Tasoli
Life is for Living
- Location
- Behind the Keyboard.
Ranaldians get so succesful in hoodwinking vampires that there is no vampires left in Empire. Only Ranaldians pretending to be vampires.
Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I would expect something like some masked vigilante takes down a bunch of vampires which spawns copycats. No organization per say, just something that needed doing, but no one wants to take the blame. Of course that is when the vampires have more power than we plan on letting them have.
Tasoli
Life is for Living
- Location
- Behind the Keyboard.
Hell all of them could exist even at the same time. It is interesting how many useful tools a Ranaldian has that can be used for such work.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
"This is the mask of CAT-MAN a holy relic of Ranald"
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
It's not like it is an inherited curse. The Order should have disbanded and the members should have tried passing on their knowledge and mission to a new Order. Every idiot that decides to sign up with them instead of some other Verenan competitor Order is a fool that's willingly running into a wall.
- Location
- Oklahoma
I'm mostly surprised they still exist after a thousand years of bad luck.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His.
So here is my argument for waystones: our potential jobs are dangerous and we could die. We are uniquely positioned to get dwarves, humans, and elves working together. If we die, that goes up in smoke. I want to start this mega-project as soon as possible so if we do die during something like the elfcation or the next crisis, the waystone project has enough momentum to carry on without us.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
It's not like they've spent the last thousand years being useless, they have numerous acts of heroism under their belt.
Just, you know, equally numerous acts of incredibly bad luck.
Fun fact- the example member of the KotEL given in Tome of Salvation is Hilda van der Kratt, a female noble from a Nordland family that's also suffering under a curse- when they drove a witch from their lands a few generations ago, it is said that she cursed them for all of the male members of their line to die in battle. The van der Kratts have responded by hiding their sons under lock and key and sending their daughters out to seek their fortune and, ideally, a cure for the curse.
And then Hilda here joined the KotEL.
ToS, page 205
- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
It's what I voted for first time around. Going for Ranald in that situation still seems dumb to me to this day.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I sort of assume that the curse is somehow also preventing them from falling in battle. It would explain much of their success before their bad luck catches up with them.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
ToS provides this:
Oh, explicitly so- the exact curse is:
If they die in battle, that's not ignoble. So, choking on food it is.
part of their thing is that they are all but invincible in battle, they can survive just about any fight.
its just after that fight they have to keep an eye out for banana peels.
some people might be ok with that, victory for an inglorious death.
it might also be a penance thing? they want to die but want to do some good on the way out.
( not saying their lore is not impossible and silly, but there is room to explain it.)
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Sounds like dumb writing from people who can not into numbers.
Edit: oh, justifications have been made by the writers. I'm not buying it, but at least they made an attempt
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- Location
- Europa, Jupiter Orbit
But, like, all the people who did the abominable crime are dead. It's just that people insist to continue acting under the cursed name and banner. All of those heroic acts could have happened just as easily if all those heroic people had decided to join a non-cursed organization.
She could have joined literally anyone else. I mean after a thousand years' worth of rumors and myths of an Order being cursed with terrible luck at some point you start answering their recruitment pitches with "Thanks but I got a better offer".
They apparently have bad luck that goes beyond just their time of death. All of those non-deadly mishaps cost a shitton of resources.
NexusEye
Aspiring God
- Pronouns
- She/Her
While I do like Heidi as a character as a person I feel like she's kind of skeevy. Not because of the whole manipulating the Empire thing but because of her relationship with Luitpold. She has engaged in a sexual and romantic relationship with someone and even mothered a child, all on false pretences. That's borderline rape by deception and I'm not sure which side of the border it's on. I do still support her and her goals because a reasonable Ranadlite Emperor will improve the lives of thousands if not millions of peasants across the Empire but that's very much a case of the ends justifying the means. I may enjoy reading about her but if she were real I would not want to be her friend.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
Did you, uh, read the other bit in the post you quoted? Fame alone is enough to get people to sign up.
