On the topic of "Bad outcomes that the Waystone Project managed to dodge", let's have a moment to think about how bad things
could have gotten if we
hadn't managed to get an answer from Thorgrim about what the Karak-Waystones were doing.
If Belegar was still believing that Thorgrim was
stealing energy from the other Karaks, then Belegar's political strategy and goals might have been to get Waystones for Karak Eight Peaks and/or all the other Karaks and Dwarf Kings, but not for Karaz-A-Karak. He might have moved to isolate Thorgrim from the other Kings. He might have openly, or behind closed doors, sought to denounce Thorgrim as an energy-thief.
And the trouble with being told you are wrong by people who see only part of what you are doing, or see only the
negative consequences of your actions, is that
it can make you dig your heels in more. If Kragg or Thorek had told Belegar to cut it out, Belegar might have concluded that they were telling him to not do this because
they believed the consequences of a schism in the Karaz Ankor were worse than the consequences of allowing Thorgrim to keep stealing energy. Whereas Belegar would have thought that the consequences
were worth it; a High King should not act dishonorably and steal from his fellow Kings, and leave those fellow Kings to die against a Waaagh! What kind of unity of the Karaz Ankor is
that?
Everyone in that hypothetical debate would have been operating off of slightly different information or priors, while still having the overall goal of "the benefit of the Karaz Ankor and the Dwarfs as a whole". That's
why the hypothetical schism would have been so bad!
And if Thorgrim had, in such circumstances, been forced to admit what the energy was doing... would Belegar have been willing to
believe him then? Would Belegar have been willing to back down even if he did believe him? Belegar would have staked his word and honor on an incredibly schismatic stance; Belegar would also have then been
swarmed and denounced by a bunch of naysayers. Think about how bad it can feel to be dogpiled on the internet, then multiply that by it being in real life, and coming from ancient and revered institutions, celebrities, and political and religious figures, and the rulers of nations. If you don't buckle in to the pressure, then you get even more defensive and more dug into your position.
Let's say Belegar
was willing to believe Thorgrim
and Belegar was willing to de-escalate from that. How much would
that have sucked, to feel? How bad do you feel about making what you thought was the most important accusation in the Karaz Ankor, only to realize you were so crucially wrong? And that if you had potentially proceeded to not send power to Karaz-A-Karak, you might instead have
doomed the Dwarf race? How much would the other political and religious figures have distrusted or lost opinion for Belegar? How much would that have affected his ability to govern or do Dawi politics? And as a result of those difficulties, how good a King could Belegar be for his Hold? And also as a result of the stress of being wrong, and the embarrassment and shame of fucking up in public like that, how hard would and stressful would it have been for Belegar to do a good job as a King? It's already a high-stress job; how much worse does it get if you fuck up and fall on your face publicly and epically?
The schism didn't need to happen in 1 year 5 years or even 10 years. Belegar might have approached it with the speed of a Dwarf; getting all his ducks in order and only moving when he thought it was a chance. It might have happened
after Mathilde died -- either of old age or just of a random battle. Belegar might have left it to his descendants, in some big book of grudges, if he thought he couldn't do it himself in time. Or maybe Belegar would have thought that the completion of the Waystone Project would have been the best and most appropriate time to start things off. In which case, he probably would have turned to his reliable friend and advisor about
how to do it, and Mathilde and us would have been stuck with trying to write-in some argument for Belegar to not do it or to delay it or to find some off-ramp.
But all that didn't happen, because we investigated the Waystones and Nexuses and Karak-Runes, and talked to Thorek a bit, and decided to have Belegar write to Thorgrim (rather than one of the other options, who knows how well it would have gone, maybe worse, maybe better), rather than to remain silent.
Sometimes remaining silent and not taking an action, avoids trouble. Sometimes it
guarantees trouble 2 or 20 years down the line, of a kind you don't realize were a problem.
So, yeah, the Waystone Project and Problems. The Belegar thing wasn't just a touching and important personal moment, a character beat for a personal story and character we have been friends with for a long while. It was something that headed off a very horrible potential problem.
We have other potential problems and minefields ahead of us. Nordland and Middenland. Nordland's prosperity in general maybe? Nobody wants to see a country (and each province is effectively ruled by a sovereign king, so, it's a state or country) lose prosperity and turn to shit (if it gets that bad or not, dunno if it will). Nobody wants to see an Ulrican religious schism or conflict much either. Nobody really wants to see internal Isolationist-or-Not-Isolationist Laurelorn politics blow up either. Nobody wants to see a Druchii-Eonir-Asur blow-up either; maybe Marrisith keeps trying to play coy with the Druchii and Ulthuan at the same time, thinking to get paid by both or whatever, or maybe the Druchii appeal to the isolationists of Laurelorn in order to spike the Waystone Project.
