Turn 1 Results
-[X]Gage the Morale: Recent events... event events have shaken people. You let everyone know that it would be a hard fight, but now its looking frankly impossible, with monarch turning on itself. You need to know where everyone stands, how badly their support of you is shaken. You need to know what they are actually thinking, and what you need to accomplish to regain their support. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 50%. Reward: You gauge the Morale of your People and some of their needs. Rolled: D100 => 57
(Sanjar POV)
It was times like this that Sanjar wishes he took that Public Speaking course in college. But no...mother said you needed to focus on your mathematics and social connections within the company.
It makes you seem aloof and careful, all admirable qualities within an administrator and leader, but not one that can inspire confidence in the hearts of the downtrodden. It takes more than good work ethics and making sure that food is available and that the walls were up.
No what they needed was hope...and you could give them some corny slogans and the confidence that they would die from disease, overcrowding, and war.
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Factory Foreman Felix Shou-Materson was a fisherman's son, as you recalled from a long line of Swedish and Vietnamese fishermen during the various stages of Colonization on many planets, from Iris 8 to Shadow's various colony fisheries.
An honest man who migrated to Halcyon during the smaller second wave about Twenty-Five years ago, he was all but a native now. He was the City's Union Council Member (At least until they can organize something real and have an actual election to solidify things.) and was a reliable man, knew how to gauge a man.
"Felix." You said as you leaned to his overhead perch like a normal day at work. "How goes repairs?"
"Quiet, but efficiently." He said, as dull as the sawdust from the mushroom stalks they turned into a wood-like substitute.
"That's not why I'm here Felix...I know you're honest with me to the point of insults at times, but the people are they well?" You asked.
"Why should you care?" He said.
"Because like it or not, we're all stuck on this Moon until the Board collapses by their own stupidity or someone forgets to lock the gate." You said. "They're my people too, I swore that Union Oath same as you."
"Yes...back when there were three of you squabbling over the reins." He said. "Now look at you. We're stuck with the pencil pusher."
"If you wish to imply or start anything...please do so at the next council meeting." You said. "If you have any complaints from the organization as a whole I am happy to see it through..."
Felix spat on your shoe. "Sanjar, we're on edge, you've given us more than any other corpo, but your nothing to them. We went on this boat for our own benefit-"
"Have I done nothing but cater, assist and risk my own ass time and again...then and now." You said calmly, you always hated the derogatory comments you get by being a paper pusher, logistician...and the one that does all the unfortunate detail work.
They could never understand how terribly dull and important all the forms needed to run society behind the scenes.
"That you have, and the fact you stayed helped, but with the shitshow at Starbrook, and Bryant leaving, and Mirai being god knows where in the black...you've got some social chips and some respect, but not much of it." He said.
"They want to back a winner, and will get rid of me without results." You said.
"I know...but you've got time and we're willing to suffer it, for now...The Union likes you Sanjar and you are one of us, but you can be easily undone by-" He stopped.
The threat had been noted.
The Union did toy with the idea of a Commune or a revolution time and again during the early years of your plan...but you discarded the idea with slideshows, graphs, and a lot of last-stand suicide speeches recorded for posterity.
Most of them were terrified that the extreme radicals tended to kill their families, before then failing dramatically, and then leaving everyone else to suffer the consequences of living under a corporate boot again...
They found it rather excessive even for them.
But so far, with what you have heard, they are willing to suffer, for now...you need wins to gain confidence.
Confidence is a Government's Capital, as much as a Corperation's.
You just needed...more of it.
Reward: The People are shaken by events outside of your control, but Morale has for the most part been steady.
Hopefully, it holds for you to make will into action and action into success.
-[X]Cast the Net, Find Trade and Trade Partners: communities have gone dark. It feels like half the moon disappeared overnight. Sanjar already has his people wondering about their loved ones back home, and he has nothing to tell them. Worse, as more and more people wander into stellar bay, stranger and stranger rumors come in about the outside world that Sanjar has so suddenly been cut off from. Now, he hears about the rise of tyrants, or the creation of new socialist communes, and even stranger things. He's also heard tales of what Graham has been up to, ever since he left MSI... some stories Sanjar doesn't want to believe. The world feels like its going mad, and Sanjar needs to do something to figure out what is going on out there. He has a duty to govern all of Monarch, not just the bay near his headquarters. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 40%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: You learn of some of the Communities of Monarch that have sprung up and try to contact them. Rolled: D100 => 99
Well, you didn't expect settlement reports to be coming in this early...perhaps Monarch's inhabitants are as stubborn as you are.
"How many settlement pings did we get?" You said.
"Yes." The technician said.
