Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

[Ericwinter]

Unless you want to start hitting on people during combat, i don't see the current situation improving the romance compatibility of this quest format.
I am also somewhat sceptical about finding an elf willing to leave their home to shack up with a wizard.

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dude, it's fiction. Most powerful romances are forged in fire and life-threatening situations. Not that it's necessary, but that's usually how it goes. And nothing says we can't come back for the elf once we finish securing Eight Peaks. A few years would be the blink of an eye for them, and we would still need to make Mathilde immortal anyways, as some people plan to do.

 

[13th Bee]

I honestly want Johann for the scene of him and Mathilde musing if the whole campaign is the result of our gasmask raid.

I really want that scene.

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That would probably best be timed for after it's all over with the Waaagh.

 

[Ericwinter]

I honestly want Johann for the scene of him and Mathilde musing if the whole campaign is the result of our gasmask raid.

I really want that scene.

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We need to let him know about our brand new engineering additions to the library, anyways.

 

[Asheram]

We need to let him know about our brand new engineering additions to the library, anyways.

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Oh yes, we possibly have blueprints to every Skaven item out there. We're likely sitting on his Magister Lords thesis.

 

[Valmond]

dude, it's fiction. Most powerful romances are forged in fire and life-threatening situations. Not that it's necessary, but that's usually how it goes. And nothing says we can't come back for the elf once we finish securing Eight Peaks. A few years would be the blink of an eye for them, and we would still need to make Mathilde immortal anyways, as some people plan to do.

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Ok, who do we suddenly vote to start hitting on, because i doubt Boney will suddenly write a fireforged romance out of nowhere?
Because so far i see zero targets i would agree with that more than half the thread would agree with.
I just don't see this happening unless Boney starts pushing for it intentionally. And if they do, i am not sure i would continue reading, unless i am already semi onboard with the pairing, or it is done with great care. And i doubt i'm the only one.

And, yeah, few years would be a blink of an eye for an elf, and we will be spending not that long to suddenly start a romance from an elves perspective, even if we find an elf who does not mind getting romantic with a human.

 

[Ericwinter]

Ok, who do we suddenly vote to start hitting on, because i doubt Boney will suddenly write a fireforged romance out of nowhere?
Because so far i see zero targets i would agree with that more than half the thread would agree with.
I just don't see this happening unless Boney starts pushing for it intentionally. And if they do, i am not sure i would continue reading, unless i am already semi onboard with the pairing, or it is done with great care. And i doubt i'm the only one.

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I wasn't exactly saying we vote to hit on people during combat, I was saying the combat turns build our relationships and create enough of a bedrock of character development that people would be interested, then after the event we start pushing it over into romance. you're right that there isn't anyone at the moment who would win though. there's possibilities, but nobody with a full consensus behind them.

 

[Garlak]

You know? It just crossed my mind that the archmage that helped make bok might still be around.

Not likely, but if they are a powerful elf mage then there is a chance.

Or at least an student who might know something.

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Oh hey, that's a good point. The Dwarfs, even if they thought of it, wouldn't be willing nor able to start looking into the Elf side of things.

But Mathilde could. Mathilde can reach out to Elves and talk to them. They're not a multi-millennia-old racial enemy to her. If anything, they're responsible for her existence to begin with. The Dwarfs can search their own histories, to try to find who the last Runelords and Runesmiths of Karak Eight Peaks were. And maybe they'd also have records of who the Archmages were, which would help out Mathilde's side of the investigations.

I'm... actually not holding out much hope, sadly. Probably the people involved in Eight Peaks are long dead, and their descendants probably won't know anything. A sad thought.

But you're quite right that it is an angle of investigation that is worth following up on.

And besides... There's always the chance that, even if she doesn't find a descendant (or a truly, absurdly old, Archmage) she still might find Elementalists among the High Elves. So that would still be of worth.

 

[Valmond]

I wasn't exactly saying we vote to hit on people during combat, I was saying the combat turns build our relationships and create enough of a bedrock of character development that people would be interested, then after the event we start pushing it over into romance. you're right that there isn't anyone at the moment who would win though. there's possibilities, but nobody with a full consensus behind them.

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Combat turns also kinda limit us to only combat characters we would be working with.
Too limiting imo, and kinda cuts out majority of the people, and everyone not in K8P right now.

 

[Ericwinter]

Combat turns also kinda limit us to only combat characters we would be working with.
Too limiting imo, and kinda cuts out majority of the people, and everyone not in K8P right now.

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Doesn't mean it can't happen. Since they're the people we'll be seeing the most of anyways, it's pretty much inevitable.