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Pronouns
- He/They
It really does, especially with the way half the examples sound like a slapstick comedy routine.
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- Pronouns
- They/It
Hnnnnng... something like this I think? I'll probably just vote for my yes options, but we'll see where The Debates go once voting proper kicks into action.
Mathilde maintaining her tower house in most the options makes me feel a little better about that, but yeah I still do worry about like Social Turns getting even further diluted option-wise. Preparing for Mathilde to take half a decade to greet a new subordinate in a non-K8P job.
At least we'll have The Mystery Visitor slot still heh.
Yes
[ ] Nagarythe
Elf Good. Fighting Bad Elves Good. Spooky Halloween Elf Arc Good.
I'm not really suffering from Adventure Fatigue, and heading out on elfcation seems like it'd be much less likely to end in "And then they went home empty handed (aside from a dwarf hold, but that wasn't the goal shh)" Haha.
[ ] Research Sabbatical
We have so much stuff to do, oh my god. I'd love to delve deep into spell creation, standardization of our masteries, and into all the goodies we've dug up.
[ ] Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
Feel bad about eating the Loremaster slot, but Mathilde is Pretty Good for business, even if Belegar is having to pick up the slack.
[ ] Spymaster of Wissenland
Mathilde! It's your birthday today, cake and ice cream is on its way! I'm down to go put our rat expertise to work I suppose!
[ ] Ambassador-at-Large to the Karaz Ankor
More Dorf, varied dorfs!!!
Sure?
[ ] The Waystone Project
[ ] Loremaster Sinecure
Yeah okay, pretty much.
I don't have strong feelings about these.
Naw.
[ ] Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
[ ] Count of Sylvania
I have zero desire to interact with Roswita in pretty much any fashion. Even at a far remove. I'll get over it if this happens, but I'm Pretty Shrug about the idea personally.
[ ] Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
Bleh. I'm just uninterested generally.
[ ] Governor-General of Swamp Town
No Dwarf No Go. No Tower? No Thanks!!!
[ ] Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
I like Ranald being our hypeman, I don't wanna be his long term.
[ ] Border Princess of the Howling River
BLEH. Actively disdainful to the idea, the more I think about it.
Mathilde maintaining her tower house in most the options makes me feel a little better about that, but yeah I still do worry about like Social Turns getting even further diluted option-wise. Preparing for Mathilde to take half a decade to greet a new subordinate in a non-K8P job.
At least we'll have The Mystery Visitor slot still heh.Yes
[ ] Nagarythe
Elf Good. Fighting Bad Elves Good. Spooky Halloween Elf Arc Good.
I'm not really suffering from Adventure Fatigue, and heading out on elfcation seems like it'd be much less likely to end in "And then they went home empty handed (aside from a dwarf hold, but that wasn't the goal shh)" Haha.
[ ] Research Sabbatical
We have so much stuff to do, oh my god. I'd love to delve deep into spell creation, standardization of our masteries, and into all the goodies we've dug up.
[ ] Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
Feel bad about eating the Loremaster slot, but Mathilde is Pretty Good for business, even if Belegar is having to pick up the slack.
[ ] Spymaster of Wissenland
[ ] Ambassador-at-Large to the Karaz Ankor
More Dorf, varied dorfs!!!
Sure?
[ ] The Waystone Project
[ ] Loremaster Sinecure
Yeah okay, pretty much.
I don't have strong feelings about these.Naw.
[ ] Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
[ ] Count of Sylvania
I have zero desire to interact with Roswita in pretty much any fashion. Even at a far remove. I'll get over it if this happens, but I'm Pretty Shrug about the idea personally.
[ ] Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
Bleh. I'm just uninterested generally.
[ ] Governor-General of Swamp Town
No Dwarf No Go. No Tower? No Thanks!!!
[ ] Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
I like Ranald being our hypeman, I don't wanna be his long term.
