On the one hand yes, but on the other no mortal mage or cultist or daemon has yet managed to create a permanent bit of Chaos Waste in the Empire, and I'm sure there must have been a lot of attempts to do so.
Storms of Magic are the closest thing and those are temporary.
Also Sylvania, the Blighted Marsh, the Dark Lands, the Vampire Coast, the Galleon's Graveyard, the Badlands, Nehekhara, large amounts of the forests of the Empire and Brettonia and also Norsca if you don't count Norsca as being a part of the Chaos Wastes.
On the one hand yes, but on the other no mortal mage or cultist or daemon has yet managed to create a permanent bit of Chaos Waste in the Empire, and I'm sure there must have been a lot of attempts to do so.
Storms of Magic are the closest thing and those are temporary.
Sylvania. Mordheim. The Eerie Downs. The Drakwold. The Forest of Shadows. The Beast-Paths. The Mirror Moors. Castle Drachenfels. The Brass Keep. In other parts of the Old World, Mousillon. Karak Vlag. Praag. Athel Loren, arguably. The Blighted Marshes. And all the ones @Chlof mentioned.
Also Sylvania, the Blighted Marsh, the Dark Lands, the Vampire Coast, the Galleon's Graveyard, the Badlands, Nehekhara, large amounts of the forests of the Empire and Brettonia and also Norsca if you don't count Norsca as being a part of the Chaos Wastes.
Okay explain how the forests of the empire have any connection to those things? Beastmen are bad but the forests are not laced with Dhar. For that matter neither is Nehekhara. Sylvania has more to with you warpstone meteor chunks and the dust from them that dispersed than any thingv to do with wizards i feel like you made a big list of places that are bad but thats basically the only connection.
Nagash's ritual literally killed almost every living thing inside the entire nehekharan subcontinent and turned it into what it is today? 'Cursed for all time' is literally one of it's defining features.
Chaos Sorcerers do it all the time, and while that is certainly no endorsement, it is still a strong evidence that reality is rather sturdy and eventually snaps back no matter what mortal mages do to let Chaos in.
(Disclaimer: This does not apply next to a giant warpstone-meteor like the in Pit in Mordheim)
[+] The Wizards of Karak Eight Peaks (locked in)
[+] Social interaction initiated by someone else (locked in)
[+] EIC Reports (does not cost a choice)
[*] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[*] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[*] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[*] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
Belegar's personal quarters are in a state of uncertainty, as debate amongst Clan Angrund is focused on whether the Royal Clan should be housed in close proximity to the current de facto Throne Room in Karag Lhune, the original de jure Throne Room under the Citadel, or somewhere else to establish a completely new beginning for the reborn Karak. So you've invited him to your own quarters for the discussion you intend to have, and though his Hammerers are ever by his side, between your own proven trustworthiness and the security of your penthouse they relax a fraction and accept seats and drinks at a discreet distance.
"Hell of a view," Belegar says, gazing out over his Karak. "Shame that Gotri's gyrocopters are taking up the peak of Karag Lhune, or I'd be tempted to set up something similar." He takes a pull from the ale you'd offered him and grunts in surprise. "Sticking with the zinti brewers?"
"At least for now. Dourback's currently focused on recreating the old recipes, and while that's all well and good, I like a bit of a surprise when I broach a new barrel."
"They'll re-diversify after they settle in. They were doing quite well for themselves in the Empire, brewing ales for manling tastes. Once they've scaled up production enough to satisfy the thirsts here, they'd be foolish not to go back to supplying their old contacts - especially once the canal's done. Though I daresay it wasn't ales you wished to discuss, as rich a topic as that is."
"The Karag Dum Expedition. There's something that I'm missing here. Near sixty thousand Dwarves marched south with you, but less than five hundred are going north."
"Ah. Yes." He mulls that over, taking a long drink from his tankard. "First of all, there's the usual matter of Old versus Young. Only had four thousand from Karak Kadrin, half of them Slayers, and Karaz-a-Karak and Barak Varr only gave materiel support. The rest were from Norn or Hirn or Izor, or were Clanless. And it was almost very different - if I had left Altdorf outright when the Elector's Meet turned out to be a waste of time, I would have returned to Karaz-a-Karak and would have eventually ventured forth with only a few thousand. But I gave the manlings a chance to rise above their leadership, and by Grimnir they did. There's two thousand manlings interred in the foundations of Karag Lhune now, and it's all the stronger for it and I'd declare a Grudge on anyone who said otherwise.
