With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Vaermina · Aug 30, 2023

Lazurman said:
"I mean, um, if you're not doing anything later, we could give it a shot."
"..."
"..."
"...Oh, oh."

As this is QQ, that is absolutely the answer he should have given.

Signaller · Aug 30, 2023

Darko said:
To be fair, that is John.

He has a tendency to screw up everything.

If he tried to make some eggs for breakfast then there's a chance that he can somehow bring about a demonic chicken god into existence.

Recall Demon 2 was ritualistically empowered at one point by destroying chicken eggs, father than needing to eat them.

Odysseus2099 · Aug 30, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"-so she didn't have to deal with your herself."

you

Mr Zoat said:
"You could give your me real name?"

me your

Mr Zoat · Aug 30, 2023

Darko said:
"gird my"

B.B. Rain said:
You botched the partial italicization on the 'Ugh' - looks like you made both 'I' brackets closing brackets instead of a proper pairing.

Odysseus2099 said:
you
me your

Thank you, corrected.

Tzeentch · Aug 30, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Quite a lot of Ulthuanian princes and princesses owe me for their newly conceived heirs. Not enough to actually thank me, but probably enough to abstain on a vote. Even if the garrison commander of the Fortress of Dawn would like to take aggressive action, they're not going to get any support."

Now, given that Elves have really strong emotions, could it be that Paolo is assuming that the Asur nobility are being a bit ungrateful/stubborn when in actuality they likely feel QUITE the opposite?

Lazurman · Aug 30, 2023

Tzeentch said:
Now, given that Elves have really strong emotions, could it be that Paolo is assuming that the Asur nobility are being a bit ungrateful/stubborn when in actuality they likely feel QUITE the opposite?

While I've yet to read a WHF book centered around the asur, some really talented fanfic authors have painted the picture in my mind that elvish racism and arrogance runs deep. Even Teclis, one of the most outreaching of them all, has a sort of paternalistic 'I know best, ignorant children' vibe to him that really grates.

_The_Bomb · Aug 30, 2023

Haven't read in a while. How are Xalitan and Hephaestaean doing? Trying to decide whether to binge now or hold off until later.

Mr Zoat · Aug 30, 2023

Tzeentch said:
Now, given that Elves have really strong emotions, could it be that Paolo is assuming that the Asur nobility are being a bit ungrateful/stubborn when in actuality they likely feel QUITE the opposite?

No.

Tzeentch · Aug 30, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No.

Ah, pity. Well, at least he'll have more appreciation from the commoners.

_The_Bomb · Aug 30, 2023

Hmmm. Anyone remember which chapter we first saw a Paul in Warhammer Fantasy?

Mr Zoat · Aug 31, 2023

3rd Sigmarzeit 2512
Mid Morning

"First time flying?"

The Lady Richilde has mastered her outward expression fairly well, but Aranei has been instructing me on the subject of unconscious tells, and… With a power ring to keep track, changes in heart rate, brain activity, posture… It's too easy, really.

"Yes, Sir.. Paolo." Head level, her eyes dip to take in Altdorf spread below us. "It.. is."

"Really? The Imperial Zoo's got a herd of pegasi. You didn't get to ride one at any point?"

"Those are.. trained for war, and tend to react poorly to… To unfamiliar riders."

"The Emperor didn't take you up on Deathclaw?"

"No. No. No, he did not." She makes an effort to master herself. "Is this.. flight… Flying, common, in your lands?"

"What, Bretonnia? I've flown with most members of my retinue at some point. Some… Take to it better than others. The village children find it thrilling, but their parents.. generally take to it about as well as you are."

She closes her eyes for a moment, wetting her lips and nodding.

"And some took to it well?"

I nod. "Sir Mallobaude was fine with it. That's… Why I was a bit surprised that you didn't have any experience with it. His uncle used to go pegasus-riding with him regularly when he was growing up."

"Sir Mallobaude? His family is from Parravon?"

"His mother's family, yes."

"And his father's family?"

"Couronne. Didn't spend a lot of time with his father."

"Are his parents estranged?"

"More like never tranged, really. She wasn't his wife or his official mistress."

"Then his absence from Sir Mallobaude's life may be no bad thing. He sounds like a man of low character."

"We both better hope not. He runs the country."

Her heads jerks around from taking in the sight below to stare at me. I smile slightly guiltily.

"His father is King Louen Leoncoeur."

"I thought that checking would be gauche-" And the magics in the Tabard of Kings blocks my scans. "-but that appears to be accepted fact."

"Check..?"

"Ah, you're aware that certain characteristics run in families?" She nods cautiously. "My people understand the mechanisms by which that occurs. We usually need a small blood sample from each person to compare their characteristics in detail, but I can do it by waving the ring at someone."

"I take it that your people can fly as well."

"Not as an act of will. And none of the flying creatures on my world could support an adult's weight. But we have machines for flying. Personal flying machines exist but they've never really caught on. Large flying machines for transporting large numbers of people are more common."

