From an Imperial History book

This was a dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and
death, and was of the world's ending. Amidst all of the fire, flame and fury it is a time, too, of mighty
heroes, of bold deeds and great courage.

At the heart of the Old World sprawls the Empire, the largest and most powerful of the human
realms. Known for its engineers, sorcerers, traders and soldiers, it is a land of great mountains,
mighty rivers, dark forests and vast cities. And from his throne in Altdorf reigns the Emperor
Karl-Franz, sacred descendant of the founder of these lands, Sigmar, and wielder of his magical
warhammer.
But these were far from civilized times. Across the length and breadth of the Old World, from the
knightly palaces of Bretonnia to ice-bound Kislev in the far north, came rumblings of war. In the
towering Worlds Edge Mountains, the orc tribes gathered for another assault. Bandits and
renegades harry the wild southern lands of the Border Princes. There are rumours of rat-things,
the skaven, emerging from the sewers and swamps across the land. And from the northern
wildernesses there is the ever-present threat of Chaos, of daemons and beastmen corrupted by the
foul powers of the Dark Gods. As the time of battle drew ever nearer, the Empire needed allies
like never before.
And then the most unlikely new Player entered the world and changed the balance in unforeseen ways.
Perceived by all parties known as an accident modern Germany had been transported into this world.
At first reluctant to join the dance the Germans found that they had no chance but to be part of the new world.

Allied to the Empire and friends to the Dwarfs the Germans helped to end a Chaos Crusade and start to bring modern technology into this world.
Hunger is lessened, old pestilences lose their impact and terrible ancient enemies cower in terror when they imagine themselves in battle with the new allies.
A new age dawns-an age of great learning, of startling discoveries, of the making of wonders, of mercy, hope and justice.

But not all is well is the world-the Germans have roused the attention of old and terrible beings that view the
newcomers with distrust and formulate intricate plans to deal with them. Older races like the Elves watch the German doings with hate, spite, a little fear and condescension-a mixture which is sure to bring trouble.

In the Empire many of those who rule see the basis of their power crumble and plot to keep things as they are.
Some Germans are not happy with their place in the world and want to trade their knowledge for power, thereby threatening the careful balance of the world even more.

Freshly defeated foes look at their wounds in wonder and plan bloody revenge.

The first battles may be over and the newcomers have proven their mettle, but this is not the end of the strife, it is just the beginning.
Even with Germany's superior technology, victory is not yet assured.
Men and women of courage and with nerves of steel are needed, in some cases more than ever.

Berlin, Bar "Tiranoc"

The bar had gone through many owners and names, had seen a very diverse set of customers and had served food of many different kinds. Never had it been so elegant, neither in furniture, employees or guests then now. The Asur were a seafaring people and they had expat communities in many countries around the world. The "Tiranoc" was established to give that community in Berlin a home. And yet both the community and the restaurant were quite different from most other communities around the world. Mostly Asurian expats fell into two categories who were often at cross-purposes: those who were in some way concerned with Ulthuan`s long-distance trading they used to be masters of and the renegades who managed to tick off Asurian society fatally.

The High Elves that resided in Germany were a far more mixed bunch. There were the students taking advantage of the Erasmus program, the Asur who worked in Germany for German companies in one way or another, the diplomatic staff at the Reiksbund and many others usually not found outside of Germany. It made the atmosphere in places such as the Tiranoc a very interesting one and the attitude towards their host country differed greatly. At special evenings Asur were even allowed to bring their German spouses with them, something that would never happen in places like Bretonia.
Erendiel of the House of Ethelorne had driven all the way from Wolfsburg to be have Elven company who would understand him and his needs better.

The table he approached held several High Elves. For a German they would all look like ageless youths and taking part in sombre discussion, for an Asur like Erendiel they were apart by nearly 50 years and well amused. He made sure that he approached in such a way that those at the table could see him without turning their heads but not too obtrusively. When he reached the 13 feet proscribed by a tradition older than Malekith himself it allowed everybody to display the surprised joy that such an occasion warranted. He bend in a bow that went to the depth that announced he deemed those at the table his equals and a foot slightly placed off-centre made him fashionably sloppy.

