Collection of Important Information
QUEST MECHANICS
HISTORY AND LORE
Seems a good enough reason to do a Sylvania 101 for the uninitiated.
Once, there was a province called Sylvania, a peaceful little backwater. Then in the year 1111, bad things happen. That the Black Plague hit Sylvania harder than anywhere else, wiping out nine in ten of the population, was only the start. A shower of warpstone meteorites then fell upon the land, poisoning the soil, killing off most of the few survivors, and causing the very numerous dead to stir in their graves. Then it attracted the attention of the Skaven, the innumerable hordes of ratmen that value warpstone above all else. Sylvania seemed lost.
Then Baron Frederick Van Hal saved and doomed Stirland. Previously a devout Morrite, he either discarded his obedience to the God of Death or found a heretical new way to express it when he embraced the art of Necromancy, rallying all the unquiet dead of Sylvania to his banner. He also writes the Liber Mortis, a big guide to Necromancy that'll come back into play later. For years the equally innumerable hordes of the rats and the dead fought to a standstill, until Frederick Van Hal's apprentice assassinated him, shattering his control over the undead. Then the Emperor of the time, Mandred who would become known as Skavenslayer, swept in at the head of an army and put the remaining rats to the sword.
Skip forward seven hundred years. Sylvania is a terrible place to live but it's still theoretically under the control of actual humans. It is ruled by the sickly and half-insane Otto von Drak, who lies on his deathbed in Castle Drakenhof knowing that his hated brother Leopold is soon to inherit his lands as his only child is an unmarried woman, Isabella. Quoth he: "I'd rather marry my daughter to a daemon than let Leopold inherit!"
Someone knocks on the door. The door opens. Nobody opened it. It just opened. In strides Vlad von Carstein. Vlad recites his lineage and offers to marry Isabella von Dark. Otto von Drak is as good as his word and has his chaplain marry the two, and immediately drops dead. Vlad then throws Leopold out of a window, because that's how he rolls. Also, he's a vampire. Did you see that coming?
Sylvania enters a... golden age? It's certainly peaceful. Sure, there's a bunch of zombies around, but they don't attack anyone as long as you swear fealty to the Count. Okay, the Count is certainly odd, only going out at night and never eating and being super pale and all. And yeah it appears to be contagious because suddenly all the other nobles of Sylvania are showing the same symptoms. But hardly anyone gets eaten by zombies any more, and he's more tolerable than the von Draks were. Vlad and Isabella rule hand-in-hand, madly in love. Temples close down. Morr worship is banned. If anyone notices that it's been two hundred years and Vlad still looks as young as the day he knocked on the doors of Castle Drakenhof, they keep their comments to themselves. Witch Hunter go in to investigate, none of them come out. Mordheim is destroyed by a warpstone meteorite, and Vlad sends agents to gather up as much as they can.
The year is now 2010. It's the middle of the Age of Three Emperors. The Empire is divided and every Count seems to think they've got it in them to be Emperor. Vlad thinks: why not me? Time for the First Vampire War. Using the warpstone gathered from Mordheim, Vlad performs a massive ritual that raises every corpse in Sylvania. And Sylvania has a lot of corpses.
He leads his undead army into battle. He invades Middenland. He's killed in Middenland. He comes back. He invades Middenland. He's killed in Middenland. He comes back. This is super demoralizing for everyone but Vlad. Middenland falls. He invades Ostland. He's killed in Ostland. Can you guess what happens next?
Forty years of vampire yo-yo later, Vlad is marching on Altdorf. The Emperor (well, Reikland's contender for the title) sends a thief to steal Vlad's signet ring, which is filled to the brim with regenerative magic. Vlad isn't happy, and immediately orders an assault on the walls. The climax of the battle is atop Altdorf's walls, where the Grand Theogonist fights him with hammer and prayer. The Grand Theogonist is losing, and then tackles Vlad off the walls. They fall together and land on a wooden stake at the base of the walls, and without his ring, Vlad is finally, properly, permanently dead.
...probably.
Isabella von Carstein throws herself on a stake, unable to live without Vlad, and now she too is permanently dead.
...probably.
The Reikland Emperor thinks that now the time is right to invade Sylvania and put an end to the vampire menace once and for all. The other Emperors think this would make him too popular, so they team up and threaten to go to war on him if he does. Politics ruins everything.
Meanwhile, back in Sylvania, the heirs of Vlad are eyeing each other up suspiciously. There's five, but keep an eye on two of them: Konrad and Mannfred. The other three are out of the way pretty quick. One tries to copy Vlad and invades Middenland, but forgets to come back to life after he's killed. Another is goaded into a fight by Konrad, who is an insane murderbeast, and torn apart. The third of the also-rans is slain by a Witch Hunter named Helmut Van Hal. Where have we heard that name before?
The year is 2094. Sylvania Thunderdome ends when Mannfred wanders off. Konrad is the new undisputed ruler of Drakenhof, Sylvania, and the von Carsteins, and decides to kick of the Second Vampire War. His incompetence as a general was matched only by his prowess as a murderbeast. He basically wandered around at random and fought everyone he found, laying waste to huge swathes of the Empire and a significant chunk of Zhufbar, including killing the King of Zhufbar. An attempt by the feuding Emperors to unite against him is stymied when two of them simultaneously assassinate each other while battling on the same side against the undead hordes. Konrad's attempt to put a patsy on the throne is foiled because the patsy was literally a zombie. It turns out staring vacantly into space while your skin peels off is a poor strategy for gaining political support.
At this point, everyone hates Konrad more than they hate each other, and in 2121 a united Empire/Dwarf army stomps Konrad's into the ground. Konrad tries to slink off to go sulk, but the son of the would-be Zombie Emperor stabs him repeatedly with a Runefang, permanently killing him.
...probably.
Less than a year later, Mannfred returns. Mannfred is often described as 'cunning', because it sounds more impressive than 'compulsive betrayer'. He spends a decade gathering an army to him and in 2132, the Third Vampire War kicks off when Mannfred leads an army to Altdorf. The Grand Theogonist of the time pulls the Liber Mortis out of the vaults and it turns out there's a spell of Making All The Zombies Fall Apart. Mannfred runs off with his tail between his legs, but he doesn't know when he's beaten because he leads what remains of his army to besiege Marienburg. Hey, people who know anything about military strategy: is it a good idea to just leave a fortified army in your wake?
Mannfred barely manages to flee at the head of his army just before the Altdorfian one can sandwich it against the walls of Marienburg. For twenty years he leads his army in a constant retreat from the many armies chasing him, often running back to Sylvania to restock on undead minions. Finally the divided factions of the Empire have had enough, and they send an envoy to the Dwarves who have also had enough, and a combined Empire/Dwarvern army meets with Mannfred and his army in Hel Fenn. The undead army is crushed, and when Mannfred tries to flee, the Count of Stirland chases after him on a griffon, slicing massive chunks out of him with a Runefang until his mutilated corpse sinks below the marshes, where it will lie forever.
...probably.
If there is a moral of the story, it is this: necromancy makes you stupid.
The year is now 2145. The Empire spends the next fifteen years scouring Sylvania, rooting out a lot of the vampires but thoroughly alienating the people of Sylvania, who were sad that they got a taste of a fraction of the suffering that their vampire overlords delivered to the rest of the Empire time and time again. Cry me a river, Sylvania. It ceases to exist as a province, being annexed by Stirland.
But though the main line of von Carsteins have (probably) been wiped out, Sylvania is still a land of darkness and undeath. Necromancers, cadet branches of the von Carstein lineage, and vampires of other bloodlines abound. Drakenhof still rings with screams nightly, and even today it remains unlooted because of the terrible things that happen to everyone that intrudes upon it.
Sylvania is a powderkeg that explodes into zombies instead of fire, and periodically executing anyone who might start lighting metaphorical matches is the unenviable burden of the Elector Count of Stirland.
So, a big part of provincial legitimacy in the Empire comes from 'these are the lands of our people since the time of Sigmar and before'. The modern province of Reikland, for example, lines up fairly well with the borders of the Unberogen tribe. Stirland with the Asoborns, Talabecland with the Taleutens, Averland with the Brigundians, Hochland with the Cherusens, Ostermark with the Ostagoths. Middenland started with the land of the Teutogens and absorbed the lands of the Thuringians after the destruction of Drakwald, and Wissenland started with the land of the Merogens and absorbed the lands of the Menogoths after the destruction of Solland. So far, so simple.
Cast your eyes north, however, and you encounter a big chunk of land with no tribal claimant. The part of it that's Laurelorn makes sense, but why's there nobody in the Forest of Shadows? It's scary as fuck, sure, but so was the Drakwald. Who lives there?
See the part labelled 'Jutones'? They're the people that would become known as the ancestors of Nordland. They're not in Nordland at the time of this map because they're busy fighting with the Endals over what we know as Marienburg and the Wasteland. Then it was known as Marburg, and the Endals say it was founded by King Marbad as the capital of Weysterland, and the Jutones say it was founded by King Marius as the capital of Jutonsryk. Okay, this is easy enough to explain, right? The Jutones lost, went east into the terra nullius of the Forest of Shadows, and founded Nordland. Bam, easy.
Not quite. They weren't settling the Forest of Shadows, they were returning to it. Let's talk about the Was Jutones.
In most sources, 'Was Jutones' is treated as just another name for the Jutones, but there's a clear demarcation between the two. When King Marius led the Jutones west on their ultimately doomed attempt to settle the unforested lowlands, not everyone followed him. Those that remained in the Forest of Shadows became known as the Was Jutones, and their name should be on that big unlabelled chunk. But when the apostate Jutones were finally driven off by the Endals and had no choice but to return in ignominy to the Forest of Shadows, they did not cut right through Laurelorn to do so, because the Eonir were still in 'warning shot to the face' mode. They travelled along the Great North Road in the lands of the Teutogens and via Middenheim. When the Jutones returned to their Was Jutone kin, they did not do so as humbled penitents. They did so as conquerors in the name of their new God, Ulric. Some submitted while others fled east, splitting the Was Jutones in half: those of what would become Nordland, and those of what would become Ostland.
The Was Jutones became a footnote in the victor-written history of Nordland, and one that was written as small and as rarely as possible, lest it undermine the legitimacy of Nordland's Jutone-descended rulers.
CLARIFICATIONS AND COLLATED INFORMATION
THREAD-CANONICAL MAPS
Grand Avenue and Major Underway Branches of Karak Eight Peaks:
Does not show smaller underground paths or natural or unnatural tunnels dug by Night Goblins or Skaven.
Towards the end of the War for Karak Eight Peaks:
With thanks to @vsh
Marked in red are the Silk Roads. Marked in blue are the possible routes of the Expedition.
Projection for trade routes once Zhufbar's Black Water-Aver canal and Karak Kadrin's Talabec-Stir canals are completed, as of late 2486. Blue is water links, green is secured overland or underground links, red is currently unsecured overland links.
More detailed map of Karak Vlag's links to the Karaz Ankor, including speculative canal links in purple.
OTHER / META
It's definitely something that I keep in the back of my mind, like when the thread votes to do something that would be unexpected to someone who didn't follow the debate I make sure to summarize the thought process in Mathilde's internal monologue. I also make sure to add links in the updates to tallies and sneak-peaks and in-thread dicerolls that don't have threadmarks of their own so that people who are reading the threadmarks can dip into thread reactions to major events. My main priority is the thread experience for those actively engaged in it, but it is important to me to keep the quest accessible for people who come in late or people who only read the updates, because that's how I engaged with quests before I started writing one. A valuable part of the quest format is that I get a lot of feedback, not just directly from people asking me questions but also from watching people discuss things or ask questions of each other. That shows me where things have been unclear or confusing, and I've gone back and made tweaks to early parts of the quest for clarity in response to discussion a few times.
For this situation specifically, part of the quest format means that you don't have anywhere near as much control or forewarning over what's going to happen as someone writing traditional prose, and that means that you don't get the suite of tools that prose uses to build dramatic tension. The set-up to the talk with the Chamberlain would have had a lot more of a payoff if Mathilde had chosen to firmly take one side or the other, but the thread voting to take the middle road meant that it did end up being a 'pretty much nothing'. Another good example of this is the death of Gotrek. A lot of people don't like the way this came across, and I think a big part of that is that it lacked all the signposting that people have come to expect from character death. if I was writing prose and had decided to kill off Gotrek in advance I could have emphasized the rough terrain and built tension around how the Expedition was approaching the worst of it and had Gotrek show Mathilde a picture of his family and talk about how he's three weeks from retirement or whatever. But the thread decided what Mathilde focused on, and she was focused on getting to know the Expedition's leaders and poking at landmarks like Karak Vlag and Uzkulak and the Combes, and the dice decided how well the steamwagons managed the switchbacks. If Mathilde had gone out scouting with the Knights she might have seen a lot more of the terrain and she might have been a bit more nervous on the approach to the switchbacks. But while that would have been a good set-up for a major accident, it also would have been a big nothing if butterflies meant everyone got up without a hitch.
Another example: Karak Vlag was being set up as a difficult choice to be made or as a raising of the stakes for Karag Dum, but I had missed that with the metaphysics I'd established, it was in Mathilde's power to just clog the flow and bounce Vlag back into reality. But the thread didn't miss it, and it'd be a major disservice to the quest to not reward that level of engagement with the world I'd built. Likewise, the food. Moockery of Death torpedoed a great deal of set-up about food concerns and ideas I'd had about having to live a lot more off the land. I'd even done some preliminary research on cattle raiding and edible wild grains that grow on steppes. But while it was a misstep in the quest as prose, it's bloody brilliant in the quest as a quest. It's part of the trade-off of the format.
Personally I'd argue that all this is a point in questing's favour. It's more realistic that a protagonist, and thus the quests PoV, might get nervous over something that turns out to be nothing, or be completely blindsided by major events. But people are used to more traditional story beats where foreshadowing is always significant because if it wasn't an editor would have cut it, and if it does make it in its in service to a larger story beat or character development. Hitchcock's 'bomb under the table' is cited as gospel by a lot of people, and while it's a great way to achieve a specific objective, I think it's gone a bit too far and now people see the bomb going off without the audience being forewarned as a storytelling sin. In most movies if a bomb's about to go off, even if the audience isn't shown it they know something's about to happen because the music is tense, or the sound is rising, or the camera angles are too close or changing too rapidly. In books, it will often switch to a drier third person omniscient and the moment the narration starts giving you times to the minute you know shit's about to go down. While this is good for setting up the mood, it does mean there's that much more separation between viewer and protagonist. I'm far from the first to make this observation, either - a lot of parodies have skewered this with things like a character realizing something is wrong because the background music just changed or whatever.
I personally am not really that much of a fan of written action for its own sake, so outside of the rare times I can vividly picture a scene I don't try to make the action itself the focus. Instead I use the action as a means to an end. If the fight is against someone that isn't a major part of the story, then I usually use it as an opportunity to give the reader an insight into either the protagonist or who they're fighting alongside - most obviously a display of their skill level, but also a look at how they act during a fight and how they react to the events unfolding. The duel in Norsca is a good example of this - there wasn't much mileage in whoever the Norscan champion would be as the group had only been introduced shortly before and were unlikely to be relevant to the story for long, so I put the focus on Asarnil, showing off not just his skill level but also his pride, his disdain, and a bit of his religious beliefs. If the fight is against an established character, then I treat the combat as an interplay between characters. As @Tasoli so thoroughly and gratifyingly explored, the duel between Mathilde and Alkharad is an example of this.
Similar dynamics apply to larger-scale combat. It can be harder to keep track of so many moving parts, but the scale of it gives you the opportunity to choose what the spotlight will be on and having so many characters involved means there's almost always something juicy to be found. It also allows you to make the combat the terrain that characters try to navigate to achieve their objectives, instead of an obstacle that must be overcome to get back to pursuing their objectives. When possible I try to make it so that there's objectives and opportunities in large battles beyond simply winning.
Interestingly, the quest format transforms the normal dynamics of writing action scenes in some fairly unique ways. Some people don't like that the action is dictated by random chance instead of being chosen and crafted by the author for maximum narrative impact, but I find it very compelling that the results are in the hands of fate instead of author fiat. A writing format like this can make it hard to suspend disbelief because everyone who's voting and debating is elbow deep in the mechanics of the story instead of passively watching it unfold, but action scenes dictated by dice don't need suspension of disbelief to get invested in. Unless you suspect the QM of fiddling the dice, that is - which is part of why I roll major dice in a way that can't be fiddled. The challenge is in writing something that works well both 'live' when the active questers don't know what's about to happen, and also during a reread when you have to make the vagaries of fate work convincingly in-universe.
Why start at the beginning at all? Most of the time when I'm about to write something I've got a particular scene in mind that I can see very clearly, and I start writing that. That will usually either flow onwards naturally or inspire another strong scene that I can write. At the end of that you still have to write that beginning, but it's a lot less intimidating when it's just putting a scaffold around an existing collection of scenes than when it's a completely blank page.
And if all else fails, just skip the beginning altogether and start with that strong scene, in medias res. Look at the first line of the most recent update:
I didn't start with them discussing when they should begin the experiment or them walking into the room together or any of that sort of framework. It starts at the interesting part, Egrimm putting forward his first theory, and goes from there, and if the reader is concerned with where the scene is or how the characters got there it's easy for them to extrapolate.
The one before that:
I didn't write about Belegar getting that invitation or getting into a gyrocopter and heading to Karak Eight Peaks or any of that. I started with Belegar speculating about what this business is all about moments before he enetered into the revelation room, and used the italicized sentence fragment to give the reader enough information to catch up.
The one before that:
Mathilde explaining the situation to Stanislawa would have been tedious to write and boring to read, so I just didn't. The first spoken sentence is her already having all of that explained to her and giving her response to it, which is the part in that conversation where things get interesting.
When you're writing inside an existing fandom, readers only need a few hints to be able to catch up to a running start.
To streamline the existing de facto system of metaphysical limitations, I've codified a hard limit of how many enchantments Mathilde can carry upon her person.
Melee Weapon: Branulhune
Ranged Weapon: Runed Revolvers
Staff/Banner: Staff of Mistery
Protective: Robes of Aethyric Armour
Healing: Seed of Regrowth
Talisman: Belt of the Unshackled Mountain
Social: Ranald's Coin
Activated 1: Candle of Cleansing Radiance
Activated 2: Grounding Rod
Activated 3: Dragonflask
- The Weapon slots can each be filled with a matched pair of weapons, such as dual pistols or a sword and dagger. They must be intended to be used together.
- Any item that directly makes Mathilde more able to take a hit must be in Protective; something that protects her less directly can be in Protective or Talisman.
- No healing effects outside of the Healing slot.
- Activated refers to items that do not have a constant effect. These can include single-shot ranged weapons as these would be effectively identical to wands or rings enchanted with similar effects. These cannot automatically detect when they should be used. They need to be manually activated in some way.
Melee Weapon: Branulhune
Ranged Weapon: Runed Revolvers
Staff/Banner: Staff of Mistery
Protective: Robes of Aethyric Armour
Healing: Seed of Regrowth
Talisman: Belt of the Unshackled Mountain
Social: Ranald's Coin
Activated 1: Candle of Cleansing Radiance
Activated 2: Grounding Rod
Activated 3: Dragonflask
- The Weapon slots can each be filled with a matched pair of weapons, such as dual pistols or a sword and dagger. They must be intended to be used together.
- Any item that directly makes Mathilde more able to take a hit must be in Protective; something that protects her less directly can be in Protective or Talisman.
- No healing effects outside of the Healing slot.
- Activated refers to items that do not have a constant effect. These can include single-shot ranged weapons as these would be effectively identical to wands or rings enchanted with similar effects. These cannot automatically detect when they should be used. They need to be manually activated in some way.
Currently, you're one of the most favoured humans of all Dwarves. The other contenders are prominent citizens of Tobaro and the Elector Counts of Ostermark and Averland.
Dwarf Rep is the rating, Dwarf Favours is the currency. Your current level means that all Dwarves will know you as Dawri and can probably name at least a few of your deeds. Dawri is a word that means 'as good as something can get without proving itself over a few decades', or, literally, 'dwarf-like'. You helped Zhufbar and Karak Kadrin strike out some very old grudges that otherwise would have been very, very difficult to set right, and then there's the entire Karak Eight Peaks campaign.
Possible expenditures:
Dwarf Trainers for an organization?
One point for skilled but common in dwarf society (Miners), two for specialized units (Rangers), four for true expertise (Ironbreakers), eight for hero-level instruction. Would require pay on top of favour expenditure.
Expert assistance to establish a factory for turning saltpeter into gunpowder?
Five points.
Dwarf expert to come assist with a specific question/project/calamity, or personally tutor Mathilde in any field not considered forbidden to non-Dwarves?
One point for skilled but common in dwarf society (Miners), two for specialized units (Rangers), three for true expertise (Ironbreakers), six for hero-level instruction, ten for contenders for most knowledgeable in their subject in the known world.
Or in Khazalid?
Will happen automatically if Mathilde spends much longer among Dwarves.
Let Mathilde move into a dwarf hold and live there?
If you promise to refrain from spellcasting inside the Hold, and would be willing to live in the bunkhouses, your rep would be enough.
While conducting magical research?
Four points, and you'd have to work out a way to have a laboratory far from the populated parts of the hold. Does not apply to K8P.
Send a force to assist in a campaign against someone they already hate
If they've outstanding grudges, and you're in a position of power in the campaign, and they've got the forces to spare, your rep would be enough.
Or that they don't care about?
Impossible.
Provide her with/sell her enchanted equipment of their make
No limit; if very large amounts are spent, her rep would give her access to Kragg or Thorek.
Or mundane but high-quality equipment, such as pistols?
Your rep means they'll sell them to you, or you can spend four points to commission something.
Normally
Or have an expert collaborate on an enchantment project with her?
Would need to be arranged personally with the expert, but your rep would get you an introduction and their ear.
Help Mathilde dig or renovate an underground base somewhere
Two points to dig, five to renovate it so that it'll last at least a thousand years. It would cost more to renovate it to a lesser standard.
In total secrecy?
As above, and you provide the ale.
Assist in construction of some key project, such as a bridge, road, or fortification?
If you mean consultants, same as the trainer scale.
Or just do the whole thing?
Would need actual payment, and the cost would be commensurate with the craftsdwarfship, but your rep would open the door to commissioning the work.
Share maps, information, and general intelligence on the things that dwarves know about events in the world but Mathilde doesn't?
Too vague to say. If you mean skaven, say skaven.
Provide her with letters of introduction testifying to her skill and trustworthiness?
From Belegar, free. Two points from non-KaK Kings.
Or a temporary companion/aide in diplomatic matters?
As per the trainer scale.
How much rep for political asylum if the need arise?
Depends who from, and for what. Varies too much to say.
And how much for a helicopter ride?
If you just mean a joyride, you can get it from your rep. If you want a flying taxi, a point for anywhere in the general area, two for anywhere friendly in the Old World.
Purchasing books for her library?
Default and extensive from rep alone, 1 point for rare or very rare, 2 for extremely rare.
Runic firearms at Zhufbar:
Not much [selection] beyond reliability, accuracy, damage, flaming bullets. Five/ten/fifteen favours to put it on the bench and have someone that's the closest thing Runesmiths have to 'radical' take their best swing at it, and it won't be as dramatic as the equivalent amount of favours in a more traditional weapon.
Gyrocopter:
6 for an unarmed personal transport, 8 for armed, 16 for gyrocarriage.
Repairs for Dwarven items:
First repair is free. After that, half the cost of the item each time.
Study the Phoenix Crown or other trophies from the War of Vengeance:
5 favour per AP, and they can't leave the vaults they're stored in.
Dwarf Rep is the rating, Dwarf Favours is the currency. Your current level means that all Dwarves will know you as Dawri and can probably name at least a few of your deeds. Dawri is a word that means 'as good as something can get without proving itself over a few decades', or, literally, 'dwarf-like'. You helped Zhufbar and Karak Kadrin strike out some very old grudges that otherwise would have been very, very difficult to set right, and then there's the entire Karak Eight Peaks campaign.
Possible expenditures:
Dwarf Trainers for an organization?
One point for skilled but common in dwarf society (Miners), two for specialized units (Rangers), four for true expertise (Ironbreakers), eight for hero-level instruction. Would require pay on top of favour expenditure.
Expert assistance to establish a factory for turning saltpeter into gunpowder?
Five points.
Dwarf expert to come assist with a specific question/project/calamity, or personally tutor Mathilde in any field not considered forbidden to non-Dwarves?
One point for skilled but common in dwarf society (Miners), two for specialized units (Rangers), three for true expertise (Ironbreakers), six for hero-level instruction, ten for contenders for most knowledgeable in their subject in the known world.
Or in Khazalid?
Will happen automatically if Mathilde spends much longer among Dwarves.
Let Mathilde move into a dwarf hold and live there?
If you promise to refrain from spellcasting inside the Hold, and would be willing to live in the bunkhouses, your rep would be enough.
While conducting magical research?
Four points, and you'd have to work out a way to have a laboratory far from the populated parts of the hold. Does not apply to K8P.
Send a force to assist in a campaign against someone they already hate
If they've outstanding grudges, and you're in a position of power in the campaign, and they've got the forces to spare, your rep would be enough.
Or that they don't care about?
Impossible.
Provide her with/sell her enchanted equipment of their make
No limit; if very large amounts are spent, her rep would give her access to Kragg or Thorek.
Or mundane but high-quality equipment, such as pistols?
Your rep means they'll sell them to you, or you can spend four points to commission something.
Normally
Or have an expert collaborate on an enchantment project with her?
Would need to be arranged personally with the expert, but your rep would get you an introduction and their ear.
Help Mathilde dig or renovate an underground base somewhere
Two points to dig, five to renovate it so that it'll last at least a thousand years. It would cost more to renovate it to a lesser standard.
In total secrecy?
As above, and you provide the ale.
Assist in construction of some key project, such as a bridge, road, or fortification?
If you mean consultants, same as the trainer scale.
Or just do the whole thing?
Would need actual payment, and the cost would be commensurate with the craftsdwarfship, but your rep would open the door to commissioning the work.
Share maps, information, and general intelligence on the things that dwarves know about events in the world but Mathilde doesn't?
Too vague to say. If you mean skaven, say skaven.
Provide her with letters of introduction testifying to her skill and trustworthiness?
From Belegar, free. Two points from non-KaK Kings.
Or a temporary companion/aide in diplomatic matters?
As per the trainer scale.
How much rep for political asylum if the need arise?
Depends who from, and for what. Varies too much to say.
And how much for a helicopter ride?
If you just mean a joyride, you can get it from your rep. If you want a flying taxi, a point for anywhere in the general area, two for anywhere friendly in the Old World.
Purchasing books for her library?
Default and extensive from rep alone, 1 point for rare or very rare, 2 for extremely rare.