(To Be continued in Monarch's Modern Madness)
-[X]Organize the caravans: With so much of Monarch suddenly cut off from each other, you already know that most communities must be suffering. The board had tried to make each community fairly specialized, but with recent events, you know that the lack of self sufficiency across Monarch is now a gaping weakness that effects so many people. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to restart trade, with all the dangerous wildlife, and everything else that has happened. And yet it isn't impossible. If you can free up a fair amount of firepower, and use them to guard a massive caravan that will wind its way across Monarch, its possible to restart trade, to a certain degree. It will be like your current logistics trade convoy system, but even bigger. It won't be the most efficient trade system ever, but it should ensure that all the local communities are kept afloat with the supplies they need, and should help invigorate your economy to a certain extent. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 50%. Successes Needed: 2. Reward: You organize, trade caravans to work towards the remaking of your economy. Rolled:
D100 => 92
The Economic Report from the Caravaner's gave you great and wonderous joy.
The Economic Situation appears to have gone in your favor and in doing so...led to perhaps the best situation that you could have asked for.
Problem, you had information but no concrete deals.
Reward 1 of 2: Information and Trade vectors across the Planet has been mostly sorted. New Deals can be made and more. Hopefully things will turn in your favor.
(Details to be expanded upon in Monarch's Modern Madness)
-[X] Organize the City Council: The Steller Bay City Council was supposed to be a rubberstamp, a way to legitimize the larger social control of the Board over the wider population. Its an old trick, and one Sanjar planned long ago to support his own agenda. It started with little programs, street cleaning budget and trash collection, sanitation duty, and later, even enforcement of wider city laws with a Local non-corporate police force. Now with things going to shit far more then he could have predicted it was time to give them far more responsibility and hope they are ready for it. Because we are all in this Raft of a city together now...and the time to back out ended a long time ago with the last evacuation shuttle. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 30%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: You attempt to Organize your Civilian Government from a Rubberstamp to something that can handle power. Rolled: D100 => 75
Well. at least you were able to find someone to counterbalance the Union Representatives, bless their heart and ambitions but you know that a degree of restraint is needed to harness their ambitions into a more productive end.
The last thing we need is to get over-stretched at this point. We barely have enough as it is.
Thank goodness for the Political Exiles that made Monarch their home.
Walter Alveron (Aged 61) of the Halcyon Democratic Reform Group, was a known firebrand during the previous administration before aging into a more centrist view of the world, which made him far more realistic and cautious then you. He's a safe man, but practical, everyone knows him, and you trust his judgment on practical matters.
Felix Shou-Materson (aged 47) of the MSI Union Worker Councils (factory), a stern reliable factory foreman, who is well known for getting results in all the fields he applies himself too. His straightforward and practical nature has made him both a reliable manager in the factory, sticking to deadlines while respecting is employees, as well as an effective politician, who is more interested in getting results and effectively representing his constituency than grandstanding for radical political philosophies. While he's willing to upset people with his honest opinion, he has also been a valuable ally to Sanjar in the past, and helped establish many of the early worker protections that Sanjar wished to implement.
Seline Anders (Aged 54) of the MSI Union Worker Councils (fishery), a noted socialist and fisher boat captain who deals with the massive importance of keeping the ships running, she has plans and ideas, but everyone knows that with the situation at large, grand victories are unsustainable. But neither was doing nothing.
Kazimir Zhukov (aged 47) of the Monarch Entrepreneurial initiative is a well known libertarian ideologist who failed to find much influence while the Board owned monarch. He believes that economic competition between several unaffiliated companies is the best way to move forward for Monarch, instead of the top down control Sanjar employs. While not a popular candidate, Zhukov represents the interests of the Monarch Field campus, as well as several ambitious managers within MSI, and is often an important swing vote within the council.
Emmeline Kraus (aged 64) of the MSI Living Rights Advocacy Group, a former life support systems engineer and maintenance worker with a long history of attempting to bring more attention and funding towards infrastructure, rather than research and military spending. She isn't the most popular member of the council, but her supporters are extremely devoted and ensure her political viability even in the current chaos.
Cemre Ayvaz (aged 37) is the most radical council member to date, being a part of the
Progressive Monarch Syndicalist and Leftist Coalition group ever since her college days. The Biochemical engineer and her supporters are one of the few leftist groups who have categorically rejected Bryant and is iconoclasts (over philosophical differences over pacifism) that still maintains enough popularity and support to retain a council seat. However, she does find difficulty enacting her agenda, stubbornly campaigning for her more radical and idealistic proposals that make her unpopular within the council itself.
Reward: MEET the Steller Bay City Council. God help us all.
-[X] Tax Codes, Law Codes, and the Law Damned Code of the Frontier: The Board, despite its corporate-controlled nature of rulership, taxed the fuck out of everything from alcohol (Because of a mass drinking epidemic nearly 20 years ago) to grave sites (Land belonged to the townships, and townships belonged to the corps). It was cruel and inefficient to the average worker and taxpayer, Sanjar looked at the ledger and shouted. "WE CAN DO BETTER!" He already ran the calculations, now came the cutting of unneeded taxes and regulations. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 40%. Successes Needed: 2. Reward: You remake the tax code whole cloth to make it manageable to your situation (2 AP) Roll 1: D100 => 90 Roll 2: D100 => 61
Meanwhile on Byzantium....
