Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
We don't know that they aren't. Fact is that they've got an entire Ulthuan enclave there, and since they have rebuked any questions about it, it's possible that it's a political issue.
I'm willing to bet an internet cookie that there's some princeling up there that has taken a personal interest in it.

The fact is we most certainly know they aren't dragon princes, you can tell by the lack of dragons. They are not something you can hide.
 
People, don't read the option where the KA shoulders the burden as rich dwarves spending some gold.

If Boney says it will significantly weaken the KA and the Empire for the entire duration, then it will significantly weaken them.

The Empire is barely keeping a lid on things, as the chamberlain has just explained, and the KA is currently supporting an Expedition and helping shore K8P up.

Securing overland routes will cost the dwarfs manpower they absolutely cannot spare right now. And the worst part is, it still leaves the Empire weak.
If the dwarves don't have the manpower (dwarfpower?) to spare for clearing overland routes, why would they have manpower to spare for a war half a continent away? Likewise, if the Empire is barely keeping a lid on things now, a war is the last thing to add to the pile.

[X] They can make up for the loss in trade
 
In opposition to threatening war with friggin' Ulthuan? War or 5 lean years, there's one winner in the War option and it won't be The Empire.

Problem is, this is not war vs lean years, this is gunboat diplomacy with a small possibillity of becoming a small war with an even smaller possibillity of becoming a big war ifthe small possibility comes to pass vs 5 lean years.

A very expensive gamble with absurdly good odds vs a certain short term loss for long term gains that may leave us vulnerable... I am approval voting both here because I honestly believe both sides have good points, so I am also batting for both.
 
If the dwarves don't have the manpower (dwarfpower?) to spare for clearing overland routes, why would they have manpower to spare for a war half a continent away? Likewise, if the Empire is barely keeping a lid on things now, a war is the last thing to add to the pile.

[X] They can make up for the loss in trade

Because it takes far fewer dwarfs to man a bunch of ironclads for weeks than to clear trade routes for years.
 
[X] No, but they could help break the blockade

It's not acceptable that one city can stick up the entire empire like this, and so alternates will be created. The question then becomes how to manage the city. Which is, ultimately, a stationary bandit more than a productive contributor. So I am in favor of bopping then on the nose in principal.

The Empire in particular is already dangerously committed militarily, a war with Marienburg would leave them completely unable to respond on a sudden new front.

So we want to avoid any options that would significantly weaken the karaz Ankor and the empire.

As is, we are facing overland threats and not naval ones, so using a naval asset to solve this means we don't have to take the military hit else where.

In opposition to threatening war with friggin' Ulthuan? War or 5 lean years, there's one winner in the War option and it won't be The Empire.

There is a vote for war, and it is not winning. The vote that is winning is gunboat diplomacy, bit diplomacy none the less. So it isn't five lean years vs war, it is five lean years vs a small chance of war. And those numbers are MUCH less easy to evaluate. So I see this as a bad faith argument.
 
Hmm... I am a bit torn here. There is only one way to solve this conundrum.
1-3 is trade compensation
4-6 is blockadebusters

*rolls 1d6*



My pocket Ranald has spoken. It is four.

[X] No, but they could help break the blockade

Now, let us see the supply of Luck we can expect to be available in the times to come.

Edit: A near-average of 3! And the unholy Tzeentchian critfails have all been countered by the blessed Ranaldian 4s! Balanced, as all things should be. A most auspicious result!
Akasha threw 8 4-faced dice. Reason: Gimme some Ranald Booty Total: 21
1 1 3 3 1 1 4 4 2 2 4 4 3 3 3 3
 
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They don't have to keep the ships there afterwards - just a few out in the ocean at a distance would be enough. It would immediately be obvious if a ship wanted to head onto the Empire but was blocked from doing so, at which point they'd go back in and remove the problem again.

So invade multiple times with just the few marines on board the ships? Plus going against landbased fortifcations which historically doesn't tend to end all that well for ships...
 
Hmm... I am a bit torn here. There is only one way to solve this conundrum.
1-3 is trade compensation
4-6 is blockadebusters

*rolls 1d6*



My pocket Ranald has spoken. It is four.

[X] No, but they could help break the blockade
You're an inspiration to all of us in this thread.

So invade multiple times with just the few marines on board the ships? Plus going against landbased fortifcations which historically doesn't tend to end all that well for ships...
It goes just fine for Ironclads, and I imagine the Barak Varr navy are capable of deciding how many ships they need to leave as guards.
 
The vote that is winning is gunboat diplomacy, bit diplomacy none the less.
Er, the vote winning is for Barak Varr to steam into Marienburg and blow up everything that floats or looks sideways at the Reik. That's a bit past diplomacy.

Sure, maybe Marienburg backs down once they hear that Barak Varr is involved, but I doubt it. They probably knew that from the start, and this is a matter of their very existence.
 
Sure. But we don't have to tell them that. You could truthfully tell the dwarves that the Emperor would prefer if the tunnel was done in secrecy until it was ready due to internal and external diplomatic considerations as well as possible Vampire/bandits interference in the project. Hell, you could even point at the fracas between the Slayer Keep and their channel and one of the Electors(was it Ostermark?) as the kind of thing the Emperor would like to avoid as a deflection.

Unless the threat Marienburgh is making is a public one (unlikely), the dwarves would just grumble about umgi political stupidity and ask for some minor concessions for making their new project in secret due to stupid umgi sensibilities. As long as we don't mention Marienburg, some of them might catch on, but those are excally the kind of things that dwarves don't talk about.

