- Location
- Upon the back of the Great A'Tuin
Or it was just a bunch of rich, bored, and young nobles who felt like being bold/daring/rebellious by aping the trappings of a mysterious and feared minority of the empire. No need to over think it.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Or it was just a bunch of rich, bored, and young nobles who felt like being bold/daring/rebellious by aping the trappings of a mysterious and feared minority of the empire. No need to over think it.
I'm never quite sure how to answer questions like that, because while you technically theoretically could, it's so self-obviously theoretically possible that I sense I'm being asked whether you should. Which as a question to the QM kinda defuses the entire purpose of the format, don't you think?
Kids have been doing stupid things to piss off their parents for literally the entirety of recorded history. Circa five thousand years ago, on a clay Assyrian tablet: "children no longer obey their parents". Seriously.
Wizard Chic was the latest manifestation in this eternal cycle; it entertained the kids, aggravated the parents, and made no noticeable effect on society. Depending how old you are, you might have experienced the tail end of a long chain of musical moral panics that started with rock and roll in the fifties and stretched to hip hop in the nineties; if not, there's always GTA. The people that were teens and twentysomethings during the hippy era have grown up and grown old and had their turn at the tiller of society and I haven't seen any uptick in peace and love.
So take Wizard Chic for what it was - a series of hilariously bad rolls for buying wizarding paraphernalia a few years back - and accept that the kids have probably moved on to dying their hair orange and pretending to be slayers or something.
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[x] Four Months
[X] The Nature of Ulgu
[x] The Nature of Magic
[X] Enchantments
[x] The Enemies of Man
[x] The Allies of Man
Fake edit: was a bit slow on that vote I guess. Always next one though.
My preference is to get things done sooner rather than later, as I suspect that early completion might be low-hanging College Rep points, which may or may not be worth more than just picking up more spells to use. We still (probably) have the fog of war spell on the table, which will help us help others better (such as going to war). Similarly, we don't need to learn every spell to be a good magister, or even a great one. Serve the Empire, see its people well and its enemies punished, and we can die a good death.
That said, I'd like to take a moment to discuss something not being voted on right now. Niter crystals. Surprisingly not what go into lightsabers, but powerful enough in their own
We have a few options as to how to make use of these
Sell the crystals to Nuln; results in a better gunpowder for the Empire, but mostly doesn't directly benefit Stirland much at all.
Sell the crystals to Zhufbar; gives us a trade good the Dawi actually care about to supplement the foodstuffs and raw materials they buy from us as-is. Helps redress a trade imbalance, allowing Stirland to buy more dwarf-made goods and ensuring more dwarf-made goods entering human hands.
Sell the crystals as fertilizer in Stirland; this is the option I personally favor. Stirland's economy is already set up to handle agricultural goods, and a rise in agricultural productivity means a few things that should generally increase the well-being of all of Stirland's citizenry, if at a remove. Firstly, more agricultural output means more tax revenue for landowners, which means more income for the Elector-Countess who needs money to make ends meet to conduct important affairs like keep Sylvania pacified, not an unworthy goal of its own accord. Furthermore, with increased food security usually comes a modest population boom, which either means more people moving into the cities (increasing the amount of gong to farm, meaning more fertilizer to sell in a virtuous cycle) or land that was borderline viable can be colonized, denying acrage for the forces of Old Night to hide. More population means more people paying taxes, as well as more levies in case of orcs, vampire counts or beastmen.
Sell the crystals as fertilizer to the Moot; honestly tempted by this one as well, because if anyone is going to make the most of this fertilizer it's probably the farming savants that are the Halflings. The Moot is already a breadbasket region, and bumping their agricultural output further helps the Empire at large (and probably more than it does overall than if we took the 'fertilize Stirland' route) but could potentially have negative PR reprecussions in Stirland unless we there's a good preemptive PR campaign like 'the half-men stole our shit from us once long ago, but now they have to pay to take our shit and do it with a smile' or something similarly abrasive. A chance to earn Halfling favors, but I don't want to make assumptions on that point.
