My idea for the crystals was something like a magical capacitor for the Geomantic web's energy. So we could save up a charge, and use it boost a specific part of the city to a higher level by plugging them in. Ideally we would use this with the spawning pools allowing more energy to be funneled into them when they activate, allowing for larger spawning/blessed spawning.
But their are lots of things we could boost, and at the very least a Slann away from the city could use them power magic in fight.
Both the Sunken Crystals and Applied Aethyrbaric actions are experiments on novel magical materials; 'suggesting' a use does not lock the action in to providing that utility. I have already come up with a number of possibilities for each, and you should not expect that I will necessarily honor a suggestion; it only represent an initial hypothetical potential use rather than an actual realized capability of the material.
Some questions about these @CuttleFish2.0. First, would Wik's FHoJ apply to Artifact Enchancement if it was for said Hive?
Second, what do you think of an upgrade which involves aiding his abilities to project himself/his power over longer distances, or at least to better channel his power through distant subordinates. The idea in my head was that it would better allow him to stay in contact with others or exert his influence without having to leave Zlatlan himself, vaguely inspired by that scene where the bees were moving between hives without crossing the intervening space. Maybe it could rely on those subordinates carrying a metaphysical piece of said hive with them. Would this work, or is it too weak/strong/not a good enough fit?
My idea for the crystals was something like a magical capacitor for the Geomantic web's energy. So we could save up a charge, and use it boost a specific part of the city to a higher level by plugging them in. Ideally we would use this with the spawning pools allowing more energy to be funneled into them when they activate, allowing for larger spawning/blessed spawning.
But their are lots of things we could boost, and at the very least a Slann away from the city could use them power magic in fight.
It can be salvaged?
It's a theory, but IRL people made things after theory was proven wrong. With Slann being creative Simply knowing more about them will result in alternative designes being put under prototyping. Mayby.
Think of it like giving Carbon Fiber to people . Can't really make clothes out of it, but can be turned into one hell of a boat.
So far as slann like Wik'keer'mal are concerned such things have always been part of the Old Ones. They just happen to know that whether or not Potec ever had an actual 'Forge' matters a lot less than the fact that the idea of Potec's Forge exists and is a useful lever to pull on when doing magic. If pressed the slann would probably agree that the idea of 'creating' new... mytho-narratives for the Old Ones is possible; they would not necessarily be eager to try.
I got the Humans needing 200-300 years to come online as the mixed up 100 years turns. As it is it still 6-8 turns away before they are online, even with all max turns lengths. Given we are moving at around 2-3 turns per year that very long time.
I don't see how anything you've said explains why you were confidently assuring us that turns were going to revert to 100 years long, when all the written sources already present in the thread and all the QM evidence said "10 to 40."
As for the Warbeasts you do know we need those they are a core part of our armies effectiveness. Every turn the world progresses faster then we do, in time we will be out tech that not something we can change, warbeasts are a critical resource to maintain our edge longer. And even once we find the beasts, they need decades to breed up a population we can take to war, the first generation is little more then breeding stock, lacking the training for the battlefield .
I don't see how anything you've said explains why we're somehow prevented from pursuing the kind of project @EVA-Saiyajin suggests, purely because we have not secured breeding populations of every warbeast in the lizardmen's normal array.
Earth-Destroyer, you contribute good things sometimes. I respect that and praise that.
But sometimes you sort of "hallucinate" facts or certainties or 'obvious' cause-and-effect processes that will make certain outcomes 'inevitable.' Sometimes, you're certain of things being inevitable or factual when in the game's reality these things are not certain, are not inevitable, and may not even be true.
I think it might be good for the discourse on this thread if you were willing to be more open to the idea that other people's different perspectives may have merit.
Gold is your second go to metal. You know of former gold mines but cannot access them without securing your territory. If you were extracting it would not trade it away except in exceptional circumstances. Or to another temple-city that needed it.
