Grimstonefire:
I was reading through my background pdf earlier, and I was thinking this stone curse thing could be very useful for a CD.
Admittedly my idea stretches the fluff a long way, but let me know what you think.
To save explaining it another way, a bit from my fluff for astragoth:
Yet hope remains, for despite having lived far beyond the lifespan of his race Astragoth shows no signs of nearing the end of his life. In spite of the extensive petrification of his body it appears he alone may have overcome the Stone Curse through sheer force of will, perhaps becoming practically immortal. It is even rumoured that he has learned the long forgotten Secret of Stone and regained mobility in his limbs, though scholars have repeatedly claimed this is purely a myth and quite impossible�?�
Yes, this idea did come to me after watching Conan the Barbarian.
Would this be impossible? That a few high sorcerers could somehow become living statues, 100% stone, but fully mobile. They wouldn’t eat, sleep, feel pain (or anything), or drink any of kera’s rum, but they would still be able to cast spells and think (need to work on the fluff practicalities, or just leave that to the imagination).
It’s the old obi-wan kenobi trick, spending your last few years learning the secret that makes you immortal. This concept would be the CD equivalent of a lowly Chaos Warrior aiming to become a daemon prince.
Unless they were destroyed they would ‘live’ forever. Certainly beats hanging around outside a temple with pigeons messing on you!
Ancient History:
I would think such Chaos Dwarfs would be the equivalent of the Living Ancestors, those Dwarfs whose sheer will and drive keeps them alive…perhaps forever.
Tarrakk Blackhand:
So they’d end up like Marvel Comic’s “The Thing” from Fantastic 4? Yeah, I could see it working.
They could also become stone collossis.
They wouldn’t eat, sleep, or drink any of kera’s rum, but they would still be able to cast spells and think
And don’t forget that they’d make excellent “Meat Shields”!
Grimstonefire:
More of a shield than a meat shield (no meat).
The Thing is similar to what I had in mind, although he may have reflex actions and of course he needs to eat/sleep etc. The idea would be that all the sorcerers are actually turning to stone (the stone curse), and if they cannot complete their quest to understand the Secret of Stone they will just become a statue. Game over.
Only by learning the secret can they somehow magically convert their limbs from solid stone into something more like the Thing. I’m guessing you could start your quest just as your face is starting to turn.
Eventually even the brain would turn into stone (similar to the thing), but by then hopefully you’d be fully mobile as a statue and able to keep casting spells until you were 100% stone.
Tarrakk Blackhand:
Well…sounds great! It reminds me of this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJX7UifI-ds&feature=related
:hatoff
Grimstonefire:
There was me thinking you’d painted them like garden gnomes kera! :) Certainly would keep away unwanted visitors…
the unheard one:
* kera screams omg* i been using the old stone sorcerer as old boat anchors
i killed them Kera start to cry!!
Kera foehunter
no there not but they might be a little grumby being left in the water all the time:P
Tarrakk Blackhand:
As long as the water didn’t freeze, they should be OK…maybe covered in algae, but ok.! 
Kera foehunter:
thanks guys for cheering me up !! i hate to be the one that lost are history by drowning are old sorcerors
Baggronor:
I prefer the notion of them staving off the curse by sacrifices to Hashut. As they get older, the amount of sacrifices needed could increase, so that a truly ancient sorcerer requires epic sacrifices to hold the curse at bay. Eventually it would become unsustainable, so they have to give in and turn fully to stone.
Swissdictator:
I prefer the notion of them staving off the curse by sacrifices to Hashut. As they get older, the amount of sacrifices needed could increase, so that a truly ancient sorcerer requires epic sacrifices to hold the curse at bay. Eventually it would become unsustainable, so they have to give in and turn fully to stone.
Baggronor
Yes, though I do not see it being feared... just a sense of a need to keep working their Earthly duties in Hashut's name.... the sacrifice is rewarded for some more time to do Hashut's work.
Once petrified they essentially become venerated.. much likes relics/saints. So it is neither feared, but not something they want quickly either.
