Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[MrHobbit]

Karag Dum knowing does not necessarily mean it is custom.
It shows that Karag Dum knew, but then every hold, every king, and every Runelord presumably knew at one point.
And Karag Dum were known to be radicals (and the information never spread beyond Karag Dum for whatever reason).
But knowledge gets lost, people die before it gets passed on, or the apprentice is judged unworthy, or any number of other reasons why something like this gets forgotten when it is not written down, or even if it was written down but the writings were lost when the mountins got re arranged.

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Mopman was saying that it is either a custom or an oath that leads to it being secret. It can't be an oath. There's far too many people that need to be covered by the oath for that. Many people who weren't even Runesmiths should have been able to guess what all the work was being done for. Many of those people would have been outside of the Royal Clans or Runesmith's Guild, unlike Borek. There's no point in making it an oath: it'd be impossible to ensure no one outside of the oath knew of it. Therefore, it must be a custom.

Thorek and Mathilde didn't even bring up the possibility the High King could not share what the magic was doing because of an oath. That's because it would make absolutely zero sense to be an oath, rather than custom.

Edit: Karag Dum knowing shows that it was not something that the High King bludgeoned through and used the authority of Karaz-a-Karak to get the holds involved to not ask questions.

 

[Tobtorp]

Mopman was saying that it is either a custom or an oath that leads to it being secret. It can't be an oath. There's far too many people that need to be covered by the oath for that. Many people who weren't even Runesmiths should have been able to guess what all the work was being done for. Many of those people would have been outside of the Royal Clans or Runesmith's Guild, unlike Borek. There's no point in making it an oath: it'd be impossible to ensure no one outside of the oath knew of it. Therefore, it must be a custom.

Thorek and Mathilde didn't even bring up the possibility the High King could not share what the magic was doing because of an oath. That's because it would make absolutely zero sense to be an oath, rather than custom.

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And customs can be broken much easier then oaths, even for dwarfs.

 

[Valmond]

Mopman was saying that it is either a custom or an oath that leads to it being secret. It can't be an oath. There's far too many people that need to be covered by the oath for that. Many people who weren't even Runesmiths should have been able to guess what all the work was being done for. Many of those people would have been outside of the Royal Clans or Runesmith's Guild, unlike Borek. There's no point in making it an oath: it'd be impossible to ensure no one outside of the oath knew of it. Therefore, it must be a custom.

Thorek and Mathilde didn't even bring up the possibility the High King could not share what the magic was doing because of an oath. That's because it would make absolutely zero sense to be an oath, rather than custom.

Edit: Karag Dum knowing shows that it was not something that the High King bludgeoned through and used the authority of Karaz-a-Karak to get the holds involved to not ask questions.

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None of that actually means it is not an oath.
Because even if it might not have started out under oath of secrecy, does not mean it did not come under it, or it came under oath of secrecy under general "high king" knowledge, much of which is know by various people anyway (like runelords building things) who then give oaths of their own to keep the secrets (except for worthy apprentices).

Also, things can be officially secret, with people sworn not to reveal them, while also public knowledge.
Like BT tower in London, a huge ass building and a well known landmark, but the location of which used to be secret, by law.

 

[MrHobbit]

None of that actually means it is not an oath.
Because even if it might not have started out under oath of secrecy, does not mean it did not come under it, or it came under oath of secrecy under general "high king" knowledge, much of which is know by various people anyway (like runelords building things) who then give oaths of their own to keep the secrets (except for worthy apprentices).

Also, things can be officially secret, with people sworn not to reveal them, while also public knowledge.
Like BT tower in London, a huge ass building and a well known landmark, but the location of which used to be secret, by law.

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We're talking about Dwarfs here. If it didn't start out as under an oath, why would they change that? Especially because these nexuses would have been raised under the reign of Snorri Whitebeard. Also it is rather unserious to swear to not sharing information that hundreds of thousands of people not under the oath either know, or can quickly figure out with simple deduction skills. Treating oaths that unseriously might be even more undwarflike than ignoring tradition.

 

[Valmond]

Dwarves are not immune to change.
All it takes is one dawi king to decide that this should be sworn to secrecy, for whatever reason, to make it into tradition as their heirs follow suit.
And that assumes it did not start out as a secret, widely known one, yes, but that's basicly all of runelore, or other guild secrets.

