Attempting to Fulfil The Plan: ISOT Edition

In a field 500 yards away from the tent city near Dyme that is the mustering grounds for this winter's rotation, the soldiers of the republic are training. Drill, gun safety, marching, camp setting, running, marching, how to follow orders when they're shouted at you, and more marching. Overall a miserable experience for the common soldier, only made tolerable by the food and good company.

Facing away from the grounds a group of a dozen or so men, along with three carts, and 3 oxen stood around a cannon, a gleaming bronze tube sat upon a large set of wheels that was pointed towards a large flat field with nothing of importance in it.

A stern looking man dressed in a light blue uniform, that denoted him as an officer compared to the eclectically dressed soldiers in front of him, instructed the crew. He slowly walked up and down the line of men. "The first rule of cannon safety is the same as the first rule of gun safety! And what is that!?"

"Don't be in front of it!" Of course, all of them had seen the chewing out the first person to look down the barrel of a gun had gotten. It had stuck with them when they then brought out a cow and had shown them what happens to a head at the end of a gun barrel. At least they got to eat the cow, poor thing.

However, "Wrong maggots! I said the first rule!" shouted Drill Sergeant Freeman, a 6'5", intimidating black man who had actually gone through boot camp, unlike most instructors, who were shown Full Metal Jacket and told, 'like that, but don't go that hard.'

A slight hesitation ran through them as they looked at the giant, then each other before Nikos raised his hand nervously, "Umm, it's always loaded?" he said before quickly adding on, "Um, comrade drill sergeant?"

"Cor-rect, comrade Nikos! I can always count on you to get it right the second time! You are by far the least disappointing soldier out of this entire squirming pile of worms!" Sergeant Freeman 'praised.' "Now you soldiers are, unfortunately, girded with a holy task! That of artillerymen! It was said by a great man in our time that 'God is on the side with the best artillery,' and it is my job to ensure that we have the best! Sadly, I have the hardest job in the world! Now, first things first, move this cannon and those carts over there!" He pointed to a random spot in the distance that wasn't too far away. His charges stared at him dumbly. "Did I Stutter?" He shouted even louder than usual.

"No Comrade Drill Sergeant!" They shouted back.

Following the frequent instructions of Sergeant Freeman first teams of two yoke the oxen, the two finding the yoke, lifting the yoke onto the ox's shoulders, finding the bow, lifting it around the ox's neck, missing the holes, readjusting, getting it in, securing the bow, then maneuvering the ox and attaching the ropes from the cart to the yoke.

One of each team was left behind to guide their ox, then the rest of the men, a team of eight, grab the ropes attached to the back end of the cannon and drag it forward, straining against the ground, to the designated area all while Sergeant Freeman berates their performance and technique, and the carts pass them by. When the cannon pullers finally caught up to the carts they unlimbered them, turned the cannon and lined up at attention for the drill sergeant.

"That was almost disappointing, men! As it stands, however, you're completely embarrassing! I can almost imagine the enemy chariots charging through our lines to kill you, butcher ole Gina here and have a barbeque while you were pulling on those ropes like a stuck tail! Comrade Kyrtos and Argurios, did you not grow up on a farm? Or were your fathers so sure in your abilities as to never teach you how to yoke a cow?"

"I- we never owned an ox, Comrade Drill Sergeant!" Argurios stuttered.

"Well how lucky for you, comrade! You get to practice before you get your own! Ain't that just wonderful!? You get to learn without any bad habits! Are you grateful, comrade!?"

"Yes, Comrade Drill Sergeant!"

"Limber up! Over there!" He pointed again to another far away spot in the field and the process repeated itself, orders and techniques to yoke the ox faster, for the men to heave the half ton cannon in coordinated steps.

"Heave!" Freeman shouted, the men pulled on the cannon, its wheels spinning forward before coming to a stop.

"Ho!" the men replied, taking a step in sync, the cannon moving forward slightly before stopping.

"Heave!" Step, spin, stop.

"Ho!" Step, spin, stop.

"If that cannon is stopping that means you aren't pulling hard enough! Heave!" Step, spin, stop.

"Ho!" Step, spin, stop.

Half way through a surly recruit named Didero spoke up as the oxen passed them by again, though slower this time.

"This sucks, why aren't the oxen pulling this?" When Sergeant Freeman heard this he stopped shouting at the group and walked up to Didero.

"I'm sorry, comrade maggot, what was that!?" Didero tensed up at the sergeant's voice and goosebumps ran down his back at his tone, and his fellows looked at him with sympathy. Freeman was standing right next to him, stepping in time with the crew to yell at Didero. He loomed over Didero even as he leaned over to be near-level with him.

"N-nothing Comrade Drill Sergeant!"

"Nothing? Not what I heard, comrade! I heard that you want poor Bertha there, Heave!" He pointed at the back of said ox, who was lugging the ammunition cart, which weighed about as much or more than the cannon they were hauling. "Ho!" "To lug that heavy lump of metal all the way to that there point! Would you want to lug the cart instead, Comrade?! Heave!"

"Ho!"

"No Comrade Drill Sergeant!" Didero shouted as he moved in step with his crew.

"Are you sure!? The cart is certainly much lighter than the cannon, comrade! Heave!" "Ho!" "Perhaps it would be easier on your poor shoulders! Heave!" "Ho!" He stepped back from Didero and addressed his crew, "Comrades, Comrade Didero here thinks that he can pawn off your duty to a beast of burden, Heave!" "Ho!" "That the responsibility of dragging this half ton of bronze to the point is too good for you and your fellow man! Heave!" "Ho!" "What are you going to do if that ox gets shot? You are going to pick up those ropes and start pulling! Heave!" "Ho!" "That's what you're going to do! So get used to it! Now heave!"

"Ho!"

They spent three weeks, four hours a day, in between their other drills like that, repeating the same maneuver of limbering and unlimbering time and time again until they could yoke an ox in 15 seconds and hitch it in seven, they could pull a cannon at the same pace as said ox, and then be ready to start loading in less than thirty.