"But apart from the direct assistance of the citizens of the Empire, being based in Reikland and later in Averland meant I was close enough to exchange a lot of letters with the Young Holds, and I had the legitimacy of having armed forces accumulating. Not just a Beggar-King appearing in their halls once a generation to ask for troops, but a growing and imminent Expedition that they had the opportunity to negotiate with. Princess Edda is..." he hesitates. "...talented in her niche, but less flexible than perhaps she could be. But as the price for Karak Izor's assistance, it's a deal I don't regret. Similarly, Karak Hirn wanted... hmm..."
"To remove the least favoured son from the picture."
"Ah, you know about that."
You nod. "Got it straight from Ulthar."
"Least favoured, hah. And then what happens once there were only two Princes left... there's something rotten in the foundations of that Clan, and I pray the Ancestors give Ulthar strength enough to root it out, and that Alrik manages to rediscover his honour long enough to shave his head and let the Throne pass to Ulthar. But anyway, point is, this was all Young Holds. To them, Karak Eight Peaks wasn't an aching scar, it was a beautiful legend. They were bold where Karaz-a-Karak was weary. But when we're speaking of Old Holds, Karag Dum was definitely an Old Hold, and even Karaz-a-Karak considers them arrogant. Even in desperation, this envoy of theirs only treats with Karak Kadrin and Zhufbar and Karaz-a-Karak - he even snubbed Barak Varr, as Karag Dum considers them weakened by their dependence on trade."
"So it's not that this Expedition isn't being supported, it's that those that are supporting it are doing so with goods rather than lives."
"Aye. Part of that is regular Old Hold reticence - they're astonishingly rich, but their population is shrinking and they've no desire to accelerate that, so given the choice they'll supply steel instead of blood every time. But the other half of the story goes back to before my time. I was born shortly before Thorgrim's hundredth year on the Throne of Power, so I only know what my grandfather told me of the Great War Against Chaos, and the Council of Kings that followed it. It was..." Belegar sighs, and takes a moment to refill his flagon from the barrel. "It was a time that some call the Skedanbryn, the Stolen Hope. The forces of ruin were battering at our doors, but not one Hold succumbed to the temptation to seal itself away and diminish, and every Hold's banners flew on the walls of Kislev. Our ancient allies of the Empire had pulled themselves back together after centuries of division and civil war. And the greatest of all miracles, as we chased the shattered enemy from the borders of Kislev, we met our long-lost cousins in the Battle of Grovod Wood, who we had thought lost in the Coming of Chaos. It seemed like a turning point in our history, a time of resurgence. Even the news that High King Alriksson was dying could not damper our hope, and at the Council of Kings Thorgrim rode that hope onto the Throne with his promise of an Age of Vengeance.
"My grandfather was almost elected," King Belegar says, his voice strained. "That thought consumed him until his dying day, that he had come so close to getting his hands on the means to recover our ancestral home, but had been defeated when Thorgrim made his late entrance to the Council. But Thorgrim was High King, and then it came time to tally the costs. Every Dwarf Hold had contributed, and each had been so thoroughly weakened that all we could do was maintain our defences against the constant probing from the rats and the greenskins. But though the War was over, the aftershocks went on. Asavar Kul had drawn on Marauders and mutants and daemons from across the northern hemisphere, but when the Chaos Hordes broke against the walls of Kislev, every survivor went north into Norsca, and were rallied under some new champion to attack our northern kin. Last we heard from Kraka Drakk, they had collapsed the mountain itself to take as many of the hordes with them as possible. And Karag Dum had been founded right at the line between the steppes and the Chaos Wastes, but the Great War had pushed that line as far south as Praag and it still shows no sign of receding. As for Karak Vlag... we still don't know. It's as if it was never founded. Not even the watchtowers that used to line the pass remain, nor any sign they were ever built. So not only did we lose our newly rediscovered kin, but we lost major Holds for the first time since the fall of Karak Azgal, and we didn't have enough influence in the world to even know their final moments, or who to level the Grudge against. Thorgrim's Age of Vengeance stopped being about hope and started to be about..." He sighs. "Settling our affairs as best we can before we disappear forever, and have to answer to the Ancestors for what has become of the Empire that They left us."
