The forward of the book of the goddess of magic and shadows.
'Ok people, let's keep things straight. I laid out everything about my personality as straightforwardly as I could in section three. I don't what "alternative interpretations" or "hidden meanings" or shit like that. I swear to me if anyone try's that I will smite you! I like being me...
"...which of course goes to show that, despite her insistence to the contrary, she possesses a distinct vengeful nature and enjoys murdering those that anger her. This is further supported by her actions at Drakenhof, her use of the superweapon known as the 'Eye of Gazul', the..."
It's cultural hang-up. Dwarfs, as a whole, believe that you should only teach secrets to the worthy. Who decides who is worthy generally depends on the context, but for instance, a master of a craft is generally very picky on who he accepts as an apprentice.
Just look at Kragg, who has been alive for 1,500 years and whose death would represent a massive loss of rune-lore, who still hasn't found an apprentice that he considers worth his time.
It's one of the things I like about Thorek: He has a swarm of apprentices despite being considered one of the best runesmiths. He does his part in making sure the lore does not die with him, at least not completely. It might be he is not teaching his apprentices everything, but at least he is actively teaching people.
"...which of course goes to show that, despite her insistence to the contrary, she possesses a distinct vengeful nature and enjoys murdering those that anger her. This is further supported by her actions at Drakenhof, her use of the superweapon known as the 'Eye of Gazul', the..."
It saves the Karak time and effort. Saving that time and effort now, when it is trading off against other things that we don't have comparative advantage in, is preferable to it being a problem later, when it is more costly to the Karak as a whole. Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that.
This line of logic is correct if and only if
a.) Kragg and Thorek's plan to murderize loads of greenskins while they're digging in the dirt is completely ineffective (so that very few of the tunnels are prevented from breaking through to the Under Caldera)
b.) Dreng and Gunnars efforts at organizing patrols and catching greenskins that break through to the Under-Caldera without Mathilde is completely ineffective (so that very few of the tunnels that break into the Under-Caldera are caught there)
c.) That loose greenskins move from the Under-Caldera to one of the underground cave environments that play to greenskin advantages (they end up in the Trench/Ziflin Dum/Great Mines/etc. rather than heading to Under-Yar/Under-Rhyn/some other location relatively accessible to dwarves, so follow up efforts to remove them are very difficult)
are all true to the point where the long term benefit to K8P outweighs the short term costs to Mathilde from pushing harder when she's tired.
I mean, by the same parameters you're using here, you could just as easily argue that negotiating a tentative truce with an angry Dragon is not Mathilde's job as Loremaster either.
Well, yes, that's because it isn't Mathilde's job as Loremaster. That was Mathilde's job as the acting leader of K8P's military forces. Also, arguing we are obligated to do something now because we did it in the past is a fallacy even if they were the same case (which they aren't).
It's one of the things I like about Thorek: He has a swarm of apprentices despite being considered one of the best runesmiths. He does his part in making sure the lore does not die with him, at least not completely. It might be he is not teaching his apprentices everything, but at least he is actively teaching people.
Kragg is the same, I think. All the lore I can find says he shares knowledge with Runesmiths who can stand his presence for long enough. It's just that to him, 'Master Runesmith' is the minimum needed to become his apprentice, and by the time they've amassed that much expertise the Master Runesmiths have become rather independent and unwilling to commit to formal apprenticeship. Especially to someone as ornery as Kragg.
This line of logic is correct if and only if
a.) Kragg and Thorek's plan to murderize loads of greenskins while they're digging in the dirt is completely ineffective (so that very few of the tunnels are prevented from breaking through to the Under Caldera)
b.) Dreng and Gunnars efforts at organizing patrols and catching greenskins that break through to the Under-Caldera without Mathilde is completely ineffective (so that very few of the tunnels that break into the Under-Caldera are caught there)
c.) That loose greenskins move from the Under-Caldera to one of the underground cave environments that play to greenskin advantages (they end up in the Trench/Ziflin Dum/Great Mines/etc. rather than heading to Under-Yar/Under-Rhyn/some other location relatively accessible to dwarves, so follow up efforts to remove them are very difficult)
are all true to the point where the long term benefit to K8P outweighs the short term costs to Mathilde from pushing harder when she's tired.
I disagree with (a) and (b) being relevant factors. What this neglects is that only one snotling breaking through to the under-caldera and scurrying off to somewhere it won't be noticed is enough to cause problems; the concern here isn't "sappers getting in and attacking us from another angle" (where the difference between 95% success and 99% success is larger than the difference between 99% and 100% success), it's "greenskins establishing their spore ecosystem somewhere we don't notice them" (where the difference between 99% success and 100% success is much larger than the difference between 95% success and 99% success).