Runic firearms at Zhufbar:
Not much [selection] beyond reliability, accuracy, damage, flaming bullets. Five/ten/fifteen favours to put it on the bench and have someone that's the closest thing Runesmiths have to 'radical' take their best swing at it, and it won't be as dramatic as the equivalent amount of favours in a more traditional weapon.
Gyrocopter:
6 for an unarmed personal transport, 8 for armed, 16 for gyrocarriage.
Repairs for Dwarven items:
First repair is free. After that, half the cost of the item each time.
Study the Phoenix Crown or other trophies from the War of Vengeance:
5 favour per AP, and they can't leave the vaults they're stored in.
Study: As a Magister, you're no longer barred from returning to the Grey College. If you've been pulling your weight for the Order, you can return to it to further your studies. Each costs 1 College Favour or 100gc.
Practical
[ ] Intrigue and Tradecraft.
[ ] The Use and Creation of Poison
[ ] Spells of Grey Magic (teachers' choice; multiple spells)
[ ] Spells of Grey Magic (your choice; one spell)
[ ] Swords and Swordplay
[ ] Ritual Magic
[ ] Psychology
[ ] Imperial Law
[ ] Practical Diplomacy
[ ] Physiology and autopsy
Advanced
[ ] Assassination
[ ] Infiltration
[ ] Interrogation
Theory
[ ] The Nature of Ulgu
[ ] The Nature of Magic
[ ] The Enemies of Man
[ ] The Allies of Man
[ ] Religion and the Empire
[ ] The Empire and its Provinces
[ ] Human Nations of the Old World
[ ] Chaos and Chaos Gods
Extracurricular
[ ] Enchantment
[ ] Staff turning
[ ] Potions and Alchemy
[ ] Power Stones and their Creation
[ ] Runes and Runecraft
[ ] Wyrdstone Containment
[ ] On the Education of Apprentices
[ ] Searching for and Identifying Animal Familiars
[ ] The Creation of Artificial Familiars
[ ] Waystones and Waystone maintenance
Enchanted object prices:
If it's Relatively Simple it's 2 favours. If it's Moderately Complicated it's 3. If it's Fiendishly Complex it's 5. The list of spells can be found in the Spellbook.
Battle Magic enchantments:
Practical
[ ] Intrigue and Tradecraft.
[ ] The Use and Creation of Poison
[ ] Spells of Grey Magic (teachers' choice; multiple spells)
[ ] Spells of Grey Magic (your choice; one spell)
[ ] Swords and Swordplay
[ ] Ritual Magic
[ ] Psychology
[ ] Imperial Law
[ ] Practical Diplomacy
[ ] Physiology and autopsy
Advanced
[ ] Assassination
[ ] Infiltration
[ ] Interrogation
Theory
[ ] The Nature of Ulgu
[ ] The Nature of Magic
[ ] The Enemies of Man
[ ] The Allies of Man
[ ] Religion and the Empire
[ ] The Empire and its Provinces
[ ] Human Nations of the Old World
[ ] Chaos and Chaos Gods
Extracurricular
[ ] Enchantment
[ ] Staff turning
[ ] Potions and Alchemy
[ ] Power Stones and their Creation
[ ] Runes and Runecraft
[ ] Wyrdstone Containment
[ ] On the Education of Apprentices
[ ] Searching for and Identifying Animal Familiars
[ ] The Creation of Artificial Familiars
[ ] Waystones and Waystone maintenance
- Getting a Perpetual Apprentice to serve as assistant/general minion
- Getting a Journeyman/Magister/Lord Magister of a specific College/with a specific spell to come assist with a specific question/project/calamity
- Getting copies of the Colleges' books for our library (is this the same 50gp+0/0/1/1/2 for common/extensive/rare/very rare/extremely rare that we have with Dwarf Favor, or some other ruleset?)
- Acquisition of an animal suitable for being a familiar, or a specific type of animal so suitable
- Getting powerstones for our personal research/use
- Having a wizard lab/tower optimized for magical research/other specialized effects built
- Acquisition of specific esoteric desired items (ex., what if Mathilde really needs a Lustrian flowering plant or the tooth of a sea drake or something for research, presumably mages have requests for this kind of thing constantly)
- Getting permission to do push-the-limits sorts of research (ex., Johann is literally going to poke the skaven and their warpstone, Mathilde is in a great position to research multi-wind interaction and ways to avoid creating dhar when it happens, or to study probably-corrupted Waystones with an eye toward unfucking them, and the Articles are intentionally vague enough that what is okay and what isn't is basically a judgement call by the Colleges; can we pay in Favor to represent burning political capital on being given dispensation for this sort of thing instead of being uncertain whether we're crossing lines?)
- A pegasus!
Enchanted object prices:
If it's Relatively Simple it's 2 favours. If it's Moderately Complicated it's 3. If it's Fiendishly Complex it's 5. The list of spells can be found in the Spellbook.
Battle Magic enchantments:
Aqshy:
Kindleflame (Lore Attribute): It is easier to damage someone with Aqshy if he already was damaged with Aqshy recently.
Fireball (10 favors): You fling several fiery missiles at the target squad.
Cascading Fire Cloak (10 favors): You create a fiery shield around yourself and your nearby allies until the end of the battle which burns all enemies in melee with you.
Flaming Sword of Rhuin (10 favors): You enchant weapons of a squad of allies with fire for one turn. Such weapons have easier time wounding enemies and stop regeneration.
The Burning Head (10 favors): You fling a ball of flame that strikes everything in its path. If someone dies from this spell, their comrades may panic after witnessing his horrific demise.
Piercing Bolts of Burning (10 favors): You throw several spears made of fire at the target squad, each of which pierces several people.
Fulminating Flame Cage (11 favors): You trap target squad in a cage made of flames that will damage all of them should they try to move before it dissipates.
Flame Storm (13 favors): You somewhat imprecisely summon a firestorm that damages everyone caught in it.
Ghur:
Wildheart (Lore Attribute): It is easier to affect beasts and beastmen with Ghur.
Wyssan's Wildform (10 favors): You increase strength and toughness of all members of the target squad.
The Flock of Doom (10 favors): You summon a flock of crows that hit target squad many times, but with a small amount of force.
Pann's Impenetrable Pelt (10 favors): You make yourself or one nearby ally significantly tougher.
The Amber Spear (10 favors): You summon a spear made of magic that behaves similar to a ballista bolt - it can severely damage a monster or pierce through several ranks of lesser foes. Armor is useless against this spell.
The Curse of Anraheir (10 favors): Spirits of nature interfere with target squad's attacks and movement.
The Savage beast of Horros (10 favors): You make yourself or one nearby ally significantly stronger and faster.
Transformation of Kadon (16 favors): You turn yourself into a Manticore, Hydra or a Dragon until the end of the battle. While in this form you can't cast spells and your equipment stops working.
Chamon:
Metalshifting (Lore Attribute): Lore of Metal turns enemies' own armor against them. Thus the effect of most Chamon spells not only can't be prevented by armor, but actually magnified against heavily armored foes regardless of their toughness. On the flip side, unarmored enemies cannot be damaged at all.
Searing Doom (10 favors): You throw several superheated silver slivers at the target squad.
Plague of Rust (10 favors): This spell accelerates rusting which permanently reduces target squad's armor.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban (10 favors): You sharpen target squad's weapons which increases their chances to hit enemies.
Glittering Robe (10 favors): You summon a cloak of shimmering scales to protect target squad, giving them protection equivalent to chain mail.
Gehenna's Golden Hounds (10 favors): You summon a pair of clockwork hounds who maul one nearby enemy.
Transmutation of Lead (12 favors): You temporary transmute target squad's weapons and armor to lead, lowering their offense and defense simultaneously.
Final Transmutation (15 favors): You try to transmute target squad into golden statues. This magic only have a 1-in-3 chance of working on most enemies and 1-in-6 on particularly resilient foes, but if it works nothing can save them. Seeing such riches other nearby enemies may succumb to temptation of looting instead of fighting for a short while.
Hysh:
Exorcism (Lore attribute): Lore of Light is particularly effective against Daemons and Undead.
Shem's Burning Gaze (10 favors): You fire several rays of searing light at the target squad.
Pha's Protection (10 favors): You summon a guardian spirit that makes target squad harder to hit.
The Speed of Light (10 favors): Target squad becomes incredibly fast, granting them enormous advantage in close combat.
Light of Battle (10 favors): Makes target squad fearless and strong-willed for a short time, can be cast on already-fleeing allies to allow them to return to battle.
Net of Amyntok (10 favors): You catch target squad in a barbed net of light. They cannot move, shoot or cast magic unless they are strong enough and even attempts to do it are dangerous for them.
Banishment (10 favors): Ray of purest light smites target squad. Supernatural protection works poorly against it and it is significantly stronger in the Hysh-rich environment.
Birona's Timewarp (12 favors): You infuse target squad with Hysh, loosening the Time's normal restrictions on them. From the bystander's point of view they move and attack faster, capable to strike first against all but the fastest foes.
Ghyran:
Lifebloom (Lore attribute): Wielders of the Lore of Life heal themselves or their nearby allies with every Ghyran spell they cast, regardless of its purpose.
Earthblood (10 favors): You grant yourself and nearby allies regeneration.
Awakening of the Wood (10 favors): Plants damage target squad, more effective in forest.
Flesh to Stone (10 favors): You make target squad noticeably tougher.
Throne of Vines (10 favors): You summon a walking throne of vines which strengthens your connection to Ghyran until the end of the battle. The throne almost completely protects you from miscasts and makes stronger most of your spells from the Lore of Life.
Shield of Thorns (10 favors): Reflavored (thorns instead of flames) Cascading Fire Cloak, but weaker and can be cast on others.
Regrowth (12 favors): Heals and resurrects members of the target squad.
The Dwellers Below (18 favors): Strange creatures pull members of the target squad underground, instantly killing those who aren't strong enough to resist. No method of protection works against this spell.
Azyr:
Roiling skies (Lore Attribute): Lore of Heavens can be very dangerous for flyers. Any hostile Azyr spell cast on a flying target damages it in addition to its normal effects.
Iceshard Blizzard (10 favors): Razor-sharp hail demoralizes target squad and hinders their attacks.
Harmonic convergence (10 favors): You guide target squad using precognition, allowing them to avoid the worst mistakes.
Wind Blast (10 favors): You push target squad away from you, damaging them if there is an obstacle in the way.
Curse of the Midnight Wind (10 favors): Target squad becomes unlucky, their guaranteed successes turning into uncertainties.
Urannon's Thunderbolt (10 favors): You hurl giant ball lightning at the target squad.
Comet of Cassandora (12 favors): You call down a comet from the sky, which strike designated spot several minutes later. Bigger comets take longer to arrive and you don't know beforehand the size of the comet you summoned.
Chain Lightning (15 favors): Lightning springs from your hands and strikes target squad with a chance to leap to other nearby enemies.
Ulgu: effects already covered by QM, costs are as follows:
Smoke and Mirrors - unknown (Lore Attribute)
Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma - 10
Steed of Shadows - 10
The Enfeebling Foe - 10
The Withering - 13
The Penumbral Pendulum - 13
Pit of Shades - 14
Okkam's Mindrazor - 18
Shyish:
Life Leeching (Lore Attribute): Shyish users can extract power from the deaths of their foes. When enemies are wounded by the spells of the Lore of Death caster has a chance to replenish their reserves of Shyish.
Spirit Leech (10 favors): You wound or even kill a single enemy if you prevail in a clash of wills.
Aspect of the Dreadknight (10 favors): Target squad strikes fear into the hearts of their foes.
The Caress of Laniph (10 favors): You summon the spirit of ancient sorceress (wtf?) who causes damage to one nearby enemy that can be mitigated by strength, but not armor or toughness.
Soulblight (10 favors): You reduce target squad's strength and toughness.
Doom and Darkness (10 favors): You summon ghosts who significantly reduce will and courage of the target squad until the end of the battle.
The Fate of Bjuna (13 favors): You cause one target enemy to laugh uncontrollably, often causing his death. Even if he survives his mind is damaged until the end of the battle.
The Purple Sun of Xereus (15 favors): You summon a vortex of Shyish that slays everyone in its path who isn't fast enough to avoid it. No method of protection works against this spell
Kindleflame (Lore Attribute): It is easier to damage someone with Aqshy if he already was damaged with Aqshy recently.
Fireball (10 favors): You fling several fiery missiles at the target squad.
Cascading Fire Cloak (10 favors): You create a fiery shield around yourself and your nearby allies until the end of the battle which burns all enemies in melee with you.
Flaming Sword of Rhuin (10 favors): You enchant weapons of a squad of allies with fire for one turn. Such weapons have easier time wounding enemies and stop regeneration.
The Burning Head (10 favors): You fling a ball of flame that strikes everything in its path. If someone dies from this spell, their comrades may panic after witnessing his horrific demise.
Piercing Bolts of Burning (10 favors): You throw several spears made of fire at the target squad, each of which pierces several people.
Fulminating Flame Cage (11 favors): You trap target squad in a cage made of flames that will damage all of them should they try to move before it dissipates.
Flame Storm (13 favors): You somewhat imprecisely summon a firestorm that damages everyone caught in it.
Ghur:
Wildheart (Lore Attribute): It is easier to affect beasts and beastmen with Ghur.
Wyssan's Wildform (10 favors): You increase strength and toughness of all members of the target squad.
The Flock of Doom (10 favors): You summon a flock of crows that hit target squad many times, but with a small amount of force.
Pann's Impenetrable Pelt (10 favors): You make yourself or one nearby ally significantly tougher.
The Amber Spear (10 favors): You summon a spear made of magic that behaves similar to a ballista bolt - it can severely damage a monster or pierce through several ranks of lesser foes. Armor is useless against this spell.
The Curse of Anraheir (10 favors): Spirits of nature interfere with target squad's attacks and movement.
The Savage beast of Horros (10 favors): You make yourself or one nearby ally significantly stronger and faster.
Transformation of Kadon (16 favors): You turn yourself into a Manticore, Hydra or a Dragon until the end of the battle. While in this form you can't cast spells and your equipment stops working.
Chamon:
Metalshifting (Lore Attribute): Lore of Metal turns enemies' own armor against them. Thus the effect of most Chamon spells not only can't be prevented by armor, but actually magnified against heavily armored foes regardless of their toughness. On the flip side, unarmored enemies cannot be damaged at all.
Searing Doom (10 favors): You throw several superheated silver slivers at the target squad.
Plague of Rust (10 favors): This spell accelerates rusting which permanently reduces target squad's armor.
Enchanted Blades of Aiban (10 favors): You sharpen target squad's weapons which increases their chances to hit enemies.
Glittering Robe (10 favors): You summon a cloak of shimmering scales to protect target squad, giving them protection equivalent to chain mail.
Gehenna's Golden Hounds (10 favors): You summon a pair of clockwork hounds who maul one nearby enemy.
Transmutation of Lead (12 favors): You temporary transmute target squad's weapons and armor to lead, lowering their offense and defense simultaneously.
Final Transmutation (15 favors): You try to transmute target squad into golden statues. This magic only have a 1-in-3 chance of working on most enemies and 1-in-6 on particularly resilient foes, but if it works nothing can save them. Seeing such riches other nearby enemies may succumb to temptation of looting instead of fighting for a short while.
Hysh:
Exorcism (Lore attribute): Lore of Light is particularly effective against Daemons and Undead.
Shem's Burning Gaze (10 favors): You fire several rays of searing light at the target squad.
Pha's Protection (10 favors): You summon a guardian spirit that makes target squad harder to hit.
The Speed of Light (10 favors): Target squad becomes incredibly fast, granting them enormous advantage in close combat.
Light of Battle (10 favors): Makes target squad fearless and strong-willed for a short time, can be cast on already-fleeing allies to allow them to return to battle.
Net of Amyntok (10 favors): You catch target squad in a barbed net of light. They cannot move, shoot or cast magic unless they are strong enough and even attempts to do it are dangerous for them.
Banishment (10 favors): Ray of purest light smites target squad. Supernatural protection works poorly against it and it is significantly stronger in the Hysh-rich environment.
Birona's Timewarp (12 favors): You infuse target squad with Hysh, loosening the Time's normal restrictions on them. From the bystander's point of view they move and attack faster, capable to strike first against all but the fastest foes.
Ghyran:
Lifebloom (Lore attribute): Wielders of the Lore of Life heal themselves or their nearby allies with every Ghyran spell they cast, regardless of its purpose.
Earthblood (10 favors): You grant yourself and nearby allies regeneration.
Awakening of the Wood (10 favors): Plants damage target squad, more effective in forest.
Flesh to Stone (10 favors): You make target squad noticeably tougher.
Throne of Vines (10 favors): You summon a walking throne of vines which strengthens your connection to Ghyran until the end of the battle. The throne almost completely protects you from miscasts and makes stronger most of your spells from the Lore of Life.
Shield of Thorns (10 favors): Reflavored (thorns instead of flames) Cascading Fire Cloak, but weaker and can be cast on others.
Regrowth (12 favors): Heals and resurrects members of the target squad.
The Dwellers Below (18 favors): Strange creatures pull members of the target squad underground, instantly killing those who aren't strong enough to resist. No method of protection works against this spell.
Azyr:
Roiling skies (Lore Attribute): Lore of Heavens can be very dangerous for flyers. Any hostile Azyr spell cast on a flying target damages it in addition to its normal effects.
Iceshard Blizzard (10 favors): Razor-sharp hail demoralizes target squad and hinders their attacks.
Harmonic convergence (10 favors): You guide target squad using precognition, allowing them to avoid the worst mistakes.
Wind Blast (10 favors): You push target squad away from you, damaging them if there is an obstacle in the way.
Curse of the Midnight Wind (10 favors): Target squad becomes unlucky, their guaranteed successes turning into uncertainties.
Urannon's Thunderbolt (10 favors): You hurl giant ball lightning at the target squad.
Comet of Cassandora (12 favors): You call down a comet from the sky, which strike designated spot several minutes later. Bigger comets take longer to arrive and you don't know beforehand the size of the comet you summoned.
Chain Lightning (15 favors): Lightning springs from your hands and strikes target squad with a chance to leap to other nearby enemies.
Ulgu: effects already covered by QM, costs are as follows:
Smoke and Mirrors - unknown (Lore Attribute)
Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma - 10
Steed of Shadows - 10
The Enfeebling Foe - 10
The Withering - 13
The Penumbral Pendulum - 13
Pit of Shades - 14
Okkam's Mindrazor - 18
Shyish:
Life Leeching (Lore Attribute): Shyish users can extract power from the deaths of their foes. When enemies are wounded by the spells of the Lore of Death caster has a chance to replenish their reserves of Shyish.
Spirit Leech (10 favors): You wound or even kill a single enemy if you prevail in a clash of wills.
Aspect of the Dreadknight (10 favors): Target squad strikes fear into the hearts of their foes.
The Caress of Laniph (10 favors): You summon the spirit of ancient sorceress (wtf?) who causes damage to one nearby enemy that can be mitigated by strength, but not armor or toughness.
Soulblight (10 favors): You reduce target squad's strength and toughness.
Doom and Darkness (10 favors): You summon ghosts who significantly reduce will and courage of the target squad until the end of the battle.
The Fate of Bjuna (13 favors): You cause one target enemy to laugh uncontrollably, often causing his death. Even if he survives his mind is damaged until the end of the battle.
The Purple Sun of Xereus (15 favors): You summon a vortex of Shyish that slays everyone in its path who isn't fast enough to avoid it. No method of protection works against this spell
Great Deeds are the favour equivalent for the entire Empire. An act that saves an entire province would qualify, as would anything that negates a threat that the Imperial Army would otherwise have had to mobilize against. When the Imperial Army is actively campaigning, turning the tide of a battle that the main force is engaged in would count.
Incomplete list of things a Great Deed can buy:
Raising a topic at an Elector's Meet for serious discussion and contemplation, and anyone otherwise neutral on the topic would vote for it.
Give you the right to address the Meet on a topic they're about to vote towards, and your opinion and any points you raise will be given serious weight.
Have an exhibit opened in the Imperial Zoo, named after you, and maintained. If the beasts are already well understood, or you can supply that knowledge, they will also do their best to acquire them. Otherwise you need to supply them.
Have a Wolfship built to your specifications and put under your permanent command.
Raise your name for promotion to Wizard Lord, and if you fail by only a single criteria (loyalty, ability, reliability, experience) it will be handwaved away.
Write a specific law or treaty for the Emperor's consideration, and if he sees no significant problems with it he is likely to enshrine it in law.
Found a Knightly Order (permission only, Knights not included).
Found a branch of a College of Magic (permission only, buildings not included).
A trained and mostly tame Griffin.
Knighthood, with a small fief to go with it.
If already possessing a noble title, for two Great Deeds, being granted the title of Baron and a large fief including one town.
Be granted the right to make copies of all written materials within one library under Imperial (non-Collegiate, non-Cult) authority. Provide your own scribes.
Incomplete list of things a Great Deed can buy:
Raising a topic at an Elector's Meet for serious discussion and contemplation, and anyone otherwise neutral on the topic would vote for it.
Give you the right to address the Meet on a topic they're about to vote towards, and your opinion and any points you raise will be given serious weight.
Have an exhibit opened in the Imperial Zoo, named after you, and maintained. If the beasts are already well understood, or you can supply that knowledge, they will also do their best to acquire them. Otherwise you need to supply them.
Have a Wolfship built to your specifications and put under your permanent command.
Raise your name for promotion to Wizard Lord, and if you fail by only a single criteria (loyalty, ability, reliability, experience) it will be handwaved away.
Write a specific law or treaty for the Emperor's consideration, and if he sees no significant problems with it he is likely to enshrine it in law.
Found a Knightly Order (permission only, Knights not included).
Found a branch of a College of Magic (permission only, buildings not included).
A trained and mostly tame Griffin.
Knighthood, with a small fief to go with it.
If already possessing a noble title, for two Great Deeds, being granted the title of Baron and a large fief including one town.
Be granted the right to make copies of all written materials within one library under Imperial (non-Collegiate, non-Cult) authority. Provide your own scribes.
Papers are rated by the combination of the following and deliver that much College Rep when distributed. Further College Rep may be obtained if future studies are built based on your papers.
If you have not written a paper before, or your previous paper had a positive total, the minimum for a paper after all other calculations is +1. After that, the minimum falls by 1 for each paper until you produce another net positive paper. Try to strike a balance between keeping your name out there, and being too obvious in churning them out.
In-character gaming of the system is encouraged. Out-of-character gaming of the system is extremely discouraged.
Results template: [Title, Year. Subject: Uncommon, +0. Insight: Agreement, +0. Delivery: Competent, +0. Misc, +0. Misc, +0. Total: 0.]
Subject:
Common, -1. The topic is either numerous or widespread. Common varieties of enemy factions, mundane animals, common phenomena. Eg: Orcs, wolves, lightning.
Uncommon, +0. The topic is either uncommon or dangerous. Uncommon varieties of enemy factions, magical but common animals, esoteric phenomena. Eg: Black Orcs, demigryphs, a specific Wind.
Rare, +1. The topic is either very uncommon or very dangerous, or both. Rare varieties of enemy factions, rare magical animals, exotic phenomena. Eg: Arachnarok spiders, griffins, warpstone.
Unique, +3. There either is only one of what you are studying, or all examples are restricted to a remote and dangerous location. Eg: Azhag the Slaughterer wearing the Crown of Sorcery, Bile Trolls, The Isle of the Dead.
Insight:
Common, -1. The information contained has already been confirmed by multiple sources.
Agreement, +0. Confirms a previous discovery that has yet to be widely reproduced.
Confirming, +1. Information has already been theorized but has not yet been confirmed.
Revolutionary, +2. The information is completely new.
Shattering, +3. Disproves something thought to be fact.
Delivery:
Impenetrable, -2. Either badly written or extremely technical.
Dull, -1. Readable but uncompelling.
Competent, +0. Delivers the information without tedium.
Compelling, +1. Gripping to anyone already interested in the topic.
Thrilling, +2. Genuinely fascinating, even to those outside the field. A rarity in academia.
Miscellaneous:
Familiar, -1. Can be found within the Empire.
Exotic, +1: Not found in the Old World. The Dark Lands, Araby, Khemri, Troll Country, the Mountains of Mhorn.
Very Exotic, +2: From the New World, Ulthuan, Albion or the Far East.
Precious +1: Actively concealed or protected. Eg: Anvil of Doom, Steam Tanks, The Isle of the Dead, Slann.
Thorough, +1: Author was able to get it 'on the slab' and study it at their leisure and with proper implements, or had a thorough enough understanding to be able to derive an almost complete theoretical understanding.
Varied, +1: Produced based on a large number of samples or viewpoints.
Alien, +1: The paper relies on exotic insights to an extent that conventional study might never have reached these conclusions.
Accessible, +1. Despite being about an intensely technical subject, the information is delivered in such a way that it can be of use to laypeople. Only applies if the work is of interest to non-magical people of import.
Tactically Relevant, +1: Information is concerning enemies of the Empire, and would be relevant to military campaigns against them.
Tactically Significant, +2: Information can be reasonably expected to make a difference in some battles against an enemy of the Empire.
Tactically Groundbreaking, +3: The information this paper contains could change the course of entire wars.
Popular, +1: Concerning a topic that, for whatever reason, is currently in vogue, causing the paper to gather more attention than it otherwise would.
Unpopular, -1: Concerning a topic that is unfashionable, controversial, or awkward, that might cause some to remain silent where they would otherwise give praise.
Useful, +1: The information is immediately applicable to some activity or vocation already practiced or required in the Empire.
Speculative, -2: Paper is trying to make a point that it doesn't quite have the proof to back up.
Shared Credit, -1: Let's face it, it's more impressive if it's a solo effort. Will not apply if cowriters are apprentices, employees, or familiars.
Secondary Author, -2: You had an active hand in the process of creating the paper, but were not a primary author of it.
Contributor, -3: You weren't involve in the paper's writing, but your actions helped allow it to be written.
Anonymous, -1: Circumstances dictate that the true author of the paper is concealed from the general public.
Classified, -2: Only those trusted by the Empire can access the material written of in this paper.
Top Secret, -3: Only those whose loyalty to the Empire is beyond question are allowed to know that the paper even exists.
Eyes Only, -4: The paper concerns matters so dangerous or sensitive that it can only be made available to those with an immediate and pressing need for the information.
If you have not written a paper before, or your previous paper had a positive total, the minimum for a paper after all other calculations is +1. After that, the minimum falls by 1 for each paper until you produce another net positive paper. Try to strike a balance between keeping your name out there, and being too obvious in churning them out.
In-character gaming of the system is encouraged. Out-of-character gaming of the system is extremely discouraged.