Greetings were exchanged, more wine and several dishes covered with wholesome snacks ordered and pleasantries exchanged. There was Pheredas, the student at the Charite`, Eltaril who worked at an "Clinic of Eternal Beauty", Aeolus, the aide to Aurelius the Ambassador and two others. Most were members of the House of Ethelorne or at least very well connected to it.

"So how was your trip to Ulthuan my friend?"
"Oh, I met all my worthy relatives and we had a great lot to talk about. It was good to see the blessed landscape again and eat food from our sacred soil. It.."
"So they did it to you too?"

Erendiel had answered the question a fraction of a second late and praised the wrong things. A human would have missed that, for his fellow Asur it was more than obvious. Erendiel had planned it that way of course and the Elves at his table knew that too.
"Did what to me?"
"Tell you that human cities are not fit to give to the lowest of draught animals?"
"That all you learned is just the product of unsound minds and not worthy of our consideration?"
"Introduce you to such a nice True Elven girl so you finally settle down?"

"Or was it..,that other thing?"
"Oh, all of it, but mostly that other thing."
"So what horrible breach of etiquette did you do?"
"Probably the same than all of you did. Propose that we use much more human technology than we do at present. That we change society so that it will be able to face the challenges ahead."
"Anything in particular?"
"Insisted that the Porsche tractors are only the first step in mechanizing agriculture and that we can no longer afford to have eight out of ten Asur do nothing than feed the rest. Lets say the results are less than positive."
"I still fail to see why, the Phoenix King himself said so."
"It is possible my honourable relatives have not really realized before what that means."

"So they are not Prince Imrik, I do believe he has seen too well and doesn`t like the vista."
"Indeed Aeolus indeed. Actually he dislikes it so much that Caledor just enacted a 87% tax on all products from realms that use, and I quote, " the stinking, unelven dastardly machines that poison our lands and some minds."
"You don`t say."
"Yes Aeolus I do."
"This is not good."
"Understatement of the year I suppose. This is what...47% more than customs and treaties between the realms allow."
"Indeed it is and now the interesting point is whether the Phoenix King intercedes and if Imrik heeds him."
"He has to, anything else would be unthinkable?"
"As unthinkable as Asur with rifles or tractors maybe?"
"This is not good."
"In-bleeding-deed."
"If we are talking about the unthinkable I have another unthinkable issue we might discuss."
"And what would that be Pheredas?"
"From the rumours I hear at the Charite`the Germans might have insight into our little infertility problem."
"Do they indeed?"
"Yes, and if what I hear is correct then I am not sure if this is good news or not."

Sea of Claws, 400 meters AGL

The air that filled the cabin around Eberhard von Roon seemed to contain less oxygen than normal and so he was breathing faster than he should. His ears were filled with the thunder of his own heart and he was glad of the gloves that kept the joystick fixed in his sweaty fingers. He knew these symptoms, they were old acquaintances from his combat missions. They had never kept him from doing what needed to be done and today was not the day to start. It was just that he had not performed this particular evolution before, it had never been done with this plane before and it was the only one of its kind in this world at present.

His "Jagdfalke T" was close enough to his normal fighter-bomber in controls and performance envelope that he could rely on his training and considerable experience. It was just that the "T" stood for "Träger" (Carrier) and if he screwed the approach up he might very well kill more people than just himself. Both his own eyes and the coloured lights told him that he had lined up the approach right, that the hook was deployed and his speed and attitude were correct. The Jagdfalke had introduced leading-edge slats to the plane which allowed him to fly 160 kph and still be a few kilometres shy of a stall. The engines laboured both against his deployed landing gear and the flaps. If thing went south he could retract both quickly, regain speed and go around for another try.
For a change Murphy decided to take a holiday and things stayed nominal. Eberhard`s breathing deepened when the huge shadow swallowed the sun and his left hand pulled the throttle back ever so slightly. The nose of his plane came up a bit more, allowing to see a bit better. He did not breathe at all from there till the hook caught and became only aware of it when his plane hung in place. He immediately adjusted prop pitch before he killed the engine completely.