"The greenskin ecosystem takes a lot of work to properly eradicate," Princess Edda says, and matching grimaces appear on her and your faces as you recall the troubles in Karag Lhune. "The Skaven had the numbers and the appetites to eradicate it below, but if it has a chance to re-establish itself..."
[ ] Patrolling the Under-Caldera with Dreng and Gunnars. If any greenskins do get through the bedrock, prevent them from slipping through into the rest of the tunnels and re-establishing the greenskin ecosystem there.
The advantage we bring here is spotting. We're much, much better at this than anyone else is, we got a good night's sleep last night, and using our Windsight is not particularly taxing. I do not think walking around and giving directions to the patrols will be a problem for Mathilde.
Belegar Angrund, King of Karak Eight Peaks, 'the Ironhammer', 'the Skycrowned', felt a dryness in his throat despite having finished off a flagon of good dwarfish ale mere seconds ago. All around him sounded the merry noise of dwarfs eating, drinking, gossiping, and making toasts - some to his own name. Looking to his left, even the Hammerer sitting there seemed unusually cheery. After all, if there was one place the Dawi were safe, it was the inner halls of Karaz-a-Karak. Looking to his right, he saw the raised seat and dais that awaited him beyond the tables, and sighed.
Every Dwarf in the room was a Fullbeard at least, and most were Longbeards. Belegar had personally invited perhaps one in three, and those had been asked to invite other persons of interest to this meeting that was part celebration, part boasting, part tactical advisory, and all about the Reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks. Here, Belegar had promised, he would settle a great many questions, disputes and rumors with an informal medium-length retelling of the Reconquest. More detailed than the rumors arising from the implications of Grudge-striking; less detailed than the sagas that were still being written.
Fully aware of the scrutiny he would shortly be under, Belegar stood up and gauged the mood of the room. The sounds of cutlery quickly faded in favor of excited muttering; the drinking remained more or less constant. Hearthfire crackled quietly in the background. Good enough. He approached the dais and began to speak. "I will tell you all today of a victory for the Karaz Ankor." This, unsurprisingly, was met with good-natured cheering. "And I will tell you how it was done, and how it may be done again in the future." Fewer cheers now, more rising anticipation.
"Many have said: it was all luck. I deny this. It was dwarfs, dwarfcraft and the allies of dwarfs."
"Luck is when your enemies happen to descend into infighting just before you were going to attack them - but patience is when you have a wall of good stone to stand behind, and you can wait in relative safety until your enemies fight each other, and then you attack."
"Luck is when aid turns up unlooked for from an unexpected direction - but I went looking for aid in the human Empire as well as the Karaz Ankor, and the Empire sent thousands of its men, as well as knights and wizards and halflings. And then I hired human mercenaries, spending Dwarfish gold to preserve Dwarfish blood."
"Luck is when manlings hold their ground against a charge of greenskins - but preparation is when those manlings are armed with Dwarfish pikes and protected by Dwarfish runecraft."
"Luck is when your scouts stumble upon the foe's main column by accident - but knowledge is when the Sky-Thane's aircorp watches all from above, and an invisible Master Mhornzhufokri watches below."
Belegar paused for a gulp of ale, and tried to gauge the mood of the room again, especially after he'd mentioned Mathilde. How best to communicate the idea that his deeds could be repeated, without implicitly snubbing every failed reclamation? How ought he counter Thorgrim's fatalism without seeming to insult the High King? What would inspire those present - inspire all dwarfdom - while also convincing them of the value of the innovations he had made? He could see a great many beards being tugged and brows being furrowed in the audience, but it would undoubtedly be a while before conclusions were drawn, and he intended to nudge those conclusions in as positive a direction as he could.
"I do not say it was easy. Nor will I say that luck played no role at all. I might have had to wait another year until the Skaven fought each other, and then this tale would be a year longer in the making. The human Empire might not have sent a Master Mhornzhufokri, and then I would have had to demand more of the Rangers, or the humans might have sent a Zharrzhufokri instead, and then I would have pushed the trolls harder. But now to the matter you came to hear: of the expedition itself..."
Then for several hours, Belegar retold the retaking of Karak Eight Peaks, with special emphasis on the capabilities his allies brought to the fight, and the opportunities he had been able to seize by waiting for the right moment.
He closed with an observation from Kragg the Grim, who, looking at the end of the reclamation after centuries of life, had remarked: "World keeps on changing. It's about bloody time it changed for the better." Then Belegar left the room, and no dwarf blamed him. Surely it had been an exhausting experience for him, he had many obligations as King, and his tale had left his listeners with quite a lot to chew on and discuss amongst themselves.