Investigate how to make gunpowder: more gunpowder, local gunpowder, but inferior gunpowder. There's a few things that can be said about this, but most of them will be applicable in the next point I make. The best that can be said for this is that it's the gunpowder option that doesn't burn dwarf favors.
Dwarf-powder; Superior gunpowder to what is commonly available on the market in the Empire. Stirland is hampered by three things when it comes to equipping large forces of handgunners, which is deep-running conservitism, bare coffers and poor mineral reserves making every ingot of iron pried from the ground something of a valued commodity. Even as prosperous a barony as Blutdorf is working with crossbows, and seems happy to have it. However, having high quality powder opens a few options here; Nuln sent two score cannons to Stirland for the Drakenhof campaign (which the Elector Countess is still paying off), and now she has an extra forty cannons to feed. Reducing imports of gunpowder alone would likely make it easier to make those payments, while actually selling gunpowder to the highest bidder should help pay them off. Furthermore, I imagine there's a few engineers interested in experimenting with dwarf gunpowder that could be enticed to come to Stirland to help make weapons of war, which isn't an inconsiderable boon; even if there's little in the way of proper cannon foundries in Stirland there's lots you can do with gunpowder but no bronze or iron cannons. Wooden cannons are cheap (three primary ingredients being a large tree, rope, and skilled labor, things that I'm sure Stirland can find) so long as you don't need them for more than a few shots. There's mining, both civil use blasting roads open and area of denial systems, and so long as you have some forewarning and skilled labor you can fake having cannons as well. My personal favorite is the clay grenade, of course. A potter's apprentice can make the basic form, someone else can stuff the powder, cork and fuse in and you've got something ready to go. Whether it's to be delivered by hand, sling or trebuchet is a seperate matter, but I'm sure there's clever people who have a vested interest in keeping zombies far away from them to figure out things like that.
I'm getting distracted, my apologies.
Anyway, the 'optimal' route in my head (and this is probably going to feel a bit like the sort of micromanaging @BoneyM wants us to avoid, so for the record this is 90% me just geeking out here) would be to sell 80% of the niter crystals as fertilizer, petition the Elector Countess to give some sort of privileged taxation scheme where the Grand Countess alone gets to tax this product but gets a higher percentage (whatever it may be), with the tax to be paid in niter and at the countess' pleasure can be used either as rewards for vassals or sent straight to state-controlled powder mills, from whence the military and roadwardens (who are also military?) draw their allotments. I'm wondering if there'd be an option to 'scout the market' as it were, sending Anton a few casks of niter crystals, sending some to the Moot, seeing what Nuln would buy at what rates and negotiating with Zhufbar what a trial run price would be, and then choosing from there. Anton talking to his peers about how these amazing crystals boosted his peasants' crops by 20% and his coffers are doing much better for it is all the advertising we'd need, I think.
@BoneyM Does Dawi artillery produce the great plumes of smoke associated with early modern artillery, or does their smoke burn hot and clean enough that magic goggles to let you see through them wouldn't be much of an advantage? I'm trying to think of nice gifts for Narfi and pinpoint artillery fire seems like a nice feather in his, uh, helmet.
WanderingEye
smol skeleton
...Am I the only one who regret not taking balista as our weapon of choice?
Also using them as fertilizers sound great, but will the farmers utilize them?
Also using them as fertilizers sound great, but will the farmers utilize them?
Dwarf cannons are fired underground as often as not, so they're near smokeless by necessity. Would also be good to keep in mind that magic and dwarfs don't really mix that well, both culturally and physiologically.
- Location
- Canada
The handful who try will crush their compition and then there will be more demand than supply quickly enough.
Dwarfs don't trust magic, or umgi craftsmanship.
It's borderline insulting, but they could well accept it as "umgi being umgi...now lets stuff this in a vault so if it explodes it doesn't hurt anyone and we don't insult the gift by rejecting it"
I think nobody highlighted that we just did magical algebriac restructuring of the spell that we could put it into separate pieces that can then link up.
Minor priority of mine to get Wilhelmina and Anton something nice for that. But best to ask before doing it.
