deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
- Location
- Earth
- Friday at 8:06 AM
- #18,663
Imperious said:
Well there is this massive Dark Elf invasion in a few years that catches Ulthuan so deeply by surprise that by the time its made to lose ground it has already conquered so much of Ulthuan, and an assasin managing to get so deeply into Ulthuan that he manages to kill Alarielle's mother. The army book doesn't seem to delve much into how the Druchii score this massive early military success, to the point that before long they're even ransacking the inner kingdoms like Ellyrion and Avelorn, and Doyalistically the war seems to be a way mostly to provide Tyrion and Teclis with a crisis they can solve so as to justify their reputation as the best of the Asur despite their youth, but for the Druchii to achieve such massive military successes so quickly does suggest that someone in the High Elf military seriously dropped the ball at the time somehow.
Also Grom's invasion of Ulthuan I guess. Greenskins aren't exactly known for their naval prowess, but for some reason it takes a grueling land campaign to manage to stop Grom only in Tor Yvresse after he's laid waste to so much of Yvresse and so many waystones rather then the Greenskins being stopped at sea, which suggests somebody in the Asur navy seriously dropped the ball there as well.
And again, look at Tyrion. Economics works by the way of comparative advantage and specialization. Instead of two people trying to fish with their bare hands the person better at making fishing rods makes the rods and the person better at the actual fishing catches the fish, resulting in greater productivity for all.
So somehow you have the Asur who is the greatest warrior their society has produced in generations, and thus consequently has a massive comparative advantage in smashing heads compared to other professions, since as high as Tyrion's Stewardship score it's probably not as high as his Prowess one, who rather then becoming wealthy by continuing his raiding, or by teaching people his techniques, or by joining the military, or by winning competitions of martial skill, or by becoming the martial champion of someone important*** decides that the best way forward for his financial future is to become a merchant, which does suggest a society in which mercantile pursuits have become the greater way to financial and social prominence then martial ones. Contrast that with say, Bretonnia, where the warrior class is pretty much sanctified to the point that their social and economic superiority is codified into law. And again, that's not necessarily a good thing even in a setting like Warhammer. Bretonnia is vastly poorer and less advanced then Ulthuan, and the fact that the Bretonnian ideal is focused so much on being good at smashing things' heads in rather then other pursuits is probably a big reason as to why, even if it does mean that the Bretonnians produce some fantastic fighters for a human faction.
***And yes, that's what eventually happens. Tyrion's martial skill eventually puts him in the running for one of the most high status and respected positions in Ulthuan as the Everqueen's champion, which is the sort of position you'd expect for someone of his skillset, but it takes something like a century after Tyrion establishes his business before that.
Urian Poisonblade spent literal centuries undercover to manage to assassinate the Everqueen. That's not the Asur being unprepared, that's the Druchii being better at spycraft.
Grom managed to slip through the Shifting Isles, which are protected by a series of magical spells intended to prevent anyone approaching (because the Asur got sick of fightin goff Norscan raids) via the medium of his Shaman having propehtic dreams. I'd guess the Navy dropped the ball in thta they belived the Isles to be an unbreachable defence.
Tyrion doesn't become a merchant. He invests in other merchants. And unlike in Bretonnia, he doesn't earn any money from an estate because he doesn't own an estate. His father does, but his father also spends money like water because Arathion is obsessed with fixing the Dragon Armour. Tyrion directly syas he left Arathion with enough money to keep a noble house in luxury for decades, and his father it spent in like a year.
Note also, that the Asur don't actually measure success by financial gains. The Princes were established as soldiers first and foremost. The first people holding those titles were given weapons as symbols. In other words, being rich is great, being militarily successful is better.
Imperious said:
Fair enough boss. Though in a setting in which Druchii Daemonology and and teleportation are a known quantity you'd figure the High Elves would have thought some countermeasures to that by now, but perhaps I'm just underestimating how much of an OCP Malekith managing to bind to himself a daemon as powerful as N'kari was, or what Ulthuan's archmages and military planners could do to prepare for such an onslaught.
That does make me wonder what preperations the Asur made after the war in case of a repeat of such a performance though.
AFAIK teleportation is more or less an unknown quantity (or rather, something that doesn't really happen). Daemons can appear where they're summoned, but can't take people with them when they do so. N'Kari could only do it, IIRC, by virtue of having been trapped in the Vortex for nearly seven thousand years and learning the pathways that linked Ulthuan's Waystones as a result.
