Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Rafin]

There's no direct equivalent. In Dwarf society, there's no intermediate step between the Grandmaster of a Guild and the King of the Karak.

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Do Grandmasters not permanently delegate with attached titles? Also, if Belegar's setup and power delegation is usual among Dawi kings, isn't Edda Grimbow, Steward of K8P an intermediate step in the hierarchy of the guilds? All but the local engineers, wizards and soldiers that is. And maybe the builders and stonemasons who seem to at least part time be under Dreng.

Possible. Hochland has a College.

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It does? Is it all fluffed out in lore or just a throwaway line in some book? If the former, where can I find out more? Fantasy institutions are my catnip.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

@Abby Normal The Vamp himself was an insanely dangerous unit. A Vamp Lord is straight up one of the most dangerous things in the entire TT.

Roswita would need the equivalent of multiple God Turns (like we had with the theoretical Bloodthrister fight) to put one down.

To go back to this for a moment I'd suggest it's something rather different based on the evidence.

Aethyric vitae is essentially the bare matter of the immaterium before being influence by anything it's essentially unreality in a pure untouched and uninfluenced state.

High magic isn't per se a state of magic so much as a structure imposed on the winds of magic to work in concert with each other. I don't think there is such a thing as a power stone of high magic. Teclis sword for instance is supposed to have a powerstone from each of the winds of magic rather than a Qhaysh stone containing all of them.

So the proposed set High magic -> Snake juice -> Qhaysh power stone, probably doesn't exist.

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Snake Juice Powerstone might effectively be a Qhaysh Powerstone, tho. It's one of the first things I thought that might entice Elfs with.

We'd need someone that can concentrate Qhaysh like we did for Ulgu and test if it expands into more Qhaysh, which is potentially revolutionary as it's my understanding that Qhaysh isn't actually stable by itself.

 

[Alectai]

Dragon bones would be a great staff material for Amethyst or Bright wizards, but I fail to see how it would be resonant with Ulgu.

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Also, I noticed this a moment ago but didn't respond right away.

Dragons are morphic to a certain degree. If the bone isn't attuned to Ulgu yet, it will be after we've worked on it a bit. Dragons adapt to their available source of energy, and their bones should retain a measure of that adaptability.

It is, again, literally the ideal wizard staff material, limited only in how rare dragons are and how difficult it is to get access to the bones of a strong one.

 

[Businessmanga]

The fact that it is in Sylvania makes it less unique than otherwise, honestly.

An Empire-threatening existential-grade undead hazard rolling out Sylvania every couple of decades is about right.

It would've been Fourth Vampire War, potentially.

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When we're giving our report we'll just neglect to mention that we're the butterfly flap that nearly set the 4th vampire war in motion, shall we? RIP Castle Drakenhof.

 

[Derpmind]

The... entire argument is that a flaw in the voting information has led to an uneven distribution in the voter-force, though?

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And I disagree with that argument, but I'm not invested enough to actually dive into the knife-fighting discussion about it. I was pretty hesitant to post anything aside from the vote I made yesterday.

 

[Prospalz]

He had a dragon-sized vampire bat, and an entire army prepared to defend him in case of Rosvita's invasion.

Highlighting how individually badass he is, that is one thing - but he had an army.

An actual no shit army. There is no undead army over there now.

 

[Martenzo]

Changing my vote from the ledgers.

[X] Books on Shyish and death gods.
[X] Proof of the 'College of Necromancy'.

-Uniqueness of benefit: Medium. Shyish lore is available from the College, and Death Lore is available from the cults. We just need to find someone willing to talk about cult secrets.

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I would add that this collection is also likely to have information and viewpoints on both Shyish and Death Lore that would be considered heretical by the college and the cults respectively. Stuff that they would refuse to share and promote internally, let alone to an outsider.

 

[primemountain]

@primemountain

Consider the argument won, there's no point discussing this given your side has won conclusively and had done so in the first 30 minutes and I don't have the time or energy left to discuss this further.

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Um, thank you. Usually people are more spiteful or bitter about it. Or they just fade away, disappearing for a while until it blows over. Conceding in public, even if it is due to votes and not having the time and energy to keep arguing is still an unusually honest, mature and responsible thing to do.

Real life comes first, everyone.

