Pretty rarely. Nomads would have a go every so often when they decided they wouldn't be bought off with a salt gift. Less often a neighbor got an idiot king who decided to have a go and you reminded everyone why that was a terrible idea.
Y'all were pretty good about keeping your wars defensive and not going way too fucking overboard like Rome would OTL.
When an Ymaryn adventurer starts carving out a little fiefdom on someone else's land until they object, we don't retroactively make it official and pile in with the regulars until we have a new imperial dominion, we leave the dirty chancers hanging in the wind (if they aren't close enough to hang from a tree!)
(I'm looking at you Rhodes, Cortez and the entire Republic of Texas.)
At some point I want someone to demand tribute from us, and to respond by sending them a tiny ornate box encrusted in gold and gems filled with exactly one cubic inch of Ymaryn dirt.
"We send to you the greatest treasure in all the world. There is nothing more valued and nothing more precious. This is one cubic inch of Ymaryn soil. We send it to you so you may treasure it, for you will never get another inch. We send it to you for reference. Show your soldiers this soil, and give them this message.
If your boot should stand on such soil without our welcome, we will happily cover your body in six feet of it."
When an Ymaryn adventurer starts carving out a little fiefdom on someone else's land until they object, we don't retroactively make it official and pile in with the regulars until we have a new imperial dominion, we leave the dirty chancers hanging in the wind (if they aren't close enough to hang from a tree!)
At some point I want someone to demand tribute from us, and to respond by sending them a tiny ornate box encrusted in gold and gems filled with exactly one cubic inch of Ymaryn dirt.
"We send to you the greatest treasure in all the world. There is nothing more valued and nothing more precious. This is one cubic inch of Ymaryn soil. We send it to you so you may treasure it, for you will never get another inch. We send it to you for reference. Show your soldiers this soil, and give them this message.
If your boot should stand on such soil without our welcome, we will happily cover your body in six feet of it."
At some point I want someone to demand tribute from us, and to respond by sending them a tiny ornate box encrusted in gold and gems filled with exactly one cubic inch of Ymaryn dirt.
"We send to you the greatest treasure in all the world. There is nothing more valued and nothing more precious. This is one cubic inch of Ymaryn soil. We send it to you so you may treasure it, for you will never get another inch. We send it to you for reference. Show your soldiers this soil, and give them this message.
If your boot should stand on such soil without our welcome, we will happily cover your body in six feet of it."
At some point I want someone to demand tribute from us, and to respond by sending them a tiny ornate box encrusted in gold and gems filled with exactly one cubic inch of Ymaryn dirt.
"We send to you the greatest treasure in all the world. There is nothing more valued and nothing more precious. This is one cubic inch of Ymaryn soil. We send it to you so you may treasure it, for you will never get another inch. We send it to you for reference. Show your soldiers this soil, and give them this message.
If your boot should stand on such soil without our welcome, we will happily cover your body in six feet of it."
At some point I want someone to demand tribute from us, and to respond by sending them a tiny ornate box encrusted in gold and gems filled with exactly one cubic inch of Ymaryn dirt.
"We send to you the greatest treasure in all the world. There is nothing more valued and nothing more precious. This is one cubic inch of Ymaryn soil. We send it to you so you may treasure it, for you will never get another inch. We send it to you for reference. Show your soldiers this soil, and give them this message.
If your boot should stand on such soil without our welcome, we will happily cover your body in six feet of it."
BS son: Where are we going? Are we going home?
BS mother: No dear, we can't return home, but we are going back the way we used to live.
BS son: The way we used to live?
BS mother: When I was a girl, our people wander. Always wandering. Only now we wander through the People's Land. Where we have our places, where we don't have to worry about hunger, or enemies.
BS son: I don't understand...I still want to go home.
BS mother: I don't understand either...
You finish the reconquest of your empire, archive a total victory against a major power, and wow the world with your million-man army, and all they remember is that one time you didn't start another war.