This day they stood in the field there was something different, 500 yards away was a dense clump of scarecrows. The men had gotten more muscle from pulling a half-ton of metal every day. They eyed each other with resignation to another day of more pulling, though also confusion at the figures t-posing in the distance.

They had all gossiped about their purpose as artillery and how it was different from the soldiers in the 'regular' units, and all of them figured that they were lugging around a really big gun, they just couldn't quite understand how one big gun could change a battle. Wouldn't they just end up hitting their own side in a melee? Sure it would probably shoot further, but they'd seen the shot they'd be shooting, and they were skeptical that they could be shot very far. And how would they actually hit anything from far away with how unwieldy it was?

But despite their misgiving, they were once again arrayed before the frightening giant who was the orchestrator of their daily torture. Stood there yet again in light blue uniform towering over them, with a straight frown and furrowed brow, his steely brown eyes surveying them. He turned on his heel, pacing back and forth in front of them as he spoke to them in clipped, enunciated words.

"Comrades, now that you have achieved sufficient mediocrity at moving your sacred charge into position, it is time for you to learn how to anoint it in its holy purpose! You will be assigned a task, it will be not just your duty, but your sole function in life. All of you together will strike thunderous fury upon the enemies of The People and this Republic in battle. As such you will each do these tasks not to your utmost, but to perfection. You will not! Skip a step for the sake of expediency, you will do it faster! You will not! Make a mistake, you will do it carefully! You will not! Fall behind because you are tired, you will do it in your sleep! Do I make myself clear!?" He stopped in front of a host of loading equipment, and prepared to give the men their tasks.

"Yes! Comrade Drill Sergeant!" They shout back, eyes forward, all still slightly terrified merely by his shouting.

"There is a procedure to the proper firing of a smooth bore cannon, one that must be undertaken quickly and efficiently! The first task before any firing of a cannon is to clean the vent!" He pulled out a twig with numerous stiff pig hairs and a leather thumb cover. He pulled out Nikos from the line and fitted him with the thumb guard and the twig "You will clear the vent, then cover it with your thumb and keep it covered, comrade Nikos! If you do not, the cannon will blow up in your face and kill you!"

Nikos quickly stuck the scrub in, twisted and pulled it out, covering the hole with his thumb guard.

"Next!" Sergeant Freeman picked up a stick with a curled iron spring secured on the end and two leather gloves, "Comrade Didero will take this worm stick and worm out any debris in the barrel, so that nothing blocks the ammunition and kills you!" Sergeant Freeman gave Didero the leather gloves and the stick, and he gripped the worm and shoved it down the barrel.

"Comrade Didero, stand still! What in the name of God are you doing!?"

"C-cleaning out the barrel like you told me to, Comrade Drill Sergeant!"

"Did I tell you to kill yourself like an idiot, Comrade? Comrades, what is the first rule of gun safety?"

"The gun is always loaded, Comrade Drill Sergeant!"

"And what would happen if the cannon were to fire right now, Comrades?" They looked at Didero, standing in front of the barrel, the haft of the worm pointed directly at his chest.

"Didero would die, Comrade Drill Sergeant!" Nikos commented.

"That is cor-rect, Comrade Nikos! Your ability to intuit basic cause and effect continues to astound me!"

Sergeant Freeman hefted Didero up with a grunt and placed him to the side of the cannon, then took his hands and placed them under the shaft, cradling it with his thumbs held away. "This, Comrades, is the proper form for placing any haft inside the barrel! You will use this grip and this posture, or you will die! Now, Comrade Didero, twist the haft so that the top of the haft turns towards you!" He did so, "Now remove the haft!" He did so.

Sergeant Freeman then picked up a long haft with its tip covered in wool, and a bucket of water. "Comrade Argurios, you will wet this sponge, and douse any embers still lit inside the barrel, that way no powder prematurely explodes and kills you!"

Argurios took the haft that was longer than he was tall, dipped it in the water bucket, stuck it down the barrel, copying the posture and grip that Didero used, and pulled it out. While he was doing this Sergeant Freeman picked up another sponge, and handed it to Kyrtos, "Comrade Kyrtos, when he is done you will dry the barrel, so that the powder will spark!"

Kyrtos took the sponge, and copied Argurios, and they both stepped to either side. Nikos stood there, with his thumb on the cannon.

"Comrade Lykos," Sergeant Freeman addressed the fifth recruit, handing him a leather bag, "You will gather the charge from the powder cart, place it in the barrel, and Comrade Argurios will ram it in." as LykosFreeman crouched to pick up another bag at the same time, and a sharp metal stick. He handed the second bag to a sixth recruit, Philanthropos, and told him the same except for the cannon ball and a rope plug. He then walked over to Nikos and handed him the metal stick.

"Use this to pierce the powder charge then recover the vent!" He ordered Nikos after the powder charge was in place. While he did so Freeman went to the last thing on the ground, a small gold-copper pin with a long string, and picked it up.

"Finally, you!" he pointed at Lykos, "Help Comrade Nikos aim! Comrade Nikos, you will align the center of this disk," he pointed to the aft end of the cannon, "with this pin and the target," he pointed at the scarecrows in the distance, "by raising or lowering this screw!" he pointed below the cannon's aft. "If it is unaligned to either side, Comrade Lykos will use this steer on the end to shift at your direction!"

Nikos looked down the barrel and twist the screw until it lined up with the group, and then directed Nikos until the cannon was pointed at center mass.

"Finally, before firing, haftmen will cover their ear facing the muzzle of the cannon and lean back, and everyone else will cover both of them and face away! Then you will repeat this entire process precisely, do all of you understand your tasks!?" He had already instructed those not a part of the loading process to have an eye out for enemies, and ready to engage.

"Yes Comrade Drill Sergeant!" They all replied. Sergeant Freeman handed Nikos the firing pin and told him to place it in the vent and pull when ordered.