"Good capture Oberleutnant, congratulations. Let us reel you in."
The sky around him was replaced quickly enough with the hangar of the "Graf Zeppelin" the first Airship carrier on the Warhammer World. Built as a half-sister to the latest giant airships that roamed the Warhammer World this one had a mixed drive of tungsten-core reactors and gas turbines, a payload of nearly half a million kilograms, a lot of that taken by 24 "Jagdfalke" fighter bombers, their crews, weapons and anything else needed to keep them fighting for quite a while away from Germany.
While the airforce would by far prefer something faster and harder-hitting than the Empire`s first war plane the weight and fuel requirements of a Typhoon ruled that out. Still the Airship Carrier would go nicely with its two half-sisters who could transport an armoured combat group to whatever place the Reiksbund choose to.

Red River Valley

Skarsnik was a quick thinker by Goblin standards, actually by the standards of any race one cares to name. Still even he had to run to keep up with all the changes that had befallen the Goblins during the last years. Not that all of these changes were bad as a few years ago he would have been very lucky if he had escaped with a score of followers and a handful of rifles. Now he was still the chieftain of a vast a sprawling Goblin horde, one that was not threatened by anybody, as long as neither he nor any of his underlings got the clever idea of calling for a Waagh that was.

On one side of "his" realm the Reiksbund had promised not to attack as long as he kept the peace and so far they had done so. On the other side of the World`s Edge mountains, the one that bordered to the Dark Lands humies called "Wallmeister", the master of the walls erected funny-looking fortification. They were not about high walls and mighty towers but the few bits he had seen were low-slung bunkers, the steel wire that bit and held and huge guns that could rain death for dozens of kilometres.
Nothing was going to attack from there as long as these humies stood watch, that was for sure. He would by far have preferred if his people could defend themselves but he had learned important lessons about the new state of the world during the last years. There were forces about these days which would laugh at a mighty Waagh and swallow it whole in days. That was not the thing that bothered him so much, what got to him was that there were so many new concepts to be learned in such a short time.

Concepts like "office", "factory", "foreign trade", "investment"-there were so many many new things that his people had to learn and a lot of wrinkles to old ones. The Goblins had been forced to take up farming bigtime as hunting required more area that they had and looting the neighbours would solve the food problem because there would be fewer Goblin mouths to feed right quick.
So Skarsnik made sure his Goblins actually listened to what the Germans had to say, accept the tools and seeds they received and tried to make something from it. It was much harder that he or the Germans had hoped as the ground had never been under the plow before for one but also because of the learning part. Skarsnik had to realize that his people were bad at learning new things. They were not like the humans or the others, borne helpless in an orgy of blood and pain. They grew from the soil when the time was right and when they were fully formed they found a basic set of knowledge in their heads that allowed them to move in Greenskin society right away.

There were no "newborn babes" with the Greenskins but they never had to learn to learn like the humans or Stumpie children. Whether this was something which could be overcome or a basic trait was not decided yet. Skasnik had always been different, cunning in a society that thrived on that. And even he had to work hard to come to grasp with the new realities. Which was not so bad as this cemented his rule with the less well endowed Goblins.

The caves that his people had taken over profited from German aid a lot, the addition of ventilation and some electric light made them far more useful than ever before. His office had it air-conditioner, electric lighting and even an electronic calculator.
It also had an attachment for Gobbla, his beloved Squig and a German with the need for some extra money had arranged for an electric release for it. It frightened all visitors to his office a lot, something he liked.

Currently two of his stronger followers held the chains that bound two humans who stole glances to Gobbla every now and then and three other, better clothed and armed humans from the "Amt für Grünhautangelegenheiten" (Bureau for Greenskin affairs)
"These two tried to buy mushrooms from Scratchnose`s gang, they did Herr Friedrich. Green-flecked madcap mushroom, very much against the law Herr Friedrich. We cannot allow you humies being poisoned by that Herr Friedrich."
"Thanks to bringing this to our attention Administrator Skarsnik. We will take these two with us and the sworn statements of every witness you will name. If I may ask, what of Scratchnose`s men, are they available for interrogation?"