Results template: [Title, Year. Subject: Uncommon, +0. Insight: Agreement, +0. Delivery: Competent, +0. Misc, +0. Misc, +0. Total: 0.]
Subject:
Common, -1. The topic is either numerous or widespread. Common varieties of enemy factions, mundane animals, common phenomena. Eg: Orcs, wolves, lightning.
Uncommon, +0. The topic is either uncommon or dangerous. Uncommon varieties of enemy factions, magical but common animals, esoteric phenomena. Eg: Black Orcs, demigryphs, a specific Wind.
Rare, +1. The topic is either very uncommon or very dangerous, or both. Rare varieties of enemy factions, rare magical animals, exotic phenomena. Eg: Arachnarok spiders, griffins, warpstone.
Unique, +3. There either is only one of what you are studying, or all examples are restricted to a remote and dangerous location. Eg: Azhag the Slaughterer wearing the Crown of Sorcery, Bile Trolls, The Isle of the Dead.
Insight:
Common, -1. The information contained has already been confirmed by multiple sources.
Agreement, +0. Confirms a previous discovery that has yet to be widely reproduced.
Confirming, +1. Information has already been theorized but has not yet been confirmed.
Revolutionary, +2. The information is completely new.
Shattering, +3. Disproves something thought to be fact.
Delivery:
Impenetrable, -2. Either badly written or extremely technical.
Dull, -1. Readable but uncompelling.
Competent, +0. Delivers the information without tedium.
Compelling, +1. Gripping to anyone already interested in the topic.
Thrilling, +2. Genuinely fascinating, even to those outside the field. A rarity in academia.
Miscellaneous:
Familiar, -1. Can be found within the Empire.
Exotic, +1: Not found in the Old World. The Dark Lands, Araby, Khemri, Troll Country, the Mountains of Mhorn.
Very Exotic, +2: From the New World, Ulthuan, Albion or the Far East.
Precious +1: Actively concealed or protected. Eg: Anvil of Doom, Steam Tanks, The Isle of the Dead, Slann.
Thorough, +1: Author was able to get it 'on the slab' and study it at their leisure and with proper implements, or had a thorough enough understanding to be able to derive an almost complete theoretical understanding.
Varied, +1: Produced based on a large number of samples or viewpoints.
Alien, +1: The paper relies on exotic insights to an extent that conventional study might never have reached these conclusions.
Accessible, +1. Despite being about an intensely technical subject, the information is delivered in such a way that it can be of use to laypeople. Only applies if the work is of interest to non-magical people of import.
Tactically Relevant, +1: Information is concerning enemies of the Empire, and would be relevant to military campaigns against them.
Tactically Significant, +2: Information can be reasonably expected to make a difference in some battles against an enemy of the Empire.
Tactically Groundbreaking, +3: The information this paper contains could change the course of entire wars.
Popular, +1: Concerning a topic that, for whatever reason, is currently in vogue, causing the paper to gather more attention than it otherwise would.
Unpopular, -1: Concerning a topic that is unfashionable, controversial, or awkward, that might cause some to remain silent where they would otherwise give praise.
Useful, +1: The information is immediately applicable to some activity or vocation already practiced or required in the Empire.
Speculative, -2: Paper is trying to make a point that it doesn't quite have the proof to back up.
Shared Credit, -1: Let's face it, it's more impressive if it's a solo effort. Will not apply if cowriters are apprentices, employees, or familiars.
Secondary Author, -2: You had an active hand in the process of creating the paper, but were not a primary author of it.
Contributor, -3: You weren't involve in the paper's writing, but your actions helped allow it to be written.
Anonymous, -1: Circumstances dictate that the true author of the paper is concealed from the general public.
Classified, -2: Only those trusted by the Empire can access the material written of in this paper.
Top Secret, -3: Only those whose loyalty to the Empire is beyond question are allowed to know that the paper even exists.
Eyes Only, -4: The paper concerns matters so dangerous or sensitive that it can only be made available to those with an immediate and pressing need for the information.
The expectation and average for a Councillor is to spend the equivalent of two to four actions per turn on their task. This was a straightforward yard stick at one point, but with things like subordinates, peripheral investigations, and other oddities, it's caused a lot of back-and-forth. Here's a new set of yardsticks to apply.
When considering a course of action, ask yourself the following:
Have you spent at least one action personally and directly involved with the task or project you were given?
Have you spent at least two actions directly or indirectly involved with the task or project you were given? (including half-actions spent overseeing others and tangential study of the topic at hand)
Have you spent at least three actions in ways related to your position, including overseeing subordinates and managing local wizards?
If all three are 'yes', then you'll be fine even if you do flub everything you're trying and your time-sheet does attract investigation. If you've explicitly been given a straightforward or easily outsourced task so you can focus on something else that is considered important but is not directly under the purview of your position, the above considerations do not apply.
When considering a course of action, ask yourself the following:
Have you spent at least one action personally and directly involved with the task or project you were given?
Have you spent at least two actions directly or indirectly involved with the task or project you were given? (including half-actions spent overseeing others and tangential study of the topic at hand)
Have you spent at least three actions in ways related to your position, including overseeing subordinates and managing local wizards?
If all three are 'yes', then you'll be fine even if you do flub everything you're trying and your time-sheet does attract investigation. If you've explicitly been given a straightforward or easily outsourced task so you can focus on something else that is considered important but is not directly under the purview of your position, the above considerations do not apply.
HISTORY AND LORE
Seems a good enough reason to do a Sylvania 101 for the uninitiated.
Once, there was a province called Sylvania, a peaceful little backwater. Then in the year 1111, bad things happen. That the Black Plague hit Sylvania harder than anywhere else, wiping out nine in ten of the population, was only the start. A shower of warpstone meteorites then fell upon the land, poisoning the soil, killing off most of the few survivors, and causing the very numerous dead to stir in their graves. Then it attracted the attention of the Skaven, the innumerable hordes of ratmen that value warpstone above all else. Sylvania seemed lost.
Then Baron Frederick Van Hal saved and doomed Stirland. Previously a devout Morrite, he either discarded his obedience to the God of Death or found a heretical new way to express it when he embraced the art of Necromancy, rallying all the unquiet dead of Sylvania to his banner. He also writes the Liber Mortis, a big guide to Necromancy that'll come back into play later. For years the equally innumerable hordes of the rats and the dead fought to a standstill, until Frederick Van Hal's apprentice assassinated him, shattering his control over the undead. Then the Emperor of the time, Mandred who would become known as Skavenslayer, swept in at the head of an army and put the remaining rats to the sword.
Skip forward seven hundred years. Sylvania is a terrible place to live but it's still theoretically under the control of actual humans. It is ruled by the sickly and half-insane Otto von Drak, who lies on his deathbed in Castle Drakenhof knowing that his hated brother Leopold is soon to inherit his lands as his only child is an unmarried woman, Isabella. Quoth he: "I'd rather marry my daughter to a daemon than let Leopold inherit!"
Someone knocks on the door. The door opens. Nobody opened it. It just opened. In strides Vlad von Carstein. Vlad recites his lineage and offers to marry Isabella von Dark. Otto von Drak is as good as his word and has his chaplain marry the two, and immediately drops dead. Vlad then throws Leopold out of a window, because that's how he rolls. Also, he's a vampire. Did you see that coming?
Sylvania enters a... golden age? It's certainly peaceful. Sure, there's a bunch of zombies around, but they don't attack anyone as long as you swear fealty to the Count. Okay, the Count is certainly odd, only going out at night and never eating and being super pale and all. And yeah it appears to be contagious because suddenly all the other nobles of Sylvania are showing the same symptoms. But hardly anyone gets eaten by zombies any more, and he's more tolerable than the von Draks were. Vlad and Isabella rule hand-in-hand, madly in love. Temples close down. Morr worship is banned. If anyone notices that it's been two hundred years and Vlad still looks as young as the day he knocked on the doors of Castle Drakenhof, they keep their comments to themselves. Witch Hunter go in to investigate, none of them come out. Mordheim is destroyed by a warpstone meteorite, and Vlad sends agents to gather up as much as they can.
The year is now 2010. It's the middle of the Age of Three Emperors. The Empire is divided and every Count seems to think they've got it in them to be Emperor. Vlad thinks: why not me? Time for the First Vampire War. Using the warpstone gathered from Mordheim, Vlad performs a massive ritual that raises every corpse in Sylvania. And Sylvania has a lot of corpses.
He leads his undead army into battle. He invades Middenland. He's killed in Middenland. He comes back. He invades Middenland. He's killed in Middenland. He comes back. This is super demoralizing for everyone but Vlad. Middenland falls. He invades Ostland. He's killed in Ostland. Can you guess what happens next?
Forty years of vampire yo-yo later, Vlad is marching on Altdorf. The Emperor (well, Reikland's contender for the title) sends a thief to steal Vlad's signet ring, which is filled to the brim with regenerative magic. Vlad isn't happy, and immediately orders an assault on the walls. The climax of the battle is atop Altdorf's walls, where the Grand Theogonist fights him with hammer and prayer. The Grand Theogonist is losing, and then tackles Vlad off the walls. They fall together and land on a wooden stake at the base of the walls, and without his ring, Vlad is finally, properly, permanently dead.
...probably.
Isabella von Carstein throws herself on a stake, unable to live without Vlad, and now she too is permanently dead.
...probably.
The Reikland Emperor thinks that now the time is right to invade Sylvania and put an end to the vampire menace once and for all. The other Emperors think this would make him too popular, so they team up and threaten to go to war on him if he does. Politics ruins everything.
Meanwhile, back in Sylvania, the heirs of Vlad are eyeing each other up suspiciously. There's five, but keep an eye on two of them: Konrad and Mannfred. The other three are out of the way pretty quick. One tries to copy Vlad and invades Middenland, but forgets to come back to life after he's killed. Another is goaded into a fight by Konrad, who is an insane murderbeast, and torn apart. The third of the also-rans is slain by a Witch Hunter named Helmut Van Hal. Where have we heard that name before?
The year is 2094. Sylvania Thunderdome ends when Mannfred wanders off. Konrad is the new undisputed ruler of Drakenhof, Sylvania, and the von Carsteins, and decides to kick of the Second Vampire War. His incompetence as a general was matched only by his prowess as a murderbeast. He basically wandered around at random and fought everyone he found, laying waste to huge swathes of the Empire and a significant chunk of Zhufbar, including killing the King of Zhufbar. An attempt by the feuding Emperors to unite against him is stymied when two of them simultaneously assassinate each other while battling on the same side against the undead hordes. Konrad's attempt to put a patsy on the throne is foiled because the patsy was literally a zombie. It turns out staring vacantly into space while your skin peels off is a poor strategy for gaining political support.
At this point, everyone hates Konrad more than they hate each other, and in 2121 a united Empire/Dwarf army stomps Konrad's into the ground. Konrad tries to slink off to go sulk, but the son of the would-be Zombie Emperor stabs him repeatedly with a Runefang, permanently killing him.
...probably.
Less than a year later, Mannfred returns. Mannfred is often described as 'cunning', because it sounds more impressive than 'compulsive betrayer'. He spends a decade gathering an army to him and in 2132, the Third Vampire War kicks off when Mannfred leads an army to Altdorf. The Grand Theogonist of the time pulls the Liber Mortis out of the vaults and it turns out there's a spell of Making All The Zombies Fall Apart. Mannfred runs off with his tail between his legs, but he doesn't know when he's beaten because he leads what remains of his army to besiege Marienburg. Hey, people who know anything about military strategy: is it a good idea to just leave a fortified army in your wake?
Mannfred barely manages to flee at the head of his army just before the Altdorfian one can sandwich it against the walls of Marienburg. For twenty years he leads his army in a constant retreat from the many armies chasing him, often running back to Sylvania to restock on undead minions. Finally the divided factions of the Empire have had enough, and they send an envoy to the Dwarves who have also had enough, and a combined Empire/Dwarvern army meets with Mannfred and his army in Hel Fenn. The undead army is crushed, and when Mannfred tries to flee, the Count of Stirland chases after him on a griffon, slicing massive chunks out of him with a Runefang until his mutilated corpse sinks below the marshes, where it will lie forever.
...probably.
If there is a moral of the story, it is this: necromancy makes you stupid.
The year is now 2145. The Empire spends the next fifteen years scouring Sylvania, rooting out a lot of the vampires but thoroughly alienating the people of Sylvania, who were sad that they got a taste of a fraction of the suffering that their vampire overlords delivered to the rest of the Empire time and time again. Cry me a river, Sylvania. It ceases to exist as a province, being annexed by Stirland.
But though the main line of von Carsteins have (probably) been wiped out, Sylvania is still a land of darkness and undeath. Necromancers, cadet branches of the von Carstein lineage, and vampires of other bloodlines abound. Drakenhof still rings with screams nightly, and even today it remains unlooted because of the terrible things that happen to everyone that intrudes upon it.
Sylvania is a powderkeg that explodes into zombies instead of fire, and periodically executing anyone who might start lighting metaphorical matches is the unenviable burden of the Elector Count of Stirland.
Araby's early history is a number of city-states and nomad tribes being squeezed between Ulthuan's colonies and the then-living Nehekhara's expansions, and being exploited by both. Then within a few years around -2000, three things happened: Nagash was born, the Phoenix King shaved a Dwarven ambassador, and an astoundingly talented young man called Mullah Aklan'd started to build a resistance force to evict the Asur from his home of Fyrus. Before this time, Araby had been largely puppet states of Ulthuan and Nehekhara, and their Gods and their magic were both constructed from the scraps of secrets stolen or gifted from each. By the time Mullah Aklan'd was done, Araby was a unified state with its own religion¹, its own magical tradition based on elemental spirits called Djinn, and a kick-start in technology from secrets wrested from both east and west.
Over the coming centuries Araby managed to evict the Elves from the Arabyan coast and had contributed to the first defeat of Nagash at the hands of the Army of Seven Kings in -1600, but in the aftermath they were conquered by an opportunistic and freshly-arisen Tomb King. For a thousand years Araby's military was used as a cudgel against the remaining Vampire holdouts while in Araby itself, Nagash's first lieutenant wages an endless war against it. It only ends when Arkhan returns to a resurgent Nagash in -150 (which eventually ends in a showdown with Sigmar) and at that point Araby was little more than a fractured land of city-states and nomad tribes once more.
Skip forward a dozen centuries or so and Araby has restored most of its wealth and splendour. In 1240, Arabyan corsairs conquer Sartosa from the Norscans who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, and they use it as a base to raid Tilea from², marking the prelude to what the Old World calls the 'Arabyan Wars'. In the 1400s, egged on by Skaven and Daemons, a man named Jaffar reunited most of Araby by force, named himself the new Grand Sultan, and launched an invasion of Tilea and Estalia from Sartosa. At this time Bretonnia is only a few centuries old and the Empire is in the early stages of the Time of Three Emperors, and both look up from their internal conflicts to send forces to defend the southern realms and then to retaliate. In Araby the Crusaders are met by a rebellion against Jaffar's rule and the two forces join sides to wrest Araby from Jaffar's control, one city at a time. After a long and brutal war Jaffar was overthrown and killed, and those from the Old World that didn't want to leave until the last of those loyal to him were stamped out founded the cities of Antoch (Bretonnian) and Sudenburg (Empire) on the southern edge of Araby, which eventually became bustling trade ports.
In modern times, Araby is divided in times of peace and united in times of 'bloody hell, Nehekhara's at it again'. It's wealthy, advanced, and largely focused on internal debates over who gets to call themselves the truest inheritors of Mullah Aklan'd's legacy, not unlike the Empire before Magnus. Sure, Arabyan Corsairs from the Pirate Coast do raid the coasts of the Old World, but so do Sartosan pirates to Araby, so it's just seen as a fact of life instead of a geopolitical hot button. And it's got one advantage that is easy to overlook: it's on the equator. I've said a few times that to an Arabyan perspective, the entire Old World could be labelled Chaos Wastes. Imagine how much better off the Empire would be if Chaos cults were rare, Daemons were mere legends, Beastmen only existed in one isolated pocket, and Everchosen were completely unheard of. Sure, Nehekhara can be a pain, but it's a known quantity and a lot of the time they're open to being paid off.
1. In very early editions when Warhammer was more based on history than fantasy, the religion was the monotheistic worship of The One, fairly obviously based on Islam with Mullah Aklan'd being a Mohammed expy. In later editions it is instead a pantheon based on pre-Islamic Arabian religion with Mulah Aklan'd being more of a Saladin figure.
2. Incidentally, the Norscans had taken it from Settra's forces, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from the Dark Elves, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from Tileans, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from Ulthuan, who had been using it as a base to do colonialism on Tilea from. Sartosa's pretty much always been like that.
Over the coming centuries Araby managed to evict the Elves from the Arabyan coast and had contributed to the first defeat of Nagash at the hands of the Army of Seven Kings in -1600, but in the aftermath they were conquered by an opportunistic and freshly-arisen Tomb King. For a thousand years Araby's military was used as a cudgel against the remaining Vampire holdouts while in Araby itself, Nagash's first lieutenant wages an endless war against it. It only ends when Arkhan returns to a resurgent Nagash in -150 (which eventually ends in a showdown with Sigmar) and at that point Araby was little more than a fractured land of city-states and nomad tribes once more.
Skip forward a dozen centuries or so and Araby has restored most of its wealth and splendour. In 1240, Arabyan corsairs conquer Sartosa from the Norscans who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, and they use it as a base to raid Tilea from², marking the prelude to what the Old World calls the 'Arabyan Wars'. In the 1400s, egged on by Skaven and Daemons, a man named Jaffar reunited most of Araby by force, named himself the new Grand Sultan, and launched an invasion of Tilea and Estalia from Sartosa. At this time Bretonnia is only a few centuries old and the Empire is in the early stages of the Time of Three Emperors, and both look up from their internal conflicts to send forces to defend the southern realms and then to retaliate. In Araby the Crusaders are met by a rebellion against Jaffar's rule and the two forces join sides to wrest Araby from Jaffar's control, one city at a time. After a long and brutal war Jaffar was overthrown and killed, and those from the Old World that didn't want to leave until the last of those loyal to him were stamped out founded the cities of Antoch (Bretonnian) and Sudenburg (Empire) on the southern edge of Araby, which eventually became bustling trade ports.
In modern times, Araby is divided in times of peace and united in times of 'bloody hell, Nehekhara's at it again'. It's wealthy, advanced, and largely focused on internal debates over who gets to call themselves the truest inheritors of Mullah Aklan'd's legacy, not unlike the Empire before Magnus. Sure, Arabyan Corsairs from the Pirate Coast do raid the coasts of the Old World, but so do Sartosan pirates to Araby, so it's just seen as a fact of life instead of a geopolitical hot button. And it's got one advantage that is easy to overlook: it's on the equator. I've said a few times that to an Arabyan perspective, the entire Old World could be labelled Chaos Wastes. Imagine how much better off the Empire would be if Chaos cults were rare, Daemons were mere legends, Beastmen only existed in one isolated pocket, and Everchosen were completely unheard of. Sure, Nehekhara can be a pain, but it's a known quantity and a lot of the time they're open to being paid off.
1. In very early editions when Warhammer was more based on history than fantasy, the religion was the monotheistic worship of The One, fairly obviously based on Islam with Mullah Aklan'd being a Mohammed expy. In later editions it is instead a pantheon based on pre-Islamic Arabian religion with Mulah Aklan'd being more of a Saladin figure.
2. Incidentally, the Norscans had taken it from Settra's forces, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from the Dark Elves, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from Tileans, who had been using it as a base to raid Tilea from, who had taken it from Ulthuan, who had been using it as a base to do colonialism on Tilea from. Sartosa's pretty much always been like that.
Ranald is a strange God. Almost all citizens of the Empire worship him when appropriate, the common sign of the crossed fingers being an entreaty to him for good fortune. And yet he is almost as actively suppressed as the Outlawed Gods, such as the elven god of murder, Khaine, or the shipwrecker's god and enemy of Manann, Stromfels. To understand why, you must understand the fourfold nature of Ranald.
Most know Ranald as Ranald the Gamester, God of Gaming, Gambling, and Luck. A prayer to him is a thumb on the scale of chance, tipping the odds in your favour. He is especially venerated by those who make fortunes by chance - gamblers, of course, but also merchants, businessmen and traders. He is worshipped by most citizens in small ways, with crossed fingers, lucky amulets and superstitions all being prayers to the God of Luck. Trade and business guilds are often dedicated to him, and small, hidden shrines to him can be found in most slums and shanties in the towns and cities of the Empire and beyond - except in Marienburg, where a large temple to Ranald stands openly. It is also said that anywhere there is gambling is a shrine to Ranald.
The second most followed aspect of Ranald is that of Ranald the Night Prowler, God of Thieves. Though this aspect is poorly looked upon by most of those in power, the Strictures of Ranald the Night Prowler frown on violence, so cities with a criminal underbelly dominated by Ranald are vastly preferable to those dominated by Khaine. Worship of Ranald is built right into the Thieves Cant, the deliberately confusing argot of the underclasses, and the majority of Ranald's priests began by worshipping this facet of him.
The least-known guise of Ranald is Ranald the Deceiver, God of Irony and Illusion, Charlatans and Tricksters, favoured by spies, liars, con artists, and Grey Wizards. He smiles on attempts to outwit and outfox your enemies, though he smiles just as readily on suitably entertaining failures. To openly admit to worshipping him is to fail at doing so, as no true liar admits to being one, so worship of this guise tends to be more personal and uncodified than even that of Ranald's other followers.
And finally, there is the most thoroughly and enthusiastically suppressed face of Ranald: Ranald the Protector. He is the God of Freedom, of defending the defenceless, assisting the poor, and standing up for the rights of the common man. But when taken to extremes, he is also the God of revolution, equality, and democracy, and as such is a constant danger to the status quo of the Empire. He is worshipped by rabble-rousers, democrats, cells of would-be revolutionaries and groups of brigands that steal from the wealthy to give to the impoverished. These worshippers are much of why the worship of Ranald is outright forbidden in Bretonnia, and viewed with so much suspicion elsewhere.
Everyone that worships Ranald is drawn to one face of the God, but to worship one facet is to worship all of Ranald. To accept Ranald as your patron deity is accept the importance of fortune, a lax attitude towards laws, a flexible approach to the truth, and the importance of freedom.
Ranald is usually portrayed as a charming rogue with a wicked smile, but sometimes depicted as a crow, magpie, or a black cat. The only symbol holy to him is the simple cross: X. This makes it easy to work into innocuous-looking patterns and tattoos, as the symbol loses some of its potency if worn openly.
---
Ranald the Protector is a mixed bag. Those with a stated goal to overthrow the monarchy are routinely slaughtered, but neighborhood watch-esque organizations dedicated to him thrive in poorer areas of towns and cities, and nearly every non-rich quarter has a hidden shrine to Ranald the Protector. Sometimes said shrine is found, and it's carefully dismantled and hidden away until official attention passes and then it's put back together. At the end of the day, frowned up as he is, Ranald is still a recognized Major God of the Old World Pantheon, and when His representatives show up at religious Conclaves there's nothing that can be done to exclude them.
If you do enshrine Ranald the Protector as the patron god of the Watch, then you'd be doing is effectively attempting trying to force a fifth facet of Ranald in the public consciousness - that of Ranald the Revolutionary - and thus purge the Protector of the unsavory aspects. Normally this sort of thing would be very frowned upon by the God in question, but Ranald the Deceiver - your Patron - would find it hilarious. And who knows? Perhaps eventually it will be reflected in the God Himself.
It is more difficult and risky than just bringing a more acceptable Cult in, but it can work out in the end.
---
There's always some with more zeal than sense and they do a 'purge' and a few revolutionaries too stupid to play dumb get swept up and taken to the gallows and the locals feign shock. "A Ranaldite shrine? In our neighborhood? Good heavens!" And after a month or two official attention has moved elsewhere and the shrine is back up within the day.
And Ranald isn't a soldier's god per se, and before a battle they'll be praying to Sigmar or Ulric or Myrmidia or Taal, but when they're in the middle of a melee and there's arrows flying everywhere and whether they live or die is down to sheer chance, more often than not soldiers will be invoking Ranald.
Most know Ranald as Ranald the Gamester, God of Gaming, Gambling, and Luck. A prayer to him is a thumb on the scale of chance, tipping the odds in your favour. He is especially venerated by those who make fortunes by chance - gamblers, of course, but also merchants, businessmen and traders. He is worshipped by most citizens in small ways, with crossed fingers, lucky amulets and superstitions all being prayers to the God of Luck. Trade and business guilds are often dedicated to him, and small, hidden shrines to him can be found in most slums and shanties in the towns and cities of the Empire and beyond - except in Marienburg, where a large temple to Ranald stands openly. It is also said that anywhere there is gambling is a shrine to Ranald.
The second most followed aspect of Ranald is that of Ranald the Night Prowler, God of Thieves. Though this aspect is poorly looked upon by most of those in power, the Strictures of Ranald the Night Prowler frown on violence, so cities with a criminal underbelly dominated by Ranald are vastly preferable to those dominated by Khaine. Worship of Ranald is built right into the Thieves Cant, the deliberately confusing argot of the underclasses, and the majority of Ranald's priests began by worshipping this facet of him.
The least-known guise of Ranald is Ranald the Deceiver, God of Irony and Illusion, Charlatans and Tricksters, favoured by spies, liars, con artists, and Grey Wizards. He smiles on attempts to outwit and outfox your enemies, though he smiles just as readily on suitably entertaining failures. To openly admit to worshipping him is to fail at doing so, as no true liar admits to being one, so worship of this guise tends to be more personal and uncodified than even that of Ranald's other followers.
And finally, there is the most thoroughly and enthusiastically suppressed face of Ranald: Ranald the Protector. He is the God of Freedom, of defending the defenceless, assisting the poor, and standing up for the rights of the common man. But when taken to extremes, he is also the God of revolution, equality, and democracy, and as such is a constant danger to the status quo of the Empire. He is worshipped by rabble-rousers, democrats, cells of would-be revolutionaries and groups of brigands that steal from the wealthy to give to the impoverished. These worshippers are much of why the worship of Ranald is outright forbidden in Bretonnia, and viewed with so much suspicion elsewhere.
Everyone that worships Ranald is drawn to one face of the God, but to worship one facet is to worship all of Ranald. To accept Ranald as your patron deity is accept the importance of fortune, a lax attitude towards laws, a flexible approach to the truth, and the importance of freedom.
Ranald is usually portrayed as a charming rogue with a wicked smile, but sometimes depicted as a crow, magpie, or a black cat. The only symbol holy to him is the simple cross: X. This makes it easy to work into innocuous-looking patterns and tattoos, as the symbol loses some of its potency if worn openly.