 

[Parabola]

Thorgrim did show off the Eyes of Grimnir to the other Kings, and he signed the Bokha Palace Accords, so he is at least comfortable admitting to the existence of the Great Works of the Ancestor Gods to his fellows and admitting to the network's existence to the wider world. And, honestly, why not? The flow of such large amounts of magic to K-a-K can't be hidden from those with the senses to see it, and the more Karaks know about the Eyes of Grimnir, the better defended they might be - and hell, some of them, like Zhufbar or Karak Kadrin, possibly still hold institutional knowledge of their dormant Works. So it doesn't make sense for the High King himself to be the only one to know about most of these things.

If he is under an oath and not just a heavily-reinforced custom per se, then it's probably surrounding the Rune of Eternity and the Throne of Power, which, fair enough. You wouldn't want anyone knowing that.

Given how we first found out about the network due to the Eonir feeling K8P reconnecting, and given how Borek knew about the flow of magic, in a manner of speaking it could be said that we're just asking Thorgrim to confirm some of our suspicions.

Even if Thorgrim does not decide to declare Belegar his heir or whatever, he could still kinda do like Thorek did this latest update and talk around the subject by mentioning completely unrelated things to what we're asking him about the network. It'd probably be a more palatable alternative to him becoming an oathbreaker.

 

[DragonParadox]

Dwarves are not immune to change.
All it takes is one dawi king to decide that this should be sworn to secrecy, for whatever reason, to make it into tradition as their heirs follow suit.
And that assumes it did not start out as a secret, widely known one, yes, but that's basicly all of runelore, or other guild secrets.

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I mean if it started off as a widely known secret then it makes sense that the other kings would have known in which case refusing to tell the heirs of those other kings to the point of causing significant internal strife does not make sense. I think it makes sense to give the dawi the benefit of assuming common sense, that has worked out well for us so far, from discovering that those dwarfs did not in fact instantly destroy that fortress for pennies, to Belegar not declaring a grudge on the High King from being told he knew about the network after Dum.

 

[Valmond]

Having your existence as a species being dependant on infrastructure that a single mage can severaly hamper is the type of thing you want to keep under your hat.

I mean if it started off as a widely known secret then it makes sense that the other kings would have known in which case refusing to tell the heirs of those other kings to the point of causing significant internal strife does not make sense. I think it makes sense to give the dawi the benefit of assuming common sense, that has worked out well for us so far, from discovering that those dwarfs did not in fact instantly destroy that fortress for pennies, to Belegar not declaring a grudge on the High King from being told he knew about the network after Dum.

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Belegar should have known about the jewels fuction.
He did not.
He is also ignorant of the importance of the network, and i suspect every other non high king is aswell.
Because each king is expected to prepare their own heir, if their ancestors did not deem them worthy of that knowledge, who is Thorgrim to counter the decisions of their ancestors.

High King can't forget, he has the constant reminder of the Throne, but other holds seem to have lost that knowledge (some runelords might know, which is why i hoped for Okri to Okri, but they would not be aware of the constant updates High King gets).

 

[DragonParadox]

Having your existence as a species being dependant on infrastructure that a single mage can severaly hamper is the type of thing you want to keep under your hat.


Belegar should have known about the jewels fuction.
He did not.
He is also ignorant of the importance of the network, and i suspect every other non high king is aswell.
Because each king is expected to prepare their own heir, if their ancestors did not deem them worthy of that knowledge, who is Thorgrim to counter the decisions of their ancestors.

High King can't forget, he has the constant reminder of the Throne, but other holds seem to have lost that knowledge (some runelords might know, which is why i hoped for Okri to Okri, but they would not be aware of the constant updates High King gets).

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If Thorgrim is aware a single mage could crash the system than he is aware Mathilde is already in that position since she disconnected a stone north of Vlag to bring the hold back, you can deduce that much from questioning Snori who was there, Mathilde said 'a place north of here' would be necessary to bring the hold back. She could to the High King's knowledge right now find mountains linking to KaK in all directions and break the system past all ability to reconect in a matter of weeks. Not telling her the stakes when she is actually working on on the network and could cause outages intentionally as part of tests or accidentally if she breaks something would be insane.

I do not think he values 'the Ancestors should have prepared them better' over the survival of his people and I am willing to wager on that. Maybe that makes me a hopeless optimist, but so be it.