Ah. That'd be a sucky thing to have happen. The Isolationists being irked enough to listen to the Druchii, or to otherwise cause trouble; because they're just people who want to remain relevant and wealthy and to continue to have a slice of the pie that is Laurelorn. And if their rivals are growing the pie
and getting pieces of the bigger pie -- while they aren't -- then that is very bad for them. And they don't necessarily have a way of getting pieces of the pie by becoming not-isolationist either! What if some houses or institutions simply
don't have a great way to expand or open new enterprises or gain power that involves trade with the Empire or expansion outside?
Fortunately, that sort of thing is more Queen Marrisith's responsibility, not our's alone. We don't have thousands of years of Man-Dwarf history and familiarity to draw on, we don't have years of friendship with Dwarfs we fought on a campaign with to draw on, and we also entered into this project with a "Fake it till you make it?" perspective sooo.
We
could make it our responsibility, to get to know the Eonir more. They
do have a bunch of wizards, a bunch of knowledge, a bunch of wealth. They also might wind up impacting the politics or geopolitics of the Empire or the Old World, in future decades to come. And we have a unique in that other people wouldn't; we were the woman in charge of organizing the Waystone Project... and then delivering on the project. In
five years. 2 years of organization and recruitment, and 3 years of work. ((Sometimes, it's amazing to think how fast things can happen. 7 years to free Sylvania; most of that being crucial build-up and stomping on problems that would prevent us from being able to grow ourselves or prevent us from solving the
actual problems; then a few months or years of campaigning to get so much of it done so fast. ... Of course then Roswita had to keep stomping on Sylvania for several years
afterwards; and the Strigoi rolling a nat 1 while the Stirlanders rolled a 40, helped a ton. And now it'll take years or decades for Sylvania to get Waystones and Tributaries before it gets to the level of "Maybe like the other provinces of the Empire" but still! I like to think of it as "7 years to free Sylvania", yeah? Because those were the years we were there for. Though we did come back
with a fucking steelchair to elbow drop a Necrarch, so.))
((Then, a few months of travel and a few weeks of battles to free the first Peak of Karak Eight Peaks and then 3 years to free the rest of Karak Eight Peaks; ~4 years to fortify it with the help of Karaz-A-Karak's Okral and to get ready to rescue Karak Dum and incidentally rescue Karak Vlag; and now 2 years to set up and hire people and 3 years to create Waystones. And then probably a year or two of post-Waystone completion in order to round everything up, sand off the edges, maybe set a few values or or ground goals or just a direction for how to proceed afterward, and then we see what comes of it.))
... Oh, heh. After writing that last sentence, about how we might spend a few more turns at the Waystone Project or in Laurelorn in general to polish stuff up or to set directions or whatever, I just realized a possible future path for Mathilde to remain involved with Laurelorn in an official capacity;
as part of Empress Roswita Van Hal's diplomatic outreach to the Eonir. And/or to the Karaz Ankor. Or even to Kislev or other nations, too.
Imagine if Roswita becomes Empress in a decade or whatnot. Imagine if she calls us in to help her out, or if she needs an in to the Eonir. Imagine if Mathilde joins that. -- Working for a Van Hal again. In a position that builds off of, or touches upon, everything that we had worked on previously; Stirland, the Karaz Ankor, and Laurelorn. Magic and diplomacy. Like a book-end to where we started our life, while taking into account all the parts of the journey that we took over the course of it.
I wonder if we should look into interning under Algard? For in case he wants to retire, or if he wants/needs to hand over the reigns to some successor, and we want to get some experience at that? And to make sure that Mathilde isn't totally thrown into the depths of Collegiate politics and having to hit the ground running on both the College
and her other jobs too? Or if we should just keep it to whatever job Mathilde takes, rather than trying to help run the Empire by being a Magister Matriarch. Though being a MM would be a hefty status when it comes to being part of the running of the Empire as a whole. Though we
are a Wizard Lord already so it's not necessary. And being in charge of the Grey Order would mean having a huge job all its own, hoof. Though if Starke becomes Magister Patriarch... that'd be annoying. Maybe just personally annoying or odious to Mathilde, maybe to the thread or maybe not. And he might be the sort to want to seek political power. Maybe. We barely know the guy outside of a wiki entry really. Who knows. Anyway. ... ... Algard should just remain Magister Patriarch forever. He's done it for like 2 decades so far, why not another 2 or 3 decades? We're happy with him as a leader, or at least have no complaints, so we should just keep things like that forever.
