asking questions about what happens next," you agree. "Either way, it would cause trouble if we were inconsistent in this. Even if we never examine the workings of Ulthuan, both Laurelorn and Kislev would be put out if we started asking questions of them that we did not ask of the Karaz Ankor."

Thorek nods, then frowns in thought. "The opposite would also hold - if the Dwarves were seen to share a glimpse of the most ancient of secrets, then it would be difficult for the Elves and Wyrzhufokri to argue that their own deserve greater consideration."
I thought these paragraphs were interesting. I honestly did not think of asking Laurelorn and Kislev anything about what they were doing with their energy. I would guess Laurelorn is enhancing their forest while Kislev is empowering the Ancient Widow.

But these are important things to ask.

[ ] Empire to Empire
Ask the Karaz Ankor on behalf of the Empire.
[ ] Karak to Karak
Ask Karaz-a-Karak on behalf of Karak Eight Peaks.
[ ] Guild to Guild
Ask the Runesmiths Guilds on behalf of the Colleges of Magic.
[ ] Runesmith to Runesmith
Ask the Karaz-a-Karak Runesmiths Guild on behalf of the Karak Azul Runesmiths Guild.
[ ] Okri to Okri
Ask Kragg on behalf of yourself.
[ ] Other (write in)
[ ] Do not ask
Leave the matter outside of the scope of the Waystone Project.
I'm genuinely not sure what to do here. Out of character we want it to stay in the hands of as few people as possible. Even the Empire to Empire is rather ehhh.

Asking as Karak Eight Peaks really could go badly. Guild to Guild seems like the fourth most secret of the options. Runesmith to Runesmith seems like a decent answer honestly. I would absolutely trust the Runesmiths with that information.

Asking as the head of the project might not be the greatest idea.

But this question needs to be asked. Thorgrim just announced that each of the Old Holds (and Norn!) have nexuses. Everyone is going to be wondering what they are doing with the magic. Including all of the Kings. I would say it's possible they have an idea that it's being used for the good of the realm but have forgotten the details. But if any of the Holds would remember I bet it would be Karak Azul due to how relatively undamaged it is and Thorek seems to have nothing.

But this is also a question that can be asked by someone who is not us!

- If 'do not ask' wins, Mathilde will spend the remainder of the action mapping and studying the Karaz Ankor network, including trying to figure out if it's possible to take a sample of the leyline-stone.
I hope that this will also include investigating whether Mordheim was connecting to Karak Kadrin and all the other ones.

Actually, I just thought of something. Where is this new Waystone going to go? We haven't done a survey of Kislev's network yet, so I don't think it would be wise to just plunk it in there right now, but the whole "first Waystone creates by the project" is a milestone that only comes once, and I can see a number of potential political uses and issues for wherever we wind up putting it.
Laurelorn. They're the host. They are elves, they possess immense capability to be snubbed.

Will we get a [] De-Praag-ify Praag option next turn, in the Waystone section?
I would rather eat glass. :V

Praag has a river flowing through it, but it's right through the middle. We would be cutting ourselves off from deploying waystones away from the river without wasting a hell of a lot of effort. It would be a hell of a lot more efficient to spend an action to make this waystone, but without the riverine leyline.

Given that it was described as being a sort of beachhead, that may be placed in the most hostile places of the continent, Sylvania may be a good starting point. No amount vampire-killing, no matter how extreme, is going to siphon away the Dhar in the land by itself.

As you say, we also need to look at Kislev's network first, but Praag is probably second on the list.
Laurelorn! They're the hosts.

We probably shouldn't snub them. They gave most of the components for the waystone after all. Let's not snub them at all please.

Also if we deploy waystones in Laurelorn at first we can swamp Tindomiel in orders. That way as many as possible of the Hekarti-waystones can be deployed in areas where they will absolutely not cause any political issues for the Empire.
 
Whose business is it what Karaz-A-Karak does with its share of magic? Will the High King answer?

