Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on May 25, 2020 at 7:27 AM, finished with 99 posts and 13 votes.

  • [X] Duchess Asha Greyjoy, Captain of the IMS Hunter's Moon
    -[X] Asha budgeted for over a year as a successful chain-breaker and accomplished sailor, eventually earning her own commission and captaincy through her own hard-wrung efforts.
    -[X] She recognizes the need for her people to change, that the 'stupidity' tax on expected behavior from the Ironborn is simultaneously unsustainable and self-perpetuating. Only by serious efforts to integrate it with the wider realm, through trade and diplomacy, will its people fundamentally become better than reavers and brigands in the night. That their unquestioned skill at sail can be put towards better ends, such as slaying the numerous monsters crawling and slithering out of the tide. The same boldness which has been accursed in Westeros for thousands of years might instead be looked upon with respect and not scorn.
    -[X] She will never be a conventional noblewoman like many a lady of the Reach but then the empire that King Viserys is building is bigger than one kingdom, it is a whole world of diverse cultures who could stand to learn things from each other. To scorn or tarnish the name and word of another without letting their actions and deeds testify to their character does no one any credit.
    -[X] Asha is of course determined to build House Greyjoy into a powerful ally of House Redwyne and has all of the concrete information necessary (cue the ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and grains, all using rich volcanic soil and magic). That's all less relevant and not the focus of Asha's efforts, rather portraying a character of a serious, determined and mature woman would be.
 
Interlude DCCXCIX: By Strange Tides
By Strange Tides

Twentieth Day of the First Month 294 AC

Lady Mina Redwyne neé Tyrell had long since mastered any twitch of the face or hesitation in the eye that might give away surprise at ill news, or that which was merely unexpected, if that made a difference in these days when tragedy and ruin seemed to be visited upon all right-thinking lords without warning. She had buried her son after he'd been killed by monsters out of some sick tale, then she had seen him live again after playing a price she didn't wholly understand but knew she did not trust.

Yet all that did not stop her heart starting in surprise when she heard the servant calling her to Paxter's study 'at her earliest convenience'. That was how he put it when the matter was truly urgent but he did not want to inform the staff or anyone else of the matter. Another letter from Horas maybe, having finally come to his senses? Too much to hope for, the lady sighed inwardly, though neither did her breathing nor her stride shift for a moment.

The Lady of the Arbor glanced into the ivory backed mirror to set the pearl-studded hairnet ever so slightly just in case it was company.

***​

There was a Greyjoy in the keep and wonder of wonders it wasn't on fire or being looted, the thought came to mind in what sounded suspiciously like her mother's voice. Olenna Tyrell would probably have said it aloud too, but Mina was rather more busy trying to take in the girl in polished chainmail and dragon's colors sitting across from her. Duchess Asha Greyjoy, Captain of the His Imperial Majesty's Ship the Hunter's Moon.

It should have sounded like the kind of nonsense a child would babble or perhaps a conman looking to fool the gullible but for the fact that said 'Imperial Majesty' was sitting just to her right, between Horas and the grim-faced knight who introduced himself as Ser Richard Lonmouth. Viserys Targaryen for his part looked every inch worth the grandiose title, from the Valyrian Steel crown on his brow to the fine black boots adorned with silver tracery. Though if she had to be the one to give him one title it would have been Sorcerer King, between the cloak of golden scales that flowed as though alive, the staff of weirwood and the rings glittering with the light of otherworldly gems he seemed to have just stepped out of some fanciful illustration of bygone times.

The Lady of the Arbor was no fool, she knew Greyjoys were not to be dismissed out of hand, like some who had the fortune to live far from the sea or great rivers, as foolish as dismissing a plague that blew in from the Sunset Sea, but that did not mean Mina wanted some trollop who had taken up her ancestor's bloody axe the first chance she got rather than be grateful for a civilized fostering in her son's bed. The thought was shaken by the mere presence of the Dragon here, his support obvious though he had hardly given anything besides words of greeting and expected pleasantries.

