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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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[X] Loremaster: Expert on beekeeping

[X] Empress 'Heidi', to see if you can snatch a private moment to speak honestly with her.
[X] Roswita, to present her with a copy of the book her late father contributed to.
[X] Kragg the Grim, who you could likely convince to start gloating.
[X] Karak Kadrin, presenting them with the skull of an old enemy (but not to keep).
[X] Anton, to see how his firearm factory is going.
[X] Try to find Kasmir in Sylvania.
[X] Princess Edda, to pry for details about her illicit romance with Prince Kazrik.

[X] On display in the Duckling Club.
 
Garlak said:
The dialogue, characters, characterization and story-telling/world-building in this is great. I love it.
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On that note, something which I feel definitely deserves mentioning and I don't recall people commenting on:
BoneyM said:
"Ionuţ! Someone check the chart, I'm sure he's on his last chance." One of the ghouls crumples, presumably as its controller abandons it to consult said chart. "That's what I thought. Hold him down- I said hold him! If I have to come over there myself-" The rest of the reanimated ghouls crumple and the silhouette shrinks back in on itself, and as soon as it is reduced to the size of a fist, it shoots off into the sky, heading east.
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Alucard kept an openly visible chart of the fuck-ups of his apprentices.

No randomly offing people for failure depending on his mood, no, you know exactly where you stand with him.

Feels like something straight from the Evil Overlord list: addendum to not killing the bearer of bad news: I shall not kill my dark apprentices on the first time they fuck up, they are apprentices, it's expected that they will fuck up.
 
[X] Loremaster: Expert on beekeeping

[X] Kragg the Grim, who you could likely convince to start gloating.
[X] Karak Kadrin, presenting them with the skull of an old enemy (but not to keep).
[X] Empress 'Heidi', to see if you can snatch a private moment to speak honestly with her.


[X] A bathtub, an even better place for reading.
 
[X] Prince Gotri, who will seize any excuse to talk about his gyrocopters.
[X] Princess Edda, to pry for details about her illicit romance with Prince Kazrik.
[X] Prince Kazrik, as he tries to pry a shipwright loose from Barak Varr.
[X] Kragg the Grim, who you could likely convince to start gloating.

Yeah I'd be cool with getting to know our actual colleagues more. And Kragg is awesome.

[X] Karak Kadrin, presenting them with the skull of an old enemy (but not to keep).

I must see the delicious shock and excitement of our Deed.

[ ] Roswita, as she tries to wrap her head around the influx of Battle Wizards.
[X] Roswita, to present her with a copy of the book her late father contributed to.

Because I'd rather not do two Roswita actions, and the Book one is winning, even though I like the battle wizards more.

[X] Empress 'Heidi', to see if you can snatch a private moment to speak honestly with her.

Duuuuuuuuuuh.

[X] Anton, to see how his firearm factory is going.
[X] Try to find Kasmir in Sylvania.

As competitors to oust Roswita Battle Wizard.
 
Thus concludes the work Mathilde performed these past months, but not every waking moment was filled with work. With whom did she spend her free time, this past year? The five with the most votes will be chosen (normally six, but Duckling Club is locked in).

[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, as the new home of the Winter Wolves takes shape.
[X] Roswita, as she tries to wrap her head around the influx of Battle Wizards.
[X] Roswita, to present her with a copy of the book her late father contributed to.
[X] Empress 'Heidi', to see if you can snatch a private moment to speak honestly with her.
[X] The Amber College, to see how your donation of Lustrian eggs is going.

Additionally, what will Mathilde end up doing with her new dragon skull?

[X] On display in the Duckling Club.
 
SuperSonicSound said:
Like I don't want to push for Dhar usage but you can't quote a person say No and ignore the entire premise of their post. They explicitly pointed out it would still have sociological consquences and asked you to void that concern when asking about it because they're asking people to acknowledge the basic facts and conceits that we've had revealed to us about magic and the context of our artififacts and Mathildes IC knowledge.
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Okay, fine. Here's my nuanced position:
  • I don't accept dhar usage, direct or indirect, necromantic or otherwise, for any reason, in any circumstances short of Van Hal's
  • I don't have the emotional energy to engage with the infinite treadmill of arguing with the tiny but persistently vocal fraction of the readerbase that does
  • I acknowledge the necessity of someone continuing to argue with them infinitely lest the overall tone of the thread discussion lead casual voters and, god forbid, BoneyM to believe the thread as a whole is okay with it. I thank those poor benighted souls for undertaking that Sisyphean task so I don't feel obligated to, but I'm not going to actively campaign on the issue because I would drive myself nuts.
  • I'll just vote against it every time and hope for the best.
  • No.
Good enough?
 
Mopman43 said:
In a narrative sense, I dislike the idea that we can use Dhar with no repercussions.