"Like the balloon-borne airships of the Dwarfs?"

"No, we gave up on balloon technology for air travel about a century ago. Then we moved onto something more like a gyrocopter but with lightweight engines and front-mounted propellers rather than-."

"I'm afraid that I was not educated as an engineer. Details such as that would be lost on me."

"Ah, sorry. Anyway, yes, the civilisation I come from can fly. But what do you think of the view?"

She considers the scene for a moment.

"I think that I like Altdorf more the less I can smell it."

Yeah, it… It doesn't look great. There's so much smoke from foundries and cooking fires that a constant pall of smoke hangs over the city. You could go cross-eyed trying to make sense of the streets, and they've taken on that particularly unsettling medieval architecture where the first floor overhangs the ground floor, blocking out the light to the road between them. The river comes in to the city looking reasonably fresh, and goes out a greyish brown that puts me well off the idea of drinking anything water-based while in the city. The streets are covered in excrement that I hope comes from horses and teams of boys with shovels take coins from town-dwellers to shovel a clean path through the fetid mess.

The only positive thing I can say about it is that it's actually pretty colourful. Richly pigmented paint appears to be both fashionable and within the budget of most people.

"Are the cities of your country different?"

"Less smoke. Wider streets. Taller buildings. And we make an effort to have some greenery in the mix. Trees improve air quality a lot, even when they're not in bloom."

"Then how do your fires work?"

"We use either mine gas or lightning. Gas doesn't make much smoke, and lightning only makes smoke where it's generated." Hm. "How badly do you think people would be terrified if I cleaned things up?"

"To what extent?"

"If I sent a giant wall of orange through the city, cleaning the air and removing the excrement."

Her face falls.

"I think they would stampede in a panic and many of them would die."

Yes, she's… Probably right. "Scratch that, then. Ready to see my village?"

"Should I not pack first?"

"We don't have any sort of embassy building. I can throw something together in half an hour or so, but it's probably better if you have a look around and tell me what you want for however many people you're going to bring with you."

"Then, yes, I am."

"Alright. When we move, it will be something like if you closed your eyes, turned around and then opened them again. What you can see will have changed, but you're still safe and sound. Do you understand?"

"No. But then, I didn't expect to. I am prepared."

"Alright." I plot a transition course to my village, harnessing my desire to return home and to show off what I've achieved. "Three, two, one, now."

The scenery skips just as I said, and her only real response is to blink in confusion at the new scenery.

"That is… It?"

"Yes."

"I.. thought that this part of Mousillon was swampland."

"When I got here, it was. I dug a few canals…" I point one out. "There, you see? To improve drainage, so we could use the land for planting. I went with apple trees so that their roots could stabilise the banks. Once I'm sure that I've got it right, we can add fields of annual crops between them."

"Is that something that you learned on your former world as well?"

"Ah. Sort of. The nation of Holland is largely below sea level and so has to use various drainage techniques to keep their land land, but I didn't study it in enough detail to implement that here."

"Then where did you learn?"

I wince slightly. "Well, since they've been cut off from the rest of the Empire… Marienburg has had to pioneer similar techniques to enable them to plant their hinterlands. They're sort of this world's Holland-equivalent. When they heard about the shipping canals I'm working on, they were happy to help."

"I see. That means that the Empire's maps of your land are out of date. Let us begin our tour there."

Lazurman · Aug 31, 2023

Oh yeah, he likes her. Now to see what she feels about mistresses.

Ganurath · Aug 31, 2023

Marienburg, being helpful? That's certainly a novel approach. Although I suppose there's nothing stopping Paolo from mining enough asteroid gold to bury their greed, is there?

Chojin Patriarch · Aug 31, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
3rd Sigmarzeit 2512
Mid Morning

"First time flying?"

The Lady Richilde has mastered her outward expression fairly well, but Aranei has been instructing me on the subject of unconscious tells, and… With a power ring to keep track, changes in heart rate, brain activity, posture… It's too easy, really.

On the upside, she's not screaming, weeping or flailing in fear. So that part's nothing to worry about. And remember, this is a world where people ride on flying creatures in battle. While it's not exactly safe, it is a known quantity.

"Yes, Sir.. Paolo." Head level, her eyes dip to take in Altdorf spread below us. "It.. is."

"Really? The Imperial Zoo's got a herd of pegasi. You didn't get to ride one at any point?"

I rather suspect the city looks better from up high than it does at street level. Late-medieval/early-Renaissance era Europe was not generally a tidy place.

"Those are.. trained for war, and tend to react poorly to… To unfamiliar riders."

"The Emperor didn't take you up on Deathclaw?"

Hopefully not riding side-saddle, mind. Though I expect the flying saddles do have seat-belts.

"No. No. No, he did not." She makes an effort too master herself. "Is this.. flight… Flying, common, in your lands?"

"What, Bretonnia? I've flown with most members of my retinue at some point. Some… Take to it better than others. The village children find it thrilling, but their parents.. generally take to it about as well as you are."