Minster Clarke looked at the Colony Tax and Expense reports that had now been sorted onto his desk as he groaned in pain.
"I get that due to the Skipgate blackouts we've become penny pinchers but by LAW this isn't taxation this is complete theft!!" He shouted.
The Colony's Working and Middle management classes couldn't survive the level of taxation that the damned Board was trying to weasel and wring out of them. It would take years...no decades before he'd have the political capital to lessen the burden on the Halcyon Citizens.
Taxes on Gravesites, Taxes on Cleaning Water, Debt Shuffling...if the level of Cronyism happened in the Core world, the Govenor would have shot them and seized their property for Tax violations.
"WHO IN THE LAWS Fuck Authorized this shit!" He shouted.
"As of today sir...you did." Chairman Rockwell said as he walked in with a rather expensive bottle of drink. "Care to join me for my Inauguration party."
"Go fuck yourself Charles." He said.
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(Sanjar POV)
"So its simple we remove Gravesite Fee's, Make Debt Shuffling require a lawyer to authorize and ban all taxes on Cleaning Water." You said as you lifted a massive binder onto the City Council Table. "What do you think?"
Kazimir was ecstatic. "Sanjar you madman, lowering taxes to liberate the common man its all but fool proof."
Walter nodded in some degree of approval. "These are board Taxes not MSI chartered, so they don't have any legality anyway...what else is in it."
"Every Tax code, for the entire planet we'll need, with some caveats for economic growth and land holding freedom." You said. "I need sleep."
The Council looked at you concerned.
"What about our Law Code?" Seline said. "Don't we need a Pro Monarch Law code to placate the rest of the Council?"
"You know I thought about that...and I sent MSI's remaining lawyers and refugees with a talent for law and civil service to work making the law code." You said.
"So when will it be ready?" Emmeline asked. "We'll need to overview and approve it."
"Oh, it should be done in a few days." You said.
"How long have you been up?" Cemre asked.
"Two days, three hours, and 20 minutes...now if you excuse me, oblivion awaits." You said as you collapsed on the cold hard floor of the council hall.
"Not again...So we lowered the tax burden by 64%, how will that help?" Cemre said.
Walter smiled. "That means the taxpayer only pays 36% Income tax...meaning they have a disposable income and financial security for the first time in decades."
Reward: Law Code Established for the MSI, +3 to all Stewardship Rolls for 3 turns as your people are now confident that they are able to live under your leadership and competently be governed.
As for the Economy, It can now be called upon to improve a RnD, or Diplomacy Roll by +3 for one turn.
-[X] Mantiswarm Magic: Quite honestly, you had forgotten this project existed. This research was fairly cheap, and it kept some of your more brilliant researchers happy, by giving them a topic they liked that they could look into in between more important projects. But now, they have purportedly come up with a solid prototype design, and are asking for a significant funding increase to test and hopefully complete the design. Ultimately, while you do have some spare fighters for your airforce, these researchers are offering to design a significant improvement to your fighter wing, that can maintain the top speed of current designs, but significantly increase maneuverability, and even enable extreme maneuverability at low speeds (similar to hummingbirds or mantiswarms). Purportedly, they were able to merge common fighter designs with the wing design of a mantiswarm, and somehow, it all works fine. If this research pans out, you could turn your planetary fighter wing into a ground support unit, and use it like an attack helicopter, in addition to its traditional role as a dogfighter. They even mentioned some preliminary attempts to replicate the plasma blasts that mantiswarms can purportedly spit out, although that seems ludicrously far from cost-effective considering current research findings. Cost: 4 AP, Chance Of Success: 60%. Successes Needed: 5. Reward: You make the "Mantiswarm Combat Package" to upgrade your fighters and possibly create new designs for the future. Roll 1: D100 => 76 Roll 2: D100 => 63 Roll 3: D100 => 65 Roll 4: D100 => 48 (4 Sucesses!)
Federov looked at you as you pointed at the cannon. "What in Law's Name?"
He smiled "A Micro Plasma Cannon, capable of 400 Rounds per minute at full blast or fire five heavy heat rounds that can melt armor and flesh like paper..."
"I feel a but coming." You said.
"Right you are, this thing is a power hog, so we can have regular ordinance or plasma." He said.
"What about the v-tol? or at least the hover feature." You asked.
"Still needs work, but we're getting close." He said.
Reward: 4 out of 5 Successes achieved.
