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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Ithuriel said:
The human nations have an odd lack of Gods related to crafting of any kind. The Empire has Vallich for shipbuilding but he isn't big. The old world seems to make up for it by using the ancestor gods when they need a crafting god.
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For the Empire at least I think the Gods of crafting are Smednir, Grungni, and Morgrim, plenty of humans worship Dwarven Ancestor Gods, just look at Johann.
 
It doesn't help that the symbiotic relationship between humans and dwarfs results in a lot of the oxygen that'd fuel the fires of metallurgical progress being sucked away from humanity and locked away behind dwarf guild secrecy.
 
BoneyM said:
They weren't playing the same game. Völundr was fighting to win, Asarnil was lining himself up for the dunk. If Völundr got the upper hand Asarnil might have had to start taking the fight seriously and then the proper modifiers would have come out.
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Yeah, all those John Cena theme and kayfabe memes really paid off. If Asarnil won in two exchanges without even trying, his rep is certainly founded.

I am guessing that if for some unknown reason Mathilde had to fight him (on foot, that is), we wouldn't have much of a chance unless the Belt got him (and it's entirely possible he has counters for that, and all sorts of other swag).
 
tapkomet said:
Yeah, all those John Cena theme and kayfabe memes really paid off. If Asarnil won in two exchanges without even trying, his rep is certainly founded.

I am guessing that if for some unknown reason Mathilde had to fight him (on foot, that is), we wouldn't have much of a chance unless the Belt got him (and it's entirely possible he has counters for that, and all sorts of other swag).
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Yeah, uh, I'm suddenly a lot less sanguine about doing the elfternship without finishing Branarhune first. It is specifically designed to counter expert sword-users who have been fighting for longer than we've been alive. Obviously not all the Druchii are gonna be Asarnil-tier, but I'm gonna assume that some of their champions are of a sufficient caliber to make Asarnil try.
 
Ithuriel said:
The human nations have an odd lack of Gods related to crafting of any kind. The Empire has Vallich for shipbuilding but he isn't big. The old world seems to make up for it by using the ancestor gods when they need a crafting god.
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They have them, they're just much more atomized. Just about every prominent occupation has a patron God dedicated just to that, and they sometimes differ from province to province. For example, Grungni is considered the God of the Forge in Stirland, but Vallich covers Smithing in Nordland. Hochland has a God of Woodworking, while Ostermark has an entirely different God of Carpentry. Four regional Gods of Hunting, and then Ostermark has a God of Poaching.
 
Hmmm... that hammer Völundr was wielding...

BoneyM said:
The crowd turns almost as one, and you follow their eyes to a bear of a man as muscled as he is fat, his beard adorned with steel rings and with a short-hafted hammer on his belt. Völundr steps forward, smacking a meaty fist against his chest and bellowing a challenge, one word of which you wince at.
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BoneyM said:
The clash of Norscan steel against Caledorian Ithilmar begins immediately, with Asarnil parrying the first swing of the Norscan to obliterate the patch of ground he had been standing on a moment before, which causes you to raise your eyebrows and concentrate your Magesight as you realize there's more to the hammer than steel or more to Völundr than baseline human muscle.
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I wonder, could it be loot from the Norscan dwarfs? If it ends up in Asarnil's hands as a prize, perhaps he might be convinced to part with it so we can examine it? Might make a good baseline for Kragg as an example of Norscan work, to compare with the axe he's got.
 
tapkomet said:
Yeah, all those John Cena theme and kayfabe memes really paid off. If Asarnil won in two exchanges without even trying, his rep is certainly founded.

I am guessing that if for some unknown reason Mathilde had to fight him (on foot, that is), we wouldn't have much of a chance unless the Belt got him (and it's entirely possible he has counters for that, and all sorts of other swag).
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If he has his canon kit, he has a fancy amulet that makes him very hard to hit, but nothing else magical. That's pretty old canon though, so...


NuclearConsensus said:
Hmmm... that hammer Völundr was wielding...



I wonder, could it be loot from the Norscan dwarfs? If it ends up in Asarnil's hands as a prize, perhaps he might be convinced to part with it so we can examine it? Might make a good baseline for Kragg as an example of Norscan work, to compare with the axe he's got.
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I knew the name of Völundr was familiar! It's the name of a legendary smith from Norse mythology who was trained by a pair of Dwarves. Similar character to Daedalus.
 
