Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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- Fantasy Users' Choice!
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- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Pronouns
- It/They
Interesting thing i found.
I was looking stuff up, and apparently the Lizard man term for humans "Xho'za'khanx" means "Untamed Ones"
huh... wonder what the significance of that is.
I was looking stuff up, and apparently the Lizard man term for humans "Xho'za'khanx" means "Untamed Ones"
huh... wonder what the significance of that is.
- Location
- Germany
Could just be empire hyperbole, hopefully so.
NuclearConsensus
Herald of the Thorned One
- Location
- the Philippines
Aside from the definition provided by @Sib, it's also supposed to be Mathilde's shiny new Shadow Warriors codename, which is a practice I've invented to explain Daroir's name.
- Location
- Space
Or a straw that broke a camel's back, ongoing low grade hostility leading to people being tense and jumpy, then what would otherwise be a minor fistfight set off many mousetraps.
It makes sense with Dawi logic. To say that another clans brew is like human ale is to call it shoddy. It is a insult to the entire clans craftsdwarfship. If the recipe is an ancestral one it is even worse for they are now insulting the clans ancestors. Such a insult must be answered. And if the insulting clan is not willing to do so peacefully, unlikely due to dawi stubbornness and how they were willing to level such a statement in the first place, then it must be paid back in blood.Dwarfs 8th Edition, page 38
Dwarves are crazy. Clans going to war against each other just because someone said the ale was bad.
You could, but the only soul magics Mathilde knows are from the Liber Mortis.
And the Clans in questions would be Brewing Clans, so their ale is their entire purpose. And to those Clans it wouldn't just be a craft, it would be their way of worshipping Valaya.
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- Pronouns
- It/They
Lets just stick with things that aren't entirely excusable and abundant and working with the shadows of things.
No need to go straight to the soul, even if the two are linked.
- Location
- Australia
Every race has seriously major flaws, and the dwarves are no exception. It's a massive part of why they're in a death spiral.
Dwarfs 8th Edition, page 41
Seems that in certain cases the dwarves will burn their dead rather than bury them.
Page 42
Looks like dwarves have proper military grenades, not just mining charges repurposed for battlefield use. Also, these bombs are used not only by Irondrakes, but also Ironbreakers, so it seems they're relatively traditional; they're not radical or newfangled enough for only engineers to use them at least.
Page 43
Turns out dwarves actually have flamer pistols! We should consider replacing one of our revolvers with one, or just straight adding one to our loadout. Mind you, in DL lore, drakeguns are even less traditional than bullet guns, so we really shouldn't expect any advanced runes. They'd combo fantastically with the Lore of Fire though.
Turn 30 Social - 2484.5 - Part 1
[X] Agree
[X] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[X] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] [ROMANCE] Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson
[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)
[X] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[X] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] [ROMANCE] Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson
[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)
"Behold," you say proudly, "the Staff of Mistery!"
The other Wizards regard the proffered staff politely. "What's the mystery?" Hubert asks.
"Whether Shard Dragons are really dragons or not, I suppose," you say, waggling it a bit.
"That's some really intricate runework," Maximilian says. "May I?"
"Sure," you say and hand it over. "The other big news is the upcoming Karag Dum Expedition, which after some negotiation with the Ice Witches has been firmly slated to set off in the Spring '86. You'll be getting the open invitation through your Colleges in the coming weeks, but if any of you want to bring yourselves along you'd be more than welcome."
"Isn't that one of the ones lost in the Great War Against Chaos?" Gehenna asks.
"Lost contact, at least. The hope is that they're still holding out."
"If anyone could, the Dwarves could," Adela says firmly.
"Asarnil will be joining us, so it should be quite the adventure. Anyway, think it over and let me know, I'll be gyro-hopping to meet them at High Pass so we can share a carriage. Now, I believe that I'm not the only one with big news..." you say leadingly, looking over at now-Magister Maximilian. It takes him a moment to look up from the staff when he realizes everyone's looking at him.
"Oh, right," he says, as Gehenna snags the staff from him while he's distracted. "I've been promoted to Magister for my part in the-" he hesitates, and glances at Gehenna and then to you.
"She was at the Battle of Ubersreik," Johann says proudly.
"Yes-yes, fought-slayed the ratties," she says absently, peering at the runework.