Gobbla took the uncomfortable pause in conversation with an epic belch.
"I take it that there is no point in asking then. Will you two gentleman protest extradition or...a thought so. Thanks Administrator, see you next month."
"Nothing to thank me for humie, we cannot have such lowlifes undermine the trust between our two people."
That Scratchnose`s operation would have lowered the prices that Skarsnik had established with several large-scale drug dealers was probably better left unsaid. New concepts or no there were some things that did not change.

Leichenbad, Sylvania

"Spax 5x70" was written on the small brown carton box that rested besides about a hundred others in a bigger box with several similar on a wooden pallet. The hand that closed around it was of a slightly lighter hue if more stiff as it was made of a lot of bones, some ligaments, tendons, the rest of muscles and necromancy.
The hand and the limb it was attached to creaked a bit while it placed three of the boxes in a box on a cart pushed by the skeleton. When this was done the lower jaw moved a bit and an incorporeal voice from a black box on the undead chest guided it to the next shelf where it retrieved the next piece of ironmongery. It was one of many that ceaselessly walked the many aisles of the warehouse. Sometimes they pushed their carts to a zone close to the warehouses loading bay where humans took the boxes, sealed them and placed them on wooden pallets.
Apart from its inhuman workforce the warehouse would not have presented any surprises for a German. It was about 5 meters high, of wooden construction and filled with rows upon rows of steel shelves that held pallets in various states of loading. A few humans drove fork lifts, some more held clipboards as badges of office and more of them worked the loading and unloading bays that led to containers that stood outside of the warehouse.

All of that was watched with interest by a group of beings that clashed with the operations. A pale, slender man in brocade clothes of the finest cut listened attentively to a human in a trenchcoat assisted by a pretty spectacular blonde and they were watched in turn by a seemingly older man who looked benevolently at the enthusiastic German and his explanations.

"During the last years a lot of small ironmongery stores have opened all over the Empire, be they new or as an adjunct to smithy's workshops. By German standards these stores order very small amounts and simply picking them in a warehouse can be very expensive. This is where we come in, we take wholesale amounts from companies in Germany and the Empire, pack the amounts that the stores order and ship them via the Leichenbad railhead. After we have ironed out the initial problems this operation runs rather smoothly and several forwarders including Kuehne&Nagel are very interested in licensing this."
"This is very impressive Herr Gerstorf but I have a couple of questions. The most important is how you got these undead to perform such complicated work. I did not raise them but I can sense they are the lowest quality and would barely be able to stand in the line of battle with shield and spear. Yet here they navigate this labyrinth you created and pick the right amounts of things I do not even recognize."

"Count Mannfred, please note the box on each skeleton`s chest. It contains a small computer that loads the current orders, knows where it is inside this warehouse and gives verbal commands to its undead. Once the skeleton had packed one item it reports that with a punch to the box or cancels if it is unable to comply for whatever reason. In that case a human supervisor calls up the camera feed of that undead and tries to rectify the problem."
"That is highly impressive. This is a class of undead I can raise by the hundreds if I have to without raising a sweat, yet normally they are not very useful. It seems that you have found a way to make money with something we normally find a nuisance, well done. I do believe that my nephew has promised you eternity if you do well. If this operation indeed fulfils its promise you may may approach me for the kiss when you are willing. One more question though: Why do you call these the iUndead?"

Close to Neupapenburg

The beast before Hermine of Wolfenfels was huge, clad in scales that rivalled steel armour in hardness, had claws the length of her father`s sword, teeth the size of daggers and she could have easily walked below the brute`s belly. Her children screamed when they saw it.
"Stegadon, Stegadon, Stegadon ride."