Both bronze and gold are very enchantable metals (thought bronze doesn't take well to heavy enchantment) which means you highly favor using them seeing as you have consistent and reliable access to magic users and a magic tradition/infrastructure to enchant items en mass far in excess of even elves relative to your overall population.
In war it was not practical to bless weapons with the powers of the Old Ones, for the blessings lasted only weeks and could not be done in great numbers; a hundred or so warriors with blessed weapons was rarely enough to turn the tide of battle. Especially not when foregoing those hundred blessed weapons could mean another thousand warriors on the front line or two or three priests able to smite the enemy with their spells. Or even another two or three weapons hundred permanently enchanted with lesser effects.
Sort of. A Grandmaster dwarfen smith would produce a set of armor better in quality than what most of what your smiths would. But it would also be done within a paradigm completely divorced from the one you usually operate within - your saurus don't usually go out decked head to toe in plate armor, but many dwarfen thanes do, and for good reason as many of the threats your forces have historically faced were better faced with magical protections rather than purely physical ones. More, you could not later on take the commissioned piece of armor and enchant it to the same degree of effectiveness as you usually do for the armor your forges produce - because those enchantments are done at the time of forging - though in the end it would probably even out to about the same level of protectiveness.
These quotes do a lot to get across why Lizardmen equipment is what it is. A combination of efficiency and reactivity that has its pros and cons for the coldbloods.
Mmm. I won't lie, I don't really think the AP is worth spending on the crystal of unknown capacity.
It's a limited resource, so what could be done with it? Limited works. Likely some kind of _____ Engine based around some of Tzunki's profile (Solar Engines are Chotec's profile). We could design a crystal shape similar in intent (different in shape) to the hearts of Rev Crystals and get a passive+active effect. Use them as components for Tzunki enchanted gear or ships perhaps. Empower our dive-suits with them, or make a kind of Focus that mimics the crushing quiet we mine them from. I could see the argument that Quality can try to make up for Quantity and I almost made that argument myself.
But we don't really have time for it.
I just fundamentally don't think we can police The Southlands successfully as just Zlatlan no matter how elite we get. Even if we remain a completely overwhelming land military the problems will be:
We need to know when and where a threat will arise
We need to move our forces into position in time to matter
Our population is undersized and will always grow slower than our threats will
A navy has been very helpful for scouting coastal/naval threats as well as moving forces where they need to be. We've got Chameleon scouts, scrying and prophecy doing their best to cover things they can't. Any AP commitment has to address some of these problems eventually and I don't think the Crystals are really going to do anything. It's even worse since we won't know how they can be useful until we've already spent the AP on it.
Significant warmblood development will be critical to our absolutely minimal population size (we grow slower than dwarves and elves to a significant degree with us being a lone Temple City). Just look at a map of The Southlands, now factor in that all the Temple Cities except Zlatlan are still disabled and Slann-less.
Legitimately the Razordon and Salamander actions are bad AP to spend imo. Easier to get a breeding stock (eggs) from Lustria next time we sail over for a good reason than spending 2 AP just to do the same thing locally. We'll be doing a mission to share the automation advances we make once we make them, so we bring the transports and grab them then.
Number 2 priority is various Warmblood Development projects. They'll take time to develop into useful allies/stewards which means they need to have settlements planted and growing as early as possible. Taking the time to shape the humans in particular should be done, lest they become something other than religiously-intertwined allies against The Enemy.
Number 1 priority is finding and responding to imminent major threats to the Temple Cities. Current threat is Chaos Dwarves.
We've gotten Zlatlan improved enough that we should probably have Number 3 be getting other Temple Cities up to functional.
To that end: automation and pop-saving measures are even more helpful to the other cities than to Zlatlan . . . so long as they don't rely on strong Geomantic Web power. This is mostly why I'd shy away from Constructs for now. Until the other cities have stronger Web access it's just not gonna help them.
