In Warhammer Fantasy as my ERP Character

Another wave of tremors shook the palace. Silencing the court of the Phoenix King. The massive hall filled with the revelry and wonders of glorious ancient past, the shine of the sun through the stained glass fade in comparison to the luminous gems made and gifted by the dwarves in the olden days when the two races were not bitter enemies and before the dwarves had lost how to make them. A huge white marble table made in one cut stone in the form of the crescent moon, ten seats representing Ulthuan’s ten kingdoms arrayed around the table, all looking directly to the throne on top of a flight of stairs where the Phoenix King Finubar sat. Each seat filled with princes and princesses representing their kingdoms, with the exception of the seat of Eataine where Tyrion as the general of the Phoenix King sat, the seat of Avelorn where the Handmaiden of the Everqueen stand in as her representative, and the seat of Yvresse which is currently empty.

As soon as the tremor fades, the discussion immediately continues. The dark tiding brought by the envoy they sent to the Laurelorn is true. Another mustering from their dark cousin has begun. More black arks carved from the jagged coast of Naggarond and other dark elven ports. These new black arks, while not as massive as the black arks of old, can still ferry thousands of troops. Not to mention the fall of Laurelorn, now occupied by a herd of golden beastmen and led by a daemon. Their plan to assimilate their Asrai cousins back to the fold dashed just as it started. The gifts, the dragons, the favors, and even the seat as the eleventh kingdom of the high elves already prepared are now wasted now that Laurelorn fell. Not all of it. The works on the plan to place Laurelorn as the head of the eleventh kingdom are indeed wasted and the rest of the Asrai are too isolationist and independent to attempt the same. But the resources can now be redistributed to the ten kingdoms. The refugees from Laurelorn are of little concern and they will be integrated into Cothique and Caledor.

Then there’s the massive surge of magic that comes as the twin-tailed comet appears. The report from the archmage representing Saphery is by no means less grave than the report of the north. Just decades after the High Loremaster Teclis manages to solve the tremors that threaten to sink Ulthuan, another similar tremor appears. This time, not because of the magic supporting the island continent of Ulthuan sapped away but because the waystones and the vortex cannot hold the surge of magic in the world. The kingdom of Yvresse bears the brunt of this as the damaged waystones on the kingdom cannot properly channel the magic into the vortex. Leading an even more brutal incursion from the daemons, even more so than the wasteland of Nagarythe that Prince Eltharion cannot even send even one representative in favor of defending his kingdom. A contingent of swordmaster and mages from Hoeth have been dispatched to help Yvresse though the current unspoken consensus is that there will be no reinforcements coming in time from Yvresse when the war with their dark kin begins again.

Yet not all tidings are grim. With the surge of magic, more dragons are awake in the mountains of Caledor. That the Song of Rousing may now be able to wake even the oldest and mightiest of the dragons. Artisans found it easier to make magical trinkets and arms, even restoring the artifacts from before the Sundering. Mages now have much easier control of magic, both in potency and complexity. Yet still there is one undeniable fact that they lack manpower. Even in Lothern, the capital of the Kingdom of Eataine and the high elves, the city is layered with decaying mansions, the empty houses, and the half empty streets built to accommodate ten times the current inhabitants and immediately some feeling of glory and triumph drained from them. 

What’s left is the news that the Everchild Aliathra have safely arrived in Altdorf. It was a futile effort really. Sending the Everchild to be an ambassador to the dwarves. If the dwarves still held their grudges even now, they doubt sending even the Everchild will change their mind. Still it is not an entirely futile effort. Judging from the rising of magic and everything, their war with the dark elves will be the mightiest in a very long time and if they can at least make sure the future Everqueen is safe even by sending her away, it will be worth it.

—

“This is what you want to show me?” Said Balthazar Gelt unimpressed. He along with me and the three others are now standing near the practice range my beastmen have built within Tor Lithanel. The other elf, I think Eldarion is his name, is busy elsewhere. The beastmen unload two sets of rifles. The bigger ones, just shy away from 50. Cal are made to fit the larger beastmen while the smaller ones are made for the elven frames.

“I think you might be a bit more impressed when this ends.” To my words, he didn’t respond. I can understand his skepticism. The ones in the hand of the elves are just a bit different from Hochland Long Rifles or just like a modern hunting rifle but with a longer barrel, the only thing different will be the bullet magazines. While the ones in the hand of the beastmen might look like a big rifle in human hands due to the increased size, it looked like an oversized sawed off shotgun with a box on the underside to hold more ammo. Which in essence, a primitive bolt pistol. I explicitly instruct the beastmen to make it for short to mid range engagement. As three elves and three beastmen with guns lined up, I gave them a go for them to begin the exhibition.

—

Beastmen with guns. Faris wants it to be a joke but it is not. In fact, the rifle in the hand of the huge golden beastmen seems to be made for its size. So it is not a looted and patchwork of a gun. But a deliberately designed and made one. The fact that there’s someone willing to make guns for the beastmen is incomprehensible for him. Did the elves make the guns for them? What he knows about the elves is that they, like Bretonnians, shun guns though for different reasons.

