What we could develop right now, and probably not without all that much effort is a code machine in the style of the Enigma. It's basically a Caesar Chiffre on steroids, and the Valyrians definitely had those.

Input is done by using a rod in which you have groups of serpentstone, always in groups of 8, with each group encoding a given symbol. Each of the small pieces acts as a basic memory latch, being activated by receiving a specific color of light while also being brought to a specific temperature, while being reset by another color at another temperature. That way, the plates aren't randomly reset when you take them out of their cases. When they are active, the cells emit a bit of light, which can be used as input by other serpentstone. These rods are put into the cryptographic engine.

That machine works a bit like a typewrite. Namely, it has buttons with specific symbols and when you press them down, a specific code is run through the encryption rotors before being "saved" onto the rod. The rod is moved one step forward and you set the next symbol. If you put the already written on rod into a different slot on the machine, it will reverse the encryption and highlight the letter which it has just read from the rod, allowing you to decode the message again.

The gag is that the machine itself will use the same trick as the Necro-Cases for the Inquistion, so that nothing of the inner workings of the machine can be divined. Without knowing that, the encoded rods contain nothing but gibberish that can't be decyphered by anyone or anything who doesn't have the code machine and the right settings. Said setting will not be communicated to anyone, but instead use a set of serpentstone discs, basically acting as a physical encryption key. Without the machine and the physical keys for the current code timeframe, you can't decode the communication.
 
Come to think of. Serpentstone can also be made to react to and emit sound. So we can finally set up automated communication by coupling Braziers and serpentstone transceivers. Which also means we can nail my code engine to the thing and get portable text messaging that is both instantaneous and safe from eavesdropping.

...

We can even invent the telephone.
 
Hey have we standardised weights and measurements yet?
Not yet. We're in an odd place for that since d&d stuff uses the imperial system (namely for pounds regarding precious metals, which we've used forever), but overall metric is far more intuitive.
Come to think of. Serpentstone can also be made to react to and emit sound. So we can finally set up automated communication by coupling Braziers and serpentstone transceivers. Which also means we can nail my code engine to the thing and get portable text messaging that is both instantaneous and safe from eavesdropping.

...

We can even invent the telephone.
Let's do it.
 
Do we have a university department for math yet? Otherwise, we will be pretty much stuck after the mechanical calculator since there's not really anything that would make the effort even necessary.
And for that, we will likely need a good bit of research.
We need to develop one, and I will make it the first course we create/construct facilities for that we do next month.

After that I was going to work through the list of possible course material I mentioned the other day. Sorcerer's Deep already has comprehensive art program, and we teach Economics and Law at the University level.

So Math, then Natural Philosophy, then Medicine, then Logic, then Rhetoric, Grammar, Astronomy and Astrology.

Once we develop our University this much, I expect background knowledge skills in most subjects will be fairly common at a middle-income level in SD. If we can have a University at least that good in most major regions which could be reached via overland travel from any one part of the area, then that'll become across most of the Imperium.
 
Last edited:
We technically teach Engineering already, at the Imperial Military Academy. Granted the civilian sector is a bit sparse right now on our account of having Shanghai'd them all into our military industrial complex.

I'll make a note of it.
The civilian ones will ultimate mostly serve the military-industrial complex and our administration anyway, so consider it an expansion of what we are already doing with some left-overs for civilian use.
 
Hmmm, this is kinda random and not sure why it hasn't been brought up already... but couldn't we Flesh Forge some more of our more low population? I mean, I know @Duesal gets worried each time we lose a minotaur so why not make a few more babies at a manageable pace? We are after all making kobolds as a whole new species.

We can do the same for rarer Serpentfolk breeds so that grow faster and such, and we can hopefully do the same for other species later if they want. Flesh Forge allows us to basically produce free thinking beings after all for a somewhat manageable price.
 
Hmmm, this is kinda random and not sure why it hasn't been brought up already... but couldn't we Flesh Forge some more of our more low population? I mean, I know @Duesal gets worried each time we lose a minotaur so why not make a few more babies at a manageable pace? We are after all making kobolds as a whole new species.

We can do the same for rarer Serpentfolk breeds so that grow faster and such, and we can hopefully do the same for other species later if they want. Flesh Forge allows us to basically produce free thinking beings after all for a somewhat manageable price.
There's nothing wrong with Flesh Forging babies so long as they're raised with care and attentiveness. If Riz'Neth wants to have a surplus of Serpentfolk babies then he's free to cooperate with our Flesh Smiths on that.

That being said, he's probably got his hands full as it is with the initial influx of children. We might see him ask for some more once the current batch reaches adulthood, or at least adolescence.
 
I will also expand the Engineering student intake twice, the Officer one twice and the Pilot one once.

So we can train up to 3,000 military Engineer specialists, 1,800 Officers (or enough to form 3 Legions worth of officer corps with some spare change to replace casualties to ensure our NCOs are generally very experienced rather than constantly being commissioned) and 1,200 Pilots (or enough to supply two Air groups (or nine wings) of aircraft with pilots and replacements. And some left over to fly special aircraft, like for the Inquisition or the Praetorians Guard. If we're going to make armed air transports.

