To everyone voting for the name 'Lucius': Be aware that this is a masculine name for a female wyvern. The feminine equivalent is 'Lucia'. I'm not going to reject that name if it wins, but Michalis would know the difference.
[X] White Extremely rare, white wyverns were thought by some to be a myth before this one hatched from one of the Aerie's breeding pairs. Your companion is surely a sign of your great destiny. (Brings interesting times)
[X] Lucrecia [X] Iote's Shield
[X] Red A highly aggressive breed that tires easily – what? You're not being a hypocrite; it's just that you're better at getting your mount to push her limits. [X] Iote's Shield
To everyone voting for the name 'Lucius': Be aware that this is a masculine name for a female wyvern. The feminine equivalent is 'Lucia'. I'm not going to reject that name if it wins, but Michalis would know the difference.
Naming your mount after another Fire Emblem character is traditional. But more than that, I promised to award EXP to anyone who could make me laugh out loud, and you, sir, have succeeded.
[x] White Extremely rare, white wyverns were thought by some to be a myth before this one hatched from one of the Aerie's breeding pairs. Your companion is surely a sign of your great destiny. (Brings interesting times)
[X] Red A highly aggressive breed that tires easily – what? You're not being a hypocrite; it's just that you're better at getting your mount to push her limits.
I have the first turn almost finished, so I'll go ahead and close this now. Michalis rides a white wyvern named Lucrecia, and we're going with the canon arrangement of the brother getting the shield and the sister getting the axe.
Resources
Goods: 16
Tech: 7
Food: 11/60
- 35~40 from farms and herds (harvest in Pegastym)
- 15~20 from mushroom agroforestry (harvest in Pegastym)
- 4~8 from Aerie mushroom farm (harvest every season)
Regalia
Iote's Shield (Currently in Michalis's possession)
Hauteclere, the Golden Axe (Currently in Minerva's possession)
You stare intently at the map of Macedon – or, the island that contains Macedon and Dohlr, ugh – spread out across your study table, following the newly-painted border lines. Macedon is a natural fortification, its narrow coasts quickly rising into mountains. The jagged landscape smoothes out toward the center, creating a plateau your people named the Table, for its shape as well as the plentiful grain it provided.
…It's called the Dragon's Table, now. Perhaps one-third of your land remains to you; Medeus has taken the central plateau and everything north of it. You still have the Holm coast and the harbors there, where traders can dock; you have the thick forests of the southern coast; you have the Aerie and its surrounding chain; you have access to the Wyvern's Dale, where your braver subjects can go to claim a wyvern's egg for themselves. Somehow, you will have to parlay all these into a way to make up for losing your primary breadbasket.
[As Macedon, you will have to worry about producing enough Food to feed your citizens. Food can be obtained in a variety of ways – growing it, trading other factions for it, raiding other factions for it, running a racket whereby you threaten to raid other factions for it…However you choose to go about this, the goal is to accumulate a reserve of Food that's above a certain threshold by the time next Wyrmstym rolls around. If you don't have enough Food, people will starve and die in proportion to how great the gap is between what you need and what you actually have. This will also spread dissatisfaction with Michalis's reign, and his people will lose confidence in him, potentially resulting in emigration or rebellion. Obviously, the Macedonians eat food year-round, not just during the winter. This system is a simplification meant to be easy for me to administer and you to grasp.]
[How much Food does your nation require not to starve? Well, Michalis doesn't know that! I warned you back in character selection – this is not a place strong in Stewardship.]
You will be better able to do that, of course, with able subordinates. A king needs representatives, for he cannot be in multiple places at once. You should see about expanding your inner circle beyond your sisters. (Frankly, you have your reservations about both of them, but Minerva is too effective not to use, and Maria has firmly resisted any suggestions that she's too young to help.) And, perhaps, a few of the innovations you've seen in your recent travels can be incorporated into your kingdom…
You cannot simply curl inward on yourself and try to survive; this is a time of chaos for Archanea, and all your sacrifices will be wasted if you do not reach out and claim something from it.