"Right, for my part in the Skaven haul," Maximilian continues. "That and a letter of good standing from the local blacksmiths. The College usually looks down on mundane crafts, but the Dwarven stamp of approval made all the difference."
As the discussion veers into a comparison of local clothiers for Maximilian to acquire the fancier robes he's now entitled to, Gehenna sidles over to you. "What's this one here?"
You peer at the Rune on your staff she's pointing at. "Eltharin... oh, that would be Anath Raema in Her aspect of the Stalker. Elven Goddess, like Kurnous but crankier, as I understand it."
"Huh." She frowns thoughtfully. "Bunch of things just made sense. I stamped out a Cult of Styriss on Ostermark a while back that was hitting way above its weight, this was one of the symbols they had on their shrines."
"Write a letter to the Taalites about it," you suggest. "I've got a contact or two that could pass it on for you. The major Cults take a dim view of the nastier Elven Gods trying to slip into the Old World."
"Will do. Got a scar that aches when the weather changes that would very much like to put another spoke in their wheel."
You turn your attention back to the discussion, which has mostly devolved into Gretel griping about how long the silk-weavers are taking to figure things out, and Johann acting smug about his own looted silk sheets. "Right," you say, interrupting them. "The other thing I want to touch on is the Marienburg situation. Gretel is already on retainer with Barak Varr. Hubert, can you have a word with the Winter Wolves? I don't think they'd be high up on the list of targets if Marienburg is feeling cloak-and-daggery, but they might seem isolated enough to be worth taking a swing at if Marienburg is feeling particularly stupid."
"They've mostly got greenskins for neighbours so they're already very on alert, but I'll tell them to keep an eye out for human foes as well," he says.
"Hopefully this will all blow over and never get beyond saber-rattling, but if it does come down to war, we're definitely not looking to have a repeat of Grootscher Marsh. I'd expect a full call to arms amongst all eight Colleges, the sort of thing not seen since Magnus' time."
"'We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do, we've got the guns, we've got the men, we've got the Wizards too. We've fought Parravon before, and while we're Reiklanders true, the Bretonni shall not have a hide east of the Grey.'"
You look from Gehenna, who started the odd verse, and to Johann who joined it midway. "Parravon?"
"An old song from the Third Parravon War, which was revived for the Fourth, which my Master fought in as a Journeyman," Gehenna explains. "There's always some cause that puts the realms of man at each other's throats, and for some reason people are more enthusiastic about them than fighting greenskins or beastmen or marauders or raiders."
"Tell that to the Directorate," you say with a shrug. "We really don't want to fight them, we've got a dozen other problems to worry about, but if Marienburg blockades us we'll have no choice, no matter their allies." Gehenna simply nods. "So anyway, I want everyone to brush up on their combat skills, just in case. And pray to your God of choice that it doesn't come down to the Colleges against the White Tower."
As the meeting breaks up, you take Hubert aside and show him your shrine. You've got no desire to steal him away from Ulric, but you did steal Wolf away from the Wolf God, so it's only fair to give Hubert a chance at the crows that call your shrine home. At this time of year there's only a handful of the choughs visiting to drink and bathe in the shallow pools, but come Spring the many nooks will be filled with nests and eggs and with a bit of luck, a hatchling will prove suitable for Hubert. The choughs live up high where Azyr dominates, and it would be nice for him to have a familiar that could fly with him.
---
Prince Gotri has two personal workshops: the one high up in Karag Lhune close to the gyrocopter bays, and one built more recently in Karag Nar, close to the nascent Gunnery School. He's invited you to the latter to discuss the upcoming Expedition, and considering the opinions the relatively young Dwarf holds, you can't even begin to guess what he's going to say.
"Loremaster," he says to you as you enter, not looking up from the project he's working on, and you take a moment to take in the workshop. Dwarves workshops are notoriously tidy places, and while this one has all the tools not currently in use hung on the appropriate hooks, it also has a number of half-dismantled devices taking up their own separate workbench. You wonder if this is just the way Gotri's mind operates, or if he deliberately splits his attention between different projects to rebel against the norms of his peers.
"Thane," you respond politely. Prince would normally outweigh Thane, but if you're talking as one Councillor to another, that's the most relevant title.