Er, per year, that is.
 
Last edited:
Sounds good.

Mind, how many Praetori will be in the first batch? They should be nearly ready for decanting.
 
@Crake, @Goldfish have the additions to the proposal I threw out earlier been finalized?
I'd really like to edit the "who's assigned where" list while I have some free time, buh wuh, can't unless we vote on the month's fleshcrafting :/
also, @Goldfish, how many new Heralds/elemental wyrmlings we've made this month?
 
@Crake, @Goldfish have the additions to the proposal I threw out earlier been finalized?
I'd really like to edit the "who's assigned where" list while I have some free time, buh wuh, can't unless we vote on the month's fleshcrafting :/
also, @Goldfish, how many new Heralds/elemental wyrmlings we've made this month?
Me and Goldfish still haven't hammered out details. I'll corner him into it tomorrow or Sunday.
 
Don't forget a few batches of the hunter-killer groups made from mixed animals and undead. With Westeros drawing nearer, I'd prefer to expand our shipping lane security and it might be interesting to support our invasion by sending battlegroup up the Mander, Blackwater and Trident.
 
The Valyrians could have just applied magic to mitigate the need for designing tools like calculators.

It's 3rd addition, but Easy Math would make for a fairly useful item. If you take it as written a DC 15 perform check will get you within 10% of the correct answer for any calculation you're attempting in one round. That probably needs a nerf bat if we use it, but something like that would work for explaining what the Valyrians were up to.

Mathematicians could also benefit from Ancient Knowledge, Mechanicus Mind, Mask of a Thousand Tomes, and Lore Needles. The Valyrians could easily have afforded giving this type of support to some calculation slaves even if they didn't use forged creatures.
 
Not yet. We're in an odd place for that since d&d stuff uses the imperial system (namely for pounds regarding precious metals, which we've used forever), but overall metric is far more intuitive.
Considering the benefits standardisation has for mass production and logistics we should probably see about doing something about that.
 
It's 3rd addition, but Easy Math would make for a fairly useful item. If you take it as written a DC 15 perform check will get you within 10% of the correct answer for any calculation you're attempting in one round. That probably needs a nerf bat if we use it, but something like that would work for explaining what the Valyrians were up to.
I wouldn't trust this spell to design a cupboard, let alone a few thousand tons worth of anti-gravity battleship.
 
Don't forget a few batches of the hunter-killer groups made from mixed animals and undead.
Our current forces that can fall under the given definition and aren't already busy guarding some port city/tritons/Water Fey/etc (i.e. the "Free Forces"), are as follows:
---Aquatic Forces---
45 Advanced Aquatic Snapdragon Leshy (w/+4 Racial HD) (CR 6, 10 HD)
41 Plant-Imbued Coral Drake (CR 10, 11 HD)
20 Aquatic Cleric Creature Jesulan (CR 10, 12 HD)
95 Plant-Imbued Electric Eel (w/+6 Racial HD) (CR 6, 10 HD)
23 Bladeleaf Plant-Imbued Sea Cats (w/+3 Racial HD) (CR 8, 8 HD)
67x Advanced Plant-Imbued Gigantean Manta Ray (CR 6, 12 HD)
850x Advanced Plant-Imbued Giant Hippocampus (CR 6, 2 HD)
121x Advanced Druid Creature Seaweed Leshy (CR 6, 4 HD)
20x Advanced Plant-Imbued Sea Drake (CR 10, 7 HD)
90x Advanced Plant-Imbued Orca (CR 8, 9 HD)
18x Advanced Plant-Imbued Druid Creature Orca (CR 10, 9 HD)
30x Amphibious Quickling Vinespawn (CR10, 12 HD)
5x Aureate Seawyrms - Advanced Half-Dragon Sea Serpent (CR 15, HD 15)
8x Seawyrms
4x Shadebreacher Sperm Whales - Advanced Shadow Animal Sperm Whales (CR 12, HD 15)
9x Grand Dragon Turtles - Giant Mighty Dragon Turtles (CR 15, HD 12)

So comparatively, yeah, we have next to no Soulforged Undead that aren't assigned to siemyhjng at a given moment. With my proposal for 2nd month nothing changes on that front either.
@Crake, note.

Night, all.
 
I wouldn't trust this spell to design a cupboard, let alone a few thousand tons worth of anti-gravity battleship.
I was mostly thinking of it as a basis for a magical research or as part of a greater system of buffs. It's also important to take it in the context of what's available without it. The choice wouldn't be mechanical calculators or imprecise mathamagics, it'd be doing it all by hand or doing it mostly right in six seconds.

As technology advanced the errors would become more important, but as a rapid prototyping style tool for checking if your current approach is worth having people spend a substantial amount of time doing properly it'd still have plenty of value.
 
Back
Top