Now I hope we get provoked into another war in his lifetime just so we can emphasize his epithet. Maybe not Khemetri, but Hellas might have another go. Although maybe he might live long enough to see our prestige start to overtake them again.
You finish the reconquest of your empire, archive a total victory against a major power, and wow the world with your million-man army, and all they remember is that one time you didn't start another war.
Dude took Tinshore without a fight. Made precedents that dampen the fighting spirits of his countrymen and making them easier to conquer. Tried hard but couldn't quite convince stymyr. Made Thunder Plateau thankful for our liberation. He continued to cultivate friendships with the Pamp, Amber Road, and the Hung. Pretty much almost every step of the way, Balthazar tried to find peaceful and diplomatic solutions to problems.
He also worked hard to cultivate his successor, the soon to be female King in millennia.
The only thing he lacked are heroic magic. Aside from that, the People couldn't ask for a better king.
Now that we have some permanent *ahem* nomads in our lands. We could recruit elite horse archers for a banner company without having to talk to barbarian nomads the duration that horse archery still remain useful in warfare. They're also our version of the not!cossack minus break dancing and more black sheeps.
Txollan King: Every turn you do not spend at least one action towards addressing Txollan concerns, each action gets -10 to their rolls. Satisfied for the rest of Balthazar's reign by retaking the Thunder Plateau.
So, with the war against WW's ending on the horizon, can I get a refresher on what our plans for what to do with their northern conquest are? Is there a chance that, given the punishment they face, the WW nobles will retreat to that conquered land, and if they do, would we pursue them?
[X] If they aren't attacking there is no point spending lives to dig them out. (Peahens strengthened)
Total Dice: 5 Influence, 1 Authority
Committed: 2 Influence, 0 Authority
Available Dice: 3 Influence, 1 Authority
Martial:
War Mission: Send the army to fight enemies. Can only be taken once per turn for any given enemy. (95%. 1 Year. Success and length of campaign rolled separately. Possible influence gains or losses depending on the result.)
-Write in Targets, one per influence
[] City Levy: Gather up some of the excess population in the cities and throw them at an enemy. Can only be taken once per turn for any given enemy. (90%. 1 Year. Expensive. Success and length of campaign rolled separately. Possible influence gains or losses depending on the result.)
-Write in Targets, one per influence
[] Activate The Mass Levy!: Arm and mobilize up to a million soldiers. The earth quakes at your approach. None can stand against the might of The People. (85%. 1 year. Success and length of campaign rolled separately. Possible influence gains or losses depending on result. Unsustainably expensive)
-Write in Targets, may choose as many as you like
Unavailable while the Mass Levy is active
[] Shift Deployment: The Mass Levy is large and unwieldy. Changing circumstances require a shift in deployment patterns. (80%, 1 year, Deployment shifted, malus to war rolls if failed)
[] Construct Warships, Redshore: With unified control of the Yllython shattered, there are going to be pirates and rebels in the sea closest to the core. The people need to build warships to suppress pirates and fight enemies. (70%. 2 years. +Warships. Expensive)
[] Construct Warships, New Blackmouth: The shipyards of New Blackmouth are once more ready and operational. (70%. 2 years. +Warships. Expensive)
[] Construct Warships, Trelli: You once more have Trelli. Its dockyards and shipyards are robust and capable. With those facilities you can build even more warships. (70%. 2 years. +Warships. Expensive)
[] Construct Warships, Salt Sea: You now share a sea with the Black Sheep. They will surely send foes by sea as well as land if they wish to achieve their ambition of displacing you. (70%. 2 years. +Warships. Expensive)
[] Construct Warships, Harmurri Gulf: Do you really need warships on the Monsoon Sea? The trade there is quite civilized with much less piracy than on the Saffron Sea. (70%. 2 years. +Warships. Expensive)
[] Found Banner Company: The storied mercenary companies of the Melkut Ymaryn were ancient institutions, that played important roles in both martial and diplomatic matters. Having a banner company at your beck and call, able to be loaned out to allies or against enemies, it is a powerful tool. An expensive one though. (100%. 3 Years. Expensive, -.5 Income, potentially profitable, may be taken more than once)
Diplomacy:
[] Found Diplomacy organization: Currently diplomacy is mostly an ad hoc thing. Properly organizing it, and having people whose job it is to talk to people, would let you do it better. (70%. 1 Turn. -1 Influence, improved diplomatic capabilities)
[] Seek Loan: You are strapped for cash. Other states have money that you could use. Ask them if they would be willing to float a loan. (85%, +1 Treasury Status, -.1 Income, -1 Prestige)
-Write in who to seek loan from, requires at least 5/10 opinion, may be taken more than once
[] Diplomatic Contact, Highlanders: What have the Highlanders gotten up to in these last thousand years? Do you even care so long as they stay in their hills? (???% 1 Year. Possible -Influence)
[] Diplomatic Contact, Pulska: Who are the Pules and what do they want? (???%. 1 Year.)