Sergeant Freeman stood for a couple of seconds before shouting "Fire when ready!" and covering his ears. Nikos pulled the pin from the side and a great and thunderous boom shattered the air, rattling the very bones of the crew! When they looked up they could see flocks of birds flying into the sky, and the oxen reared up, only stopped from running by their experience hearing gunfire and their fair distance behind the cannon.

In the distance a crater had formed in the middle of the formation of scarecrows. Their shock cleared up however when they heard Sergeant Freeman through their still ringing ears.

"Did I say to stand around like lemmings and gawk, or did I tell you to repeat the exercise!? Get to work, Comrades! Over the next two months you will each learn every step of the process there to my perfection, is that understood!?" "Yes, Comrade Drill Sergeant!" After two more rounds of practice fire and refinement from Sergeant Freeman, he ordered a limbering to the crew's groaning.

That was their reality for the next two months, loading, firing, limbering, until as Sergeant Freeman promised they did it fast, with no mistakes, in their sleep.

When they went home their families were astonished by their muscles and how quickly they could yoke an ox; and in their dreams they were stuck, endlessly reloading thunder into the sky as they shot down at the earth, under the instruction of a giant, angry Zeus.

Turn 4 (11AE Trimester 1): The Fires of Labor Results
200+10+10=220 Resources Per Turn, 65 In Storage
45+5+5-4=51 Political Support

Mycenae, 11 AE

Both you and your husband have had even more work on your plates than normal the past few months. While he might be in Mycenae more than he used to, he still spends most of his days and many of his nights leading exercises and attempting to train officers. You might have even less free time than him, with everything from coal shipments to printing textbooks having constant issues. Still, you've managed to make significant progress. Other than some rumors about units defecting from one Air Force clique to another and a merchant who showed up with kerosene lamp oil allegedly made in Babylon, not much seems to have happened abroad recently.

Infrastructure

Derveni-Zapantis Canal: A navigable canal to connect the Gulf of Corinth to the city of Mycenae and the Aegean as a whole will massively decrease the difficulty of transporting goods to our capital. Work has begun on a series of locks, reservoirs, and pumps to enable the movement of small barges between the Derveni and Zapantis rivers, but this requires a vertical climb of close to a hundred meters. However, even with its massive cost, it must be worth it for the Cretans to have built a similar canal. (10 Resources per dice (405+52=457/1050), loss of political support if less than 50 progress/turn) (Makes most other projects cheaper) (+25 Political Support on completion)

Work on the Derveni-Zapantis Canal has continued as planned. The continuing proliferation of steel tools is speeding up the pace of labor, while the need for the canal has become even greater with hundreds of tons of coal transported to Mycenae every day.

Port Facilities (Stage 1): While sporadic improvements to ports have been made since the establishment of the Republic, a nationwide effort is badly needed. This would expand and improve ports in all major cities, helping trade and fishing and potentially allowing for the creation of a real navy. (5 Resources per dice (48+160=208/125)) (Complete) (Stage 2 (83/200))

Significant expansions to breakwaters, docks, and other port facilities have taken place in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Dyme. Some smaller fishing villages have also received minor improvements. Work has begun on even more projects along the same lines, as well as a massively overhauled shipyard in Mycenae itself for the construction of far larger and more capable vessels.

Dyme Salt Evaporation Pond: The Prokopou Lagoon, just a few kilometers southwest of Dyme, could easily be converted into an evaporation pond for the mass production of salt and bitterns from seawater. Not only will the bitterns fuel the nascent chemical industry of the Republic, but the massive amounts of salt produced as a byproduct will be useful for food preservation and trade. (5 Resources per dice (0+93/75)) (Complete) (+5 Political Support)

The former lagoon was fed by both a small river and a two-kilometer long channel connecting it to the sea. Damming the small channel to control the influx of seawater was relatively easy, while the necessary infrastructure for diverting the river took months to construct even with over a thousand conscripted peasants working on it. While the water inside has not yet fully evaporated, with the coming of summer production of salt and bitterns should reach planned levels within five to six weeks.

Heavy Industry

Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 1): With an exploitable deposit of coal being found at last, exploitation must start immediately. While lacking machining capability means that the use of steam engines is restricted, being right next to so much coal means that even extremely inefficient and simple steam engines are still practical for use in pumping out water and bringing up coal from the depths of the mine. (10 Resources per dice (55+70=125/125)) (Complete) (Stage 2 (0/175)) (Coal Experiments unlocked)

The first planned stage of the mining complex has been completed, with over two hundred workers ripping coal from the earth on any given day. As more experience is gained, yields are expected to increase substantially over the coming months even without any further investment. Yet, this will still be nowhere near enough for the needs of the Republic, and plans have already been drawn up for further expansion.

Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 1): Now that we have working examples of blast, puddling, and cementation furnaces for iron production, we can begin massively scaling up the production of iron and steel. Located just outside the walls of Mycenae due to the availability of nearby ore, labor, water, limestone, wood, and coal, this will be the beating heart of our industrialization from now on. While the blast furnaces will still require charcoal, puddling and cementation furnaces work in such a way that the fuel and charge never actually come into contact, allowing us to use coal for those parts of the process (50+132=182/100) (+10 Resources per turn) (Stage 2 (82/150)) (Helmet Plants (Stage 1) Unlocked)

Construction of the first stage of ironworks has already been completed, and several additional furnaces are under construction. The additional iron and steel has allowed many plants which were previously limited by raw materials to increase production, and although they are still not receiving nearly enough the metal is now somewhat less precious. Experiments with the use of manganese as a desulfurizing and alloying agent have been mostly successful, with quality increasing as a result.


Light Industry

Textile Industry (Stage 1): We have been able to come up with somewhat practical designs for spinning frames and power looms, mostly by stealing from other states. This will free up massive amounts of labor for other tasks, and make everything from clothing to sails far cheaper to produce. (5 Resources per dice (0+106/125)) (+5 Political Support on completion)

Especially with the newly expanded machining capability of the Republic, construction of machinery for spinning and weaving has gone smoothly, with both wooden and steel components being produced at surprisingly acceptable qualities and scales. Finding workers has been somewhat problematic, with most men viewing weaving as women's work and many husbands not wanting their wives and daughters to work outside of home, although labor availability is not yet a significant issue.