Probably while muttering things like 'et ent nachural-like...'

She closes her eyes for a moment, wetting her lips and nodding.

"And some took to it well?"

Those ones would bear watching for future skills, especially if he brings more conventional flying machines into play.

I nod. "Sir Mallobaude was fine with it. That's… Why I was a bit surprised that you didn't have any experience with it. His uncle used to go pegasus-riding with him regularly when he was growing up."

"Sir Mallobaude? His family is from Parravon?"

Amazing, the difference in quality of life between the lowest peasant and the highest ranks of the nobility...

"His mother's family, yes."

"And his father's family?"

Because these things are highly important in their society.

"Couronne. Didn't spend a lot of time with his father."

"Are his parents estranged?"

The implications can be fairly obvious.

"More like never tranged, really. She wasn't his wife or his official mistress."

"Then his absence from Sir Mallobaude's life may be no bad thing. He sounds like a man of low character."

...If he were any other man, then maybe.

"We both better hope not. He runs the country."

Her heads jerks around from taking in the sight below to stare at me. I smile slightly guiltily.

What, shocked that a man of such rank might have a byblow or two in the houses of lesser nobility?

"His father is King Louen Leoncoeur."

"I thought that checking would be gauche-" And the magics in the Tabard of Kings blocks my scans. "-but that appears to be accepted fact."

Ah. And so we see a little of why Mallobaude was so driven.

"Check..?"

"Ah, you're aware that certain characteristics run in families?" She nods cautiously. "My people understand the mechanisms by which that occurs. We usually need a small blood sample from each person to compare their characteristics in detail, but I can do it by waving the ring at someone."

A science that may be centuries in their future, but perhaps magic could manage it.

"I take it that your people can fly as well."

"Not as an act of will. And none of the flying creatures on my world could support an adult's weight. But we have machines for flying. Personal flying machines exist but they've never really caught on. Large flying machines for transporting large numbers of people are more common."

Mostly because there's not much space for safety systems in jetpacks or ultra-lights. If something fucks up, it will not end well.

"Like the balloon-borne airships of the Dwarfs?"

"No, we gave up on balloon technology for air travel about a century ago. Then we moved onto something more like a gyrocopter but with lightweight engines and front-mounted propellers rather than-."

And really, they weren't the most gainly of aircraft to begin with. What with the principles still being worked out.

"I'm afraid that I was not educated as an engineer. Details such as that would be lost on me."

"Ah, sorry. Anyway, yes, the civilisation I come from can fly. But what do you think of the view?"

I get the feeling she's assuming the Ring is standard issue amongst Paol's humanity.

She considers the scene for a moment.

"I think that I like Altdorf more the less I can smell it."

Well, she's not wrong. Some medieval cities would have had quite the... Atmosphere... About them.

Yeah, it… It doesn't look great. There's so much smoke from foundries and cooking fires that a constant pall of smoke hangs over the city. You could go cross-eyed trying to make sense of the streets, and they've taken on that particularly unsettling medieval architecture where the first floor overhangs the ground floor, blocking out the light to the road between them. The river come in to the city looking reasonably fresh, and goes out a greyish brown that puts me well off the idea of drinking anything water-based while in the city. The streets are covered in excrement that I hope comes from horses and teams of boys with shovels take coins from town-dwellers to shovel a clean path through the fetid mess.

Said architecture came from a desire to get more space from a given plot of land, I believe. But when it goes too far, you get streets like Ankh Morpork's Shades.

The only positive thing I can say about it is that it's actually pretty colourful. Richly pigmented paint appears to be both fashionable and within the budget of most people.

"Are the cities of your country different?"

Yes, the 'reality is dirty' trope is rather untrue. Olden days were vibrantly colourful.

"Less smoke. Wider streets. Taller buildings. And we make an effort to have some greenery in the mix. Trees improve air quality a lot, even when they're not in bloom."

"Then how do your fires work?"

Since these people still burn wood or coal as their primary fuels...

"We use either mine gas or lightning. Gas doesn't make much smoke, and lightning only makes smoke where it's generated." Hm. "How badly do you think people would be terrified if I cleaned things up?"

"To what extent?"

Oh, boy. There's that Orange attention span coming into play.

"If I sent a giant wall of orange through the city, cleaning the air and removing the excrement."

Her face falls.

"I think they would stampede in a panic and many of them would die."

After all, weird stuff is usually bad for everyone involved.

Yes, she's… Probably right. "Scratch that, then. Ready to see my village?"

"Should I not pack first?"

This will just be a flying visit. No need to pack, since you'll be home by dinner.

"We don't have any sort of embassy building. I can throw something together in half an hour or so, but it's probably better if you have a look around and tell me what you want for however many people you're going to bring with you."

"Then, yes, I am."

Since she will need a staff, of course. Including people who actually speak Imperial...

"Alright. When we move, it will be something like if you closed your eyes, turned around and then opened them again. What you can see will have changed, but you're still safe and sound. Do you understand?"