---
Ranald the Protector is a mixed bag. Those with a stated goal to overthrow the monarchy are routinely slaughtered, but neighborhood watch-esque organizations dedicated to him thrive in poorer areas of towns and cities, and nearly every non-rich quarter has a hidden shrine to Ranald the Protector. Sometimes said shrine is found, and it's carefully dismantled and hidden away until official attention passes and then it's put back together. At the end of the day, frowned up as he is, Ranald is still a recognized Major God of the Old World Pantheon, and when His representatives show up at religious Conclaves there's nothing that can be done to exclude them.
If you do enshrine Ranald the Protector as the patron god of the Watch, then you'd be doing is effectively attempting trying to force a fifth facet of Ranald in the public consciousness - that of Ranald the Revolutionary - and thus purge the Protector of the unsavory aspects. Normally this sort of thing would be very frowned upon by the God in question, but Ranald the Deceiver - your Patron - would find it hilarious. And who knows? Perhaps eventually it will be reflected in the God Himself.
It is more difficult and risky than just bringing a more acceptable Cult in, but it can work out in the end.
---
There's always some with more zeal than sense and they do a 'purge' and a few revolutionaries too stupid to play dumb get swept up and taken to the gallows and the locals feign shock. "A Ranaldite shrine? In our neighborhood? Good heavens!" And after a month or two official attention has moved elsewhere and the shrine is back up within the day.
And Ranald isn't a soldier's god per se, and before a battle they'll be praying to Sigmar or Ulric or Myrmidia or Taal, but when they're in the middle of a melee and there's arrows flying everywhere and whether they live or die is down to sheer chance, more often than not soldiers will be invoking Ranald.
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 |
2487-2494: Dragomas (Amber)
2479-2486: Dragomas (Amber)
2471-2478: Dragomas (Amber)
2463-2470: Dragomas (Amber)
2455-2462: Alric (Light)
2447-2454: Paranoth the Wanderer (Jade)
2439-2446: Alric (Light)
2431-2438: Felip Iyrtu (Amethyst)
2423-2430: Seisyllt Gwilymsson (Celestial)
2415-2422: Erika Kurtsdottir (Bright)
2407-2414: Alric (Light)
2399-2406: Johanna Eichenherz (Grey)
2391-2398: Sigmarella Gormann (Gold)
2383-2390: Alisa (Amethyst)
2375-2382: Agatha (Amethyst)
2367-2374: Arburg (Jade)
2359-2366: Ptolos (Grey)
2351-2360: Theodor Habermas (Gold)
2343-2350: Theodor Habermas (Gold)
2335-2342: Helmut Rosenkrantz (Celestial)
2327-2334: Kadon (Amber)
2319-2326: Volans (Light)
2311-2318: Volans (Light)
2303-2310: Teclis
2479-2486: Dragomas (Amber)
2471-2478: Dragomas (Amber)
2463-2470: Dragomas (Amber)
2455-2462: Alric (Light)
2447-2454: Paranoth the Wanderer (Jade)
2439-2446: Alric (Light)
2431-2438: Felip Iyrtu (Amethyst)
2423-2430: Seisyllt Gwilymsson (Celestial)
2415-2422: Erika Kurtsdottir (Bright)
2407-2414: Alric (Light)
2399-2406: Johanna Eichenherz (Grey)
2391-2398: Sigmarella Gormann (Gold)
2383-2390: Alisa (Amethyst)
2375-2382: Agatha (Amethyst)
2367-2374: Arburg (Jade)
2359-2366: Ptolos (Grey)
2351-2360: Theodor Habermas (Gold)
2343-2350: Theodor Habermas (Gold)
2335-2342: Helmut Rosenkrantz (Celestial)
2327-2334: Kadon (Amber)
2319-2326: Volans (Light)
2311-2318: Volans (Light)
2303-2310: Teclis
Articles 1-15 of The Articles Of Imperial Magic, written by Magnus the Pious.
1. The first obedience of every Magister must be to the ideals and laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire of which these Articles form a part; then to he who is rightfully elected Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire; then to the Supreme Patriarch of the Colleges of Magic; then to the laws and ideals of their Order; then to the Patriarch of their Order; then to the authorities that each Magister may be required to serve in the course of his duties; then to other superiors within their Orders.
2. No Magister may obstruct in malice or for financial or political gain the rulings of the Emperor, nor may they seek to overthrow him for these reasons.
3. Every Magister of said Colleges must adhere to the laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire, regardless of the province, region, or city-state, just as any loyal citizen must, except that the Magisters alone shall be permitted to study magic and perform such spells for the good of the Empire.
4. The Colleges are free to study, document, practice, and experiment with the arcane forces of magic that are present in this world, provided they adhere to the restrictions laid down by Teclis of Ulthuan, keep the good of Sigmar's Holy Empire in their hearts and minds, and obey the Articles of this document.
5. The Colleges may bestow as they see fit upon all their own initiates full rights to study, document, practice, and experiment with the arcane forces of magic that are present in this world and also take apprentices to themselves to pass on such knowledge and wisdom as may be part of their Lore and for the good of the Empire.
6. No Magister may cast a spell or enchantment outside of the theatre of war and in public view without first being requested to by the Emperor, the Electors of Sigmar's Holy Empire, or another legitimate employer as defined by the Articles of this document. All spells and enchantments cast without these permission may only be done so with and for demonstrably good reason.
7. No Magister may ever study the Forbidden Lores of the Daemonic Powers, nor the unholy ways of Necromancy, nor any other sorcery or witchcraft that utilises the wicked powers of Dark Magic. Any Magister found disregarding this Article is guilty of an Abominable Act and is both Heretic and Traitor and will be put to sword and fire immediately.
8. The Colleges must respond favourably to any reasonable request for specific service from any Elector of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
9. The Colleges must be ready to render service to the armies of the Emperor and the Electors of the Empire upon request, unless such service aids in the seceding of an Imperial province from the Empire, or unless such service is intended to cause overt harm to the Electoral System, or to the authority of the Emperor who resides upon Sigmar's Throne, or to the unity of purpose and identity that marks Sigmar's Holy Empire, as indeed it was so sorely afflicted throughout the dark centuries of the False Emperors.
10. The Colleges must grant upon request protection for all such diplomatic missions and any other tasks of defence or warfare as are required by the duly elected Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
11. All Magisters may expect to receive accommodation, benefits, respect, and fair treatment, as would befit any noble of Sigmar's Holy Empire, while in the employ of the Electors of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
12. Magisters are permitted to pursue agreements of employment with any persons or organisations: civil and religious, public and private, noble and mercantile, providing their employers are not enemies of Sigmar's Holy Empire or the people and that will not lead to the breaking of any of these Articles.
13. All Magisters are required to seek out magic users as may exist within the bounds of Sigmar's Holy Empire to ascertain their suitability to join one of the Orders of Magic, or else report them to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, or else destroy them if they prove to be of immediate and grave menace to Sigmar's People.
14. All Magisters are required to render such aid as is deemed necessary to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, should said Templars provide satisfactory proof that the servant of malignancy they face is beyond their capacity to capture or destroy without magical means.
15. All Magisters are required to exert themselves to seek out and counter such destructive and anti-Imperial machinations, practices, peoples, and creatures that are beyond the means of civil authorities and Sigmar's Templars to counter, but yet still serve the Daemon Gods or advance the corruption of Imperial citizens through any sorcerous or infernal means. This shall be the prime concern and purpose of the Colleges, their Orders and the Magisters belonging to them, and to fail in this duty is to render void all the Articles of this document and make obsolete their permission to practise arcane arts without hindrance.
1. The first obedience of every Magister must be to the ideals and laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire of which these Articles form a part; then to he who is rightfully elected Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire; then to the Supreme Patriarch of the Colleges of Magic; then to the laws and ideals of their Order; then to the Patriarch of their Order; then to the authorities that each Magister may be required to serve in the course of his duties; then to other superiors within their Orders.
2. No Magister may obstruct in malice or for financial or political gain the rulings of the Emperor, nor may they seek to overthrow him for these reasons.
3. Every Magister of said Colleges must adhere to the laws of Sigmar's Holy Empire, regardless of the province, region, or city-state, just as any loyal citizen must, except that the Magisters alone shall be permitted to study magic and perform such spells for the good of the Empire.
4. The Colleges are free to study, document, practice, and experiment with the arcane forces of magic that are present in this world, provided they adhere to the restrictions laid down by Teclis of Ulthuan, keep the good of Sigmar's Holy Empire in their hearts and minds, and obey the Articles of this document.
5. The Colleges may bestow as they see fit upon all their own initiates full rights to study, document, practice, and experiment with the arcane forces of magic that are present in this world and also take apprentices to themselves to pass on such knowledge and wisdom as may be part of their Lore and for the good of the Empire.
6. No Magister may cast a spell or enchantment outside of the theatre of war and in public view without first being requested to by the Emperor, the Electors of Sigmar's Holy Empire, or another legitimate employer as defined by the Articles of this document. All spells and enchantments cast without these permission may only be done so with and for demonstrably good reason.
7. No Magister may ever study the Forbidden Lores of the Daemonic Powers, nor the unholy ways of Necromancy, nor any other sorcery or witchcraft that utilises the wicked powers of Dark Magic. Any Magister found disregarding this Article is guilty of an Abominable Act and is both Heretic and Traitor and will be put to sword and fire immediately.
8. The Colleges must respond favourably to any reasonable request for specific service from any Elector of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
9. The Colleges must be ready to render service to the armies of the Emperor and the Electors of the Empire upon request, unless such service aids in the seceding of an Imperial province from the Empire, or unless such service is intended to cause overt harm to the Electoral System, or to the authority of the Emperor who resides upon Sigmar's Throne, or to the unity of purpose and identity that marks Sigmar's Holy Empire, as indeed it was so sorely afflicted throughout the dark centuries of the False Emperors.
10. The Colleges must grant upon request protection for all such diplomatic missions and any other tasks of defence or warfare as are required by the duly elected Emperor of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
11. All Magisters may expect to receive accommodation, benefits, respect, and fair treatment, as would befit any noble of Sigmar's Holy Empire, while in the employ of the Electors of Sigmar's Holy Empire.
12. Magisters are permitted to pursue agreements of employment with any persons or organisations: civil and religious, public and private, noble and mercantile, providing their employers are not enemies of Sigmar's Holy Empire or the people and that will not lead to the breaking of any of these Articles.
13. All Magisters are required to seek out magic users as may exist within the bounds of Sigmar's Holy Empire to ascertain their suitability to join one of the Orders of Magic, or else report them to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, or else destroy them if they prove to be of immediate and grave menace to Sigmar's People.
14. All Magisters are required to render such aid as is deemed necessary to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, should said Templars provide satisfactory proof that the servant of malignancy they face is beyond their capacity to capture or destroy without magical means.
15. All Magisters are required to exert themselves to seek out and counter such destructive and anti-Imperial machinations, practices, peoples, and creatures that are beyond the means of civil authorities and Sigmar's Templars to counter, but yet still serve the Daemon Gods or advance the corruption of Imperial citizens through any sorcerous or infernal means. This shall be the prime concern and purpose of the Colleges, their Orders and the Magisters belonging to them, and to fail in this duty is to render void all the Articles of this document and make obsolete their permission to practise arcane arts without hindrance.
As long as you abide by the Articles of Imperial Magic, without solid evidence of your wrongdoing they cannot touch you without getting in a world of shit. 'All eight Colleges threatening to declare war on Stirland' levels of shit. 'The Emperor himself asking what the fuck is going on over there' levels of shit. If there is one thing that the Colleges will move heaven and earth to prevent, it's the precedent that members of the College in good standing can be victimized by Witch Hunters. Besides that, Magisters legally have all the rights and protections of nobility, and as a Journeywoman you are under the protection of your Master - besides which, you actually are a noble.
I cannot emphasize it enough: THIS IS NOT 40K. It takes more than someone pointing and shouting 'heresy' to be murdered by the Witch Hunters.
Here is the legal status between the Witch Hunters (aka the Templars of Sigmar) and members of the Colleges of Magic:
14. All Magisters are required to render such aid as is deemed necessary to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, should said Templars provide satisfactory proof that the servant of malignancy they face is beyond their capacity to capture or destroy without magical means.
You aren't their prey. You're their backup.
I cannot emphasize it enough: THIS IS NOT 40K. It takes more than someone pointing and shouting 'heresy' to be murdered by the Witch Hunters.
Here is the legal status between the Witch Hunters (aka the Templars of Sigmar) and members of the Colleges of Magic:
14. All Magisters are required to render such aid as is deemed necessary to the Holy Orders of the Templars of Sigmar, should said Templars provide satisfactory proof that the servant of malignancy they face is beyond their capacity to capture or destroy without magical means.
You aren't their prey. You're their backup.
Shadowmancers seldom stay long in one place. They are restless, curious and independent individuals and their character and duties mean that they spend most of their lives travelling from place to place. Due to the nature of their duties, the journeys Shadowmancers embark upon are often undertaken under the cover of darkness, and therefore nearly always seem to imply some evil purpose or ulterior motive to the few ordinary people that witness them. Shadowmancers do not talk easily of their deeds, or much of other matters, for they are aware of the suspicion with which they are viewed by their fellow men, and prefer to remain inconspicuous and discreet.
The Shadowmancers are renowned for their practicality. A grave sense of responsibility and a sharp mind are prerequisites for potential apprentices to their Order. The Shadowmancers prize diplomacy and the skills of debate and rhetoric, especially for those times that they choose to become involved in disputes, where they take the part of open mediators. The history of the Order of Shadows has, with very few exceptions, been one of great asceticism, skilful diplomacy, and absolute opposition to all things associated with the Dark Powers.
Magisters of the Grey Order may rarely be viewed as honest individuals, but they are incredibly loyal to their Order and the Empire as a whole. Teclis chose the most dependable and honourable of his Human protégés to study the Grey Wind because he knew full well the temptations that would soon come their way.
The symbol of their Order (the Sword of Judgement) is a reminder to them as scholars of magic that seeking knowledge and wisdom is not enough in itself. They are worthless if not actively used to better society.
These are generalities, and many, possibly most Magisters would vary from it in one way or another, but it is a useful insight into what the College as an institution values.
The Shadowmancers are renowned for their practicality. A grave sense of responsibility and a sharp mind are prerequisites for potential apprentices to their Order. The Shadowmancers prize diplomacy and the skills of debate and rhetoric, especially for those times that they choose to become involved in disputes, where they take the part of open mediators. The history of the Order of Shadows has, with very few exceptions, been one of great asceticism, skilful diplomacy, and absolute opposition to all things associated with the Dark Powers.
Magisters of the Grey Order may rarely be viewed as honest individuals, but they are incredibly loyal to their Order and the Empire as a whole. Teclis chose the most dependable and honourable of his Human protégés to study the Grey Wind because he knew full well the temptations that would soon come their way.
The symbol of their Order (the Sword of Judgement) is a reminder to them as scholars of magic that seeking knowledge and wisdom is not enough in itself. They are worthless if not actively used to better society.
These are generalities, and many, possibly most Magisters would vary from it in one way or another, but it is a useful insight into what the College as an institution values.
When Dieter IV came to power in 2411, he quickly discovered a new favourite hobby: encouraging inter-College rivalries for his own amusement. After four years of mounting squabbles and with the eight-yearly duel for the Supreme Patriarch position coming up, Supreme Patriarch Alric of the Light Order was ambushed and frozen in crystal by an ambitious underling called High Luminary Horx, who then broke into the vaults of the Light College to engage in a little light reading of the Book of Volans, thinking it would make him powerful enough to take on all comers and secure the Supreme Patriarch position for himself. Instead, it drove Horx insane and unleashed a Storm of Magic upon Altdorf.
This was taken as a perfect opportunity to settle scores as everyone broke out all the most powerful of spells and artefacts that can only be used during Storms of Magic. The Bright Order fought against the Light Order, the Amber Order fought against the Celestial Order, the Amethyst Order fought amongst themselves after one of them summoned ghosts and was accused of necromancy. The Grey Order called in an allied Knightly Order called the Knights of Judgement to try to restore order, the Gold Order tried to pick off anyone that looked like they might be becoming too powerful, and the Jade Order hunkered down, animating all the trees in their quarter of the city to strangle any other Wizard that tried to approach. After a great deal of chaos, the Grand Theogonist of the time put an end to the matter by storming the Hall of Duels and executing Horx, which ended the Storm of Magic so abruptly that the backlash killed everyone that was drawing upon it. The only College leader to survive was Alric, who gave up the Supreme Patriarchy in shame for not being able to stop Horx.
After the dust settled, the Church of Sigmar pressured Dieter IV to close the Colleges and ban magic. As Dieter IV never heard a bad idea he didn't love, he went along with it. Ironically, this healed most of the leftover rifts because all eight College basically closed ranks and said "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough", and though many Witch Hunters believed they were hard enough, all of them turned out to be incorrect. Most of the esoteric and paranoid defences of the Colleges date back to this period. In 2420, Dieter IV managed to completely tank any goodwill he got from banning the Colleges when he accepted a bribe to sanction a College of Elementalists in Nuln.
In 2429, Dieter IV was deposed after accepting a massive bribe to grant Marienburg independence. Emperor Wilhelm III, also known as Wilhelm the Wise (mostly out of contrast) and the current Emperor's grandfather, got off to a bad start when some circus illusionists made off with a significant chunk of his treasury and he tried to hold a mass trial for wizardry in general on charges of 'witchcraft and consorting with Chaos'. The Colleges were into year fourteen of their 'siege' at this point, so funnily enough none of them arrived to defend themselves. The trial was postponed for Wilhelm III to go reconquer Marienburg, but they were allied with Ulthuan, and between Elven Mages and Marienburg's own graduates from the College of Navigation and Sea Magicks, Marienburg had complete magical dominance and things went devastatingly bad for the forces of the Empire. Wilhelm went 'wow okay point fucking made holy shit' and reopened the Colleges in 2430.
Official history records the Great Fire of Altdorf that burned the district surrounding the Bright College as happening in 2431, as part of an 'accident' when 'rebuilding' the College. It's probably for the best if you pretend to believe that.
The College of Elementalism still exists as a branch of the University of Nuln under extremely close scrutiny from both the Templars and the Colleges. It lacks the prestige and the power of the Colleges, but it still attracts students. Apprentices that don't want to live with the obligations of the Teclisean Colleges but don't want their magic suppressed either often end up 'running away' to Nuln, and as they still technically exist under an Emperor-recognized College of Magic they're legally in the clear. The Colleges usually consider getting rid of someone with the belief of 'I want power but I don't want to actually help the Empire with it' to be in their best interest, and them going to Nuln means at least they're not learning necromancy or sorcery, and they're easy to keep an eye on.
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, because 'subtle' and 'quick to anger' still only covers two of the eight terrifying flavours they come in.
This was taken as a perfect opportunity to settle scores as everyone broke out all the most powerful of spells and artefacts that can only be used during Storms of Magic. The Bright Order fought against the Light Order, the Amber Order fought against the Celestial Order, the Amethyst Order fought amongst themselves after one of them summoned ghosts and was accused of necromancy. The Grey Order called in an allied Knightly Order called the Knights of Judgement to try to restore order, the Gold Order tried to pick off anyone that looked like they might be becoming too powerful, and the Jade Order hunkered down, animating all the trees in their quarter of the city to strangle any other Wizard that tried to approach. After a great deal of chaos, the Grand Theogonist of the time put an end to the matter by storming the Hall of Duels and executing Horx, which ended the Storm of Magic so abruptly that the backlash killed everyone that was drawing upon it. The only College leader to survive was Alric, who gave up the Supreme Patriarchy in shame for not being able to stop Horx.
After the dust settled, the Church of Sigmar pressured Dieter IV to close the Colleges and ban magic. As Dieter IV never heard a bad idea he didn't love, he went along with it. Ironically, this healed most of the leftover rifts because all eight College basically closed ranks and said "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough", and though many Witch Hunters believed they were hard enough, all of them turned out to be incorrect. Most of the esoteric and paranoid defences of the Colleges date back to this period. In 2420, Dieter IV managed to completely tank any goodwill he got from banning the Colleges when he accepted a bribe to sanction a College of Elementalists in Nuln.
In 2429, Dieter IV was deposed after accepting a massive bribe to grant Marienburg independence. Emperor Wilhelm III, also known as Wilhelm the Wise (mostly out of contrast) and the current Emperor's grandfather, got off to a bad start when some circus illusionists made off with a significant chunk of his treasury and he tried to hold a mass trial for wizardry in general on charges of 'witchcraft and consorting with Chaos'. The Colleges were into year fourteen of their 'siege' at this point, so funnily enough none of them arrived to defend themselves. The trial was postponed for Wilhelm III to go reconquer Marienburg, but they were allied with Ulthuan, and between Elven Mages and Marienburg's own graduates from the College of Navigation and Sea Magicks, Marienburg had complete magical dominance and things went devastatingly bad for the forces of the Empire. Wilhelm went 'wow okay point fucking made holy shit' and reopened the Colleges in 2430.
Official history records the Great Fire of Altdorf that burned the district surrounding the Bright College as happening in 2431, as part of an 'accident' when 'rebuilding' the College. It's probably for the best if you pretend to believe that.
The College of Elementalism still exists as a branch of the University of Nuln under extremely close scrutiny from both the Templars and the Colleges. It lacks the prestige and the power of the Colleges, but it still attracts students. Apprentices that don't want to live with the obligations of the Teclisean Colleges but don't want their magic suppressed either often end up 'running away' to Nuln, and as they still technically exist under an Emperor-recognized College of Magic they're legally in the clear. The Colleges usually consider getting rid of someone with the belief of 'I want power but I don't want to actually help the Empire with it' to be in their best interest, and them going to Nuln means at least they're not learning necromancy or sorcery, and they're easy to keep an eye on.
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, because 'subtle' and 'quick to anger' still only covers two of the eight terrifying flavours they come in.
Youth / Garazi: What is considered to be the first day of a Dwarf's life is not necessarily when they are born, but when they are given their name during a set of ceremonies at a Temple of Grungni with their male relatives, and at a Temple of Valaya with their female relatives. Over their childhood, they will be taught Dwarven law, tradition, and history, the basics of combat, mining, and metalworking, and the basics of their Clan's speciality. They will also spend a minimum of two years working in the mines of their Hold. For those that do not live within a Karak, they may travel to one to undergo the proper ceremonies, or they may be visited by the proper Priests.
Newbeard / Gnutrommi: At the age of thirty, a Dwarf makes a ceremonial sacrifice to the Ancestors, usually an apprentice-piece of the Guild they wish to join. They are gifted with their first set of tools by their Clan and are afforded the right to wear their Clan's insignia. This is typically the age when a Clan will start debating and negotiating a marriage on behalf of Dwarf women, though they retain veto rights throughout the process.
Journeymen / Strollenokri: Typically (but not always) between the ages of 40 to 60, an Apprentice deemed ready is released to prove themselves. This is equivalent to the 'Journeying' of human crafters, but in modern times it's common for Dwarves to remain in the same Hold rather than travelling elsewhere. They work without supervision or correction until they consider themselves ready to present their Guild with a Masterpiece, and said Masterpiece is accepted by the Guild. Some Dwarves stall at this stage for life, or decide to start again as Apprentices in a new field.
Fullbeard / Altrommi: At the age of 70, a Dwarf that has also attained the rank of Master in their Guild is considered ready to take on Apprentices of their own. This is the most common age for Dwarven men to get married, though the majority never do.
Longbeard / Langktrommi: At the age of 120, Dwarves are considered to have neared the peak of their ability, and those that have suitable skill begin to be considered for the rank of Grandmaster. Most Dwarves stop taking on new Apprentices at this point to dedicate themselves entirely to their craft without distractions.
Elder / Aldtrommi: At the age 150, Dwarves join the Elder Council of their Clan, a position they retain for the remainder of their life. Depending on the Clan the Council might directly lead them, or might only advise those who do. They also become involved in adjudicating disputes, resolving Grudges, and advising young Dwarves who come to them for wisdom. This is also the age when many Dwarves will die of old age, which is something Dwarves can sense some time in advance, giving them the chance to prepare their tomb, distribute their possessions, and spend their last days with their friends and family.
Greatbeard / Gormtrommi: Few Dwarves reach the age of 200. Those that do are held in high esteem and often become leaders of their Clan or Guild.
Living Ancestor / Karugromthi: Those very rare Dwarves that reach the age of 400 are accorded the status of Living Ancestors. They typically have a driving motivation, either a thirst for knowledge, an ambition to fully master their craft, an unfinished task, or an unresolved Grudge that requires avenging, and will usually dedicate their entire life to this, however long it might take.
Newbeard / Gnutrommi: At the age of thirty, a Dwarf makes a ceremonial sacrifice to the Ancestors, usually an apprentice-piece of the Guild they wish to join. They are gifted with their first set of tools by their Clan and are afforded the right to wear their Clan's insignia. This is typically the age when a Clan will start debating and negotiating a marriage on behalf of Dwarf women, though they retain veto rights throughout the process.
Journeymen / Strollenokri: Typically (but not always) between the ages of 40 to 60, an Apprentice deemed ready is released to prove themselves. This is equivalent to the 'Journeying' of human crafters, but in modern times it's common for Dwarves to remain in the same Hold rather than travelling elsewhere. They work without supervision or correction until they consider themselves ready to present their Guild with a Masterpiece, and said Masterpiece is accepted by the Guild. Some Dwarves stall at this stage for life, or decide to start again as Apprentices in a new field.
Fullbeard / Altrommi: At the age of 70, a Dwarf that has also attained the rank of Master in their Guild is considered ready to take on Apprentices of their own. This is the most common age for Dwarven men to get married, though the majority never do.
Longbeard / Langktrommi: At the age of 120, Dwarves are considered to have neared the peak of their ability, and those that have suitable skill begin to be considered for the rank of Grandmaster. Most Dwarves stop taking on new Apprentices at this point to dedicate themselves entirely to their craft without distractions.
Elder / Aldtrommi: At the age 150, Dwarves join the Elder Council of their Clan, a position they retain for the remainder of their life. Depending on the Clan the Council might directly lead them, or might only advise those who do. They also become involved in adjudicating disputes, resolving Grudges, and advising young Dwarves who come to them for wisdom. This is also the age when many Dwarves will die of old age, which is something Dwarves can sense some time in advance, giving them the chance to prepare their tomb, distribute their possessions, and spend their last days with their friends and family.
Greatbeard / Gormtrommi: Few Dwarves reach the age of 200. Those that do are held in high esteem and often become leaders of their Clan or Guild.
Living Ancestor / Karugromthi: Those very rare Dwarves that reach the age of 400 are accorded the status of Living Ancestors. They typically have a driving motivation, either a thirst for knowledge, an ambition to fully master their craft, an unfinished task, or an unresolved Grudge that requires avenging, and will usually dedicate their entire life to this, however long it might take.