Lime and Brick Kilns: With the coming availability of more coal, we can expand the production of bricks and lime. These would be built in every major town, with extra concentration in Mycenae itself and near the Kopos coal mine. (5 Resources per dice (0+1/50))

Work on new kilns seemed to be going acceptably until three collapsed without warning within ten days, killing five workers in total. Most large-scale construction was then stopped in favor of smaller models to try and figure out what was going on, with the current theory being that the clay being used for many firebricks rapidly degrades at high temperatures despite seeming to have fairly good properties at first.

Chemical Industry

Chloroalkali Plant: The newly developed processes for making chemicals from bitterns is one of the most promising developments in the history of the Republic. The pilot plant constructed to test it out is already making chemicals in large enough quantities for the production of limited amounts of anesthetics, disinfectants, and chlorates, but far more of all of these things is needed. Once this is built, we will have the materials available for the chlorination of water, mass production of explosives for both military and civilian uses, bleaching of wood pulp and cloth, and so much more. (Unlocks Water Chlorination, Hard Rock Blasting, Pulping Mill, and Mass Disinfectants when both it and Dyme Salt Evaporation Pond are complete) (10 Resources per dice (0+70/70)) (Complete)

Several plants have been built for the mass production of chlorine and lye from the chemicals present in bitterns. The largest is built in Dyme, but smaller ones have also been built in Mycenae and Tiryns due to the difficulties of transporting chlorine long distances. While they required massive amounts of incredibly expensive stainless steel scrap, the promise of an actual chemical industry made the cost worth it ten times over.

Agriculture

Dams (Stage 2): Many more dams can be built to allow for more irrigation of farmland and more consistent flow of rivers through the season. This will benefit not only agriculture, but also transportation and industry. However, despite being fairly simple to construct, they do require very large amounts of soil and rock to be moved. (5 Resources per dice (0+112/200))

While the exact number of workers involved in the construction of dams is unknown, even conservative estimates suggest that at least seven thousand peasants were working on dams at any given day since the beginning of this year. The promise to let all conscripted laborers keep their steel shovels after construction is complete, as well as the fact that most of them were assigned to dams which would benefit their own villages, seems to have significantly increased morale and productivity despite casualties.


Services

Primary Schools (Stage 1): While we have taught thousands of urban citizens how to read and write, we still lack a true education system. This would establish a series of schools in all of our cities, teaching a 4-year program to children whose parents decide to educate them, with free lunches being given to pupils to encourage this. They will graduate with knowledge of reading, writing, basic arithmetic, and some education on the basics of things like germ theory, geography, and how the Republic is surrounded on all sides by reactionary feudalist and capitalist states bent on enslaving us all. (5 Resources per dice (120+81=201/150)) (Complete, +5 Political Support) (Stage 2 (51/200))

Enough schools have now been built to educate approximately a third of all children in urban areas from now on, with construction and training continuing at a steady pace. Even our half-literate and barely trained teachers will still provide a far better education than none at all, and they should gain experience over time.


Adult Literacy Campaigns (Stage 3): Most adults in urban areas still do not know how to read, write, or use Arabic numerals. We must continue the struggle against ignorance in all of its forms, with even more classes on basic literacy being started, now with free meals provided at the end of lessons to encourage attendance. (5 Resources per dice (9+73=82/250)) (+5 Political Support upon completion) (Stage 4 locked behind Primary Schools (Stage 2))

Significant progress has been made in adult education. While most of the night classes are still on basic literacy, some more advanced courses have started to be offered at the newly constructed libraries.

Nursing Schools: While a nearly complete lack of both educated personnel and medical supplies will massively limit what can be done, some basic education on things like first aid, wound cleaning, best practices for childbirth, and oral rehydration therapy can still significantly reduce preventable deaths. With the aid of the few actual uptime nurses we have, short courses on extremely simplistic techniques can be given to hundreds of workers. (10 Resources per dice (27+15=42/80))

The training of nurses has continued, if at a slower than desired pace. While most students understand the basics of germ theory intellectually, actually getting them to internalize it on a deep enough level to actually follow sanitation procedures reliably has proved harder.


Libraries: While book production is massively limited by the inability to make wood pulp, we still are able to make enough to set up some public libraries. This will help educate and entertain the population, as well as prevent them from falling back into illiteracy due to lack of practice. (5 Resources per dice (0+26/50))

While book production is still limited due to paper shortages, thousands of books have been printed in the past months to be placed in public libraries. This will hopefully prevent literate citizens from forgetting how to read due to a lack of use, and potentially allow some to learn more on their own.

Military

Fortification Improvements: While a complete restructuring of the walls of cities like Mycenae and Tiryns is far too expensive to consider right now, we can at least improve them somewhat. Gates will be strengthened, and angular bastions made of brick and rammed earth can reduce the number of dead zones by the walls. (5 Resources per dice (63+121=184/175)) (Complete)

The fortifications of Mycenae, Tiryns, and Dyme have been significantly improved. Over a hundred and fifty breech-loading swivel guns have been installed on the walls of the three cities, with the adoption of percussion caps allowing skilled gunners to fire nearly six times per minute in short bursts. While most of Mycenae's walls are still made of cyclopean masonry, at least the most vulnerable parts have been reinforced with brick and rammed earth, and the new bastions have also been built of cannon-resistant materials.

Rifle Production (Stage 1): The manufacture of firearms better than glorified pipe bombs has finally begun. While substantially more expensive to produce, the capability to hit individual people at significant range will significantly increase the scouting capability of our cavalry and enable the creation of dedicated Guards companies for scouting, skirmishing, and picking off enemy officers. (15 Resources per dice (0+63/50)) (Complete) (Quality dice 19+15 Omake=34)

Mass production of the Model 10 rifle has finally begun, although it has been rockier than hoped. Due to the poor quality of available machine tools and machinists, many of the rifles which are produced fail to pass even rudimentary quality control tests, with quite a few failing catastrophically when fired for the first time. Still, those that do leave the factory seem to hold up fairly well, and are usually acceptably accurate.

