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In common with Van Hal, they might have a strong interest in the results of such a unit. Also in... pointedly questioning the person running it.

Would derp be higher in witch hunters' suspicious list or lower if derp married the Count? :V And if Van's faith crisis is found out....
 
Seems to me publishing your black ops budget, and getting informant names on formal official ledgers might be a security breach. Part of our discretionary income is literally meant for paying informers. Setting details on how many, and where, and how much they are paid to paper that is handled by ordinary clerks seems... unwise.
Its actually for all the aboveboard informants. The headmen, the veterans in taverns, etc. They're also intelligence, known in other CK2 as the Rumor Mill, unreliable, vague information. Heck, the Watch itself should be going into the main budget. They're legally reporting to us!

Obviously we can decide which parts go into the main vs black budget
@veekie your plan seems more like a montly action report rather than plans to propose to Van Hal(sing). Is that intended?
That's because two of the votes are actually monthly action reports. With one part being proposals
@veekie I do like the idea of a, well, uniform uniform for the new force. Grey greatcoats sound ideal. Fits our personal colour scheme, yet we are distinct as the leader (in wearing robes)- so leads the men (and women?) to feel a kinship with the Dame Mathilde Rauchritter, the Grey Witch, Spymistress of Stirland.

It doesn't have to be the official name but "Greycoats" also seems like a great unofficial nickname, like "bobbies" or "peelers" or "feds" etc.
A uniform would be a good idea. Though its minor enough that we could probably bundle it up in the takeover or do it without getting to the action proposals.
Personally I'd stick with 'Stirland Watch', for continuity.
Picked Vigil because the Watch never ends.
I'd phrase this as 'going forward, anyone with legal issues can consult with you or Julia who will forward information to you.' I feel like the councillors are mostly trustworthy enough to know Julia's job.
Oh hell no. At least three members of the council are known foreign agents!
I don't know that Van Hal needs to know about the Asp, but he probably would find it interesting.
He actually paid for the box to be built. I figure he deserves a report. He likes this stuff
I'd just ask for our discretionary budget to be raised to deal with it, rather than whatever this is.
What it says on the tin. We need to move some of the more routine drains off the discretionary budget. Like the taverns and the police, into the standard budget. Discretionary budgets are meant for black book and other operating expenses, not static organizational upkeeps.
Aren't the Witch Hunters already this? This is a legitimate question, I don't know Warhammer very well.
Witch Hunters may do this on a personal level, but not really systematically. Theres very few people studying undead systematically, and Van Hal is one of those few. Figure he might be interested in the idea, which would make our Backer Mission vastly easier, because he's an expert on ways to find and kill undead.

Also because the extant Witch Hunters are Templars. They answer to the Church if they answer to anyone at all
 
What it says on the tin. We need to move some of the more routine drains off the discretionary budget. Like the taverns and the police, into the standard budget. Discretionary budgets are meant for black book and other operating expenses, not static organizational upkeeps.
You can make the informants part of the standard budget, but I feel like keeping them in the discretionary budget (and getting that budget increased) gives us more fine control over who we pay, where we place informants, who we let go, etcetera.
 
The problem with Witch Hunters is that the Twin-Tailed Comet and Silver Hammer license and initiate official Hunters, but there are more then just the Templars out there looking for things that go bump in the night. Even within the Order the pyre sometimes consists of personal enemies or rich widows with like an extra toe or red hair or whatever, so "amateurs" can be far worse. Most of the actual power of the Templar Witch Hunters consist of their brutal mob-unleashing reputation, thus any action that might hurt that (like reigning in other Hunters and publicly exposing any hint of corruptibility or ignorance within their profession) is not something they care to commit.
 
Needs to be simple though...

Helmet, perhaps?

Depends on their standard kit first.

You can make the informants part of the standard budget, but I feel like keeping them in the discretionary budget (and getting that budget increased) gives us more fine control over who we pay, where we place informants, who we let go, etcetera.

We already let go of fine control for the most part since micromanaging gives us a really small and weak network...and this is mostly for the non secret informants. No loss there really
The problem with Witch Hunters is that the Twin-Tailed Comet and Silver Hammer license and initiate official Hunters, but there are more then just the Templars out there looking for things that go bump in the night. Even within the Order the pyre sometimes consists of personal enemies or rich widows with like an extra toe or red hair or whatever, so "amateurs" can be far worse. Most of the actual power of the Templar Witch Hunters consist of their brutal mob-unleashing reputation, thus any action that might hurt that (like reigning in other Hunters and publicly exposing any hint of corruptibility or ignorance within their profession) is not something they care to commit.

