Paths of Civilization II: Paths of Industrialization

1806 EY

[X] [CD] 1 PW - Find additional resources (-2 Temp Trust, -1 Espionage, increased chance of success, ???)
[X] [Taxes] 1 PW - Actually, further bank and business shenanigans should be good (+1 Temp IC)
[X] [King] 0 PW - Wyrmyn Front (increased civilian confidence, lower risk)

"So sire, it all started with the boots. Good old boots get these sorts of flex marks when you make them proper-like and wear them proper-like, but even good old boots wear out eventually. What's a hard warrior to do when he has to walk around like he just got his spurs? Of course he draws the lines on himself, and everyone knows that he earned them proper like. He also makes sure that his belt sash also lets the world know that he's like that, but the same sort of stripes, they don't really work. So, he takes those lines and he stretches them out along the length of his sash, although he doesn't need quite so many. But there you have it, tiger stripes! They look good on pants, jackets, and even horse blankets if you get the colours right!" The somewhat drunk Qeshyk explained to Poetyr as he waited in camp. This was variation three on where tiger stripes came, the Qeshyks all telling him their own versions of the story since his idle musings had got out among them.

Camping with them had not been something he had been expecting to do, but things in the Wyrmyn Front had abruptly gone from stable to disastrous the Qeshyks were the fastest around to evacuate him backwards while the rest of the army desperately tried to reform. As it turned out, vyn Hohozyn had enough good generals that he could slip away from the Styrmyr Front and aid his "allies" in the place no one expected him to be. Crafty bastard. Fortunately the troops he was using were less than the cream of Tortun and it was obvious that he was using a simplified version of his playbook to compensate, but he still spanked the Kielmyr and the People before anyone really knew what was going on. Poetyr was calling for a rally far away from the front where they could all catch their breaths, letting his Qeshyks clash with the hussars of the Tortun and Wyrmyn Republics. The situation was obviously bad, but not beyond salvage. Already he was working out what emergency measures would need to be implemented.

Fortunately all the support for business and efforts towards the Kyberi frontier had paid off with a number of nobles and merchants approaching him about the possibility of a Crown Company to settle and develop the frontier, sending in a fresh influx of cash. Also the People were pretty angry with the invasion anyway, and had rallied more strongly than anyone had expected, so the squeeze of taxes would not be as significant. Him keeping the local Wyrmyn populations from immediately throwing in with their "free" brethren probably had a lot to do with that.

New Statuses
Kyberi Trading Company - The first action involving settlement or development of Kyberi costs 1 less PW than usual
Invaders Must Die - Options that increase Armies cost 1 less PW to use for duration of war, but cause Temp Militancy Increases

In other good news, the plan to deal with the Hespranxer had gone well. Hunrix XI had suffered a tragic fall from the balcony of his Etalin villa after a night of furious ranting and heavy drinking, shattering his skull on the pavement stones below. Such tragedy, some men just couldn't handle their wine - especially when it was spiked with some things with a bit more kick to it. In any case, with the royalists scrambling to figure out if they wanted to attach their cause to a five year old girl, the People's ambassadors had helpfully pointed out that the current royals of Behryvar had a somewhat distant claim to the Hespranxer throne. While this had obviously got everyone's suspicions up more than a bit, it was a valid suggestion.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, the suggestion of the second son of the current king had run into a slight snag. Before all of this had gone into action, a tragedy has struck the Behryvar royal family. The first son had been a well liked, influential, and considered by all a skilled military commander, and had gone off to a contested region to bolster the troops. He had of course been well behind the actual front, but by some bizarre fluke of fate a Republican cannon had suffered a misfire and launched its shot into a long, wild arc that came down nearby where the prince had been. It had not struck anyone, but by the official account it had shattered a fence after bouncing off a boulder and sent a nail spinning into the prince's side. What then followed was months of slow wasting as infection took hold and the finest doctors money could buy desperately tried to save him, all while the rest of the world had no idea what had happened. By the time it came out that the crown prince had passed and the second son was now the heir apparent the suggestion that he offer to the Hespranxer to renounce his inheritance in exchange for becoming their new constitutional monarch.