[ ] Border Princess of the Howling River
BLEH. Actively disdainful to the idea, the more I think about it.
- Location
- The Space Between
People seem to forget that Heidi has a blessing of Shallya keeping her young. It's the exact same question asked of our friend
what are you really like in the shadows?
In both instances, I think they're not above being slimy, but it's not the preference. The preference is to be free, and reject laws and other shackles when needs be.
I think that Ranald certainly has the potential to be chaotic-good morally (as opposed to chaotic-neutral), but the nature of Chaos vs Order in Warhammer means that it's uh. A bit extra dicey if you're not planning out your good deeds. Can you really rely on a cat?
in general terms: yes
they don't follow orders, they come and go as they please, and they're not above swatting at annoyances for petty reasons
but
they'll still hunt that barn clean
they'll still protect their young
they'll still hiss and claw at danger
I'm more of a dog person but I do like cats too. They're reliably themselves.
Heidi is Heidi, she's not good or bad. But on the balance, she's much more good than bad, if she's even bad.
I trust that Ranald, when we're working together, is going to be his best self. Because we can bring out the best in him.
I think the same of Heidi. Our interactions with her have been positive, and have shown her doing good, but it's all selfishness and self-gratifying behavior. Right?
. . .
Let's talk about Ranald for a moment.
Ranald is an accepted god not because he is broadly well liked, but because those that end up following him? Ranald has stolen them away from worshipping darker deities. In the interpretation in which he's a deified mortal man, it's not much of a stretch to think he earned Shallya's blessing by, as a joke, getting his crew (and those that aspired to his success) to worship him instead of anything worse for their souls. That could have saved many thousands of souls from bad paths, which in turn would save thousands more from horrific plots turned to more acceptable Ranaldian gambits.
Whether or not he was at one point a more typically Kislevan deity (much more fighty and primal), it's clear that in his time in the south he has taken up the charge of protecting the souls of the outcasts. The gamblers, the thieves, the cutpurses and cutthroats all have souls which need protecting too. Those that often run afoul of theocratic institutions and the laws of men. If none other will guard them? Ranald will.
Ranald has stolen multiple times, with us in attendance, from deities who truly are terrors to proper goodly-folk. Self interest? Self-empowering? Sure. But for what end?
To revel in the power, laugh at the defeated foe, and set yourself up for the next scheme.
Which will also be making personal gains at the expense of a foe of good and proper folk.
Like. It's appealing to this kind of person who could be slimy precisely because it's basically the exact same set up as going down a dark path. Which is why it successfully lures in people that could head down a dark path and entices them down the shadowed alley to meet their secretive benefactor.
And it turns out it's Ranald.
And Ranald's a good guy! Or, at the least he continually does good things while we're around. And it's been paying off wonderfully.
And that's how I feel about Heidi as well. Could they be bad? Do they have the skillset and personality (and potentially history) to be bad? Absolutely. But, they're not bad? At least, they're good when we're around to bring out their best selves. And they were good enough to the Shallyans to get blessings.
They run afoul of the law, and civil structures typically have some Order Deity backing to them. That makes them pretty, uh, "untrustworthy" insofar as they're going to do what they want. But uh, they're generally good people despite the lawlessness and the whole "their motivations are identical to many who do evil"
the difference here being that the selfish and self-gratifying behavior is also accomplishing objective good! Which can exist in Warhammer, because there's objective evil!
Not every muttered prayer to Ranald is from some Robin Hood type sure, but if Heidi and Mathilda "Lady Magister" Weber are examples of those he considers friends then uh. I think it's clear what his preference is
what are you really like in the shadows?
In both instances, I think they're not above being slimy, but it's not the preference. The preference is to be free, and reject laws and other shackles when needs be.