"Fair lands you have here, my lord and lady," the girl said motioning out the window. "Horas told me about them, but even the words of a man who clearly loved them could not do them justice."

"Some of your ancestors thought so too I gather," Mina said sweetly. The sharpest needles were dripped in honey. If she claimed all that was gone and done there was always the savagery of her own father to bring up.

Her sea-grey eyes flashed with anger, but her tone was even. "I said the words without greed or rancor, truly the Ironborn would have been wiser to tend the land and trade with their neighbors and turned their axes towards those who deserve it."

"And who do you judge deserves an ironborn axe across the neck?" Paxter asked. He didn't sound accusing, but it was clear he wouldn't abide weaseling out.

"Slavers like I've been killing over the past years," the Greyjoy shrugged. "Monsters... aye there's some monsters out there that deserve to be ticked by Ironborn axes." The anger that flashed across her face then was far deeper than mere frustration, almost enough to make Mina sink a little deeper into her seat. She couldn't practically hear her mother hiss at her that no daughter of hers would slouch.

"You can hardly expect to finance a fief with prize money no matter how generous His Grace is," Paxter said trying to flatter the king, not that it seemed to do affect the dragon to judge from his carefully neutral expression and nod simply acknowledging the point.

"No, of course not, there's been a tax on Ironborn stupidity since time out of mind, a tax paid not only in warriors' blood but starving children as well in lean years. We have to trade and seek common ground and we need better plans to grow than some bullsh- er, nonsense about paying the Iron Price." The girl didn't even blush at her near-curse. Shameless.

Still, Mina admitted she was saying all the right things, probably because she had at least as much sense as to listen to Horas in this, but Gods alone knew if she would keep doing it after... Why am I even thinking of this?

That was when the girl pulled out a large pile of parchments, no Yi Tish paper, out of a magic bag, all of them filled with plans, so many plans, ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and grains, all using rich volcanic soil and magic..

It was about two hours into that discussion that Mina realized she would likely have to organize a wedding where the bride insisted on being armed after all, not that she was going to say so much aloud all at once, but this 'plan' of Horas' might not be a complete disaster if the Crown were wiling to be as involved in the whole matter as the king's presence here implied.

"Excellent, I look forward to working closely with you my lady, though not as much as Horas is I'm sure," Paxter chuckled.

For all her self-control Mina Redwyne could not keep back the smallest of eyerolls. At least Horas had the grace to look embarrassed.

What next?

[] Receive a report
-[] The dead of Ghoyan Drohe
-[] Yi Ti financial results
-[] Ghiscari Investigation
-[] Reach fey-pact research
-[] Write in

[] Continue with Viserys
-[] Write in

[] Write in


OOC: I had Viserys take on more of a background role here since the idea of the vote was to have Asha deal with matters with help and not do it for her, still his presence had quite an effect on the proceedings.
 
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[X] Receive a report
-[X] The dead of Ghoyan Drohe


That was pleasantly short and with no further decisions or speeches from our side.
Thank you.

That was when the chit pulled out a large pile of parchments, no Yi Tish paper out of a magic bag, all of them filled with plans, so many plans, ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and grains, all using rich volcanic soil and magic..
Did we hit up the Reader for those numbers and plans, or did we already have them somewhere in the back of our pockets?
 
I like it when we do these missions in suport of our vassals. It really shows that we care.

Speaking of which, we have an infernal duke we need to murderize in Dis...
 
By Strange Tides

Twentieth Day of the First Month 294 AC

Lady Mina Redwyne neé Tyrell had long since mastered any twitch of the face or hesitation in the eye that might give away surprise at ill news, or that which was merely unexpected, if that made a difference in these days when tragedy and ruin seemed to be visited upon all right-thinking lords without warning. She had buried her son after he'd been killed by monsters out of some sick tale, then she had seen him live again after playing a price she didn't wholly understand but knew she did not trust.