Couch it as the Empire being ashamed of not being ready to fight that fight right now, and the dwarves will pretend no shame is happening at the speed of Formula One drivers.

Dwarves have learned to accept manling foolishness, but they will not adopt that manling foolishness themselves. If their allies are too cowardly to act in the open, then the Karaz Ankor will stand alone.
 
At this scale, we're dealing with influences that make Ranald look like small-fry. We just recently were warned about Tezenchina influence, and there are other dark powers that would have great interest in escalating a de facto naval war into a explicit all-our war.

Problem: said powers may also take advantage of the economic and influence losses of two major powers of order for just as much benefit, if we are giving them that much credit.
 
There's another angle to consider here, which some posters raised up but is not being picked: this is still in the realm of diplomacy.

Having a dwarf show up at the table where the Marienburg ambassador is expecting the Empire's capitulation and tell them to stop playing silly buggers or they will get a 20th century fleet shoved up their Renaissance asses might well be enough to make them decide this is not worth it.
If the dwarves don't have the manpower (dwarfpower?) to spare for clearing overland routes, why would they have manpower to spare for a war half a continent away? Likewise, if the Empire is barely k
Because those sailors are already crewing their ships, but securing overland routes means stretching the KA even thinner.
 
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@BoneyM the dwarves are insanely wealthy, moreso even than Marienburg. Could we get the Karaz Ankor to deny Marienburg mercenaries by hiring them first?

I'd be Down for it.

We are a grey wizard and we should use our shadow powers to sabotage there war efforts. Like, using our womanly charms to seduce the Marienburg Vault Keepers to take the gold with us.

Or some crazy scheme to disappear the gold. Anything to make them really rethink this war thing.
 
Er, the vote winning is for Barak Varr to steam into Marienburg and blow up everything that floats or looks sideways at the Reik. That's a bit past diplomacy.

Sure, maybe Marienburg backs down once they hear that Barak Varr is involved, but I doubt it. They probably knew that from the start, and this is a matter of their very existence.
There's a whole sequence of threats and "no really, the navy is right here, we'll do it"-s that form "gunboat diplomacy" before we get to the actual blowing up of infrastructure.
 
So we want to avoid any options that would significantly weaken the karaz Ankor and the empire.

As is, we are facing overland threats and not naval ones, so using a naval asset to solve this means we don't have to take the military hit else where.
I'm saying the naval option has a real probability of turning into a ground war, which will commit the Empire's remaining military leaving it vulnerable, and bleed it militarily and economically more than running a trade workaround with the Dwarves.
 
Having a dwarf show up at the table where the Marienburg ambassador is expecting the Empire's capitulation and tell them to stop playing silly buggers or they will get a 20th century fleet shoved up their Renaissance asses might well be enough to make them decide this is not worth it.
They've known from the start that Barak Varr is the main actor behind the canal. Are you telling me that they haven't considered the possibility?
 
It's not acceptable that one city can stick up the entire empire like this, and so alternates will be created. The question then becomes how to manage the city. Which is, ultimately, a stationary bandit more than a productive contributor. So I am in favor of bopping then on the nose in principal.

For gods sake, Marienburg isn't a bandit and the fact it is a massive centre of trade tends to be very beneficial to the Empire as whole. Just not as beneficial as it would be were it part of the empire and its taxes and tolls would go into the coffers of the Emperor and his cronies instead of the merchant princes... Also you think that the dwarves won't have tolls and taxes on trade moving through their city, river and canal? Again the motivation for building those canals wasn't some altruistic concern but a wish of already rich and powerful dwarven holds to be even richer and more powerful and some humans with the same motivation.
 
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[X] They can make up for the loss in trade

Whatever the results of the vote, I'm just hoping we don't piss off the Elves bad enough to revoke our internship.
 
Staff Notice - This is uncivil, and a borderline violation of the thread policy.
[ ] They can make up for the loss in trade
This would weaken the Karaz Ankor and the Empire until the canals are complete.
To clarify: this would involve the Karaz Ankor paying the Empire for what they lose in trade income, as well as arranging alternate routes for crucial goods.


In my mind, this is the only serious option we can take. We can't blockade them due to the Ulthuan lands in Marienburg, it'd be like laying siege to a friggin' embassy. And holding off on this will only get worse with time.
IMHO this is the best way to get rid of the Marienburg monopoly that won't have us going to war with the Elgi.

We are not blockading them, we are breaking thier blockade on us. read the goddamn options.
 
I want to point out that we are giving our opinion. If the chancellor doesn't like it, or thinks it courts a second war of the bread too openly, he will work to kill the canal his own way. We are giving advice and advice can be disregarded.

[X] Write in: I see two possibilities, either we convince them to make up the trade or they break the blockade. It could swing either way, and which way is best depends on how Ulthum will react, which I don't know. Tell me which you prefer and I will try to swing it that way.

I'll be blunt. I don't think we know enough to make an informed decision on the results of the blockade so I say we turn it over to the guy whose job is to predict this stuff.

[X] They can make up for the loss in trade

Approval voting for the one I want if the write in doesn't catch on.
 
[X] No, but they could help break the blockade

I think we need to look at this from the perspective of a Dawi, not Umgi. Barak Varr paying for Marienburg's transgressions against Barak Varr's projects? From the Dawi perspective, this is odd to say the least.
 
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