 

[Zero Gravitas]

Not telling her the stakes when she is actually working on on the network and could cause outages intentionally as part of tests or accidentally if she breaks something would be insane.

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He may just tell us about the network but not about the Rune of Eternity and the Throne's functions - some parts of the system may be less secret than others.

 

[MrHobbit]

Dwarves are not immune to change.
All it takes is one dawi king to decide that this should be sworn to secrecy, for whatever reason, to make it into tradition as their heirs follow suit.
And that assumes it did not start out as a secret, widely known one, yes, but that's basicly all of runelore, or other guild secrets.

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Look, I'm not saying that the fact that the Throne of Power serves as an interface so the High King can play a 4x game isn't a secret. I'm saying that the project that needed massive runes be carved into mountains across the entire World's Edge and even beyond wasn't a secret.

Having your existence as a species being dependant on infrastructure that a single mage can severaly hamper is the type of thing you want to keep under your hat.

Belegar should have known about the jewels fuction.

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Wow you mean to tell me that the King of a Karak that hasn't been lived in for over two millennia didn't have a clear understanding of the relics of his ancestors? I am shocked. No, but seriously. The situation that Belegar is in is vastly different compared to that of the Old Holds. Trying to compare them is dishonest.

And you know what the other half of the species being dependent on infrastructure that a single mage can severely hamper is? A single mage can easily unhamper it. I would be shocked if Runelords couldn't tell the waystones to turn back on. Or failing that, the High King could use the Throne of Power to order it to turn back on.

 

[Valmond]

If Thorgrim is aware a single mage could crash the system than he is aware Mathilde is already in that position since she disconnected a stone north of Vlag to bring the hold back, you can deduce that much from questioning Snori who was there, Mathilde said 'a place north of here' would be necessary to bring the hold back. She could to the High King's knowledge right now find mountains linking to KaK in all directions and break the system past all ability to reconect in a matter of weeks. Not telling her the stakes when she is actually working on on the network and could cause outages intentionally as part of tests or accidentally if she breaks something would be insane.

I do not think he values 'the Ancestors should have prepared them better' over the survival of his people and I am willing to wager on that. Maybe that makes me a hopeless optimist, but so be it.

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I was more thinking of ancient High Kings deciding not to let anyone know that the network powers the life support system of their entiry species.
Sure, a very dedicated mage could go and blow up the network, but most wizards would not care to do it, but let people know about the Great Runes of Valaya, and suddenly every enemy of the Dawi has a burning desire to do just that.

 

[DragonParadox]

He may just tell us about the network but not about the Rune of Eternity and the Throne's functions - some parts of the system may be less secret than others.

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There is no reason for him to tell us about the network, we know about the network, we can tell him the passwords in elvish to turn off and on the stones if he wants confirmation, we can show him the proof that we have a stone to put more power into it. The reason to inform us about the rune of Valaya would be so we understand the stakes of messing with it

I was more thinking of ancient High Kings deciding not to let anyone know that the network powers the life support system of their entiry species.
Sure, a very dedicated mage could go and blow up the network, but most wizards would not care to do it, but let people know about the Great Runes of Valaya, and suddenly every enemy of the Dawi has a burning desire to do just that.

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But Thorgrim does know about the Rune of Valaya though which would imply that he trusts Mathilde with the proven ability to turn off the network (which he has to or he would have called for our head) but not with the knowledge of what the network is actually powering? He is meant to think that it is more safe for the person who can turn it off not know what they are turning off?

I hope this elucidates the irrationality of the position

And you know what the other half of the species being dependent on infrastructure that a single mage can severely hamper is? A single mage can easily unhamper it. I would be shocked if Runelords couldn't tell the waystones to turn back on. Or failing that, the High King could use the Throne of Power to order it to turn back on.

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I do not think there is anyway the Throne could turn a clogged Waystone back up, the connection it is using is the flow of magic, you cut that off and there is nothing to send signals to. Runelords knowing how to give the passwords are a strong possibility though

 

[MrHobbit]

I do not think thee is anyway the Throne could turn a clogged Waystone back up, the connection it is using is the flow of magic, you cut that off and there is nothing to send signals to. Runelords knowing how to give the passwords are a strong possibility though

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Look at how Karak Eight Peaks became reconnected to the Network. Belegar completed his crown and the nexus in Vala-Azril-Ungol reactivated. It did not send energy to Karaz-a-Karak until Belegar's crown came in range of the Throne of Power. That told Karaz-a-Karak's nexus there was energy to receive from Vala-Azril-Ungol.