[The season is Wyrmstym. Wyverns are sluggish and the winter storms are here. Effects: +10 difficulty to actions which involve leaving the island. +20 difficulty to military expeditions. -10 difficulty to Diplomacy and Intrigue actions within Macedon. -10 difficulty to actions involving local wyverns or dragons. ]
[Macedonian kings do not levy taxes from their subjects. Instead, there is a tradition of gift-giving during the winter months. The clans of Macedon will usually send a representative to the Aerie with an offering for the king, to signal their support of him. At the end of the season you will be notified of how much you received in gifts; please note that the result is highly dependent on how satisfied your people are with your rule.]
Choose one national action from each category, and one personal action for each hero. Michalis can take four personal actions, or he can take one personal action and double down on a national action. National Actions
[ ] An opportunity to serve your king
Difficulty 40-10
Macedon has no shortage of brave and ambitious citizens who would love a place by your side. The trick will be to sort the wheat from the chaff. (A choice of hero units, pulled from those living in Macedon currently.)
[ ] Scouting for talent
Difficulty 50+10
Archanea has been unsettled; plenty of people will be seeking new employment these days, eager to attach themselves to the winning side. Let it be known that Macedon welcomes the strong and talented! (A choice of hero units, pulled from those living in Archanea currently.)
[ ] We're not that smelly
Difficulty 50-10/90-10
While you can and should try to produce more food, another solution is to reduce the number of people you have to feed. Dohlr is good land, where your people can live well – until very recently, they did. Make inquiries with the Dragon Emperor and see if he can tolerate humans living within his personal domain. (Humans are allowed to live in Dohlr under heavy supervision/humans are allowed to live in Dohlr independently. The food burden on Macedon decreases.)
[ ] Allies, for the moment
Difficulty 35+10
There's no unity within the so-called Empire of Dohlr. It's a polite fiction propped up by threats of terrifying violence. No matter how your fellow vassals feel about you, however, they cannot reject your envoys without breaking it. (Establish diplomatic contact with the other vassals of Dohlr: Khadein, Gra, Grust, Archanea)
[ ] Reach out to Aurelis
Difficulty 100+10
…How would you go about doing that? You're not even sure who's in charge of Aurelis at the moment. (Establish diplomatic contact with Aurelis)
[ ] Reach out to Talys
Difficulty 65+10
Talys remained silent during the recent war, but they cannot remain neutral for long. You wish to find out which way King Mostyn is leaning. (Establish diplomatic contact with Talys)
[ ] Reach out to Pyrathi
Difficulty ?? +10
King Mannu of Pyrathi is notoriously isolationist and eccentric, only bestirring himself when his islands are directly threatened. But perhaps the recent upheaval has changed his mind. (Establish diplomatic contact with Pyrathi)
[ ] Form pegasus knights
Difficulty 25, Cost 7 Goods
The kings of Macedon have traditionally preferred dracoknights, but Minerva is convinced there's untapped potential in the pegasus riders. If you're willing to arm, armor, and house them, you could find riders willing to fly at your command. (Form the Whitewings, recruit a hero)
[ ] Scout Aurelis
Difficulty 80+10
With the onset of winter, the armies in the Holy Kingdom had to turn back. Thus, Aurelis escaped invasion. You foresee the day you will return to finish the job, and you would prefer to be prepared when the time comes. (Learn more about the situation in Aurelis, including who's in charge)
[ ] Scout Dohlr
Difficulty ??