Basically we want more Van Hals, less of the regular sort.
 
Yeah, plus cost and what they need. I want something simple yet iconic for them. Basically, so they stand out.
Grey greatcoats, brass buttons. And yes, I suppose a helmet... it seems this was be the germanic (if Prussian) origin... Pickelhaube - Wikipedia

Their common-use nickname will be the Greycoats.

Grey, because Mathilde is very heavily associated with Grey, so there will be a link formed in the minds of the officers, and people.
 
Grey, because Mathilde is very heavily associated with Grey, so there will be a link formed in the minds of the officers, and people.
I'm not sure if we want to link the Watch to Mathilde. I really don't want people associating the Watch with the spymistress and thinking that the Watch has transformed into a secret police that will drag you off into the night if you don't behave.

Ideally, people outside of the Watch will simply assume that they report to the Elector Count/Marshal and not to the Spymistress. In that vein, I would probably argue for a uniform that incorporates the colors of Stirland rather than gray. Associate the Watch as protectors of local Stirland, rather than a secret police force.
 
I'm not sure if we want to link the Watch to Mathilde. I really don't want people associating the Watch with the spymistress and thinking that the Watch has transformed into a secret police that will drag you off into the night if you don't behave.
But... but... this is our dream! You can't deny Mathilde her dreams of a Secret Police State!

Deposing rulers, abducted from their homes in the night? Torture-to-death first time out? "Enhanced Interrogations" making heavy use of mind-altering magic? Casual use of that same mind-altering magic on civilians? Greatsword Diplomacy? A huge pogrom using the military to round up merchants not aligned to the regime and confiscate their property? Infiltrating both law enforcement, the military, and the underworld with informants? If you think we're not down for a little Police Stating...

...what quest have you been reading?

(Only half... no, quarter joking)
 
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[X][WatchName] QM's Choice
[X][WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.

I can't choose between the names suggested so far because none of them are good. The Stirland Vigil in particular, since the work they'll be doing has none of the qualities of a vigil. I'm choosing Underground instead of Road- or Riverwardens because the Watch is very much a city-based organisation, only working in Wurtbad, and I think its new form should continue in that manner by keeping to the towns. Leave the roads and rivers to the military. The rivers in particular should probably also require diplomatic input because the main ones form our borders with Talabecland, Wissenland, and Averland.

No vote for the reports this time. Even if there's things I'd change about veekie's plans, they're not objectionable on the whole. Not like there's ever any hope of beating him without getting a plan up immediately after the update, anyway.

[X][Orders] Plan Let Me Do Magic
-[X] You kind of regret learning exactly what you did to the Thorned One, but you did it. But the liquid leaking out? That's still an unknown. Will Van Hal let you look into it on the clock?
-[X] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
-[X] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
-[X] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.

I just want to be able to do something with magic for our official action.
 
But... but... this is our dream! You can't deny Mathilde her dreams of a Secret Police State!
Ah, but you see, that is the job for a highly specialized arm of the military (or Mathilde's retinue). That is the insidious genius of a properly run police state.

You have the brave public defenders of the people, a force that propaganda uplifts as the defenders of the common man of Stirland. They see them, and they feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the Count respects their rights and privacy while still defending them from the common menace of the undead. They are not here to arrest you, they are here to protect you from the unsavory as well as provide a wall against sneaky undead.

In the meantime, you have the never public secret police squad that nobody knows about. It is they that whisk people away in the dead of night, clean up political messes, and generally deal with the unsavory business of being the spymistress of the region.

In this way, people's attention is focused on the Watch to see what they do and how patriotic they are. When people realize that they are run by the Spymistress, then they think that this is the secret police arm and double their attention (especially if we don't publicize the relationship, people will assume that the conclusion they reached is true and dig no deeper) while the true secret police go about unnoticed.

Smoke and mirrors. Wave a red flag in a person's face to grab their attention, so they don't see the dagger drawing near their back.
 
I'm not sure if we want to link the Watch to Mathilde. I really don't want people associating the Watch with the spymistress and thinking that the Watch has transformed into a secret police that will drag you off into the night if you don't behave.