 

[Asheram]

But you're quite right that it is an angle of investigation that is worth following up on.

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There's a certain irony in that we're looking for records of Dawi history among the elves.

 

[Valmond]

Doesn't mean it can't happen. Since they're the people we'll be seeing the most of anyways, it's pretty much inevitable.

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Seeing, while in combat. The combat rounds will end soon and we are kinda out of skaven to raid right now, so Johann connection may end up getting lot less soon.
Us getting up and leaving is also a possibility after some turns have gone post battle.
Either to Ulthuan, or just going back to the empire.
I'd rather the quest move away from constant combat and back to intrigue.
While i am entertained by Dame/Magister/Loremaster/Thane Mathilde the warhero. I'd like to see Mathilde the spymaster again, there is lot of untapped potential there.

 

[B_omega]

You know? It just crossed my mind that the archmage that helped make bok might still be around.

Not likely, but if they are a powerful elf mage then there is a chance.

Or at least an student who might know something.

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Then said archmage have to explain why he survive when the rest of his 'dwarven brothers' fell in battle.

Quite outrageous, i know as Belegar's own ancestor prove to be wise and evacuate, but there are people who are eager to blame no matter what.

That being said.. it really drives home how far the Dwarves have fell from their perch. Once they manage to defeat the elves.

Had the war of the beard happens in current days, the Dwarves might lose.

 

[Jyn Ryvia]

And besides... There's always the chance that, even if she doesn't find a descendant (or a truly, absurdly old, Archmage) she still might find Elementalists among the High Elves. So that would still be of worth.

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Now getting those elementalist and Kragg in the same room would be it's own challenge.

Because there is no way Kragg is letting his little Bok in the same room as elves without an chaperone.

Had the war of the beard happens in current days, the Dwarves might lose.

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The elves are in the same boat. That war broke both nations.

 

[Alratan]

The elves are in the same boat. That war broke both nations.

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The high elves are still a global power capable of projecting force across the world to act as its first and best line of defence.

The dwarves... aren't.

 

[DragonParadox]

The high elves are still a global power capable of projecting force across the world to act as its first and best line of defence.

The dwarves... aren't.

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To be fair the Elves had no Time of Woe. They had the chance to rebuild where the dwarfs never did.

 

[Valmond]

The high elves are still a global power capable of projecting force across the world to act as its first and best line of defence.

The dwarves... aren't.

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Elves are split in 3 factions and at constant war with themselves, and the Ulthuan itself is a shadow of what it once was with the dragons asleep.
Dwarves are, kinda sorta but not really unified(ish), and allied with the empire (as useless as that may have proven of late), while elves are largely isolated.

 

[Zaratustra]

To be fair the Elves had no Time of Woe. They had the chance to rebuild where the dwarfs never did.

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To be realy fair the Elves had the Sundering even before the war of Vengance, so the war was their second racial disaster instead of the first. Wich also helps explain why they lost.

The real reason they are better than Dwarfs right now is that being in the floating isand of ulthuan means outiside the times Malekith take a crack at them they are unified, in peace and capable of chosing the battles.
Dwarfs are dispersed over multiple Karaks always in a state of siege surrounded by enemies while having to spend themselves be avenging grudges.

Is less that the Elves recovered and more that they are decining slower.

 

[Chopak]

I still break out into giggles whenever I think of the Rune of Superior Skill. I'm giggling as I type this.

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Can you please explain me what it was about Kragg, Thorek and that Rune. I did not fully get it and forgot to ask the thread then.

 

[Pipeman]

Ok, who do we suddenly vote to start hitting on, because i doubt Boney will suddenly write a fireforged romance out of nowhere?
Because so far i see zero targets i would agree with that more than half the thread would agree with.
I just don't see this happening unless Boney starts pushing for it intentionally. And if they do, i am not sure i would continue reading, unless i am already semi onboard with the pairing, or it is done with great care. And i doubt i'm the only one.

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We literally have a precedent for how, if at all, romance is handled in this quest.
We have an out-of-character vote for who, if anyone, Mathilde develops romantic feelings for and then we trust Boney to introduce those feelings and Mathilde's attempts to act on it tastefully, if a romantic interest is even voted for at all.
And presumably that includes making things not come out of literally nowhere in the story itself.

 

[pucflek]

You know? It just crossed my mind that the archmage that helped make bok might still be around.

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I would lmao a lot if it turns out to it is Malekiths work. The timelines just might fit into the time where he was not a tremendous douche.

Can you please explain me what it was about Kragg, Thorek and that Rune. I did not fully get it and forgot to ask the thread then.