Officer Academies: While we lack any personnel with uptime experience commanding anything larger than a fireteam, the creation of some sort of formalized training for officers will at least be better than nothing. The academy will mostly focus on wargames, seminars, and reading of the few uptime military texts in our possession. (10 Resources per dice (0+78/50)) (Complete) (Quality dice 64)

A formal academy for officer training has been completed in Mycenae, right next to the Popular Assembly. While results are not expected to be very good, performance of officers in wargames conducted in the past few months has already shown notable improvement.


Bureaucracy

Recruit Americans To Bureaucracy: Almost every single American adult is far more educated than nearly any downtimer, and many have actual experience in areas such as management and accounting. Hundreds of thousands of these people live on the coasts of Anatolia, and many would be more than happy to leave behind a life of subsistence farming to do paperwork. However, few of these are likely to be politically reliable, and having even more Americans in government won't look great to our citizens. (5 Resources and -2 Political Support per dice) (Larger effect the more dice are spent) (Decreases malus from No Administration) (123) (No Bureaucracy malus reduced to 0) (-4 PS)

The number of Americans living in the Republic is now over three times what it was at the same time last year. While very few are politically reliable in any form, they have at least managed to fill out enough administrative jobs for the government to function no worse than it did before the purge of the priests.


Current Economic Issues:
Transportation: Many bottlenecks
Fuel: Slight shortage
Iron: Surplus, demand expected to increase in future
Copper: Slight deficit
Wood: Sufficient production, more deforestation than ideal
Construction Materials: Lime and bricks constrained by fuel availability, sufficient lumber
Food: Large harvest, more than enough for next year
Cloth: Production insufficient
Rural labor (varies by season): Essentially unlimited until April
Urban labor: Surplus

Turn 5 (11AE Trimester 2): Commonwealth Of Toil
220 Resources Per Turn, 65 In Storage
51 Political Support

Argolid Peninsula, 11 AE

While the change in scenery might be nice, being forced away from your office is making you feel guilty about being unproductive. Every hour spent reviewing dams and mills is an hour not coordinating logistics and labor, and another hour where the Republic might be falling behind the capitalists and slavers circling around it like vultures on every side. Sure, you might know rationally that all work won't grind to a halt with you being gone for a week and actually knowing what's going on on the ground outside of Mycenae is more than worth it, but that doesn't make you feel any better.

Free Dice to Allocate: 3 Dice
Infrastructure (4 Dice):

[]Derveni-Zapantis Canal: A navigable canal to connect the Gulf of Corinth to the city of Mycenae and the Aegean as a whole will massively decrease the difficulty of transporting goods to our capital. Work has begun on a series of locks, reservoirs, and pumps to enable the movement of small barges between the Derveni and Zapantis rivers, but this requires a vertical climb of close to a hundred meters. However, even with its massive cost, it must be worth it for the Cretans to have built a similar canal. (10 Resources per dice (457/1050), loss of political support if less than 30 progress/turn) (Makes most other projects cheaper) (+25 Political Support on completion)

[]Lock Systems (Stage 2): While carts are an option for transporting goods, river transport is an order of magnitude cheaper. This would build more locks, especially along the Peiros and Asopos rivers, to enable the cheap transport of bulk goods such as grain and timber. (5 resources per dice (0/200) (Stage 2 Dams required for next stage). (Makes many other projects cheaper, +5 Political Support on completion)

[]Port Facilities (Stage 2): While much has been done to improve the state of the Republic's port capability, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Shipbuilding has seen even less progress, with the vast majority of boats currently being built being barely any different to pre-Event designs. This stage will expand the ports of major cities further, build a few new ones at strategic locations, and create a shipyard in Mycenae capable of building ships that are merely centuries instead of millennia out of date. (10 Resources per dice (83/200)) (Fishing Fleet, Merchant Marine, and Creation of the Red Navy unlocked on completion)

[]Secondary City Utilities: This will bring the water, sewage, and storm drain systems of Tiryns and Dyme up to the standards of Mycenae, as well as construct the infrastructure for water chlorination once sufficient chemicals are available and build sedimentation tanks to enable some solid wastes to be recovered for fertilizer and saltpeter production. (10 Resources per dice (48/125))

[]Urban Building Modernization: While some buildings have had chimneys installed either in state-sponsored rennovations or by enterprising occupants, most still have hearths that fill them with copious amounts of smoke. This severely reduces the amount of people willing to use lignite for home heating, and must be remedied in order for more people to make the switch from wood. (5 Resources per dice (0/50))

Heavy Industry (3 Dice):

[]Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 2): While coal mining has begun, the Republic still lacks sufficient fuel for even current levels of consumption, let alone future expansion. The expansion of coal mining is one of the highest priority tasks for the continuation of industrial progress. (10 Resources per dice (0/175))

[]Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 2): Steel and iron production is arguably the most important task faced by the Republic, due to the massive gains in production and military performance that can be achieved with plentiful metal. While truly sufficient production will not be reached for decades, every ton of steel is another cannon in the hands of the Army or another hundred ploughs in the hands of our farmers. (10 Resources per dice (82/150))

[]Precision Machine Tools: As of now, all machining work requiring any sort of precision must be done using remaining uptime machine tools brought by Gordon's clique or meticulously handcrafted tools manufactured by them. This can at least be partially changed by starting the production of more standardized machine tools of vaguely acceptable quality, although these will still require large amounts of skilled labor and scavenged materials and electrical components to build. (30 Resources per dice (0/50)) (New projects on completion)

Light Industry (3 Dice):

