[x] Plan Renald Cult
-[x] PREDECESSOR LOYALTY: I think that even if they were merely self serving and incompetent, it is not something we can risk betting on. A well entrenched spymaster could do a lot of damage if he really works with vampires. I think the risk of letting him go is too high.
Sound enough, erring on the side of understatement rather than speculation.
-[x] PREDECESSOR APPROACH: The rot lives on; we must excise it.
Nothing here
-[x] STIRLANDIAN LEAGUE: Do not clasp the snake to your bosom. Destroy the League.
--[x] Stirland economy is in poor shape, and the league carries much of the blame. It completely cripples trade that it isn't doing, which in turn lets it prey on local businesses and cripple their growth as well, and its tax exemptions make things even worse. While it is a bit of a shame to lose out on such an impressive intelligence engine. We can still do our job without crippling the economy.
The issue here is that the Count is asking us about its value as an intelligence asset. Telling him about how much it hurts the economy is useless since he knows that.
He wants to know if we think it's a useful intel asset and I think the biggest issue is that it's not. Hes willing to throw money away if it gets him results(namely vampires staked, witches hunted and heretics burned), but not if it's ineffective or defective.
Picking over the update
Without the Professor's droning to begin the round of reports, Anton jumps in to fill the silence before it has a chance to extend awkwardly. "As you're aware, your Grace, the new Count von Stolpe is settling in well. Maksim is delighted to get out of his older brother's shadow, and has already begun to send back-taxes to make up for what Petr didn't pay. That said, he probably won't be able to change the deadlock of infighting in Southern Stirland without help."
Hmm, once we extend our network to Southern Stirland we should dig up more dirt to quell the fighting if Anton can't solve it by then.
"Back-taxes have started flowing in," she says, "and nobody else is putting up a fight about it like von Stolpe did. Either nobody else realizes we were missing the ledgers, or they took heed of the lesson." She looks from Van Hal to you and back again, looking uncomfortable for a moment, then moves on. "The treasury should soon start increasing, despite the climb in expenditures."
Looks like we're scaring her with perfectly disappearing the old von Stolpe without anyone knowing a thing.
"Brother Kasmir, how is the spiritual health of the castle?"
"Among the servants, Sigmar is not as venerated as I would prefer, but Morr and Shallya fill the void. More concerning is the state of the souls of the Greatswords - they have not had a chaplain assigned to them in some time, and though I could find no worship of proscribed cults, there is no central uniting faith among them. The closest is Ulricans, but they only make up a third - the rest are Sigmarites, Myrmidians, Morrites and Verenans." He shakes his head sadly. "The rift between the Sigmarites and the previous rulers of Stirland left the Army without spiritual guidance. I can only hope that I continue to find no evidence of heresy among them."
CASTLE SERVANT FAITH: Primarily Morrite and Shallyan.
GREATSWORD FAITH: Heavily mixed. Ulrican, Sigmarite, Myrmidians, Morrites, Verenans.
ARMY OF STIRLAND FAITH: Unguided.
Hmm, we get what we expected to see here. Would not be surprised to find Ranald in the servants, though we should keep that on the down low and drag them into our network.
The army is worrying but none of our business for now. Khaine and Khorne alike flourishes in unguided armies.
The servants are a little suspicious though. We had monsters in the castle walls, but theres no way for them to get IN there without some servants being aware. Are all the former servants gone, or are some of them lying about their allegiance?
"Herr Schultz, any problems with the granary?"
"None, your grace. I've turned it over to Frau Hochschild's authority, and I understand it is gradually filling with grains from taxes paid in kind."
EAGLE CASTLE: Granary added.
Going to need some cats, because granaries attract rats.
"It's about 80 miles from Langwald to Leicheberg, but to go by road means having to circle all the way around and through the Moot. Once you've seen to the villages, you are to survey the area so we can begin work to drive a road between the two."
Schultz pales. "Your grace, that area of the province-"
Van Hal's eyes narrow. "I'm aware. You'll have troops assigned to you."
Uh, anyone knows whats up with that bit?
"Letters every now and then. I'll have been getting in touch with them this year anyway because there's a killer illusion-snake trying to murder me."
Van Hal's mug was halfway to his lips when you said that, and he lowers it back down onto the desk and gives you a flat look. "What have you been getting up to," he asks - he doesn't quite growl, but there's a hint of it in his voice.
"Nothing recently," you assure him. "This is from back when I was still getting a hold on Ulgu."
"And it didn't occur to you to tell me there was a Thorned One pursuing you?"
"You know of it?" You ask, hopefully.
"Barely. I once pursued an artist-cult that worshipped it as their muse. In the end, I only got the snake's leftovers, and they would have been for the asylum if they had escaped the pyre." You sigh, disappointed, and he shakes his head at you. "A Thorned One. And you're only just sending letters home to ask for advice."
"I've been busy," you say defensively.
He smiles and shakes his head again. "If there's a solution to the snake I can help with, let me know.
"Theres a demon snake trying to eat her brains for the past few years and she thinks she's too busy to spare the time to deal with it." *shakes head* "Maybe she needs a vacation?"
[ ] As Per Orders: Perform your current assignment.
-[ ] The Wurtbad Watch already has their ear to the ground. Make their information flow to you.
-[ ] Personally vet everyone that works in the castle, and replace everyone you're not sure of the loyalties of.
-[ ] Acquire a copy of Brother Kasmir's report, and confirm everyone is worshipping as they claimed to.
-[ ] Wurtbad, like all major cities, is home to a number of guilds. Reach out to them and enforce your will.
-[ ] There's a vacuum where a dozen trade guilds should be. Found one of your own, and let information and profits flow through you, and see what the Stirlandian League does about it. (warning: expensive, will need Van Hal or Wilhelmina to sign off on it)
-[ ] Much of Western Stirland is under the de facto direct control of the Elector Count. Meet with each of the local leaders and make it clear that you're to be kept in the loop.
As per instructions, we just need to secure the Watch, the Servants and the Guilds.
The rest are optional for now.
[ ] Delegation: Maybe it's time to start being less spy and more master. Though Gods know where you'll find someone competent and trustworthy enough to grant such easily-abusable power. (write in source of potential lieutenants)
Currently we have the Ranald priests, but I wouldn't trust them to manage anything other than the thieves guild and the tavern.
Next turn after we have the guilds and watch hooked in we can find someone via Marcus for the Watch(which is basically just overseeing the passages through the city and reported crimes, so we don't need anyone subtle, just attentive) and possibly Anton for a list of people we can vet to manage the diplomatic networks.
[ ] Home Comforts: Your Palace-Shrine is bursting with potential. And also mud.
-[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole: A wizard wielding a shovel is unnatural, but doing it yourself might be the only way to keep things secret. Clear out a new room of your Palace-Shrine by hand.
-[ ] Diggy Diggy Hole, Outsourced: Pay someone to do the digging, then Mindhole them on their way out. (no action required, -personal gold)
-[ ] Filled with Potential: You've got a room cleared out and ready to be put to use. Decide what you're going to put there. (write in the purpose of the room)
We're going to need to set up a lab in one of these rooms eventually. And if we excavate out an alternate entrance we should set up an operation room there for our own minions to work from.