[X][Value] Do not spread
[X][Main] Black Soil
[X][Secondary] Enforce Justice
[X][Secondary] Change Policy - Balanced
Provinces – [Main] Expand Econ, [Main] New Settlement – Southeastern Redhills, [Sec] Study Stars
Stallions – [Main] Sailing Mission – Rivers, [Sec] New Settlement, [Sec] Build Walls
Western – [Main] New Settlement, [Main] Build Iron Mine
Greenshore – [Main] Sailing Mission, [Main] Build Walls
Hatriver – [Main] Expand Forest, [Main] Survey
Something was distinctly odd with the weather, all records indicating that it had gone through numerous swings over the past several generations, with the general consensus being that it had grown far wetter than usual. This had resulted in a huge number of storms in and coming off the sea, disrupting fishing and trade. The weather had also made the food supply unstable, although the push to enforce the ancient rules on how to properly manage granaries and the push towards increasing the amount of black soil for use in areas where it wasn't already deeper than a grown man's leg made sure that the disruptions were more about fluctuations in what was stored rather than what was getting into the People's bellies.
For his part, Rulhuthyn felt more than a little out of his depth, often relying on old precedent and advisors more than his own judgement a lot of the time, but then again the old laws were often very clear that that was what the king was supposed to do, especially when uncertain. Still, there were a number of strange new situations that were cropping up from all the things going on.
"Sooooo... I've been reviewing the petition you gave me, and I still find myself somewhat confused by how exactly this all works," Rulhuthyn said to the set of clerks who were trying to explain the situation..
"Well, you see, the management of Valleyhome has been growing increasingly complex as more and more people live there, and some clerks started to make a number of administrative shortcuts that have started to turn into something that we think will greatly simplify things once we get the king's backing to tackle them," the clerk explained.
"Yes, yes, I get that you want my support, but I'm still struggling with how it all works," the king said, trying to get across his confusion and frustration.
"Ah, yes, I suppose there may have been some confusion," the younger clerk in the group says while looking over the initial message sent to the king. At a glance from the older clerk, he says, "Right, for a while clerks have been using the unit of the bwyll in accounting, which is generally the amount of grain or equivalent needed to feed a grown man for a day. The munbwyll and the sonbwyll are larger values, thirty and four hundred bwyll each, respectively. Every person is expected to need about one sonbwyll a year to keep themselves fed."
Thinking this over, the king said, "Okay, that makes sense I guess, but I'm still failing to see why the clerks need so much silver."
"Right, right, the bwyll has just been a way to keep ledgers balanced and plan for the future, but in Valleyhome there were so many people that many of the clerks were having trouble keeping track of who had received what. Some of them started handing out little clay tokens stamped with the word bwyll on them to workers who had earned the day's rations, to be handed back in. Unfortunately, at some point workers started making their own tokens. However, the traders and smiths had a practice that we are fairly certain should help solve this issue, and help streamline administration greatly. You see, when making trades, the traders will typically bring along a number of small slugs of silver so that they can fine adjust the total value of goods they are trading, and the smiths often make similar slugs out of otherwise useless things like lead to measure just how much metal they are using. The two have been refining off each other for a bit now, and we think that by combining all of this together. If we make bwyll tokens out of something like silver then they won't be something that anyone can just make. More than that, they would have a guaranteed amount of silver so the traders can use them too. This would unload an enormous amount of effort currently on the admins to the people, and would make trading simpler as the king himself can back up the weight and purity of the silver used in the tokens," the senior clerk explained, now realizing what needed to be filled in.
"I think I get it, but I'm not exactly seeing how this makes your life easier," the king said, trying to puzzle out the implications of this new scheme.
