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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Sinsystems said:
You know I can just imagine a Grey Wizard instructor at the College, after the students have properly acclimatized to their Wind, taking students into the streets of Altdorf and basically going batman on criminals. Dealing with minor crimes and using it as a teaching opportunity for the students to allow them to practice some techniques in the field.

To the point where the City watch are completely used to hearing that a criminal gang has been decimated/arrested by a gaggle of young Grey Wizards.
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Mathilde was catwoman :V... Her alias was "meowthilde"
 
A new day and new pages of the Dwarf Player's Guide. This post'll only cover stuff from chapter 2. There's a lot of stuff here, so best to pace it out a bit.

Page 26 gives us a bit of extra detail on dwarven traditionalism.
Respect for tradition is also important, though circumstances for Dwarfs living among manlings have resulted in some degree of divergence from traditions held sacred by Karak and Norse Dwarfs. Still, the lack of respect for tradition is seen as a fault rather than its presence being considered a virtue.
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The length and fullness of a Dwarf 's beard (or hair, in the case of Dwarf women) is the primary indicator of age and wisdom a Dwarf has. The greyness in a Dwarf 's beard or hair is of lesser consideration as Dwarfs do not uniformly turn grey.
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New info on biology.

Page 27 adds a new dimension to why dwarves like hoarding treasure.
Dwarfs passing from the world leave much of their wealth to be divided among their kin and so pass it from one generation to another. In this way, a Dwarf 's hoard of treasure is not only a mark of wealth and security, but also a link to their revered ancestors of past generations.
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Page 28
Once given, a Dwarf 's word is unbreakable and binds the individual to that oath. As a result, Dwarfs are very reluctant to give their word on anything. When pressed on the matter, Dwarfs choose their words carefully, almost like they were a slick Altdorf litigant. Examples of a typical turn of phrase would be, 'I will do as you ask, unless something prevents me' or 'based on what you told me, I will do whatever is within my meagre abilities'.

Such equivocation has led to Dwarfs gaining an undeserved reputation for evasiveness.
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I don't remember dwarves being characterised like this before, though it makes sense. I bet they'd be good at bargaining with the fey.

Page 29
Chewing one's beard is a sign of deepest grief, such as the loss of a loved one.
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I think a possible expression would be "chewing your beard over spilled milk"?

Dwarfs place a great deal of import on the wisdom of their elders and the example of their ancestors. It is in their nature to pay deference to older members of their clan, and the Khazalid term Gnollen-grom, the respect due to a Dwarf by virtue of his impressive beard, helps illustrate the cultural importance of reverence for experience. A Dwarf Beardling who fails to show proper regard for a Longbeard soon earns a reputation as a Wattock (failure), Wazzock (fool), or Wanaz (one who cannot cultivate a decent beard).
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Khazalid.

Page 30, The Runesmith Clans
One of the more important clans, the Runesmiths are descendants of Thungni, Ancestor God and the younger son of Grungni and Valaya. [...]

All Imperial Dwarf Runesmith clan members are descended from the Thunder-stone clan of Karak Varn.
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This is confusing. First sentence looks like it's saying there's a single runesmith clan, but the second sentence is implying there's multiple clans. I'm also wondering why all Imperial runesmiths come from Varn.

Page 31 gives biology.
Dwarfs age more slowly than manlings, although the difference is not as great in the former's early years. Manlings become full grown between 16 and 18 years of age while Dwarfs do so between 18 and 20.
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That's a long-standing question finally answered.

An important event for Dwarfs is entry into adulthood where the young Dwarf is formally present to the clan in the rite of Kumenouht. Clans living in scattered communities usually wait until they gather on the Day of Remembrance to observe this rite of adulthood. Dwarfs reaching adulthood making an offering of a novice-piece which demonstrates the youngster's skill in the clan's craft and to honour the clan's ancestors and Ancestor Gods. Examples are a young Dwarf from a brewer clan offering a barrel of dark beer while one from a jewelsmith clan would present a piece of jewellery or cut gemstones. The clan elders then present the Dwarf with their first set of tools and insignia of the clan's craft guild. Newly elevated, young adult Dwarfs begin to establish their reputation within the clan. They are elevated from novice to apprentice, but continue to hone their craft with more senior clan members.
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Khazalid.

We also get some information on the limitation of career paths.
Young adult Karak and Norse Dwarfs who show limited aptitude within their craft have the option of joining their Dwarf hold's garrison or standing army.