You nod solemnly, having seen that attitude yourself, from Thorgrim himself and from Kragg and from so many others. A sense of doomed fatalism, that doing all in their power isn't enough to turn back the tide, and all it will accomplish is being able to meet their Ancestors without too much shame. "So the assumption is that Karag Dum is doomed," you say. "Zhufbar and Karak Kadrin will do their duty and invest expertise and resources, but not many Dwarves, because that is the one loss they can least afford."
"If all I had at my disposal were Dwarves, I'd do the same," Belegar says frankly. "But for all the bravery and artifice of the Dwarves, it was men that held the line at the Battle of Karag Nar and the Battle of the Citadel, it is men that hold Death Pass and keep us connected to the Karaz Ankor, and it was a joint project between the Runesmiths and the Colleges that shattered Waaagh Birdmuncha. If the Karaz Ankor has a future, it is alongside the men of the Empire, as High King Kurgan Ironbeard decreed so long ago. So I sent you."
---
One of the benefits of being the Loremaster of a major Karak is that showing up and saying 'I'm nosy, tell me what's going on here' is considered by Dwarves to be entirely within your job description. Over a series of days, you're handed from supervisor to supervisor as each describes their own part of the massive project to link the Empire's rivers with the Black Water. One such supervisor sheepishly admits they're technically already linked, but neither the Aver Falls nor the Zhuf that gives Zhufbar its name are what you'd call navigable.
The Project is a much larger scale than you envisioned. The Dwarves are not content to dig another River of Echoes, where boats designed specifically for its narrow and shallow watercourse carry barely a wagonload of cargo each and every year a new diplomatic incident is caused because boaters meet in a particularly narrow area and neither wants to be the one that backs up so the other can pass. This is being dug to what the Dwarves call Monitor Standard, wide enough and deep enough that a fully-loaded River Monitor, or a freight vessel built to the same dimensions, can pass without trouble, and even that is causing grumbling because some say the job won't be properly done until Barak Varr's riverine Ironclad design can pass through. Work is being done on from both sides at once, though weekly map exchanges ensure that both are still on course to meet each other halfway.
Starting from the Black Water is a tunnel being dug through the mountains in the same way it has always been, as for all their insight and technology, to Dwarves there is exactly one correct way to dig a tunnel, and that is the way that Grungni did it. Sure, there are vast ventilation pumps bringing fresh air in, and steam vehicles on rails taking away dirt and rubble, but at the very front of the tunnel is a series of wooden scaffolds to allow what looks like an entire Mining Clan at once to bring their picks to bear on the solid rock of the mountain. Occassional side-branches are being dug to pursue interesting veins and deposits that were uncovered by chance, carefully watched over by Lodewardens in case they break through into unexpected tunnels.
Far below, the work is far different. Ever since the Purge of the Haunted Hills, migrant workers have swarmed into Southern Stirland in huge numbers to be a part of the logging of the Ghoul Woods, funded by the Counties of Hornau, Sigmaringen and Leicheberg. Even as timber prices crashed the logging continued to free Southern Stirland of their worst neighbour and unlock some prime farmland and pastures, with Schramleben being piled high with logs yet to find a buyer. But even though prices are recovering as shipyards and boatyards throughout the Empire begin to ramp up production, the amount of work available to these migrant workers fell as the Woods shrank, and when the Dwarves arrived to start surveying for their canals and locks, they found a veritable bounty of cheap labour and cheaper timber. Mining through rock is one thing, but digging through soil is quite another, and few grumble about letting manlings do the shovelwork. The manlings are equally happy with the arrangement, as being paid in good Dwarven silver is worth a third again as much in shillings if you find the right moneychanger.