What is Medeus doing with all your land? Is he alone in there? You think the risk of angering him is slight, if you send some pegasus riders to scout him out from above. (Get a broad picture of what it's like in Dohlr)
[ ] Encourage raids (write-in a target)
Difficulty 65+20
Raiding is a Macedonian way of life, and best of all, it's profitable! While each clan organizes such things on their own, they may listen to you if you tell them who needs humbling right now. (Another faction is attacked)
[ ] Soldiers of fortune
Difficulty 25/75+10
Macedon's warriors are peerless, of course. But they are also very specialized. A day might come when it makes more sense to spend gold, instead of your people's blood. Fortunately there are plenty of men willing to die for the former. (Make contact with mercenaries in Archanea/outside of Archanea)
[ ] Everyone, sound off
Difficulty 40
You have a brewing food crisis, that much is obvious. But you need specifics. There must be some way to determine exactly many people you need to feed, and how much land you have to feed them with. (Clarifies the food situation)
[ ] Expand the Holm docks
Difficulty 75, Cost 14 Goods
A ship can carry far more cargo than any living creature – but a large ship requires an equally large dock. With these renovations, Holm will be able to welcome the great ocean-going vessels from Valentia, far to the west. (Makes contact and trade with Valentia much easier)
[ ] Found new farms
Difficulty 35
It's not as if the Dragon's Table was the sum total of your arable land. The mountains are slashed with little valleys and crevices, most of them unclaimed by anyone. Go, locate these fertile spots, and assign them to displaced families. This must be done swiftly – by Avistym, it will be too late to plant. (Increase eventual harvest)
[ ] A lock made of ink
Difficulty 45
A pegasus can carry a report from one end of Archanea to another – but if the beast is shot down, that letter will then be in the hands of your enemies. You don't like the thought of that. (Develop a cipher for your sensitive correspondence)
[ ] The beast of prophecy
Difficulty 65 - 10
The general consensus among the faithful of Naga is that Medeus is the evil Shadow Dragon defeated by their god long ago. You're worried they might try to do something stupid about it. (Keep an eye on the local celebrants of Naga for sedition)
[ ] Most evil man in the world
Difficulty 90
The Dragon Emperor is served by a man named Gharnef. You don't like him. You don't trust him. Everything you've ever heard about the man suggests that he has his fingers in many pies, each of which is poisonous and cursed. (Get someone to keep tabs on Gharnef for you)
[ ] Pulling open a gate
Difficulty 90-10, Cost 1 Tech
The implants that you, and every other dracoknight, have crammed into your skulls are…poorly understood. Iote found something that worked, and taught it to others. But why does it work? (Discover the origin of the dracoknight implants, and something about the bond between rider and wyvern)
[ ] Cheap, fast and tasty
Difficulty 50
That last point is optional. (Find a new source of food that can be produced in Macedon)
[ ] Fully operational
Difficulty 75
You know what they have in the Holy Kingdom? Solar power plants. They can make electricity out of the sun! You want that! (Figure out a viable way to produce electricity in Macedon)
[ ] Lunar bequest
Difficulty 120, Cost 1 Tech
Iote's brain implants could be copied, but as far as you know the Shield is one of a kind. Perhaps a sufficiently clever sage could change that? (Reverse-engineer Iote's Shield)
[ ] Neighbors all along
Difficulty 35
Medeus has stated his intention to awaken the rest of his kind, which leads naturally to the conclusion that there are others like him…right under your feet. Is there any way to detect these things before they awaken? (Check Macedon for sleeping Earth Dragons)
[ ] A rainbow of scales
Difficulty 60-10
Most of what you know for sure about dragons is simply from the short (and unpleasant) time you've spent in Medeus's presence. That's not good enough! Cut through the wild rumors to separate fact from fiction from reasonable speculation. (Assemble a dossier of everything the humans of Archanea know about dragons)
[ ] Heavenly bequest
Difficulty ???
What the heck is Hauteclere? No, really, where did it come from? (???)
Personal Actions
[ ] Break bread with…
- [ ] Write-in hero's name
A king stands above everyone else, of course. But it still pays to pay some attention to your subordinates, hear their concerns, that sort of thing. (Grow Supports, learn more about a hero)
[ ] Double Down
- [ ] Write in national action
Failure is never an option for you, but in this case, you really mean it. You will devote your full attention to this, forsaking free time to make sure the work gets done right. (Choose a national action. Roll twice and take the higher roll.)
[ ] Preside over court
Most disputes in Macedon are settled quietly and locally, but in particularly tricky or sensitive cases you are the arbiter of justice.
[ ] Make a show of your generosity. (Costs 5 Goods)
It's the season of gifts, the perfect time to demonstrate how wealthy and generous you are. It's not just about bribery – it's about demonstrating your suitability to be king.