"Instead of having to look up who has done their work for us - rather difficult in the cities with so many people and enough people moving around that those in charge of food distribution can get confused - we can just issue the tokens in one place and they can turn them in elsewhere. Each individual can keep track of their own contributions, and the clerks at the granaries can more effectively keep track of whether they need to requisition more supplies locally just by noting how many tokens they have on hand, sending them back to the central admin buildings for redistribution in exchange for more resources. It simplifies things greatly, and it also lets us know if any individual is accumulating more than their fair share. Just check to see if they are hording tokens and take some of them back, like with luxuries gained through work of the third kind," the clerk detailed out. "Obviously we have a much more detailed proposal to go over with all the other clerks, but we need the king's approval to begin this project in earnest," the senior clerk detailed out.
Rulhuthyn considered this. He had obviously already talked with the Admin Chief about it, and while the man thought it had promise, he was both divorced from the lower level interests who had thought this up, and as king he needed to hear the proposal personally. Not quite sure what to do, he glanced over at his newest advisor, Lolwyna. A protege among the shamans and priests, the younger astrologer had been instrumental in helping to deal with the biting insects that had become more populous in the wet weather that had become the norm. Obsessed with the relationships between the heavens and the earth, and with the transmutation of things, she was among the finest of astrologers and mystics. Distant, ethereal, baggy eyed from long nights watching the stars or communing with spirits, thin from her obsessions often causing her to forget to eat, her hair cut short and bleached an unnatural colour with limewater, she was distinctly not an attractive woman... and yet Rulhuthyn found her strangely alluring and her presence was almost intoxicating. Perhaps it was that as a warrior he had constantly been close to death, and as a king his position was a sacred one, but the shamans both terrified and excited him with powers he did not understand, and Lolwyna was very powerful in that regard.
Seeing his interest in her input, Lolwyna said, "Silver is the metal of the moon, bringing changes with it. Tides will change and one must be wary not to be crashed against rocks by it, but the change is inevitable. I say do it, and perhaps do it quickly."
Adopt the ideas of the clerks?
[] [Curr] No
[] [Curr] Yes, in Valleyhome
[] [Curr] Yes, for everyone (Stability loss?, Other effects?, establishes currency)
The next major issue was a meeting with the king, the Spirit Chief, and several priests over an issue that had been cropping up of late, a somewhat distressing one from Rulhuthn and the priest's perspective. In short, there were stories cropping up of bored young men abusing horses. While as a charioteer the king understood that young horses could take some time getting used to a harness, the new practice that had been cropping up involved young men - typically with too much beer and wine in their systems - hopping onto the backs of horses and then trying to stay atop the poor animals as long as they could as the poor creatures were obviously frightened out of their minds by having something on their backs. It was cruel and unnecessary and the king was certain that there would be little trouble in banning it, until he had an odd dream of a chariot team without a chariot, of getting twice as many charioteers for less cost. It was a strange and troublesome dream, and he was forced to bring it up at the meeting. Were the gods speaking to him, were demons, or had some greedy part of him just imagined a way to double his cavalry forces? That set the priests to arguing with each other when he told them.
What to do about the horse abuse practice?
[] [Horse] Crush it
[] [Horse] Ignore it (-1 Religious Authority)
[] [Horse] Openly allow but regulate it (-1 Religious Authority, potential stability loss)
While that debate was raging with the priests, and in Rulhuthyn's heart and stomach, new reports began to come in from the expeditions sent out by Greenshore and the Stallion Tribes. The Stallions had gone further up the river than ever before, encountering new tribes distantly for the most part, but also discovering new things. There were hills among the plains, and further north the winters grew bitterly cold beyond imagining, killing several on the expedition and forcing their eventual turn back, but they had also reported the discovery of towering forests almost beyond imagining - trees that made those of the People look like bushes, covered in not leaves but spiky green needles. While they knew not if the People could live there - there were thinly scattered tribes to be sure, but the winters were so harsh they knew not if one could grow enough food there - but such forests were such marvels that it might be an idea to settle there. What friendly contact they had also allowed them to bring back new luxuries, like rich furs from animals adapted to the cold, and brilliant, translucent yellow rocks.