Its having a ready supply of metal tools. The blacksmith is going to be a rather popular guy hereabouts. His first year is going to be repairing a lot of rusted or broken knives, axes, shears and shovels, then nails, then cookware, then more nails. After THAT, he can see about weapons and armor.
Limestone! Good for construction. Key ingredient for lime, which is useful for mortar, concrete, bleach and steel production.
So roads next. Roads are both cheap and should make everything else cheaper.
So it could be mistaken for an idol to Ulric eh?
Hmm, looking at the map, we're west-southwest of Sonningweiss(that hill on the map). Blutdorf is almost as far as you can get from Wurtbad while still being in Stirland huh? And theres no land route. You need to go down to the river Stir to reach it.
Judging legal disputes before someone moves it up to assault is one of a lord's role. Anton might be a better steward than chancellor?
This gigantic cinnamon roll must be protected.
It was a fun time indeed.
Hmm, deliberately cultivating a hive of scum and villainy to train the apprentices?
As achievements go, that is way up there
Guile
Having a really great time right now
If it takes 16 days to do one, you might be able to do two in one month action.
The squares specifically took a day each, but they were just one part of a month-long process. One month is the bare minimum for enchanting anything; it is a slow and involved process.
Turn 17.5 - 2478 - Collegiate Interlude
[*] Four Months
[*] Intrigue and Tradecraft. (locked in)
[*] The Nature of Ulgu
[*] Spells of Grey Magic
[*] Enchantment
[*] Intrigue and Tradecraft. (locked in)
[*] The Nature of Ulgu
[*] Spells of Grey Magic
[*] Enchantment
Once, you were a peasant girl who had known only the crude huts of her village; once, you were an apprentice that had a very small cell to herself with a hard bed and a tiny stove and a pet cat called Morr. But since then you have known both castles and tents, manors and barracks. You've experienced the best taverns of Wurtbad and the Moot and passed out in dingy roadside inns after a day of hard riding. The cell you're given as a graduating journeywoman fails to appear on either extreme of your jaded palate. The bed is small but comfortable, there's a well-ventilated hearth, and there's a rope that can be pulled to summon one of the College staff, though it is a privilege very easily revoked if abused.
Once more, you sink back into the hidden ecosystem of Collegiate life. A bustling staff of people whose job titles could be found nowhere but in a college exists everywhere you look; bedels and bursars and proctors and porters and provosts and dozens of other highly-specialized roles. The Wizards, too, shrug off the ranks of the outer world; nobody is introduced as Magister or Lord Magister here, but instead by the role they play in The Faculty. Professors and Readers and Lecturers and Docents and Tutors, and parallel to them, the librarians and curators. All of this exists primarily to impart knowledge to those such as you.
It would be humbling, if you had time to think about it. But you don't. Four months, you've decided on - two to both practical and theoretical Ulgu, one to adding to your grasp of enchantment, and one dedicated to one-on-one tutoring with your Master as you go over the sudden and almost universally fatal disassembly of the organisation that once pulled your strings.
---
The College operates on an apprentice system, but you never before realized how restricted that was to those below the rank of Magister. Once one reaches that rank, learning opportunities cease to come at the whim of your Master or the harried and hollow-eyed Substitutes that stand in when said Master is off doing gods only know what; they lie thick as autumn leaves and every time you stop to scoop one up three more have fluttered away. You cram your schedule; a lecture here, a dissertation there, an experiment on the nature of Ulgu when transmitted through various gases on the side and always plenty of library time as you try to use books to cement the gaps between the knowledge snatched from this dizzying array. It's not until several days in that you realize you can talk to those giving the presentations - not during them, of course, but you can ambush them in the hallway or track down their office and nine times in ten they're delighted to have someone to talk the ear off about their latest pet project.
What you quickly learn is though you don't quite have the proper vocabulary of jargon, you do have a grasp of the nature of Ulgu that matches many and exceeds some that are giving these lectures; the conversations you have are interesting but often not educational, as those giving the talks spend several hours to get to a point that you grasp on an instinctive level. Still, it does help to better understand the underpinnings of the conclusions you reach without thought, which leads you to be better able to apply your magical insight. And you turn this newly strengthened insight on possibly the most important lessons of all: learning new spells.