-[X] Rebuild the Fishery Factory: Well it seems that the Steller Bay Fishery took a number from the Orbital Bombardment that followed the Amber Heights Massacre, it is time for what comes after, rebuilding and restocking the factory to modern standards, with updated safety and health regulations to keep the Union happy. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 80%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: You organize, and rebuild your fishery, and make food production a thing again. Roll 1: D100 => 82 Roll 2: D100 => 57
Looking at the Fishery, you looked at the Older construction workers and smiled. "Can you fix it?"
"I say it will take a week." The Foreman said.
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Saltuna: Halcyon's Gift from the Sea, Salt it cut it....Stick it in a Stew and cook it well.
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Sanjar looked at the radio commercial, "Is it too much?"
"Its the Truth." Cecilia said.
Reward: The Factory has been fixed, +2 Free AP, the Food Problem has been partly sorted.
-[X]Organize the Union!: When Sanjar first led MSI to break off from the board, it was the union that provided the critical support needed to both Hold and keep the City of Steller Bay and the surrounding Countryside. While many of their leaders are now dead, missing or...in the case of the more radical ones wandered off to play warlord...its time to review and reorient their assets to the road ahead. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 60%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: You Organize and give direction to the UNION of MSI, and prevent...issues. Rolled: D100 => 45
Organizing them wasn't the issue, the internal machinations to form and maintain a union had survived the mass orbital bombardment of Monarch proper...No, the problem was that they were being bullheaded.
The Union Overseer Lasya Singh was always in a way jealous of you and your machinations, something about being some dirty company man. But you brushed it off as mere envy. But now you had to manage that envy and her power.
"Lasya...I shall say this firmly...we are lowing the hours to a Twelve Hour day, with free lunch for both workers and their children and that's final, because like it or not, we cannot afford to do any lower." You said.
"A Ten hour day would prevent wider exhaustion, and allow for more shifts...and keep you as a man of your word." She said.
Again with that...she thought you an ideologue...you were not, even if you supported their policies, you never truly supported the methods.
You sighed. "If it were easier to implement it would have been done without your complaints, alas the situation is not what we call ideal and we must make sacrifices to adjust to reality, not ignore it."
You insulted her by saying she ignored reality...it was common enough an insult.
"And this "Weekend idea?" She said.
"Two half days on Satuday and Sunday...I myself will need it."
Finally...you were getting somewhere.
Reward: They've been organized and despite grumblings, are working in lockstep.
-[X]MSI Security and YOU: By the Khalsa that Slogan is terrible, but we need to realize just what exactly our Military Assets are, organizationally, what equipment they have, force deployment patters...do they even have extra pairs of Socks? These are important. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Successes: 90%. Successes Needed: 2. Reward: You organize, and learn all of your Forces of MSI's Security Forces. Rolled:
D100 => 62
Alright your ground forces are...
x3 2/5 Combat Security Brigades "Fishman's Fighters" "Khalsa's Raiders" "Bay Breakers"
Reward: 1/2 Success, you have your Ground Forces known.
-[X] Pest Control: While you have been able to exert some control over rampaging animal fauna, it still hasn't completely controlled the recent chaos. Its clear that Mantisaur stampedes and Mega-Canid attacks will continue as long as the ecosystem is still disrupted and the populations of dangerous animals are still large.... which brings to mind a simple idea. Since you aren't actively using your military, perhaps it will be worth it to cut down the population of hostile creatures on monarch, and buy the colonists on the moon some breathing room. You are sure that people will appreciate this measure to save civilian lives.... but it will mean significant casualties within your forces, and there is no guarantee that you will be able to end the conflict and blockade by Halcyon before these animals grow their populations and become a problem again. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Success: 50%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: MSI Security Forces Go out and Play Big Game Safari Hunter. Rolled: D100 => 89
Well they came home with Canid Corpses...and Dead Mantiswarm Bugs...
A fine hunting run.
Reward: +1 Free AP.
-[X] Find the Starbrook Quarry Attackers!: With the recent attack at Starbrook Quarry, it is clear that someone, possibly Graham, is already attacking you and your allies. Its time to investigate exactly what happened at the Starbrook Quarry, and see if you can determine where the attackers have gone. Beware, though, that your investigators don't end up going in completely unprepared, and get ambushed just like the commune was. These people obviously considering hurting MSI and its allies a top priority, despite the chaos that has enveloped the planet, and its clear they may be willing to do anything in order to hurt you and your people. Cost: 1 AP, Chance Of Sucess: ???%. Successes Needed: 1. Reward: You organize and search for Starbrook's Attackers. Rolled: D100 => 85
Well, now you were getting somewhere...They had mortars, which both made it easier to track, but harder to pin down..
"Nomads...why did it have to be Nomads." You groaned as the reports came in.
(Continued in Monarch Madness.)
AN: This took way to long to make...Hopefully the Interlude will be easier.