Craft Guilds do not exist among Imperial Dwarf clans. In fact, due to the widespread distribution of some clans across several villages, Imperial Dwarf clans are not bound to a specific craft. Imperial Dwarfs from a brewing clan could opt to become a carpenter or soldier depending upon opportunity (and manling Guild rules).
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Page 32
Rarely does a Dwarf live beyond 400 years, but those that manage such a feat become Living Ancestors and are venerated both as being blessed by the Ancestor Gods and symbols of their clan's good fortunes. The vigour of Living Ancestors remains undiminished and contrasts sharply with the experience of very old manlings. Dwarfs resist referring to Living Ancestors as immortal, but it does seem that only injury or disease can threaten the life of a Living Ancestor. Dwarfs sometimes say that Living Ancestors are simply too stubborn to die.
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Seems the ones that hit 400 are the type to just keep going on afterwards.

Dwarfs dying of old age sense their stamina and strength fading, thus knowing their end is near.
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Information on how dwarfs can sense when they're close to dying. Pretty mundane in the end.

When death comes, the priest returns to take the deceased to the Temple of Gazul where it lies in repose for four days. The priest then inscribes runic protections on the body to ensure the spirit's safe arrival to the Hall of Ancestors and prevent the corpse from being used for necromantic purposes. At the end of four days, the priest entombs the body in the clan's burial vault with their personal items. He then reseals the vault with a rune to prevent any desecration until the next burial.

Priests of Gazul accompany Dwarf armies to administer death-rites to the fallen. Slain Dwarfs are buried on site when returning the fallen to the Dwarf hold is impractical. In such cases, only the bodies of Kings, Runesmiths, and Clan Elders are returned for burial.
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Gazulite rune magic and funerary practices.

Pages 6 and 33 present us with a contradiction!
A Dwarf 's sense of honour and shame far surpasses that of the haughtiest Imperial Knight. Even minor insults are never forgotten, set in the stone-like mind of the slighted party.
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Dwarfs who have a proficiency for literacy usually keep their own personal Book of Grudges to augment their memory of wrongs done to them.
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I guess the first one could just be literary exaggeration, in which case it's no problem, but there's enough people into Warhammer who confidently - reasonably, if incorrectly - say that dwarf memory is permanent, and I think it's because of text like that.

Page 33
The bloodthirsty Orcs and scheming Goblins have slain more Dwarfs and destroyed more Dwarf holds than all other species combined.
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No wonder dwarves don't have Hatred (Skaven) - they haven't hustled enough.

We also get examples of actual entries in a book of grudges.
A typical Book of Grudges has four columns: 'Grudge' (description of the wrong), 'Grudge Against' (naming the offender), 'Date of Grudge', and 'Date Satisfied'.
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Page 34
Long ago, Goblins destroyed Josef Bugman's brewery near Wusterburg in (then) Sudenland during the Master Brewer's absence. Upon seeing the ruins of the once full ale barrels, Bugman's anger erupted and he swore an oath to end the Goblin tribes responsible.
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Looks like it's ale barrels that Josef wants to avenge, not his family or anything.

In addition to the Book of Grudges, Clan Elders keep several other books for the clan. One such is the Book of Remembrance, a tome which lists the deeds and renown acts by the clan's ancestors and, where applicable, those of living clan members.

Like all other books in the clan's possession, there are many Book of Remembrance volumes. All current books are locked away in hidden, secured locations near the Clan Elder. Past volumes are kept in the extensive Dwarf hold librarians. In Imperial Dwarf communities, books of the past are safely stored in secured underground vaults in the closest Temple of Grungni.
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Books and where they're stored.

Page 35
Cult of Verena historians have made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain copies or review originals [of Books of Ancestor] for genealogical reasons, or so they say.
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I wonder what's up with this, both the desire and the reticence. Maybe it's something we could leverage if we want to open up negotiations with the Cult of Verena?

Many Dwarf holds maintain a herd of small, shaggy, tough mountain cattle bred from the great wild aurochs of the forested lowlands, whilst others domesticated mountain goats and sheep millennia ago. This livestock provided Dwarfs with meat, milk, pelts, and wool. In temperate climes this livestock is taken to high pastures from the month of Pflugzeit to the last week of Erntezeit, enabling the creatures to fatten up on nutritious mountain grasses. When the weather starts shifting to colder weather, the livestock return to partially underground shelters where a breeding stock is kept safe over winter. The rest of the livestock is slaughtered for meat, much of which is prepared as Kuri, heavily seasoned with spiced berries and smoked or boiled.

Dwarfs dwelling beyond Dwarf holds within Dwarf realms are often avid hunters. They supplement the meat from livestock by hunting game animals, both big and small, and birds. Snares are usually set to catch small game while hunting parties roam the mountains for deer, mountain goats, bear, and goat-antelopes.