[] Sell Weapons: It turns out an easy way to make a lot of money quickly is to sell weapons to countries who are at, or planing to go to, war. (Variable Success, 1 year, Profitable, may be taken multiple times with different targets who must be either a major power or the minors of a region)
-write in target
[] Negotiate Trade Deal: In the cutthroat world of commerce it is said that for one to benefit another must lose. Even so, it might be worthwhile to formalize trade deals with various powers. (85%. 1 Year. +.1 Income and -1 Opinion if Prestige > Target or -.1 Income and +1 Opinion if Prestige < Target, may pay 1 prestige to give a favorable deal to a less prestigious state, may be taken multiple times with different targets, possible opinion effects on third parties)
-Write in target
[] Seek Western Wall's Surrender: Western Wall has started sending feelers that they may be open to negotiating their surrender. (Narrative%, 1 year, peace terms)
Admin:
[] Demobilize: The Mass Levy has been active long enough. Demobilize them and give the veterans the training they need to reintegrate into civilian society. (60%, 2 years, .5 per year)
[] Math Reform: The Kus have made advances in the notation of mathematics beyond the wildest dreams of the people. Not to mention the substance of math. "Zero"… it will change everything once people get a handle on it. If you were to institute reforms that changed the Melkut Ymaryn to the superior Kus system of math, then there would be immense savings simply from more precise ability to keep track of things. Of course, until the bureaucracy got a hang of the new numbers, it would be pure chaos. (45%. 5 Years. Extremely Expensive, -1 Authority immediately, +1 Income)
[] Survey Hathytta Province: Hathytta has long been the center of your mining industries. Many enterprising citizens will even try to survey and find valuable resources on their own initiative. Still, the land is rich and another survey can do no harm. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
-On cool-down until turn 31
[] Survey Txolla Province: Txolla has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use on the floodplains. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Tinshore Province: Tinshore has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use there. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Core: The Core has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use there. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Stallion Province: Stallion Province has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use there. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Memory of Spirits Province: Memory of Spirits has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use there. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Greenshore Province: Greenshore Province has been surveyed many times, but technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. It might be possible to find something of use there. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Survey Thunder Plateau Province: The Thunder Mountains have been surveyed many times, but a lot of information about their resource deposits would have been lost in the chaos of the Black Sheep takeover during the Collapse. Additionally, technology and the skill of surveyors is always improving. (???%. 1 Year. Resources?)