Ideally, people outside of the Watch will simply assume that they report to the Elector Count/Marshal and not to the Spymistress. In that vein, I would probably argue for a uniform that incorporates the colors of Stirland rather than gray. Associate the Watch as protectors of local Stirland, rather than a secret police force.

But... but... this is our dream! You can't deny Mathilde her dreams of a Secret Police State!

Deposing rulers, abducted from their homes in the night? "Enhanced Interrogations" making heavy use of mind-altering magic? Casual use of that same mind-altering magic on civilians? Greatsword Diplomacy? A huge pogrom using the military to round up merchants not aligned to the regime and confiscate their property? Infiltrating both law enforcement, the military, and the underworld with informants? If you think we're not down for a little Police Stating...

...what quest have you been reading?

(Only half... no, quarter joking)

Ah, but you see, that is the job for a highly specialized arm of the military (or Mathilde's retinue). That is the insidious genius of a properly run police state.

You have the brave public defenders of the people, a force that propaganda uplifts as the defenders of the common man of Stirland. They see them, and they feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the Count respects their rights and privacy while still defending them from the common menace of the undead. They are not here to arrest you, they are here to protect you from the unsavory as well as provide a wall against sneaky undead.

In the meantime, you have the never public secret police squad that nobody knows about. It is they that whisk people away in the dead of night, clean up political messes, and generally deal with the unsavory business of being the spymistress of the region.

In this way, people's attention is focused on the Watch to see what they do and how patriotic they are. When people realize that they are run by the Spymistress, then they think that this is the secret police arm and double their attention (especially if we don't publicize the relationship, people will assume that the conclusion they reached is true and dig no deeper) while the true secret police go about unnoticed.

Smoke and mirrors. Wave a red flag in a person's face to grab their attention, so they don't see the dagger drawing near their back.

A little bit of a clarification on a few points:
-The Watch is not(yet) a modern police force.
--The First(?) Wurtbad Watch was simply a security office. They make sure the city is free of bandits, robbers, arsonists and wildlife.
--The Second Wurtbad Watch under the previous administration overwrote the First, staffing it with former soldiers and then told them to "pursue corruption, mundane and supernatural". This was about as effective as you might imagine. They theoretically reported to the Elector of Stirland, but largely didn't report at all.

So, as far as modern ideas of police go? We have the beat cops, people with a helmet(for thrown cobblestones, furniture and shit), a breastplate(for knives and shit), a sword(for gribblies and deadly types of criminals), a baton( for rioters and other disorderly types) and a lantern or wicker shield, as well as a cloak because fuck the weather. We don't have detectives, investigators and the like.

This means that putting it under the Spymaster would be to shift it from Enforcement to Investigation.

What does this mean for fashion?
Stirland's colors are black going by the province heraldry.
So if we do this:
In that vein, I would probably argue for a uniform that incorporates the colors of Stirland rather than gray. Associate the Watch as protectors of local Stirland, rather than a secret police force.
They're going to look like Stormtroopers lol.
Maybe a grey cloak over black uniforms to make them look less ominous?
 
[X] [WatchName] The Stirland Vigil
[X] [WatchDuty] Riverwardens: With the addition of a fleet of very small warships, the Watch extend their reach onto the waterways of Stirland, fighting piracy and smuggling in the rivers that are the Empire's lifeblood.
[X] [Public] Plan The Watched
[X] [Private] Plan Team Mystic
[X] [Orders] Plan Who Ya Gonna Call?
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by HanEmpire on Feb 8, 2018 at 11:07 PM, finished with 128 posts and 27 votes.