Most of the mountains sending energy from Karak Eight Peaks to Karaz-a-Karak were already used by Karak Azul. It's the mountains that connected Karak Eight Peaks to those mountains that had gone unused. I can't think of a reason that Belegar's crown would have needed to come into range of the Throne of Power unless it was to tell it to reactivate the waystones to connect it to the network. I could be wrong though, but Thorgrim might also not know how to do it.

Azrilbezaz in range, said... something? Thorgrim had never seen that part of the readout used before. Synchronising. And in a sudden, deafening silence, the complaint klaxon of the falling power reserves that only Thorgrim could hear went silent for the first time in eighteen decades.

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[DragonParadox]

Look at how Karak Eight Peaks became reconnected to the Network. Belegar completed his crown and the nexus in Vala-Azril-Ungol reactivated. It did not send energy to Karaz-a-Karak until Belegar's crown came in range of the Throne of Power. That told Karaz-a-Karak's nexus there was energy to receive from Vala-Azril-Ungol.

Most of the mountains sending energy from Karak Eight Peaks to Karaz-a-Karak were already used by Karak Azul. It's the mountains that connected Karak Eight Peaks to those mountains that had gone unused. I can't think of a reason that Belegar's crown would have needed to come into range of the Throne of Power unless it was to tell it to reactivate the waystones to connect it to the network. I could be wrong though, but Thorgrim might also not know how to do it.

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The thing is we know the Crown alone could interact with the stones it made Waystones fall off the wall in the troll mountain, it seems odd then that it would need to come within range of the throne to turn on other linking Waystones. More likely it just informed the Throne that K8P was on line so it could start drawing power. That is not necessarily indication that the throne could deal with a blockage on its own

 

[Valmond]

But Thorgrim does know about the Rune of Valaya though which would imply that he trusts Mathilde with the proven ability to turn off the network (which he has to or he would have called for our head) but not with the knowledge of what the network is actually powering? He is meant to think that it is more safe for the person who can turn it off not know what they are turning off?

I hope this elucidates the irrationality of the position

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I don't think you could have missed my point better if you had intended to.
Having wizards, random or otherwise, with ability to turn of the network is a thing Thorgrim or other high kings, can do nothing about.
They can, however, not spread the knowledge that breaking that quite vulnerable piece of infra structure would destroy dwarves as a species, or at minimum Karaz Ankor as a polity (after all, Hashut is right there).

And if Mathilde starts to turn off the network, well, that's another matter to consider, and will necessitate a response of somekind.

 

[DragonParadox]

I don't think you could have missed my point better if you had intended to.
Having wizards, random or otherwise, with ability to turn of the network is a thing Thorgrim or other high kings, can do nothing about.
They can, however, not spread the knowledge that breaking that quite vulnerable piece of infra structure would destroy dwarves as a species, or at minimum Karaz Ankor as a polity (after all, Hashut is right there).

And if Mathilde starts to turn off the network, well, that's another matter to consider, and will necessitate a response of somekind.

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Yes, 'they' in this case just 'he' because we know only Thorgrim knows about the Rune of Valaya can certainly make things worse by not spreading the knowledge to the people who need it to make informed decisions about the magical infrastructure they are working with at this very moment. I choose to believe they are not idiots though.

The argument that 'random wizards' knowing how to turn off the network is not an existential threat to the Karaz Ankor is... odd to say the least. If it really was random the dwarfs would be so screwed because in any truly random sampling of wizards most are chaos worshipers who would not need a reason to block Waystones beside all the delicious Dhar

This would imply that Mathilde in particular is trusted to keep the secret from random wizards, which she has indeed done. I suubmit that if she has not told the Grey College she probably will not tell Hashut or his worshipers and Thorgrim knows and is counting on this.

That is at least what I am counting on as a first string for why he might be inclined to tell us, with the second being the implicit threat of schism.