Both had received rather good school reports from Neu-Papenburg`s primary school, they had been moderately well behaved and even helped with some household chores now that Nathan had gone on another mission. He had not been able to tell her what it was about, just that she was not to worry as he had "pulled that one's teeth years ago".
So she had decided that a Stegadon ride would be a suitable reward for that. There was a howdah that took her, the two children and a few others who wanted a ride through the jungles that surrounded Neu-Papenburg. There was a Skink sitting on something like a saddle close to the beasts neck who patiently waited till everybody was seated and strapped in before he applied a stick to the Stegadon`s ears. The beast started to walk before accelerating into am slow-seeming trot that ate up kilometres at an astonishing rate. The first part of the ride went past the Space Centre. There were the labs, the admin buildings, assembly sheds and the launch pads. There were two pads for "Greif" rockets, one of them unused for a year now that "Zwilling" took up the missions to low orbit with low payload. There was the pad for "Zwilling" itself, a rather unspectacular affair only denoted by its burn marks and the huge assembly shed that DLR called "Phoibus" and the Neupapenburg community the "Thing". Build from many parts shipped from far-off Germany it would make or break the German space program.

The Stegadon passed the Zeppelin landing field and the harbour, none of which excited the twins too much given that they had seen that up close together with their parents already. The beast lumbered from the small German portion of Lustria into the plains beyond. The land surrounding the spaceport had been pretty smooth grassland even before the Germans arrived and Lord Mazdamundi had made sure that it was to the newcomer`s liking. The grassy plain was not empty but host to several herds of Angus cattle, herded by Skinks which used horses to get about. The latter had proven to frighten the cattle far less than anything the Lizardmen normally used. The beef from these fields was one of the main Lizardmen exports together with several plants that were highly sought by German pharma companies. The exports were direly needed as the Lustrians found the metal tools that the Germans offered so cheaply greatly to their liking. They still dug the same channels and pools as they had before Sigmar was born but it was so much easier with a decent pick and shovel. The Skinks and Kroxigors had probably erected a small shrine venerating the wheelbarrow and the steel barrel somewhere as it made their daily lives so much easier. On top of that the Skinks reacted to Coca Cola in ways that made the Slann think about classifying the soft drink as a drug.

The Stegadon would cross that plain for another hour before the jungle proper. It was a wild place, alive, humid, full of green filtered light, exotic plants, a fauna unlike any seen on Earth and death. There were monsters that would regard the twins as a snack and would finish of Ermine as an entrée in two bites. None of them were in any danger as they were guarded by much more dangerous ones.

Schöner Wohnen (Art of Living-periodical)

A new generation of couches, chairs and tables has been grown by the Asrai artists of Hemlock Groove a. Very much as sturdy and handsome as the last generation these are more slender and have a rich honey colour that soothes the eye. Unfortunately they clash with the currently trending wall tone, petrol, but Kambs is betting that this will change to cappuccino or citron next year.

It should actually not matter so much to potential customers as these pieces of art can last for all times if properly cared for. With no joints to fail and living wood of grown into the shapes desired the furniture has incredible strength for its size and few points which will not withstand severe abuse. Treat these well and they will be used by your grandchildren.

Nanjiang

Nothing in the huge room was as it seemed to be and it was vastly dangerous to nay being not under the benevolent care of Papa Nurgle. The walls were covered by several types of mildew, at least where there were no open sores weeping fluids better not speculated upon. The furniture was rotten and encrusted with filth and the beings inside covered with many layers of threadbare clothing, surrounded by plague-bearing insects and breathed laboriously through fluid-filled airways.
And yet neither the building nor the beings inside had ever been stronger or durable. A circular table sat in the middle of the room so no human had precedence. None of the beings around the table looked like they were able to pay attention and yet they all listened to the 12th member who stood and whose words sounded like the wind turning dried leaves in the cemetery. What they called their lives depended on it.