"No. But then, I didn't expect to. I am prepared."

After all, it's easy to accept anything if you can figure 'A Wizard did it.'

"Alright." I plot a transition course to my village, harnessing my desire to return home and to show off what I've achieved. "Three, two, one, now."

The scenery skips just as I said, and her only real response is to blink in confusion at the new scenery.

No trouble leaving her stomach over Altdorf, of course. I see he's smoothed out his technique since the earliest days.

"That is… It?"

"Yes."

"I.. thought that this part of Mousillon was swampland."

Well, that's just a matter of how industrious Paol is feeling at the moment.

"When I got here, it was. I dug a few canals…" I point one out. "There, you see? To improve drainage, so we could use the land for planting. I went with apple trees so that their roots could stabilise the banks. Once I'm sure that I've got it right, we can add fields of annual crops between them."

"Is that something that you learned on your former world as well?"

...It is impressive what trivia a person can learn just surfing the internet. How much of it sticks, or is accurate, is up in the air.

"Ah. Sort of. The nation of Holland is largely below sea level and so has to use various drainage techniques to keep their land land, but I didn't study it in enough detail to implement that here."

"Then where did you learn?"

After all, I doubt he studied engineering in school.

I wince slightly. "Well, since they've been cut off from the rest of the Empire… Marienburg has had to pioneer similar techniques to enable them to plant their hinterlands. They're sort of this world's Holland-equivalent. When they heard about the shipping canals I'm working on, they were happy to help."

"I see. That means that the Empire's maps of your land are out of date. Let us begin our tour there."

Paol concentrates for a moment, hands over detailed topographic maps of the area. "Done."

Power Rings are awesome.

Amusing that both the main plot and this sideline are engaged in long-distance travel. Though Paol probably has the easier time of it. And good to see the lady isn't the fragile type.

I'm sure she'll get on well with Paol's other lady friends. hopefully without too much bloodshed. And I mean that literally, given the Dark Elves...

Duke Long · Aug 31, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No. No. No, he did not." She makes an effort too master herself.

'to'

Mr Zoat said:
that particularly unsettling medieval architecture where the first floor overhangs the ground floor, blocking out the light to the road between them.

I've always loved that style. Not sure I'd like living in a city where it's common, but from a distance it's great.

Mr Zoat said:
The nation of Holland

Angry Dutch in three… two…

Mr Zoat · Aug 31, 2023

Ganurath said:
Marienburg, being helpful? That's certainly a novel approach.

Marienburgers are remarkably helpful if the money offered is sufficient.

Although I suppose there's nothing stopping Paolo from mining enough asteroid gold to bury their greed, is there?

Yes. All the daemon-infested Old One infrastructure that litters the system.

Duke Long said:
'to'

Thank you, corrected.

Angry Dutch in three… two…

I don't think he's expendable, why is he angry at me?

moralrelativity · Aug 31, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
The river come in

come -> comes

Lord Ernest · Aug 31, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I don't think he's expendable, why is he angry at me?

I mean, it's fair isn't it? Same way people wouldn't want for others to call the whole of Great Britain as Wales or Scotland, I guess.

Mr Zoat · Aug 31, 2023

moralrelativity said:
come -> comes

Thank you, corrected.

Lord Ernest said:
I mean, it's fair isn't it? Same way people wouldn't want for others to call the whole of Great Britain as Wales or Scotland, I guess.

I was making a Predator reference.

Old Knife · Aug 31, 2023

Ganurath said:
Marienburg, being helpful? That's certainly a novel approach. Although I suppose there's nothing stopping Paolo from mining enough asteroid gold to bury their greed, is there?

Hope he doesn't run into a warpstorm.

Patrick Holt · Aug 31, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Yes. All the daemon-infested Old One infrastructure that litters the system.

Ok, I don't know anything about Fantasy Warhamer other than the links that get put up here, and very little about 40K but I do know the Empire of Man has and will loose whole star systems, is the Fantasy world suppose to be one of those?

Or are references like that just Easter eggs GW puts in to make people like me think there is a connection?

LurkerPrime · Aug 31, 2023

Patrick Holt said:
Ok, I don't know anything about Fantasy Warhamer other than the links that get put up here, and very little about 40K but I do know the Empire of Man has and will loose whole star systems, is the Fantasy world suppose to be one of those?

Or are references like that just Easter eggs GW puts in to make people like me think there is a connection?

Depends on the Edition of the game and who is the writer of the book you get info from. Sometimes they share the same universe sometimes they just happen to have similar gods and characters. In one Mallus is a world stuck inside a warpstorm in another the 40K Galaxy is in a snowglobe on a wizards desk. Its very much a pick your canon kind of world.

Mr Zoat · Sep 1, 2023

3rd Sigmarzeit 2512
Mid Morning

Lady Richilde pauses to examine a species of tree that I doubt that she's seen before.

"What is this?