[ ] Go through your father's possessions
His things have been left largely undisturbed since…well, since you killed him. There's no urgency, but – well. It's just inefficient to leave them sitting there.
[ ] Acquire a new book
It's never certain what the travelling merchants will have in stock. Hopefully, useful information, but you won't turn down entertainment. (Costs 1 Goods)
[ ] Spend time with your wyvern
It's always a good idea to keep one's tools sharp. Besides, Lucrecia is better company than many humans you've met.
[ ] Train with Hauteclere
You learned the axe in anticipation of this day, but Hauteclere is no ordinary axe. Get used to your new weapon and its little-understood powers.
[ ] Spend time with your wyvern
There is very little you like better than flying. Besides, Leonidas is better company than many humans you've met.
[ ] Check on the wyvern nests
Several wyverns – both human-bonded and semi-feral – make their homes in the Aerie's caves. It's your responsibility to take care of them, and keep the peace with the mountain's human inhabitants.
[ ] Lend a helping hand
- [ ] Write-in national action
[ ] Shadow your elders
- [ ] Write-in hero's name
Okay, so Michalis thinks you're too inexperienced and young and unskilled to help him rule, and maybe he's right. But what if you followed and copied someone who is all experienced and capable and stuff?
[ ] Inquire after Sister Lena
The woman who inspired you to don the robes of a cleric was away when the Dragon awoke, and there's been no word from her since. With all the chaos that followed, you can't help but worry about her.
[ ] Treat the sick and injured
There's always someone who needs healing, somewhere. You can't neglect your duty to the people of Macedon!
[ ] Lend a helping hand
- [ ] Write-in national action
(As a Trainee, Maria can be assigned to help out with the same national action another hero is helping.)
[X] Plan: Putting things in order
-[X] (Diplomacy) Allies, for the moment (Maria)
-[X] (Martial)Form pegasus knights
-[X] (Stewardship) Everyone, sound off
-[X] (intrigue) A lock made of ink
-[X] (Learning) Cheap, fast and tasty (Minerva)
-[X] (Occult) Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Allies, for the moment
Here is my plan, reaching out to other kingdoms to stablish alliances, getting the pegasus knights (Whitewings) and getting a hero unit sounds good, freacking figuring out the food situation and solving it needs to be done ASAP, and for intrigue creating a cypher and checking if we have dragons around sounds good to me.
I like it, it's got pretty much everything I want. I especially like jumping on the allies action; I get the feeling that having good ties with Archanea will be instrumental to our long term plans (even if Michalis doesn't like them much).
There are two things I would consider doing differently. One is jumping into the farms for stewardship, since we know more food is something we are going to need regardless. The other is I would really like to do Maria's Inquire after Sister Lena action. Lena would be great to get for a hero unit, and also be a helpful mentor Maria. That said, putting Maria on Diplomacy is still a solid choice, and I think both the actions I mentioned can afford to wait until next turn, so I'm willing to support the plan as is.
[X] Plan: Food and Friends
-[X] An opportunity to serve your king
-[X] Form pegasus knights
-[X] Everyone, sound off
-[X] A lock made of ink
-[X] Cheap, fast, and tasty
-[X] Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Inquire after Sister Lena
[X] Plan: Food and Friends
-[X] An opportunity to serve your king
-[X] Form pegasus knights
-[X] Everyone, sound off
-[X] A lock made of ink
-[X] Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Inquire after Sister Lena
Didn't notice this before but this plan is lacking a learning action proper voted for, thought you put Minerva on helping on the food action. Ought to fix that.
Also, now that we are starting the quest proper, there's a possible important matter to check.
…who is gonna be our Jaegan and do you guys think that they will be like Titania from Path of Radiance/Radiant Down or we will have to bench them later down the line?
Hopefully Michalis is not the Jaegan on this quest. XD
…who is gonna be our Jaegan and do you guys think that they will be like Titania from Path of Radiance/Radiant Down or we will have to bench them later down the line?
Obviously, we need to wait for Marth and co. to arrive at Talys so we can invade and capture the original Jaegan.
If you want a more serious answer, I think we're going to recruit Palla soon, and she's somewhat semi-Jaeganish. And if we recruit Lena, she'll likely be our magic expert until Maria finishes her training.