Karaz-a-Karak - Enduring Endurance / Big Stony Stone Place / Hold of Holds - 'Everpeak'
High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer
The capital of the Karaz Ankor, Karaz-a-Karak is the largest, richest, and most influential of the Dwarfholds, and traditionally the home of the High King. Though its population has dwindled, the contents of its vaults, treasuries and archives have grown as the recovered treasures of fallen Dwarfholds and the heirlooms of extinct clans default to it. Once its great gates stood open for visitors and trade to flow freely, but now they open only for war, as its dwindling population sacrifices themselves further to protect other holds or avenge Grudges.
Karaz-a-Karak is home to the legendary Aircorps, which projects the will of the High King further and faster than any conventional force could dream of. The design of gyrocopters had been refined in recent decades, and where once they were small, one-Dwarf vehicles more suited to scouting than war and armed only with rerouted steam from their boilers, now the most basic are proper weapon platforms possessing a great variety of weapons, the larger gyrobombers are capable of devastating armies, and gyrocarriages provide rapid long-range transport to VIPs and elite units.
Barak Varr - Gate to the Sea
King Byrrnoth Grundadrakk
Barak Varr is the seaport of the Karaz Ankor, and it is a major player in sea trade and dominates the rivers it sits astride. It is found at the narrow end of the Black Gulf, giving it easy access to Tilea, Estalia, and Araby. It also dominates the many rivers of the Border Princes that empty into the Gulf, and while the Border Princes themselves are far from wealthy trade partners, it does give access to Karak Hirn, Zhufbar, Karaz-a-Karak and Karak Eight Peaks. Overland trade via Black Fire Pass gives access to the Empire, though rumour has it they are seeking riverine access to the Empire by building a canal from the great Black Water crater-lake to the River Aver.
The Navy of Barak Varr rivals that of some entire nations, and it spurns traditional wooden ships and sails in favour of using secrets of steel and steam to construct metal behemoths that pay no need to the direction of the wind. Tiny Gunboats and sleek, speedy Monitors dominate the rivers while mighty Ironclads travel across the seas, festooned with firepower enough to dissuade even the most reckless of pirates from seeking the contents of their cargo holds. And greatest of all, the Dreadnoughts are mighty floating fortresses, as able to disgorge aircraft and submarines as they are more traditional projectiles. Only the greatest Kings of Barak Varr are able to make the construction of a single Dreadnought the culmination of their rule.
Zhufbar - Torrent-Gate
King Barundin Stoneheart
Zhufbar was once twinned to Karak Varn, dedicated to smelting and shaping the ore it extracted from the shores and the bed of the Black Water. In the Silver Age it remade itself as the foremost home of Dwarven engineering, harnessing the waterfall that runs through it before plummeting into the River Aver below to power a thousand cunning devices. Most of the more exotic weapons in Dwarven hands bears the mark of the Zhufbar Engineers Guild, and it has grown wealthy on providing these weapons. It possesses the largest gromril armouries still in use, with which it launches mining raids into the tunnels in, under and around Karak Varn to extract gold and gromril from under the noses of Skaven and Night Goblins.
The mighty arsenals of Zhufbar keep it safe and prosperous despite its unenviable position. Karak Varn to the west and Mount Gunbad to the east are filled with Skaven and greenskins, the Black Water is home to all manner of strange and malformed monsters, and Sylvania needs no introduction. Zhufbar survives and even thrives because each Dwarf that marches to war does so with either the finest of weaponry and armour or the most clever and proven of modern armaments.
Karak Kadrin - Stronghold of the Pass - 'The Slayer Keep'
King Ungrim Ironfist
The northernmost of the major holds, Karak Kadrin dominates the western end of Peak Pass, the only direct route through the mountains between the Empire and the Dark Lands. They provide access to merchants from the west and protection from various marauders from the east, and as such have a strong relationship with Ostermark, the Imperial province adjoining Peak Pass. They were once able to dominate the entire length of the pass, but in modern times much of the Karak's former outposts are home to greenskins and worse. Between the tolls they charge and the rich ore deposits the Karak is built upon, Karak Kadrin remains quite wealthy despite being more and more isolated from the rest of the Karaz Ankor.
Its history was shaped by the forgotten shame of a long-dead King, and the Slayer Oath he swore but was unable to reconcile with his Oath of Kingship. Each generation of rulers since had inherited these incompatible duties, and to at least assuage the guilt, they have dedicated Karak Kadrin to Grimnir and the Slayer Cult, providing weapons, shelter and support to all those seeking their Doom. As a result, the Karak is split between being a wealthy and cosmopolitan centre of trade and industry, and a grim and dour home of dishonoured Dwarves sworn to death in battle.
Karak Azul - Iron Mountain
King Kazador Thunderhorn
Ever since the fall of Karak Eight Peaks and Karak Drazh, Karak Azul had been all but cut off from the rest of the Karaz Ankor, and all that kept them from being assumed lost was the occasional heavily-armed forces sent from Karaz-a-Karak to confirm its continued existence and keep it at least slightly connected to the wider world. Apart from these expeditions, and in recent decades the occasional gyrocopter, all Karak Azul knows of the world is the Skaven and greenskins in the mountains that surround it, and the Badlands that its only overland approach opens into.
Despite this dire situation, it remains hale and hearty, and many secrets of metalworking and Runecraft lost to other holds remain well understood in Karak Azul. It received many of the refugees from the other southern holds as they fell, and as such is the only hold to have not significantly shrunk from its Golden Age size. They are entirely self sufficient, and their isolation seems only to have strengthened them.
Karak Hirn - The Hornhold
King Alrik Ranulfsson
Karak Hirn is built atop metal deposits that, while useful and sizeable, pale in comparison to the jewels, gold and gromril of the World's Edge Mountains. As such, it was barely more than an outpost during the Time of Woes, and had no connection to the Underway. This made it practically untouched by the disasters that devastated the Old Holds, and an attractive destination for refugees that had lost everything. So it has grown while the rest of the Karaz Ankor has shrunk, and now dominates the Black Mountains west of Black Fire Pass and enjoys profitable trade and close relations to Wissenland.
Karak Hirn is home to a great many Rangers, protecting the Black Mountains from both monstrous beasts and human claim jumpers. They communicate through the massive horn the hold is named for - a series of natural caverns shaped and capped so that they can be opened to the wind at will, sending low, reverberating notes echoing through the mountains, speaking a language that only the Rangers know.
Karak Norn - Barren Earth Hold
Queen Thurma Ironpick
Dwarves are a stubborn people, and when they found the Grey Mountains were all but empty of useful or valuable ores and jewels, many refused to believe it and for the entire Golden Age, stubborn Clans searched for the rich deposits they felt should exist somewhere. When the Time of Woes began, others searching for a new home saw potential in Karak Norn that its inhabitants were blind to. The Clans that once held Mount Silverspear on the Silver Road and the outposts that once dominated Mad Dog Pass moved in en masse, and ever since the trade routes in the southern Grey Mountains, including the well-travelled Montdidier Pass between Wissenland and Bretonnia, became dominated by the Dwarves, snatched away from the Elves of Athel Loren.
Karak Norn's gates, unlike most Dwarfholds, are not found at the base of a mountain, but instead atop a massive forested plateau, upon which the last known Wutroth grove can be found. Where other Dwarves see wood as only useful for ornamentation or fuel, Karak Norn's Carpenters Guild are unquestionably the masters of creating wooden weapons, including bolt throwers, grudge throwers, and crossbows. They keep a wary eye on the Elves of Athel Loren, and not just out of caution, for they regularly carry out raids into the infamous forests to harvest the rarest, strongest and most valuable of woods from it. They spend a great deal of the profits on importing siege weapons from the rest of Karaz Ankor, quite sure that one day, Athel Loren will seek revenge.
Karak Izor - Copper Mountain
King Gruflok Wyrzon
As its name suggests, Karak Izor had humble origins as a minor mining outpost for a metal of modest value. After the Time of Woes, the richest and most prestigious of refugee Clans travelled to it, not for copper, but because of its location. Karak Izor is built atop the Vaults, the massive, sprawling jumble of mountains at the intersection between the Grey and Black Mountains. Now Karak Izor is the centre of a miniature empire of its own, surrounded by single-Clan petty kingdoms dug into mountains, built into cliff faces overlooking fertile valleys, or even carved into glaciers.
The Vaults are not solely populated by Dwarves, however. Though the inner Vaults are steep, treacherous, and carefully watched enough that nobody but Dwarves can penetrate the centre, the outer Vaults are home to some of the largest Skaven strongholds outside Skavenblight: Fester Spike, Putrid Stump, and Foul Peak. The final inhabitant is less abhorrent: on the southeast edge of the Vaults, the barren valleys surrounding Karak Izor itself are the final refuge of the Border Princes, where all that call that inhospitable land home flee to when the enemies of mankind sweep through on the way to more densely populated lands. For this reason, the more sensible Border Princes stay on good terms with Karak Izor, for friendship is repaid with an escort back to their demesne when the threat has passed, and bandits and pirates that seek refuge with them are rarely seen again.
High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer
The capital of the Karaz Ankor, Karaz-a-Karak is the largest, richest, and most influential of the Dwarfholds, and traditionally the home of the High King. Though its population has dwindled, the contents of its vaults, treasuries and archives have grown as the recovered treasures of fallen Dwarfholds and the heirlooms of extinct clans default to it. Once its great gates stood open for visitors and trade to flow freely, but now they open only for war, as its dwindling population sacrifices themselves further to protect other holds or avenge Grudges.
Karaz-a-Karak is home to the legendary Aircorps, which projects the will of the High King further and faster than any conventional force could dream of. The design of gyrocopters had been refined in recent decades, and where once they were small, one-Dwarf vehicles more suited to scouting than war and armed only with rerouted steam from their boilers, now the most basic are proper weapon platforms possessing a great variety of weapons, the larger gyrobombers are capable of devastating armies, and gyrocarriages provide rapid long-range transport to VIPs and elite units.
Barak Varr - Gate to the Sea
King Byrrnoth Grundadrakk
Barak Varr is the seaport of the Karaz Ankor, and it is a major player in sea trade and dominates the rivers it sits astride. It is found at the narrow end of the Black Gulf, giving it easy access to Tilea, Estalia, and Araby. It also dominates the many rivers of the Border Princes that empty into the Gulf, and while the Border Princes themselves are far from wealthy trade partners, it does give access to Karak Hirn, Zhufbar, Karaz-a-Karak and Karak Eight Peaks. Overland trade via Black Fire Pass gives access to the Empire, though rumour has it they are seeking riverine access to the Empire by building a canal from the great Black Water crater-lake to the River Aver.
The Navy of Barak Varr rivals that of some entire nations, and it spurns traditional wooden ships and sails in favour of using secrets of steel and steam to construct metal behemoths that pay no need to the direction of the wind. Tiny Gunboats and sleek, speedy Monitors dominate the rivers while mighty Ironclads travel across the seas, festooned with firepower enough to dissuade even the most reckless of pirates from seeking the contents of their cargo holds. And greatest of all, the Dreadnoughts are mighty floating fortresses, as able to disgorge aircraft and submarines as they are more traditional projectiles. Only the greatest Kings of Barak Varr are able to make the construction of a single Dreadnought the culmination of their rule.
Zhufbar - Torrent-Gate
King Barundin Stoneheart
Zhufbar was once twinned to Karak Varn, dedicated to smelting and shaping the ore it extracted from the shores and the bed of the Black Water. In the Silver Age it remade itself as the foremost home of Dwarven engineering, harnessing the waterfall that runs through it before plummeting into the River Aver below to power a thousand cunning devices. Most of the more exotic weapons in Dwarven hands bears the mark of the Zhufbar Engineers Guild, and it has grown wealthy on providing these weapons. It possesses the largest gromril armouries still in use, with which it launches mining raids into the tunnels in, under and around Karak Varn to extract gold and gromril from under the noses of Skaven and Night Goblins.
The mighty arsenals of Zhufbar keep it safe and prosperous despite its unenviable position. Karak Varn to the west and Mount Gunbad to the east are filled with Skaven and greenskins, the Black Water is home to all manner of strange and malformed monsters, and Sylvania needs no introduction. Zhufbar survives and even thrives because each Dwarf that marches to war does so with either the finest of weaponry and armour or the most clever and proven of modern armaments.
Karak Kadrin - Stronghold of the Pass - 'The Slayer Keep'
King Ungrim Ironfist
The northernmost of the major holds, Karak Kadrin dominates the western end of Peak Pass, the only direct route through the mountains between the Empire and the Dark Lands. They provide access to merchants from the west and protection from various marauders from the east, and as such have a strong relationship with Ostermark, the Imperial province adjoining Peak Pass. They were once able to dominate the entire length of the pass, but in modern times much of the Karak's former outposts are home to greenskins and worse. Between the tolls they charge and the rich ore deposits the Karak is built upon, Karak Kadrin remains quite wealthy despite being more and more isolated from the rest of the Karaz Ankor.
Its history was shaped by the forgotten shame of a long-dead King, and the Slayer Oath he swore but was unable to reconcile with his Oath of Kingship. Each generation of rulers since had inherited these incompatible duties, and to at least assuage the guilt, they have dedicated Karak Kadrin to Grimnir and the Slayer Cult, providing weapons, shelter and support to all those seeking their Doom. As a result, the Karak is split between being a wealthy and cosmopolitan centre of trade and industry, and a grim and dour home of dishonoured Dwarves sworn to death in battle.
Karak Azul - Iron Mountain
King Kazador Thunderhorn
Ever since the fall of Karak Eight Peaks and Karak Drazh, Karak Azul had been all but cut off from the rest of the Karaz Ankor, and all that kept them from being assumed lost was the occasional heavily-armed forces sent from Karaz-a-Karak to confirm its continued existence and keep it at least slightly connected to the wider world. Apart from these expeditions, and in recent decades the occasional gyrocopter, all Karak Azul knows of the world is the Skaven and greenskins in the mountains that surround it, and the Badlands that its only overland approach opens into.
Despite this dire situation, it remains hale and hearty, and many secrets of metalworking and Runecraft lost to other holds remain well understood in Karak Azul. It received many of the refugees from the other southern holds as they fell, and as such is the only hold to have not significantly shrunk from its Golden Age size. They are entirely self sufficient, and their isolation seems only to have strengthened them.
Karak Hirn - The Hornhold
King Alrik Ranulfsson
Karak Hirn is built atop metal deposits that, while useful and sizeable, pale in comparison to the jewels, gold and gromril of the World's Edge Mountains. As such, it was barely more than an outpost during the Time of Woes, and had no connection to the Underway. This made it practically untouched by the disasters that devastated the Old Holds, and an attractive destination for refugees that had lost everything. So it has grown while the rest of the Karaz Ankor has shrunk, and now dominates the Black Mountains west of Black Fire Pass and enjoys profitable trade and close relations to Wissenland.
Karak Hirn is home to a great many Rangers, protecting the Black Mountains from both monstrous beasts and human claim jumpers. They communicate through the massive horn the hold is named for - a series of natural caverns shaped and capped so that they can be opened to the wind at will, sending low, reverberating notes echoing through the mountains, speaking a language that only the Rangers know.
Karak Norn - Barren Earth Hold
Queen Thurma Ironpick
Dwarves are a stubborn people, and when they found the Grey Mountains were all but empty of useful or valuable ores and jewels, many refused to believe it and for the entire Golden Age, stubborn Clans searched for the rich deposits they felt should exist somewhere. When the Time of Woes began, others searching for a new home saw potential in Karak Norn that its inhabitants were blind to. The Clans that once held Mount Silverspear on the Silver Road and the outposts that once dominated Mad Dog Pass moved in en masse, and ever since the trade routes in the southern Grey Mountains, including the well-travelled Montdidier Pass between Wissenland and Bretonnia, became dominated by the Dwarves, snatched away from the Elves of Athel Loren.
Karak Norn's gates, unlike most Dwarfholds, are not found at the base of a mountain, but instead atop a massive forested plateau, upon which the last known Wutroth grove can be found. Where other Dwarves see wood as only useful for ornamentation or fuel, Karak Norn's Carpenters Guild are unquestionably the masters of creating wooden weapons, including bolt throwers, grudge throwers, and crossbows. They keep a wary eye on the Elves of Athel Loren, and not just out of caution, for they regularly carry out raids into the infamous forests to harvest the rarest, strongest and most valuable of woods from it. They spend a great deal of the profits on importing siege weapons from the rest of Karaz Ankor, quite sure that one day, Athel Loren will seek revenge.
Karak Izor - Copper Mountain
King Gruflok Wyrzon
As its name suggests, Karak Izor had humble origins as a minor mining outpost for a metal of modest value. After the Time of Woes, the richest and most prestigious of refugee Clans travelled to it, not for copper, but because of its location. Karak Izor is built atop the Vaults, the massive, sprawling jumble of mountains at the intersection between the Grey and Black Mountains. Now Karak Izor is the centre of a miniature empire of its own, surrounded by single-Clan petty kingdoms dug into mountains, built into cliff faces overlooking fertile valleys, or even carved into glaciers.
The Vaults are not solely populated by Dwarves, however. Though the inner Vaults are steep, treacherous, and carefully watched enough that nobody but Dwarves can penetrate the centre, the outer Vaults are home to some of the largest Skaven strongholds outside Skavenblight: Fester Spike, Putrid Stump, and Foul Peak. The final inhabitant is less abhorrent: on the southeast edge of the Vaults, the barren valleys surrounding Karak Izor itself are the final refuge of the Border Princes, where all that call that inhospitable land home flee to when the enemies of mankind sweep through on the way to more densely populated lands. For this reason, the more sensible Border Princes stay on good terms with Karak Izor, for friendship is repaid with an escort back to their demesne when the threat has passed, and bandits and pirates that seek refuge with them are rarely seen again.
Prehistory: When the Old Ones still walked the world, and Chaos had yet to encroach on the poles. The Dwarves schism over the use of magic, and some travel north to better use the energies emitted by the works of the Old Ones, and some travel east hoping to exploit the mountains of the Giant Lands. ???? to -5500.
The Time of Ancestor-Gods: The arrival of Chaos, and the rise of the Ancestor-Gods who unite the remaining Dwarves against it and found the Karaz Ankor. -5500 to -4420, ends with Grimnir marching into the Realm of Chaos and the departure of the other Ancestor-Gods.
Golden Age: When the Dwarves were at the height of their knowledge and power, culminating in their alliance with the Elves and the addition of Runes to the Waystone Network. -4420 to -1997, ends with the shaving of the Ambassador to Ulthuan.
-3900: Zorn Uzkul, far east of the World's Edge Mountains, falls to Chaos and became the Chaos Dwarves.
-2000: Karak Zorn in the Southlands falls to unknown forces: probably Lizardmen, possibly the Nehekharans.
War of Vengeance / War of the Beard: Both Empires tear each other asunder. Karaz Ghumzul in the Middle Mountains declares independence rather than fight the Elves. -1997 to -1600, end with the capture of the Phoenix Crown.
Time of Woes: A great earthquake shatters the Underway, letting in the greenskins and unleashing the Skaven. -1500 to -15. Ends with Sigmar rescuing High King Kurgan Ironbeard.
-1500 Mount Gunbad, east of Zhufbar, falls to Night Goblins. They use it as a base to besiege Mount Silverspear in what becomes known as the Silver Road Wars.
-1500: Karaz Ghumzul in the Middle Mountains is abandoned, and its inhabitants return to the Karaz Ankor.
-1500: Karak Ungor, on the border between Ostermark and Kislev, falls to Night Goblins. Now known as Red Eye Mountain.
-1499: Karak Varn, twin to Zhufbar, falls to Skaven. Now known as Cragmere.
-1498: Ekrund, in the Dragonback Mountains west of the Badlands and across the Black Gulf from the Border Princes, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Mount Bloodhorn.
-1367: Mount Silverspear, east of Karaz-a-Karak and south of Mount Gunbad, finally falls to the Night Goblins of Mount Gunbad. Now known as Mount Grimfang.
-1250: Karag Dron erupts, wiping out the handful of defenders still holding out against the toxic fumes.
-800: Neferata, Queen of the Lahmians, begins plotting to take Silver Pinnacle for herself.
-701: Karak Eight Peaks, east of the Badlands in the World's Edge Mountains, is besieged by the Skaven.
-513: Karak Eight Peaks finally falls to the Skaven, leaving the neighbouring holds vulnerable. Now known as the City of Pillars.
-469: Karak Izril, just southwest of Karak Eight Peaks, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Karak Azgal.
-469: Karak Drazh, just north of Karak Eight Peaks, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Black Crag.
-326: Silver Pinnacle falls to the machinations of Neferata.
Silver Age / The Age of Man: The Young Holds establish themselves and begin to flourish even as the Old Holds continue to diminish. No major holds are lost in this period. -15 to 2300. Ends with the rise of the Everchosen Asavar Kul.
The Great War Against Chaos: The Karaz Ankor marches to defend the Empire of Man, and regain contact with the Norse Dwarves. Victory comes at a great cost. 2300-2302, ending with the death of Asavar Kul and the fatal wounding of High King Alriksson
2300: Karag Dum, east of the World's Edge Mountains, falls to the forces of Chaos. A small portion of the Hold continued to hold out against attackers for two hundred years until rescued by Gotrek and Felix.
2301: Karak Vlag, neighbour to Karak Kadrin, falls to the forces of Chaos, and somehow disappears from the mountains entirely.
Age of Vengeance: Ascension of High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer to the Throne of Power, who dedicates the Karaz Ankor to wiping clean the Book of Grudges. 2304 to present.
2302: The Norscans returning from the Great War Against Chaos attack the Norse Dwarfs in the War of the Mountains.
2390: Kraka Drak and the rest of the Norse Dwarfholds are believed to have fallen to the Norscans.
The Time of Ancestor-Gods: The arrival of Chaos, and the rise of the Ancestor-Gods who unite the remaining Dwarves against it and found the Karaz Ankor. -5500 to -4420, ends with Grimnir marching into the Realm of Chaos and the departure of the other Ancestor-Gods.
Golden Age: When the Dwarves were at the height of their knowledge and power, culminating in their alliance with the Elves and the addition of Runes to the Waystone Network. -4420 to -1997, ends with the shaving of the Ambassador to Ulthuan.
-3900: Zorn Uzkul, far east of the World's Edge Mountains, falls to Chaos and became the Chaos Dwarves.
-2000: Karak Zorn in the Southlands falls to unknown forces: probably Lizardmen, possibly the Nehekharans.
War of Vengeance / War of the Beard: Both Empires tear each other asunder. Karaz Ghumzul in the Middle Mountains declares independence rather than fight the Elves. -1997 to -1600, end with the capture of the Phoenix Crown.
Time of Woes: A great earthquake shatters the Underway, letting in the greenskins and unleashing the Skaven. -1500 to -15. Ends with Sigmar rescuing High King Kurgan Ironbeard.
-1500 Mount Gunbad, east of Zhufbar, falls to Night Goblins. They use it as a base to besiege Mount Silverspear in what becomes known as the Silver Road Wars.
-1500: Karaz Ghumzul in the Middle Mountains is abandoned, and its inhabitants return to the Karaz Ankor.
-1500: Karak Ungor, on the border between Ostermark and Kislev, falls to Night Goblins. Now known as Red Eye Mountain.
-1499: Karak Varn, twin to Zhufbar, falls to Skaven. Now known as Cragmere.
-1498: Ekrund, in the Dragonback Mountains west of the Badlands and across the Black Gulf from the Border Princes, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Mount Bloodhorn.
-1367: Mount Silverspear, east of Karaz-a-Karak and south of Mount Gunbad, finally falls to the Night Goblins of Mount Gunbad. Now known as Mount Grimfang.
-1250: Karag Dron erupts, wiping out the handful of defenders still holding out against the toxic fumes.
-800: Neferata, Queen of the Lahmians, begins plotting to take Silver Pinnacle for herself.
-701: Karak Eight Peaks, east of the Badlands in the World's Edge Mountains, is besieged by the Skaven.
-513: Karak Eight Peaks finally falls to the Skaven, leaving the neighbouring holds vulnerable. Now known as the City of Pillars.
-469: Karak Izril, just southwest of Karak Eight Peaks, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Karak Azgal.
-469: Karak Drazh, just north of Karak Eight Peaks, falls to the Orcs. Now known as Black Crag.
-326: Silver Pinnacle falls to the machinations of Neferata.
Silver Age / The Age of Man: The Young Holds establish themselves and begin to flourish even as the Old Holds continue to diminish. No major holds are lost in this period. -15 to 2300. Ends with the rise of the Everchosen Asavar Kul.
The Great War Against Chaos: The Karaz Ankor marches to defend the Empire of Man, and regain contact with the Norse Dwarves. Victory comes at a great cost. 2300-2302, ending with the death of Asavar Kul and the fatal wounding of High King Alriksson
2300: Karag Dum, east of the World's Edge Mountains, falls to the forces of Chaos. A small portion of the Hold continued to hold out against attackers for two hundred years until rescued by Gotrek and Felix.
2301: Karak Vlag, neighbour to Karak Kadrin, falls to the forces of Chaos, and somehow disappears from the mountains entirely.
Age of Vengeance: Ascension of High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer to the Throne of Power, who dedicates the Karaz Ankor to wiping clean the Book of Grudges. 2304 to present.
2302: The Norscans returning from the Great War Against Chaos attack the Norse Dwarfs in the War of the Mountains.
2390: Kraka Drak and the rest of the Norse Dwarfholds are believed to have fallen to the Norscans.
Languages mapped by their relationships to and descent from other languages.
Languages mapped specifically by their descent from that of the Old Ones, with thanks to @Redshirt Army.
Languages mapped specifically by their descent from that of the Old Ones, with thanks to @Redshirt Army.
This information is according to the best knowledge of Mathilde Weber, rather than necessarily being objectively true statements of thread canon.
The We are a truly eusocial hive insect found throughout the Under-Empire with three known castes. Each Hive is a single individual through an emergent intelligence that arises from a minimum of one Egg-Layer and approximately ten Web-Weavers. The total intelligence of the hive does not grow with additional numbers, but their memory capacity does, as does their ability to cross-reference memories.
Egg-Layers
The Egg-Layers are the most massive of the We and rival an Arachnarok Spider in size, but though their bulk could make them a ferocious combatant, they completely lack fangs and would be helpless without the rest of the Hive. They are female, and lay and care for the eggs that hatch into the three castes of the Hive, and their forelegs and pedipalps are capable of very gentle and precise movements. They are the most permanent parts of the Hive, and the most important or useful information is kept within them. An average healthy Hive will have three to five Egg-Layers, and a Hive will only add to their number of Egg-Layers when they are comfortable in their current home and confident of their food supply.
The Egg-Layers produce a single type of webbing, the soft, durable, fireproof silk that could render obsolete the silk from the East, normally used to cushion and protect their eggs.