Yet all that did not stop her heart starting in surprise when she heard the servant calling her to Paxter's study 'at her earliest convenience'. That was how he put it when the matter was truly urgent but he did not want to inform the staff or anyone else of the matter. Another letter from Horas maybe, having finally come to his senses. Too much to hope for, the lady sighed inwardly though neither her breathing nor her stride shifted for a moment.

The Lady of the Arbor glanced into the ivory backed mirror to set the pearl-studded hairnet ever so slightly just in case it was company.

***​

There was a Greyjoy in the keep and wonder of wonders, it wasn't on fire or being looted, the thought came to mind in what sounded suspiciously like her mother's voice. Ollena Tyrell would probably have said it aloud too, but Mina was rather more busy trying to take in the girl in polished chainmail and dragon's colors sitting across from her. Duchess Asha Greyjoy, Captain of His Imperial Majesty's Ship, the Hunter's Moon.

It should have sounded like the kind of nonsense a child would babble or perhaps a conman looking to fool the gullible, but for the fact that said 'Imperial Majesty' was sitting just to her right, between Horas and the grim-faced knight who introduced himself as Ser Richard Lonmouth. Viserys Targaryen for his part looked every inch worthy of the grandiose title from the Valyrian Steel crown on his brow to the fine black boots adorned with silver tracery, though if she had to be the one to give him a title it would have instead been Sorcerer King. Between the cloak of golden scales that flowed as though alive, the staff of weirwood, and the rings glittering with the light of otherworldly gems, he seemed to have just stepped out of some fanciful illustration of bygone times.

The lady of the Arbor was no fool, she knew Greyjoys were not to be dismissed out of hand, like some who had the fortune to live far from the sea or great rivers, as foolish as dismissing a plague that blew in from the Sunset Sea, but that did not mean Mina wanted some trollop in her son's bed who had taken up her ancestor's bloody axe the first chance she got rather than be grateful for a civilized fostering. The thought was shaken by the mere presence of the dragon here, his support obvious though he had hardly said anything besides words of greeting and expected pleasantries.

"Fair lands you have here my lord and lady," the girl said motioning out the window. "Horas told me about them, but even the words of a man who clearly loved them could not do them justice."

"Some of your ancestors thought so too, I gather," Mina said sweetly. The sharpest needles were dripped in honey. If she claimed all that was gone and done there was always the savagery of her own father to bring up.

Her sea-grey eyes flashed with anger, but her tone was even. "I said the words without greed or rancor, truly the Ironborn would have been wiser to tend the land and trade with their neighbors, and turned their axes towards those who deserve it."

"And who do you judge deserves an ironborn axe across the neck?" Paxter asked. He didn't sound accusing, but it was clear he wouldn't abide and weaseling out.

"Slavers like I've been killing over the past years," the Greyjoy shrugged. "Monsters... aye there's some monsters out there that deserve to be ticked by Ironborn axes." The anger that flashed across her face then was far deeper than mere frustration, almost enough to make Mina sink a little deeper into her seat, but she could practically hear her mother hiss at her that no daughter of hers would slouch.

"You can hardly expect to finance a fief with prize money, no matter how generous His Grace is," Paxter said trying to flatter the king, not that it seemed to affect the dragon, to judge from his carefully neutral expression and nod simply acknowledging the point.

"No, of course not, there's been a tax on Ironborn stupidity since time out of mind, a tax paid not only in warrior's blood but also starving children in lean years. We have to trade and seek common ground and we need better plans to grow than some bullsh... er, nonsense about paying the Iron price." The girl didn't even blush at her near-curse. Shameless.

Still, Mina admitted she was saying all the right things, probably because she had at least as much sense as to listen to Horas in this, but Gods alone knew if she would keep doing it after... Why am I even thinking of this?

That was when the chit pulled out a large pile of parchments, no Yi Tish paper out of a magic bag, all of them filled with plans, so many plans, ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and grains, all using rich volcanic soil and magic..