EDIT: Admittedly more Quality can reduce attrition and thus impact our population problem. A thoughtful inspection of our Armor and/or Weaponry for combat situations outside Lustrian Jungles wouldn't be a bad idea. We got good mileage out of the shield redesigns and I imagine our threats (and capabilities) look a lot different than they used to. Any improvements that cover most of our population are pretty good investments.
Korai hefted a piece of stone as big as a skink's head up to their eye and inspected it for a long moment. From between scattered teeth their tongue flicked out and briefly touched the rock.
Solid, workable stone. Except—
Bringing the rock directly to their mouth they worried at one corner of it for a moment before a chip shot off and the whole stone split. One half fell down into their waiting hand and they spat the other out, Korai turned to Liss'en Ohp.
"See. Weak."
"Thick-skulled oaf," Liss'en Ohp hissed, snatching up the stone fragment from the ground, "No one means to start chewing on them," wiping away the worst of the slobber the skink began to inspect it for themselves, muttering beneath their breath, "Dust-blind… brute… "
Korai shook their head and flipped the other piece of stone about in their hands, digging one claw into the soft stone.
"Jointing."
With a soft crack the stone split again into globular chunks, one clutched gently in their large hand while the other fell with a clatter to the stone pavement of the courtyard. Liss'en Ohp let out an outraged yelp, whipping around to glare at the kroxigor.
"Simpleton! Brute!"
Raising the edge of the rock to their mouth Korai began to gnaw gently on the corner, savoring the deep, earthy tone of it and hint of heat that lingered on the tongue.
After a brief pause, the foreskink let out a resigned grumble, "Well, more stone is needed for the murals of the eastern hall— what do you suggest, you sun-addled ko'chuul?"
Korai considered the question. Much of the soft sedimented rock in the caves below was just as jointed as the piece they held now, with irregular faults crisscrossing at unpredictable angle; a result of geologically recent and repeated tectonic activity all along the coast. Poor material for cladding a hall. Deposits further inland were known, but that would delay work some.
Then the kroxigor remembered a particular stretch of stone as they had been excavating the second set of north east tunnels, just over three years back. It had shown remarkably little jointing.
Given its position it could also be safely expanded into a secondary chamber without disturbing the important geometries of the section.
"Come," they said, still chewing on the rock.
"Wha— w-wait!" Liss'en Ohp scurried after the kroxigor, "Dust-clogged idi— "
Day 59 Yuxa's Season, 11655
Awanabil'tat pushed through the curtain hanging vines hanging across the small, side entryway into the chamber, disturbing the colony of small, brightly colored frogs sipping nectar from their broad petalled flowers in the process and setting off a chorus of trills. The alarm did not travel far, drowned out by the echoes of hammers and conversations that filled the vast chamber before him. Narrow, stepped stalagmites and stalactites sprouted from the floors and ceilings like mirrored forests of denuded trunks— many sprouted fungal shelves of wood and rope where masons carefully carved away the stone to grow them higher.
Each face of the stalactites were carved with glyphs and designs that flowed and ran… dripping occasional flashes of light from small carved lenses of crystal set into their tips.
Two sentries appeared from within the dense press of ferns and bushes growing in the beds of dirt lining the path, only briefly glancing at Awanabil'tat before returning to their posts within brush.
Tens of meters above the ceiling sparkled with false stars between the stalactites. He spied constellations both alien and familiar; all five Itzl Stars, scattered between the dangling spars of stone, Tlanxla's Chariot, and the Swarm of Vermin. Each placed precisely amongst the shadows that shrouded the furthest limits of the cavern roof from view. Alongside the soft glow of glyph lamps and flickering light of torches they gave just enough light to navigate the perpetual night of the chamber.
Having been focused on a matter in the outer chambers for the last lunar month, a pocket of weak stone under the corner of one of the pools, Awanabil'tat had not witnessed much of the recent progress on the main chamber personally. In that short time the paths connecting the pools proper to the scattered barracks, training yards, and ritual chambers had been completed and the first of the three shrines had been erected in the north east corner.