TwilightCo:
I think the nature of dwarfs and chaos need to be re-examined here as it IS supposed to be a curse.
Dwarves are magically inert by nature, as referenced in most WHFB fluff. They are noble creatures of the earth, miners and artificers.
However,
�?oThe full power of the Great Mutator had been laid upon our armies and they had changed. Our warriors found themselves fighting their own kinsmen, changed and daemonic.�?�
And then; Hashut gets unburied and gifts his most loyal followers with magical powers that will slowly turn the user into stone.
That being the case, could the curse of stone not be akin to a malady of the dwarfen soul? Power that is counter to their nature now courses through their veins, causing an alteration in them that even death may not release.
�?oIn death they are sometimes set free … Go to your ancestors, brother. Your spirit is free.�?�
Perhaps those who totally succumb to the stone curse are forever tied to Hashut, burning in his belly for eternity; where as those others might finally become free of chaos.
Conversely, the petrifaction could be the dwarf soul attempting to purge the chaos taint (magic) by returning the dwarf to its element.
Regardless, the strongest followers of chaos are corrupt physically and spiritually. Perhaps the CD sorcerers and BC are those almost irrevocably lost, or are those most likely to be set free upon death.
But, this is just the way I think about it.
Grimstonefire:
These are some very interesting points twilightco.
So the stone curse is not a negative affliction, it would be a battle between the good and the evil in them all? Their soul V their use of dark magic. The end result is that the only parts of their body incapable of using magic are the parts that are stone.
TwilightCo:
These are some very interesting points twilightco.
So the stone curse is not a negative affliction, it would be a battle between the good and the evil in them all? Their soul V their use of dark magic. The end result is that the only parts of their body incapable of using magic are the parts that are stone.
Grimstonefire
Well, the body will attempt to save it self by sacrificing the extremities first... take frost bite for example. So if the dwarf is fighting off the magical "infection", realistically the body would/could react like that.
The taint would retract to the center and then into the head.
Reverse logic applies here as well. The dwarf soul petrifies the body against chaos, starts with the extremities and works inward.
:hat off
Grimstonefire:
I see, so it’s like a natural immune system against magic use! Except it would be the soul of the inner dwarf fighting against it, not some biological reaction.
Your soul says ‘who needs feet right?’ so feet go first.
TwilightCo:
That’s my take on it. Being a big fan of “low fantasy” I tend to rule out the “because its magic” way of thinking.
Kera foehunter:
dwarf are stubborn and when they make there mind up nothing could change them!! In fact they where so much metal and gems and rhunes i don’t think the majic could work on them good or bad
even frost bite and a lose of a eye and scars will only make them stonger
like the words of a long beard ( I told you so)
even a slayer that take up a slayer life did the wost thing to there honor
but there not stone there even more magic restance
i think the element has no effect on the stubbern dwarf
the same of majic
Willmark:
I guess it would be entirely possible that those strong enough i.e. Astragoth could keep themselves alive indefinitely.
Baggronor:
Yes, though I do not see it being feared... just a sense of a need to keep working their Earthly duties in Hashut's name.... the sacrifice is rewarded for some more time to do Hashut's work.
I think it is a little bland to consider them as willing and faithful servants. It just doesn't fit their background, or the nature of Chaos in general.
The CDs are all about greed and slavery, and I see CDs as Hashut's slaves, their souls bound to him millenia ago by their ancestors in return for survival during the great Chaos incursion. They are bitter and twisted, and seek to inflict upon others that which has been done to them. Even their war machines are all about enslaving, with bound Daemons that struggle to escape. Every Chaos Dwarf belongs to one of the Sorcerers, who in turn belong to Hashut. No one in the Darklands is free, least of all the Chaos Dwarfs.
So the stone curse is not a negative affliction
Its a curse, how can it not be negative? :) I see it as Hashut's brand on them, they are his and their souls belong to him. Striving against it is what gives them purpose, and what allows them to retain some semblance of Dwarven identity, but ultimately it is futile and they know it.
My take on it anyways :)