"Gotrek Gurnisson," he says. "Now there's a Dwarf who decides his own fate, and is brilliant enough to get away with it. And that wife of his must be just as determined, to refuse to join her husband's Clan and rejoin the Karaz Ankor. What a pair." He chuckles, and then swears as something inside what he's working on goes ping. "What's your actual opinion on this Expedition?"
You consider your thoughts on the matter, then you consider your audience. "I think that they're trying to rescue ghosts, and I think I'm going to be hard-pressed to keep them from joining them." You manage to find a clear and relatively clean piece of workbench and take a seat atop it. "And that's the sensible ones. Borek wants Karag Dum to keep holding out even though it's halfway down the gullet of Chaos."
"About what I thought. It's about context. They're refusing to give proper weight to the circumstances they find themselves in. Consider the grapecannon." He turns and gestures at a snarl of steel rods and wheels that looks nothing like a grapecannon to you. "I give it thirty years before the first fails. They'll all be scrap metal within a century. The average Engineer would sooner shave off his beard than build something like that. They'd have given it their all and made perhaps three cannon that would still be working in three thousand years. And don't get me wrong, there's a place for that, if Belegar asked me to build something for the battlements going up I'd make sure they'd last, but when there's greenskins pouring up the tunnels that's not the time to be worrying about next century."
"Seems a sensible attitude to me."
"That's what all the manlings say. But when I try to say something like that to my fellow Engineers, they look at me like I suggested they marry a Goblin. Sometimes I think there was a mix-up somewhere along the line and I should have been born in Nuln." He prods the not-grapecannon moodily, then peers at it and reaches for a spanner. "Still, it'd be hypocritical of me to spend time griping about how things should be, instead of focusing on how things are. So I've got two little presents for you and this Expedition. The first is this, once I get the blasted thing working." You stand up and walk over to peer over his shoulder. "It'll probably help to imagine a railing here and here."
"It's a mount," you realize.
"Right. We physically can't make use of all the grapecannon we've got with just one chokepoint left, and they're not going to last that long anyway, so it costs us nothing to contribute them and I'd much rather they ruin a Chaos Warrior's day up there than collect rust here. I've sent a letter to Gurnisson telling him the dimensions of the firing apertures they'll need, and once I finish the railing that'll allow them to be reloaded and run out between shots, I'll have them all sent up. Sorted it out with Barak Varr already."
You imagine the effects of a grapeshot broadside lashing out from the side of the steam-wagons, and smile. "I'm sure it'll be appreciated."
"The other little present is- get the door, will you?" You gesture, and a Move cantrip swings the door shut. "Handy. Right, Borek's going to encounter the reality that his Karak is inevitably doomed, and when that happens, he's probably going to go Slayer and won't care who he takes with him. So I've got a couple of levers for you to pull in case you need to alter the course of events. Gotrek's a very useful sort, I was going to make him an offer before I realized you might find it useful to keep it in reserve. If he and his family show up at the gates of Karak Eight Peaks, I've got a home and a job and a position in the Guild waiting for him, no questions asked. He can stay Clanless if he wants, or I can take him into Stoneheart. Had a word with Dreng, and the same applies for Snorri with Clan Huzkul. So if the Expedition ever needs a sudden change of leadership..."
It's a problem you've had to consider yourself recently, and you're surprised to hear this kind of solution coming from a Dwarven set of lips. Gotri's always been radical, but what he seems to be implying is a step beyond that. You wonder if he's always been this way, or if he's being further radicalized by the Karak. "I do hope it never comes to that," you say, "but if it does, it will be very nice to have options. Thank you."
He nods. "You're too useful to be lost on impossible revanchism."
---
Judging by reports, the Hochlander has been quite busy, introducing the EIC to the concept of polyalphabetic ciphers and distributing cipher disks to each of the scattered branches. You would have gone with a book cipher, but it's his operation and micromanaging defeats the purpose of delegation, and you have to admit that memorizing a cipher disk is easier than having to consult a book for each word.
The official news is a continuation of the status quo as Marienburg and the Empire continue rattling sabers without making any substantial moves towards war, but it could be things are unofficially heating up, as river piracy has started to spike along the Stir and the Aver. The EIC has avoided the worst of it as it uses its well-developed information network to travel in the wake of Riverwardens whenever possible, but other trade organizations aren't so well-prepared and a number of cargos have been stolen and the boats sunk. Though it's overall to the Empire's disadvantage, it could be that the EIC will come out with an advantage over its competitors if it continues to be better able than them to avoid the worst of the predations.