It was about two hours into that discussion that Mina realized she would likely have to organize a wedding where the bride insisted on being armed after all, not that she was going to say so much aloud all at once, but this 'plan' of Horas' might not be a complete disaster if the crown were willing to be as involved in the whole matter as the king's presence here implied.

"Excellent, I look forward to working closely with you, my lady, though not as much as Horas is, I'm sure," Paxter chuckled.

For all her self-control, Mina Redwyne could not keep back the smallest of eyerolls. At least Horas had the grace to look embarrassed.

What next?

[] Receive a report
-[] The dead of Ghoyan Drohe
-[] Yi Ti financial results
-[] Ghyscari Investigation
-[] Reach fey-pact research
-[] Write in

[] Continue with Viserys
-[] Write in

[] Write in


OOC: I had Viserys take on more of a background role here since the idea of the vote was to have Asha deal with matters with help not do it for her, still his presence had quite and effect on proceedings. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

And Paxter closes out the encounter with a dad joke, proving some things really do transcend time and space.
 
[X] Receive a report
-[X] The dead of Ghoyan Drohe
 
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[X] Receive a report
-[X] Yi Ti financial results

I want to know what's happening in Yi Ti. I also want to know what Fen(?) is up to.
 
This is a bit off topic, but I've been looking for ways to make public transit more viable and I think I found some winners. Spoiler'd to avoid cluttering the thread.

None of the teleport spells I've found have had a range long enough to be useful without destroying trade, but there are a number of freight items that we can use for people.
Cauldrons of Flying and Flying Chests
are both based on Overland Flight, but have different usage limitations.

A CF can lift 500 lbs and fly at 40 ft or 1000 lbs at 30 ft, and has no time limits. A FC can lift 300 lbs and fly at 40 ft or 600 for 30 ft, but it only lasts 10 hours a day. It does however only count things strapped to the outside towards that weight, not anything in the 6 cubic feet of space inside of it. I'm going to avoid cheesing that too badly to increase the likelihood we can use this stuff.

The next important subsystem is a Captain's Locker. It's mostly a chest of holding with some neat protections for sea travel, but it has one super useful cargo carrying feature. If you place it in the cargo hold of a ship, or something like a freight wagon, it increases the internal space by 50% without effecting the apparent weight of the vehicle.

If we shaped them as flat boxes and riveted them together, we could get a platform to mount a passenger compartment on with a CL stuck inside.

I looked it up, and the average articulated bus holds 120 people, with the average human being 136 lbs, that's about 16,320 lbs. weight is more important than speed here, so I'm going to use the 30 ft numbers for the rest of this.

For a FC we'd need about 28 units to lift that without the CL, which would run us 47,600 IM. Assuming we use a fixed mass-space ratio, the CL would let us use a much smaller container to lift the same number of people.

Unless I messed up my math somewhere, we'd be able to use a compartment capable of holding 10,880 lbs to lift the 16,320 lbs of people. That'd let us get the same utility using 19 FC for 32,300 IM and 1 CL for 3,000 IM. That saves us 12,300 IM, which is well worth the addition.

For the CoF lifting 16,320 lbs would be a 17 unit job alone, running us 68,000 IM*. With the CL it drops to 11 units for 44,000 IM plus 3000 IM for the CL. That saves us 24,000 IM*, so it's worth adding it here as well.

Now the total speed isn't too impressive, clocking in at 3.4 mph (5.47 kph). They do have the advantage of being capable of flying in straight lines instead of following roads though, and don't require changes or additions to any existing infrastructure.

The more expensive CoF based version would be better for low priority cargo since it can go continuously if there are a few drivers to work in shifts. The FC would be better for buses since it 10 hours is plenty of run time, and the cargo compartments could be arranged like greyhound buses for slightly longer trips.

