Heidi got a bodyclock reset as I understand it. The Shallyans just rewound her body to 18 and from there, with divine magic, and the excellent living conditions of being Empress, she's just well preserved.
I'd like to point out that the only verification we have on how known-liar-and-conwoman Heidi has achieved her incredible longevity and youthfulness is the word of known-liar-and-conwoman Heidi. The approval of Ranald can be taken as a sign she didn't bargain with Chaos, but otherwise it's wide open.
It's a big, highly magical world, so who knows. Her giving the credit to "the Shallyans" could well be a lie to cover the real source of her longevity. I sure don't trust that explanation further than I could throw her.
K / Throttling: Sends ropes of darkness a short distance to strangle the target. Lasts until you choose to stop or your concentration is broken.
- Without magical protection or supernatural toughness, the target is helpless from when the spell hits their throat.
Rituals differ a great deal from spells. They have an incredibly exact list of requirements and ingredients that are often rare or expensive, can take hours or even days, and most aren't aligned with a specific Wind. Trying to interact with them in any way other than performing them exactly as they should be is incredibly unreliable and dangerous. It can be possible to create an enchantment based on a ritual, but this would be the capstone of a career of an extremely powerful Wizard, and can result in things like the Nemesis Crown or the Crown of Sorcery instead of what the enchanter intended.
it's possible to design rituals, but as a general rule that's a lord magister activity and we've not done any learning about them at all. Also the process of what you end up with can differ very wildly from what you intended.
I'd like to point out that the only verification we have on how known-liar-and-conwoman Heidi has achieved her incredible longevity and youthfulness is the word of known-liar-and-conwoman Heidi. The approval of Ranald can be taken as a sign she didn't bargain with Chaos, but otherwise it's wide open.
It's a big, highly magical world, so who knows. Her giving the credit to "the Shallyans" could well be a lie to cover the real source of her longevity. I sure don't trust that explanation further than I could throw her.
You observe her very carefully as you approach, with more senses than even most Wizards could boast. Your impression from years earlier is unchanged, she's definitely no Vampire, but there are hints of energies to her that definitely aren't normal. Two types of energies, actually, swirling around each other in a way sure to result in Dhar if they were the Winds you were familiar with. But these are even more exotic; they have the tang of the Divine, one very familiar, one not.
So there is a longstanding Divine effect on her by a non-Ranald source. Shallya and Ranald get along, this much we already know, so for their energies to coexist peacefully is plausible.
I agree that it could be entirely unrelated to her longevity and we should not take her as a totally reliable source, but the simplest explanation that fits all the facts is "she has a Shallyan blessing."
So on Using Enchant, can we not abuse it? Just not try to abuse the mechanic, and be satisfied with the huge bonuses we currently have.
I understand wanting more bonuses but can we actually earn them, I feel like spamming enchant boots for X and cloak for X and socks for X and left pinky toe ring for X is a bit much.
For a filthy casual like myself it makes it hard to follow just where all the bonuses are coming from and feels like it cheapens the big projects like the room of serenity if we have five articles of clothing that we put on before writing papers to equate to the same thing.
I'm not saying to not use one of her skills I'm just asking to please not try and skirt the hard line because it's "technically" ok.
it's possible to design rituals, but as a general rule that's a lord magister activity and we've not done any learning about them at all. Also the process of what you end up with can differ very wildly from what you intended.
All entirely true, but I've wanted rituals for the purposes of doing Big Magic for a long time now, and the possibility of eventually making a Big Deal artefact with it makes it more attractive to me, not less.
All entirely true, but I've wanted rituals for the purposes of doing Big Magic for a long time now, and the possibility of eventually making a Big Deal artefact with it makes it more attractive to me, not less.
The sword especially might as well be a Runefang unless you're up against an Emperor dragon in which case it's going to struggle much more than a Runefang would.
I have a question about Marienburg. Maybe someone can answer it.
