Diplomacy 6->9 [+1]
So much salt.
Economy 5 (+1)
Baby boom's over guys. We can't afford megaprojects without an Expansion phase.
We got three from the copper mine and spent threee on the project.
Stability 3->2 (optimistic)
And there it goes. Spent one on a kicker, gained one from megaproject, lost one from plague. And now we think metal is cursed.
On the other hand we could have thought TRADE or Megaprojects are cursed instead.
But metal always came with a disaster.
Centralization 5->4
New Trails is safe again now.
Art 5->7
Canal Art cashout for megaproject.
Mysticism 8->10 (+1)
Canal Art cashout for megaproject.
Prestige 6->7
And we are FAMOUS!
The Garden
Through the careful channeling of water, the People have created a garden within a city, a well watered domain of pleasant shade and efficient sewage disposal. Unlocks the aqueduct extended project, provides an aqueduct for the city (increasing available living space). Opens up the True City status
We got:
-Public utility water
-Expanded Econ slots
-'True City' status(?)
-Build Aqueduct option, which should be under Expansion currently.
So the demons sent a cough. A painful cough that lingered and lingered, such that it could not be adequately contained by quarantine, not without crashing the economy as everyone stayed isolated from everyone else. It killed adults to be sure, their bodies sometimes wracked with coughs so potent as to break ribs, but as the disease spread through the population, the brunt of the reaping fell upon the most vulnerable, and there seemed to be no way to stop this latest iteration of a killer. Where for generations the shamans had fought to keep three out of six children alive, it was now more like two out of seven or even eight that made it to adulthood. It wasn't always the new cough, just as often it was the old familiar killers, but now there was something new that the People couldn't fight to weaken tiny bodies and leave them susceptible to something else.
...tuberclosis? It sounds like Tuberclosis.
Work had begun when she was a child and her father a stonemason - now an elder enjoying his retirement whittling and telling new stonemasons what to do - and she had discovered a talent for organizing and directing the work. She had simply been able to see the patterns of movement among the workers, the rhythm to it all and where things got snarled and how they could be smoothed. Then she had precociously charmed her father and the other workers into following her advice, and after they started to recognize that she had good advice they had realized that they had a born administrator on their hands.
Heroic administrator!
By the time of her being declared a woman she had an assignment from the Artisan Chief with royal backing to travel to the Green Hill and apprentice under the clerks and chiefs doing the process of expanding the quarry into a mine and smelting site, transforming the coloured stones into shining copper and poisonous wastes. She had thrived there and got the mine up and running early, and had also met her husband Yldod, a potter, there, and had soon found herself sent on to the new Southshore settlement, where they not only needed a skilled admin but someone who could handle the fact that there were people from the Southern Hill Tribes - now being called the Hathatyn after the city that seemed dominant in the overall region, Hathaya - who were also starting to settle the region. Through adroit diplomacy she had managed to keep the fighting to a minimum; mostly just interpersonal things that would have happened regardless of language or beliefs, but she kept it from spiraling out of control into anything larger conflicts, for the time being.
So looks like our system continues to promote talents, and this is our first Artisan Chief.
And Southern Shores was grabbed at JUST the right time. Border conflicts likely over time.
If only the gardens could help with the coughing plague, but as it was they "merely" helped prevent other infections and gave people a greater chance of fighting it off without picking up something else along the way. It was a remarkable piece of work too, consisting of both an elevated ramp and watertight sections of brickwork that allowed the water to move uphill.
And the sanitation bonus arrives just in time, or this will SUCK hard.
The outflow was at the top of the hill, and then it cascaded down through more canals to water the whole city, including large areas with trees and bushes to provide shade and bring healthy spirits of nature into the city.
Parks!
Recreation areas are a nice touch.
Waste water was also carried away with a section of the outflow, taking it to fields where lined pits and specially selected plants slowed down, collected, and filtered the waste. Upper Valleyhome would create less black soil the traditional way, but the farms and forests throughout the province rarely needed a fresh infusion, and burning off winter top cover before planting seemed to adequately renew it anyway.
And it seems Black Soil production is hurt a bit, but we have cesspools to handle human waste for now.
Local Copper Supply Acquired!
Econ cost of all megaprojects and extended projects reduced. Opens up new innovation possibilities.
Nifty.