It's one-on-one, of course, and in a specially warded and reinforced room to hopefully minimize disaster, but you absorb knowledge at an impressive rate and shape the illusions as fast as they are taught to you. Mutable Visage is the instant makeover of a more materialistic girl's dreams, and Eye of the Beholder is focused around the mental manipulations you've used so well with Mindhole. With those absorbed in a few days apiece, your Master decides you might have earned something a bit more difficult, and the much more complicated structure of Mockery of Death is revealed to you. It takes twice as long, but as before, your intuitive grasp of Ulgu makes learning the spells straightforward, so your Master decides to push you further than ever before. Substance of Shadow, a spell with frankly astounding possibilities, is laid down before you, and your Master sits back to watch if you'll rise once more to the occasion.
It's an observation you've made before: either because of your country background or some personal quirk, to you, Ulgu is more fog than shadow. Mastering a spell explicitly based around the shadow aspects of Ulgu presents some difficulty because of this; it just doesn't instinctively mesh in the way that's so familiar to you. Days turn to weeks as you try to visualize the strange warping of reality that the spell causes, until you finally reach a breakthrough that changes everything: shadow is the gate through which fog travels and changes states. A person or object passes through the ensorcelled shadow, and becomes not just invisible but also intangible until the spell runs its course or the person or object is illuminated. They are converted to an energy pattern not unlike fog which travels through the medium of shadow until ejected.
From there, it's still most of a fortnight until you finally manage the spell, but it's with a glowing sense of accomplishment that you watch your Master confirm that the test crate has been converted to an ephemeral state.
[Theoretical Ulgu: Learning, 39+18=47]
[Windreader trait gains an additional +1 Learning]
[Practical Ulgu: Learning, 84+19=102]
[Rolling...]
[Eye of the Beholder learned!]
[Mutable Visage learned!]
[Mockery of Death learned!]
[Substance of Shadow learned!]
[Sufficient spells learned - magic level has increased!]
---
At first, you thought that there'd been some mistake and one of the College staff was cleaning the room, but before you can embarrass yourself you realize that the man in front of you is your teacher, and he has eschewed the robes of office as unnecessary forewarning to those he hunts. He introduces himself as Mr Grey, which is possibly the worst alias you've ever encountered, and he explains his purpose here today: to break you of your reliance on the trappings of enchantment paraphernalia. You think he's going to teach you new enchanting techniques, and you smile in anticipation.
Except what he actually teaches you is a suite of very specialized spells to do all the things your tools normally would. Ways of concentrating Ulgu to bend, reflect, or refract light, ways to craft very small and immobile illusions that act as lenses, a variant on the shadowknife he called a 'shadowchisel' to carve runes, a way of creating an illusory box that will allow sunlight in but not out, and a wide lens to concentrate a large area of sunlight into it, to build a tiny solar forge. All things that could be done significantly easier with your current workshop, and you do somewhat resent that he's presenting this to you after the time and effort you spent getting your hands on the items of your workshop.
That said, you do pick up a lot of general knowledge about the art of enchantment along the way, and feel you're that much closer to reaching new heights of possibilities.
[Enchantment Training: Learning, 96+19=115
[Rolling...]
[Trait Gained: Tool-Free Enchanting! (Possibility 4 of 6)]
---
The final quarter of your study is entirely between you and your Master: the postmortem of the organization that you helped your Master to take apart. You sit together by a fire, waiting for him to begin.
And waiting.
You clear your throat.
"My student," he says, apparently apropos of nothing, "tell me what you know of the highest level of secrecy ratings."
The sudden swerve in topic comes as a surprise, but you're used to thinking on your feet. "Not much," you say. "It's when something is considered so secret that you're not even allowed to reveal that-" you pause, realizing, and then continue the sentence "-that there is anything to be classified."