There's still a lot of distance to cover vertically and horizontally, especially since the route carefully skirts the ruins of Karak Varn. But so far everything is going exactly as planned. The tricky part will come when it comes time to design the mechanisms to allow boats to make the trip between the Aver Reach below and the Black Water high above, especially since every supervisor seems to have his own answer for how to accomplish that. Lock flights or staircase locks are the most obvious solutions, but others are championing inclined plane canals, boat lifts, caisson locks, and shaft locks, and each champion is able to come up with a long list of drawbacks to every solution but theirs. The ultimate problem seems to be that this is a joint project between Barak Varr and Zhufbar, and both consider themselves to be the ones best suited to overcoming the technical problems: Barak Varr as champion of the rivers, and Zhufbar as the foremost technologists of the Karaz Ankor. You hope that something is able to be worked out soon.
If there's one problem that you don't think you have to worry about, it's Marienburg. The upper excavation is prepared for all-out assault from greenskins or Skaven or even fouler things from the depths of the Black Water, so any mere bandits that Marienburg pays off to interfere with them will have a very rude awakening indeed. And of the itinerant workers in Southern Stirland you feel equally confident. An outsider might peg them as an easy target for bribery to sabotage the project, but these are Stirlanders and they, at least for now, are full of patriotic fervour for their province and gratitude for their Dwarven neighbours. Thanks in no small part to Dwarven firepower, the Hunter Count and his successor have been avenging four hundred years of terror and violence that have poured out of Sylvania, and everyone present knows that even if their morals could stretch far enough to accept Marienburg gold, they'd be far more likely to be beaten to death under the shovels of their fellow workers than to manage any substantial damage to the project. When you finish your tour of the dig sites, you feel confident that Marienburg is far more likely to land themselves in trouble than to cause any for this project.
---
On paper, Stirland is right on the brink of finally pacifying Sylvania. In reality, things are very far from that simple. Like the Jutone ancestors of the modern Nordlanders, the Fennone ancestors of the Sylvanians were not part of the original tribal unification under Sigmar, instead being conquered by Emperor Sigismund centuries later. This original rift was only widened by the events of 1111, where warpstone meteors, the Black Death, and the invasion of the Skaven and the rise of Frederick Van Hal made Sylvania a cursed land. Mutation, disease, starvation, and predation are common to all who live there. The poor know damn well that their best defence against the horrors of the night is fealty to a Vampire that can command those horrors, rather than relying on the distant armies of an Elector Count. The rich know equally well that they would rather pay taxes in someone else's blood than their own gold. The Sylvanians might be cowed for now after the destruction of Castle Drakenhof, the deployment of the Battle Wizards, and the slaying of most of the more prominent Vampires, but it will take much more than that to win them over to the benefits of Empire and civilization.
This is the purpose that Kasmir has apparently dedicated himself to, and it's to some surprise that you finally track him to his current headquarters: a very small town on the northern edge of the marshes between the Hunter's Hills and the Aver Reach. There's a great deal of recent construction as the town takes advantage of cheap timber and the influx of settlers, and the town seems very different to the other Sylvanian towns you've visited.
"The town of Bylorhof," Kasmir says with a wave of his hand, walking the streets and nodding to those he passes. "Technically, it's part of County of Leicheberg. If you look at the roads, it's closer to being part of the County of Hornau. But realistically, it's Sylvanian - the people are Sylvanian and the Stirlandian Counts haven't drawn taxes or levies from here in centuries. But it's never been ruled by Vampires, either. Vlad von Carstein never tried, and though Mannfred von Carstein did, the Vampire he sent - Count Ranelf von Feuerfliege - was staked and thrown into Bylorhof Marsh."
"What makes this place so different?" you ask, consulting a mental map. "It's on the wrong side of the Ghoul Wood for them to escape the attention of the Von Carsteins that much, surely."
"Have you ever heard of Manhavok?" Without thinking you make a gesture to placate the God of Floods, and you frown as you try to remember where you learned it. "Yes, that's the one. God of Floods, only worshipped in Stirland, which always struck me as odd. Everyone knows the gesture and most people know the prayer, even if they grew up in the hills far from the gentlest tributary. But I think I know why. The ancient Fennones would worship the bogs, which isn't as strange as it first sounds. Bogs gave them bog-iron and peat and bog-wood and all sorts of berries, and in return the Fennone would give them their worship and the bodies of their dead, which the Vampires later took advantage of. Bylorhof never forgot the old ways, and they still worshipped the God of Bylorhof Marsh, Bylorak, even after the Vampires came. In secret at first, and openly after they struck down Count Ranelf. I think there was once a 'family' of Gods that were worshipped, one for each bog and marsh and swamp, and one for Manhavok for when waters encroached on dry land unexpectedly."
