When it came down to it, the offer of exchanging tribute for keeping their land and people and stopping the fighting was not terribly controversial. There were many who were passionate and angry at the prospect of rewarding those who had killed so many of their best and brightest, but ultimately the objective of the war was to get the Khemetri to back off, and if this did it, then this did it. Even if they were as treacherous as the Highlanders, it would give the People at least a generation to weep their tears and recover from their losses.
*Is still somewhat passionate and angry about that*
Thus it was that the People gathered together the greatest diplomatic mission in their history, loading up a fleet of longships with all the finest goods they have to offer. Sailing them down the River Hat, they were then hauled across the passes and into Gulvalley, where they set sail down the River Gul, into Khemetri territory. At the end of the River Gul lay a great sea, one said to be endless, and they sailed along the coast south, hopping from town to town until they reached the mouth of another great river and sailed inward.
Huh...looking at the map, that means gulvalley is a lot farther southwest than i thought it was, and hatvalley much bigger than it used to be for that matter.
What a land they beheld! Endless leagues of desert on either side of what was perhaps the greatest river in the world, but every last scrap of fertile land upon the banks of the river was either under cultivation or housed a great city.
*thinks back to other updates with people amazed by foreign lands, and wishes that was still always from other PoVs instead of ours :'( *
None perhaps as great as even Redshore
Wait...really?
@Academia Nut does this really mean they don't have any true cities? Or is it not counting their capital?
but as they sailed for days on end in the endless water road, the diplomats of the People knew that even though they had their own great works back home, the Khemetri were at least their peers and both sides could have simply kept throwing bodies at each other and made little headway past their respective colonies. Especially since they both had river or sea access from their core territories but the territory in between was rugged hills with only a few controllable passes, which meant that both would have been hard pressed to strike the core territories of the other. At best they would have been able to peel of a colony or two or humiliate the opposition, but actually bringing them to their knees would have been nearly impossible.
As expected, the war would not have been to the death. Well...not directly at least. Death spirals not included
And then the mountains came into view. At first the sailors and diplomats could not believe their eyes, but sitting upon a stony plateau in the midst of the great city that was the capital of the Khemetri there were a trio of dazzling white triangles, each of their tips blazing like beacons under the hot southern sun. Clearly made by the hands of man, the mind faintly boggled at the sheer scale of the monstrously huge things. They looked more like the creations of gods than men, and with the royal palace complex sitting in the shadow of these works, it was easy to see how kings might think that they could take on any foe with little effort.
Pyramids! In retrospect, our megaprojects haven't been very focused on raw engineering and size, have they...
The diplomats were lead into a massive complex - part palace, part temple, part small city - where they were lead into buildings of smoothly cut and polished sandstone and limestone covered in carvings, no doubt telling the deeds of past kings and gods.
Sounds like their palace is rather more extensive than ours; they almost certainly have more provinces than us.
Stone pillars taller than trees reached for the heavens - indeed, in one part of the complex this was almost literal, for the roof was black painted plaster with gemstones pressed into the ceiling in the positions of the great stars in the sky - and the pure scale of it all left the delegates of the People feeling very, very small
Place to the stars!
inally they arrived at an enormous courtyard of white stone pillars and tiles surrounding a pool of clear water, that through some architectural magic seemed to sustain a bubble of cool air in the ferocious desert heat.
Huh...i wonder if this is something like our Garden/aqueducts? Actually...
@Academia Nut did our people notice any aqueducts or equivalents?
Courtiers in fine white linens and cotton watched in interest, while the way forward was flanked by rows of hard faced warriors in gleaming bronze. Sitting upon a massive throne of stone decorated in blue gemstones and surrounded by servants and exotic animals was the King of the Khemetri.
Lord Djebipt, Master of All, the Sun Made Flesh, He Who Makes the Waters Flow.
Reshemhetari.
I wonder if we can get some cotton seeds from them like we got poppy seeds...
Through translators the groups greeted each other, and the young prince turned king was saddened to say that his father had passed away unexpectedly shortly after he had arrived home with the news of the negotiated truce, but that this also made his acceptance of their tribute all the simpler. For one, he required no convincing that they had earned their place in attendance in his court.
How sad and surprising-i guess the shock of half-losing must have given the old king a conveniently timed heart attack
While not superior to the Khemetri, the People were to be acknowledged of as peers and, if they would have it, brothers as well. While his own children were not yet of age to marry, the king had many sisters who would make a fine wife or concubine for the king of the People.
What then followed was something of an explanation of the People's politics, much to the obvious confusion of everyone in attendance, before Reshemhetari answered rather candidly -and was translated with some confusion-, "I have many sisters, but I shall work to ensure the issue is compensated for as well as possible for the next generation."