"Correct," he says. The fire crackles as your Master stares into it, perhaps weighing how much could be communicated versus the danger in doing so. Then, he sighs. "Your progress is satisfactory. Return to your studies."
There are no studies to return to; you earmarked this time for your lessons with your Master. But now there's nothing to discuss. Now, even filling that time gap could disturb the layer of secrecy that has apparently been put into place. It's immensely frustrating, but there's little you can do about it. When this level of secrecy is invoked, a month of learning is but the tiniest of sacrifices that can and will be made to it. You burn with curiosity as to what could have caused this, and it's likely you'll never know.
Unless, of course, it blows up in everyone's face.
[Internalizing Intrigue: 1]
---
It is the beginning of what promises to be a long and exhausting process, and it begins, apparently, with you sitting at a desk and table in the center of an otherwise unadorned room, watched intently by a Proctor. You stare down at the sheet of paper; you scan the questions on it, you double-check the name at the top to make sure that you've got the right page, and yes, you're being asked to report on your own loyalties. That strikes you as somehow deeply unfair, and it's just the start.
---
To the best of your knowledge, assess Journeywoman Mathilde Weber's level of dedication to a) the Grey College; b) the Empire; and c) humanity, factoring in her beliefs and motivations as well as any ties that bind her to the well-being of the above.
[ ] (write in; can either be Mathilde's words verbatim or an outline of what she says)
In the space below, describe your plans for the next five years (should you reach Magisterial rank).
[ ] Seeking employ as an advisor to an Elector of the Empire.
[ ] Seeking employ as an advisor in one of the Dwarfholds.
[ ] Seeking adventure in the Zhufbar expeditions into Karak Varn.
[ ] Seeking adventure in Belegar Ironhammer's reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks.
[ ] Seeking adventure as a mercenary, ideally with Asarnil the Dragonlord, and possibly build a Mercenary Company of your own.
[ ] Seeking adventure as the second coming of Nagash, searching for ways to overcome the final enemy of life. (you won't actually write this on the paper, but choose it if this is what you want Mathilde to do)
[ ] Seeking knowledge by building a branch campus of the Grey College in Stirland, possibly on your estate.
[ ] Seeking knowledge by investigating the phenomena and manifestations of Sylvania.
And, finally, Should you reach Magisterial rank, you are expected to contribute to the wellbeing of the Grey College in the manner/s of your choosing. Select all of the below Collegiate Responsibilities that you are willing and able to perform.
(omitting those you're unable to do or are ill-suited to any of your future plans)
[ ] Enchantment Commissions (payment in cash)
[ ] Enchantment Services (payment in College rep)
[ ] Lectures and Demonstrations
[ ] Tutoring
[ ] Taking on Apprentices
[ ] Interrogation
[ ] Research and Development (thaumaturgical) (ie. stuff derived from Shyish-Kebabs and Qhaysh juice)
[ ] Research and Cataloguing (biological)
[ ] Being available to investigate reports of unsanctioned magic-users.
[ ] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
- This is your eviction notice from limbo. It's time to choose what the future will hold for this quest. If your plans take you out of Stirland, you'll have a turn to wrap everything up so that it can continue and survive in your absence.
- Keep in mind that while 'stay in one place and do nothing but research for the next half decade' might be a valid career option for Mathilde Weber, it would be really boring for both you, the reader and quester, and I, the writer and QM.
- There isn't a 'wrong' choice for your career from the perspective of the Grey College. Each serves the Empire's purposes.
- This was written as a whopper of a sleep debt started catching up with me so I apologize for any weirdly purple prose or grammar oddities.
- If you've got a different idea for a direction for Mathilde's adventure to go in, chime in.
- Nothing is in plans, just check whatever boxes you like. Sorry for the five or six times I changed my mind on how to do this; if there's anything left in the old formats when it comes time to tally I'll add them to the tallies manually.
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- Location
- Classified
[X] Seeking adventure in Belegar Ironhammer's reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks.
[X] Interrogation
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical)
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
I'll leave the write in to more eloquent people.