Web-Weavers
The Web-Weavers are the smallest of the We, each about the size of a medium-sized dog. They produce and maintain the webs that form the walls and passages of the lairs of the We, tend to the the Egg-Layers and the Hunters, and care for the larder. They prepare 'meals' for the other castes by regurgitating digestive fluid onto their paralyzed captives, as the other castes are incapable of producing that fluid and cannot digest solid food. They are male, and those deemed most appropriate through an unknown process become fertile and mate a single time with a single Egg-Layer, which supplies sufficient seed for the lifetime of the Egg-Layer. When two Hives are in proximity, Web-Weaver 'messengers' are exchanged to communicate, and it is neither uncommon nor considered noteworthy for one or both to 'keep' a messenger from the other. This is one of the two methods the Hives use to ensure genetic diversity, as over a period of days the Web-Weaver will be 'absorbed' into its new Hive, and will become fertile in the process.
The Web-Weavers are also a Hive's method of long-term food storage, as the walls of an established Hive will often be filled with dormant Web-Weavers, allowing a Hive to respond to minor food shortages by activating dormant Web-Weavers instead of hatching new ones, and respond to major food shortages by cannibalizing them. They also serve as a last-ditch defensive measure, as the Web-Weavers have long, powerful fangs and paralytic venom, and are capable of spewing their digestive fluid at range.
The Web-Weavers produce three types of web. Two are specialized and not easily adaptable: one as a quickly-solidifying 'glue' to hold webbing together, and a second as a sort of efficient scaffolding that can be easily redigested. The third is the most significant for non-We - the general-purpose webbing used for permanent structures. This could be woven into extremely lightweight and strong load-bearing ropes and cables.
Hunters
The Hunters are the only members of a Hive that will regularly venture away from the others, and are about the size of a pony, and are the same size as the giant spiders often used by Forest Goblins as mounts. They are the second female caste and the only caste capable of independent thought, and outside of the influence of the group-mind they revert to the instincts of an ambush predator, though they remain guided by the group-mind's memories of the area and a knowledge of what is and isn't suitable prey. A well-established Hive will often have near-invisible strands of web along walls or ceilings for Hunters to orient themselves, as well as to signal their hunting ground to any other nearby Hive. Hunters vary their strategy according to their prey, but they most commonly strike from above or behind, injecting a potent paralytic venom and dragging or lifting the prey to somewhere it can completely bind it with their web before carrying it back to the Hive. They lack the long life-span of the Egg-Layers and the ability to enter dormancy of the Web-Weavers, and are the most 'disposable' of the castes. A Hunter failing to return from a hunt is not unusual, especially against the more dangerous types of prey, and those that return with severe injuries are usually cannibalized. Those not currently engaged with hunting are usually found at the edge of the group-mind's range, keeping watch for intruders.
The Hunters play a secondary role as the second method of ensuring genetic diversity. A healthy Hive tends to have some of their hunters go 'rogue', forgetting their orders and disregarding the hunt in favour of wandering into unknown tunnels. If they wander into the web-sign of a foreign Hive, they will be drawn in, and over a period of days it will be absorbed into the new Hive. This will also trigger reproductive development, and after their ovaries have developed they will mate with a Web-Weaver of their new Hive. Eggs laid by Hunters in this manner will always be Egg-Layers.
The Hunters produce two types of web: the same general-purpose webbing produced by the Web-Weavers which they mostly use for vertical movement and for carrying prey, and the webbing used solely for wrapping their prey. This wrapping web is extremely durable, stretchy, and resistant to being cut, making it very suitable for light-weight armour.
Warpstone
The We are highly adapted to hunting Skaven, and part of that is dealing with long-term warpstone exposure. The stomach of the We will encyst any warpstone it encountered and grow layers of calcified tissue around the cyst, shielding the individual from prolonged warpstone exposure. Over a prolonged period these will accumulate until the individual We perishes and is cannibalized, but the cysts are immune to the digestive fluid and end up with the rest of the indigestible material in a Hive's midden.
Society
Each Hive is a single individual that regards itself as existing within each of the bodies it arises from and exhibits a continuity beyond the age of any of the individuals. Even though their intelligence is emergent, their memory is contained within individuals, so information must be communicated between them or it will be lost over time. Until recently they were unaware of the possibility of sentience among any creature that wasn't the We, and of the possibility of individual sentience. Knowledge can only be transferred from one We to another by active communication; memories stored in an individual body are incomprehensible to other We, and are lost in the process of absorption.
The We are a truly eusocial hive insect found throughout the Under-Empire with three known castes. Each Hive is a single individual through an emergent intelligence that arises from a minimum of one Egg-Layer and approximately ten Web-Weavers. The total intelligence of the hive does not grow with additional numbers, but their memory capacity does, as does their ability to cross-reference memories.
Egg-Layers
The Egg-Layers are the most massive of the We and rival an Arachnarok Spider in size, but though their bulk could make them a ferocious combatant, they completely lack fangs and would be helpless without the rest of the Hive. They are female, and lay and care for the eggs that hatch into the three castes of the Hive, and their forelegs and pedipalps are capable of very gentle and precise movements. They are the most permanent parts of the Hive, and the most important or useful information is kept within them. An average healthy Hive will have three to five Egg-Layers, and a Hive will only add to their number of Egg-Layers when they are comfortable in their current home and confident of their food supply.
The Egg-Layers produce a single type of webbing, the soft, durable, fireproof silk that could render obsolete the silk from the East, normally used to cushion and protect their eggs.
Web-Weavers
The Web-Weavers are the smallest of the We, each about the size of a medium-sized dog. They produce and maintain the webs that form the walls and passages of the lairs of the We, tend to the the Egg-Layers and the Hunters, and care for the larder. They prepare 'meals' for the other castes by regurgitating digestive fluid onto their paralyzed captives, as the other castes are incapable of producing that fluid and cannot digest solid food. They are male, and those deemed most appropriate through an unknown process become fertile and mate a single time with a single Egg-Layer, which supplies sufficient seed for the lifetime of the Egg-Layer. When two Hives are in proximity, Web-Weaver 'messengers' are exchanged to communicate, and it is neither uncommon nor considered noteworthy for one or both to 'keep' a messenger from the other. This is one of the two methods the Hives use to ensure genetic diversity, as over a period of days the Web-Weaver will be 'absorbed' into its new Hive, and will become fertile in the process.
The Web-Weavers are also a Hive's method of long-term food storage, as the walls of an established Hive will often be filled with dormant Web-Weavers, allowing a Hive to respond to minor food shortages by activating dormant Web-Weavers instead of hatching new ones, and respond to major food shortages by cannibalizing them. They also serve as a last-ditch defensive measure, as the Web-Weavers have long, powerful fangs and paralytic venom, and are capable of spewing their digestive fluid at range.
The Web-Weavers produce three types of web. Two are specialized and not easily adaptable: one as a quickly-solidifying 'glue' to hold webbing together, and a second as a sort of efficient scaffolding that can be easily redigested. The third is the most significant for non-We - the general-purpose webbing used for permanent structures. This could be woven into extremely lightweight and strong load-bearing ropes and cables.
Hunters
The Hunters are the only members of a Hive that will regularly venture away from the others, and are about the size of a pony, and are the same size as the giant spiders often used by Forest Goblins as mounts. They are the second female caste and the only caste capable of independent thought, and outside of the influence of the group-mind they revert to the instincts of an ambush predator, though they remain guided by the group-mind's memories of the area and a knowledge of what is and isn't suitable prey. A well-established Hive will often have near-invisible strands of web along walls or ceilings for Hunters to orient themselves, as well as to signal their hunting ground to any other nearby Hive. Hunters vary their strategy according to their prey, but they most commonly strike from above or behind, injecting a potent paralytic venom and dragging or lifting the prey to somewhere it can completely bind it with their web before carrying it back to the Hive. They lack the long life-span of the Egg-Layers and the ability to enter dormancy of the Web-Weavers, and are the most 'disposable' of the castes. A Hunter failing to return from a hunt is not unusual, especially against the more dangerous types of prey, and those that return with severe injuries are usually cannibalized. Those not currently engaged with hunting are usually found at the edge of the group-mind's range, keeping watch for intruders.
The Hunters play a secondary role as the second method of ensuring genetic diversity. A healthy Hive tends to have some of their hunters go 'rogue', forgetting their orders and disregarding the hunt in favour of wandering into unknown tunnels. If they wander into the web-sign of a foreign Hive, they will be drawn in, and over a period of days it will be absorbed into the new Hive. This will also trigger reproductive development, and after their ovaries have developed they will mate with a Web-Weaver of their new Hive. Eggs laid by Hunters in this manner will always be Egg-Layers.
The Hunters produce two types of web: the same general-purpose webbing produced by the Web-Weavers which they mostly use for vertical movement and for carrying prey, and the webbing used solely for wrapping their prey. This wrapping web is extremely durable, stretchy, and resistant to being cut, making it very suitable for light-weight armour.
Warpstone
The We are highly adapted to hunting Skaven, and part of that is dealing with long-term warpstone exposure. The stomach of the We will encyst any warpstone it encountered and grow layers of calcified tissue around the cyst, shielding the individual from prolonged warpstone exposure. Over a prolonged period these will accumulate until the individual We perishes and is cannibalized, but the cysts are immune to the digestive fluid and end up with the rest of the indigestible material in a Hive's midden.
Society
Each Hive is a single individual that regards itself as existing within each of the bodies it arises from and exhibits a continuity beyond the age of any of the individuals. Even though their intelligence is emergent, their memory is contained within individuals, so information must be communicated between them or it will be lost over time. Until recently they were unaware of the possibility of sentience among any creature that wasn't the We, and of the possibility of individual sentience. Knowledge can only be transferred from one We to another by active communication; memories stored in an individual body are incomprehensible to other We, and are lost in the process of absorption.
So, a big part of provincial legitimacy in the Empire comes from 'these are the lands of our people since the time of Sigmar and before'. The modern province of Reikland, for example, lines up fairly well with the borders of the Unberogen tribe. Stirland with the Asoborns, Talabecland with the Taleutens, Averland with the Brigundians, Hochland with the Cherusens, Ostermark with the Ostagoths. Middenland started with the land of the Teutogens and absorbed the lands of the Thuringians after the destruction of Drakwald, and Wissenland started with the land of the Merogens and absorbed the lands of the Menogoths after the destruction of Solland. So far, so simple.
Cast your eyes north, however, and you encounter a big chunk of land with no tribal claimant. The part of it that's Laurelorn makes sense, but why's there nobody in the Forest of Shadows? It's scary as fuck, sure, but so was the Drakwald. Who lives there?
See the part labelled 'Jutones'? They're the people that would become known as the ancestors of Nordland. They're not in Nordland at the time of this map because they're busy fighting with the Endals over what we know as Marienburg and the Wasteland. Then it was known as Marburg, and the Endals say it was founded by King Marbad as the capital of Weysterland, and the Jutones say it was founded by King Marius as the capital of Jutonsryk. Okay, this is easy enough to explain, right? The Jutones lost, went east into the terra nullius of the Forest of Shadows, and founded Nordland. Bam, easy.
Not quite. They weren't settling the Forest of Shadows, they were returning to it. Let's talk about the Was Jutones.
In most sources, 'Was Jutones' is treated as just another name for the Jutones, but there's a clear demarcation between the two. When King Marius led the Jutones west on their ultimately doomed attempt to settle the unforested lowlands, not everyone followed him. Those that remained in the Forest of Shadows became known as the Was Jutones, and their name should be on that big unlabelled chunk. But when the apostate Jutones were finally driven off by the Endals and had no choice but to return in ignominy to the Forest of Shadows, they did not cut right through Laurelorn to do so, because the Eonir were still in 'warning shot to the face' mode. They travelled along the Great North Road in the lands of the Teutogens and via Middenheim. When the Jutones returned to their Was Jutone kin, they did not do so as humbled penitents. They did so as conquerors in the name of their new God, Ulric. Some submitted while others fled east, splitting the Was Jutones in half: those of what would become Nordland, and those of what would become Ostland.
The Was Jutones became a footnote in the victor-written history of Nordland, and one that was written as small and as rarely as possible, lest it undermine the legitimacy of Nordland's Jutone-descended rulers.
CLARIFICATIONS AND COLLATED INFORMATION
Things the Vow of Poverty does:
- Reassures the citizens of the Empire that the extremely abusable Shadow Magic is in the hands of a group that has strict rules against abusing it.
- Makes it so that if it does appear that someone is abusing it, the first reaction of influential people that hear of it would be to dob them in to the Grey Order, making them able to punish or reassure as appropriate. This makes it so that any negative rumours of Grey Wizards reach the ears of the Grey Order very quickly.
- Gives the Grey Order a way to police its members that does not set uncomfortable precedents for the other Orders.
- Gives the Grey Order a relatively benign pretence to start rooting through any Grey Wizard's affairs, even if they're suspected of something much worse than economic malfeasance.
- Gives the Grey Order a great deal of control over who Grey Wizards end up working for, as anything even slightly amiss can be investigated as potentially running afoul of the Vow.
- Makes Grey Wizards think hard before accepting any job, forcing them at least consider it in terms of what benefit it provides to the Empire, and if there is none, they have to either turn the job down or make it provide some benefit.
- Filters out any potential Wizards who are motivated by a desire for wealth, who might otherwise find the Wind of being extremely sneaky and deceptive very attractive.
- Makes it so the Grey Order, which does not have hugely profitable cash cows like alchemy for the Golds or fortune telling for the Celestials, is able to ensure that its Wizards are properly paying the tithe.
- Puts a test of character in front of all Journeymen Grey Wizards. If they strictly abide by the Vow, then they're suitable for one set of jobs. If they're able to negotiate its loopholes without crossing any lines or raising any stinks, then they're a good fit for a different set of jobs. If they chafe at it and fall to temptation, then better they fall to the temptation of money now than the temptations of the Chaos Gods a decade down the line.
The Vow does seem deceptive, ambiguous, and inconsistent. It's meant to, because that's what Ulgu is. Grey Wizards spend ten years learning how to think like Ulgu before they're let out into the world. Thinking their way through the byzantine snarl of the Vow of Poverty is as natural to them as casting the spells of Shadow Magic.
Things it is not:
- It is not a vow to exist only in a state of poverty.
- It is not a absolutist deontological taboo against ever taking any action that might disadvantage any citizen of the Empire.
- It is not a signed death warrant for every Grey Wizard just in case the Order needs it.
- It is not a vow against exploiting people with magic, only against doing so for the wrong reasons.
TL;DR:
If Mathilde isn't worried, you shouldn't be worried.
- Reassures the citizens of the Empire that the extremely abusable Shadow Magic is in the hands of a group that has strict rules against abusing it.
- Makes it so that if it does appear that someone is abusing it, the first reaction of influential people that hear of it would be to dob them in to the Grey Order, making them able to punish or reassure as appropriate. This makes it so that any negative rumours of Grey Wizards reach the ears of the Grey Order very quickly.
- Gives the Grey Order a way to police its members that does not set uncomfortable precedents for the other Orders.
- Gives the Grey Order a relatively benign pretence to start rooting through any Grey Wizard's affairs, even if they're suspected of something much worse than economic malfeasance.
- Gives the Grey Order a great deal of control over who Grey Wizards end up working for, as anything even slightly amiss can be investigated as potentially running afoul of the Vow.
- Makes Grey Wizards think hard before accepting any job, forcing them at least consider it in terms of what benefit it provides to the Empire, and if there is none, they have to either turn the job down or make it provide some benefit.
- Filters out any potential Wizards who are motivated by a desire for wealth, who might otherwise find the Wind of being extremely sneaky and deceptive very attractive.
- Makes it so the Grey Order, which does not have hugely profitable cash cows like alchemy for the Golds or fortune telling for the Celestials, is able to ensure that its Wizards are properly paying the tithe.
- Puts a test of character in front of all Journeymen Grey Wizards. If they strictly abide by the Vow, then they're suitable for one set of jobs. If they're able to negotiate its loopholes without crossing any lines or raising any stinks, then they're a good fit for a different set of jobs. If they chafe at it and fall to temptation, then better they fall to the temptation of money now than the temptations of the Chaos Gods a decade down the line.
The Vow does seem deceptive, ambiguous, and inconsistent. It's meant to, because that's what Ulgu is. Grey Wizards spend ten years learning how to think like Ulgu before they're let out into the world. Thinking their way through the byzantine snarl of the Vow of Poverty is as natural to them as casting the spells of Shadow Magic.
Things it is not:
- It is not a vow to exist only in a state of poverty.
- It is not a absolutist deontological taboo against ever taking any action that might disadvantage any citizen of the Empire.
- It is not a signed death warrant for every Grey Wizard just in case the Order needs it.
- It is not a vow against exploiting people with magic, only against doing so for the wrong reasons.
TL;DR:
If Mathilde isn't worried, you shouldn't be worried.
Mathilde has not studied the liquid enough to know for sure [what it is], but the assumptions she can make based on what she knows is thus:
Creatures of magic, like the snake was/is, are not made of regular matter. They are made of magic under the creature's control so that it forms its vessel. When such a creature is slain (dis-incorporated?), said magic would usually decay back into elemental magic. The unfortunate creature being trapped in a halfway point between 'life' and 'death' (inasmuch as the two states can be applied to demons and quasi-demonic warp entities) is why, presumably, the liquid has not decayed.
The snake is not, in the conventional sense, a demon, and it is not explicitly aligned with any of the chaos gods. Therefore the magic that it is made of is not unholy magic tainted by any (or all) of those gods. Nor is it aligned with any of the winds of magic, nor is it made up of the festered and corruptive eneriges of dhar.
This is where facts run out and speculation is required.
'High' magic, of which humans know very little, is when an extremely skilled practitioner of magic uses all eight winds of magic in unison. Normally, if someone uses multiple winds of magic, the result becomes Dhar - imagine someone trying to mix paints and it inevitably resulting in a mucky brown tone. When a sufficiently skilled wizard does it, they can combine the colours into a pure magic called Qhaysh, similarly to how we are taught 'white' light is made up of all colours combined. No known human is capable of such a feat, as it (in theory) takes centuries of careful study to achieve it.
The snake's 'blood' seems to be similar to Qhaysh, but it is not quite. When magic enters the world through the polar gates, the effect the world and/or the polar gates has on it is to separate it into the eight 'winds' of magic. This is magic that never passed the polar gates, and has never been separated.
Also, magic is naturally similar to energy, or gas - it blows freely and gathers and pools according to its nature. Some extremely skilled wizards are capable of exerting their will over magic and forcing it to crystallize into a solid known as power stones, which power the most rare and puissant of magical artifacts. Magic in liquid form is unknown to you, and as far as you know, to the Colleges in general. Potions are not magic in liquid form, but derived from magic-influenced plants, animals and minerals.
The implications of all of the above are as yet untested and unknown to you.
Creatures of magic, like the snake was/is, are not made of regular matter. They are made of magic under the creature's control so that it forms its vessel. When such a creature is slain (dis-incorporated?), said magic would usually decay back into elemental magic. The unfortunate creature being trapped in a halfway point between 'life' and 'death' (inasmuch as the two states can be applied to demons and quasi-demonic warp entities) is why, presumably, the liquid has not decayed.
The snake is not, in the conventional sense, a demon, and it is not explicitly aligned with any of the chaos gods. Therefore the magic that it is made of is not unholy magic tainted by any (or all) of those gods. Nor is it aligned with any of the winds of magic, nor is it made up of the festered and corruptive eneriges of dhar.
This is where facts run out and speculation is required.
'High' magic, of which humans know very little, is when an extremely skilled practitioner of magic uses all eight winds of magic in unison. Normally, if someone uses multiple winds of magic, the result becomes Dhar - imagine someone trying to mix paints and it inevitably resulting in a mucky brown tone. When a sufficiently skilled wizard does it, they can combine the colours into a pure magic called Qhaysh, similarly to how we are taught 'white' light is made up of all colours combined. No known human is capable of such a feat, as it (in theory) takes centuries of careful study to achieve it.
The snake's 'blood' seems to be similar to Qhaysh, but it is not quite. When magic enters the world through the polar gates, the effect the world and/or the polar gates has on it is to separate it into the eight 'winds' of magic. This is magic that never passed the polar gates, and has never been separated.
Also, magic is naturally similar to energy, or gas - it blows freely and gathers and pools according to its nature. Some extremely skilled wizards are capable of exerting their will over magic and forcing it to crystallize into a solid known as power stones, which power the most rare and puissant of magical artifacts. Magic in liquid form is unknown to you, and as far as you know, to the Colleges in general. Potions are not magic in liquid form, but derived from magic-influenced plants, animals and minerals.
The implications of all of the above are as yet untested and unknown to you.
An axe is used fairly close-in, with your hands spread across the haft. When you unchoke you're taking a very big swing that you're not going to pull back easily, but you don't pull back a swing like that, whether with a sword or an axe. It's not impossible, but it's far slower than following the swing through and looping back to where you want to be, and you'll probably tear most of your ligaments trying with a greatsword/daneax because it's a lot of weight moving pretty fast at a substantial extension from your hands.
For most of the fight you'll fence choked-up, with the axehead like half a foot away from your hand, trying to pry open your target's defence. You only deliver the huge baseball-bat swing either when you've cleared an opening, or as probing shots from a longer distance.
If trying to fight close-in with a two-handed sword, you'd be half-swording and using it as, essentially, a spear. This is plenty agile, but doesn't transition as easily to the sweeping/crushing blows.
They're both very much specialist weapons, to be clear. A two-handed axe has shorter reach (due to being used choked-up) and largely expects its wielder to be in pretty hefty armour, but is a weapon for fencing and taking down another heavily armoured opponent.
A two-handed sword, on the other hand, is meant to transition between use as a short spear, and large arcing blows that threaten a lot of lighter-armoured opponents with being cleaved in half.
The absolute weight and agility of the weapons are fairly similar - in fact you can mordhau with the two-handed sword to use it almost exactly like you'd use the axe - but the way they're used is different. The axe's fencing style stays closer to the body and only unchokes for limited use of the heavy, crushing blows, while the sword is there explicitly for those sweeping strikes that take some pretty extreme athleticism to handle. So, if you're a lightweight who doesn't trust their ability to keep dancing with a heavy weapon, you'd want to use an axe, because its specialty is one more suited to what your body can manage.
Edit: Also an axe of the same length tends to be substantially lighter. Wood is lighter than metal, and most of the axe is wood while all of the sword is steel. A two-handed axe ranges from half to a quarter the weight of a similarly-sized sword.
Source
For most of the fight you'll fence choked-up, with the axehead like half a foot away from your hand, trying to pry open your target's defence. You only deliver the huge baseball-bat swing either when you've cleared an opening, or as probing shots from a longer distance.
If trying to fight close-in with a two-handed sword, you'd be half-swording and using it as, essentially, a spear. This is plenty agile, but doesn't transition as easily to the sweeping/crushing blows.
They're both very much specialist weapons, to be clear. A two-handed axe has shorter reach (due to being used choked-up) and largely expects its wielder to be in pretty hefty armour, but is a weapon for fencing and taking down another heavily armoured opponent.
A two-handed sword, on the other hand, is meant to transition between use as a short spear, and large arcing blows that threaten a lot of lighter-armoured opponents with being cleaved in half.
The absolute weight and agility of the weapons are fairly similar - in fact you can mordhau with the two-handed sword to use it almost exactly like you'd use the axe - but the way they're used is different. The axe's fencing style stays closer to the body and only unchokes for limited use of the heavy, crushing blows, while the sword is there explicitly for those sweeping strikes that take some pretty extreme athleticism to handle. So, if you're a lightweight who doesn't trust their ability to keep dancing with a heavy weapon, you'd want to use an axe, because its specialty is one more suited to what your body can manage.
Edit: Also an axe of the same length tends to be substantially lighter. Wood is lighter than metal, and most of the axe is wood while all of the sword is steel. A two-handed axe ranges from half to a quarter the weight of a similarly-sized sword.
Source
On paper, most Knightly Orders are technically monasteries. If you had the backing of an approved religious institution and enough accumulated money or favours to make it happen, you could [found one].
Making a secular order in one go would require the approval of the current Emperor, or the approval of an Elector Count and not being actively opposed by the Emperor, and would be the subject of a lot of suspicion from the other Elector Counts as well as any future Emperors until they proved themselves. You could also do so gradually - start off with a sort of Riding Around On Horses Club for nobles, scale up, and eventually petition for official approval, like the Knights Encarmine. Or you could start off with happenstance, like the Knights of the Golden Lion or the Knights of the Broken Sword, wherein a group of unaffiliated armoured horsemen achieve some notable deed, and found the Knights on the spot based on it - though you'd still have to get the backing of an Elector Count or religious institution at some point.
It's worth noting here that Ranald is not officially recognized in such a way that would allow for a Knighty Order dedicated to him.
Making a secular order in one go would require the approval of the current Emperor, or the approval of an Elector Count and not being actively opposed by the Emperor, and would be the subject of a lot of suspicion from the other Elector Counts as well as any future Emperors until they proved themselves. You could also do so gradually - start off with a sort of Riding Around On Horses Club for nobles, scale up, and eventually petition for official approval, like the Knights Encarmine. Or you could start off with happenstance, like the Knights of the Golden Lion or the Knights of the Broken Sword, wherein a group of unaffiliated armoured horsemen achieve some notable deed, and found the Knights on the spot based on it - though you'd still have to get the backing of an Elector Count or religious institution at some point.
It's worth noting here that Ranald is not officially recognized in such a way that would allow for a Knighty Order dedicated to him.
Regarding the Border Princes in general:
The Empire's position is that it would much rather maintain the incredibly formidable defences at Black Fire Pass than try to fight off all comers from the aptly-named Badlands in the open. The reason the Border Princes are anarchic is because they are, in the world as it currently is, not worth it. The land is barren and lacking in natural resources worth the trouble of extracting, a great many greenskin call it home, and any permanent infrastructure will last only as long as it takes for the next Waaagh (or worse) to arrive.
Sure, it's possible to make something of it. If someone went to the trouble of wiping out a whole bunch of native greenskin tribes, pushing back the skaven presence, cuffing a thousand petty kings about the ears and telling them to fall in line, establishing understandings with the Empire, Tilea and Barak Varr, and fortifying one or more of the rivers near Barak Varr, you could create a new kingdom or add a new province to the Empire. But the existing powers in the Old World believe that they have better things to do with that much time, effort, money, and blood.
If you really wanted to, you could be able to convince the College to let you try, but it would be more to get it out of your system than them thinking it'd result in any return worthy of the investment. Thinking they can make something useful out of the Border Princes is probably a phase a lot of up-and-coming movers-and-shakers goes through.