You frown to yourself as you remember the shrine to Stromfels under Wurtbad. It seemed strange to you at the time that there'd be a God of Shipwrecking so far inland, but for an ambitious acolyte, Manhavok might have represented some substantial Godly real estate that Stromfels might have been able to subsume, and considering the entire household got buried under flood-silt, perhaps Manhavok objected. "It makes sense," is all you say.
"The first clincher for me is Mannfred," Kasmir says. "After the Battle of Hel Fenn, the Imperial forces searched for Mannfred von Carstein's body. Martin of Stirland sent search parties on a regular basis for the rest of his life. Even today our forces keep finding necromancers dredging Hel Fenn. Some people take this as a sign that Mannfred escaped and is licking his wounds somewhere, but everything about him in the history books tells me he's not the type to lay low. If he was out there, we'd know about it. So I think that nobody can find him because Hel Fenn is holding him, just as Bylorak is holding Count Ranelf."
You nod to yourself. It doesn't take much to bring a Vampire back. If it hasn't happened yet despite all the foolish Necromancer acolytes doing their best to make it happen, it's reasonable to assume it's because something is stopping them. "You said the first clincher. What's the second?"
"Ever been to Hel Fenn?"
You think for a moment. "Visited Mikalsdorf once, but didn't pay much attention to the surrounds. Why?"
"It's not a fen, it's a swamp."
You shrug. "Cartographers mistake? Can't imagine many would be willing to double-check."
"That's the thing, I went digging through all the archives I could. Even the earliest maps record it as Hel Fenn, and so does every one since. Always one L, always two Ns. Something's making that name stick. Nobody's ever tried to 'correct' it to two-L one-N Hell Fen. Nobody's ever relabelled it to a swamp. Which makes me wonder where the Fennones got their name. Their foremost God, perhaps?"
You think through the rest of your knowledge of the Vampire Wars. "And Grim Moor?"
"Is a bog," he says with a smile. "Is it too holding tight onto Konrad?"
"Another God hidden in a name?"
"Morr, perhaps? Or something like 'Gremmer' that was transliterated into words by outsiders."
"All very interesting, but what's it in service of?"
He waves a hand. "Sylvanians have no patience for outsiders coming in with outsider Gods. They'll accept our help, and they'll definitely accept our gold, but at the first sign of trouble the priests flee and the Sylvanians will have no choice but to go back to their old habits. What do they care for Sigmar, who overlooked their tribe? What do they care for Taal when their forests are so hostile, or Rhya when their crops so often rot, or Shallya when there's no mercy to be found? But Bylorak succeeded where all others failed. Bylorhof never paid a drop of blood to the Vampire Counts. So if we can re-establish their Old Gods, perhaps they can succeed where ours have failed."
---
What setting shall Mathilde choose to ask Panoramia on a date to?
[ ] A Shared Meal It worked out well last time. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
[ ] A Picnic in the Fields Some are laying fallow with just a thin layer of clover. A perfect setting for a Jade Wizard.
[ ] A Scenic Hike You're both active people, and the Silver Tarn is supposed to be beautiful. Go for a hike up Karagril and take in the view.
[ ] Drinks and Dice She seemed shocked to learn you worshipped Ranald. Play a few low-stakes games of chance with her at the Karak's own shrine to Him to introduce her to Him properly.
- There will be a two hour moratorium. Please do not relitigate the romance vote at this time.
- Other date ideas are welcome.
He waves a hand. "Sylvanians have no patience for outsiders coming in with outsider Gods. They'll accept our help, and they'll definitely accept our gold, but at the first sign of trouble the priests flee and the Sylvanians will have no choice but to go back to their old habits. What do they care for Sigmar, who overlooked their tribe? What do they care for Taal when their forests are so hostile, or Rhya when their crops so often rot, or Shallya when there's no mercy to be found? But Bylorak succeeded where all others failed. Bylorhof never paid a drop of blood to the Vampire Counts. So if we can re-establish the Old Gods, perhaps they can succeed where newer Gods have failed."