I think that Ranald certainly has the potential to be chaotic-good morally (as opposed to chaotic-neutral), but the nature of Chaos vs Order in Warhammer means that it's uh. A bit extra dicey if you're not planning out your good deeds. Can you really rely on a cat?
in general terms: yes
they don't follow orders, they come and go as they please, and they're not above swatting at annoyances for petty reasons
but
they'll still hunt that barn clean
they'll still protect their young
they'll still hiss and claw at danger
I'm more of a dog person but I do like cats too. They're reliably themselves.
Heidi is Heidi, she's not good or bad. But on the balance, she's much more good than bad, if she's even bad.
I trust that Ranald, when we're working together, is going to be his best self. Because we can bring out the best in him.
I think the same of Heidi. Our interactions with her have been positive, and have shown her doing good, but it's all selfishness and self-gratifying behavior. Right?
. . .
Let's talk about Ranald for a moment.
Ranald is an accepted god not because he is broadly well liked, but because those that end up following him? Ranald has stolen them away from worshipping darker deities. In the interpretation in which he's a deified mortal man, it's not much of a stretch to think he earned Shallya's blessing by, as a joke, getting his crew (and those that aspired to his success) to worship him instead of anything worse for their souls. That could have saved many thousands of souls from bad paths, which in turn would save thousands more from horrific plots turned to more acceptable Ranaldian gambits.
Whether or not he was at one point a more typically Kislevan deity (much more fighty and primal), it's clear that in his time in the south he has taken up the charge of protecting the souls of the outcasts. The gamblers, the thieves, the cutpurses and cutthroats all have souls which need protecting too. Those that often run afoul of theocratic institutions and the laws of men. If none other will guard them? Ranald will.
Ranald has stolen multiple times, with us in attendance, from deities who truly are terrors to proper goodly-folk. Self interest? Self-empowering? Sure. But for what end?
To revel in the power, laugh at the defeated foe, and set yourself up for the next scheme.
Which will also be making personal gains at the expense of a foe of good and proper folk.
Like. It's appealing to this kind of person who could be slimy precisely because it's basically the exact same set up as going down a dark path. Which is why it successfully lures in people that could head down a dark path and entices them down the shadowed alley to meet their secretive benefactor.
And it turns out it's Ranald.
And Ranald's a good guy! Or, at the least he continually does good things while we're around. And it's been paying off wonderfully.
And that's how I feel about Heidi as well. Could they be bad? Do they have the skillset and personality (and potentially history) to be bad? Absolutely. But, they're not bad? At least, they're good when we're around to bring out their best selves. And they were good enough to the Shallyans to get blessings.
They run afoul of the law, and civil structures typically have some Order Deity backing to them. That makes them pretty, uh, "untrustworthy" insofar as they're going to do what they want. But uh, they're generally good people despite the lawlessness and the whole "their motivations are identical to many who do evil"
the difference here being that the selfish and self-gratifying behavior is also accomplishing objective good! Which can exist in Warhammer, because there's objective evil!
Not every muttered prayer to Ranald is from some Robin Hood type sure, but if Heidi and Mathilda "Lady Magister" Weber are examples of those he considers friends then uh. I think it's clear what his preference is
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Gap
Not a Dog
- Location
- The Malleary
To many pages, to many posts, urgh..
I didn't read all of them so sorry if I'm adding nothing new.
Even thought its not my first option I wanted to mention the Tutor Job, especially Heidi.
I won't get into the moral ground of her "manipulations", plenty of discussion on that already, but on Mathilde relationship with her.
I mean, influence is a two way street.
We did put a brink (dare say several) in Belegar's currently mindset and this job is an opportunity not just to influence Mandred and Imperial politics, but also Heidi.
Aren't we a bad influence Ranald?
Someone mentioned being a moral compass and I found the idea amazing from a character development POV, our friendship with Heide is centered around Ranald and social visits, having a deeper bound would be fun.
Just my thoughts on the social of tutor job, I value it more than the Job description itself.
Still team Sylvania though.
On the jobs in general something to consider is the timeframe, as some people mentioned, Waystones wont go anywhere.
But remember real life time is a thing people.