[]Textile Industry (Stage 1): We have been able to come up with somewhat practical designs for spinning frames and power looms, mostly by stealing from other states. This will free up massive amounts of labor for other tasks, and make everything from clothing to sails far cheaper to produce. (5 Resources per dice (106/125)) (+5 Political Support on completion)

[]Mills (Stage 2): While dozens of water-powered mills have already been built, far more are required for economic growth. In more remote areas, smaller gristmills will aid masses of peasants and provide a way of increasing state influence over remote villages, and more centralized locations will be host to even more sawmills and rock crushers to feed construction and industry. A few rotary lathes will also be installed to produce veneers for plywood, although as we are limited to fish glue for adhesives they will have abysmal water resistance. (5 Resources per dice (25/150))

[]Experimental Glassworks: While we lack anyone truly skilled in glassworking, a few people did take glassblowing classes before the Event and claim to remember some of it. While we cannot expect any kind of quality, combined with books on glassmaking it may be possible to make some objects. (10 Resources per dice (0/30))

[]Pulp Mills: With the pulping and bleaching of wood on a mass scale now possible, the possibilities are endless. Planned to be built in Dyme due to the proximity to chemicals and wood, plants for both thermomechanical pulping for uses such as newsprint and sulfite pulping for writing paper and toiletries will be constructed, increasing the Republic's paper production by an order of magnitude in just a few months. (10 Resources per dice (0/80)) (+5 Political Support on completion, unlocks Newspapers and Expanded Book Production)

[]Lime and Brick Kilns: With the coming availability of more coal, we can expand the production of bricks and lime. These would be built in every major town, with extra concentration in Mycenae itself and near the Kopos coal mine. (5 Resources per dice (1/50))

Chemical Industry (2 Dice):

[]Coal Experiments: Lignite is an absolute dogshit grade of coal, but it is all we have. While previous attempts at coking have universally led to it disintegrating into a powder, it may be possible to either use a binder or briquetting process to prevent that, or figure out how to make use of powdered coke. Coal gas production would also be a huge boon, as it is far easier to use for lighting and heating than bulk lignite, and many of the harmful impurities can be easily removed by scrubbing the gas before use. Both of these would also generate considerable amounts of tar, enabling the bulk production of innumerable organic compounds and tarmac roads. (10 Resources per dice (0/30)) (Potentially unlocks cement, Bessemer converters, paved roads, and organic synthesis projects)

[]Hard Rock Blasting: With the new availability of massive quantities of chlorate- and perchlorate-based explosives, the productivity of mines can be massively increased. While there are some proposals to use them in coal mining, current plans are mainly focused on quarries and mines for iron and copper ores, as well as limestone. There is no possible way to understate the increase in productivity that switching from mining with picks to drilling and blasting will cause, even if it is still far less than uptime methods. (15 Resources per dice (0/40)) (Unlocks Megaleío Copper Mine (Stage 1), Aggregate Quarries, and reduces costs of other projects)

[]Mass Disinfectants: Oxidizing agents with antiseptic properties can now be produced on a massive scale. Production of tincture of iodine can now begin on a large enough scale to theoretically provide every village with some, even if the complete lack of glass production makes storage difficult. Soldiers can be issued pouches of potassium permanganate for the rapid sterilization of water when on campaign, while calcium hypochlorite should be sufficient for civilian use, even if most villagers are unlikely to start using it to treat their water immediately. (10 Resources per dice (0/40)) (+5 Political support and significant reduction of all-cause mortality and army attrition on completion)

[]Glucose Syrup Plant: With the new availability of substantial quantities of strong acids, the production of glucose syrup via the hydrolysis of wheat or barley starch is now trivial. Due to the scarcity of other sweeteners, this will massively increase the availability of sweetened foods internally and produce a valuable good for external trade. (5 Resources per die (0/50))

Agriculture (3 Dice):

[]Dams (Stage 2): Many more dams can be built to allow for more irrigation of farmland and more consistent flow of rivers through the season. This will benefit not only agriculture, but also transportation and industry. However, despite being fairly simple to construct, they do require very large amounts of soil and rock to be moved. (5 Resources per dice (112/200))

[]Village Educational Cadre Instruction: Previous literacy programs have been focused almost exclusively in cities. This program would recruit volunteers from rural areas to learn how to read and write, and provide them with paper, writing materials, and a few books on subjects like agriculture and basic medicine before sending them back to their villages with an increased ration of food and clothes for them to teach others how to read and write on a part-time basis. This will come nowhere close to eliminating rural illiteracy, but making sure that at least one person in every village knows how to read is a first step. (5 Resources per dice (19/200)) (+5 Political Support on completion)

[]Rural Address Assignment: While most urban buildings have had addresses assigned to them, very few rural structures do. While this will probably not get all of them and be incredibly messy, assigning an address to most rural houses will make everything from mail delivery to taxation to conscription far easier. (5 Resources per dice (0/150)) (Cheaper after completion of Educational Cadres)

Services (3 Dice):

[]Primary Schools (Stage 2): Previous progress in education has been a great boon, but it is not enough to even theoretically educate a majority of our urban children. After this stage is complete, enough educational capacity will be available to start education outside of major population centers, but for now efforts will continue to be focused on cities. (5 Resources per dice (51/200))

[]Adult Literacy Campaigns (Stage 3): While progress has been made, there are still many urban citizens who are illiterate. This stage will not totally eliminate illiteracy, but will make it so a solid majority of working-age urban adults will at least be able to write their own names. After this, resources will be shifted to building a more formal education system, as educating people as children will work better than stopgap attempts with adults. (5 Resources per dice (82/250)) (+5 Political Support upon completion) (Stage 4 locked behind Primary Schools (Stage 2))

[]Nursing Schools: While a nearly complete lack of both educated personnel and medical supplies will massively limit what can be done, some basic education on things like first aid, wound cleaning, best practices for childbirth, and oral rehydration therapy can still significantly reduce preventable deaths. With the aid of the few actual uptime nurses we have, short courses on extremely simplistic techniques can be given to hundreds of workers. (10 Resources per dice (42/80))