 

[MrHobbit]

The thing is we know the Crown alone could interact with the stones it made Waystones fall off the wall in the troll mountain, it seems odd then that it would need to come within range of the throne to turn on other linking Waystones. More likely it just informed the Throne that K8P was on line so it could start drawing power. That is not necessarily indication that the throne could deal with a blockage on its own

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Why would it be odd? The crown interacts with the nexus of Karak Eight Peaks, the Karak it symbolizes the rule of. The waystones that transfer the magic are a broader effort, of the entire Karaz Ankor. The dwarf network functions very differently from the rest of the network, but there are still going to be certain similarities. Nexuses send energy. Karag Dum and its mountain-waystonse were sending magic forward despite not being connected to Karaz-a-Karak. Once Vlag returned, the energy flow was instantly restored, rather than needing the presence of some other object. Karak Vlag's nexus was just taken outside of reality, so it couldn't send energy forward. Karak Eight Peaks got turned off.

Once Karak Eight Peaks was back online, there are only two reasons why the energy it was collecting wasn't automatically being ferried to Karaz-a-Karak and thus filling the batteries. One, what I was proposing. That the interim waystones were off. Two, the interim waystones were on, but Karak Eight Peaks wasn't sending energy forward because it hadn't been told to. Both of these possibilities mean that the Throne of Power must be able to command waystones not sending energy forward.

I'm not sure what you mean by Troll Mountain. The warpstone (not waystones, I think) fell off off of walls on Kvinn-Wyrr. That seems to have just been caused by the nexus reactivating and the magic flow disrupting the warpstone's position on the wall.

I don't think you could have missed my point better if you had intended to.
Having wizards, random or otherwise, with ability to turn of the network is a thing Thorgrim or other high kings, can do nothing about.
They can, however, not spread the knowledge that breaking that quite vulnerable piece of infra structure would destroy dwarves as a species, or at minimum Karaz Ankor as a polity (after all, Hashut is right there).

And if Mathilde starts to turn off the network, well, that's another matter to consider, and will necessitate a response of somekind.

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If nothing else I think the fact that the Karaks have nexuses and that Karaz-a-Karak isn't connected to the network as a whole would make these hypothetical evil-doers wonder if the waystone passocodes that they have can do damage to the Dawi in some fashion all for a trek through to the mountains to telling a mountain with a lot of magic flowing through it to turn off.

Also the mountains can just... be turned back on?

 

[DragonParadox]

Why would it be odd? The crown interacts with the nexus of Karak Eight Peaks, the Karak it symbolizes the rule of. The waystones that transfer the magic are a broader effort, of the entire Karaz Ankor. The dwarf network functions very differently from the rest of the network, but there are still going to be certain similarities. Nexuses send energy. Karag Dum and its mountain-waystonse were sending magic forward despite not being connected to Karaz-a-Karak. Once Vlag returned, the energy flow was instantly restored, rather than needing the presence of some other object. Karak Vlag's nexus was just taken outside of reality, so it couldn't send energy forward. Karak Eight Peaks got turned off.

Once Karak Eight Peaks was back online, there are only two reasons why the energy it was collecting wasn't automatically being ferried to Karaz-a-Karak and thus filling the batteries. One, what I was proposing. That the interim waystones were off. Two, the interim waystones were on, but Karak Eight Peaks wasn't sending energy forward because it hadn't been told to. Both of these possibilities mean that the Throne of Power must be able to command waystones not sending energy forward.

I'm not sure what you mean by Troll Mountain. The warpstone (not waystones, I think) fell off off of walls on Kvinn-Wyrr. That seems to have just been caused by the nexus reactivating and the magic flow disrupting the warpstone's position on the wall.

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If the intermediary stones were off but the Nexus was on then there should have been a Dhar accumulation just on the other side of Death Pass at the first intervening Waystone in the time between the retaking of the Karak and Belegar reaching KaK since if magic is being collected but not passed on that is what it does. I think Mathilde would have noticed that.

 

[MrHobbit]

If the intermediary stones were off but the Nexus was on then there should have been a Dhar accumulation just on the other side of Death Pass at the first intervening Waystone in the time between the retaking of the Karak and Belegar reaching KaK since if magic is being collected but not passed on that is what it does. I think Mathilde would have noticed that.

