"I imagine I would be as well, even with trusted companions. Also deadly curious. Are there questions you'd like to ask?"

"I don't think we know what to ask at this point. Perhaps you could tell us more about this world and it's peoples. We have not encountered many species of people other than humans, are there more such species on your world?"

"Oh, yes. The elves I already mentioned; strictly speaking they're probably the same species but they had an extremely nasty civil war before humans had even forged bronze so they're arguably three different types. The third is Wood Elves, but there are none near Kislev and they don't often leave their forests. The Dwarfs are our best allies, in the mountains to the east; they're masters of the forge and a safer form of magic called runesmithing, and invented gunpowder long ago and taught it to us humans less long ago. They're extremely stodgy and keep grudges like aging wine, but they're as loyal as they are vengeful so it's well worth it. There are rumors they also had an ancient civil war with dark dwarves far to the east, but suggesting the possibility in their presence earns a grudge on its own. The men of the Empire and further south are largely the same as us, but the men to the north, the Norscans and Kurgan and other steppe tribes, worship Chaos and are mutated by it at much higher rates than here or to the south."

"Even further past them in the Chaos Wastes, no one can live without direct 'blessings' from Chaos, and everyone is badly mutated and often fused with their armor or something similar. Beastmen walk on two legs, except centigors and a few beasts, but they have the features of other animals, mostly goats and bulls, and they serve Chaos directly as well. I met Lady Kajetana repelling a large Beastman attack on the Teeth of Ursun, which are a holy site and supposedly the anchor for a great deal of the magical protections on Kislev; they try to defile anything that is holy to any god but the Four of Chaos, and to ruin anything that resembles signs of civilization. Similar to Beastmen but distinct in a practical sense are the Skaven, who also usually go on two feet but resemble rats rather than livestock; they're enormously prolific and live underground, they have Chaos-tainted technology that scares even dwarfs, and we'd be in dire trouble if they ever stopped fighting each other for twenty years and attacked the surface in unison. Fortunately, as a matter of cultural and biological disposition they never will."

"Greenskins come in many sizes; orcs are slightly bigger than a man, goblins like a large child, snotlings like a toddler, and many variations; the ones who fight more and survive get larger and stronger, and almost always are in charge. They love to fight for the sake of fighting, and the bigger the warband, the bigger the 'WAAGH!' that attracts more of them out of their caves and stolen forts and empowers their shamans. We don't fight them quite as often as Beastmen but it's probably second-most, mostly over or through the mountains where the dwarfs aren't guarding. And then there's undead, which come in dozens of types, almost all either made from the bodies and spirits of the dead, or variations on vampires. Necromancy uses Dhar, the same dark magic Chaos does, but in a different way, which also pollutes the area but in incompatible respects. Most undead near us are to the south in Sylvania, a forsaken corner of the Empire where a long line of vampire counts have controlled the territory for... centuries, at least."

"There are also trolls, who heal rapidly but are very stupid, and giants, likewise stupid; Chaos and Greenskins enlist both of them. Halflings, who are mostly just small humans and almost all in the Empire. Ogres, who will fight anything they can eat and take pay in more meat; they stay bought until you run out of food, and they're very useful in the meantime. Various types of woodland and swamp spirits which probably aren't elves or apparitions of Chaos like dryads and fomor. Dragons, most of whom are just clever beasts but some of whom are smarter than people. Griffons, manticores, pegasi, unicorns, great eagles, winter wolves... all at least as smart as very dull men, though manticores are deranged like everything else badly Chaos-tainted. Demigryphs are probably more like clever horses. I've heard stories of lizard-men from the deep jungles of the far south but I don't really believe them. Royal bears are supposed to be the greatest of bears short of Ursun but even the Old Tzar never met one. Oh, in the southern deserts there's another type of undead, mummies and enchanted statues who don't seem to be psychically tainted by necromancy like the others."

"...That's probably everyone of significance."

"That is many more than I expected. I wonder what causes your world to have so many peoples compared to the others we've visited."

"The traditional answer is that Chaos mutates the world and its peoples, and the gods make some of the breeds stable and purify them of taint, and they then are their own true-breeding species from there. It would explain why so many are variations on the same general shape of a body, and something similar being true for the first vampires is... historical record, though very old history; that one was done on purpose, but used the mutating power of Dhar in its necromancy. Magic certainly changes shapes and minds of all who make use of it, so it's a good enough explanation. But if the gods made Men I don't know why there are so many of us worshiping so many gods in different places, and we all look so much the same."

"An interesting question. Speaking of gods. I don't believe we've encountered their like in our travels," unless you count the ascended she carefully doesn't add. "Could you tell us more about them?"