Rat-enemy spy-silent shadow-thing its the one with the potential to be the fastest. Not that we will save Nuln in 2 years but can use our expertise to create a program and pass it along solid enough.
Same could be said about Sylvania, but I expect it requiring much more time, perhaps 4-6 yrs till the thread decide its ok to pass along, especially since its kind of personal if we accept Roswita's trust.
I don't see the Princess job ending anytime soon.
Tutor job doesn't actually end, it would technically change to advisor (I hope). But we could always decline the advisor and go do something else.
Waystones... well it depends on whats the objective. I believe we can create a solid joint program in a medium timeframe and if we wish pass the wheel, do it. Its much easier for people to work together after the initial wall.
Loremaster can be dropped whenever we want, but the option would probably come in a medium timeframe (4-5 years?)
Don't have an opinion on Swamp Town.
I didn't read all of them so sorry if I'm adding nothing new.
Even thought its not my first option I wanted to mention the Tutor Job, especially Heidi.
I won't get into the moral ground of her "manipulations", plenty of discussion on that already, but on Mathilde relationship with her.
I mean, influence is a two way street.
We did put a brink (dare say several) in Belegar's currently mindset and this job is an opportunity not just to influence Mandred and Imperial politics, but also Heidi.
Aren't we a bad influence Ranald?
Someone mentioned being a moral compass and I found the idea amazing from a character development POV, our friendship with Heide is centered around Ranald and social visits, having a deeper bound would be fun.
Just my thoughts on the social of tutor job, I value it more than the Job description itself.
Still team Sylvania though.
On the jobs in general something to consider is the timeframe, as some people mentioned, Waystones wont go anywhere.
But remember real life time is a thing people.
Rat-enemy spy-silent shadow-thing its the one with the potential to be the fastest. Not that we will save Nuln in 2 years but can use our expertise to create a program and pass it along solid enough.
Same could be said about Sylvania, but I expect it requiring much more time, perhaps 4-6 yrs till the thread decide its ok to pass along, especially since its kind of personal if we accept Roswita's trust.
I don't see the Princess job ending anytime soon.
Tutor job doesn't actually end, it would technically change to advisor (I hope). But we could always decline the advisor and go do something else.
Waystones... well it depends on whats the objective. I believe we can create a solid joint program in a medium timeframe and if we wish pass the wheel, do it. Its much easier for people to work together after the initial wall.
Loremaster can be dropped whenever we want, but the option would probably come in a medium timeframe (4-5 years?)
Don't have an opinion on Swamp Town.
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- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
OK. Time for me to write up my own effortpost on the different options and how I see them, since all the cool kids are doing it, from "my most favored" to "my least-favored."
Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
Gotta say, did not expect this one to make such a good showing. What this boils down to for me is "Belegar is such a good dude, and I want him to be happy."
The Waystone Project
This one has fallen a bit in my estimation, but I still think it's really neat. People in this community talk a lot about "Order races" and such, but it seems like the reality is disunity far more often than it is unity -- the Empire or Ulthuan or the Karaz Ankor will do something, but rarely "a whole bunch of different polities together." This is our chance to change that a little. Yeah, it's diplomatic and political, but the ends to which that effort goes are much more idealistic than some of our other political dabblings (ugh, Marienburg). Another thing I really like about this project is that it's the only thing on the list we can actually do with Panoramia. She wasn't my pick to romance, but she's our girlfriend now, and it would be nice for her to have significant narrative presence outside of social actions (in part so that we don't feel we have to social her constantly in order to feel like she's important to our life).
Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
OK, so you know what I said earlier about Belegar? Same holds true for Roswita. She's lovely and I think she's great and I want her to be happy. We'd probably be super busy with this one, and I lament for our AP hell and research getting sidelined, but we'd be busy with good work. I suspect the Protector face of the Coin would get a lot of chances to shine, as the Dammerlichtreiter sets out to investigate strange new kinds of dark magic and run them through with a big fucking sword. Plus, Zhufbar would be one of our neighbors, and Karak Kadrin not too much farther away, so our street cred with the dwarves would continue to matter. And maybe after Panoramia finishes revitalizing the Eastern Valley for the Halflings, she can come help with healing Sylvania of warpstone taint, as I gather the Jades eventually did in canon.