The Empire's position is that it would much rather maintain the incredibly formidable defences at Black Fire Pass than try to fight off all comers from the aptly-named Badlands in the open. The reason the Border Princes are anarchic is because they are, in the world as it currently is, not worth it. The land is barren and lacking in natural resources worth the trouble of extracting, a great many greenskin call it home, and any permanent infrastructure will last only as long as it takes for the next Waaagh (or worse) to arrive.
Sure, it's possible to make something of it. If someone went to the trouble of wiping out a whole bunch of native greenskin tribes, pushing back the skaven presence, cuffing a thousand petty kings about the ears and telling them to fall in line, establishing understandings with the Empire, Tilea and Barak Varr, and fortifying one or more of the rivers near Barak Varr, you could create a new kingdom or add a new province to the Empire. But the existing powers in the Old World believe that they have better things to do with that much time, effort, money, and blood.
If you really wanted to, you could be able to convince the College to let you try, but it would be more to get it out of your system than them thinking it'd result in any return worthy of the investment. Thinking they can make something useful out of the Border Princes is probably a phase a lot of up-and-coming movers-and-shakers goes through.
Bound Familiars
Animals that possess the potential to be familiars are incredibly rare. They can be regularly found for sale in Altdorf for prices beginning at an exorbitant 500 gc for the least impressive of specimens. Alternately, one can search for them, a process that typically takes months.
When a suitable animal is found, binding is a gradual process that requires the Wizard to remain in close proximity to the would-be familiar for a prolonged period, spending no more than an hour or two per day away from it. The binding process can be as quick as a few days or as long as several months. When bound, familiars tend to develop a distinct personality and increase massively in intelligence until they approach that of a human. They also can gain strength and durability beyond that of a normal example of their species. Some develop sharper senses, the ability to speak in Lingua Praestantia or to read and write, and often develop deep interests in subjects ranging from the everyday to the esoteric.
Powers
There are a range of Powers that familiars can develop; one will appear as the bond is formed and others can be developed over time.
Aethyric Reservoir: The Familiar can absorb a spell targeted at itself or its master, holding it for up to several days and disgorging at will at a new target.
Link of Psyche: The Familiar and the Master have their minds linked, giving them the ability to communicate without words and increasing the cognitive ability and willpower of both as long as they are both conscious.
Lucky Charm: The Familiar and Master both tend to be more fortunate.
Magic Focus: Spells can be amplified through the Familiar, doubling one of its quantitative effects - range, duration, area of effect, and so on.
Magic Power: As long as the Familiar lives, the Master is more magically puissant.
Master's Touch: Spells can be cast through the Familiar - touch spells can target what the familiar is touching, the familiar's eyesight can be used to target spells, and so on.
Master's Voice: The Master can speak through the Familiar's mouth, both as a means of communicating and to cast spells if the Master is somehow prevented from speaking.
Voice of Reason: The Master becomes less prone to miscasting.
Animals that possess the potential to be familiars are incredibly rare. They can be regularly found for sale in Altdorf for prices beginning at an exorbitant 500 gc for the least impressive of specimens. Alternately, one can search for them, a process that typically takes months.
When a suitable animal is found, binding is a gradual process that requires the Wizard to remain in close proximity to the would-be familiar for a prolonged period, spending no more than an hour or two per day away from it. The binding process can be as quick as a few days or as long as several months. When bound, familiars tend to develop a distinct personality and increase massively in intelligence until they approach that of a human. They also can gain strength and durability beyond that of a normal example of their species. Some develop sharper senses, the ability to speak in Lingua Praestantia or to read and write, and often develop deep interests in subjects ranging from the everyday to the esoteric.
Powers
There are a range of Powers that familiars can develop; one will appear as the bond is formed and others can be developed over time.
Aethyric Reservoir: The Familiar can absorb a spell targeted at itself or its master, holding it for up to several days and disgorging at will at a new target.
Link of Psyche: The Familiar and the Master have their minds linked, giving them the ability to communicate without words and increasing the cognitive ability and willpower of both as long as they are both conscious.
Lucky Charm: The Familiar and Master both tend to be more fortunate.
Magic Focus: Spells can be amplified through the Familiar, doubling one of its quantitative effects - range, duration, area of effect, and so on.
Magic Power: As long as the Familiar lives, the Master is more magically puissant.
Master's Touch: Spells can be cast through the Familiar - touch spells can target what the familiar is touching, the familiar's eyesight can be used to target spells, and so on.
Master's Voice: The Master can speak through the Familiar's mouth, both as a means of communicating and to cast spells if the Master is somehow prevented from speaking.
Voice of Reason: The Master becomes less prone to miscasting.
Military Forces of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition, Sorted by Leader
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 Longbeards
800 Runed Warriors
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 Rangers
2,000 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 Longbeards
10,000 Warriors
2,000 Miners
2,000 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
10,000 Warriors (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
6,000 Miners (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves - 250 Wolf Riders, 2000 dismounted knights.
10,000 Nordlanders
8,000 Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 Longbeards
800 Runed Warriors
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 Rangers
2,000 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 Longbeards
10,000 Warriors
2,000 Miners
2,000 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
10,000 Warriors (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
6,000 Miners (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun - 250 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves - 250 Wolf Riders, 2000 dismounted knights.
10,000 Nordlanders
8,000 Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
Military Forces of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition, Sorted by Leader
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 180 Longbeards
800 740 Runed Warriors
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 950 Warriors
1,000 980 Quarrelers
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 2,700 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 2,800 Rangers
2,000 1,600 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 1,800 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 1,400 Longbeards
10,000 8,900 Warriors
2,000 1,600 Miners
2,000 800 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
6,700 3,300 Adventurers and Vagabonds
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -250 240 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 485 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -250 235 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 480 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -250 240 Wolf Riders, 2000 1850 dismounted knights.
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 7,500 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 4,800 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 4,950 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 4,950 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
1,000
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
1,000 Quarrelers
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
10,000 Camp Followers
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling camp followers
Military Forces of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition, Sorted by Leader
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 180 Longbeards
800 740 Runed Warriors
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 950 Warriors
1,000 980 Quarrelers
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 2,700 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 2,750 Rangers
2,000 1,600 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 1,800 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 1,250 Longbeards
10,000 8,500 Warriors
2,000 1,600 Miners
2,000 800 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
6,700 2,800 Adventurers and Vagabonds
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -250 240 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 485 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -250 230 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 480 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -250 240 Wolf Riders, 2000 1850 dismounted knights.
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 6,700 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 4,800 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 4,950 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 4,950 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
1,000
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
1,000 Quarrelers
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
10,000 Camp Followers
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling camp followers
Military Forces of the Karak Eight Peaks Expedition, Sorted by Leader
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
200 180 Longbeards
800 740 Runed Warriors
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
2,000 Slayers
1,000 950 Warriors
1,000 980 Quarrelers
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
3,000 2,700 Warriors
1,000 Quarrelers
3,000 2,750 Rangers
2,000 1,600 Quarrelers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
2,000 1,800 Rangers (Adventurers and Vagabonds)
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
2,000 1,250 Longbeards
10,000 8,500 Warriors
2,000 1,600 Miners
2,000 800 Thunderers
10,000 Camp Followers
6,700 2,800 Adventurers and Vagabonds
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -250 240 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 485 footmen.
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -250 230 Demigryph-mounted Knights, 500 480 footmen.
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -250 240 Wolf Riders, 2000 1850 dismounted knights.
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
10,000 5,400 miscellaneous mercenaries, adventurers, and vagabonds.
5,000 4,800 Stirland Crossbowmen
5,000 4,950 Stirland Huntsmen
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 4,950 Halfling Fieldwardens
5,000 Halfling camp followers
King Belegar Ironhammer
Clan Angrund
Halken Stonebeard, Eldest of Clan Angrund
500 Hammerers
8,800 Clan Huzkul
Karak Kadrin
1,000
Kragg the Grim, Master Runelord
1 Anvil of Doom
Modified Gyrobomber (transport)
Ulthar Alriksson, Head Ranger
Karak Hirn
1,000 Quarrelers
Skaroki Grimbrow, Thane of Karak Izor
Karak Izor
10,000 Camp Followers
Durin Wutokri, Engineer
Karak Norn
30 Bolt Throwers (Siege)
100 Bolt Throwers (Personal)
20 Grudge Throwers
10 Bolt Throwers (seconded to - Karak Kadrin)
10 Cannon (seconded to - Karak Izor)
20 Cannon (Karak Azgaraz)
10 Cannon (Karak Gantuk)
Magister Mathilde Weber
2 Journeymanlings of the Amber Order
2 Journeymanlings of the Gold Order
1 Journeymanlings of the Jade Order
Grand Master Sigwald Kriegersen
Knights of Taal's Fury -
Knights of the Vengeful Sun -
Grand Master Ruprecht Wulfhart
Winter Wolves -
17,500 United Ulricans
Marksman Codrin Petrescu
Marshal Titus Muggins
5,000 Halfling camp followers
Losses at the Battle of the East Gate and the Battle of Karag Lhune:
Clan Angrund: 15 Longbeards dead, 5 wounded. 20 Runed Warriors dead, 40 wounded.
Karak Kadrin: 1,740 Slayers dead, 260 wounded. 20 Warriors dead, 30 wounded. 20 Quarrelers dead.
Karak Hirn: 90 Warriors dead, 210 wounded. 140 Rangers dead, 60 wounded.
Karak Izor: 440 Longbeards dead, 160 wounded. 780 Warriors dead, 320 wounded. 180 Miners dead, 220 wounded. 1,040 Thunderers dead, 160 wounded.
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 320 Quarrelers dead, 80 wounded. 120 Rangers dead, 80 wounded. 3,960 Adventurers dead, 440 wounded.
Demigryph Knights: 15 Knights dead. 25 Footmen dead, 10 wounded.
Ulricans: 5 Wolf Riders dead, 5 wounded. 120 Knights dead, 30 wounded. 120 Ulricans dead, 380 wounded.
Stirlanders: 140 Crossbowmen dead, 60 wounded. 40 Huntsmen dead, 10 wounded.
Unaffiliated Humans: 1,460 Adventurers dead, 940 wounded.
Halflings: 10 Fieldwardens dead, 40 wounded.
Losses at the Battle of Karag Nar:
Karak Hirn: 50 Rangers dead.
Karak Izor: 140 Longbeards dead, 10 wounded. 220 Warriors dead, 180 wounded.
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 340 Adventurers dead, 160 wounded.
Demigryph Knights: 5 Knights dead.
Unaffiliated Humans: 500 Adventurers dead, 300 wounded.
Losses at the Battle of the Citadel:
Unaffiliated Humans: 800 Adventurers dead, 500 wounded.
Clan Angrund: 15 Longbeards dead, 5 wounded. 20 Runed Warriors dead, 40 wounded.
Karak Kadrin: 1,740 Slayers dead, 260 wounded. 20 Warriors dead, 30 wounded. 20 Quarrelers dead.
Karak Hirn: 90 Warriors dead, 210 wounded. 140 Rangers dead, 60 wounded.
Karak Izor: 440 Longbeards dead, 160 wounded. 780 Warriors dead, 320 wounded. 180 Miners dead, 220 wounded. 1,040 Thunderers dead, 160 wounded.
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 320 Quarrelers dead, 80 wounded. 120 Rangers dead, 80 wounded. 3,960 Adventurers dead, 440 wounded.
Demigryph Knights: 15 Knights dead. 25 Footmen dead, 10 wounded.
Ulricans: 5 Wolf Riders dead, 5 wounded. 120 Knights dead, 30 wounded. 120 Ulricans dead, 380 wounded.
Stirlanders: 140 Crossbowmen dead, 60 wounded. 40 Huntsmen dead, 10 wounded.
Unaffiliated Humans: 1,460 Adventurers dead, 940 wounded.
Halflings: 10 Fieldwardens dead, 40 wounded.
Losses at the Battle of Karag Nar:
Karak Hirn: 50 Rangers dead.
Karak Izor: 140 Longbeards dead, 10 wounded. 220 Warriors dead, 180 wounded.
Unaffiliated Dwarves: 340 Adventurers dead, 160 wounded.
Demigryph Knights: 5 Knights dead.
Unaffiliated Humans: 500 Adventurers dead, 300 wounded.
Losses at the Battle of the Citadel:
Unaffiliated Humans: 800 Adventurers dead, 500 wounded.
Written by @Fayhem in this post.
Regarding the latest recurrence of "but wait, isn't working with non-College magic users illegal under the Articles? or is it fine? or do we need to engage in shady rules-lawyering to make it fine?" in the thread:
1. "Working with" does not equal "hiring." The articles forbid non-Magisters (or non-College Journeymen, etc.) from studying or practicing magic in the Empire, and if you join an Imperial institution you are considered to be in the Empire. An Imperial institution, like a branch college, can work with non-College magic users who are outside of the empire (including being outside the branch's org chart) without violating the accords.
2. It should also be noted that nobody in-universe (in the Empire, anyway) actually calls what divine magic users do "magic" unless they want to deal with a whole bunch of angry priests. The way it's seen in the Empire, priests don't "perform magic" like some kind of witch, they call forth miracles of their god's holy power. So whenever somebody says "magic users" in reference to the Articles, understand that this always means specifically arcane magic users, because anything else doesn't actually get called "magic."
3. Please, please, please don't try to engage in any shady rules-lawyering. If the Empire held a referendum today on "should we burn all magic users at the stake like Sigmar intended?" it could quite plausibly get majority support from the population at large, and much stronger support from Sigmarites and especially the Cult of Sigmar itself (which holds three Elector's votes itself, just incidentally). The general prejudice against magic-users in the Empire remains intense. And the thing that the Colleges credit (accurately) with preventing that kind of scenario is that Magnus the Pious himself, by far the most revered Emperor since Sigmar himself, personally wrote the Articles, and that conferred legitimacy protects the Colleges.
Anything that made it look like the Articles were being construed or implemented differently from how Magnus intended them, regardless of whatever umtechnically rules-lawyering was applied, would call the premise of that conferred legitimacy into question. The Colleges as such would regard anything like that as an existential threat to their own continued existence, would react against that accordingly to protect themselves, and would be correct to do so.
4. Let me address questions like "well, Damsels and Ice Witches get referred to as priests and get a pass because of that but it sure looks like they use arcane magic, isn't that the kind of rules-lawyering you just said was unacceptable?" or anything else of that nature, too. Damsels and Ice Witches are extremely culturally important and powerful elements of the Empire's two largest and most powerful neighbors, and labeling them as magic-users would mean the Empire was legally obligated to burn them at the stake. That would be a really excellent way to start two nasty wars at once. Because, y'know, Damsels and Ice Witches are extremely culturally important and powerful elements of the Empire's two largest and most powerful neighbors. As such, everyone in the Empire's power structure is very careful to avoid paying too much attention to what exactly Damsels and Ice Witches are doing. Because if they did they might have to notice it was magic, which would have the disastrous consequences outlined before.
This is not a legal fiction, it is a diplomatic fiction. And, vitally, it is not coming from the Colleges. If the Colleges, or anyone officially part of the Colleges, tried to use that as a legal precedent for permitting the study or practice of magic within the Empire or under the Empire's authority by magic users who are not part of the Colleges - or even started calling attention in any way to how it sure does look like Damsels/Ice Witches are practicing arcane magic - it would not result in anyone going "aw shucks, I guess you got us, that is okay after all as long as you say they're a priest or something." Instead, it would result in the official power structure of the Empire being forced to look directly at and pay attention to something that they have been working very hard to not do either of those things to.
At which point they would become extremely unhappy with whoever put them in that position. And then, the easiest and at that point frankly most appealing way for them to square that circle without having to go through with burning Damsels/Ice Witches and starting those aforementioned wars would be to dump 100% of the blame on whoever started this. By, most likely, accusing them of perverting and misrepresenting the Articles and generally sweeping the whole thing under a cover of "whatever anybody thought looked like Damsels and Ice Witches practicing magic was actually just a rogue Magister doing [witchy shit] and don't worry, we took care of them already." Meaning, at that point whoever's getting blamed would be incredibly lucky to get away with just being exiled and stripped of Imperial citizenship, and more likely would be put to fire and sword in the most public manner feasible posthaste. With the Colleges' full and enthusiastic support, because they won't be happy about having been put in that kind of position either. And will almost certainly, and justifiably, consider this to be risking the previously described existential threat of the Articles being in any way delegitimated by being distanced or changed from Magnus' intent.
5. The virtue of a branch college located outside the Empire's borders is thus that it makes it possible to work with non-College magic users who are neither within the Empire's borders OR under its legal authority. This is not only fully in line with the letter of the law, it is also just as importantly in line with Magnus' perceived intent. Outright hiring of non-College magic users into a branch's org chart would still need to be avoided, because the branch is considered part of the Empire so being directly employed under the branch would bring them under the Empire's legal authority and put them back in breach of the Articles. But as long as they're both outside the Empire's borders, and not under the authority of an institution that is under Imperial law, working with them is okay.
Regarding the latest recurrence of "but wait, isn't working with non-College magic users illegal under the Articles? or is it fine? or do we need to engage in shady rules-lawyering to make it fine?" in the thread:
1. "Working with" does not equal "hiring." The articles forbid non-Magisters (or non-College Journeymen, etc.) from studying or practicing magic in the Empire, and if you join an Imperial institution you are considered to be in the Empire. An Imperial institution, like a branch college, can work with non-College magic users who are outside of the empire (including being outside the branch's org chart) without violating the accords.
2. It should also be noted that nobody in-universe (in the Empire, anyway) actually calls what divine magic users do "magic" unless they want to deal with a whole bunch of angry priests. The way it's seen in the Empire, priests don't "perform magic" like some kind of witch, they call forth miracles of their god's holy power. So whenever somebody says "magic users" in reference to the Articles, understand that this always means specifically arcane magic users, because anything else doesn't actually get called "magic."
3. Please, please, please don't try to engage in any shady rules-lawyering. If the Empire held a referendum today on "should we burn all magic users at the stake like Sigmar intended?" it could quite plausibly get majority support from the population at large, and much stronger support from Sigmarites and especially the Cult of Sigmar itself (which holds three Elector's votes itself, just incidentally). The general prejudice against magic-users in the Empire remains intense. And the thing that the Colleges credit (accurately) with preventing that kind of scenario is that Magnus the Pious himself, by far the most revered Emperor since Sigmar himself, personally wrote the Articles, and that conferred legitimacy protects the Colleges.
Anything that made it look like the Articles were being construed or implemented differently from how Magnus intended them, regardless of whatever umtechnically rules-lawyering was applied, would call the premise of that conferred legitimacy into question. The Colleges as such would regard anything like that as an existential threat to their own continued existence, would react against that accordingly to protect themselves, and would be correct to do so.
4. Let me address questions like "well, Damsels and Ice Witches get referred to as priests and get a pass because of that but it sure looks like they use arcane magic, isn't that the kind of rules-lawyering you just said was unacceptable?" or anything else of that nature, too. Damsels and Ice Witches are extremely culturally important and powerful elements of the Empire's two largest and most powerful neighbors, and labeling them as magic-users would mean the Empire was legally obligated to burn them at the stake. That would be a really excellent way to start two nasty wars at once. Because, y'know, Damsels and Ice Witches are extremely culturally important and powerful elements of the Empire's two largest and most powerful neighbors. As such, everyone in the Empire's power structure is very careful to avoid paying too much attention to what exactly Damsels and Ice Witches are doing. Because if they did they might have to notice it was magic, which would have the disastrous consequences outlined before.
This is not a legal fiction, it is a diplomatic fiction. And, vitally, it is not coming from the Colleges. If the Colleges, or anyone officially part of the Colleges, tried to use that as a legal precedent for permitting the study or practice of magic within the Empire or under the Empire's authority by magic users who are not part of the Colleges - or even started calling attention in any way to how it sure does look like Damsels/Ice Witches are practicing arcane magic - it would not result in anyone going "aw shucks, I guess you got us, that is okay after all as long as you say they're a priest or something." Instead, it would result in the official power structure of the Empire being forced to look directly at and pay attention to something that they have been working very hard to not do either of those things to.
At which point they would become extremely unhappy with whoever put them in that position. And then, the easiest and at that point frankly most appealing way for them to square that circle without having to go through with burning Damsels/Ice Witches and starting those aforementioned wars would be to dump 100% of the blame on whoever started this. By, most likely, accusing them of perverting and misrepresenting the Articles and generally sweeping the whole thing under a cover of "whatever anybody thought looked like Damsels and Ice Witches practicing magic was actually just a rogue Magister doing [witchy shit] and don't worry, we took care of them already." Meaning, at that point whoever's getting blamed would be incredibly lucky to get away with just being exiled and stripped of Imperial citizenship, and more likely would be put to fire and sword in the most public manner feasible posthaste. With the Colleges' full and enthusiastic support, because they won't be happy about having been put in that kind of position either. And will almost certainly, and justifiably, consider this to be risking the previously described existential threat of the Articles being in any way delegitimated by being distanced or changed from Magnus' intent.
5. The virtue of a branch college located outside the Empire's borders is thus that it makes it possible to work with non-College magic users who are neither within the Empire's borders OR under its legal authority. This is not only fully in line with the letter of the law, it is also just as importantly in line with Magnus' perceived intent. Outright hiring of non-College magic users into a branch's org chart would still need to be avoided, because the branch is considered part of the Empire so being directly employed under the branch would bring them under the Empire's legal authority and put them back in breach of the Articles. But as long as they're both outside the Empire's borders, and not under the authority of an institution that is under Imperial law, working with them is okay.
The generally accepted theory among the Colleges is that there's three sets of magical senses.
There's the broad category of 'sixth sense', where someone has access to information beyond what they should be able to perceive, such as being able to perceive whether something is 'lucky' or 'unlucky', having 'good feelings' or 'bad feelings' about something, or being able to take the measure of another person. The exact amount of people who have this is very open to debate, with some going so far as to say that some degree of this is universal among humanity. Mathilde theorized that Wilhelmina and her late husband might have both had this, which led to Eike inheriting full-blown magical ability, but this level of 'baby's first Punnet square' theorizing is very far from being a definitive truth.
There's 'Magesight', the ability to directly sense at least the eight Winds, and as has come up a few times it manifests in a lot of different ways. Mathilde has the most common, visual, which the sense is named for, and it manifests as being able to 'see' the Winds in real time. This has the advantage of being able to easily comprehend and communicate, but it is limited to the here and now, whereas auditory or olfactory might be able to hear lingering echoes or smell lingering scents of something that would no longer be visible. Tactile and gustatory round out the five mundane senses that are the most common forms, but there's other, more exotic forms. Johann has magnetoreceptive magesight, where he can not only sense Chamon but also how attractive or not the environment is around him to Chamon, allowing him to sense densities and elemental makeup. Barbitus has visceral, where magesight maps to a sense outside of the five traditional senses, where he senses the Winds through sensations in his internal organs. Eike seems to have intuitive magesight, where she does not have sensation but simply understanding, which means she will never have to struggle with understanding what she is perceiving, but will always have to struggle to communicate it to anyone else.
Finally, there's the ability to 'feel' the Winds when they contact your soul. This is more or less what makes someone a potential Wizard - it is technically possible to be able to reach out to the Winds and manipulate them without having this ability, and if you have Magesight it can be possible to achieve limited success by doing so, but if you can't directly feel what your soul is doing and how the Wind is reacting, you're as limited as if you were trying to perform feats of manual dexterity without any feeling in your fingers. Someone who lacks any magical sense at all is still able to perform magic, but without any feedback at all as to how the energies they are trying to manipulate are reacting to their manipulation, this is very likely to result in disaster for any but the smallest and most minor of cantrips. It is very cautiously and quietly theorized that it also allows one to sense divine energies that contact their soul, meaning that this sense would be found in Anointed Priests, as while a God would be able to act through any one of their followers, those that can cooperate with and guide the energies would theoretically be easier, or more efficient, or otherwise more preferable than those who cannot.
There's the broad category of 'sixth sense', where someone has access to information beyond what they should be able to perceive, such as being able to perceive whether something is 'lucky' or 'unlucky', having 'good feelings' or 'bad feelings' about something, or being able to take the measure of another person. The exact amount of people who have this is very open to debate, with some going so far as to say that some degree of this is universal among humanity. Mathilde theorized that Wilhelmina and her late husband might have both had this, which led to Eike inheriting full-blown magical ability, but this level of 'baby's first Punnet square' theorizing is very far from being a definitive truth.
There's 'Magesight', the ability to directly sense at least the eight Winds, and as has come up a few times it manifests in a lot of different ways. Mathilde has the most common, visual, which the sense is named for, and it manifests as being able to 'see' the Winds in real time. This has the advantage of being able to easily comprehend and communicate, but it is limited to the here and now, whereas auditory or olfactory might be able to hear lingering echoes or smell lingering scents of something that would no longer be visible. Tactile and gustatory round out the five mundane senses that are the most common forms, but there's other, more exotic forms. Johann has magnetoreceptive magesight, where he can not only sense Chamon but also how attractive or not the environment is around him to Chamon, allowing him to sense densities and elemental makeup. Barbitus has visceral, where magesight maps to a sense outside of the five traditional senses, where he senses the Winds through sensations in his internal organs. Eike seems to have intuitive magesight, where she does not have sensation but simply understanding, which means she will never have to struggle with understanding what she is perceiving, but will always have to struggle to communicate it to anyone else.
Finally, there's the ability to 'feel' the Winds when they contact your soul. This is more or less what makes someone a potential Wizard - it is technically possible to be able to reach out to the Winds and manipulate them without having this ability, and if you have Magesight it can be possible to achieve limited success by doing so, but if you can't directly feel what your soul is doing and how the Wind is reacting, you're as limited as if you were trying to perform feats of manual dexterity without any feeling in your fingers. Someone who lacks any magical sense at all is still able to perform magic, but without any feedback at all as to how the energies they are trying to manipulate are reacting to their manipulation, this is very likely to result in disaster for any but the smallest and most minor of cantrips. It is very cautiously and quietly theorized that it also allows one to sense divine energies that contact their soul, meaning that this sense would be found in Anointed Priests, as while a God would be able to act through any one of their followers, those that can cooperate with and guide the energies would theoretically be easier, or more efficient, or otherwise more preferable than those who cannot.
Mathilde is not 'legally a Dwarf'. She is a human with a weird theological question mark that almost nobody really understands and fewer people actually care about - to Dwarves considering whether she is an insider or an outsider, her deeds heavily outweigh that business. A theoretical Mathilde that had never done anything to assist the Karaz Ankor but did have that oddity hovering over her might be able to parlay that into the very modest support, benefits, and rights that Clanless or Imperial Dwarves would have in a Karak, but no such Mathilde exists. And even if she did, she'd be Clanless, guildless, and cultless, which excludes her from pretty much every part of Dwarven society.