Milk from livestock is generally converted to various cheeses (hard cheese, known as Chuf and prized for its ability to stay palatable on long journeys, but also soft, and crumbly varieties), cream, yoghurt, and butter. Dwarfs do not generally drink milk.Most crops grown by Dwarfs
are grains that go into the production of beer and bread. Fruits and vegetables are grown on ground not given over to grain production. Typically, Dwarfs like their meat with some bite to it. Lustrian hot peppers imported during the Golden Age are popular among Dwarfs for this reason. These crops are grown on sun-facing mountain terraces in the Vaults, Grey and Black Mountains and exported to Dwarf populations in the Worlds Edge Mountains and manling lands.
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Food lore is good lore, though I do wish it could say how the food producers fit into the whole Ancestor God craft culture.

Page 36 gives us more food lore.
Dwarfs found a way to stretch their grain reserves by developing a tough bread baked from a mixture of grain (including wild varieties) with pulverised rock they called 'rock bread'. Known as 'Dwarf bread' by manlings, rock bread has little nutritional value. Its purpose was to stave off hunger pangs and allow Dwarf warriors to carry on the fight.
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Rock bread isn't any kind of staple, it's just to get rid of hunger pangs.

Dwarf brewers produce both ales and lagers. [...]

Dwarf beers are one of the most important parts of their dietary regimen. Dwarf beers are so nutritious that aDwarf can solely subsist on it for weeks at a time. Dwarf beer is called gorog in Khazalid, and is particularly potent, though this troubles these hearty folk not at all. By and large, Dwarfs are inherently better than Manlings at holding their drink, and show far fewer adverse effects, even when consuming copious amounts. Dwarf hazkal is lighter than gorog, but only marginally less alcoholic, whilst grizdal is a term for potent ale that has been fermented for at least a century, and is considered the pinnacle of the brewer's craft. More than any other Dwarf, the abilities and foresight of brewmasters are essential to the health of any Dwarf settlement.
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We know what kind of booze that dwarves produce, the capabilities of dwarf drink, some Khazalid words, and that booze is important to a dwarf settlement's health.

Page 37 talks about dwarf law and has this little interesting bit:
Dwarf law has remained unchanged since the tenets were handed down by the Ancestor Gods.
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Law's been the same for thousands of years.

That brings chapter 2 to a close. I'll do other chapters later.
 
Sinsystems said:
I'd imagine that the supervisor would have a list of which gangs to not attack or at least only attack superficially so as not to give the game away.
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Fun though the image is, I dont't see vigilantism vs hardened Altdorf street gangs going so well for a band of Grey Apprentices, if we take Mathilde at quest start as a reasonable upper bound on the typical level of Grey Shenanigans possible.

Apprentice-level Magic Armour has its place, but Marsh Lights won't do a whole lot other than maybe serve as an alarm flare that you're in well over your head…
 
Andres said:
I guess the first one could just be literary exaggeration, in which case it's no problem, but there's enough people into Warhammer who confidently - reasonably, if incorrectly - say that dwarf memory is permanent, and I think it's because of text like that.
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My interpretation is that dwarves will never forget the fact that they have been wronged, but they still can forget the minute details and surrounding context of said wrong, which they will write down.
 
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DeusFerreus said:
My interpretation is that dwarves will never forget the fact that they have been wronged, but they can still can forget the minute details and surrounding context, which they will write down.
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Yeah; my take is that dwarf emotional memory is eidetic, but their explicit memory is not. So they will always, always, feel the sting of a hurt done to them as freshly as if it just happened, but they don't have perfect recall of every fact pertaining to the hurt, let alone perfect recall of everything else.

(This may be me projecting, as an all-star champion of Never Getting Over It For All Values of "It")

As a facet of psychology to build an alien culture around, I personally really like it. There's a lot of cool possibilities there, many of which Boney has explored in this quest (such as the barazul).
 
picklepikkl said:
Yeah; my take is that dwarf emotional memory is eidetic, but their explicit memory is not. So they will always, always, feel the sting of a hurt done to them as freshly as if it just happened, but they don't have perfect recall of every fact pertaining to the hurt, let alone perfect recall of everything else.

(This may be me projecting, as an all-star champion of Never Getting Over It For All Values of "It")

As a facet of psychology to build an alien culture around, I personally really like it. There's a lot of cool possibilities there, many of which Boney has explored in this quest (such as the barazul).
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An alternate possibility that strikes me is that a dwarf's personal memory may be indelible, hence both their memory of slights and great care with any form of vow or oath, but the books serve the role of supplementing their cultural memory. Ensuring information exists not just perfectly within one mind, but is passed down whole and intact from each generation to the next.
 
The thing they never talk about with stonebread is what it does to the plumbing. Like, there's only so much rock sludge you can pour down a toilet before it cements itself shut forever.

Maybe it's a campaign-only sort of food?

It feels like dwarves are getting the logistics bonuses that most species do, with the small amount of acreage needed to feed a dwarf. There's just isn't a lot of good land in mountains for agriculture or herding, so feeding everyone with a small amount of land and a very small relative percentage of the population dedicated to it is v fantasy.
 
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