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NukeDaSun said:
Someone might have survived from the War of the Beard who was good friends and colleagues with a dwarf smith? I can imagine the Dwarfs would want to keep that knowledge on the down low, but I can't really think of why the elf wouldn't have trumpeted that to the skies
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Elves have Ithilmar to match dwarven Gromril.
 
picklepikkl said:
Yeah, uh, I'm suddenly a lot less sanguine about doing the elfternship without finishing Branarhune first. It is specifically designed to counter expert sword-users who have been fighting for longer than we've been alive. Obviously not all the Druchii are gonna be Asarnil-tier, but I'm gonna assume that some of their champions are of a sufficient caliber to make Asarnil try.
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I wonder if Asarnil'd be open to a spar? It would definitely help with working on it if we had an example of the kind of foe it's meant to fight.
 
picklepikkl said:
Yeah, uh, I'm suddenly a lot less sanguine about doing the elfternship without finishing Branarhune first. It is specifically designed to counter expert sword-users who have been fighting for longer than we've been alive. Obviously not all the Druchii are gonna be Asarnil-tier, but I'm gonna assume that some of their champions are of a sufficient caliber to make Asarnil try.
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There are probably very few of those, and we probably wouldn't be expected to fight them 1v1 even if we run into them (and that should also hopefully mean the Seed saving us if we go down thx to our allies protecting us), but yeah, probably a good idea to finish the style.
 
NuclearConsensus said:
Hmmm... that hammer Völundr was wielding...



I wonder, could it be loot from the Norscan dwarfs? If it ends up in Asarnil's hands as a prize, perhaps he might be convinced to part with it so we can examine it? Might make a good baseline for Kragg as an example of Norscan work, to compare with the axe he's got.
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Maybe, but short-hafted hammers/mallets aren't limited to Dwarves. Heck, they use weapons as large as human-sized ones often, if not larger.
 
BoneyM said:
It won't, the Norscans have hard limits on what can be won from a duel to prevent their society from dissolving into a murderocracy.
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I figured there'd be something like that. Ah, well.
EVA-Saiyajin said:
Maybe, but short-hafted hammers/mallets aren't limited to Dwarves. Heck, they use weapons as large as human-sized ones often, if not larger.
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True, but Volundr was explicitly a huge man, so what's short for him may not seem so on a dwarf, was my thinking.
 
Hhmmm... what other wizards are wrestlers? Elspeth is clearly the Undertaker (both carry around the remains of the dead, Elspeth a death god, Taker the urn of Paul Bearer), Sigvald the Magnificent is MJF, Johann is Goldust.
 
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picklepikkl said:
Yeah, uh, I'm suddenly a lot less sanguine about doing the elfternship without finishing Branarhune first. It is specifically designed to counter expert sword-users who have been fighting for longer than we've been alive. Obviously not all the Druchii are gonna be Asarnil-tier, but I'm gonna assume that some of their champions are of a sufficient caliber to make Asarnil try.
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I disagre! This is the best possible reason and justification to use the Elfternship to train Branarhune.

As I, on the contrary, want to complete Branarhune with the help of Elf swordsmanship.

Especially if/because they are skillful and speedy swordslingers!

In fact, that would be perfect for completing Branarhune -- because we would have the perfect target to practice on. I mean, do you want to practice Branarhune without a supernally swift and agile opponent to test it on? Or would you rather complete it by having those sparring partners?

I mean, think of it this way -- this way, we can set Elves as the speed/dexterity/agility/skill benchmark for Branarhune. Otherwise, who are we going to use? The Ulricans at Ulrikadrin, or the Undumgi or Gunnars again? Ourselves? A trainer hired via the Colleges?

Plus, it pleases me to have Mathilde pick up the sword from human teachers, learn more from dwarfs, and even learn from elves too. Having learned from multiple races and traditions of swordsmanship? That would be great?


We could hire a trainer from the Colleges. In fact, if the Colleges can get us an Elf swordsmanship trainer, that would be great, and I would rescind my "Nooo! I want to learn from the Elves, for the trickstery and anti-speedster/anti-skill sword style!" wailings if we could do that.

But otherwise, I think the Nagarytheans would be a perfect oppotunity to round out and complete Branarhune.

I mean, just... It just makes perfect sense to me. You go there to fight alongside them in the war. And they will help teach you how to fight Druchii. And as part of learning how to fight against Druchii, you'll pick up Elf swordsmanship, and anti-Druchii techniques, and with that you will achieve grandmastery in the sword.

It's just more meaningful and dramatic that way to me, y'know?

It makes for more of a story that way; "I went to the Elf isle of Ulthuan, to the kingdom of Nagarythe, and there I finally completed my swordsmanship skills!"
 
NuclearConsensus said:
I wonder, could it be loot from the Norscan dwarfs? If it ends up in Asarnil's hands as a prize, perhaps he might be convinced to part with it so we can examine it? Might make a good baseline for Kragg as an example of Norscan work, to compare with the axe he's got.
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Even setting aside that the only way we could get the hammer would be by theft (per the QM), Kragg's dilemma with the axe was that he couldn't confirm with certainty whether it was Norscan Dawi or Dawi Zharr in origin. And it would certainly be plausible that Norscans might at some point have sprung for a fancy hammer from Uzkulak. Since even if we could get the hammer it's unlikely we could obtain an authoritative certificate of provenance to go with it, AFAICT we'd basically just be handing Kragg the exact same problem a second time rather than giving him data he could use to solve the first problem.
 
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