Pausing for a moment Awanbil'tat tried to sense if the chamber had grown warmer since he had last been there, but could not sense any change to the muggy atmosphere from the four pools at the center. He began walking again.
Away from the edge of the cavern the growth quickly became less dense, beds of dirt suddenly only filled with a few new shoots and occasional transplants. Which also had the effect of opening up the chamber immensely to the eye; though the sightlines from the ground were broken up by the stalagmites, promising good cover in case of assault. Through gaps created by spiderwebbed paths he could just make out the occasional shape of a waiting barracks or training yard.
Just minutes later he came to the pools themselves. Surrounded by a series of low buildings and a broad avenue that stretched all the way around and between them, the pools took up nearly a third of the total area of the chamber. Sitting raised up from the ground, they were four— first and largest a circular pond set at the 'top' of the formation while the other three formed long rays stretching out beneath. Stripes of stained stone wove between the pools, running down their sides and to the bottom, hiding the buried bronze pipes that carried away the sulfur gasses of the vents beneath.
Heated in small hidden chambers by those same pipes, each pool let off a constant cloud of steam.
Or would when they were full. At the moment only the main pool held water, its inner walls already decorated with the glyphs and lines necessary for the magic to work.
Making his way past the circular pool Awanabil'tat closed his eyes and opened his senses to the Geomantic Web. Even so far beneath the surface Zlatlan still muted— no, overwhelmed, the fluctuations of the Web from the ongoing construction and spell work. He could still sense the growing buzz, but it was a faint, distant thing drowned out by the much greater hum of Zlatlan above.
Over the last few decades, since his experience in Tor Anroc with the embassy he had been working to hone his senses and been met with not too little success.
Construction Roll - 15 + 30 (Awanabil'tat Construction) + 10 (Xehtzaihl Construction) + 5 (Secrets of Sacred Geometry) + 15 (Clinometer of Xokha) = 75
Working to adjust elements of a project just by feel was still a slow process, requiring frequent double checking with careful calculations and precise measurement but he had made progress. He knew even before he sighted the actual work, for instance, that one of the secondary arrays on the middle pool would need to be redone— the tone of it wavered in a way that told Awanabil'tat that it was not fully connecting to the surrounding glyph work.
Hurrying over he stepped up onto the lip of the pool and scanned for the array in question. There, two-fifths of the length of the pool along the western side.
No obvious defects announced themselves from a distance but as he approached closer, walking down the walking running alongside the work scaffolding, the issue became apparent. Listening to the discordant buzz there was a grinding towards the far end, like stone rubbing against stone.
Part of the array, three linked glyphs nestled at the center of a square spiral, was over-rotated and the opening of the spiral was just off the direct line to another part of the array. It was only a three degree variance. Most enchantments had significantly greater tolerances than that; but this pool was underground, beneath many meters of rock with connections to the rest of the city-glyph whose point of origins were closer to level.
Other arrays had needed to be moved in order to account for the new approach angle. And one of those that had been placed above the first array just so happened to resonate in just such a way that some of the magic from the over-rotation leaked through to it every few seconds. Rather than a neat and tidy aethyric dead zone between the two there was now an intermittent flow of magic between one array and another.
"Halt, " everyone within earshot stopped, "This section," he gestured to the spiraling square and the glyphs, "Will need reconstruction."
Day 22 Caxuatn's Season, 11656
"Move nine masons from three to five, and be sure to send another request to Xotli'huanchi for additional carpenters," Xehtzaihl said to the scribe, "Middle section is still showing instability in the western wall… absolutely no excavation," they glared at the scribe, "And I mean none, before additional bracing is in place."
Pool two had been delayed by three weeks just last year because of similar issues and the intersection connecting two, three, and four threatened to be an even larger pocket of the stuff.