Like, a story where the Godzilla Threshold is reached, and we decide to do as Frederick did, using Dhar and knowingly damning ourselves, but going willingly into it for the sake of the Empire and etc.- that's a story I could understand and get into.

"There's this evil magic, functionally the source of, like, 50% of all the shit affecting the world, but I can use it without any problems" isn't satisfying to me. The Lord of the Rings didn't end with Bilbo using the power of the Ring to beat up Sauron and then dump it in Mount Doom, you know? A story of temptation, resisting temptation, failing, fallen heroes, those are all story beats that I can accept and even enjoy, if in a bittersweet way. Us just using Dhar, and being perfectly fine thanks to Kragg's belt... I just don't like that sort of narrative.
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Yeah, this deeply fits my own opinions. In a large sense I don't want to subject Mathilde to that choice, and since she's the character we interact with most and see the most consequences for, that's all I need.
 
@BoneyM I have noticed after learning Advanced Greatsword we got the Master Swordsman trait, but after learning Advanced Infiltration we have not unlocked any new trait... Is this intentional, or you have not yet included it on the Character sheet?
BoneyM said:
Master Swordswoman: You have blended sword techniques from the Empire and the Karaz Ankor into a style entirely your own. +10 martial when fighting against enraged or unthinking opponents, or when holding a physical choke-point such as a doorway or tunnel.
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@BoneyM, while the Great Deed covers the favour we earned for taking down Alkharad's operation, shouldn't we also have gotten College Reputation? Like, not favours, just higher standing within the Colleges of Magic.
 
Fanhunter696 said:
@BoneyM I have noticed after learning Advanced Greatsword we got the Master Swordsman trait, but after learning Advanced Infiltration we have not unlocked any new trait... Is this intentional, or you have not yet included it on the Character sheet?
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He said that some skills are more integral to Mathilde as a character, so they get a trait. She's been working on Greatswords since turn... 3? Infiltration is more of something she does, not something she is.
 
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[x] Loremaster: Expert on weaving

[x] Princess Edda, to pry for details about her illicit romance with Prince Kazrik.
[x] Kragg the Grim, who you could likely convince to start gloating.
[x] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, as the new home of the Winter Wolves takes shape.

[x] Karak Kadrin, presenting them with the skull of an old enemy (but not to keep).
[x] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.

[x] Roswita, as she tries to wrap her head around the influx of Battle Wizards.
[x] Empress 'Heidi', to see if you can snatch a private moment to speak honestly with her.
[x] Try to find Kasmir in Sylvania.
 
Harried said:
Personally speaking, I think it would be wise to do some amount of testing of the second secret before putting it behind glass "in case
of zombie apocalypse", because what the grand theogenist did can be safely filed under 'miracle' and I doubt we'd be so fortunate if we try the "leaf through the liber Mortis, roll up our sleeves and tell Sigmar to hold our beer and watch this!" trick.



C'mon, it literally says "fling dhar around"
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That is not a command.

We already have the second secret and a way to survive using it - which is barely relevant because any circumstance that could justify using it would justify taking the personal exposure if we had to.
We are already extra good at countering necromancy by counterspelling and dispelling.
If we ever lack for a research topic more useful than ulgu tongs - other winds are what diplomacy, money and favours are for - we have a source for concentrated other winds without fucking around using dhar as a proxy.
Every time we do a dhar experiment we are venting corruption and madness into the air around our home. Literally burning actions to make pollution.
She's learned what she can from the Liber Mortis, she's learned what not to do with Aetheric Vitae. It's time to stop.

Mathilde cut down dozens of humans and an urbane, scholarly vampire and felt nothing but satisfaction. Why? Because they were necromancers i.e. dhar users. Dhar contamination has made Sylvania a place of mutants, undead and misery. The spillover from that has blighted her own province. Whatever the wiggle room she exploits, she does believe in the articles of magic.
 
notanautomaton said:
We only get traits from getting Advanced Skills if they're narratively important.
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Mopman43 said:
He said that some skills are more integral to ourselves as a character, so they get a trait. We've been working on Greatswords since turn... 3? Infiltration is more of something we do, not something we are.
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Ok, good to know.

But I will argue that infiltration, assassination, and Wetwork in general, will become something integral to Mathilde´s character really soon...
 
BungieONI said:
That aside, I don't actually consider the Duckling Club/Chapterhouse to be mutually exclusive with an apprentice, in the sense that its useful infrastructure to teach an apprentice with and they could pretty straightforwardly be included into it.
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I meant more that it feels like a sort of narrative overlap, since Mathilde's role in interacting with them will be as a sort of role-model/entor either way.

SuperSonicSound said:
Like I don't want to push for Dhar usage
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Then don't? From what you've said of your preferences here, you've been effectively arguing against your own position because someone was wrong on the internet. Sometimes letting people be incorrect or accepting a different interpretation is both easier and better for your own goals.
 