From the happy looks on a few noble's faces, it was suspected that a few families were about to get a female voice very close to the ear of the king
Huh... interesting
It seemed that when told that there was no single royal family for the Khemtri king to marry into, the obvious solution was to marry into all of the People's noble families. The diplomats suspected incoming shenanigans that would be popularized by pottery artists and playwrights lacking in dignity.
Interesting fluff for the conversion from diplo to culture here =3
In any case, as the tribute was piled up for the king, they all noticed the way that one of his eyes was twitching slightly. While they were all pretty obviously amazed by the works of his people, for the man who had commanded one half of the Battle of Bloodvalley to see his former enemies piling up several hundred ox-weights of silver, salt, dye, tin, glass jars with mercury, and a few sets of gilded scale - militarily inconsequential but an obvious show of wealth and prestige - and he knew that if he sailed north he would find a kingdom that was peer to his own.
Well at least we're still super rich... This sentence parses weirdly though...removing some of the descriptions its "for the [god king] to see his enemies piling up [wealth] - and he knew that...", which doesn't seem grammatically right...
@Academia Nut did a section in the middle get cut off?
At the banquet in the evening, the king came up to the delegates from the People and asked if perhaps the commander at the Battle of Bloodvalley was among those present in the delegation. When informed that she was not, the king paused in contemplation before he said something that his translator had to ask if he actually wanted passed along. After confirming it so, the translator passed along the statement, "I am frightened, but aroused."
And so people's wish that the god king and dragon general be together is acknowledged if thankfully not fulfilled
Legacy Gained
Kings Do Not Kneel (Three): Gain +1 Martial every phase during a Take the Crown or Great Power war
Gain +2 Diplo -> Overflows to +2 Culture
Oooh, powerful legacy, and combined with our other new one will be super useful during any future Take the Crown/GreatPower wars... i wondered if we'd have gotten just a less powerful "Kings do not Kneel (One)" for fighting off just the one great power/take the crown war at once?
Also, diplomacy from royal marriages, turned into culture from artists writing lewd stories and art about said marriages
Far away, not knowing the developments his diplomats were getting up to, King Desdydyn was sitting with Yenyna, quietly observing her. While he felt distinctly bad for her, it was impossible to say that her affliction had not been of tremendous good for the kingdom. There were even a few who were whispering that perhaps they should see to breeding her like a sacred cow or war horse. The idea repelled Desdydyn, a man who had grown up surrounded by similar people to the Dragon General and who knew how damaging trying to impose things upon those who had suffered spiritual damage of some sort could be.
Huh...i dont think i saw anyone call this turn of events, but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense for our mystic hero to be interested...
However, there was a fascinated flicker within him that disgusted him of the fact that it would be absolutely fascinating to see if her spiritual skills could be passed down to her children. Although, he suspected that what the poor girl really needed was someone who could be her companion and truly understand her. That sort of search could be... interesting, to say the least. The kingdom owed her a significant debt though, so it might be worth it.
Especially if, as the guilty part of his mind kept whispering to him, they found a nice man she could understand and their babies had some of her genius.
Hmm...definitely a hard choice.
Heroic Mystic King looking over a spiritually damaged Genius Martial, what might that do?
[] [Mystic] Study her condition only slightly
[] [Mystic] Get assistance from a temple (-1 Mystic)
[] [Mystic] Search the entire kingdom for someone who might understand her and put her at ease (-1 Mystic, -1 Econ, -1 Wealth, -1 Culture)
I've asked AN for clarification, but he hasn't responded yet... so my understanding is that the assistance from the temple would probably help the roll, but likely also trigger/worsen a roll for her feeling like a guinea pig or for people to abuse her. The last choice...is likely both the one with the best "best outcome" but also the worst "worst outcome"...
The Trials of an Age are ending, but the cauldron still boils with the spark of genius. Pick another hero
[] [Hero] The next heir was forged in this war (Guaranteed Heroic heir in the next main turn)
[] [Hero] The smiths working overtime produced a prodigy (Heroic to Genius level artisan)
[] [Hero] The battlefield created a peerless medic (Heroic to Genius level medical mystic)
[] [Hero] One of the negotiators truly shone among the Khemetri (Heroic to Genius level diplomat)
[] [Hero] Organizing all of this was hell, but one clerk refused to buckle (Heroic to Genius level administrator)
Oooh, yes!
-Heir: Gives up the possibility of genius level, and the ability to choose type in exchange for guaranteeing they can be king, and kicking it down the road a bit with a younger hero (instead of frontloading our heroes all right now)
-Artisan: Technology! In particular, likely to give good synergy with building the redhills aqueduct? Otherwise, boost to crossbows, any other mill-based techups we have waiting, metalworking (probably of the mechanical side, not the alchemical, but...