If the speed is really an issue, then we could look into adding Wings of Swift Flying since they'd add 30ft of movement and last for hours. That moves it up to 6.6 mph (10.62 kph).

Assuming that the internet isn't lying too badly, a horse and rider can cover 32 miles in 8 hours at a comfortable pace for the horse. That's faster than the slowest option, but a bus/train car doesn't need the care and upkeeps of a horse, and for moving more than a single person I don't think a horse is as efficient.

Even if we don't use the bus concept, the FCs are definitely worthwhile as a distribution system since that internal compartment doesn't give two shits about weight.
edit: originally used numbers from the wrong calculation.
TLDR:
 
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This is a bit off topic, but I've been looking for ways to make public transit more viable and I think I found some winners. Spoiler'd to avoid cluttering the thread.

None of the teleport spells I've found have had a range long enough to be useful without destroying trade, but there are a number of freight items that we can use for people.
Cauldrons of Flying and Flying Chests
are both based on Overland Flight, but have different usage limitations.

A CF can lift 500 lbs and fly at 40 ft or 1000 lbs at 30 ft, and has no time limits. A FC can lift 300 lbs and fly at 40 ft or 600 for 30 ft, but it only lasts 10 hours a day. It does however only count things strapped to the outside towards that weight, not anything in the 6 cubic feet of space inside of it. I'm going to avoid cheesing that too badly to increase the likelihood we can use this stuff.

The next important subsystem is a Captain's Locker. It's mostly a chest of holding with some neat protections for sea travel, but it has one super useful cargo carrying feature. If you place it in the cargo hold of a ship, or something like a freight wagon, it increases the internal space by 50% without effecting the apparent weight of the vehicle.

If we shaped them as flat boxes and riveted them together, we could get a platform to mount a passenger compartment on with a CL stuck inside.

I looked it up, and the average articulated bus holds 120 people, with the average human being 136 lbs, that's about 16,320 lbs. weight is more important than speed here, so I'm going to use the 30 ft numbers for the rest of this.

For a FC we'd need about 28 units to lift that without the CL, which would run us 47,600 IM. Assuming we use a fixed mass-space ratio, the CL would let us use a much smaller container to lift the same number of people.

Unless I messed up my math somewhere, we'd be able to use a compartment capable of holding 10,880 lbs to lift the 16,320 lbs of people. That'd let us get the same utility using 19 FC for 32,300 IM and 1 CL for 3,000 IM. That saves us 12,300 IM, which is well worth the addition.

For the CoF lifting 16,320 lbs would be a 17 unit job alone, running us 68,000 IM*. With the CL it drops to 11 units for 44,000 IM plus 3000 IM for the CL. That saves us 24,000 IM*, so it's worth adding it here as well.

Now the total speed isn't too impressive, clocking in at 3.4 mph (5.47 kph). They do have the advantage of being capable of flying in straight lines instead of following roads though, and don't require changes or additions to any existing infrastructure.

The more expensive CoF based version would be better for low priority cargo since it can go continuously if there are a few drivers to work in shifts. The FC would be better for buses since it 10 hours is plenty of run time, and the cargo compartments could be arranged like greyhound buses for slightly longer trips.

If the speed is really an issue, then we could look into adding Wings of Swift Flying since they'd add 30ft of movement and last for hours. That moves it up to 6.6 mph (10.62 kph).

Assuming that the internet isn't lying too badly, a horse and rider can cover 32 miles in 8 hours at a comfortable pace for the horse. That's faster than the slowest option, but a bus/train car doesn't need the care and upkeeps of a horse, and for moving more than a single person I don't think a horse is as efficient.

Even if we don't use the bus concept, the FCs are definitely worthwhile as a distribution system since that internal compartment doesn't give two shits about weight.
edit: originally used numbers from the wrong calculation.
TLDR:
While nifty looking, I'm afraid that these things would still cost significantly more then combat capable anti-grav flyers. If we are actually willing to drop between 5,000 and 10,000 IM for public transportation, we could get a civilian aircraft going for that. For the roundabout 50,000 IM, we could get cargo vessel larger then the Moonchaser flying, including some self-defense armaments.
 