Spymaster of Wissenland
I love Qrech. I loved the elaborate series of shenanigans we pulled to get Queekish for the Empire and the Karaz Ankor. I loved commanding forces against the skaven in Waaagh Birdmuncha and dropping a bunch of papers on Algard's desk in a "fuck the Under-Empire" power move so intense we got daemon-checked and sent to a class. Our boss here would be... unique, but getting to bust out our anti-skaven bona fides again sounds fun, we'd have time and resources for research (even if no Max), and it would give us the opportunity to get to know Elspeth von Draken, a character who part of the thread loves and who may have helped Regimand assassinate the previous Empress. Also, if I'm reading the map right we wouldn't be too far from our bro Ulthar in Karak Hirn.
Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
I don't really like Heidi that much, even though I love Ranald. That being said, I do very much like the opportunity to be Mathilde-at-large for the Empire in general. It has a lot of what I'd like about Loremaster-at-Large, with a "crisis of the year" sort of thing, but instead of the narrative through-line of "Belebro growing in influence among his brother-kings and sister-queen," it would have the narrative through-line of "Mandred growing up as we help shape what kind of man he will be." Fewer dwarves, though, which makes it worse.
Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
I continue to love Ranald. We didn't investigate this, though, so I can't have an informed opinion about it.
Ambassador-at-Large to the Karaz Ankor
Combination of dwarves (yes!) and Imperial politics (boo!). Probably can still live in K8P and keep our stuff. Didn't reach the investigative threshold, though, so hard to say what's up with it.
Border Princess of the Howling River
We aren't going to get a longer list of titles than Settra's without doing something about it. More seriously, I'm not thrilled at the notion of trying to play settler-fortifier in a land which famously resists that very thing and where we would be "officially" just another adventurer scrabbling a polity together, as opposed to acting under the explicit suzerainty of Barak Varr. Still, I do like helping dwarves, being close to K8P, and maybe getting to lure Egrimm to come have adventures with us.
Count of Sylvania
Like Markgraf, but with less broad powers and more dynastic concerns.
Research Sabbatical
Spending ~10 turns just researching up a storm on our own dime is a little longer and a little more on our own dime than I'm really hyped for. I like research, but I'd prefer it in the form of the hypothetical research institute where we get ~3 half-actions a turn that can be spent on research, allowing us to progress multiple goals simultaneously, rather than spending all of our personals on it for many many turns in a row.
Loremaster Sinecure
Comfortable retirements are nice to do, not so fun to read about.
Nagarythe
I absolutely want to do this, but I absolutely do not want to do this now. I am very adventure fatigued, after four RL months on this expedition and like eight RL months since we got assigned it. Ask me again after my birthday in late August -- it's the sort of thing we can reasonably slot into another job, because our invitation is for 3 months and it would take probably a few weeks each way to get to Ulthuan, so call it a 4 AP investment.
Governor-General of Swamp Town
Words cannot describe how little I want to uproot and move to another continent, even setting aside for a moment the part where apparently much of that continent would do its best to kill us. I love @storyspoiler and nothing's gonna change that, but she's wrong.
(folks keeping track of Deep Pickle Lore: storyspoiler is the other person from the story I've told about being called a "pendant" instead of a "pedant".)
I expect my initial vote will be for
[ ] Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] The Waystone Project
[ ] Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
[ ] Spymaster of Wissenland
[ ] Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
[ ] Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
and then over the course of the vote I will cut it down strategically in accordance with "which ones I prefer more that are in contention."
(Why that sixth vote? Well:
Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
Gotta say, did not expect this one to make such a good showing. What this boils down to for me is "Belegar is such a good dude, and I want him to be happy."