Thank you @SuperSonicSound for that display of how you should concede with grace, under unfavorable circumstances. I wish you well.

 

[Frvborg]

[X] Dragonbone.
[X] Proof of the 'College of Necromancy'.

 

[Alectai]

The fact that it is in Sylvania makes it less unique than otherwise, honestly.

An Empire-threatening existential-grade undead hazard rolling out Sylvania every couple of decades is about right.

It would've been Fourth Vampire War, potentially.

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Even Sylvania generally shits out a Vampire War every couple centuries, and they all sucked.

Three over the course of the 2000+ year history of the Empire, and we just averted round four. This one would have sucked even harder because it was being masterminded by a Necrarch instead of a Von Carstein--one who was aggressively expanding his sorcerous options and manpower. Fewer outright Vampires here, a hell of a lot more lesser casters--and because of that, a hell of a lot more intelligence assets and micromanaged undead.

 

[SuperSonicSound]

@Abby Normal The Vamp himself was an insanely dangerous unit. A Vamp Lord is straight up one of the most dangerous things in the entire TT.

Roswita would need the equivalent of multiple God Turns (like we had with the theoretical Bloodthrister fight) to put one down.

Snake Juice Powerstone might effectively be a Qhaysh Powerstone, tho. It's one of the first things I thought that might entice Elfs with.

We'd need someone that can concentrate Qhaysh like we did for Ulgu and test if it expands into more Qhaysh, which is potentially revolutionary as it's my understanding that Qhaysh isn't actually stable by itself.

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Qhaysh isn't a substance it's a style of magic spell. It's 8 winds of magic individually woven into a spell structure. I don't think there is such a thing as Qhaysh fluid. The Aethyric vitae is something else which is far more versatile in concept but even more difficult to make use of directly.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

We might be able to simply have the EIC buy up people's new macabre furniture after we crush the merchants and it rolls in.

 

[Abby Normal]

[X] Dragonbone.
[X] Proof of the 'College of Necromancy'.

 

[Prospalz]

Even Sylvania generally shits out a Vampire War every couple centuries, and they all sucked.

Three over the course of the 2000+ year history of the Empire, and we just averted round four.

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They all happened in a short timeframe of 2000-2145.

I am not undermining how bad these gets, every single one was an existential threat, but they do happen pretty often on history timescale, ever since Sylvania got fucked up and Vlad set an example.

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

Qhaysh isn't a substance it's a style of magic spell. It's 8 winds of magic individually woven into a spell structure. I don't think there is such a thing as Qhaysh fluid. The Aethyric vitae is something else which is far more versatile in concept but even more difficult to make use of directly.

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Yes, which is why it's inherently unstable, need need a Loremaster's full effort to do it.

I'm wondering, however, if you could sublimate it into pre-woven Qhaysh by exposing it to some, it seems sufficiently unique that Vitae might react to it specifically, as opposed to spitting out eight winds. Or just give something similar.

 

[Businessmanga]

God... It'll be wizard chic all over again. "Oh the dragon bones? We had a rough week of stringy food and needed some toothpicks so we smashed it all up!"

Thirty Years Of Hot Gluing Later

 

[wrecksalot]

Also, I noticed this a moment ago but didn't respond right away.

Dragons are morphic to a certain degree. If the bone isn't attuned to Ulgu yet, it will be after we've worked on it a bit. Dragons adapt to their available source of energy, and their bones should retain a measure of that adaptability.

It is, again, literally the ideal wizard staff material, limited only in how rare dragons are and how difficult it is to get access to the bones of a strong one.

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These Dragon bones have been marinating in Dhar for a while though, so keep that in mind.

 

[Alectai]

Anyway, there's my thoughts down. As nice as the trade ledgers would be, they're mostly just a 'Nice to have' thing. Dragonbone gives us suitable material to make a legendary staff to finish our panoply with, plus any other interesting benefits that might come out of studying it.

We have to balance "Support the Empire and its institutions" with "Acquiring the resources needed to continue doing our job as our profile raises higher and higher"

And a Great Deed means that we are on the map on a regional scale, I imagine.

These Dragon bones have been marinating in Dhar for a while though, so keep that in mind.

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If they were Dhar tainted, Mathilde wouldn't even consider looting them, you need to actually metabolize the energy before it changes properties, and dragonbone probably doesn't do that automatically.