[] Develop Wagon Ways, Stonepen: Stonepen was always the smallest of your great cities, as it did not have an easily navigable waterway to help feed it. With wagonways, such as you have in mines and in the great cities of Redshore and Trelli, it would be possible to roughly quadruple the ammount of goods shipped to and from Stonepen. (55%. 4 years. Very Expensive, +.1 Income, +15% on Wagonways Megaprojects)
[] Support Province: Give one of the provinces considerable sums of money to assist in their current infrastructural projects. (85%, 1 Year, Expensive, +Province Loyalty)
-Write in which province
Train Thunder Plateau Administrators, Elective: Long ago, in the oldest laws, nobles were elected and gentry appointed by the nobles. Even now, the legitimization ceremonies of the nobility involve leaders of the places they administer giving consent to their authority. The families with the greatest aptitude naturally rose to the top and their ability recognized to the point where the elections eventually became a formality that was done away with by the Dragon King. With the former nobility of Thunder Plateau… erased it may be wise to implement the system of the Ancients, at least until the best families have revealed themselves. (70%, Length of Thunder Plateau Campaign+2 years, possible -1 Influence, ability to reestablish administrative control of Thunder Plateau. Mutually exclusive with Appointive) In Progress
Intrigue:
[] Establish Spy Network: Establish a spy network in one of the places you have diplomatic contact with. (33%. 3 Years. Fails entirely if it fails once. Unlocks options. May be taken multiple times, but only with different targets.)
-Write in Target
[] Determine Internal Factions: Receive a dossier on the relevant internal factions of a polity you have diplomatic relations with. This will allow you to support or oppose their internal factions to be more favorable to your interests.
-[] Write in a polity you have diplomatic relations with, may be taken more then once with different targets for each time the action is taken.
[] Create Sleeper Cells, Western Wall: The right man in the right place can make all the difference in the world. Ensure that the men in the right place are your men. (??%, ? Years, ???)
[] Assassinate Faction Leaders: Assassinate the leaders of political factions that have been identified in foreign polities.
[] Fund Faction: Fund a faction in a foreign polity that has been identified.
Mysticism:
[] Touch The Cow, Do It Now, Thunder Plateau: The Sacred Warding in the Thunder Plateau collapsed when the Black Sheep took the Sacred Herds to add to their own. Although it would be made much more difficult by the nearly nonexistant bureaucracy, you could start rebuilding the Warding in that province. (30%, 5 years, ++Thunder Plateau Loyalty)
[] Spreading the Warding, Abyss: The land of Abyss seems to be a robust and centralized state. It can be trusted with the knowledge of the Sacred Warding. Fighting the starpox is always desirable. (50%. 5 Years. +1 Abyss Opinion, possible +1 Abyss Opinion. Starpox fought.)
Spreading the Warding, Amber Road: Amber Road lost their herds when the Great Khan rolled through. However, the institutions they have been building are robust. It would be quite simple to restore the warding to them. (75%. 4 years. +Amber Road Opinion. Starpox fought)
[] Spreading the Warding, Pamplona: Pamplona has established a robust enough bureaucracy that they can be trusted with the Sacred Warding. Give it to them to continue Bynwyn's work. (50%. 4 years. +Pamplona Opinion. Starpox fought.)
[] Calendar Reform: The calendar adopted from the Khemetri in the wake of the Godfist has the disadvantage that the year shifts, losing a day every four years. It had been planned that once a full rotation had been completed, there would be a reform that adds an extra day every four years. However, the Collapse serves as an important enough event that a new calendar that begins at the end of the collapse would be warranted and allow the reform to occur thousands of years ahead of schedule. (60%, 3 years, +1 Influence, better calendar)
FREE ACTIONS:
[] Rent out Banner Companies: Uncommitted Banner Companies may be rented out for a five year term. (Profitable).
[] Deploy Banner Companies: Uncommitted Banner Companies may be deployed to a war zone of your choice.
[] Shift Banner Companies between fronts: Banner Companies may be shifted between active fronts and reserves as a free action while the Mass Levy is active.