I've been assuming that Marienburg is mostly Humans and Elves, based on the talk in the thread. I only knew the basics of the place. However, reading on the wiki:
The Commissariat of Public Works and Reclamations is charged with maintaining the canals, the great flood wall and the breakwater. Headed by the Dwarf Waltonius Joken Fooger,a cousin of Director Fooger, it is the source of large contracts for the city's labour guilds and architects. Though hotly denied by the commissariat's public relations office, it is an open secret that Commissioner Fooger favours whoever gives him the last and best bribe, which has led some to call him "Goldbeard" behind his back.
Brick-lined tunnels pierce it at several points, each built within the base of a stone watch tower. During times of dangerously high tides, residents near the walls can hear the rhythmic thrumming of the Dwarf-built pumps forcing water out into the swamp.
Though the city has not been sacked for 700 years, the New Palace still looks very much like a fortress: four stout towers guard the approaches, and the lone gate that pierces the keep wall is made of solid steel, forged by the Dwarfs of Karaz-a-Karak and enchanted with guarding runes.
If the wiki isn't wrong, a lot of Marienburg's infrastructure is built or maintained by Dwarves. A lot of it.
So given that there are a lot of Dwarves in Marienburg, who have built parts of Marienburg, and have a 'Director Fooger' on the ruling council who ought to know what Marienburg's monopolist intent is for embargoing the Empire... How could a Dwarf justify blatantly using Dwarf-made works to sabotage and extort not just the Empire, but Barak Varr and their channel as well?
I can see them defending Marienburg with weapons and fortifications, sure. The Empire gave it that independence in the first place, they have a right to defend it. That's just politics. But aggressive sabotage and extortion? Blockading all of Sigmar's Empire, and the Karaz Ankor? When Emperor Magnus's stated intent for granting Marienburg's independent governance in the first place was to keep trade open and safe, rather than shutting it down?
I don't understand how this would be remotely possible under any definition of Dwarven honour. I keep circling back around having to justify the thought, "And that's why it's okay for us to betray our ally, not to settle outstanding Grudges, but for personal greed."
I don't get how that could work with a Dwarf mindset.
I don't understand how this would be remotely possible under any definition of Dwarven honour. I keep circling back around having to justify the thought, "And that's why it's okay for us to betray our ally, not to settle outstanding Grudges, but for personal greed."
Oh, I'm not going by the GM, as you perfectly well know. I'm going by the fact that ironclads are expensive weapons of war built by dwarves. Individual cannons get runes, sometimes. Axes get runes on occasion. Something that costs hundreds of times the cost of any cannon, at minimum, is going to get some runes to protect against the only thing in the world that can scratch it. I don't think this is an inferential leap that exactly carries me away from solid ground.
-I did acknowledge wizards as a threat. However, what I emphasized was that the Marienburgers will have to contend not only with ironclads specifically pre-runed out the ass, no Kragg on hand required,
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My bet is not that the ironclads are invincible against magic; my bet is that specifically enchanted for anti-magic
Please point to the information - given by the GM - that makes you believe that there are dwarven capital ships covered in runes.
No-one using this argument has shown any.
Neither the GM's Alternate Universe or the standard Warhammer canon, have stated that magical steamships exist, nor do they suggest it.
They could well exist anyway, but to state that for certain is a bit of a reach, especially without a supporting body of evidence.
Here's my attempt at such support, made against your statement;
There's a seeming tendency among dwarven gear for it to lean towards being either magical or mechanical, not both. This is probably because when one aspect was strong, the other was weak (no steam engines or gunpowder during the golden age of runecrafting / not many runesmiths around let alone willing now that technology is king) as well as the traditions supporting them.
As an example, up until the 8th and last edition of Warhammer tabletop, dwarves could only add Runes to Cannons, Grudge Throwers, and Bolt Throwers - the Organ Gun and Flame Cannon were directly called out as being considered too newfangled to get any (newfangled = only widely accepted for hundreds of years).
Even in the 8th edition, where they could be enruned, those newer weapons could only have up to 50 points worth of Runes, while the others could have up to 100 - further suggesting a lesser ability or willingness to augment the less-traditional gear.