We'd need to do something like build our Shadow Tower and sanctify it within it to get the impact.

 

[primemountain]

Yeah. Vamp lord Stats:
M 6
WS 7
BS 5
S 5
T 5
W 3
I 7
A 5
LD 10

Add up to a 100 points of Vampire powers, and a 100 points of Magic Items. That thing is nasty. I think this one might have had quickblood and master of the black arts. And I'm not sure, but his items either weren't on him, or the first hit took them out for long enough for the battle to end.

 

[Andres]

Similar problem to spacecraft fuel. You'll need magic to conceal the trap, then magic to conceal the magic to conceal the trap, then magic to conceal the magic to conceal the magic to conceal the trap...

Possible, but very time-intensive and aggravating.

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I think you should make it so that ulgu traps and such automatically hide from magesight as a lore attribute, otherwise it isn't fair. Starshine can beat Grey spells while Grey spells can't even beat low-level passive senses? If that's the case then Ulgu seems inherently weaker than blue magic, since not only does it lose at spell versus spell, it loses at spell vs no spell.

 

[Prospalz]

@BoneyM

How many Great Deeds The Bursar has, based on what we know of her in character?

 

[SCO]

Dragons are a deeply magical, diverse spellcasting species in Warhammer. Their bits are just pretty magic-conductive in general.

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The Nega-warhammer-dragon quest in the alternate reality must be a nightmare of 'rules of nature' memes.

The Wizards want to kill you for your bones.
The Necromancers want to kill you for your bones.
The Vampires want to kill you for your blood.
The Orcs want to kill you because it's a cool fight.
The Demons want to ego kill you to enslave you.
The Dwarfs want to kill you because your hoard is in 'their' mountains.
The Humans want to kill you because of some bitter bint on a lake says so.
The Lizardmen want to kill you because you're not in the 'great plan'.
The other Dragons want to kill you because RULES OF NATURE.
electric guitar shredding

 

[picklepikkl]

Thank you @Alectai for the heads-up about dragonbone uses. As an outsider to Warhammer lore, I didn't really get what might be special about it other than "some cool artifacts maybe?"

The ledgers and the Vampire books are my preferred grabs, but Dragonbone is now in third place.

 

[Boney]

Do Grandmasters not permanently delegate with attached titles? Also, if Belegar's setup and power delegation is usual among Dawi kings, isn't Edda Grimbow, Steward of K8P an intermediate step in the hierarchy of the guilds? All but the local engineers, wizards and soldiers that is. And maybe the builders and stonemasons who seem to at least part time be under Dreng.

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Theoretically, Clan Leaders, Guild Grandmasters, and the Council are all equally one step below the King. When the Council commands the Clans or the Guilds, they are doing so on behalf of the King, rather than with their own power.

Do Grandmasters not permanently delegate with attached titles? Also, if Belegar's setup and power delegation is usual among Dawi kings, isn't Edda Grimbow, Steward of K8P an intermediate step in the hierarchy of the guilds? All but the local engineers, wizards and soldiers that is. And maybe the builders and stonemasons who seem to at least part time be under Dreng.

It does? Is it all fluffed out in lore or just a throwaway line in some book? If the former, where can I find out more? Fantasy institutions are my catnip.

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The Hochland College of Sorcery in Hergig. It's very useful to extend the College's reach into the northeastern parts of the Empire, and as a place to send wizards who are embarrassing, politically inconvenient, or out of favour.

(it's not fluffed out that much in canon, but it's been part of Quest Canon since literally the first post)

@BoneyM

How many Great Deeds The Bursar has, based on what we know of her in character?

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Three that Mathilde knows of, and there's probably twice as many that are classified.

 

[10ebbor10]

No.

Because the QM explicitly said No to such plans.

I swear this update is a great showcase for how people don't read everything in an update.

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And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the UnHoly Vampire. Then, shalt thou count to two. No more. No less. Two shalt be the number thou shalt loot, and the number of the looting shall be two. Three shalt thou not loot, nor either loot thou one, excepting that thou then proceed to two. Five is right out. Once the number two, being the second number, be reached, then, skedadlded thou in thyne Holy Helicopter of Antioch away from thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, has snuffed it."