"A cocoa tree. Native to Lustria."

She takes hold of one of the browning leaves and examines it.

"Is it diseased?"

"No, it just needs damper conditions and warmer temperatures than we usually get here." I sigh. "I knew that the yield would be lower than they get in Lustria, but I didn't think that they'd do this badly. I could probably build a greenhouse, but that seems a bit… Profligate, for a luxury product."

"What is its fruit?"

"Cocoa beans, which can be used to make a substance called chocolate. The dried bean can be used to make a hot drink, but it's the solid I was hoping to recreate."

"A drink? We import coffee beans from Araby. Are the two related?"

"No, though I see why you'd think that. And you're getting ripped off. They're roasting the beans before shipping so you can't plant them to grow them somewhere else, and that ruins the flavour. If you like coffee, I'll grab you a bag from the source and you can taste the difference."

"I doubt that trees planted in the Empire would do much better than these; we are further north. Have you tried opening relations with the various colonies on the Lustrian coast?"

"I wouldn't do that without coming to terms with the lizardmen first. I'd just get innocent farmers killed otherwise."

My skink priest contact Xhokiwoki was perfectly happy to provide me with examples of Lustrian fruit and vegetables, but last time I asked they told me that the Mage-Priests hadn't seen fit to speak about my situation. Whether that means they don't know, don't care or weren't paying attention when he tried to raise the matter, I don't know. And the Mage-Priests' view that the Old ones put humans in the Old World to stay there means that they almost certainly aren't just going to accept human farming colonies even if the colonies were prepared to pay them tribute.

Being carnivores, lizardmen don't have much in the way of arable farming and have no real interest in getting more. They don't want food, gold or labour. I pay for what I buy by returning stolen lizardman relics, but there's a limit to how much outstanding stuff there is.

She turns away from the probably-dying plant to look out across the fields being cleared by the labour of both local peasants and beastwomen. Yes, I could do it faster, but I need something that can be replicated.

"Have you considered growing them elsewhere?"

"Nehekhara is too dry. The only real alternatives would be Cathay or Ind, and I don't have any contacts in either country yet." I wave my right hand at the land being cleared. "This is all going to be conventional local crops. And I still have to worry that something is going to go wrong."

"Why? The soil in newly cleared land should be fertile and free of disease."

"We're basically in the Bretonnian version of Sylvania here. Slightly fewer zombies, slightly more mutants. I've cleared up as much residual Dhar as I can -and Loremasters of the Tower of Hoeth checked my work- but I do not want anything infecting people via the food supply."

She looks a little disturbed by that, and tries to brush dried leaf off her left hand.

I shake my head. "How often do you eat food that's been checked for Dhar contamination by a Loremaster? Do you have any idea how many cults I ferreted out in Altdorf?"

It wasn't all that hard. Scan for Dhar concentrations, then check with the Light or Amethyst College and then send in the Witch Hunters. The cults generally relied on secrecy amongst their members to avoid detection rather than magic defences, so I've been an out-of-context problem for them.

She nods, a little relieved. "Seventeen, and I take your point. Any of them could have attempted to sneak a potion of some sort into our food as they did with Uncle Karl, or cause some other grief."

We spend a few moments watching wheat seeds being sown.

"You mentioned the country of Holland on your world. Is there any part of your world that is similar to the Empire?"

"Oh, yes. You're closest to the Holy Roman Empire, but with a more sophisticated level of technology than they ever achieved. They had the same elected monarchy, just… More poorly organised. And of course they were monotheistic."

"Worshipping a single god is a little unusual-."

"No, they only believed that a single god exists. The two largest religions of my homeworld both shared that belief. The sort of pantheism that the Empire has would be… Plenty of places used to be like that, but the monotheistic religions converted most of them."

As far as I've been able to tell, monotheism isn't a thing on this planet. She's clearly having a little trouble with the idea. Even die-hard Ulricians want to be interred in a Garden of Morr when they die, and even a faithful follower of Sigmar would want a priest of Taal to bless their hunting before going to a priest of their main deity. It's a major difference between the Empire and Europe, and if I were a better historian I might be able to tell what changes it had made to their social development. I think that literacy rates are worse, but I don't know that for certain. Since they were never conquered by Tilea I imagine that Reikspiel is more like pre-Roman German than modern German… But it all sounds German to me.

"What other nations do you recognise?"

"Bretonnia is most similar to a country called France, which is south of my own home country. Estalia is almost indistinguishable from Spain. Tilea is Italy, though at its peak Italy conquered our version of Estalia, Bretonnia and the Empire. That's why I went there to find a manager for the road project; they were really good at roads. Once their empire fell apart it was over a thousand years before we started building roads as well as they did, and they're still respected for their cultural achievements. Kislev is Russia, the Hobgoblin Khanate is Mongolia… Only Mongolia is a human nation. Cathay is China, Ind India, Lustria is the continent of South America, a mixture of the Inca and Mayan civilisations. No Ulthuan, and with no Ulthuan we don't have a Naggaroth."