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Thorek was quite unsuccesfully working on a rune. Kragg saw it, and remembered/made a rune that was conceptually inferior(same effect, limited duration vs permanence), but actually worked, unlike Thoreks one. Then he named it Rune of Superior Skill because it took him like, equivalent of Dawi Afternoon whereas Thorek was working on his one for decades. Then he paraded it out in front of the whole world.

 

[Valmond]

We literally have a precedent for how, if at all, romance is handled in this quest.
We have an out-of-character vote for who, if anyone, Mathilde develops romantic feelings for and then we trust Boney to introduce those feelings and Mathilde's attempts to act on it tastefully, if a romantic interest is even voted for at all.
And presumably that includes making things not come out of literally nowhere in the story itself.

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And i hope that vote never happens again.
Because not only was that vote out of character, it was divided by like 5 ways, and the winning vote ended up meshed with the 2nd comer because they were so close to each other.

 

[Chopak]

I would lmao a lot if it turns out to it is Malekiths work. The timelines just might fit into the time where he was not a tremendous douche.


Thorek was quite unsuccesfully working on a rune. Kragg saw it, and remembered/made a rune that was conceptually inferior(same effect, limited duration vs permanence), but actually worked, unlike Thoreks one. Then he named it Rune of Superior Skill because it took him like, equivalent of Dawi Afternoon whereas Thorek was working on his one for decades. Then he paraded it out in front of the whole world.

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Thanks a lot! That does explain Thorek 's reaction.

 

[veekie]

The high elves are still a global power capable of projecting force across the world to act as its first and best line of defence.

The dwarves... aren't.

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I'm not quite sure if thats wholly true though, since it seems that the Elves are being worn down, just less visibly so by taking the initiative and generally being near untouchable on their homeland(in exchange for everything outside their homeland being very sparse garrisons or rebel factions, not living settlements), while the dwarves have more holdings, but have more or less given up all initiative to their enemies

 

[ChronOblivion]

In terms of romance, Panoramia is probably still my favorite, but the options aren't great.

Pan is good because they have a cute senpai dynamic, and while Pan started by fangirling over us, she has gradually gotten Used To Mathilde's Shit. I give her a lot of points for that. Much more grounded now, literally getting her hands dirty in establishing the farmland. Buuuut her lack of narrative relevance for a while hurts her, she could feel a lot more viable of the two had interacted outside of the Duckling club. Lots of people will criticise the clear power differential, Mathilde acted as mentor for a while and scolded her about being a dumbass. That's fair, though Pan's own growth has mitigated this a little bit and put us on a slightly more equal footing, which could be made more clear by social interaction.

Johann I'm not overly fond of. I didn't really like him for his caginess during the Expedition, he just had a bit of an adversarial relationship with Mathilde for a while because of his deceptions. We've had great fun on our raids together, but while I hypothetically like seeing Opposites Attract, they just don't seem to fit together.

Belegar is a king that needs Dwarven Heirs from a royal wife. He's fucking awesome and a great character, but idk if I love the idea of putting romance in the picture.

Gunnars is kinda the only Dwarf I theoretically could see, if we find out his whole deal. His bit on the relationship screen about his view of us intrigues me. Some potential there, even if I find it odd to imagine romancing a Dwarf.

Kragg nooooooooo. He's our cranky grandpa, and nothing else.

Boy, we have no candidates that are as good as Abelheim was for me. Mathilde is in too strong and independent of a social position right now, the people above her are inaccessible for other reasons, and the people that aren't too far below her don't get much screentime or are just not super interesting to me.

 

[Pipeman]

And i hope that vote never happens again.
Because not only was that vote out of character, it was divided by like 5 ways, and the winning vote ended up meshed with the 2nd comer because they were so close to each other.

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That's straight up just not true.

"Mathilde is open to the idea of romance, but the current options don't do it for her" and Van Hal were the only serious contenders and they only got "combined" because when the winning vote is "maybe later" and the remaining voters mostly say "this guy tho", the conclusion is "maybe even this guy later, but definitely not now, because not now actually won".

Now, there may be something to the notion that vote splitting meant that vote wasn't as representative as it could be, but that just means you do approval voting instead.
What you don't do, however, is jump to the "No romance ever" option directly and without any player input at all, because you just assume vote splitting means no viable candidate could ever actually be agreed upon, even though a large part of the thread wants some romance.

Furthermore, having a somewhat meta vote about this kind of thing is the only way to actually avoid Mathilde acting out of character or by GM fiat when it comes to romance.
It's how you prevent things coming out of the left field, because it determines where players intend for things to go in advance and lets the GM introduce that smoothly into the narrative and player character.