"Until this summer the progress of the blessing and the teaching of the ignorant in the ways of the plague progressed as has been foretold. The people became equals, relieved of their chains that held them in bondage, the classes and races they once belonged to no longer mattered. The masses learned to live with the hardships, endure whatever a hostile life throws at them. Millions already work together like one to make a life in dignity and harmony. All of us profess to strive so that the ignorant, the poor, the downtrodden and those blinded by the nobles can join us as one. And yet, for the last months this progress has faltered. No longer do great masses flock to us, no longer do we show the blessings to new provinces. I cannot believe that this would be so if we would all work together in harmony, so who of you is slacking?"

The Representatives of the Committee of Public Safety rasped, blubbered and chocked their denials, their undying commitment to the cause and tried to explain the many hurdles that blocked the way to true progress.
Li Hong Mei`s voice was the quietest, the lest emotional and the one that ended the squabbling like a gunshot.
"Representative Ming, I do believe this is the place and the time for you to practice the self-criticism that is so obviously needed."

"First Representative, show mercy. The enemy has forced the farmers into fortified villages which can no longer be simply overrun. They have issued identity papers to the oppressed masses to control them, have roadblocks between all villages and if one does not belong one is not allowed to pass. It is very hard for our teachers to reach those who need to be educated in the ways of Nurgle`s blessings. But even if their sacrifices are rewarded and they can give the blessings they often do not catch on. The saohuos forced the oppressed o undergo something they call inoculation. They also draw their water from deep wells capped by pumps which are nearly impossible to grace with the blessing, they cook the waters and they are forced to despoil themselves by using this soap thing. If, by the hard labour of our teachers the gift is still received the villages are quarantined and the foreign devils try to take the blessings away from those who received them. When we send larger groups of teachers they are met by the Gweilo riding the stinking chariots and who kill our teachers…."

The last words were drowned in an ever-deepening drone of insects. A cloud of Nurgle`s pets settled on Ming and even more of the creepy-crawlies made an opaque cloud around the representative. The droning almost hid the pitiful sounds that were Ming`s last words in this world. When the cloud dissipated a stinking puddle remained where the representative used to be. His wide-eyed colleagues did not move, did not dare to make a sound at all lest they too gain contact.
"It seems that we are still not strong enough despite the benevolent help graciously provided by Papa Nurgle. Yet we should not despair as out Father has seen fit to make us stronger in his ways….

Zharr-Naggrund

The room was comparatively dark, warmed by several coal pans that give off a deer red glow and burning candles. The furniture was a mixture of very low, sturdy wooden items with a Babylonian flair and some less artistic pieces more suited to their human users. There were only two humans inside the room who had shared several cups of wine already and were in the deep discussion usually only found between longtime friends. They were a study in contrasts, one a hulking black with a bald head and defined muscles on his limbs, the other a slim blonde that might be attractive if she looked after herself more.
Johann Prossy and Mathias Hartig had not been borne like this but when the German asked the DawiZharr to render them to their erstwhile country their minds had been transferred to slaves` bodies.
While the Prince of Pleasure had given Prossy a body he could easily live with he had seen it fit to take the pudgy balding sadist and transfer his mind into the body of one of his former victims. Hartig had not taking it well to put it mildly.

"So what is my problem you ask-this bloody body is not me, that is the problem."
"So? That 51 year old body Mordred ripped you out of, a body in none too great shape I might add, was not the same than you were 41 years old. During these ten years practically every cell in your body was replaced by a new one. The only thing that gives continuity-this "Mathias Hartig thing" are your thoughts and your memories. The same thoughts and memories that Mordred put in your much newer body. So what do you complain about?"
"That my thoughts are no longer my own. I do care for very different things now, like like...a fuck last week I spent a couple of hour redecorating my quarters. It felt like building a bloody nest and that is not me dammit."

"Yes and once per month you are even more insufferable than usual. I did not say that you are totally unchanged. Our software now runs on new hardware one might say, and when some of the hardware is more than a bit different you realize that "you" are not only your thoughts and experiences but also those pesky chemicals that run through bodies. I am mostly used to mine, just not the amounts that such a young body produces but for you things are very difficult, at least for a while."
"I very much hope so, it is very difficult."
"And it is not the only thing, right?"
"What do you mean?"