MEGAPROJECTS:
Greenhouses: The Kings of old built a number of grand greenhouses to tend exotic plants from far away, so that they could be studied and for their own enjoyment. Most of these greenhouses were smashed by the Great Khan. Restore them. (Authority + 90%, 20 Years, -1 Treasury Status every four years)
Signal Towers: One of the issues that always plagued the governance of the Thunder Plateau was how far away and difficult to reach it was. It would be possible to set up signal relay towers along the way, which would greatly speed up messaging between the Plateau and the Core. It would take a lot of precision glasswork for the spyglasses, however. (Authority + 75%, 20 Years, -1 Treasury Status every four years)
Wagonways, Thunder Plateau: One of the issues that has always plagued the governance of the Thunder Plateau was how far away and difficult to reach it was. The transportation of goods especially suffered from this. However, it is possible to remedy this. There are rails used in the mines to ease transportation, and such things are also used in the Great Docks of Redshore. It would be possible to make rails of iron to vastly improve the carrying capacity of the horse wagons. However, this would require truly vast amounts of iron. (Authority + 50%, 25 years, -1 Treasury Status every four years, Expensive)
Reform THE LAW: It has been a very long time since the last time the Law was compiled and streamlined. There has been much accumulation of loopholes, drifts, and patching as the times changed. The current law is confusing and difficult and in many ways outdated. It should be simplified, updated for the current age, and recodified. (Authority + 90%, 20 Years, -1 Treasury Status every four years, +1 Authority on completion)
Personal Action (Choose One):
[] Work Overtime (+1 temp Influence, +Stress)
[] Relax with Family (-Stress)
[] Catch up on the latest plays and theological debates (-Stress)
[] Attend to a particular action personally. (Provides bonus to action)
-[] Write in Action
[] Seek Western Wall's Surrender: Western Wall has started sending feelers that they may be open to negotiating their surrender. (Narrative%, 1 year, peace terms)
[] Touch The Cow, Do It Now, Thunder Plateau: The Sacred Warding in the Thunder Plateau collapsed when the Black Sheep took the Sacred Herds to add to their own. Although it would be made much more difficult by the nearly nonexistant bureaucracy, you could start rebuilding the Warding in that province. (30%, 5 years, ++Thunder Plateau Loyalty)
So, the Black Sheep are nomadic shepherds again, which is a lifestyle you conquer Persia to get away from. This is a proposal that they put on the table and our negotiators found acceptable despite our distrust of the whole horse nomad concept. Let's think how and why that works.
1. The black sheep. Much of the BS wealth is still in their herds and their herds are still the form of wealth with the greatest cultural significance so they absolutely need grazing rights. Now there are plenty of places in the MY and even the TP where shepherds can keep large herds on a few seasonal pastures in a fairly small region and not all of them are taken. Indeed the BS has settled as conquerors and kept their herds. However, especially in TP, there's a lot of drier pasture that could be exploited but only on a multi-year cycle which is a niche for experienced nomads that won't come into conflict with a growing population of settled shepherds.
2. The Khan. The BS, reasonably enough, want their leader to be a noble. Thaddeus would not be welcome running a town or region with mixed population and we're not giving them a concentrated enclave to be a power base. Nor do we trust his competence to manage a settled area properly after seeing what the TP looks like. We do trust his competence to be the noble who runs the nomads.
3. The horse archers. If we want a pool of properly skilled horse archers to draw on then we need a population of people living the lifestyle where those skills are used regularly from childhood i.e. horse nomads.
Those are the reasons from our POV. Why would the BS want to be horse nomads here rather than autonomous on the steppes?
1. They've been off the steppes for 20 years. They don't have a range there anymore and the competition for territory is literally cutthroat - not welcome coming off a military defeat.
2. They've managed to hold onto most of the cash they amassed while on top, that makes them rich nomads. Wandering within the MY gives them many opportunities to buy stuff - luxury goods, medicine, tools, food if something happens to the flocks... They may still be nomads but they're more comfortable and secure than steppe nomads.