  • [X] Stirland Guard​
    [X] Rat-catchers
    [X] [WatchName] The Stirland Vigil
    [X] [WatchDuty] Riverwardens: With the addition of a fleet of very small warships, the Watch extend their reach onto the waterways of Stirland, fighting piracy and smuggling in the rivers that are the Empire's lifeblood.
    [X] [Public] Plan The Watched
    -[X] The Watch is now legally under the office of the Spymaster and no longer doing their own thing on the city's budget. If anyone has areas of concern regarding law enforcement needing attention they could bring it up as well.
    --[X] You'd also want to talk to Kasmir about arranging some appropriate spiritual guidance for the Watch, since it doesn't have anything formal set up, and this being Stirland, they could probably use someone to talk to when they come across dead bodies, or help answer the more complicated questions they encounter in the course of their duties, like when some burgher are simply following a legal cult too enthusiastically rather than conducting an unholy sacrifice to the dark powers.
    [X] [Private] Plan Team Mystic
    -[X] Much to your chagrin the efforts at setting up a lab had been hit yet again by the latest fashion statement. Which was your own damned fault. You hope this is funding expansion in somebody's fancy glassware industries somewhere and the price drops once the fad wears out.
    -[X] In addition to publicly taking over the Watch, you've also put in agents throughout the middle layers to make sure that thing with the servants never happens again.
    -[X] Apparently you've somehow captured the Wisdom's Asp in such a manner that it got stuck threading between the mirrors, so it's half alive and half dispersed, half in the material realm and half in the Warp...well this particular snake is not going to reform as slain daemons and their ilk are wont to while the box exists. Unfortunately the method wouldn't work safely on anything BUT a Wisdom's Asp, and it'd have to be very very unlucky or extremely stupid to get stuck in this exact manner.
    -[X] The lands you were granted for your knighthood were very well suited to your limited availability to oversee the estates. Thanks for that.
    [X] [Orders] Plan Who Ya Gonna Call?
    -[X] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
    -[X] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
    -[X] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.
    -[X] Write In: Given the many forms and threats of undead in the region, perhaps it might be useful to have a dedicated unit to track them down and dissect them to learn how to better kill the things, how they might form, and how they might disguise or hide their nature, so as to actually push the undead back permanently. Something like what you did together on the transformed servants, but on a bigger scale.
    [X] Plan The Watched
    [X] Plan Team Mystic
    [x] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
    [x] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
    [x] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
    [x] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
    [x] For no particular reason, it'd be a good idea to see about informants within the military.
    [X] Keep the name
    [X] Rat-catchers
    [X] His Electoral Dignity's Most Honourable Civic Enforcers.
    [X] Rat-catchers
    [X] Stirland Watch
    [X] Rat-catchers
    [X][WatchName] QM's Choice
    [X][WatchName] Grey Coats
    [X] [WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
    [X] [Public] Plan The Watched
    [X] [Private] Plan Team Mystic
    [X] [Orders] Plan Surf 'n' Turf
    -[X] If we've got vampire troubles, maybe you should spend some time investigating how to counter vampiric infiltration.
    -[X] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.
    -[X] Write In: Given the many forms and threats of undead in the region, perhaps it might be useful to have a dedicated unit to track them down and dissect them to learn how to better kill the things, how they might form, and how they might disguise or hide their nature, so as to actually push the undead back permanently. Something like what you did together on the transformed servants, but on a bigger scale.
    -[X] Write In: While we're working with the Wurtbad Watch, the theft of the documents has made it clear that Stirland needs Riverwardens. That having been said, we also don't want to further alienate the veterans of the WW by forcing them to ignore Wurtbad in favor of watching the waterways, so we're asking for Van Hal's permission and Gustav's assistance to set up a province-wide network, similar to that of the Road-wardens. Except with boats.
    [X] [Orders] Plan Who Ya Gonna Call?
    [X] [Orders] Plan Surf 'n' Turf
    [X][Orders] Plan Let Me Do Magic
    -[X] You kind of regret learning exactly what you did to the Thorned One, but you did it. But the liquid leaking out? That's still an unknown. Will Van Hal let you look into it on the clock?
    -[X] The spell used by the informants is like nothing you've heard of before. You want to see if you can detect or replicate it.
    -[X] Your intelligence infrastructure is becoming worthy of the title; perhaps you could dedicate some time to expanding it. And, ideally, Stirland could pay for it directly instead of it eating your discretionary income.
    -[X] The Wurtbadian Watch is now your pet. Given more time, you can make it your attack dog.
 
I'll be honest, Stirland Vigil sounds terrible.

[X][WatchName] Stirland Watch
[X][WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
 
[X] [WatchDuty] Riverwardens: With the addition of a fleet of very small warships, the Watch extend their reach onto the waterways of Stirland, fighting piracy and smuggling in the rivers that are the Empire's lifeblood.
 
[X][WatchName] Stirland Watch
[X][WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
 
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[X][WatchName] Stirland Watch
[X][WatchDuty] Underground: Absorbing the Sewer Jacks and rat-catchers into the Watch will allow you to make the underways of the city as safe as the streets above.
 
[X][WatchName] Stirland Watch
[X] [WatchDuty] Riverwardens: With the addition of a fleet of very small warships, the Watch extend their reach onto the waterways of Stirland, fighting piracy and smuggling in the rivers that are the Empire's lifeblood.
 
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