Notably, the Gyrocoptor and Gyrobomber have never been able to have Runes added to them. Nor do I recall any Rune-enhanced equipment listed or mention for the dwarven sections of the Man-O-War/Dreadfleet games, despite having a relatively large amount of information on them and despite the over-the-top powerlevels of the models involved.
Personal experience from this quest showed that merely having the massive favour-burning runeweapon made in the form of a sword rather than a nice, traditional axe or hammer was considered somewhat dubious. I can't quite recall if that did end up costing more favour than it otherwise would have, or if all the extreme proof-of-worth Mathilde went through eventually outweighed it.
Wait, now I remember; it wasn't - just - that they were more reluctant to make a sword instead, but that the result would be lesser than the favour would otherwise allow because they were less experience making swords. That was worked around as well, I believe, through Kragg putting in more effort, but that there would otherwise be noticeable a drop in effectiveness with the relatively small difference between weapons suggest a larger drop when trying to effect complex machinery instead.
So, while I'm sure Runes could be added to major parts of a steamship - perhaps a modified version of those used of Karak gates could empower the entire hull, or attached Banner Runes could be used to protect the ship in its aura instead of just the dwarves within it - there is no existing evidence to say that there currently are such ships, and plenty of evidence to say that it is quite unlikely. Especially unlikely, that all five of the most-modern, most-massive dreadnoughts would be completely covered in Runes.
I have a question about Marienburg. Maybe someone can answer it.
I've been assuming that Marienburg is mostly Humans and Elves, based on the talk in the thread. I only knew the basics of the place. However, reading on the wiki:
If the wiki isn't wrong, a lot of Marienburg's infrastructure is built or maintained by Dwarves. A lot of it.
So given that there are a lot of Dwarves in Marienburg, who have built parts of Marienburg, and have a 'Director Fooger' on the ruling council who ought to know what Marienburg's monopolist intent is for embargoing the Empire... How could a Dwarf justify blatantly using Dwarf-made works to sabotage and extort not just the Empire, but Barak Varr and their channel as well?
I can see them defending Marienburg with weapons and fortifications, sure. The Empire gave it that independence in the first place, they have a right to defend it. That's just politics. But aggressive sabotage and extortion? Blockading all of Sigmar's Empire, and the Karaz Ankor? When Emperor Magnus's stated intent for granting Marienburg's independent governance in the first place was to keep trade open and safe, rather than shutting it down?
I don't understand how this would be remotely possible under any definition of Dwarven honour. I keep circling back around having to justify the thought, "And that's why it's okay for us to betray our ally, not to settle outstanding Grudges, but for personal greed."
I don't get how that could work with a Dwarf mindset.
Marienburg isn't an ally of the Karaz Ankor or the Empire. They trade with them, but have not, AFAIK, made any treaties or binding agreement beyond that trade. Which means it might not be considered betrayal.
I have a question about Marienburg. Maybe someone can answer it.
I've been assuming that Marienburg is mostly Humans and Elves, based on the talk in the thread. I only knew the basics of the place. However, reading on the wiki:
If the wiki isn't wrong, a lot of Marienburg's infrastructure is built or maintained by Dwarves. A lot of it.
So given that there are a lot of Dwarves in Marienburg, who have built parts of Marienburg, and have a 'Director Fooger' on the ruling council who ought to know what Marienburg's monopolist intent is for embargoing the Empire... How could a Dwarf justify blatantly using Dwarf-made works to sabotage and extort not just the Empire, but Barak Varr and their channel as well?
I can see them defending Marienburg with weapons and fortifications, sure. The Empire gave it that independence in the first place, they have a right to defend it. That's just politics. But aggressive sabotage and extortion? Blockading all of Sigmar's Empire, and the Karaz Ankor? When Emperor Magnus's stated intent for granting Marienburg's independent governance in the first place was to keep trade open and safe, rather than shutting it down?