3. The option to serve in our military as elite light cavalry with elite light cavalry pay is always open to them.
4. While settling in large groups is not an option this generation, there are opportunities for individuals. Want to get an education and join the civil service? Too frail to wander and want to retire? Want to marry out? Want to marry in? possibilities abound.
[] Plan Oshha
-[] Authority: Touch The Cow, Do It Now, Thunder Plateau: The Sacred Warding in the Thunder Plateau collapsed when the Black Sheep took the Sacred Herds to add to their own. Although it would be made much more difficult by the nearly nonexistant bureaucracy, you could start rebuilding the Warding in that province. (30%, 5 years, ++Thunder Plateau Loyalty)
-[] Influence: Seek Western Wall's Surrender: Western Wall has started sending feelers that they may be open to negotiating their surrender. (Narrative%, 1 year, peace terms)
-[] Influence: Found Diplomacy organization: Currently diplomacy is mostly an ad hoc thing. Properly organizing it, and having people whose job it is to talk to people, would let you do it better. (70%. 1 Turn. -1 Influence, improved diplomatic capabilities)
-[] Influence: ???
-[] Personal: Attend to a particular action personally. (Provides bonus to action)
--[] Seek Western Wall's Surrender
Stick our last Authority on giving the Sacred Warding to Thunder Plateau as while it takes a long time, we need to get it done as soon as possible. An Influence goes towards surrender talks with Western Wall while another goes to attempting to our new diplomacy action. With the final influence, I am undecided, but I want to either do a survey or taking a look at the internal factions of Pamplona or Amber Road as to figure out how best to court them as allies. Finally the personal action goes to our king personally getting involved with the Western Wall talks to try and get a better deal since we aren't putting our Authority on it.
[] Plan Oshha
-[] Authority: Touch The Cow, Do It Now, Thunder Plateau: The Sacred Warding in the Thunder Plateau collapsed when the Black Sheep took the Sacred Herds to add to their own. Although it would be made much more difficult by the nearly nonexistant bureaucracy, you could start rebuilding the Warding in that province. (30%, 5 years, ++Thunder Plateau Loyalty)
-[] Influence: Seek Western Wall's Surrender: Western Wall has started sending feelers that they may be open to negotiating their surrender. (Narrative%, 1 year, peace terms)
-[] Influence: Found Diplomacy organization: Currently diplomacy is mostly an ad hoc thing. Properly organizing it, and having people whose job it is to talk to people, would let you do it better. (70%. 1 Turn. -1 Influence, improved diplomatic capabilities)
-[] Influence: ???
-[] Personal: Attend to a particular action personally. (Provides bonus to action)
--[] Seek Western Wall's Surrender
Stick our last Authority on giving the Sacred Warding to Thunder Plateau as while it takes a long time, we need to get it done as soon as possible. An Influence goes towards surrender talks with Western Wall while another goes to attempting to our new diplomacy action. With the final influence, I am undecided, but I want to either do a survey or taking a look at the internal factions of Pamplona or Amber Road as to figure out how best to court them as allies. Finally the personal action goes to our king personally getting involved with the Western Wall talks to try and get a better deal since we aren't putting our Authority on it.
I would rest and spend a second influence on WW rather than focus efforts on WW surrender. We just ate 3 stress and need to recover from that. Let the king go to plays and debates and hear the voices that are calling him wise and humble and victorious.
- Also, After the WW falls we should consider our banner companies as an income source. We should rent them out to Rex Germania for their internal wars and to the Kus minors to help them push back against the war of aggression going on there. Both are internal theaters without huge diplomatic consequences to other powers. If we play our cards right we can convince the minors to end the cyclical squabbling and elect a king much the way we have. It would be interesting to seed our form of elective monarchy onto the Kus mainland.
Getting 2 treasury at little personal cost would go a long way to paying off our loans. We have peace deals with nearly all our potential threats, and are trying to encourage the peahens so will be unable to start a war.