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Why? It was a period of about eight days at the absolute highest. Belegar completed the crown and reactivated the nexus at the end of the Battle of the Caldera. Waaagh Birdmuncha was destroyed two days after that. Then they travelled to Karaz-a-Karak once that was wrapped up by gyrocopter. The Dwarfs would have made their network with the capacity to tolerate down-periods for repairs every now and then. Without needing to shut down wide sections of the network if one mountain is acting oddly. Hell, they gave the waystones the capacity to be turned off. Considering the runes are the size of mountains, a mere five days wouldn't be enough to repair anything if there were major faults in the waystone. If there was dhar accumulation, the dhar should have just been dragged forward with the rest of the energy. It was at most eight days. If I stretch things and say that it was a month, I would still be surprised if the dhar wouldn't just be... sent to Karaz-a-Karak.

I'm not even sure that Mathilde would notice it. The energy is burried far below the surface of the planet, and she didn't know to look for it. She also was a decade younger back then.

I also don't think the flow would be on the northern side of Death Pass. Karak Eight Peak's energy flow goes to the east of Karak Eight Peaks, joining Karak Azul's energy flow. That makes me extremely skeptical of the idea that the problem was with Karaz-a-Karak's energy reception, rather than Karak Eight Peak's energy sending.

For your study of the Waystone Network of the Karaz Ankor, you and Thorek have decided that the safest specimen would be where the flow from Karak Eight Peaks joins that of Karak Azul, directly south of Karaz-a-Karak and directly east of Karak Eight Peaks.

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[Dragonofelder]

An underground chamber, lit by lanterns, and containing numerous stone bookshelves. On them rest many tomes and scrolls, the majority seeming to be of great age. Tucked into a dark corner, on the highest shelf, sits a leather-bound book of relative newness. Written on the spine in gold lettering is the title: MAGDA WESSEN: CROWN OF THE GNOMI (2nd Edition)

---

SHOCK! HORROR! TRAGEDY! The GRAND KING of the GNOMI DOMAIN, THUDJIN GRUMTAKER, has been SLAIN by a COWARDLY ASSASSIN! With WAR in the DEEPS, the Gonmi must QUICKLY CHOOSE their NEW LEADER! Yet the DIVIDED STATE cannot choose a single candidate! As a POLITICAL COMPROMISE, a candidate none can HONOURABLY REFUSE is CHOSEN IN ABSENTIA: HONORARY GNOMI, MAGDA WESSEN!

Despite her MISGIVINGS and her LOYALTY to the HUMAN IMPERIUM, MAGDA DUTIFULLY ACCEPTS, and is crowned with the CIRCLET OF WYRMS! COMMANDING the GOMNI HOSTS, MAGDA is ADVISED by the MYSTERIOUS SIGILCRAFTER KRAGIM THORO and her FAITHFUL VASSAL, LORD BELEGOR HAMMERWIELD! Yet many Gnomi are DISPLEASED with her RULE, claiming no MAGE should sit upon THE ETERNAL CHAIR! Led by the FORMIDIBLE UNDIG STEELGRIP, this DISSENTING FACTION demand that MAGDA ABDICATE after CHOOSING, OR BIRTHING, an HEIR!

As the PERFIDIOUS RATSPAWN rouse their MONSTROUS CREATURES, and the MURDEROUS URKS gather their HORDES, MAGDA will have to BALANCE her LOYALTIES and her FRIENDSHIPS, least DESTRUCTION come to the UNDERLANDS! Will she FOLLOW her HEART, or HER SOUL?

---

Historical Note: After poor sales, the publishers of MAGDA WESSEN had CROWN OF THE GNOMI rewritten with a romantic subplot, removing much of the political drama the original version was derided for.

---

Turns out MAGDA WESSEN stories work better as spur-of-the-moment things, rather than planned. Fun.

Also @Boney, can this MAGDA WESSEN story be threadmarked?

Edit: And yes, I rewrote this a bit because there was no romance.

 

[DragonParadox]

Why? It was a period of about eight days at the absolute highest. Belegar completed the crown and reactivated the nexus at the end of the Battle of the Caldera. Waaagh Birdmuncha was destroyed two days after that. Then they travelled to Karaz-a-Karak once that was wrapped up by gyrocopter. The Dwarfs would have made their network with the capacity to tolerate down-periods for repairs every now and then. Without needing to shut down wide sections of the network if one mountain is acting oddly. Hell, they gave the waystones the capacity to be turned off. Considering the runes are the size of mountains, a mere five days wouldn't be enough to repair anything if there were major faults in the waystone. If there was dhar accumulation, the dhar should have just been dragged forward with the rest of the energy. It was at most eight days. If I stretch things and say that it was a month, I would still be surprised if the dhar wouldn't just be... sent to Karaz-a-Karak.