Of course, this is a CKII type quest rather than a straight Fire Emblem simulator, so I doubt any of our heros will be truly benched.
Didn't notice this before but this plan is lacking a learning action proper voted for, thought you put Minerva on helping on the food action. Ought to fix that.
Huh, two votes for each plan. We could really use a tiebreaker here. Is anyone else willing to vote?...Come on, I know more than four people read this quest.
Adhoc vote count started by Vocalist on Oct 8, 2024 at 11:03 PM, finished with 9 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Plan: Food and Friends
-[X] An opportunity to serve your king
-[X] Form pegasus knights
-[X] Everyone, sound off
-[X] A lock made of ink
-[X] Cheap, fast, and tasty
-[X] Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Inquire after Sister Lena
[X] Plan: Putting things in order
-[X] (Diplomacy) Allies, for the moment (Maria)
-[X] (Martial)Form pegasus knights
-[X] (Stewardship) Everyone, sound off
-[X] (intrigue) A lock made of ink
-[X] (Learning) Cheap, fast and tasty (Minerva)
-[X] (Occult) Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Allies, for the moment
[X] Plan: Food and Friends
-[X] An opportunity to serve your king
-[X] Form pegasus knights
-[X] Everyone, sound off
-[X] A lock made of ink
-[X] Cheap, fast, and tasty
-[X] Neighbors all along
-[X] (Michalis) Preside over court
-[X] (Michalis) Go through your father's possessions
-[X] (Michalis) Spend time with your wyvern
-[X] (Michalis)Break bread with…
--[X] Minerva
-[X] (Minerva) Lend a helping hand
--[X] Cheap, fast and tasty
-[X] (Maria) Inquire after Sister Lena
Diplomacy: An opportunity to serve your king
Difficulty 40-10=30
71+21=92 Critical Success!
You don't need to advertise that you're looking for aid – one of the first things any new king must do is set up a council. Everyone knows that, and everyone has a relative that would be just perfect. The boasting of the band spokesmen is as self-interested as it is repetitive. You do not feel like peeling through the layers of exaggeration, and look for more reliable markers of quality.
First, long experience. Frost got his start back on Old Earth, treating farm animals, but graduated to humans in the chaos of the alien invasion. He started learning new things and didn't stop for decades. He brings a combination of formal schooling, tech, and magic to his doctoring, which saved the lives of many during Macedon's war of independence – even Iote himself. These days he mostly handles bruises and fevers, and he's slow on stairs. He would serve happily if called, but he would probably want to live outside the Aerie, with his family.
Second, the recommendation of someone you trust: "Michalis! You said you were looking for someone sneaky, right?"
"Sneaky enough not to declare my plans in public, yes."
Minerva scoffs. She is accompanied by several of the new pegasus knights…wait, that one's a man. You didn't notice him at first. His dirty blond hair is held back in a scruffy headband, and he is carrying a bow and a large pack. It looks like it's been several years since his last bath.
"This is Warren," Minerva states. "He's wintering with us. Catria owes him a favor and he's calling it in." You're not sure which one of the girls is Catria. "I'm introducing you two because…well…Catria had to get all of us to help search for him. And he was trying to be found."
"It was actually super inconvenient," one of the pegasus knights muttered under her breath.
You raise an eyebrow at the scruffy man.
He shrugs. "I'm a hunter. It doesn't pay to be loud." You catch him eyeing the surrounding gaggle as though he isn't used to being around so many people. You sense that he'd like to go, but isn't sure where.
"Well, Warren," you say, "you are welcome in the Aerie. We may speak again before long. For now, Catria will show you to the accommodations."
Third, physical proof. One day a short, stout man built like a brick wall walks into your throne room and upturns a heavy purse in front of everyone; silver coins fall like water to the floor.
[+2 Goods!]
"Very well, you have my attention. But I still ask that you introduce yourself." You don't stop the amused smile from coming to your lips. You will be making him pick that all up, later.