"Sure. In Kislev, we have three worshiped by name and a fourth who... arguably is also a god. Ursun is the Bear God and the traditional patron of Kislev; he's distant and cares more about bears than men, but he defends us when it counts. Dazh, whose priest you already met, is the Sun, and taught humans to start fires; he also insists on good hospitality. Tor the Thunder-God is a warrior god of storms. And the Ancient Widow is the spirit of the physical Land of Kislev; though no one really worships her, the first Ice Witches made a pact with her about a thousand years ago to bring their tribes here and defend it against Chaos; the Hag Witches also have a bargain with her but they don't talk about the details, and both types keep to those bargains. In the south they mostly worship the former human Sigmar, who founded their empire and became a god on his death, but they have a half-dozen others, none of which overlap with ours. Even further south they have another dozen. Gods live... somewhere, made of magic rather than material, but they can intervene in the world anywhere the Winds touch and probably other places as well. They usually pick priests who have similar temperament and priorities, and then those priests can invoke their attention and power, which is less flexible than manipulating the Winds like a Witch or Wizard but much safer. They rarely do anything without a priest except arrange coincidences, but rarely is not never, and at holy sites they don't need a priest but rarely act without disaster coming. The god's homes may be the same as the afterlives, or near them, but they don't say much and all the priests like to promise is that our souls won't feed Chaos when we die, and maybe if we're especially devoted we'll fight by their sides after death."

"...And then there's the Chaos Gods. It's at least bad luck, and possibly much worse, to name them, but there are Four - Bloody Eight, Pestilent Six, Sorcerous Nine, and Tempting Seven - the Realm of Chaos and most of the Chaos Wastes are divided between them, they're all madness incarnate, they fight each other endlessly, and they all want to devour the world and all the souls on it to empower themselves and create more daemons for the war between them. They're vastly more powerful than the mortal gods and if they united against us no one thinks even all the mortals and all our gods standing together could withstand them, but like the Skaven we are fortunate in that they are, probably literally, incapable of doing that. Even the partial ceasefires are terrifying every time, though."

"That often seems to be the way of those with malign intent. Cooperation is rarely in their nature but when they do cooperate they become much more dangerous."

"Would that we were so lucky with everything else malign. Vampires and Druchii are much better at keeping order, at least when they have a strong leader available."

"It would be nice yeah. From what you've said it sounds like things have been stable for a while though. Lots of conflict but not much progress by either your people or your opposition am I understanding that right?"

"Not exactly. We're losing. Slowly, but any ground we lose, it's almost always permanent. There's been some good news in the last two centuries, the empire training wizards and some victories for the dwarfs that have made them more able to help everyone else, but we're still losing."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that." Both genuinely for their sake and also because his people are now involved in this mess. This doesn't seem like a Eurondans situation or even really like a Genii situation. "I guess the sort of magical pollution your friend asked us about is why you can't take back territory?"

"Mostly. There's a system to remove it, drain it into the Vortex, but we barely know how to repair it properly, and can't expand it to take land. We're not even sure the elves still know how to do that, and they're not telling."

He's a little surprised at Teodor mentioning something about that important. He considers talking up how good Rodney is at fixing things but decides that would be pushing things too fast. He would be suspicious if someone unknown offered to do work on Atlantis's shield. "Well that's unfortunate. Hopefully you'll find a way to change that."

Well, it's not like anyone hostile doesn't know it. Not the kind who plan things, at least.

"It would be nice. I don't know, maybe the wizards will figure out something, there are quite a few of them and they're not as busy as our witches. Maybe dwarven runecraft can help now that they aren't constantly under siege. It's more likely than the gods saving us, at least."

"Are there any books about the system available to the general public or books about uh... magic in general?" The word magic seems uncomfortable in Rodney's mouth. "That is assuming books are common enough for them to be available to the general public at all."

Shepard grimaces a bit at the question but it's out there now admonishing Rodney won't help.

"As far as I know there are no books on the Waystone Network on this continent, beyond maps of where we believe the important waystones are, which is not something I should share with you until we're very sure I'm not giving Chaos new infomation. Books are expensive and books on magic typically kept very private because self-taught magicians usually get corrupted by Dhar one way or another. I can probably get a copy of Winds, Ice, and Beyond, that's what most crown agents on the cultist front read to get a handle on the basics. ...Male magic-workers are illegal in Kislev, but it's unlikely any of you three have the necessary talent anyway."

"I'd appreciate that. Do your people have printing presses? Those usually make books cheaper. Especially with movable type."

Of course this is where Rodney is going. This is... probably fine. It's not like he's explaining how to make nuclear bombs.... again.

"I'm familiar with the concept but I don't think anyone's gotten a reliable design yet; some Imperials have been trying recently."

"I know a thing or two but I haven't personally worked with any. They're outside my core specialties."

"If you're interested in trying to build one here I'm sure I can find some trustworthy artisans to help; I think books being common enough to afford them even in the villages would be good for people."

"Books are great. I can't promise I know how to make it perfectly but I'm willing to try. The price of books would also depend on how expensive paper and ink are though."

"Neither's cheap to make, but enough that we were paying attention to the idea. Anything else we should try to speed up on inventing?"