[X] Interrogation
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical)
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
I'll leave the write in to more eloquent people.
Looks like there are missing words here
Very, very nice.
I laughed.
Ouch, but at least it wasn't on the spell casting.
[X] Plan Adventure
-[X] Grey College - High
--[X] We're pretty grateful for all the training in magic and preventing us from being burnt at the stake or something else awful like exploding or being eaten by a demon.
--[X] Especially to Magister Regimand who trained us and made sure we didn't explode.
--[X] Also the Library is pretty great and some of the other services of the College.
--[X] The Grey College is generally a pretty awesome bastion of civilization are we're happy to be apart of it.
-[X] Empire - Equally as high
--[X] We live there so we don't want it overrun by Orcs, or demons, or beastmen, or goblins, or undead, or dhar users, or barbarians, or dark elves, or Chaos, or chaotic undead demon orc dhar sorcerer barbarians.
--[X] We're a knight and a wizard and have a bunch of oaths, so of course we're loyal.
--[X] It's the right thing to do to support the Empire.
-[X] Humanity - Pretty High but dwarfs are pretty cool too.
--[X] We have lots of human friends
--[X] We are a human
--[X] The Empire mostly consists of humans
--[X] We don't like humans who use dhar, or do Chaos, or are mean to us because they're prejudiced against wizards, or are generally assholes
--[X] But most humans are pretty OK but they'd be better if they made guns and cannons like dwarfs
[X] Seeking adventure in Belegar Ironhammer's reconquest of Karak Eight Peaks.
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical) (ie. stuff derived from Shyish-Kebabs and Qhaysh juice)
[X] Interrogation
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
Enchantment can now be done on the go and I expect we'll get equal value for services rendered.
Research could be interesting but I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to leave it out for fear of it being boring.
Interrogation could lead to new quests and pieces of plot.
Matters of great import is obvious quest bait.
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I wrote that and fell down the rabbit hole of College employee names and never came back to it. Fixed, thanks for pointing it out.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Yeeeep.
We rolled great on everything but the Intrigue lessons.
At the very least though, nobody can accuse us of not having the abilties expected of a Magister. We even picked up our first Fiendishly Complex spell!
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Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
Wait, there's totally an option missing here!
[ ] Seeking adventure as the second coming of Nagash, searching for ways to overcome the final enemy of life.
[ ] Seeking adventure as the second coming of Nagash, searching for ways to overcome the final enemy of life.
- Location
- Classified
I want to try and pick up Shadow Knives. One, because it's an offensive spell that's less conditional than Burning Shadows, and also because I want to see if we can apply that "ignores non magical armor" aspect to an enchanted greatsword.
- Location
- Reno
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[x] Seeking employ as an advisor in the Provinces of the Empire.
[X] Interrogation
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical)
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
[x] Being available to investigate reports of unsanctioned magic-users.
[X] Interrogation
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical)
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
[x] Being available to investigate reports of unsanctioned magic-users.
Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
At least internalising Intrigue is one of the best places to have a Nat 1 at the Colleges of Magic.
I wonder what message Mathilde's master tried to pass to her?
That the conspiracy isn't fully dead yet? That she must never talk about how people managed to control a grey Magister? That he suspects Mathilde possesses the Liber Mortis and warns her to play it super close to the chest?
That the conspiracy isn't fully dead yet? That she must never talk about how people managed to control a grey Magister? That he suspects Mathilde possesses the Liber Mortis and warns her to play it super close to the chest?
Silly me! I've fixed that now.
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
[X] Seeking employ as an advisor in the Provinces of the Empire.
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical) (ie. stuff derived from Shyish-Kebabs and Qhaysh juice)
[X] Interrogation
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
I like adviser questing, lets see if we can't gain employment as one again.
[X] Enchantment Commissions
[X] Enchantment Services
[X] Research and Development (thaumaturgical) (ie. stuff derived from Shyish-Kebabs and Qhaysh juice)
[X] Interrogation
[X] Being available to intervene in matters of great import as needed
I like adviser questing, lets see if we can't gain employment as one again.