Karugus said:
We see Mathilde overthinking her interactions and examining interactions with others in a jaded light all the time. It's part of why she's bad with people in the spur of the moment.
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Overthinking things and being jaded are normal human behaviors done by normal humans and are even named behaviors because they're reasonably common. You argued that she was totally different, alien, in her experience of her own thoughts from you or I. This was a manifestly false statement since not only I but a lot of other people who like this quest can relate to how Mathilde is thinking and see it as completely normal. (Indeed, she's actually pretty well-adjusted on the lines you point out compared to the mindset I tended to adopt regarding playing EVE Online.) The more you describe Mathilde using normal terms the more you destroy your own argument.

Leaving aside the massive meta issue that Mathilde as an expression of this collective storytelling exercise can't be that different from all of us. She's the avatar of our collective desires and decisions.
 
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adaer said:
I meant more that it feels like a sort of narrative overlap, since Mathilde's role in interacting with them will be as a sort of role-model/entor either way.


Then don't? From what you've said of your preferences here, you've been effectively arguing against your own position because someone was wrong on the internet. Sometimes letting people be incorrect or accepting a different interpretation is both easier and better for your own goals.
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Nuance is important and the goal I have would be to use Ulgu to manipulate other winds of magic, we've a better chance of pulling this off compared to literally every other human due to ic knowledge and unique artifacts.

So its important to lay down a framework of common understanding for the capabilities of our equipment and the setting conceits we operate under. Also I think its unfair to crap on a persons positions if your not going to engage with it on the facts to some degree.
 
Jyn Ryvia said:
Magic Knights are just badass in a way that doesn't get old.
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I'm not sure it would work out logistically. Like, if you are just talking about an order of Knights that use enchanted items supplied by Mathilde, that's doable.
An order of Wizard-Knights probably doesn't have anything approaching the numbers to be effective. There's few wizards in the world, let alone wizards interested in direct, martial combat (while riding a horse).

The whole point of Knightly Orders is that these are ordinary humans, but they're well equipped and trained, so they can be quite useful.

Now, if we wanted to start an Order of Ranaldian Knights... that'd be something, in fact.
 
Mopman43 said:
I'm not sure it would work out logistically. Like, if you are just talking about an order of Knights that use enchanted items supplied by Mathilde, that's doable.
An order of Wizard-Knights probably doesn't have anything approaching the numbers to be effective. There's few wizards in the world, let alone wizards interested in direct, martial combat (while riding a horse).

The whole point of Knightly Orders is that these are ordinary humans, but they're well equipped and trained, so they can be quite useful.

Now, if we wanted to start an Order of Ranaldian Knights... that'd be something, in fact.
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That Smoke/Fume Knight idea does jingle in the back of my head.

Don't think I'd vote for it any time soon, but it'd be fun.
 
Jyn Ryvia said:
I mean, if we are going to use the GD on a Knight Order, while the Halfling's Spider Cavalry is great for the memes.

Magic Knights are just badass in a way that doesn't get old.
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Nothing says we can't set up the foundation for a Knightly Order for the Magister-Knights and a Knightly Order for the Halfling Spider-Lords. We just need to do more Great Deeds! :V

Mopman43 said:
Now, if we wanted to start an Order of Ranaldian Knights... that'd be something, in fact.
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YES PLEASE
 
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CrimsonOddball said:
Aha! This is very important information that can be traded with the We
Their Egg Layers, the most important caste within their... is society the right word? Anyway their Egg Layers are dying premature deaths due to unknowingly ingesting fragments of Warpstone, likely Warpstone that was on or in a Skaven, though some of it can be from the general environment as well
We could easily notify them of the danger and show them how to properly check and remove such dangerous material from their meals before digestion, as well as just generally avoiding the stuff
Well maybe being a giant spider would cause issues with removing Warpstone, but that just means there can be a business arrangement where someone can help handle that for them
Alternatively this can bolster efforts to trade with them, knowing that the goats being fed to them don't cause such issues makes them more valuable to the We
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Another way to look at it, is that... given how the Warpstone seems to be almost deliberately contained by the Egg Layer's stomach? That there might be some amount of deliberateness in it.

That is to say, this is perhaps an interesting interaction with Warpstone fragments. Was it engineered or evolved for a purpose? Or did it just happen?
Seleucus said:
And "Empress Heidi" is supposedly a Haupt-Anderssen. As in the former ruling dynasty of Stirland that all died out, letting van Hal become elector count.

There's presumably another giant story about what the heck happened there.
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So, uh...

What are the odds that she's also not actually a Haupt-Anderssen?

I mean, first she pretended to be Sylvanian Vampire nobility... Next, she pretends to be Stirland nobility. :V

It's also possible that she is a Haupt-Anderssen who took the path of taking refuge in audacity to avoid death-by-vampires in Stirland or Sylvania. But it's also possible that she spent her time in Stirland and Sylvania, collecting information on the Haupt-Anderssens in order to be able to pull this off.
 
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