Remove ads

Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Voting is open
Reader mode
LockedMind said:
One of the symbols of our College is a sword and while we don't toss people into the swordpits (looking at you, Alric), combat lessons are there for those who want to attend them. Mathilde just didn't do it during her apprenticeship.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
We're definitely going to have to correspond with Eike then and make sure she takes those electives.
 
GrimTheMad said:
It's their lifespan and the fact that humans are far more... Malleable than elves. They get arcane marks way easier.

The same thing that lets them learn magic far faster and let's them go way deeper into their wind also makes it near impossible to use multiple winds
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Huh. You know, I wonder if the dwarves might have some insight into that malleability problem. Dwarven existence is practically based on the idea of remaining immutable in the face of the Winds trying to end them. I wonder if there might be something there that could be adapted for human use to make them more resistant to acquiring arcane marks. Even if they had to worship Valaya to do it.
 
Asheram said:
We're definitely going to have to correspond with Eike then and make sure she takes those electives.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You can also go through life as a Magister and have no greater need for combat classes than your average Imperial citizen.

Let's wait and see if Eike actually wants to lead the kind of life that would require combat. For all we know, she might turn out perfectly happy staying as just a Perpetual Apprentice.
 
Derpmind said:
I'd agree you, but. This is Warhammer. And AV is something both highly explosive/energetic and we have a constant supply of it. If we write a paper or book on AV without doing the weaponize research, the first thing everyone's going to ask us is how effective it is as a weapon. Even if it's far less useful as a weapon than for everything else it can do, people are still going to want to know if they can chuck it at an orc.

Though that said, we still don't have to do that research ourselves before we publish on it. Just that it'd be a high priority for people to figure out. (Especially if a way to produce more AV is found.)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
What you say makes a lot of sense. But right now we are the only source of AV. And if we write a weapons application into our book that seems cool but is ultimately mediocre compared to what it can do otherwise then we might be hassled for AV ammo and upset people when we don't want to give/sell it to them for that.
 
Last edited:
Omegahugger said:
You can also go through life as a Magister and have no greater need for combat classes than your average Imperial citizen.

Let's wait and see if Eike actually wants to lead the kind of life that would require combat. For all we know, she might turn out perfectly happy staying as just a Perpetual Apprentice.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It is probably not the best idea to have no combat prowess as a magister, for one thing you are a hell of a lot more likely to be drafted in times of war than average.
 
Omegahugger said:
You can also go through life as a Magister and have no greater need for combat classes than your average Imperial citizen.

Let's wait and see if Eike actually wants to lead the kind of life that would require combat. For all we know, she might turn out perfectly happy staying as just a Perpetual Apprentice.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It keeps her options open, even if she doesn't ever use it. Starting young is a big advantage with combat training.

It seems fairly likely she'll be involved in the EIC in any case. That'll mean getting out into the world, and the world is a dangerous place.
 
TaliesinSkye said:
Huh. You know, I wonder if the dwarves might have some insight into that malleability problem. Dwarven existence is practically based on the idea of remaining immutable in the face of the Winds trying to end them. I wonder if there might be something there that could be adapted for human use to make them more resistant to acquiring arcane marks. Even if they had to worship Valaya to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That might be possible, but I don't think it would be a good idea.
Being able to adapt to their Wind quickly and completly is an advantage of humans, that allows them to connect to their magic in a way that makes them equal to some Elves who need centuries of learning to master a Wind.
 
BurnNote said:
One of Boney's greatest strengths as a writer is his ability to give his characters natural feeling... complications (and I'm deliberately not using flaw here).

For Wilhelmina specifically, there was WOG at some point that in terms of Divided Loyalties that could be chosen at character creation, she had Nepotism. And much like Anton and Incompetence, she turned around and went "Actually, fuck that". Except now she went too far and is a real hardass on her family. Her sons totally had it coming, but Eike's mother might not, and it's not been easy for Eike either (though I don't think she's crossed a line, and it's kind of justified in a Noblesse Obliege kind of way).

The thread, meanwhile, has been doing a happy dance and going "Yay, Nepotism for Eike!".
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm pretty sure Wilhelmina is the greed one, not Nepotism.
 
Asheram said:
If I may, the biggest difference we can do for Eike when it comes to her survival as a Journeyman is to teach her how to fight, and being an example for her. While the average Gray Journeyman has some skills in sneaking about, it would seem that they aren't taught to fight at all.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Eike is a shayllan.

the best thing we can do is teach her how to not get into fights. (watch me, and then Do the other thing!)
 
I think people are getting a bit too caught up in having Eike do what Mathilde wants her to do, instead of giving her the freedom to choose her own path within the Grey College. We've seen how being controlling turns out with Alric and Horstmann, and I've no intention of repeating that.
 