The stuff about Hel Fenn and Grim Moor and divinities is really really cool. I now want to explore this and learn more about this and wow. Cool stuff.
At first I started wondering whether the Fimir might have anything to do with this. But then the etymology started and I started going "Hey, that sounds reasonable... and intriguing." 'course, this might all be wrong. And maybe Mannfred simply didn't die in Hel Fenn but in somewhere else. So who knows.
But also. The fact that Kasmir is thinking about getting Old Gods to solve the problems... that's a big change from how he was at the start, isn't it? Cool to see.
And Belegar's portion, about the recent history of the Karaz Ankor, was painful. Stolen hope. It really did feel that way. None of them had shied away from battle; their ancient allies had resurged miraculously, and a great Emperor had reunited the squabbling provinces and stepped forth to bring battle to the Everchosen; and they had made contact with their cousins the North Dwarfs!
... And then, the butcher's bill. They take longer to recover from this victory (victorious defense) than other races would from a defeat, indeed.
The stuff about Hel Fenn and Grim Moor and divinities is really really cool. I now want to explore this and learn more about this and wow. Cool stuff.
At first I started wondering whether the Fimir might have anything to do with this. But then the etymology started and I started going "Hey, that sounds reasonable... and intriguing." 'course, this might all be wrong. And maybe Mannfred simply didn't die in Hel Fenn but in somewhere else. So who knows.
It's also all canon, weirdly. I read about Bylorak ages ago but the rest of it I only put together when I was writing this chapter. Hel Fenn isn't a fen, Grim Moor isn't a moor, the Fennone were called that and disposed of their dead in the bogs, all of it. I'm wondering if I really invented it or if I stumbled across some actual canon that never ended up being used.
Hmm after our elf vacation we should visit Karak Vlag, sounds like a good magical mystery to check out.
Say is there any swimming pool around here?
It would be good for Panoramia to teach Mathilde how to swim and relax in the water since she's a Jade wizard.
You frown to yourself as you remember the shrine to Stromfels under Wurtbad. It seemed strange to you at the time that there'd be a God of Shipwrecking so far inland, but for an ambitious acolyte, Manhavok might have represented some substantial Godly real estate that Stromfels might have been able to subsume. "It makes sense," is all you say.
Hmm after our elf vacation we should visit Karak Vlag, sounds like a good magical mystery to check out.
Say is there any swimming pool around here?
It would be good for Panoramia to teach Mathilde how to swim and relax in the water since she's a Jade wizard.
Children like to splash around in the aqueducts, but the only actual bodies of water nearby are the Silver Tarn which is a little too close to the slowline to be comfortable, and the cisterns that were until recently filled with river trolls.
"If all I had at my disposal were Dwarves, I'd do the same," Belegar says frankly. "But for all the bravery and artifice of the Dwarves, it was men that held the line at the Battle of Karag Nar and the Battle of the Citadel, it is men that hold Death Pass and keep us connected to the Karaz Ankor, and it was a joint project between the Runesmiths and the Colleges that shattered Waaagh Birdmuncha. If the Karaz Ankor has a future, it is alongside the men of the Empire, as High King Kurgan Ironbeard decreed so long ago. So I sent you."
Iron is well enough for many things. But iron and charcoal give you steel, which is better in almost every way.
One of the benefits of being the Loremaster of a major Karak is that showing up and saying 'I'm nosy, tell me what's going on here' is considered by Dwarves to be entirely within your job description.
So let me get this straight, Karak Dun's envoy shunned Barak Var for being too cosmopolitan? Assuming they are still alive and uncorupted they are going to love being rescued by among other things human wizards and an elven Dragon Lord.
So let me get this straight, Karak Dun's envoy shunned Barak Var for being too cosmopolitan? Assuming they are still alive and uncorupted they are going to love being rescued by among other things human wizards and an elven Dragon Lord.
Yeah... we definitely want Protector for the Expedition. We'll definitely need it with some survivors and it might get us social capital with those in the Expedition itself.
Maan, not that i really expected a different result, but at least Roswita would have been more interesting to me than Panoramia. I don't really find her interesting.