[]Korakou Translations: While a few short texts have been translated into the Korakou language, it lacks any texts of significant length. This would involve translating several basic textbooks and works on agriculture, medicine, and a few other subjects into the language, as well as writing Korakou-Greek and Korakou-English bilingual dictionaries. (5 Resources per dice (0/35))

[]Libraries: While book production is massively limited by the inability to make wood pulp, we still are able to make enough to set up some public libraries. This will help educate and entertain the population, as well as prevent them from falling back into illiteracy due to lack of practice. (5 Resources per dice (26/50))

[]Water Chlorination: While the recent construction of utility systems in the major cities of the Republic has reduced deaths from disease somewhat, the simple reality is that this water is still taken from rivers that are full of human and animal waste, and most of the population does not reliably boil their drinking water despite our pleas. Now that chlorine is being produced on a significant scale, all water in these cities can be disinfected, massively reducing mortality and morbidity due to waterborne diseases such as cholera. (10 Resources per dice (0/40)) (+5 Political support and significant reduction of all-cause mortality on completion)

Military (4 Dice):

[]Crossbow Production (Stage 2): While the majority of the People's Army is being switched to arquebus units, crossbows are still useful for city guards, peasants protecting their livestock or independently attacking occupiers, and for trading and supporting movements abroad. (5 Resources per dice (0/125))

[]Arquebus Production (Stage 4): While current production of arquebuses still represents significant projects, it will take over a year for its production to allow for all current soldiers in the People's Army to be given one, let alone make enough for planned expansions of the army. This stage will allow production to finally increase to a vaguely sufficient level, with a conversion of production lines to actual rifles after it is complete. (10 Resources per dice (4/150))

[]Cannon Production (Stage 3): Expansions of the People's Army, as well as the possible creation of an actual navy, require the massive expansion of artillery manufacture. The promised increase in steel production and quality will enable the switchover of 12-cm guns to steel from bronze, increasing their durability and decreasing their cost. (15 Resources per dice (2/100))

[]Rifle Production (Stage 2): While some rifles are now being produced, this is likely not enough to adequately arm even our cavalry and a few Guards division. Production must be increased far more to be sufficient even for that, let alone the replacement of smoothbores in regular infantry units. (15 Resources per dice (13/75))

[]Infantry Equipment Production: A soldier needs more than just a weapon to fight well. If we want our army to be more than a glorified mob, then issuing everything from uniforms to shovels to backpacks en masse is an absolute necessity. (10 Resources per dice (0/75))

[]Incendiary Experiments: While perhaps not the most refined weapons, Molotov cocktails and other incendiary weapons have a long and storied history of use. We should see if we can make any similar devices which are practical to use in the battlefield. (5 Resources per dice (0/30))

Bureaucracy (2 Dice):

[]Recruit Americans To Ministry: Almost every single American adult is far more educated than nearly any downtimer, and many have actual experience in areas such as management and accounting. Hundreds of thousands of these people live on the coasts of Anatolia, and many would be more than happy to leave behind a life of subsistence farming to do paperwork. While this will be extremely unpopular, having more educated people in the Ministry can only be a good thing. (5 Resources and -2 Political Support per dice) (Larger effect the more dice are spent) (Increases dice allocation)

[]Recruit Downtimers To Ministry: Even if they don't have much of a formal education, there are thousands of intelligent, motivated, and literate downtimers in the Republic. These people are capable of doing lower-level administrative work, and will learn more with time. Having more of them in our government will also bring us closer to a true people's democracy. (5 Resources per dice) (Larger effect the more dice are spent) (Increases dice allocation)

[]Diplomatic Efforts: We are currently a very isolated nation, with only limited trade with the Republic of Naxos and miscellaneous smugglers. However, it may be possible to work out trade and fishing agreements with some other states in the Aegean and on the coast of Anatolia, and maybe even the Dual Kingdom of Crete and Mycenae. (DC 10 for Lesbos, 30 for Corfu, 50 for Andros and American Republic of Turkey, 60 for Dual Kingdom, 70 for New Washington, 80 for Emergency Government of New America) (-5 Political Support to attempt) (Max 2 dice)

[]Special Services Division: We are currently almost completely blind to the affairs of other states, besides rumors from merchants. Creating a dedicated intelligence agency would allow for us to have a better idea of what our neighbors are planning to do, and maybe even give us the ability to hurt our enemies. (DC 25, -5 Political Support to attempt, -5 resources per turn if successful).

Current Economic Issues:
Transportation: Many bottlenecks
Fuel: Slight shortage
Iron: Surplus, demand expected to increase in future
Copper: Slight deficit
Wood: Sufficient production, more deforestation than ideal
Construction Materials: Lime and bricks mostly sufficient, sufficient lumber
Food: Large stockpile, more than enough until harvest
Cloth: Production insufficient
Rural labor (varies by season): Mostly occupied with farming
Urban labor: Surplus

8 Hour Moratorium

Jake Madison Orston never really expected his life to take him in this direction eleven years ago when he was home from college, having mostly used it as an excuse for partying.

Like, to be fair, no one had seen the whole time-dimension thing happening, but after that, he didn't really expect to end up in commie Greece. He didn't really spend much time thinking about, like, the economy or stuff, even though he was a business student, though he'd spaced through a cute alt girl explaining class warfare, and the state and, the bougies and the proletariat once.

Honestly he had surprised himself by remembering how to say proletariat, but it was pretty useful nowadays! It wasn't exactly needed, but it sure helped saying the things the boss wanted, and that's what mattered in a job like this!

He was basically a glorified accountant slash messenger boy, but instead of money you keep track of it's just stuff and walk around a lot, it was better than pounding rocks in the Emergency Commission; hell, they even had plumbing!

And the locals could throw a pretty banger party, even if their wine was sorta shit, not that he'd say that to them. But hey! He could now; it had taken a couple of weeks, but only having Greek people to talk to and party with he learned it pretty quickly, and sure his accent sounded 'drunk,' but what can you do?