Mopman43 said:
She's not a priestess or member of the clergy.

There's cannons on the walls of Middenheim, and I'm sure there's people who hold faith in Shallya that still accept violence as an unfortunate necessity.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's a difference between seeing violence as an occasional unfortunate necessity and thus hiring some burly lads to protect you, and going out and doing the violence yourself.
 
BoneyM said:
She looks at you, and you're pretty sure you know the questions she's not asking
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm too dense to know the questions. Since Mathilde does have an incling, might I be told too?
BoneyM said:
"Right." You think for a moment, and then smile. You'd thought there were no practical uses for your experiments in trying to indirectly manipulate Winds, but you might have been wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is great and makes me happy. No magical knowledge is ever truly useless.
BoneyM said:
You walk her through the other Winds, herding in sufficient amounts for her to sense from the ambient energies that the world is forever awash with.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Since we used Ulgu to herd them, did Eike feel each one with an undertone of confusion?
 
Jyn Ryvia said:
I'm pretty sure Wilhelmina is the greed one, not Nepotism.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
No, the executed professor was greed. He was embezzling and thereby endangering the army of Stirland. Wilhelmina has never done anything problematic because of greed. But she did initially place her sons in commanding positions of the EIC, and they wanted to use that to milk Stirland during the campaign. She just succeeded in her loyalty (and intelligence) roll, and noped it.

I don't have the WOG post (invoking the name of pickle @picklepikkl), but I'm pretty sure it was there. It was a discussion of what the different advisors Divided Loyalties were.
 
Redshirt Army said:
There's a difference between seeing violence as an occasional unfortunate necessity and thus hiring some burly lads to protect you, and going out and doing the violence yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There is some leeway in the Shallyan tenets, "Go about your life unarmed. Courage and a stout walking staff is all you'll ever need.", and that you should "Avoid Killing", which is also permissible in a case of self-defense or against the Unclean One.
We might not be able to arm her with a sword, but an enchanted staff and martial arts/spear-fighting/pugilism ought to be allowed.
 
Sinsystems said:
Guys here is an idea for Eike, we make her a Ring with the spell Shroud of Invisibility. Because it is both incredibly useful in really dangerous situations and it is a really fun reference.

Bonus points if she gets a halfling assistant who sometimes uses it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
As much as I love the reference (and indeed, was going to post about the same thing as you did until I saw your post), on further thought rings of invisibility may be a bad idea. Invisibility is exactly the sort of spell that triggers people's fears of Greys in particular, and the sort that lead to the vow of poverty. Creating an item of it that could be lost or stolen and put to nefarious ends is a huge problem in a way that a ring of fireballs usually isn't. Dread Aspect or Pall of Darkness might be a safer alternatives.
 
Saidoro said:
As much as I love the reference (and indeed, was going to post about the same thing as you did until I saw your post), on further thought rings of invisibility may be a bad idea. Invisibility is exactly the sort of spell that triggers people's fears of Greys in particular, and the sort that lead to the vow of poverty. Creating an item of it that could be lost or stolen and put to nefarious ends is a huge problem in a way that a ring of fireballs usually isn't. Dread Aspect or Pall of Darkness might be a safer alternatives.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Shroud of invisibility lasts 30 seconds at most, it's not a huge deal

The Vow is really more about things like mindhole.
 
Make a magic item with Windherding and cooperation from other wizards as "an experiment". Give it to Eike to "test out how a multi-Wind item performs in the field; and you have to write reports on the results".
 
Asheram said:
There is some leeway in the Shallyan tenets, "Go about your life unarmed. Courage and a stout walking staff is all you'll ever need.", and that you should "Avoid Killing", which is also permissible in a case of self-defense or against the Unclean One.
We might not be able to arm her with a sword, but an enchanted staff and martial arts/spear-fighting/pugilism ought to be allowed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Also, Shallyan's believe their purpose is to "relieve suffering". It's very easy to justify sticking a knife in someone as "relieving suffering", although I suspect Shallya gives her priests who stretch that argument too far a Stern Look, and maybe nudges them over to Ranald or something.
 
Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Also, Shallyan's believe their purpose is to "relieve suffering". It's very easy to justify sticking a knife in someone as "relieving suffering", although I suspect Shallya gives her priests who stretch that argument too far a Stern Look, and maybe nudges them over to Ranald or something.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's a sect of Shallyans that believe the best way to fight plague is to, say, burn down quarantine zones.

They're stated to almost always have difficulties with actually casting Shallyan spells, but some are able to.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Voting is open
Remove ads
Back
Top