I don't understand how this would be remotely possible under any definition of Dwarven honour. I keep circling back around having to justify the thought, "And that's why it's okay for us to betray our ally, not to settle outstanding Grudges, but for personal greed."
I don't get how that could work with a Dwarf mindset.
Spell causes the caster to start emitting a fine mist for a duration (lets say 10 minutes for a placeholder?). This mist lingers in the caster's absence until a time limit is reached (aiming for a longish duration here, 1 day?) or exposed to direct sunlight (maybe expand to sufficiently bright light, should be able to endure a torch). People other than the caster passing through the mist will absorb some of it, resulting in details of their recent memories becoming confused without them realizing it. For instance, a scout might misremember how many troops they saw, or what insignia they were wearing.
Moving around while the spell is active will spread the mist thin, meaning that a particular area of the spell's coverage can affect fewer people before becoming exhausted. Could also reduce the duration of the mist in general.
Preexisting conditions of fog or mist might enhance the duration and/or coverage.
If this basic premise seems reasonable, some follow up questions:
1. Would allowing the caster to specify which details become confused and how be reasonable, either as a basic feature of the spell or as a mastery trait?
2. Would having a specific casting of the spell confuse people in a consistent way be reasonable, either as a base feature or as a mastery trait?
3. Would giving the mist Burning Shadow style IFF be reasonable, or is that something that the caster would need to be in the area to make a judgement call about?
This seems acceptable, but any type of control over what memories get garbled or how exactly they're distorted is right out. As is IFF if the caster is no longer connected to the spell.
Also, as a general rule, never make plans about possible future masteries.
I was looking through the list of approved spells to see if somebody suggested a spell to turn into mist (results pointed to 'you can try to steal that spell from the vampires, if it was a spell'), and I came across this. It seems to be really related to a mastery we now possess, just more diluted. That is to say that, rather than a thick fog that confuses people to the point of incoherence, it suggests a thin mist that confuses people to be a bit more unreliable, with the benefit that they don't realize what's going on right away.
There are a few things on the list of approved spells that I think we might be able to get to work on now, and they sound pretty neat; if not for us, then at least for sharing with other people. These include Mathilde's Masked Messer (one big shadow knife, so that we can pass on any lightsaber sword style we come up with; we can call the enchanted rings given to apprentices to make them easier to call up Mathilde's Exquisite Shadow Sword Evocation Rings, or MESSERs for short), Mathilde's Malingering Memory Mist (as above; developing a diluted form of our Confusion Mastery for more subtle work), and Mathilde's Minatory Manipulation (Eye of the Beholder but for threat levels; their general form is retained, but the level of the threat they present is changed, so a mounted knight might look like a scout or a demigryph rider).
So the option seems pretty bare in the turn voting options:
Enchantment and Spell Creation:
[ ] Enchant an item with a Moderately Complicated or easier spell (specify what and which)
[ ] Attempt to enchant an object to translate Windsight into a visual image.
[ ] Attempt to deepen your skill with Enchantment (will be more difficult than studying it at the Grey College) [ ] Attempt to create a spell (see Approved Spells threadmark)
Developing new spells is the best way to expand our spellbook, now that all of the ones we haven't taken but know about are Battle Magic, and I think that the opportunities creating them would present would be really fascinating to take advantage of.
Maybe they just don't adhere to a cultural worship of the Karaz Ankor? They're a species, not a political faction, and all, though in Warhammer the two are often conflated.
If we cannot make Aethyric Vitae into a powerstone useing the methods taught by the powerstone class we may want to look into rituals instead. Boney has described the creation process as,
and we have a snake that can move in more dimensions than us already in origami form. Aethyric Vitae comes from the snake so a ritual making AV take the shape of the snake could be a way to form AV powerstones.
The spell I'm most interested in trying to create in that threadmark would be the Fog of War - summoning fog that allies can see through , but enemies can't. IIRC I asked Boney about it forever ago, and he said that we could feasibly make multiple spells out of it for different sizes - Battle Magic to cover a battlefield, but easier spells to cover smaller areas.