Why not jusf use teleportation circles, just use them for foot traffic and ship materials the traditional way, just use moonchaser sized super cargo ships instead of all that faffing about with the easily targeted stuff like the bus. Maybe bikes for inter city transportation of people.
 
@DragonParadox, regarding the Redwynes, Horas asked us to help find somewhere to put his younger brother, right? I vaguely remember something along those lines.

[X] Artemis1992
 
While nifty looking, I'm afraid that these things would still cost significantly more then combat capable anti-grav flyers. If we are actually willing to drop between 5,000 and 10,000 IM for public transportation, we could get a civilian aircraft going for that. For the roundabout 50,000 IM, we could get cargo vessel larger then the Moonchaser flying, including some self-defense armaments.
That's true, but it does have the advantage of not requiring all of the same resources as a gravity platform. Still needs enchanting time, but not any of the special materials. We also don't need to build something as large as a bus if a swarm of taxis would work better.

If Amazing Tools of Manufacture apply to this then a crafter could make one flying chest vehicle a day, and as long as we keep the "engine block " in a standard linkable state we can always assemble a larger vehicle out of them later.

The Captain's Locker is definitely worth using even if the rest of it isn't. A flat 50% on any cargo hold without otherwise effecting the ship is fantastic. We probably need some loose size limits to make it less stupidly useful, but for any civilian application involving shipping it's pure gold.
edit: @Acolyte using Teleportation circles runs the risk of creating the Tippyverse problem. If you can just teleport between cities the entire dynamic of civilization changes, and many of us here don't like that idea.

If we could find teleport spells that worked on groups and were limited to 750-1000 ft or so and cost less than teleport circle that'd be ideal, but those are thin on the ground.
 
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edit: @Acolyte using Teleportation circles runs the risk of creating the Tippyverse problem. If you can just teleport between cities the entire dynamic of civilization changes, and many of us here don't like that idea
Why not, the cities are going to have the most of the economic power any way and you still need farming to feed those cities. And besides it won't really turn into a tippyverse unless we want it to, so its entirely in our control, we can put arbitrary limits on the circles if we are worried about them, or charge higher prices than shipping to keep traders relevant.
I don't see the problem here anyway.
 
Frankly, I don't like that cargo hold expansion for cheesiness reasons. That's stupidly overpowered for a flat cost.

Also, I don't see public transportation as a problem at all. A bicycle would be far more useful to address the few existing concerns then plots to build stuff worth millions of dollars in compared buying power.
 
Frankly, I don't like that cargo hold expansion for cheesiness reasons. That's stupidly overpowered for a flat cost.

Also, I don't see public transportation as a problem at all. A bicycle would be far more useful to address the few existing concerns then plots to build stuff worth millions of dollars in compared buying power.
I would f
Prefer bikes for in city travel. But teleportation circles are just too useful not to use. If nothing else just for the legion to react quickly all over the globe
 
I would f
Prefer bikes for in city travel. But teleportation circles are just too useful not to use. If nothing else just for the legion to react quickly all over the globe
I'm one of those people not wanting to go full Tippyverse, so you are not going to get me convinced on Tele-Circles. Ever.

Especially not as the planes demonstratably don't have Tippyverse economics, so the Tele-Circle should logically not exist.
 
I'm one of those people not wanting to go full Tippyverse, so you are not going to get me convinced on Tele-Circles. Ever.

Especially not as the planes demonstratably don't have Tippyverse economics, so the Tele-Circle should logically not exist.
But tippyverse won't happen unless we wish for it to happen, we can and do artificially control the entire economy.

The elemental planes are effectively tippyverse, because its controlled by a one megapolis with outposts to collect resources.

And anyway my argument is to use them in a centralised base from where the legion can deploy as quick reaction forces.
 
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