They already had the equivalent of an entire work team off the line because of injuries, plus half a dozen more working at reduced capacity, not to mention the other dozen rotated back to work above ground
With the major work done on the main chamber there was an excess of work teams. It was possible to just continue pushing through, assign back up teams from the reserve to fill in gaps as they came up, but that would be wasteful. Speed here would be paid for with delay elsewhere.
And speaking of delays, Xehtzaihl could not afford to delay any more, "When you've done that, go to pool one and if Goroqtli is available, confirm there have been no further shifts to the timetable."
Watching just long enough to confirm the scribe had made note of their words, they turned away and set off. Laying in the first stage of enchantments on pool one had been days ahead of schedule, then more than a lunar-month behind, and was now supposedly on schedule again— Xehtzaihl wanted to be sure there would be no more surprises. Better to have known for a certainty before meeting with Lord Udhi-Tegha and Awanabil'tat, in case the matter needed greater attention, but there were never enough hours in the day.
From pool four the corridor was almost entirely finished. Taller than a carnosaurs with sloping walls that met at a narrow, flat roof, and wide enough for an entire column to march down the hallway was designed to serve all five of the outer pools operating at maximum capacity all at once. Maximum theoretical capacity; hundreds of freshly-spawned bodies all pouring out of the pools twice an hour. Even at the height of the Geomantic Web, when it had spanned two continents, it had never actually happened.
Two corridors connected each pool, meeting at intersections that connected three corridors together that then connected to either another pool or the main chamber. Wooden columns and beams, some more than a quarter meter thick braced the raw rock. Bronze plates as large as their chest, enchanted to absorb shock were embedded in the stone between each bracing frame
None of that could be seen of course.
All of it was hidden behind soft, sandstone cladding. Carved into the cladding were various scenes from both the history of Zlatlan and the servants of the Old Ones as a whole; here ranks of saurus marching, spears and swords raised in preparation for war, there the glorious light of Chotec raising the first zar'kaix'khanx from pools as slann looked on. There were scenes of labor and craft. Images of the gloried dead.
Most of what lay upon the walls leading from pool four was of the history of Zlatlan itself, from the moment of arrival— three slann surrounded by ranks of temple-guard, backed by warbeasts, haloed by the corona of an open portal. When the walls were first raised, great blocks floated into place by slann or hefted by the straining arms of kroxigor. Scene after scene of great columns marching forth from the Gate of Chotec, and on the horizon the distant forms of the other temple-cities of Huitzacatlan.
Where the corridor from pool four met those from three, five, and the main chamber the intersection opened briefly into a small courtyard. To the side of each entrance stood a pair of wide columns taller than a kroxigor, carved in the shape of three heads stacked atop one another; one each of a skink, saurus, and kroxigor in different orders.
Then again it was more murals and reliefs before Xehtzaihl finally emerged into the main chamber.
Wet, hot air filled the chamber.
Following the paths the shipwright eventually made it to the far southern wall of the cavern, where a broad sloped avenue led up and into the forge distinct. There were also access points to the east and west of the cavern itself, but those would have taken the skink farther from their destination. Climbing up the winding, zigzagging stairs along the wall of the district Xehtzaihl at last found themselves upon the surface once again, only a short walk form the central plaza and the star-chamber of Lord Udhi-Tegha.
Notes: No vote this time. Comments, critique, etc.
There is beauty in focus.
It is always fascinating, seeing the world from the perspective from someone who is both devoted to a single task, and completely calm in doing so.
I like these character asides.
I would like to see the perspectives of:
-a brilliant but very hasty and twitchy skink
-a paranoid chameleon skink, expecting chaos agents hidden in shadows( remembers the war)
Unfurtune roll aside it went awesome. Always a treat to whitness our lizards at work. The fusion of natural and worked no other race cares for.
Awanabi continues to be the best architect. what is there to say. He rocks!
Do hope its a start of something magnificent.