@Academia Nut would this hero do any good at study metal? i still very much want steel
), probably boats, etc.
-Medic: Steel! Finally, another alchemist for stee-*notices "medical" clarification* ...
@Academia Nut why would you do this to me? Why would you crush my dreams?
(To clarify, does the medical specification mean they wouldn't be useful in studying metal?). That said, likely major synergy with the "search the kingdom" vote; having a medical genius as her companion would likely be great...
-Diplomat: You know, i think we've only had the one pure diplo hero... would be great for establishing deeper ties with teh Khemetri, but i honestly dont think we're likely to send many trade missions even with them...
-Administrator: Always a favorite, especially since admin techups are great. Probably the most likely to end up king, though its possible they won't be able to, and so we'd lose out on them taking overthe turn which would suck :/ Also, they might take over the turns for long enough to pass the HK CB's expiration date, and then its up to them to declare war like we want... Hmm.
AN: Incidentally, guess what the Khemetri used this turn's hero bonus on?
I'm gonna guess "upgrade Hero Prince to Genius Prince", given how well he's done and how he seems to have excellent or heroic diplo as well?
Beyond those concerns, there was also a question about reconstruction efforts. Gulvalley had been utterly ravaged, and while supplies were being directed in, the governor was rather desperate for further assistance, and was willing to surrender a number of rights in order to get that. Many clerks also noted that between the Trelli colony and the Khemetri colony, Gulvalley was going to be rather limited in how much it could expand anyway. Revoking its charter as a colony and integrating it as a province proper could solve a number of problems. Then again, the concentrated forces of the Stallions could be reworked across the territory of the People, replenishing the depleted ranks of warriors of the People. They could potentially also tap some of the warriors in the colonies in a mass resettlement.
Hmm...You know, i think the biggest advantage this gives is not the action, but the
narrative reason for integrating the stallion tribes. Doing it now would ensure that there's an actual reason in character that the People accept, instead of "why are you doing this while we've got nomads to worry about???"
Reorganize provinces?
[] [Prov] Integrate Gulvalley (-4 Diplo, +3 Econ, +8 Econ Expansion, +2 Mysticism, +3 Culture, +1 Tech, new core province)
[] [Prov] Integrate Stallions (-6 Diplo, +5 Econ, +5 Econ Expansion, +8 Mysticism, +4 Culture, +2 Tech, +10 Martial, new core province)
[] [Prov] Draw on Provinces (-4 Diplo, -8 Econ Expansion, transfers a total of 8 Martial and 8 Econ from periphery states into the core)
[] [Prov] Rebuild Army first (Main Raise Army)
[] [Prov] Leave the situation be for the moment
-Gulvalley: The "simple" choice. Gain a province, get rid of a half-pointless subordinate, get some stats. Combined with Poppies, would get us to max mysticism and allow for golden age right now if we go for proclaim glory, or next turn otherwise. Would potentially pop both our cities...
-Stallions: Finally integrate the stallions, and finally have a guarantee that the narrative is good. Downside is, we lose them as a march while at risk of nomads, and we end up over martial, with 20 {24} (21 {25} with poppies iirc), which only 20 martial slot (10 + 7 provinces + 2 census + 1 arsenal).
@Academia Nut how risky would being over the limit that much at 2 stability likely be?
Also would probably pop Sacred Forest as a city?
-Draw: An interesting choice... replenishes econ and martial without losing subordinates. Would give us 4 wealth from overflow, but still probably not worth it, especially since that would also eat up 2 expansion slots for good from overflow.
-Rebuild: Gets us more army, without messing with the subordinates.
-Leave be: Why would we do nothing?
Then there was the question of what to do with all of the economic activity that had been freed up recently, and where to direct expansion.
The paying out of the Khemetri and the final pay for the Trelli mercenaries before they had left back for their home after being reduced to about a third of their original strength had left coffers throughout the kingdom on the low side, and many patricians were rather annoyed about that.
Mildly salty about them getting double pay, cause i dont remember us getting 4 wealth when the HK and TS both hired and were done with our mercs within a single turn
There were definite grumblings about improving that situation, although for quite a few patricians it wasn't just about the money. There was a push for Redshore to receive extra funds for completing the aqueduct they were working on, with another patrician group looking for getting the experts after to work on a site in Redhills where they wanted the aqueduct for both irrigation purposes and to drive mills for the iron mines in the region. The blacksmiths were also apparently starting to cook up something and needed both the iron mines and the mills in close proximity to each other.
Huh...