"And your home country?"

I wince.

"Ah… Well… The closest is… Albion."

"Albion?"

"They're about on a level with what we were two thousand years ago, before being conquered and civilised by our Tileans."

She looks decidedly uncertain.

"I suppose that they are better civilised that the people of Albion-."

"Look. You know the standing stone network that I'm incorporating into the road network?" She nods. "The people of Albion have a similar system in the Ogham Stones. It drains Dhar from the world while wrecking their own island. They literally can't build a better civilisation than they have now, and they did that to themselves for the benefit of the rest of the world. I realise that their society isn't very sophisticated, but they limited themselves for altruistic reasons and every generation born there has chosen to leave the Stones in place rather than tear them up to get some decent weather."

She nods, the disdain leaving her face. "Then you are right; we owe them for their sacrifice."

"No, what we should do is get elf or Nehekharan specialists in and replace the Ogham Stones with ones that don't wreck the entire country. But there aren't all that many people on Albion compared with the number of people in the Empire, so I can't afford to prioritise it. Or we could just get the polar gates closed and it would fix itself." I shake my head. "There isn't really anything of my culture there; they're more like how we used to be. It's like comparing pre-Sigmar humanity with the Empire. But-."

Winds howl around us, the sound deafening and the dust blinding! Shield up! A moment later it falls silent again-. Aranei is standing in the field, staring imperiously down at Lady Richilde.

"And who are you?"

Ngamer11 · Sep 1, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
My Mage-Priest contact Xhokiwoki was perfectly happy to provide me with examples of Lustrian fruit and vegetables, but last time I asked told me that the Mage-Priests hadn't seen fit to speak about my situation. Whether that means they don't know, don't care or weren't paying attention when he tried to raise the matter, I don't know. And the Mage-Priests' view that the Old ones put humans in the Old World to stay there means that they almost certainly aren't just going to accept human farming colonies even if the colonies were prepared to pay them tribute.

I think that should say 'I asked he told me'.

Mr Zoat said:
Winds howl around us, the sound deafening and the dust blinding! Shield up! A moment later it falls silent again-. Aranei is standing in the field, staring imperiously down at Lady Richilde.

"And who are you?"

Great. At least Paol is there to prevent a cat fight/international incident.

Duke Long · Sep 1, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Lady Richilde pausing to examine a species of tree that I doubt that she's seen before.

'is pausing'?
or
'pauses'?

Mr Zoat said:
"Nehekhara is too dry. The only real alternative would be Cathay or Ind, and I don't have any contacts in either country yet."

'alternatives'

Mr Zoat said:
The had the same elected monarchy, just… More poorly organised.

'They'

Mr Zoat said:
She nods, the disdain leaving her face. "Then your are right; we own them for their sacrifice."

'you are'
'we owe'

I'm still enjoying a look at Warhammer. I'd never considered just how impressive it is that the Albionites never got rid of the stones.

Chojin Patriarch · Sep 1, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
3rd Sigmarzeit 2512
Mid Morning

Lady Richilde pausing to examine a species of tree that I doubt that she's seen before.

"What is this?

I expect Paol's been collecting samples from world-wide, seeing what can be grown locally. Especially since much of the world is ruled by those hostile to their neighbours. And not just the non-humans. I doubt Cathay holds the rest of the world in much esteem.

"A cocoa tree. Native to Lustria."

She takes hold of one of the browning leaves and examines it.

Heh. Feeling a craving for chocolate, Paol?

"Is it diseased?"

"No, it just needs damper conditions and warmer temperatures than we usually get here." I sigh. "I knew that the yield would be lower than they get in Lustria, but I didn't think that they'd do this badly. I could probably build a greenhouse, but that seems a bit… Profligate, for a luxury product."

On the other hand, I doubt you can set up importation systems for it.

"What is its fruit?"

"Cocoa beans, which can be used to make a substance called chocolate. The dried bean can be used to make a hot drink, but it's the solid I was hoping to recreate."

...I was kidding about the cravings, Paol. And getting the locals hooked on chocolate and related products might be getting a bit ahead of yourself.

"A drink? We import coffee beans from Araby. Are the two related?"

"No, though I see why you'd think that. And you're getting ripped off. They're roasting the beans before shipping so you can't plant them to grow them somewhere else, and that ruins the flavour. If you like coffee, I'll grab you a bag from the source and you can taste the difference."

And that's pretty much like the real world. Until someone smuggled seeds out.

"I doubt that trees planted in the Empire would do much better than these; we are further north. Have you tried opening relations with the various colonies on the Lustrian coast?"

"I wouldn't do that without coming to terms with the lizardmen first. I'd just get innocent farmers killed otherwise."

Hmm... Maybe wizards of the Jade College could cultivate them.

