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Paths of Civilization

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pblur said:
For the most part, it looked to me like they had natural, healthy differences for a march. Ancestral Honor is bad in the main hierarchy of the system, because it increases a lot of the stratification of the elite (and the upside isn't huge for them.) But it's actually quite sensible in a march. You need heroic generals to hold the line against your foes, and you're sufficiently isolated from the reins of power that your stratification matters less.
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The problem with them was that they had a stint at low loyalty a while back before we had loyalty trackers, and that makes us somewhat distrustful of their culture. Admittedly, I'm not sure how relevant it is at this point, since that was a long time ago.

Another note. The Stallions now have a major cultural nexus in the Dragon Graveyard, so they aren't just a march. They are what is rapidly emerging as the second pillar of our religo-cultural axis, and therefore subject to greater scrutiny then e.g. the Heaven Hawks or something.
 
veekie said:
Cool.

Though IIRC the ancient baths were a little prone to spreading disease if not supervised properly even as they encouraged unusually high levels of hygiene by making it cheap to do so. On the other hand I suspect some of the contestants, after their charcoal heated public baths, might start making a habit of getting "lost" somewhere after the Games on the way back :p

Will that be a problem or will our Sacred Warding clinics and Law for community health ensure that they are properly inspected?
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Not having baths is worse, apparently.
BathingEdit
The high poverty rate in Rome led to a need for public baths, or thermae since it was uncommon for the middle class citizens to own one of their own according to journalist Jay Stuller. When the heated bath water was not chemically cleansed or filtered with chemicals such as chlorine, bacteria thrived and spread. When Christianity came to Rome, it saw the public nudity of the bathing system and saw it as debauchery and therefore frowned upon. While the bathing system may not have been pristine, abstaining from cleanliness altogether brought upon many more potentially fatal diseases, especially in infants.
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veekie said:
@Aabcehmu
According to AN that's voting AGAINST all invitations. Choose wisely.

Also remember the main reasons for Nomads to raid us are:
-They are weak and have loot - Disproven by the Games when they see our performance.
-They are strong and I wish to test myself against them - Need fulfilled by the Games. Also damn fine prostitute and hot baths. Mmm, hot baths....
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Changed to vote for everybody, then, since that seems, less likely to have weird stuff happen accidentally.

I understand those are the basic motivations, but I'm just saying, since the games are mock-combat, they might feel like they have been unjustly libeled by losing, and decide to raid to prove themselves in "real combat"
 
Academia Nut said:
Because of your set-up...

Yeah, your baths are both more expensive than normal and actually cost Mysticism of all things because you have shamans and priests on patrol for public health reasons. Those showing signs of disease will be isolated from bathing with the rest of the public.
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Ceiling Crow is watching you bath.

More seriously, thats a handy way of putting a lot of people together for low level health inspections.
 
Concho117 said:
Can we talk about this whole Shadow King business?
My personal theory is that the Shadow King is actually a hostile espionage ring operated by the Highland Kingdom and it was set up back when they got their intrigue hero.
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More likely, it's the HK spy ring competing with Rulwyna II's successors competing with the Patricians spy rings competing with the Guilds spy rings.

A big pile of gygo.

But that is also what helps the HK. Everyones spies are fighting everyone else and the HK are hidden in the background noise unless they do something big.

And that is why we have to take the chance to take them out. The HK have no other way to hurt us besides stabbing us in the side while we are distracted as they know well enough that if they face us in open battle, they will get murderstomped brutally.

Iron doesn't change that equation. They'd fight us on home turf, against our fortifications where we outnumber them hilariously, have by and large better troops (Best of the Best and now Arete) and generally more of everything.

So they strike us where we are vulnerable, with Intrigue in the hopes of causing a civil war or keep us otherwise occupied and march out if we actually shatter.

So yes, the HK must go because their military is only part of the threat.

I do have hopes that our Admin Hero will at least figure out a way to efficiently do audits to find where money disappears. More optimistically, he should at least get a royal Spymaster because one is clearly needed to figure out what the hell is going on. It's not the first time the 'Shadow King' was brought up, after all.

Highlands Kingdom delende est.

@Academia Nut

How close is our military to considering roadworks and fortifications to be an acceptable activity during peacetime?
 
[X] [WB] Upgrade Cosmopolitan Acceptance
[X] [Inv] Highland Kingdom
[X] [Inv] Trelli
[X] [Inv] Thunder Horse
[X] [Inv] Swamp Folk
[X] [Inv] Metal Workers
[X] [Inv] Storm Wolves
[X] No
[X] [King] Hertythn (Heroic Admin, Average Diplo, Poor Martial; takes control while alive (1, possibly 2 turns))

Hail the admin king! And another update after i went to bed!
 
Stop: Sympathy for the Contract Lawyer
  • Staff Post
    • Hangwind said:
    Going "I'll do this" and then later deciding "Nah, I got mine and don't care now" is literally the definition of untrustworthiness. And the reason we have contract lawyers. And the thought process that lead to things like the Trail of Tears. Wonderful company you're keeping.
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    sympathy for the contract lawyer While contract lawyers are useful and often very nice people, I must implore you to not compare your fellow posters to conductors of genocide; please take a warning for marginal behaviour and understand that I'm being distinctly merciful for the time it took me to get this handled.