Under mainstream Dwarven theology slash philosophy, a Dwarf's soul is formed when the Dwarf is born, and upon their death, if the proper rites are performed, they travel to the Underearth to reside their with their ancestors and the Ancestor Gods forever. If the proper rites are not performed, then they go back to the realm where all souls are formed and at some future point they will be reborn as another Dwarf. Some Clans like to believe that they'll be reborn in the same Clan.
So far, so normal. You'd hear something similar from both Morrites and Amethyst Wizards, except with Morr's Realm instead of the Underearth. Elves have something more detailed going on, with their souls needing to travel via Waystones or Dreaming Woods to a temple to Morai-Heg if they want to move on to the Elven afterlife, or back to their homeland if they want to hang around there instead, and if they die in somewhere particularly unpleasant they can strike a deal with Ereth Khial to be taken in by her rather unpleasant afterlife instead of getting eaten by Daemons or whatever. But really, all that is just a more fleshed out story of 'they travel to the afterlife' story of the Dwarves and the Morrites.
The ugly point that nobody really likes paying attention to is that if you don't make it into your afterlife of choice, your trajectory after that is beyond the understanding of any mortal. Unless a deity actively intervenes, 'you come back again as the same race' is pure wishful thinking. Nobody likes to actually consider it further because it's just as likely you come back as something else, or not at all. No Dwarf wants to consider that their ancestor that fell in battle and their body was never recovered might be coming back as an Elf. They definitely don't want to consider that they might be coming back as an Orc.
The 'Dwarf soul' announcement carefully sidestepped that ugly question by citing the interference of Ranald. Theologically speaking it's entirely possible, and it sounds like the sort of thing He'd do if you've only read a brief summary of who He is. Anyone actually familiar with Him would instantly realize that those sort of decades-in-the-making schemes aren't his thing. Giggling and saying 'yes' when a bunch of stuffy speciest Dwarves ask you if you nabbed a Dwarf soul, however, absolutely is, especially if they then go on to announce to the world that they're a bunch of twits who gave the God of Dunking On Twits a perfect set-up. The resounding facepalm from the theological world would have been followed up by the Grand Theogonist having someone write them a very gentle letter. Its intended purpose, that nobody has to think too hard about why a human has accomplished what Dwarves completely failed to even try, is dead in the water, and now it's chuckled at by some and firmly ignored by others.
Mathilde is not considered a Dwarf, legally or otherwise, and if she was, that wouldn't actually open any new doors for her. Dwarven society isn't actually based on being a Dwarf, it's about being part of a Clan, a Guild, and a Cult. If she really wanted to be in a Dwarf Clan she could make a solid argument for joining Clan Huzkul, or could probably talk Belegar into adopting her. If she really wanted to be in a Guild she absolutely could not join a Runesmith Clan, but she could very likely work her way into, say, a Warrior or Runescribe one if she left the Grey College. If she didn't mind foreswearing Ranald or deliberately lying, she could probably join the Order of the Guardians.
But it seems to me that every part of Dwarven society that people actually want Mathilde to be a part of, she already is.
Under mainstream Dwarven theology slash philosophy, a Dwarf's soul is formed when the Dwarf is born, and upon their death, if the proper rites are performed, they travel to the Underearth to reside their with their ancestors and the Ancestor Gods forever. If the proper rites are not performed, then they go back to the realm where all souls are formed and at some future point they will be reborn as another Dwarf. Some Clans like to believe that they'll be reborn in the same Clan.
So far, so normal. You'd hear something similar from both Morrites and Amethyst Wizards, except with Morr's Realm instead of the Underearth. Elves have something more detailed going on, with their souls needing to travel via Waystones or Dreaming Woods to a temple to Morai-Heg if they want to move on to the Elven afterlife, or back to their homeland if they want to hang around there instead, and if they die in somewhere particularly unpleasant they can strike a deal with Ereth Khial to be taken in by her rather unpleasant afterlife instead of getting eaten by Daemons or whatever. But really, all that is just a more fleshed out story of 'they travel to the afterlife' story of the Dwarves and the Morrites.
The ugly point that nobody really likes paying attention to is that if you don't make it into your afterlife of choice, your trajectory after that is beyond the understanding of any mortal. Unless a deity actively intervenes, 'you come back again as the same race' is pure wishful thinking. Nobody likes to actually consider it further because it's just as likely you come back as something else, or not at all. No Dwarf wants to consider that their ancestor that fell in battle and their body was never recovered might be coming back as an Elf. They definitely don't want to consider that they might be coming back as an Orc.
The 'Dwarf soul' announcement carefully sidestepped that ugly question by citing the interference of Ranald. Theologically speaking it's entirely possible, and it sounds like the sort of thing He'd do if you've only read a brief summary of who He is. Anyone actually familiar with Him would instantly realize that those sort of decades-in-the-making schemes aren't his thing. Giggling and saying 'yes' when a bunch of stuffy speciest Dwarves ask you if you nabbed a Dwarf soul, however, absolutely is, especially if they then go on to announce to the world that they're a bunch of twits who gave the God of Dunking On Twits a perfect set-up. The resounding facepalm from the theological world would have been followed up by the Grand Theogonist having someone write them a very gentle letter. Its intended purpose, that nobody has to think too hard about why a human has accomplished what Dwarves completely failed to even try, is dead in the water, and now it's chuckled at by some and firmly ignored by others.
Mathilde is not considered a Dwarf, legally or otherwise, and if she was, that wouldn't actually open any new doors for her. Dwarven society isn't actually based on being a Dwarf, it's about being part of a Clan, a Guild, and a Cult. If she really wanted to be in a Dwarf Clan she could make a solid argument for joining Clan Huzkul, or could probably talk Belegar into adopting her. If she really wanted to be in a Guild she absolutely could not join a Runesmith Clan, but she could very likely work her way into, say, a Warrior or Runescribe one if she left the Grey College. If she didn't mind foreswearing Ranald or deliberately lying, she could probably join the Order of the Guardians.
But it seems to me that every part of Dwarven society that people actually want Mathilde to be a part of, she already is.
THREAD-CANONICAL MAPS
Grand Avenue and Major Underway Branches of Karak Eight Peaks:
Does not show smaller underground paths or natural or unnatural tunnels dug by Night Goblins or Skaven.
Towards the end of the War for Karak Eight Peaks:
With thanks to @vsh
STIRLANDIAN GEOPOLITICS
(as of turn 14)
Red: Controlled by the Elector Count
Dark Blue: County
Light Blue: Barony
Yellow: Chartered Free Town
Green: Knightly Order
Sickly Brown: Here There Be Monsters
Red X's mark the capital of the region
WESTERN STIRLAND
Wurtbad (Capital) - Elector Count Abelhelm Van Hal
Wordern (County) - controlled by the Elector Count
Munzhausen (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
Purgg (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
Wolfsbach - Countess Petra Harden
Flensburg (Free City) - Lord Mayor Emil von Flensburg
Franzen - Count Artur von Treitschke
Blutdorf - Baron Anton Kiesinger
CENTRAL STIRLAND
Halstedt - Count Erich von Halstedt
Steinbachthal - Count Tristan Haupt
Marburg - Baron Immanuel Krebs
Siegfriedhof - Order of the Black Guard ('Knights of Morr')
Gablitz - contested
Thalheim - contested
SOUTHERN STIRLAND
Hornau - Count Robert Toppenheimer
Sigmaringen - Countess Alexandra von Munsterburg
Leicheberg - Count Maksim von Stolpe
Schramleben - Grand Mayor Victor van Grissenwald
Texing (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
EASTERN STIRLAND
Nachthafen + Pfaffbach - Currently Unheld
Drakenhof (County) - controlled by the Elector Count
Waldenhof (County) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
Tempelhof (County) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
Mikalsdorf (Barony) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
(as of turn 14)
Red: Controlled by the Elector Count
Dark Blue: County
Light Blue: Barony
Yellow: Chartered Free Town
Green: Knightly Order
Sickly Brown: Here There Be Monsters
Red X's mark the capital of the region
WESTERN STIRLAND
Wurtbad (Capital) - Elector Count Abelhelm Van Hal
Wordern (County) - controlled by the Elector Count
Munzhausen (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
Purgg (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
Wolfsbach - Countess Petra Harden
Flensburg (Free City) - Lord Mayor Emil von Flensburg
Franzen - Count Artur von Treitschke
Blutdorf - Baron Anton Kiesinger
CENTRAL STIRLAND
Halstedt - Count Erich von Halstedt
Steinbachthal - Count Tristan Haupt
Marburg - Baron Immanuel Krebs
Siegfriedhof - Order of the Black Guard ('Knights of Morr')
Gablitz - contested
Thalheim - contested
SOUTHERN STIRLAND
Hornau - Count Robert Toppenheimer
Sigmaringen - Countess Alexandra von Munsterburg
Leicheberg - Count Maksim von Stolpe
Schramleben - Grand Mayor Victor van Grissenwald
Texing (Barony) - controlled by the Elector Count
EASTERN STIRLAND
Nachthafen + Pfaffbach - Currently Unheld
Drakenhof (County) - controlled by the Elector Count
Waldenhof (County) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
Tempelhof (County) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
Mikalsdorf (Barony) - 'controlled by the Elector Count'
Marked in red are the Silk Roads. Marked in blue are the possible routes of the Expedition.
Projection for trade routes once Zhufbar's Black Water-Aver canal and Karak Kadrin's Talabec-Stir canals are completed, as of late 2486. Blue is water links, green is secured overland or underground links, red is currently unsecured overland links.
More detailed map of Karak Vlag's links to the Karaz Ankor, including speculative canal links in purple.
OTHER / META
1) It's Always Personal
Even the largest organization or project is made of people making personal decisions, especially in a pseudo-Medieval time period where top-down autocracy is the norm. The extreme of this is things like Emperor Boris Goldgather creating the Moot because his favourite chef was a Halfling, but even competent people make decisions coloured by their personal opinions. For example, the Battle Wizards got unleashed on Stirland partially because Algard likes Emperor Luitpold, otherwise he would have pushed for keeping it in-house. The history books might not record it that way, but that's always a factor.
2) Don't Plan Ahead...
Being a tabletop GM taught me to never plan ahead in detail, the ultimate example being when the group ended one session with a solid plan to travel by sea to their destination and came back next week and talked themselves into going overland instead. I had a lot of vague ideas for Abelhelm's future post-Sylvanian campaign, but I hadn't actually put dedicated effort into plotting them out. I'm only one of three forces at play here and I can't predict what the players or the dice will decree, so planning ahead will inevitably result in a lot of misspent effort, which can very easily taint the joy of writing.
3) ...But Do Give Trajectories
What will Marienburg do next year? I don't know. But I do know what they want and how they're trying to get it. The same applies to every major character and polity. This means that even though I haven't planned ahead, it doesn't take much work to figure out what they'd do in a vacuum, or how they'd respond to changing events. This has the side-benefit of making it easy to come up with new side-plots because there's almost always someone trying to do something that could start interfering with events on-screen, and it feels realer because it's a natural consequence of events.
4) Never Fiddle The Dice
Ever. I'll admit there's been temptation to do so. There's been times when the dice have cut a lot of interesting plotlines short, or made a scene that would have been great fall flat on its face, or given me a result I have no idea what to do with at all. But I've always stuck with it because that's the unwritten accord between QM and Questers, and I make major dicerolls either in thread or on Rollz to keep myself honest and so the Questers don't have reason to doubt otherwise. So Asarnil keeps showing up, Abelhelm died, Birdmuncha decided against a climactic showdown, Edda ended up worse at her job than she deserved, Wisdom's Asp was a joke of an antagonist, Kragg didn't want to play with the Vitae, Johann blinded himself... a thousand ways things have gone differently than if I had been in ultimate control. But ultimately each time it has lead to a richer narrative.
5) Balance PC and NPC Power Levels
This one's tricky, especially for long-running quests. You have to plot a course between cheating the protagonist out of the recognition they've earned, and cheapening the setting by letting them stand astride it as unto a God. Mathilde is very good at a number of things, and that is recognized in-universe. But at the same time, she's not the shrewdest, wisest, killiest, savviest, puissantest, or most learned. She's aspiring to be, and one day she might reach those heights, and if she does it will be all the grander because it was earned. The titles she can claim are 'probably the best Magesight amongst mortal Wizards of the Old World' and 'most well-liked living human by non-traditional Dwarves', and those took time and effort and giving up other avenues of empowerment to attain, and are all the sweeter for it. Speaking of...
6) Earned Awesome
Another one learned from tabletop roleplaying. Having a heavily optimized character that can break a quest over their knee right out of chargen gets old very quickly. Having a long-running character that's fought for every advantage that can do so because they earned it is immensely satisfying. Having to work and sacrifice for something makes it more meaningful when you eventually get it than if it's just given to you. This is part of why new traits happen at the end of arcs, why Vitae took a lot of study to get it to a point where it had a value (and it's still not tapped out), and why it takes more than eyeballing a God to unlock the secrets of the Divine. There's also the believability side of it: If it was easy, someone else would have done it already.
7) Verisimilitudinousity
Or, how real it seems. Even when you make decisions for reasons of balance or storytelling, make sure there's at least a fig leaf of seeming real. For example: Enchantment Slots is entirely a gameplay abstraction, but the underlying justification is that too many enchantments in one place start to interfere with each other. People don't have to believe that's why it exists, but having it there makes it easier to maintain suspension of disbelief.
8) But Not Too Bazaar
'Cathedral versus Bazaar' is a metaphor I think originated in computer science before being adapted to storytelling. A Cathedral is massive, beautiful, intricate, and static. You can spend forever admiring the fine details, but at the end of the day what you see is what you get as it's enclosed by solid walls. The Bazaar is full of wonders, and though your line of sight is obscured and you can only really admire what's directly around you, no matter what direction you go in, there'll always be more Bazaar waiting for you - because it only takes a moment for the QM to invent some new stalls, whereas it would take them hours to redesign a Cathedral to add on a new outbuilding. This is basically Point 2 phrased differently. But there have to be limits. When there's grand secrets, the answers need to exist. Not just because it feels uncomfortable for the players to be 'searching for answers' when they don't exist yet, but because if they exist, hints can be woven in that will delight players when they finally uncover the truth. To take a very small example: the Mhonar Mystery. I could have left it undecided until events finally nailed it down, but because I had decided what it was early on, I was able to give just enough answers in the scouting reports that people got very close to guessing what it was. But if it hadn't been decided until Mathilde met it, it would have meant that all that discussion and theorycrafting would have been cheapened.
9) People are People
This one is possibly the most subjective, as I've read and greatly enjoyed quests that made other races truly alien and inscrutable. But for this quest, other races do have very different cultures and preconceptions and even biological realities, but they're still recognisably people underneath all that. My ultimate expressions of this so far are Qrech, the We, and now Cython.
Even the largest organization or project is made of people making personal decisions, especially in a pseudo-Medieval time period where top-down autocracy is the norm. The extreme of this is things like Emperor Boris Goldgather creating the Moot because his favourite chef was a Halfling, but even competent people make decisions coloured by their personal opinions. For example, the Battle Wizards got unleashed on Stirland partially because Algard likes Emperor Luitpold, otherwise he would have pushed for keeping it in-house. The history books might not record it that way, but that's always a factor.
2) Don't Plan Ahead...
Being a tabletop GM taught me to never plan ahead in detail, the ultimate example being when the group ended one session with a solid plan to travel by sea to their destination and came back next week and talked themselves into going overland instead. I had a lot of vague ideas for Abelhelm's future post-Sylvanian campaign, but I hadn't actually put dedicated effort into plotting them out. I'm only one of three forces at play here and I can't predict what the players or the dice will decree, so planning ahead will inevitably result in a lot of misspent effort, which can very easily taint the joy of writing.
3) ...But Do Give Trajectories
What will Marienburg do next year? I don't know. But I do know what they want and how they're trying to get it. The same applies to every major character and polity. This means that even though I haven't planned ahead, it doesn't take much work to figure out what they'd do in a vacuum, or how they'd respond to changing events. This has the side-benefit of making it easy to come up with new side-plots because there's almost always someone trying to do something that could start interfering with events on-screen, and it feels realer because it's a natural consequence of events.
4) Never Fiddle The Dice
Ever. I'll admit there's been temptation to do so. There's been times when the dice have cut a lot of interesting plotlines short, or made a scene that would have been great fall flat on its face, or given me a result I have no idea what to do with at all. But I've always stuck with it because that's the unwritten accord between QM and Questers, and I make major dicerolls either in thread or on Rollz to keep myself honest and so the Questers don't have reason to doubt otherwise. So Asarnil keeps showing up, Abelhelm died, Birdmuncha decided against a climactic showdown, Edda ended up worse at her job than she deserved, Wisdom's Asp was a joke of an antagonist, Kragg didn't want to play with the Vitae, Johann blinded himself... a thousand ways things have gone differently than if I had been in ultimate control. But ultimately each time it has lead to a richer narrative.
5) Balance PC and NPC Power Levels
This one's tricky, especially for long-running quests. You have to plot a course between cheating the protagonist out of the recognition they've earned, and cheapening the setting by letting them stand astride it as unto a God. Mathilde is very good at a number of things, and that is recognized in-universe. But at the same time, she's not the shrewdest, wisest, killiest, savviest, puissantest, or most learned. She's aspiring to be, and one day she might reach those heights, and if she does it will be all the grander because it was earned. The titles she can claim are 'probably the best Magesight amongst mortal Wizards of the Old World' and 'most well-liked living human by non-traditional Dwarves', and those took time and effort and giving up other avenues of empowerment to attain, and are all the sweeter for it. Speaking of...
6) Earned Awesome
Another one learned from tabletop roleplaying. Having a heavily optimized character that can break a quest over their knee right out of chargen gets old very quickly. Having a long-running character that's fought for every advantage that can do so because they earned it is immensely satisfying. Having to work and sacrifice for something makes it more meaningful when you eventually get it than if it's just given to you. This is part of why new traits happen at the end of arcs, why Vitae took a lot of study to get it to a point where it had a value (and it's still not tapped out), and why it takes more than eyeballing a God to unlock the secrets of the Divine. There's also the believability side of it: If it was easy, someone else would have done it already.
7) Verisimilitudinousity
Or, how real it seems. Even when you make decisions for reasons of balance or storytelling, make sure there's at least a fig leaf of seeming real. For example: Enchantment Slots is entirely a gameplay abstraction, but the underlying justification is that too many enchantments in one place start to interfere with each other. People don't have to believe that's why it exists, but having it there makes it easier to maintain suspension of disbelief.
8) But Not Too Bazaar
'Cathedral versus Bazaar' is a metaphor I think originated in computer science before being adapted to storytelling. A Cathedral is massive, beautiful, intricate, and static. You can spend forever admiring the fine details, but at the end of the day what you see is what you get as it's enclosed by solid walls. The Bazaar is full of wonders, and though your line of sight is obscured and you can only really admire what's directly around you, no matter what direction you go in, there'll always be more Bazaar waiting for you - because it only takes a moment for the QM to invent some new stalls, whereas it would take them hours to redesign a Cathedral to add on a new outbuilding. This is basically Point 2 phrased differently. But there have to be limits. When there's grand secrets, the answers need to exist. Not just because it feels uncomfortable for the players to be 'searching for answers' when they don't exist yet, but because if they exist, hints can be woven in that will delight players when they finally uncover the truth. To take a very small example: the Mhonar Mystery. I could have left it undecided until events finally nailed it down, but because I had decided what it was early on, I was able to give just enough answers in the scouting reports that people got very close to guessing what it was. But if it hadn't been decided until Mathilde met it, it would have meant that all that discussion and theorycrafting would have been cheapened.
9) People are People
This one is possibly the most subjective, as I've read and greatly enjoyed quests that made other races truly alien and inscrutable. But for this quest, other races do have very different cultures and preconceptions and even biological realities, but they're still recognisably people underneath all that. My ultimate expressions of this so far are Qrech, the We, and now Cython.
It's definitely something that I keep in the back of my mind, like when the thread votes to do something that would be unexpected to someone who didn't follow the debate I make sure to summarize the thought process in Mathilde's internal monologue. I also make sure to add links in the updates to tallies and sneak-peaks and in-thread dicerolls that don't have threadmarks of their own so that people who are reading the threadmarks can dip into thread reactions to major events. My main priority is the thread experience for those actively engaged in it, but it is important to me to keep the quest accessible for people who come in late or people who only read the updates, because that's how I engaged with quests before I started writing one. A valuable part of the quest format is that I get a lot of feedback, not just directly from people asking me questions but also from watching people discuss things or ask questions of each other. That shows me where things have been unclear or confusing, and I've gone back and made tweaks to early parts of the quest for clarity in response to discussion a few times.
For this situation specifically, part of the quest format means that you don't have anywhere near as much control or forewarning over what's going to happen as someone writing traditional prose, and that means that you don't get the suite of tools that prose uses to build dramatic tension. The set-up to the talk with the Chamberlain would have had a lot more of a payoff if Mathilde had chosen to firmly take one side or the other, but the thread voting to take the middle road meant that it did end up being a 'pretty much nothing'. Another good example of this is the death of Gotrek. A lot of people don't like the way this came across, and I think a big part of that is that it lacked all the signposting that people have come to expect from character death. if I was writing prose and had decided to kill off Gotrek in advance I could have emphasized the rough terrain and built tension around how the Expedition was approaching the worst of it and had Gotrek show Mathilde a picture of his family and talk about how he's three weeks from retirement or whatever. But the thread decided what Mathilde focused on, and she was focused on getting to know the Expedition's leaders and poking at landmarks like Karak Vlag and Uzkulak and the Combes, and the dice decided how well the steamwagons managed the switchbacks. If Mathilde had gone out scouting with the Knights she might have seen a lot more of the terrain and she might have been a bit more nervous on the approach to the switchbacks. But while that would have been a good set-up for a major accident, it also would have been a big nothing if butterflies meant everyone got up without a hitch.
Another example: Karak Vlag was being set up as a difficult choice to be made or as a raising of the stakes for Karag Dum, but I had missed that with the metaphysics I'd established, it was in Mathilde's power to just clog the flow and bounce Vlag back into reality. But the thread didn't miss it, and it'd be a major disservice to the quest to not reward that level of engagement with the world I'd built. Likewise, the food. Moockery of Death torpedoed a great deal of set-up about food concerns and ideas I'd had about having to live a lot more off the land. I'd even done some preliminary research on cattle raiding and edible wild grains that grow on steppes. But while it was a misstep in the quest as prose, it's bloody brilliant in the quest as a quest. It's part of the trade-off of the format.
Personally I'd argue that all this is a point in questing's favour. It's more realistic that a protagonist, and thus the quests PoV, might get nervous over something that turns out to be nothing, or be completely blindsided by major events. But people are used to more traditional story beats where foreshadowing is always significant because if it wasn't an editor would have cut it, and if it does make it in its in service to a larger story beat or character development. Hitchcock's 'bomb under the table' is cited as gospel by a lot of people, and while it's a great way to achieve a specific objective, I think it's gone a bit too far and now people see the bomb going off without the audience being forewarned as a storytelling sin. In most movies if a bomb's about to go off, even if the audience isn't shown it they know something's about to happen because the music is tense, or the sound is rising, or the camera angles are too close or changing too rapidly. In books, it will often switch to a drier third person omniscient and the moment the narration starts giving you times to the minute you know shit's about to go down. While this is good for setting up the mood, it does mean there's that much more separation between viewer and protagonist. I'm far from the first to make this observation, either - a lot of parodies have skewered this with things like a character realizing something is wrong because the background music just changed or whatever.
I personally am not really that much of a fan of written action for its own sake, so outside of the rare times I can vividly picture a scene I don't try to make the action itself the focus. Instead I use the action as a means to an end. If the fight is against someone that isn't a major part of the story, then I usually use it as an opportunity to give the reader an insight into either the protagonist or who they're fighting alongside - most obviously a display of their skill level, but also a look at how they act during a fight and how they react to the events unfolding. The duel in Norsca is a good example of this - there wasn't much mileage in whoever the Norscan champion would be as the group had only been introduced shortly before and were unlikely to be relevant to the story for long, so I put the focus on Asarnil, showing off not just his skill level but also his pride, his disdain, and a bit of his religious beliefs. If the fight is against an established character, then I treat the combat as an interplay between characters. As @Tasoli so thoroughly and gratifyingly explored, the duel between Mathilde and Alkharad is an example of this.
Similar dynamics apply to larger-scale combat. It can be harder to keep track of so many moving parts, but the scale of it gives you the opportunity to choose what the spotlight will be on and having so many characters involved means there's almost always something juicy to be found. It also allows you to make the combat the terrain that characters try to navigate to achieve their objectives, instead of an obstacle that must be overcome to get back to pursuing their objectives. When possible I try to make it so that there's objectives and opportunities in large battles beyond simply winning.
Interestingly, the quest format transforms the normal dynamics of writing action scenes in some fairly unique ways. Some people don't like that the action is dictated by random chance instead of being chosen and crafted by the author for maximum narrative impact, but I find it very compelling that the results are in the hands of fate instead of author fiat. A writing format like this can make it hard to suspend disbelief because everyone who's voting and debating is elbow deep in the mechanics of the story instead of passively watching it unfold, but action scenes dictated by dice don't need suspension of disbelief to get invested in. Unless you suspect the QM of fiddling the dice, that is - which is part of why I roll major dice in a way that can't be fiddled. The challenge is in writing something that works well both 'live' when the active questers don't know what's about to happen, and also during a reread when you have to make the vagaries of fate work convincingly in-universe.
Why start at the beginning at all? Most of the time when I'm about to write something I've got a particular scene in mind that I can see very clearly, and I start writing that. That will usually either flow onwards naturally or inspire another strong scene that I can write. At the end of that you still have to write that beginning, but it's a lot less intimidating when it's just putting a scaffold around an existing collection of scenes than when it's a completely blank page.
And if all else fails, just skip the beginning altogether and start with that strong scene, in medias res. Look at the first line of the most recent update:
I didn't start with them discussing when they should begin the experiment or them walking into the room together or any of that sort of framework. It starts at the interesting part, Egrimm putting forward his first theory, and goes from there, and if the reader is concerned with where the scene is or how the characters got there it's easy for them to extrapolate.
The one before that:
I didn't write about Belegar getting that invitation or getting into a gyrocopter and heading to Karak Eight Peaks or any of that. I started with Belegar speculating about what this business is all about moments before he enetered into the revelation room, and used the italicized sentence fragment to give the reader enough information to catch up.
The one before that:
Mathilde explaining the situation to Stanislawa would have been tedious to write and boring to read, so I just didn't. The first spoken sentence is her already having all of that explained to her and giving her response to it, which is the part in that conversation where things get interesting.
When you're writing inside an existing fandom, readers only need a few hints to be able to catch up to a running start.
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