My Mage-Priest contact Xhokiwoki was perfectly happy to provide me with examples of Lustrian fruit and vegetables, but last time I asked told me that the Mage-Priests hadn't seen fit to speak about my situation. Whether that means they don't know, don't care or weren't paying attention when he tried to raise the matter, I don't know. And the Mage-Priests' view that the Old ones put humans in the Old World to stay there means that they almost certainly aren't just going to accept human farming colonies even if the colonies were prepared to pay them tribute.

Man, you've got to love the names of the Lizardmen, especially the Skinks. It's practically license to make up puns and silly phrases. Like Tiktaq'to or Oxylotl.

Being carnivores, lizardmen don't have much in the way of arable farming and have no real interest in getting more. They don't want food, gold or labour. I pay for what I buy by returning stolen lizardman relics, but there's a limit to how much outstanding stuff there is.

She turns away from the probably-dying plant to look out across the fields being cleared by the labour of both local peasants and beastwomen. Yes, I could do it faster, but I need something that can be replicated.

Especially without Ring-assisted landscaping or fertilisation.

"Have you considered growing them elsewhere?"

"Nehekhara is too dry. The only real alternative would be Cathay or Ind, and I don't have any contacts in either country yet." I wave my right hand at the land being cleared. "This is all going to be conventional local crops. And I still have to worry that something is going to go wrong."

Might want to attend to that, Paol. Though there's so little written about either nation in general... They could be in any state.

"Why? The soil in newly cleared land should be fertile and free of disease."

"We're basically in the Bretonnian version of Sylvania here. Slightly fewer zombies, slightly more mutants. I've cleared up as much residual Dhar as I can -and Loremasters of the Tower of Hoeth checked my work- but I do not want anything infecting people via the food supply."

So, Paol has a better grasp on working with magic, or at least using the 'Feed' technique.

She looks a little disturbed by that, and tries to brush dried leaf off her left hand.

I shake my head. "How often do you eat food that been checked for Dhar contamination by a Loremaster? Do you have any idea how many cults I ferreted out in Altdorf?"

Good point, given the all-pervading nature of magical energies in the world. Might explain some things about soem populations, if their diet is contaminated by traces of warpy stuff...

It wasn't all that hard. Scan for Dhar concentrations, then check with the Light or Amethyst College and then send in the Witch Hunters. The cults generally relied on secrecy amongst their members to avoid detection rather than magic defences, so I've been an out-of-context problem for them.

She nods, a little relieved. "Seventeen, and I take your point. Any of them could have attempted to sneak a potion of some sort into our food as they did with Uncle Karl, or cause some other grief."

And most cults tend to get outed when the mutants start turning up anyway. Paol just accelerates the process of discovery with a lot less false positives.

We spend a few moments watching wheat seeds being sown.

"You mentioned the country of Holland on your world. Is there any part of your world that is similar to the Empire?"

Oh, where to begin. Perhaps a projected globe?

"Oh, yes. You're closest to the Holy Roman Empire, but with a more sophisticated level of technology than they ever achieved. The had the same elected monarchy, just… More poorly organised. And of course they were monotheistic."

"Worshipping a single god is a little unusual-."

"No, they only believed that a single god exists. The two largest religions of my homeworld both shared that belief. The sort of pantheism that the Empire has would be… Plenty of places used to be like that, but the monotheistic religions converted most of them."

Those would be the Muslims and the Christians, I take it. Judaism is comparatively tiny in comparison, and Hinduism and Buddhism are probably the next two largest.. Checking... Huh, apparently 'Irreligious' is #3.

As far as I've been able to tell, monotheism isn't a thing on this planet. She's clearly having a little trouble with the idea. Even die-hard Ulricians want to be interred in a Garden of Morr when they die, and even a faithful follower of Sigmar would want a priest of Taal to bless their hunting before going to a priest of their main deity. It's a major difference between the Empire and Europe, and if I were a better historian I might be able to tell what changes had made to their social development. I think that literacy rates are worse, but I don't know that for certain. Since they were never conquered by Tilea I imagine that Reikspiel is more like pre-Roman German than modern German… But it all sounds German to me.

Given that the Empire was founded by a pantheistic barbarian king, it's not surprising. And the impact on literacy probably comes from the priests of the various gods not wanting their population being able to make informed choice about their deity of choice.

"What other nations do you recognise?"

"Bretonnian is most similar to a country called France, which is south of my own home country. Estalia is almost indistinguishable from Spain. Tilea is Italy, though at its peak Italy conquered our version of Estalia, Bretonnia and the Empire. That's why I went there to find a manager for the road project; they were really good at roads. Once their empire fell apart it was over a thousand years before we started building roads as well as they did, and they're still respected for their cultural achievements. Kislev is Russia, the Hobgoblin Khanate is Mongolia… Only Mongolia is a human nation. Cathay is China, Ind India, Lustria is the continent of South America, a mixture of the Inca and Mayan civilisations. No Ulthuan, and with no Ulthuan we don't have a Naggaroth."

Gee, it's like the gods who made the world were copying from another example.

"And your home country?"

I wince.

Ah, right. Them. Oh, boy, is she in for a shock.