    @Lilithium, please take a warning for marginal behaviour as a result of these posts, and while satire in the style of A Modest Proposal is certainly a good way to target an opposing argument, I normally find myself unsympathetic to comparing one's rhetorical enemies with the alt-right and neo-crusaders. That said, the combination of the time I've spent on this as well as it's explicit satirical intention does make me sympathetic to your argument, therefore I am only giving you a warning for marginal behaviour.
     
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  • Staff Post
    • Information: Official Staff Communication
  • Staff Post
    • official staff communication This thread has been a joy and a frustration to follow; you certainly know how to make tempers flare! I will no longer moderate this thread for a month, and instead another will take over in my place momentarily. Until then; thread no longer locked.
     
  • Staff Post
    • With the thread now open, I'm just gonna make a small effortpost and pray that @Academia Nut hasn't already locked the vote. AN, please, if you were going to lock the vote, give me some time. I want people to think on this.
    We NEED to invite the Highlanders, guys. The spirit of the games is one that CANNOT be ignored. in Ancient Greece, the right to attend the Olympics was considered sacred - to make combat on somebody going to the olympics was sacrilege.
    This in the state of near constant war that the greek citystates lived in. The Greeks were able to compete with their neighbors, and still see them as human instead of a faceless implacable enemy.
    We NEED the chance for our people to remember that all our neighbors are human, though they may be our enemies. To exclude them would be against both the very nature of games as tools to bring people together, and against the ways of the Ymaryn.
    Please. Help prevent future racism and othering today. Vote to invite the Highlanders. we just need a few votes to safeguard the sanctity of the Games' spirit.
     
    DocMatoi said:
    With the thread now open, I'm just gonna make a small effortpost and pray that @Academia Nut hasn't already locked the vote. AN, please, if you were going to lock the vote, give me some time. I want people to think on this.
    We NEED to invite the Highlanders, guys. The spirit of the games is one that CANNOT be ignored. in Ancient Greece, the right to attend the Olympics was considered sacred - to make combat on somebody going to the olympics was sacrilege.
    This in the state of near constant war that the greek citystates lived in. The Greeks were able to compete with their neighbors, and still see them as human instead of a faceless implacable enemy.
    We NEED the chance for our people to remember that all our neighbors are human, though they may be our enemies. To exclude them would be against both the very nature of games as tools to bring people together, and against the ways of the Ymaryn.
    Please. Help prevent future racism and othering today. Vote to invite the Highlanders. we just need a few votes to safeguard the sanctity of the Games' spirit.
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    I think the idea is less "The Ymaryn don't see the Highlanders as human, and thus won't invite them" and more "The Ymaryn intend to soon conquer the Highlanders, and thus don't see a need to invite them".

    We didn't have the option to invite Txolla for example, even though they are still basically their own nation state with their own nominal values.

    It's less of a cultural statement and more of a political statement.
     
    Do not be swayed by @DocMatoi. Realpolitik must be our first priority - especially when we have been repeatedly pushed to the brink.

    Efficiency and rationality over emotion.
     
    Yes, the thread unlocked while i was free and paying attention, so i can (hopefully) get my analysis done before AN posts the next update =D
     
    Raichu1972 said:
    I think the idea is less "The Ymaryn don't see the Highlanders as human, and thus won't invite them" and more "The Ymaryn intend to soon conquer the Highlanders, and thus don't see a need to invite them".

    We didn't have the option to invite Txolla for example, even though they are still basically their own nation state with their own nominal values.

    It's less of a cultural statement and more of a political statement.
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    Trelli gets invited even though they're known for their really bad slaving way. MW gets invited even though they are a minor collection of city-states at best. Thunder Horse gets invited even though they invaded us. Storm Wolves get invited even though we especially dislike nomads. Khemetri gets invited because we're now apparently best buds, and you don't snub a Great Power. Swarm Folks get invited, because why not?

    Highlander? No. If there's one thing that the Ymaryn hate more than nomads, it's treachery.
     
    NewAgeOfPower said:
    Realpolitik must be our first priority - especially when we have been repeatedly pushed to the brink.
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    Well that and constantly Aggroing a stronger nation while they are distracted is asking to be conquered.

    If they are so scared of the Ymaryn why haven't they applied to be either KH's or our protectorate? Or has the concept not been invented yet?

    Fug the KH has a Genius Diplomat Pharaoh, from their PoV Diplo-annexing the Highlanders sounds like the optimal move.
     
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    Kiba said:
    Trelli gets invited even though they're known for their really bad slaving way. MW gets invited even though they are a minor collection of city-states at best. Thunder Horse gets invited even though they invaded us. Storm Wolves get invited even though we especially dislike nomads. Khemetri gets invited because we're now apparently best buds, and you don't snub a Great Power. Swarm Folks get invited, because why not?

    Highlander? No. If there's one thing that the Ymaryn hate more than nomads, it's treachery.
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    If it was just treachery then we wouldn't have invited the Thunder Horse, since they fought us in the last two wars the same as the Highlanders.

    The only reason not to invite the Highlanders is if we were going to conquer them soon, which a good portion of the thread plans to do.
     
    DocMatoi said:
    Have we been reading the same quest, my dude? "Realpolitik" as you put it, would never have gotten us sharing circle
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    Current voters would have never chosen actions which had resulted in Circle. I mean, it was action with no mechanical benefits other than being generous, who of current people in thread would've voted for it?

    Current Ymaryn are literally not the same People who had chosen to help others at any cost, and that's that.
    I could probably write negaverse omake with the current voters deciding what to do in that update, but it would be too salty.
     
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