Insofar as Mathilde is a composite of us voters, I'm definitely on board with that. As for the actual job, I think it's got a great balance of a lot of factors: we're still in K8P, so the concerns about what we leave behind don't hold, but our job will be much more adventure-focused than it was previously. "Going around the Karaz Ankor and solving all their magical problems, incidentally helping Belegar's street cred" has weird cool stuff for those of us who like research and it has action scenes and derring-do for those people who like Mathilde the Super-Spy.
The Waystone Project
This one has fallen a bit in my estimation, but I still think it's really neat. People in this community talk a lot about "Order races" and such, but it seems like the reality is disunity far more often than it is unity -- the Empire or Ulthuan or the Karaz Ankor will do something, but rarely "a whole bunch of different polities together." This is our chance to change that a little. Yeah, it's diplomatic and political, but the ends to which that effort goes are much more idealistic than some of our other political dabblings (ugh, Marienburg). Another thing I really like about this project is that it's the only thing on the list we can actually do with Panoramia. She wasn't my pick to romance, but she's our girlfriend now, and it would be nice for her to have significant narrative presence outside of social actions (in part so that we don't feel we have to social her constantly in order to feel like she's important to our life).
Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
OK, so you know what I said earlier about Belegar? Same holds true for Roswita. She's lovely and I think she's great and I want her to be happy. We'd probably be super busy with this one, and I lament for our AP hell and research getting sidelined, but we'd be busy with good work. I suspect the Protector face of the Coin would get a lot of chances to shine, as the Dammerlichtreiter sets out to investigate strange new kinds of dark magic and run them through with a big fucking sword. Plus, Zhufbar would be one of our neighbors, and Karak Kadrin not too much farther away, so our street cred with the dwarves would continue to matter. And maybe after Panoramia finishes revitalizing the Eastern Valley for the Halflings, she can come help with healing Sylvania of warpstone taint, as I gather the Jades eventually did in canon.
Spymaster of Wissenland
I love Qrech. I loved the elaborate series of shenanigans we pulled to get Queekish for the Empire and the Karaz Ankor. I loved commanding forces against the skaven in Waaagh Birdmuncha and dropping a bunch of papers on Algard's desk in a "fuck the Under-Empire" power move so intense we got daemon-checked and sent to a class. Our boss here would be... unique, but getting to bust out our anti-skaven bona fides again sounds fun, we'd have time and resources for research (even if no Max), and it would give us the opportunity to get to know Elspeth von Draken, a character who part of the thread loves and who may have helped Regimand assassinate the previous Empress. Also, if I'm reading the map right we wouldn't be too far from our bro Ulthar in Karak Hirn.
Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
I don't really like Heidi that much, even though I love Ranald. That being said, I do very much like the opportunity to be Mathilde-at-large for the Empire in general. It has a lot of what I'd like about Loremaster-at-Large, with a "crisis of the year" sort of thing, but instead of the narrative through-line of "Belebro growing in influence among his brother-kings and sister-queen," it would have the narrative through-line of "Mandred growing up as we help shape what kind of man he will be." Fewer dwarves, though, which makes it worse.
Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
I continue to love Ranald. We didn't investigate this, though, so I can't have an informed opinion about it.
Ambassador-at-Large to the Karaz Ankor
Combination of dwarves (yes!) and Imperial politics (boo!). Probably can still live in K8P and keep our stuff. Didn't reach the investigative threshold, though, so hard to say what's up with it.
Border Princess of the Howling River
We aren't going to get a longer list of titles than Settra's without doing something about it. More seriously, I'm not thrilled at the notion of trying to play settler-fortifier in a land which famously resists that very thing and where we would be "officially" just another adventurer scrabbling a polity together, as opposed to acting under the explicit suzerainty of Barak Varr. Still, I do like helping dwarves, being close to K8P, and maybe getting to lure Egrimm to come have adventures with us.