"I am Gail, leader of the Holm Vikings! When we weren't called for the muster last year, we didn't stay in Macedon, twiddling our thumbs! We took our ships and sailed west for riches and glory!" He bows deeply to you. "I'm sharing a piece of this treasure with you, my king, in the hopes that you'll think of us when next there's fighting to be done."
"Interesting…" Well, you're not getting down on the floor to examine it. "If all you say is true, then I will have to apologize for overlooking you in the hasty days after King Osmond's death. Where did you find this fine gift?"
"Mostly Grust. They've got a lot of coastal villages."
"Were you aware that I was marching with the armies of Grust at the time?"
"Of course! All their soldiers were gone, that's why the coast was such easy pickings!"
Choose one:
[ ] Frost Experienced doctor who combines a bit of magic and a bit of science.
[ ] Warren Backwoods hunter who has managed to turn being forgettable into an asset.
[ ] Gail Piratical ruffian who is happy to do low-down skullduggery and thuggery at your command.
The pegasus would be one of Macedon's treasures even if nobody could ride them. They are perfectly adapted to this mountainous environment, their nutritious milk is a staple food, and they provide a bounty of hide and feathers when slaughtered. However, for some unknown reason, they dislike human men. Women do the work of herding, milking, and saddling them (there are edge cases, or so you've heard, but you have to be mostly a woman).
The number of pegasus riders who fly when Macedon goes to war has always been unpredictable. Most of the women who can ride have farms and families to take care of, or so goes the conventional wisdom; thus the kings of Macedon have built the military around the wyvern riders.
But Minerva argues otherwise. And, as you see the numbers arriving at the Aerie, you have to admit she was right, and wonder if your predecessors weren't infected by a spot of misogyny. In exchange for arms, armor, room and board, over a hundred women of Macedon have arrived on pegasusback to serve as the king's knights.
You set about the work of organizing them, and are not too proud to accept Minerva's help. She knows many of them already, and they are still willing to accept her within their sisterhood. She refuses the role of commander and instead you appoint – on her advice – a serene and respected woman named Palla. Palla is accompanied everywhere by her two sisters, whose names, you eventually learn, are Catria and Est.
[-7 Goods. Order of Whitewings formed! You have recruited a new hero: Whitewings Trio! This 'hero' is actually three people. The base stats are Palla's, but she gets boosts from having her sisters nearby.]
Stewardship: Everyone, sound off
Difficulty 40
93+10=103 Critical Success!
People come and go from the castle all season – mostly come, actually, no one wants to be travelling in Wyrmstym. As the king it would be stingy of you to turn anyone away, and most of the people who plan to impose on your hospitality are gracious enough to bring a gift to make up for it.
[+7 Food, +1 Goods]
Hm. That's a lot of beef, actually. It seems that, with the loss of the Dragon's Table, there is no longer anywhere in Macedon to graze cattle – the demanding beasts. Your subjects are slaughtering their herds, resulting in a temporary glut of food. You set people to smoking and drying as much as possible. It will be needed before the year is out.
While so many of your subjects are within arm's reach, you get together with all the band spokesmen. They have all realized the same thing you have – that Macedon's remaining land cannot support her current population – and are relieved to see you working on the problem, although some remind you resentfully that you are the one who agreed to cede that land in the first place.
…Disagreements aside, you manage to get a count of land and people out of each one. Since this is likely to change, you also make them agree to come to you with a fresh count every year. You believe this is called a 'census'.
[Michalis has determined that, at its current population, Macedon will need at least 60 Food to survive the winter. Furthermore, the current land under cultivation is expected to produce about 25 Food come harvest time. This count will be updated automatically each year.]
The process reveals something else to you: some people are missing. An entire wing of wyvern riders, led by a man named Ruben, never came back from Archanea. The circumstances suggest desertion…or something more sinister.
[New action unlocked!]
Intrigue: A lock made of ink
Difficulty 45
56+17=73 Success
A code for your letters…the first thing you think of is the cipher described by Suetonius. A correspondence by which every letter of the alphabet is replaced by one a few steps further along. That produces messages which look like nonsense, but are decrypted fairly easily. Even if you don't know the shift. It's possible to simply try all twenty-four possible combinations and see which one produces a readable message.