"Ah… Well… The closest is… Albion."

"Albion?"

Honestly, the whole of Ablion seemed a bit of a rip of Slàine, an old 2000AD strip loosely based on Celtic mythology. Of course, that didn't make it bad.

"They're about on a level with what we were two thousand years ago, before being conquered and civilised by our Tileans."

She looks decidedly uncertain.

"I suppose that they are better civilised that the people of Albion-."

Now, now, don't go making assumptions about their culture.

"Look. You know the standing stone network that I'm incorporating into the road network?" She nods. "The people of Albion have a similar system in the Ogham Stones. It drains Dhar from the world while wrecking their own island. They literally can't build a better civilisation than they have now, and they did that to themselves for the benefit of the rest of the world. I realise that their society isn't very sophisticated, but they limited themselves for altruistic reasons and every generation born there has chosen to leave the Stones in place rather than tear them up to get some decent weather."

Though i suspect the druids have a hand in that decision. But having to deal with Be'lakor for so long might have something to do with it too.

She nods, the disdain leaving her face. "Then your are right; we own them for their sacrifice."

"No, what we should do is get elf or Nehekharan specialists in and replace the Ogham Stones with ones that don't wreck the entire country. But there aren't all that many people on Albion compared with the number of people in the Empire, so I can't afford to prioritise it. Or we could just get the polar gates closed and it would fix itself." I shake my head. "There isn't really anything of my culture there; they're more like how we used to be. It's like comparing pre-Sigmar humanity with the Empire. But-."

And those folks would be entirely unlike the modern Empire. Ancient european cultures in the region were diverse.

Winds howl around us, the sound deafening and the dust blinding! Shield up! A moment later it falls silent again-. Aranei is standing in the field, staring imperiously down at Lady Richilde.

"And who are you?"

Nice trick, though. A simple spell, I take it. Witch-Flight, perhaps?

Ah. Now we get to see how Richilde handles herself around foreign representatives... Hmm... I expect the folks around them are taking cover or taking up fighting positions. If nothing else, the Beastwomen would be bracing themselves for a dominance confrontation. Because that's pretty much what this will look like to them.

So the next chapter might be noisy.

moralrelativity · Sep 1, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
How often do you eat food that been checked

that -> that's

Mr Zoat said:
I might be able to tell what changes had made to their social development

what changes had made -> what changes it made ?

Rafin · Sep 1, 2023

Monotheism actually exists in the Empire, among various sub-cults. It's illegal heresy, but it's often not combatted much by the overarching cult they are technically a part of. I'll post examples later.

Mr Zoat · Sep 1, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
I think that should say 'I asked he told me'.

Despite what the name (and certain comics) imply, lizardmen don't have sexual organs and are created in still-functioning Old One built 'spawning pools'. Cloning vats, basically. Lizardmen regiments in-game don't get reinforced, rather regiments of each spawning get merged together to create viable units until everyone from that spawning is dead. The slaan have no control over when spawnings happen and there have been no slaan spawning since the Old Ones died.

It should be 'they' instead of 'he', is what I'm saying.

Great. At least Paol is there to prevent a cat fight/international incident.

Aranei could accept being trading in for an ancient undead queen, but the sad fact is that an Emperor's niece is also her social superior grates because she's just some human.

Duke Long said:
'is pausing'?
or
'pauses'?
'alternatives'
'They'
'you are'
'we owe'.

Thank you, corrected.

moralrelativity said:
that -> that's
what changes had made -> what changes it made ?

Thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · Sep 1, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
I expect Paol's been collecting samples from world-wide, seeing what can be grown locally. Especially since much of the world is ruled by those hostile to their neighbours. And not just the non-humans. I doubt Cathay holds the rest of the world in much esteem.

Since I don't like the changes Total Warhammer made to the lore, there isn't much written about Cathay. Depending on what bit of Chinese history it's based on, it could be anything from 'pretends the rest of the world doesn't exist', 'isn't interested and thinks its inferior' or 'that brief window there they were actually launching voyages of discovery and if the SI got in there he could really improve things'.

And that's pretty much like the real world. Until someone smuggled seeds out.

I spent half an hour looking for a link proving that! Well done.

Hmm... Maybe wizards of the Jade College could cultivate them.

No, they'd tell him off for taking them outside of their natural habitat.

Those would be the Muslims and the Christians, I take it. Judaism is comparatively tiny in comparison, and Hinduism and Buddhism are probably the next two largest.. Checking... Huh, apparently 'Irreligious' is #3.

[Waves my blank flag with ____]

Given that the Empire was founded by a pantheistic barbarian king, it's not surprising. And the impact on literacy probably comes from the priests of the various gods not wanting their population being able to make informed choice about their deity of choice.

No, I don't think so. Christianity didn't want people choosing a different god, they wanted people to read about theirs.

Nice trick, though. A simple spell, I take it. Witch-Flight, perhaps?

Yes. Back when we had proper magic.

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

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