@veekie you seem to know this metal stuff, what do you think the "something" that our blacksmiths are cooking up is?I dont remember steel needing mines and mills close by?
However, there was also some commentary about how the People had suffered so much in the last war because they had not been to war for some time and had thus not gone to battle with the best. While war was obviously bad and they shouldn't pick fights just to stay in shape, there was some suggestion that if perhaps the trained more extensively, maybe had some fake wars, maybe that would help keep them in top fighting shape? And with all of the fresh veterans available right now, perhaps they could make these games the best they could be?
Sounds like the Games might benefit from being done now/soon... also would probably help with being over martial from the stallions...
Pick a Reaction Project
[] [React] Build more aqueducts (-2 & -3 Econ to complete aqueducts in Redshore and Redhills)
[] [React] Main Build Glassworks
[] [React] Main Expand Econ
[] [React] Main Expand Snail Cultivation
[] [React] Main Expand Vineyard
[] [React] Main Plant Poppies
[] [React] Megaproject - The Games
-[React] Kick Megaproject
Aqueducts: Gives us 2 more city potentials, as well as +7 econ expansion meaning we probably wouldn't get new cities yet anyway. Would also help with some new metal innovation? Likely synergy with artisan hero.
I dont think anyone really cares about the middle 4?
Poppies: -3 Econ, -3 Econ Expansion, +2 Mysticism, +5 Wealth, +1 Martial, new trade good. Would be net -4 expansion slots, which would help keep sacred forest a city. Would have great synergy with the mystic hero, presumably. Would ensure we had max mysticism even with gulvalley integration. Does worsen martial overload from stallions, however.
Games: -2 Mysticism, -2 Culture, -1? Econ (2 total commitment), 1 out of 2-3 progress needed. Megaproject, with synergy! Likely to help with martial overload? Doesn't deal with the wealth issue, though. Likely synergy with admin hero?
Pick Two Passive Policies (Infrastructure x1 + Defence x1 already active
[] [Policy] Agriculture (+1 Econ and -1 Econ Expansion/turn)
[] [Policy] Diplomacy (+1 Diplo/turn)
[] [Policy] Trade (+1 Wealth/turn)
[] [Policy] Armament (+1 Martial/turn)
[] [Policy] Patronage (+1 Culture/turn)
[] [Policy] Mysticism (+1 Mysticism/turn)
[] [Policy] Industry (+1 Tech/turn)
[] [Policy] City Support (2 True Cities have their maintenance paid for each turn)
[] [Policy] Expansion (So long as there is land to expand into, +1 Econ Expansion/turn, reduces threshold to produce new provinces the longer active)
[] [Policy] Innovation (Extra innovation roll each turn)
[] [Policy] Infrastructure (+1 Free Progress to an infrastructure project (Aqueduct, governor's palace, saltern, etc.)/turn) x1
[] [Policy] Defence (+1 significant walls/turn) x1
[] [Policy] Special: Forestry (+1 Sustainable Forest and -1 Econ Expansion/2 turns)
[] [Policy] Special: Vassal Support (+1 Subordinate while active, increases Loyalty while active at less than full subordinates)
Policies! Always a hard choice...really tempting to go full infrastructure and just get 7 progress a turn... But forest slots are also pretty good. Vassal is great overall, but i think not useful in the immediate situation, and we'll have more policies soonish anyway, with more cities. Likewise for city support.
Pick a bonus for retaining King of the Hill in a Great Power War
[] [Bonus] Gain a random value slot
[] [Bonus] Upgrade a random value
[] [Bonus] Free Main Proclaim Glory
[] [Bonus] Free Main Build Theatre
[] [Bonus] At least two technology upgrades (exploding rolls)
Oooh, nice bonuses...
Value Slot: Value slots are hard to come by, and rarely taken vs immediate bonuses cause they take a long time to pay out. But once they do pay out they can be amazing...
Value Upgrade: Upgrading any of our values would be pretty damn good right now...
Proclaim Glory: We'd waste one of the stab unless weleft our wealth too low (aqueduct or games), but we'd potentially get a golden age right away, and going straight from an Epic Age to a Golden Age sounds both awesome and potentially a legacy or other bonus...
@Academia Nut can you confirm that we'd go into a golden age if we maxed out econ or mysticism here and took proclaim glory?
Build Theatre: Basically just +6 culture mechanically, but narratively it would help with cultural divergence...
Tech Upgrades: oooh...as with previous options to do this, this could be great or it could be bad. But now we'll have heroes involved which should help. And which should let us influence things. For example, going artisan + aqueduct + this would probably give us a decent shot at a major metal upgrade...maybe steel? Hmm...Too many awesome synergy choices...