Okay. Well, what if the letters were scrambled more? You could increment the shift by one for each letter. But that would still be easily unscrambled by anyone who knew what code you were using…What if you used a code number, that specified a different shift for each letter, and was communicated separately…
You present an encrypted message and its key to Minerva as an experimental exercise. She fills several sheets of paper with ink in trying to decrypt it, and tells you flatly that it's too complicated to work in the field.
You end up making a codebook of glyphs based on the hand signals wyvern and pegasus riders use to communicate in the air.
[Macedon's sensitive communications are now protected by a codebook! Decoding these messages is a difficulty 80 Intrigue action for others.]
Learning: Cheap, Fast & Tasty (Minerva)
Difficulty 50
56+12+11+1=80 Success
Minerva attacks this project with her usual directness, simply asking the people of the southern mountains what their food sources are and which ones can be exploited further.
Hunting is not a long-term answer. Fishing is, perhaps; the ocean is vaster than the forests. Clearing the southern forest for farmlands would take a while, and besides, Minerva dislikes the idea of losing their defensive screen. Besides hunting and fishing, the villages supplement their diet with a variety of goods gathered from the woods.
Minerva flies back to the Aerie with a bag of samples and dives into your library, emerging with a slim monograph entitled Eight Fungi of Princeps Dominare and Their Properties, Newly Described. It's about the strange and unhealthy things that grow in the City's sewers, but what she's really after is the 'Methodology' section, which includes a detailed description of how exactly the authors cultivated those fungi for their experiments. She doesn't have nutrient-fortified agar, but it seems mushroom spores are perfectly willing to incubate on grain mash. Once the substrate is fuzzy, white, and disgusting-looking, she transfers it to a pot of cooked rice. Once that looks completely disgusting, she sows it in hanging baskets filled with soil, which she sets in various caves around the Aerie. It is a lot of work, but warriors don't have much to do during Wyrmstym and she dragoons them into helping her.
It takes almost two months of waiting, but one day an excited Minerva drags you to one of the Aerie's inner chambers, near the spring that is your source of water. It is unpleasantly cold, dark, and damp, to a human. To a mushroom, apparently, it is lovely. The basket hanging overhead is sprouting a pelt of white stalks and reddish-brown caps.
"The villagers don't even have to go to this much effort," she explained. "With a healthy grain spawn, they can spread it in the forest where they usually gather and it should sprout in its season. The fortunate part was that I found a place in the Aerie it likes to grow."
"You've done it, Minerva. Cheap, fast, and tasty, just as I asked." You are grinning. "Now we just need to distribute this crop to the guests and explain how the process works."
Her proud blush deepens. "I, uh…think I'll let you handle that part."
[Mushroom Agroforestry researched! This is estimated to provide 10~15 Food come harvest time! Option unlocked to start farming mushrooms in the Aerie!]
Occult: Neighbors all along
Difficulty 35
93+7=100 Critical Success!
It's surprisingly simple, when you think about it. The Dragon's Table was the most fertile land in Macedon. Medeus was sleeping there. Medeus is, in his own words, Prince of the Earth Dragons.
Conclusion: the presence of an earth dragon makes the land more fertile. You ask around – do the southern mountains have any notable spots of greenery? Any strangely fortunate farms? Nothing turns up, which is a mixed blessing.
[There are probably no earth dragons sleeping in your territory. Your scouts will keep an eye out when surveying.]
Personal: Preside over court (Michalis)
Many of the guests have matters they wish to bring before the king, on their own or as proxies for others. Mostly, it has to do with land.
You're not surprised. Entire bands have been displaced from the Dragon's Table and forced to come south. Some of them have dissolved, individual families dispersing to friends or relatives; some are seeking a new home on land already claimed by someone else, and it falls to you to resolve the situation. Desperate representatives offer up their treasures, in the hope that you will guarantee their families a future.
[+3 Goods]
You defuse tensions as best you can, and bring down the hammer of your authority when charm does not work. We are all comrades in Macedon, and that means helping each other when times are hard. That means giving up land you claimed but never settled, and that means squeezing more guests into your house until another house can be built. Are you not leading by example? Look at the number of people you are sheltering in the Aerie!