This night, there would be much tugging of beards as old dwarfs considered what lessons to take from the reconquest, and an early favorite was imitating Belegar's use of mercenaries. Humans might be weak individually and even in small groups, but a large group of human mercenaries - say, ten thousand or more - was a different matter. Humans were relatively expendable and replenishable, and few of the dwarfs present had considered just how many mercenary bands existed in the Old World, and it seemed like a very appealing idea indeed to spend gold hiring them en masse to help strike out old Grudges, restoring dwarf honor while saving dwarf lives. Besides, if the mercenaries were to do something stupid like loot a dwarf shrine, treacherous mercenaries could be pursued for vengeance much more easily than treacherous countries. Admittedly, massing mercenaries was a relatively new idea, which made it subject to suspicion, but not an entirely untested idea, looking at Belegar's success, and overall the sort of idea which even Longbeards were cautiously in favor of testing again.
2. Belegar the Distressed
"How does she do it!?" Belegar burst out once he was back in his quarters.
"Do you mean Mathilde, my King?" asked Hammerer Äberg. "Maybe you should ask her?"
Belegar pondered that. Mathilde would no doubt come at his request, but his frustrated outburst did not translate into any specific questions he could ask the bizarre manling wizard. Besides, even if he did figure out what to say to her, he reckoned there was a distinct possibility that whatever the umgi zhufokri said would only make it worse. Perhaps she would suggest something even more deceitful as a next step. Perhaps it would even seem like a good idea. "No." Belegar shook his head and considered calling for a Barazul instead. But no, he had no intent of becoming a Slayer, and while he felt disconcerted, he could not think of any particular oath he had violated. After some thought, he decided to confide in his Hammerer instead, supposing he could trust his concerns to the dwarf he already trusted with his life. "Do you remember-" he began, and swallowed nervously. "Do you remember the day half of Eight Peaks was retaken? The day the Eye of Gazul was first fired in battle?"
"Aye, and I'll never forget it." said Äberg with a grim smile. "Does a body good, thinking of a day like that."
"Do you remember I happened to be out of the Karak when the dragon woke?" said Belegar ruefully. "Dreng too, and so the gyrocopters rushed to get me, and I came back to find chaos in my lap and a Waaagh on the horizon."
Äberg nodded politely, trying to think of a discreet way to remind his King that he'd been talking about that day for two hours already this evening. Still, it was a good day, and the stories of it were worth repeating.
"My Karak and my Crown restored that day, despite Thorgrim's pigheaded response to our request for aid - 'die well', indeed. That day, I was filled with both contentment and pride, and I admit I briefly considered declaring a Grudge against Thorgrim."
Äberg's smile froze. What does one say when one's King has just raised the possibility of a Grudge against the High King?
"When I went into that room intending to speak, I was afraid I might consider it again. But now, having said what I did, and knowing what I left out, I might rather have declared a Grudge against myself if I had been one of my listeners, for all of my deceits." Belegar continued. "What a change. And not even from anything seen or heard, but only from my own speaking. I told no lies, but I have learned a lot from Mathilde about the sparing use of truth. More than is healthy for dwarfs, perhaps. I feel like... hmmmm... like the shaft of an axe or pick, made from imperfect wood and warped from long use. Soon I fear I will break from the strain, and I will go to my fathers in the halls of the Underearth, and I shall hope that dwarfdom is the richer for my efforts. Tell me, Äberg, do you think my life will have been spent well?"
A speculative future. The dwarfs at this meeting got a more honest version of events so they could get more tactical value from it, but it's still a selectively reported account of events, edited to inspire optimism and cooperation. And so this possible interpretation of Belegar burns with shame for deceiving his fellow dwarfs, shame at the undwarfly ways he's picked up, shame at several of the decisions he's made, and justifies it to himself as being a martyr of sorts: it is his duty to suffer and spend his life well for his subjects and for all of dwarfdom! After he's dead, hopefully the next generation can live in peace and victory and safely abide by proper dwarf mores. But outside of the self-justification, he also does it because it works and it gives him victory and wealth and glory, and the final question to the Hammerer can be read as veiled pride, asking "Aren't I awesome? Tell me I'm awesome." because he fully expects Äberg will answer very much in the affirmative.
Second half was originally going to be a dialogue between Belegar and Mathilde, but Mathilde's quips kept getting in the way of Belegar's character study.