The daemon gives a nod towards the even bigger beastmen beside the three elves and beastmen. It gives guttural shouts. A command to fire. The sound of gunfire followed by the sound of small cannon firing deafens the area. Faris squinted and saw that the elves hit the bullseye of their target while the target of the beastmen was pulverized as if hit by a culverin cannon. But then the beastmen shouts its guttural commands again. Another set of gunfire sounds. The beastmen shouts again and another gunfire sounds. Then again. And again. And again. After the fifth shot, the beastmen pull the box below their guns before replacing it. Then the commanding beastmen continues its command to shoot. At the tenth shot, the elves did the same to their rifles and so did the beastmen and the exhibition stopped. The elves rub their ears in pained and annoyed expression while cursing in their tongue.

Faris and Gregor are shocked. Both have known repeating pistols. But the way it works is entirely different from what they see. Faris have a repeating pistol but the way it works is that there are multiple barrels and each barrel is preloaded before firing. Allowing the pistol to be fired as much as the barrels on the pistol. This however, made the pistol quite heavy and long to reload even with the designed bags to expedite reload for each barrel. But the rifles he saw not only don't have many barrels but can reload even faster. At this point, Faris realized that the Supreme Patriarch no longer standing beside Lord Gregor but standing just beside the commanding beastmen who stood in his way. While the beastmen gather something on the ground and not allow the Supreme Patriarch to see what it is.

“Interested already? There’s still one more thing.” Faris heard the daemon melodious voice, teasing the once unimpressed Supreme Patriarch. To this Gelt turns back and stares at the daemon. Faris hands hover to his own guns. Sensing potential conflict. But then Faris glimpse that Lord Teclis faintly shakes his head and Gelt relent. For now. Faris looked at Lord Gregor. Both know that the Supreme Patriarch almost started a conflict to steal the guns. Faris looked around to count his advantage when conflict did happen. Only to find that they are different than the previous night, this time, they are the ones trapped. In front of him, at the other side of the practice range is also a huge bestigor, tall and lean, with two sets of horns, similarly wearing plate armor designed by the elves, but in its hand is a blood red spear with jagged barbs. Behind him on the way to the Silver Tower is the biggest minotaur he has ever seen. It has only one horn and a huge battleaxe as tall as he is but no doubt twice heavier gripped in one hand, wearing armors that look like designed by the elves. 

The exhibition continues after without missing a beat. Sweat trickles down from his forehead from the tension. Or might be from the heat of the afternoon sun. This time the beastmen carried a barrel of water into the practice range. One of the elves then came and pulled the same long rifle from the barrel of water. Then following the commanding beastmen shouts, start shooting the still wet rifle. Just like before, the elf shoots ten times before pulling the box out and replacing it. Then the elf dips the rifle back into the barrel of water before pulling out and firing another ten shots.

Faris took a deep breath. As a witch hunter, he works closely with guns. Not only do the beastmen now have repeater guns but they can also fire while wet. If what he is watching is an exhibition from the Imperial Gunnery School in Nuln or College of Pyrotechnic then maybe he will be somewhat excited. But the fact that these guns are in the hands of beastmen doesn’t sit right with him. He has seen strange things as a witch hunter, from Norscan headbutting contests, profane rituals of heretical cults, the fact that vampires are against chaos rather than made by them. Now, the fact that he carries the message from a god might not be as absurd as what he is seeing now.

—

The exhibition is done after showcasing my rifles that can still fire when wet. There are still things I did not show. The silencer for the elven rifles for example which the elves are currently trying to make. Apparently the guns are obnoxiously loud for them after they try to use them when fending off during the daemonic incursion after the twin-tailed comet appears as they complained to me when I asked some of the newly formed glade guards to showcase the guns. So I introduced the concept to the craftsmen and told them to try making them without much instruction as I don’t know much about how the internal parts of silencer works other than it has some extra chambers to somewhat reduce the muzzle flash and dampens the noise. As of now, most of the elves still prefer using their bows as it is silent and they have more experience with it despite having known the rifles much more powerful and faster fire rates.

My beastmen however, completely enthralled by their new guns. Hearing the performance report from Kal, my beastmen can wield the bolter with just one hand with their strength, firing while charging at the enemy. I have essentially made an imitation of the Thunder Warriors as of right now. The only problem right now is that I am unable to make the ammunition as much as needed and therefore only have a few hundred of the guns with enough ammunition available. Mostly because of how the cold forging method has shown its limitation. The primary limitation of using magic can be mitigated as I now have my own supply of warp stones. But there’s a new limitation encountered. As cold forging uses magic, a wizard essentially requires the wizard to focus on cold forging one thing at a time. This is not a problem when making traditional weapons as they have few parts and but now a very clear headache when semi modern guns and ammunition as it requires plenty of parts just like when making an armor. And different from armor that is made to last, ammunition is made to be spent which stretches the priests of Vaul and my beastmen blacksmiths pretty thin. To field an entire army with the guns, I will need to make a huge sweatshop, kidnap enough wizards to fill the place, and cold forge the ammunition all day long which is practically unfeasible and stupid as wizards can do more value in battlefield casting spells rather than making ammunition parts one pieces at a time.

Regardless, Gelt has shown his interest with my guns which will be useful in the next negotiation. Next I will show him my gate to Cathay which may expedite trade and maybe troop support in the upcoming war. The biggest goal right now is to convince Teclis to help my cause. His word held considerable sway in the Empire. Both as the hero that aid Magnus the Pious in the last chaos incursion two centuries ago and as the founder of the Imperial College of Magic.