"Come on Mathias, your quarters are next to mine. I used to hear what you did when you got the opportunity. I have heard you again, but your sessions seem much shorter these days and you lack that smug look you used to have the next morning."

"No, that is not.."
"Bullshit.."
"Fuck you, but you are right. It feels very strange. It is only satisfying on, how shall I say it, an intellectual level only, it no longer lifts me like it used to."
"Oh my, not good. Nobody really knows what forms our sexual appetites, it is not a conscious decision for sure. If this is something hardwired into the brain it might carry over. And with guys like us, ups sorry Mathias, it is a large part of what we are. Well have fun finding what your new "kick" is….

Reitsport Magazin (Equitation Magazine)

If it needed any more proof the dressage presentation by "Lyonesse" the horse of elven descent at the Tangstedt tourament made it clear that a new class for these horses needs to be established. "Lyonesse" performed a perfect dressage presentation with several difficult routines, two of them called by the referee and all of that without a rider.
The agility of these horses is already far surpassing anything that can be expected from normal breeds but their intelligence is what places them in a totally different class.
Show jumping is also being revolutionized and there is a lot of ongoing discussion about the participation of Asur in tournaments. These riders have practised for more than a hundred years and are as far ahead of human riders as their horses…

Altdorf, Asurian Embassy to the Reiksbund

Aurelius`study was a very different place from a similar room in a human house. The same indrigents were there, the comfy chairs, the books, the mementos and yet it was by far more refined. There were only the important and right books on display, the tasteful mementos and chairs which looked elegant and which were comfortably only by accident. Pheredas, Scion of the house of Ethelorne had never tasted wine just like the one running down his gullet and it was probably bad taste to remind him that the Asurian Embassy financed it by selling wholesale lots of Elven horse sperm.

"So you say that the Germans have discovered the cause behind our infertility problems."
"Yes, I am very sure they have."
"And why do you inform me of all people? There is the Circle of Healers and the Brotherhood who are far more deserving."
"Uncle Aurelius, I do know that I lack any kind of political finesse and I have the feeling that the German discovery will have political repercussions. Large ones I dop not know how to handle."
"Do tell. So what could be so devastating."
"Uncle, have you already learned about DNA and how it transmits genetic information?"
"Yes, I have read about it."
"You also know that the DNA of the parents mixes and the result is a new individual?"

"I am aware of that."
"So you will also know that even if the same parents conceive several times the result will be different every time as the DNA combines in different ways?"
"I am sure you have a point there, right?"

"Yes, I have. The Germans at first looked at the usual reasons for infertility like low sperm count, insufficient ova, insufficiently motile sperm or rejection of the zygote. It was none of that or at least the frequency of that is not sufficient that it would explain our problem. It took them a while to see the reason and they are still researching the 'why' of it, but the what is clear."
"And that might be?"
"For whatever reason when the DNA of both parents combines any result but near perfection results in an invalid zygote that will not implant itself in the uterus. The slightest defect will cause this and that results roughly one on 20 fertilizations successful. The Germans speculate that by now the families are too close to each other and so the number of possible defects is increasing."

"Can you spell the last in clear Sperenthiel please."
"As our extended families did not move much during the last millennia and as casual intercourse is unlikely to result in offspring we are too closely related to have offspring under these circumstances."
"You are saying we are interbreeding too much?"

"By human standards not even close. But we are not humans, we are Asur, our bodies want to breed perfection, so: yes, there you have it."
"Any solution to this?"
"Only in-vitro fertilisation at present and for the foreseeable future."
"So?"
"So this can only be done in a very-well equipped lab. Either Asur have to come to Germany for that, or we allow such labs in Ulthuan which need to be under German supervision for a long while and need German supplies. Or we develop to the point where we can build such a lab on our own. Some would say we will no longer be Asur at that point."
"Oh my. Well, you are right and wrong at the same time."

"How so?"
"You are right in that this has really large political repercussions, especially with things at the boiling point in Ulthuan. But you are wrong in that I also do not know how to handle this."