I disagree with (a) and (b) being relevant factors. What this neglects is that only one snotling breaking through to the under-caldera and scurrying off to somewhere it won't be noticed is enough to cause problems; the concern here isn't "sappers getting in and attacking us from another angle" (where the difference between 95% success and 99% success is larger than the difference between 99% and 100% success), it's "greenskins establishing their spore ecosystem somewhere we don't notice them" (where the difference between 99% success and 100% success is much larger than the difference between 95% success and 99% success).
"Day's not done yet," King Belegar says. "There'll be accolades aplenty once all is said and done, but right now, we can't leave them to their own devices under there. If they find a crevasse through the bedrock, the Under-Caldera can take them anywhere. If they get into the Trench or Zilfin Dum or the Great Mines, it'll be years of fighting and decades of work to get them out again."
There are two separate if statements here - one for the possibility that these greenskins end up getting to the Under-Caldera at all and a separate one after that for if said greenskins move to a specific type of area that is difficult to remove greenskin ecology from. Neither of these are particularly likely to occur, but Dwarfs are perfectionists, so Kragg and Thorek have a plan to counteract the first possibility and Dreng and Gunnars have a backup plan for the conditional possibility.
These are relevant factors because the chances of "even one snotling breaking through to the under-caldera and scurrying off somewhere it won't be noticed" are ludicrously low. They're low even if the dwarfs did nothing and the fact that multiple approaches are getting hefty amounts of resources put into preventing this exact problem means the odds are even lower.
It doesn't matter that the difference between 99% and 100% is more impactful than the difference between 95% and 99%, because the actual choice being made is between 99.99% and 99.9999%.
It doesn't matter that the difference between 99% and 100% is more impactful than the difference between 95% and 99%, because the actual choice being made is between 99.99% and 99.9999%.
If that were the case it wouldn't be mentioned as a possible consequence of not having dwarves on the patrol for them.
Or, to put that another way, it's entirely true, but there are hundreds of thousands of snotlings making those rolls; they're bound to happen, by that measurement.
The greenskins had the upper parts of the Citadel, the lower valley and significant space in the peaks - and it isn't like Bok or the trolls would be particularly good at eradicating spores. Greenskin ecosystem would certainly eat dwarf-hours but if the Karak is halfway well patrolled it won't give birth to a Waagh.
The greenskins had the upper parts of the Citadel, the lower valley and significant space in the peaks - and it isn't like Bok or the trolls would be particularly good at eradicating spores. Greenskin ecosystem would certainly eat dwarf-hours but if the Karak is halfway well patrolled it won't give birth to a Waagh.
The greenskins had the upper parts of the Citadel, the lower valley and significant space in the peaks - and it isn't like Bok or the trolls would be particularly good at eradicating spores. Greenskin ecosystem would certainly eat dwarf-hours but if the Karak is halfway well patrolled it won't give birth to a Waagh.
So it would be a huge pain to deal with if it gets a foothold down there, which is why Belegar is sending a significant force just to guard against that possibility instead of fighting the active greenskins up top. We have ideal spotting capabilities, which is why I think going along is a good use of our time.
We might hope that. We have no evidence either way and won't know for sure for decades. Belegar doesn't know, the only living beings that might are busy dying in the Karak Drazh underway and would not tell us if we asked.
Today is not the day for the planning and budgeting for scouring the depths but when it comes the baseline assumption must be that it will all have to be done. If no member of Waaagh! Birdmuncha had so much as scratched at the dirt that would still have been the case. Hopefully in practice things will be much better than that but trying to arrange such savings is not today's job either. There is a lethal enemy still at our gates to deal with before we start worrying about their potential un-popped relatives.
We might hope that. We have no evidence either way and won't know for sure for decades. Belegar doesn't know, the only living beings that might are busy dying in the Karak Drazh underway and would not tell us if we asked.
Today is not the day for the planning and budgeting for scouring the depths but when it comes the baseline assumption must be that it will all have to be done. If no member of Waaagh! Birdmuncha had so much as scratched at the dirt that would still have been the case. Hopefully in practice things will be much better than that but trying to arrange such savings is not today's job either. There is a lethal enemy still at our gates to deal with before we start worrying about their potential un-popped relatives.
We might hope that. We have no evidence either way and won't know for sure for decades. Belegar doesn't know, the only living beings that might are busy dying in the Karak Drazh underway and would not tell us if we asked.
Today is not the day for the planning and budgeting for scouring the depths but when it comes the baseline assumption must be that it will all have to be done. If no member of Waaagh! Birdmuncha had so much as scratched at the dirt that would still have been the case. Hopefully in practice things will be much better than that but trying to arrange such savings is not today's job either. There is a lethal enemy still at our gates to deal with before we start worrying about their potential un-popped relatives.