The ambassadors who had set this all into motion had just enough time to feel mortification at their severe faux pas before it morphed into a mix of confused horror over the fact that not only did the Hespranxer Assembly express interest, but so had the Behryvar crown prince. Further poking had revealed that not only had the Behryvar king been sent into a spiraling depression over the loss of his eldest son that was negatively affecting the function of the kingdom, but it also meant that the third brother was consolidating his control over the military with no one to stand in his way. Obviously judging his ability to hold his inheritance dubious, the current crown prince had apparently made a good enough offer that the Hespranxer had officially called for a ceasefire while they figured out whether they were going to remain a full republic or if maybe they should walk things back a bit for a constitutional monarchy like they had originally wanted at the start of the revolution.

While this had burned some bridges, it was really more of a light charring of the wood in most places, and there was also a degree of gratitude from certain parties - although the Tortun republicans were more pissed than ever - and it also meant that the Sketch planned to begin actually landing troops to aid in the fight against the Tortun. The Vortuga also suggested that they might help, but apparently their largest colony had gone "blood drunk" and they were desperately trying to rein them in over attacking the Hespranxer colonies in South Mahaxia so as to secure the peace in Syffryn. Apparently the Mapanca had taken the distraction of the home territories and the disruption of revolution as an opportunity to unleash several centuries of pent up anger at the Syffrynites, and there were mixed race members of the Vortuga colony who gleefully joined in with the excuse that this was expected of them.

Accounts of pyramids of skulls and captives having their hearts ripped out in elaborate ritual were probably untrue, but the both the Mapanca and Vortuga traders suggested that there were segments of the Vortuga colony that had gone unhinged enough to make that sort of thing plausible at least.

In any case, while a bit of a black stain to be implicated in probably assassinating a monarch and interfering in the internal affairs of another nation, there was a bit of a sentiment of "Well, we didn't want that guy anyway and this situation is probably preferable to the alternative, so it's not that bad", the advisors had also sent along the suggestion that the Dual Monarchy pretty much had to adopt a constitution of its own in short order, or the sheer hypocrisy of approving of a foreign constitutional monarchy while denying one at home would cause problems in short order.

New Status
Constitutional Call - Gain +1 Temp Consciousness every turn until a constitution adopted

Pretty much all of the letters detailing this all had more or less arrived all at the same time as the messengers had been trying to catch up to where the Patriarch's camp actually was, so he had been deluged with various confused and panicked and relieved reports that had come all out of order and on top of each other. On top of all the military reports and messages regarding the general agitation of the scholars in Redshore. Ugh... some days Poetyr wished he were one of those lazy, indulgent kings who got his advisors to do everything for him. Did he not deserve his rest? Such as the guillotine or a tumble out of a balcony head first?

+2 PW from war turn and popular agitation, 3 PW available for actions
You need more men to throw at the Tortun and their allies
[] [Levy] 1 PW - Actually, no, no you don't
[] [Levy] 0 PW - Draw up more from the levy (-1 Temp IC, +1 Temp Armies, +1 Temp Militancy)
[] [Levy] 1 PW - Devote industry to continual production and support (-1 IC, +1 Armies, +1 PW from Royalists, +1 Temp Militancy)
[] [Levy] 1 PW - Taxes (-1 Temp SoL, +1 Temp Armies, +1 Temp Militancy)
[] [Levy] 2 PW - More taxes (-1 SoL, +1 Armies, +1 Temp Militancy)

Strategy
[] [War] 0 PW - Reform armies, find an advantageous place to force a decisive battle
[] [War] 1 PW - Refuse direct battle, use the Qeshyks to make them chase ghosts while you lick your wounds
[] [War] 1 PW - Take advantage of the First Citizen being away from Tortun, order an all out assault in the Styrmyr front while you hold them in Wyrmyn
[] [War] 3 PW - Draw them into the plains and steppes of Gylruv while burning everything behind you and slowing their advance with harassing tactics, see if they can still fight without food (+1 Militancy, destruction of 1-3 points of active development, randomly lowering IC, SoL, Education, and Innovation to adjust for loss)

Liberalism Completed! New government type available. Completed mostly independently, if after others gives +3 Prestige
New Research Topics Available
[] [Research] Academic Freedom (0/???) [Social]
[] [Research] Early Market Liberalization (0/25-40?) [Social]
[] [Research] Early Modern Logic (0/20-25?) [Science]