The Sylvanian campaign is once more settled in for Winter, except positioned much tighter around the remaining Vampiric holdouts. A number of skirmishes ended indecisively as the Vampires refuse to commit fully to a breakout attempt, and the largest battles have been between the two towns as the Vampires apparently turn on each other. There's no better success than one's enemies bleeding each other dry, and you smile as you read through the force estimations and casualty figures.
---
Mathilde has resolved to better get to know the remaining beings that she is interested in pursuing, and there's a number of possible avenues for each. Vote for the ones that you're most interested in seeing.
The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[ ] (DRAGON) Just show up and see if it's feeling chatty
[ ] (DRAGON) Discuss linguistics
[ ] (DRAGON) Offer to teach it Khazalid
[ ] (DRAGON) Visit to investigate magics the Dragon seems to be casting
[ ] (DRAGON) Compare notes between its recollections and Dwarven records of its activity
Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[ ] (ROSWITA) Sparring sessions
[ ] (ROSWITA) Invite her to peruse your library for useful information
[ ] (ROSWITA) A shared investigation into the undead
[ ] (ROSWITA) Attend Roswita's academic presentation
[ ] (ROSWITA) Go for a Cruise on the Stir
[ ] (ROSWITA) Try to convert her to a better God
Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[ ] (ANTON) Visit your fief together
[ ] (ANTON) Tour Blutdorf's repeater factory
[ ] (ANTON) Celebrate Two-Gifts Day with him and his family
[ ] (ANTON) Discuss old times, and how far they've come
[ ] (ANTON) Discuss his aunt, the Jade Wizard
Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson
[ ] (OSWALD) A series of demonstrations at the artillery range
[ ] (OSWALD) Swap war stories
[ ] (OSWALD) Bond over pets
[ ] (OSWALD) Discuss religion
[ ] (OSWALD) Visit Nuln's Gunnery School together
[ ] (OSWALD) Shared gyrocopter tour
- There will be a two hour moratorium.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Might not be an issue. It is well established that location in the warp has almost nothing to do with location in the real world. We might be able to make two towers that are right next to each other as far as the warp is considered.
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SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
Holy shit that is some serious radicalism.
I guess that established once and for all Mathilde's opinion of Borek's sanity in light of all those books on the Wastes. He does not have any or soon won't depending on if you consider slayerhood the full descent into madness or not.
Are we sure we cannot squeeze her into the romance options? If it truly is to late we need to think about having a serious talk with Ranald about stealing time so we can meet her earlier.
Well, someone gotta wield that Axe of Grimnir.
Nice to see others at K8P contributing to the Expedition. It is becoming less and less suicidal by the day!
It is most good that I finished my lunch reading this because I almost choked doing a double take.
Mathilde no, the first decider of potential intergenerational romance shouldn't be a conversion attempt.
- Location
- his hidden lair
Respect for Gotri. Dwarfs in general don't seem to recognize exactly what kind of creature she is, let alone recognize the potential need for her trade. Sneaking into a monster's seat of power, assassinations of Orc Warbosses, recon. None of that really recognizes she's a tool that can be bent to internal factors as easily as external ones.
Ganurath
Literal Enthusiast
- Location
- A Valid Location
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If we hook up with Johann, she'd kind of be our mother-in-law.
Yes but I want to be his kind of mother-in-law. We have so many mom jokes to tell him.
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Holy shit. That's incredibly useful, but rather underhanded. No wonder he asked us to grab the door before he said anything.
I'd lean strongly toward Magics, but I'd also be okay with Linguistics or Khazalid. We do need a way to talk to it, but magic is as good a language as any.
"Two-Gifts Day", no question.
Chlof
Her Ladyship
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[x] (DRAGON) Compare notes between its recollections and Dwarven records of its activity
[ ] (ANTON) Discuss his aunt, the Jade Wizard
Or
[ ] (ANTON) Visit your fief together
[ ] (ANTON) Discuss his aunt, the Jade Wizard
Or
[ ] (ANTON) Visit your fief together
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Being a gray wizard on Two-gifts day feels like cheating. We can make anything seem valuable or trash.