The High King might not decide to answer at all because it's such a massive secret that exposes a key weakness of the Karaz Ankor. But if we leave aside that fact for more specific considerations:

Is it the Empire's business?
- Edit: Maybe. The empire doesn't even contribute magic to the Karaz Ankor. But they are both signatories of the Waystone Project.
- Would we get an answer? It's unlikely. The alliance never did extend to the sharing of secrets, unless they think it's worth the gamble to set such a precedent.
- Are there any consequences if they answer? Yes, the Empire and the Karaz Ankor will have set a precedent of sharing Secrets. The Karaz Ankor and the Empire might use the precedent to ask Kislev, Ulthuan, Laurelorn. Next time we ask we wouldn't need to consider if it's Yvresse that needs to ask the Tower of Hoeth, or if it the Tsar or the Colleges that needs to ask the Ice Court.
- Are there any consequences if they don't answer? No, it would just be the normal state of affairs.

Is it the business of Karak Eight Peaks?
- Yes, Karak Eight Peaks is a contributor.
- Would we get an answer? Depends if the High King feels he is beholden to his fellow Kings and Queen about this.
- Are there any consequences if they answer? Well, the secret would be out. If it's shared to Karak Eight Peaks, and we're the beneficiary, there's every reason that all the other Dwarfholds will think they deserve to know if they ever hear of it. But as an internal matter, the other waystone project signatories would not get involved.
- Are there any consequences if they don't answer? Well, Belegar would only grow angrier.

Is it the business of the Colleges of Magic?
- No, there's an existing understanding that runesmithing is off limits.
- Would we get an answer? No.
- Are there any consequences if they answer? It's not in character for the colleges to broadcast secrets. Algard would share with us, but it won't go further than that. But afterwards, the Colleges of magic would be the ones to ask the Tower of Hoeth, the Grey Lords, and the Ice Court.

Is it the business of the Karak Azul Runesmiths Guild?
- Arguably, yes. This is definitely runesmith business. Unfortunately Kragg and Thorek don't get along, and OOC we also know the runesmiths would then have to ask the High King.
- Would the High King allow the answer to be given to Karak Azul? Possible. It falls on the runesmiths to maintain the network in times of peace so there are benefits to more runesmith guilds knowing.
- Are there any consequences if they answer? Funny thing, but Thorek might decide not to tell us because of the seriousness of it. And as an internal matter, it won't leak to the other project signatories.
- Are there any consequences if they don't answer? There might have been, but Thorek's already tearing his guild apart, so it can't really get worse.

Would Kragg tell us?
- He might, but if we ever let the secret slip we'll get grudged.

Is it the business of the Waystone Project?
- Yes. There's a signed document and everything.
- Would we get an answer? We might not. That document also protects secrets. Plus would the dwarves want everybody in the project to know about their weaknesses?
- Are there any consequences if they answer? As arguably the leader of the project we'd be personally involved in getting the full set of secrets from Ulthuan, etc. and that's worth a lot of AP. We'd probably be pressured by the Karaz Ankor to obtain those secrets in exchange too, since the dwarves won't let it slip for free. That's not great, because there's every chance that Ulthuan, the Grey Lords and the Ice Court would stonewall us on a bad roll and we wouldn't be able to make the payment.
- Are there any consequences if they don't answer? It reinforces the idea that some magical secrets are off limits to the Project.
 
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[x] Karak to Karak
Ask Karaz-a-Karak on behalf of Karak Eight Peaks.
[x] Okri to Okri
Ask Kragg on behalf of yourself.

I think Karak Ankor and Kragg have the best chance. The Karak Ankor because humanity has helped them a lot. Kragg because I think Mathilde is friends with him and he likes her.
 
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Theres several sites where such Waystones should go close to us. Praag, Mordheim, Mousillion, Sylvania, The Forest of Shadows and probably several smaller Sites.

Of these, Praag may be one of the best test beds, given its a city, its in a high exposure place (far north), it gives direct good will if it works, and its very practical to have this done by the time the next Everchosen rolls around.

The others... Mordheim is long dead and so less of a priority, Mousillion is out of the way with people who snubbed us so far, Sylvania is important to us, but is large in scale without a singular chokepoint (so may serve better to test mass produced simpler versions) and also significantly improved already, and the Forest of Shadows is actively held by hostile forces, wed need to organize an expedition to clean out Melkhior (or Zacharias or whoever it is), the mess at the Brass keep, and whatever other Asshats are using the corrupted waystones in it before we can make any Progress there.
 
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