Edit:
huh. It occured to me that Lizardman calculations of False moon influence do not include Everqueen by decade ritual to push it away.
Wonder what Wik would have to say about her technique. Would be rad if he managed to suggests some improvments. heh.
I would say the orks and that one ork esspecially being longer term problems.
Chaos dwarfs has no beef with us, not to mention the sour sea in the way. They would have to develop whole ass navy to be a problem to us, which did not happen much in cannon -not that is any indicator - putting them low on our priority list.
Orks and beastman on the other hand will continue to be a problem that we will have to conted with for a long time.
Funny that removing orks from the continent would be easier part...
Stable growth? Low on things hunting them down, more stable food and better heathcare, at least in theory, not been that long.
Mate, we should be getting an update this turn as we send some Slann to take a look at things. Not sure what they will end up teaching of. Mayby try some of this dream time influence some been theorizing. Looking forward to it anyway.
I would say the orks and that one ork esspecially being longer term problems.
Chaos dwarfs has no beef with us, not to mention the sour sea in the way. They would have to develop whole ass navy to be a problem to us, which did not happen much in cannon -not that is any indicator - putting them low on our priority list.
Orks and beastman on the other hand will continue to be a problem that we will have to conted with for a long time.
Funny that removing orks from the continent would be easier part...
the Orcs and Goblins are scattered for now. Instead there's a prophecy of a horn-riding warlord with a chisel fit to break into vaults heading our way. It makes the most sense for this to be Chaos Dwarf Expedition to Tower of Skulls. Zlatlan is functionally the only Temple City worth the name in the Southlands and one of our jobs is restoring or at least not losing any of the near-disabled Temple Cities.
Alternatively it's a Proto-Nehekara warlord. Simpler to deal with than a Chorf expedition (we're already heading into the area and we've already reinforced the garrison) but still more complex than Beastmen (they're very far from Zlatlan, we've never fought an army like theirs)
Alternately-Alternately it's a Beastman Warlord that rises in the southern plains and marches on us. That'd be much simpler to deal with tbh. It'd be worse if they started messing with the Southern Obelisk, but again a simpler threat than a threat to one of the far-flung Temple Cities.
Other options are possible but I think they're the least likely from a narrative perspective. There's the groundwork for the prior three potentially happening. I'd say the prophecy being about the Orcs is a bit more likely than Ogres showing up, but not near so likely as Chorfs, Proto-Nehekara or Beastmen.
Only the Vohlu are under our direct care, but the others in the region benefit from our presence and are lightly positively inclined to us. For the non-Vohlu we're not entirely sure, but the Vohlu are doing alright. I think we should take a Vohlu Religion shaping action to intertwine them more closely to opposing The Enemy alongside us, but they should be safe and recovering/growing in the shadow of our patrols+roads+bunkers
The importance of learning how to build new Spawning Pools in the context of our situation is because the temple-cities were originally built with what was needed for the occasion and because of coldblooded reactivity and need to know only a select few knew how. In the plans, there was no need for others to know because it saved time and effort and there was no need to build more because those made were just right for the current purposes. But despite their foresight and preparations Lizardmen aren't the best at handling things going very wrong because now the ordered setup based on precise allocation of resource and knowledge with no unnecessary expenses or expenditure is a mess.
Now we need the ability to create new Pools because many are outright destroyed beyond Zlatlan and our ability population is too small to rely on the original set of Pools.l because those were meant for
A. No Great Catastrophe casualties of unimaginable scale and
B. Zlatlan operating in its very particular piece of the plan with the other temple-cities, their populations, and their pools.
I know it might seem like a big old statement of the obvious, but it's really diving into Old One and their Servants' psychology and culture, and why the mess is what it is.
The importance of learning how to build new Spawning Pools in the context of our situation is because the temple-cities were originally built with what was needed for the occasion and because of coldblooded reactivity and need to know only a select few knew how. In the plans, there was no need for others to know because it saved time and effort and there was no need to build more because those made were just right for the current purposes. But despite their foresight and preparations Lizardmen aren't the best at handling things going very wrong because now the ordered setup based on precise allocation of resource and knowledge with no unnecessary expenses or expenditure is a mess.