Unfortunately, while no one quite knew what had caused the coughing plague - most of their sedentary neighbours were also suffering from it, although no one could be sure who had it first - many people were quite convinced that they knew what it was: the mine. Many were now convinced that the superior qualities of metal was because it was the remains of the weapons of the gods, slung across the sky and buried in the ground ages ago. Since gods fought with the primal forces of the world like thunder, storms, the unsteadiness of the earth, and of course the unleashing of demons of plague. The People knew that metals and their wastes could make people sick, but many were now convinced that playing with the weapons of spirits and gods was fundamentally unsound, and while none could deny the utility of having metal tools, many were now against anything to do with the production of those tools.
Baby Boom Ended!
Due to an increase in infant mortality from new diseases, growth rates have stabilized back to near equilibrium levels. -1 Stability due to these new mortality rates not being considered normal
Debilitating Belief Gained!
Weapons of the Gods
Metal and things that come from the heavens are cursed! While the People will use that which is already present or trade, metal mining and open study now costs Stability.
And a nasty superstition. No current known means to remove it. Seems like everyone's taking a hit though.
Magwyna was obviously opposed to this belief, but she felt that was because it didn't make sense to her given that the metal barren Xohyssiri seemed to suffer from more plagues than the metal rich people to the far west. Unfortunately, given that she very much had an involvement in setting up the mine, pretty much everyone assumed that she wanted to downplay things for political reasons, which was frustrating given that she was already having problems on the council relating to her relative youth and gender.
Ah, politics.
While the chiefs of Valleyhome and Southshore personally knew and liked her from before her appointment as Artisan Chief, the chiefs of Northshore, Stonepen, and the Stallion Tribes seemed to have a grudge out for her, probably because Attrikwyn, the chief of the Stallion Tribes seemed to have a bug up his ass about her. He liked to cast her ways of being charming, personable, and persuasive as being 'seductive' and challenged the legitimacy of her advice and achievements. Everyone else on the council seemed to have more complex and mixed feelings, but it made getting her points across harder. Some accused her of going after the kingship, and while originally she hadn't, she was now tempted to do so just to clean the situation up. It would be a hard struggle though, especially since Attrikwyn seemed set on the .
Great. Stallion Tribes are consolidating with the northern provinces.
And, of course, with a new disease on the scene - and the Thunder Speakers and Xohyssiri getting their faces kicked in by the Eastern Thunder Horse - the lowlands were in chaos. The Highlander king's attempt to unify their laws and bring about changes had also annoyed some of his chiefs, who had taken the coughing plague as a sign of displeasure by the spirits. While it wasn't a complete rupture of order, an group roughly equivalent to a province was trying to break off, resulting in just one more bit of chaos in their southern neighbours.
And the lowlands are on fire. How usual.
Select a bonus
[] Random Admin tech upgrade
Boosted Hierarchy, change the organization of the chiefs to better handle
We got a bonus here from a Heroic Admin king. It should help mitigate the problems with the northern provinces raising shit.
[] Random Construction tech upgrade
Probably breaking through into Mortar.
[] Free holy site expansion (+2 Mysticism)
Not needed, though good for Literacy, it'd bring our Mysticism to 12, which is probably risky.
[] Reassure the People of their safety and prosperity (+1 Stability)
...we could just throw a festival instead. Good conition for now. Pass.
Choose the next heir
[] Magwyna (-1 Stability, other effects, [Poor Martial, Heroic Admin and Diplo])
A Female Hero who isn't counter to our values? Gimme!
It also helps reverse the gender gap a bit, but will cause more friction with the Stallions.
[] Attrikwyn ([Good Admin, Diplo, and Martial])
Stallion Tribes continue to generate skilled assholes.
[] Someone else (Standard)
Politic choice. Better be mediocre than to be controversial
Choose a midturn project
[] Grand Sacrifice (-3 Econ, +2 Stability)
Fixes the Stability hit immediately. Not that urgent though. We're in positives.
[] Study Metal (-2 Mysticism, -1 Econ, -1 Stability, chance of new discoveries)
But we probably don't want to sink more Stability this soon.
[] New Trails (-1 Econ, +1 Diplo, +1 Centralization, other effects)
Works on the Northern Tribes problem. So this is a Yes.
[] Focus on Growth (+2 Econ)
Could use more, but it's pretty mediocre.
So vote:
[X] Random Admin tech upgrade
[X] Magwyna (-1 Stability, other effects, [Poor Martial, Heroic Admin and Diplo])
[X] New Trails (-1 Econ, +1 Diplo, +1 Centralization, other effects)
[X] Take in some (Chance of stability loss, +2 Econ)
Objective is to ease the strife with the northern tribes. And we probably could use Salt Gift next turn. Salt Gift with a Heroic Diplomacy king is godly.
We don't want a Stability crash at present however. It'd amplify the north problems