Count of Sylvania
Like Markgraf, but with less broad powers and more dynastic concerns.
Research Sabbatical
Spending ~10 turns just researching up a storm on our own dime is a little longer and a little more on our own dime than I'm really hyped for. I like research, but I'd prefer it in the form of the hypothetical research institute where we get ~3 half-actions a turn that can be spent on research, allowing us to progress multiple goals simultaneously, rather than spending all of our personals on it for many many turns in a row.
Loremaster Sinecure
Comfortable retirements are nice to do, not so fun to read about.
Nagarythe
I absolutely want to do this, but I absolutely do not want to do this now. I am very adventure fatigued, after four RL months on this expedition and like eight RL months since we got assigned it. Ask me again after my birthday in late August -- it's the sort of thing we can reasonably slot into another job, because our invitation is for 3 months and it would take probably a few weeks each way to get to Ulthuan, so call it a 4 AP investment.
Governor-General of Swamp Town
Words cannot describe how little I want to uproot and move to another continent, even setting aside for a moment the part where apparently much of that continent would do its best to kill us. I love @storyspoiler and nothing's gonna change that, but she's wrong.
(folks keeping track of Deep Pickle Lore: storyspoiler is the other person from the story I've told about being called a "pendant" instead of a "pedant".)
I expect my initial vote will be for
[ ] Loremaster-at-Large of Karak Eight Peaks
[ ] The Waystone Project
[ ] Markgraf of Eastern Stirland
[ ] Spymaster of Wissenland
[ ] Bodyguard and Tutor to Prince Mandred
[ ] Ranaldian High Priest of Kislev
and then over the course of the vote I will cut it down strategically in accordance with "which ones I prefer more that are in contention."
(Why that sixth vote? Well:
🐱 ❌🤞)
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Since there's no existing line of communication from Swamp Town to K8P, if we went for Swamp Town then we'd probably be either giving up on Pan or trying to persuade her that Lustria's jungles are way cooler than Halfling farms. Which feels like it'd be a pretty hard pitch. So I'm generally against Swamp Town, even though it seems the most new and different.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
Yeah, if this was character creation I might go for Swamp Town, but as is, I don't see the appeal in completely uprooting and dropping the entire cast that's built up over the quest.
- Location
- Germany
A lot of the offered jobs are fascinating, but I still don't like moving too far away from Karak Eight Peaks.
For one, we have just started a romance with Panoramia and I would definitely prefer if Mathilde can see her regularly.
Perhaps even more importantly, what happens to Qrech if we move away? Someone has to get him food, offer companionship occasionally, get his research papers delivered to Altdorf etc. We certainly can't tell a dwarf about him, unless we want a dead Qrech. Panoramia will probably not appreciate it if we tell her that we move away for a few years; oh, and while we're gone, could you please care for our pet rat? Maybe Johann, but for how long does he want to remain in Karak Eight Peaks anyway?
This means I strongly favour jobs that keep Mathilde close or allow her to have a home base in K8P while travelling around.
For one, we have just started a romance with Panoramia and I would definitely prefer if Mathilde can see her regularly.
Perhaps even more importantly, what happens to Qrech if we move away? Someone has to get him food, offer companionship occasionally, get his research papers delivered to Altdorf etc. We certainly can't tell a dwarf about him, unless we want a dead Qrech. Panoramia will probably not appreciate it if we tell her that we move away for a few years; oh, and while we're gone, could you please care for our pet rat? Maybe Johann, but for how long does he want to remain in Karak Eight Peaks anyway?
This means I strongly favour jobs that keep Mathilde close or allow her to have a home base in K8P while travelling around.
- Location
- Academy City
- Pronouns
- They
I mean, I disagree. Her deception is "I'm a noble." I think this only becomes sex by false pretenses if we accept that it's ok to discriminate based on someone's birth. As far as I'm concerned making a mockery of the aristocratic system is only a positive.