Now we need the ability to create new Pools because many are outright destroyed beyond Zlatlan and our ability population is too small to rely on the original set of Pools.l because those were meant for
A. No Great Catastrophe casualties of unimaginable scale and
B. Zlatlan operating in its very particular piece of the plan with the other temple-cities, their populations, and their pools.
I know it might seem like a big old statement of the obvious, but it's really diving into Old One and their Servants' psychology and culture, and why the mess is what it is.
It's been relatively cheaper to secure something between 33%-50% expansion (33% due to choices during formation) of Zlatlan's population growth rather than reclaim Temple Cities to get them back online. Forming new Pools is required for founding new Temple Cities, and the practice of creating them from scratch might make it easier to re-make them from scratch in geomantic places purpose-made to house Pools.
I'm . . . not too sold on actually repairing the other Temple Cities anytime soon. I think I'd be more interested in founding a new one from scratch at the Southern Obelisk than I'd be interested in trying to repair parts of a network completely reliant on the other pieces of that network being supported. A new Temple City could be designed with the intent of being a "Forge of Cities". A huge part of Zlatlan's AP-towards-recovering was quarrying stone and moving it into place. A Temple City with the explicit "Big Geomantic Work" being stone working (both for making our stone ships and for export to cities) would be a massive help in trying to get all the other Cities working (as well as potentially founding new ones).
In the near-Medium-Term we're going to be relying on various Warmblood factions to keep threats from getting too massive and assisting them to make sure they can thrive. The better we can keep Waagh! and Brayherds from forming the more AP we can throw at Temple City repairs and founding. The way we get that information and/or prevent them is patrols we don't have the population to have proper coverage for
33% more pop should help a lot for certain projects, but it's not going to keep up against the exponential population growth of every race but ours.
It's been relatively cheaper to secure something between 33%-50% expansion (33% due to choices during formation) of Zlatlan's population growth rather than reclaim Temple Cities to get them back online. Forming new Pools is required for founding new Temple Cities, and the practice of creating them from scratch might make it easier to re-make them from scratch in geomantic places purpose-made to house Pools.
I'm . . . not too sold on actually repairing the other Temple Cities anytime soon. I think I'd be more interested in founding a new one from scratch at the Southern Obelisk than I'd be interested in trying to repair parts of a network completely reliant on the other pieces of that network being supported. A new Temple City could be designed with the intent of being a "Forge of Cities". A huge part of Zlatlan's AP-towards-recovering was quarrying stone and moving it into place. A Temple City with the explicit "Big Geomantic Work" being stone working (both for making our stone ships and for export to cities) would be a massive help in trying to get all the other Cities working (as well as potentially founding new ones).
In the near-Medium-Term we're going to be relying on various Warmblood factions to keep threats from getting too massive and assisting them to make sure they can thrive. The better we can keep Waagh! and Brayherds from forming the more AP we can throw at Temple City repairs and founding. The way we get that information and/or prevent them is patrols we don't have the population to have proper coverage for
33% more pop should help a lot for certain projects, but it's not going to keep up against the exponential population growth of every race but ours.
Not to disparage your points but I was more summing up why it was needed to learn in the first place based on the situation and Lizardmen way of doing things/thinking.
GM said they know how to make new pools when building a new city, not add pools to an existing city. Given it much faster to add pools to an already secured city then rebuilding or founding a new city it is a big deal.
Next short term goal I see is getting all our of the Warbeasts online. Then we can start reinforcing the other temple cities again with breeding stock, and some war machines. Ideally I would want at least 1 of each of the common war machines, and a stable number of warbeasts at each city.
That would help secure our territory and prevent orks, and beastmen numbers reaching levels we have to intervene.