Meanwhile, out of Greenshore the traders there had explored the shores of the sea, detailing out features that had mostly been lost on the People, but also most significantly making contact with the Trelli in the far south-west. A large, walled city and the farms around, Trell had apparently been associated with the Hathatyn in generations past but had broken off before the disasters that had split them. They sat upon what they claimed was the Gateway of the Two Seas, their ships ensuring that none could pass between without trading with them. What lay beyond the channel they protected was unknown, but judging from their wealth and the fantastical goods they had to trade from far off lands, they probably weren't lying about there being a whole other world beyond their shores.
The merchants were already making noise about wanting to go after the Trelli for their obstruction of trade and also the threat they posed to their markets with the various items they had for exchange, but the place was simply too far away to even begin to contemplate attacking. Certainly not without more boats... and the boats that Trelli had tended to be sleek looking things, meant to chase down interlopers that tried to defy their demands. The resources for more boats, including the possibility of playing around with the designs, was floated, but obviously the People had other worries, such as the potential return of hostile tribes in the north, and the fact that the Hathatyn would definitely soon be at least sending raiders down the river to attempt to weaken the People's legitimacy in being in Hatriver, if perhaps not yet coming in force as they had only seized one city back from the hard pressed Highlanders.
Then again the Highlanders had received something of a break in that the Thunder Speakers had apparently decided that the Thunder Horse nobility in Xohyr had grown too enamoured with the blood thirsty demons the Xohyssiri worshiped as gods and had declared open revolt. The fortunes of war and battle were still in flux down south, although the great riches and territory the empire had to drawn upon allowed them to replenish losses quickly. In fact, if anything their greatest weakness was their relative lack of high quality weapons, constrained as they were by the availability of tin to make bronze.
Seeking advice from his strangely alluring Lolwyna, Rulhuthyn asked, "Have the stars and spirits revealed to you any advice for what I should do?"
"Actions risk upsetting the priests, grant the Sacred Forest fresh water so that it may grow to greater heights, and they shall be too busy entertaining pilgrims to complain," Lolwyna replied while staring contemplatively up at the twilight sky, perhaps trying to pick out the first stars of evening.
That was perhaps true. Many travelled to the Sacred Forest, and the town around the holy site and temple was becoming a small city and there were complaints of insufficient water for drinking and the latrines not being able to be emptied fast enough, even with the expansion to black soil production. Then again, there were other things calling for attention...
Infrastructure
[] [Infra] Build aqueduct in Sacred Forest (-4 Econ, +4 Econ Expansion, increased True City threshold)
[] [Infra] Build more boats (-2 Econ; +1 Econ end of turn, +1 Econ, +1 Econ Expansion and Diplo next turn, additional effects,)
[] [Infra] More chariots (-2 Econ, +4 Martial)
[] [Infra] More foot soldiers (-2 Econ, +3 Martial, potential additional effects)
[] [Infra] Farm (+4 Econ, -4 Econ Expansion)
Mouth suddenly dry as he contemplated things, Rulhuthyn then asked his favourite advisor, "And is there anything you might want or need?"
Turning away from the stars to stare at him with eyes that undoubtedly saw more than just the material, she smiled faintly and said, "Would the king grant me perhaps more than is warranted of my station?"
Rulhuthyn considered for a moment before he said, "If what was asked was worthy of the People's resources, then it would not be unwarranted."
"There are places of corruption... and thus of transmutation. I wish to know, to know if terrestrial matter follows cycles as the stars," Lolwyna stated, eyes twinkling with a strange, eager hunger.
The king knew that look, and knew that it was not such a small request. She would demand much, demand resources and assistance, and that would step on toes. If she produced good enough results that might quell all dissent, but there were no sure things when dealing with the mystical, and even new insights might not be enough to quiet criticism against her and her sponsor.
Grant her request?
[] [Hero] Provide sponsorship (Main Study Tailings under Mystic Hero, possible Legitimacy loss, possible Religious Authority loss)
[] [Hero] No, that would be wrong (Unknowable Mystic Hero response)
So while the king wrestled with all of these questions, taking in advise where he felt able, he and everyone else wrestled with the question of 'Where are the nomads?'