I'm not even sure that Mathilde would notice it. The energy is burried far below the surface of the planet, and she didn't know to look for it. She also was a decade younger back then.

I also don't think the flow would be on the northern side of Death Pass. Karak Eight Peak's energy flow goes to the east of Karak Eight Peaks, joining Karak Azul's energy flow. That makes me extremely skeptical of the idea that the problem was with Karaz-a-Karak's energy reception, rather than Karak Eight Peak's energy sending.

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I'll have to track down the quote for how long a stone could stay inactive with magic coming down the line in Mathilde's estimation when it's not so late for me, but I think 8 days is pushing 'might stay clogged' which would certainly be enough to be noticeable.

 

[Romv]

An underground chamber, lit by lanterns, and containing numerous stone bookshelves. On them rest many tomes and scrolls, the majority seeming to be of great age. Tucked into a dark corner, on the highest shelf, sits a leather-bound book of relative newness. Written on the spine in gold lettering is the title: MAGDA WESSEN: CROWN OF THE GNOMI

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SHOCK! HORROR! TRAGEDY! The GRAND KING of the GNOMI DOMAIN, THUDJIN GRUMTAKER, has been SLAIN by a COWARDLY ASSASSIN! With WAR in the DEEPS, the Gonmi must QUICKLY CHOOSE their NEW LEADER! Yet the DIVIDED STATE cannot choose a single candidate! As a POLITICAL COMPROMISE, a candidate none can HONOURABLY REFUSE is CHOSEN IN ABSENTIA: HONORARY GNOMI, MAGDA WESSEN!

Despite her MISGIVINGS and her LOYALTY to the HUMAN IMPERIUM, MAGDA DUTIFULLY ACCEPTS, and is crowned with the CIRCLET OF WYRMS! COMMANDING the GOMNI HOSTS, MAGDA is ADVISED by the SIGILCRAFTER KRAGIM THORON and her LOYAL VASSAL, LORD BELEGOR! Yet many Gnomi are DISPLEASED with her RULE, claiming no MAGE should sit upon THE ETERNAL CHAIR! They even DOUBT that her IMMORTAL SOUL was once a GNOMI, as was DECLARED by the COUNCIL OF ELDERS!

As the PERFIDIOUS RATSPAWN rouse their MONSTROUS CREATURES, and the MURDEROUS URKS gather their HORDES, MAGDA will have to BALANCE her LOYALTIES and her FRIENDSHIPS, least DESTRUCTION come to the UNDERLANDS!

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Turns out MAGDA WESSEN stories work better as spur-of-the-moment things, rather than planned. Fun.

Also @Boney, can this MAGDA WESSEN story be threadmarked?

Click to shrink...

But what about HER PASSIONATE HEART? This adventure is missing an AMOROUS HEARTTHROB to sweep OUR HEROINE off her feet!

 

[MrHobbit]

I'll have to track down the quote for how long a stone could stay inactive with magic coming down the line in Mathilde's estimation when it's not so late for me, but I think 8 days is pushing 'might stay clogged' which would certainly be enough to be noticeable.

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Centuries and millennia? Those weren't nexuses, but large portions of Sylvania's waystones were connected to Mordheim before it was destroyed. They then underwent centuries of degradation, before a good chunk of them were destroyed by vampires and necromancers under Mannfred and Konrad. Sure, those are waystones. But waystones are man-high rocks. These are mountains we're talking about.

We have an idea of how long it takes for the reactivation of waystones after periods of dormancy takes for it to be noticeable. That time period is decades. I don't see why the Dwarfs of the Golden Age would have built their waystones to be so vulnerable. If nothing else the fact that they survived the Time of Woes proves they didn't make them delicate.

"Why would it be faster after a long wait?" Elrisse asks. "Does it build up the energy to restore the connection while it waits for it to be restored?"

"That might make sense to a much lesser degree, but not this dramatically," Hatalath says. "If we're in the realm of decades for any noticeable difference, such a drastic build-up of energies over merely a week would be completely disproportionate."

Click to shrink...

 

[Dragonofelder]

But what about HER PASSIONATE HEART? This adventure is missing an AMOROUS HEARTTHROB to sweep OUR HEROINE off her feet!

Click to shrink...

Dammit, I have failed.

Eeeerrrrr.... give me a minute.