…The mood is anxious. This is not idle complaining; the pressures on your people are very real. People are usually willing to wait and see when a new monarch ascends the throne, but you do not think they will grant you much of a grace period.
[Choosing to preside over court will allow Michalis to gain a feel for the people's current concerns and their opinion of his rule. There may also be gifts (bribing the judge is not frowned upon in Macedon) or decisions to make.]
Very nice first turn. I'll save my thoughts on the potential recruits for the end of my post, but going over everything else:
Recruiting at least one Whitewing sister I expected, though I wasn't sure if they'd be treated as separate heroes or a group. The latter makes sense, and hopefully will result in them being fairly well rounded.
Crit success on Stewardship is excellent. If I understand correctly, we currently have 42-47 out of 60 food units secured, so we'll need to pick up another ~20 in the next couple turns. Should be doable. Misplacing a wing of dracoknights is concerning, though.
Cipher looks good. Not unbreakable, but if we tried to break a cipher with a similar DC we would have roughly 50-50 odds (unless we had Michalis double down) and the enemy has to burn an action on it regardless. We can feel much better about scheming and politicking without worrying about Medeus looking over our shoulder.
Learning went well, not much else to say there.
Occult result was as good as it could have been, I think. Actually finding an earth dragon could present some interesting opportunities, but making sure it doesn't wake up and kill us all would be a headache. The main prize is that we now know how to look for them in the future. Speaking of which, we do have a Stewardship option to search our remaining territory for fertile land, so this may come up sooner rather than later.
Holding court gave us a useful reminder of a problem we kind of already knew about: Macedon is feeling really crowded right now. Lots of people without much to do except wait for us to solve their problems. We need to find somewhere to settle these people. Again, that search for hidden farmland action is attractive. We also have the option to beg Dolhr to rent our old farmland back, but I don't like the idea of effectively giving Medeus a bunch of hostages. Personally, I'm thinking that one of our priorities in the near future should be finding a neighbor to "culturally enrich" - which of course I mean in the Fire Nation sense of "conquer and colonize".
Finally, the new recruit. First, one thing I wanted to bring up was an issue concerning the hero units we already have. Michalis is, frankly, a villain. A somewhat nuanced villain, but still a villain. Maria, Minerva, and the Whitewings are not. We have their loyalty now, but canonically, they all choose to side with Marth against us. If we want to avoid that in this quest, we have to meet keep in mind that they aren't going to just blindly follow any order we give them. Fortunately, we just got some options that seem to be less scrupulous:
Frost: Useful Learning/Occult hero, which are areas we are currently deficient in. Probably not good for much else, but having a hero with better learning than Michalis is still a good investment. My one concern is that I've been hoping to recruit Lena, and she might render him a little redundant. On the other hand, I have to admit I don't know yet how difficult recruiting her will be, or if it's really feasible at all, and if we do get her she'll have the same issue of "too much conscience" as our other hero units. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as they say.
Warren: This name rang a bell, so I actually looked him up. Not a whole lot to him; as his blurb suggests, he's generic enough that it's become a sort of superpower. He seems willing to do whatever we need as long as he's paid though, which is useful. He's also an Intrigue specialist, which is another hole in our roster that needs filling. Finally, having a bowman in our pocket may be useful against the possibility that Minerva turns on us.
Gail: Seems martial focused, maybe with intrigue on the side. On the one hand, we already have some excellent Martial heroes. On the other hand, the war is still ongoing, so more Martial is hardly a bad thing. In addition, he's clearly got less moral hang-ups then our other units. Having a legbreaker that will reliably do his job without raising pesky questions about "honor" and "justice" would definitely be useful.
All good choices. I'm leaning a little toward Warren, but I really like the look of Gail as well. Frost seems less interesting, but he's a smart pick. I think I'll hold off and see what other people think before I make my decision.
Very good results! I gotta admit that out of the potential recruits, Gail really appeals to me if only because having your standard Fire Emblem bandit mini-boss as a Hero is a funny thought.