Anyway, they'd gotten a downtimer merchant to go ask a bunch of American farmers if they wanted to be bureaucrats instead. Jake called him Tony, he couldn't pronounce his real name, fun guy, has three kids and a wife in the Fed Republic. They'd sailed from island to island, and when Jake had got here they'd asked what he did before the event, and he'd said he was in college.

The interviewers, a blonde woman who looked like a librarian without the glasses, and a brown-haired downtimer dude who had a lazy-eye, practically shoved a pencil in his hand!

So now he had a clipboard and he went around asking people things they needed, wrote it down, and gave the list to someone else. And he thinks he does a pretty good job, even when the people he talks to can't read.

It was a really weird feeling to be the one explaining things like form orders and time tables to a Greek carpenter, when he'd barely paid attention in class. Like, just knowing the gist of things and being able to explain it to a guy who hadn't seen a clock made him feel pretty smart.

He was talking to a young girl the other day because he was taking a break from his routine in the south side of the city where there was this nice little park with a tree that shaded a cool marble bench and she was playing there, and she said she wanted a toy, and he thought, 'you know what, it's not like I'm getting paid.' So he went around the neighborhood asking kids what kind of toy they wanted and writing it down. He did limit it to one toy per kid.

He had requests for 6 toy swords , 2 soldiers, changed from 8, denied, requests for guns. Like, don't abridge arms or whatever, but kids shouldn't have guns. 14 dolls, 7 teddy bears, 9 horses, one… pair of shoes, which isn't a toy… but it's not like he's gonna say 'no, 5 year old, I will not let you have shoes,' right? 1 beetle, from the same kid with the shoes, a sheep, a goat, and 9 cats. Then he delivered that to a carpentry shop alongside a couple of other work orders for that week, 60 rifle stocks, a bunch of different handles to things like picks, axes, 40 yoke and bows, and other wood stuff. They were a bit confused by his descriptions, and just sorta looked at him dumbly when he drew the toys; they weren't the best, but he did pay attention in that one logo design class for drawing techniques and stuff, though they were a bit upset that he needed fabric for some of the toys were made of fabric. One of them said it was 'women's work,' and he told them 'well alright, why don't you tell your wives you don't want to make some kids toys then?'

Then he took their orders for lathes and chisels and tools to the smithies along with their work orders for 60 barrels, a cannon, and… 3 extra plows he'd been 'convinced' were for the good of the people at a party.

Jake looked forward to receiving a small amphora of honey that he looks forward to turning into mead. He'd missed the good stuff, but he'd promised he'd share!

The smithies had an order for, like, a ton of iron. And a half ton of bronze. Jake was very glad he wasn't the one who actually had to carry this stuff places, it's not like there were trucks or forklifts anymore!

Then a week later, when he'd half-forgotten about the whole survey he was handed two sacks of toys and a tiny pair of shoes by an angry carpenter who stormed away grumbling about the extra work, and how he had to get his wife's help. Like, ok dude, no need to take it out on him.

So now he's gone to the park and found that same girl and handed her a little pair of shoes with a big, brightly-painted ladybug sticking out. She squealed shrilly and hugged his leg, "Thank you, big man!"

"No problem, little girl!" He did finger guns at her, "Now you gotta let me go, I gotta go play Santa for a bunch of other kids."

"Kids?" she tilted her head inquisitively, God she was cute.

"A bunch of other little children."

She looked at his two bags full of toys and said, "Good fortunes!" waving as he stood there.

Jake turned around and started walking off before pausing.

"Aw, crap, I forgot to write down where they live."

The Cult of Prometheus
While the Dual Kingdom's creation of Aclippe and the various Christian denominations are the most well-known instances of how the religious scene has changed since the Event, there are far less famous instances that have been found as well. Amusingly, many of them have been created not by deliberate design, but by pure accident and miscommunication. This is most common in Greece, where many Uptimers speak of deities that they "know" exist in Greek Mythology, but have radically different roles in the age of Mycenaean Greece. The most notable examples were attempts by many American Expeditions to give their conquests a religious cover by proclaiming they were in the name of Zeus, only to find that Zeus was a fairly minor god in the Mycenaean pantheon at this time.

The Popular Republic of Mycenae has had its own, inadvertent effects on religion, most notably the Promethean Cult, the foundations of which were laid in late 10 AE, when the Popular Republic was making its first major developments of the mining industry. During the instruction of new mining classes, propaganda and practical instruction alike would occasionally have the American teachers making references to Prometheus, either involving the risks of open flames in the mines or as an exaltation of their work.

Which in turn led to confused and embarrassed explanations, as it quickly became clear that no one in Mycenae had ever heard of Prometheus.

In spite of this, the story of Prometheus soon picked up significant popularity among certain elements of Mycenaean society, particularly the miners and workers of the Popular Republic's burgeoning heavy industry. The story of stealing fire from the Gods to give to man for the sake of the latter appealed to these men, to whom the various machines seemed as alien and godlike as the tales of mythology, while others drew parallels between Prometheus's ultimate punishment to the own dangers of their work. Shaft miners in particular mixed in the story of Prometheus with the various safety precautions: whispering that flames underground angered the Gods with the reminder of the theft in their realm, provoking their wrath.

The opinion of the Popular Republic of this new cult can best be described as "complicated." Few of the Americans within the Popular Republic's leadership look fondly upon organized religion, particularly after the crisis with the Mycenaean priesthood. On the other hand, the self-proclaimed Prometheans have tended to be enthusiastic supporters of the state's projects to industrialize Mycenae, and incorporation of myth into safety instructions has seen a noticeable increase in workers who actually follow them. Two of the new additions to the Central Committee after the 10 AE appointments are even open members of the cult. For now, the Popular Republic has adopted a policy of "benevolent apathy" towards the Promethean faith. Only time will tell if this changes, or if the worship of Prometheus becomes anything more than a cultural quirk of Mycenae.