The counterargument is that without law enforcement, how can we stop potentially corrupt local law enforcement from spreading its rot into our education or food programs?
On the other hand starting with food or education is AMAZING for our PR.
No one goes hungry in the Imperium unless they choose to live out in the hinterlands or refuse work and/or charity, and we already make education available to anyone who is interested in learning.
We consistently spend a huge amount of money and manpower to upgrade infrastructure, promote agriculture, and maintain consistent and fair law enforcement.
The counterargument is that without law enforcement, how can we stop potentially corrupt local law enforcement from spreading its rot into our education or food programs?
On the other hand starting with food or education is AMAZING for our PR.
No one goes hungry in the Imperium unless they choose to live out in the hinterlands or refuse work and/or charity, and we already make education available to anyone who is interested in learning.
We consistently spend a huge amount of money and manpower to upgrade infrastructure, promote agriculture, and maintain consistent and fair law enforcement.
We're talking about the hinterlands here though. Sure in the free cities we do a good job, but we also have a whole pile of provinces that are 99% "hinterland" and in which we're developing things like messenger services to start spreading our institutional reach. That makes perfect sense as a first step, but what should the next step be? Food for the starving, education, or law enforcement?
@DragonParadox, so for the Marid Ward Lore we purchased from our new allies back in our first trip to the Plane of Water, does it differ in any way to what Vialesk or other cities and forts use?
They can simply make sure that their own guys are hired, infecting us from the get-go with "local practices" which boil down to corruption in favor of existing magisters. Making sure social services go to your friends (those who provide the best service to you, your workers, etc) is the most common type of corruption in relief/welfare institutions, AFAIK.
And then there's "we'll buy your supply off you" person-to-person arrangements, although providing good pay and some internal oversight helps a lot. These things take more time to set up, assuming we do manage to hire managers who aren't there to enable such things in favor of well-organised local power blocks.
On the other hand, would local law enforcement really help avoid that? Is avoiding that just part of the normal "set up the infrastructure" option? Should we start by setting up Inquisition bases before we set up any food/education institutions?
And @Goldfish, travelling is difficult. I don't expect poor people to all live in cities. Actually the countryside is usually better for them, because you can sort fo go hunter-gatherer in the poor seasons when you can't find daily low-paid work. Sure this is an incredibly shitty lifestyle with a poor life expectancy, but it's actually better than what you get in cities without charity or government food for the starving.
They can simply make sure that their own guys are hired, infecting us from the get-go with "local practices" which boil down to corruption in favor of existing magisters. Making sure social services go to your friends (those who provide the best service to you, your workers, etc) is the most common type of corruption in relief/welfare institutions, AFAIK.
And then there's "we'll buy your supply off you" person-to-person arrangements, although providing good pay and some internal oversight helps a lot. These things take more time to set up, assuming we do manage to hire managers who aren't there to enable such things in favor of well-organised local power blocks.
On the other hand, would local law enforcement really help avoid that? Is avoiding that just part of the normal "set up the infrastructure" option? Should we start by setting up Inquisition bases before we set up any food/education institutions?
And @Goldfish, travelling is difficult. I don't expect poor people to all live in cities. Actually the countryside is usually better for them, because you can sort fo go hunter-gatherer in the poor seasons when you can't find daily low-paid work. Sure this is an incredibly shitty lifestyle with a poor life expectancy, but it's actually better than what you get in cities without charity or government food for the starving.
We're talking about the hinterlands here though. Sure in the free cities we do a good job, but we also have a whole pile of provinces that are 99% "hinterland" and in which we're developing things like messenger services to start spreading our institutional reach. That makes perfect sense as a first step, but what should the next step be? Food for the starving, education, or law enforcement?
I don't think we can reasonably expand any faster into the hinterlands, though. We're already building roads at a rate that would make modern civil engineers weep in envy, we're building inquisition outposts, guardposts, messenger services everywhere, and we're encouraging or outright subsidizing the explosive growth of agriculture. The biggest limitation out in the hinterlands is the lack of people. Western Essos' population is incredibly concentrated around the largest cities, thanks to centuries of Dothraki predation. A lot of what we've been doing for months now is actively helping people immigrate to low population areas of the Imperium.
I don't think we can reasonably expand any faster into the hinterlands, though. We're already building roads at a rate that would make modern civil engineers weep in envy, we're building inquisition outposts, guardposts, messenger services everywhere, and we're encouraging or outright subsidizing the explosive growth of agriculture. The biggest limitation out in the hinterlands is the lack of people. Western Essos' population is incredibly concentrated around the largest cities, thanks to centuries of Dothraki predation. A lot of what we've been doing for months now is actively helping people immigrate to low population areas of the Imperium.
[facepalm]
People, the point isn't doing it super fast, it's deciding if we want to start with Lawmen and Inquisition or with food and education.
This isn't "how can we make it faster?", it's "what order will we do them in?".
Although we could make it faster by prioritising the actions that will grant us extra infrastructure dice. Which ones are those again?
[facepalm]
People, the point isn't doing it super fast, it's deciding if we want to start with Lawmen and Inquisition or with food and education.
This isn't "how can we make it faster?", it's "what order will we do them in?".
Although we could make it faster by prioritising the actions that will grant us extra infrastructure dice. Which ones are those again?
Law Enforcement and Administration, especially Guard Posts and Messenger Services, which double their effectiveness if a province has both.
That's why we always focused on building those. Though back in my day, I've thrown many actions at a few instead of having every province work only on itself. It's much easier to get bonus actions from cities by having some of the work done by it's supporting hinterland to rush the easy bonuses.
Law Enforcement and Administration, especially Guard Posts and Messenger Services, which double their effectiveness if a province has both.
That's why we always focused on building those. Though back in my day, I've thrown many actions at a few instead of having every province work only on itself. It's much easier to get bonus actions from cities by having some of the work done by it's supporting hinterland to rush the easy bonuses.
[facepalm]
People, the point isn't doing it super fast, it's deciding if we want to start with Lawmen and Inquisition or with food and education.
This isn't "how can we make it faster?", it's "what order will we do them in?".
Although we could make it faster by prioritising the actions that will grant us extra infrastructure dice. Which ones are those again?
What Azel and Crake just said. This is Planetos we're talking about, after all.
If we sent food to people in the hinterlands first, without some manner of government oversight, it would all be stolen or horded. If we sent teachers, they would be raped and/or murdered, and not in any particular order and their gender wouldn't much matter one way or the other.
There are too many people who can't be expected to act civilized without the threat of punishment. That's just the sad fact of human nature.
And there is also the concern that Planetos is becoming a typical D&D death world, well populated with monsters and other murderous shit that can kill a muggle in a heartbeat.
Administration, law enforcement, guardposts, etc., are all necessary before we can expect any given province to amount to anything but medieval anarchy.
I'm not sure where anyone got the idea that we have starving citizens in the first place. Yes, we haven't set up imperial food production, but even before then we showed up our lands were relatively fertile, and this is the height of summer. Unless there's a random Daemon trying to fuck things up there shouldn't be much in the way of starvation.
I do agree that we should be setting up a proper government before we do food production -- without that government the food gets wasted.
EDIT: Also let's not forget that the crops rituals are hilariously widespread at this point, with even Baelish trying to profit off of them.
@Azel, I went ahead and linked your Imperial Kobold post to the Forge Mechanics page. I can change it later if you post more, but it's a good reference page for now.
[] Learn more about the officers and crew, official briefings will only tell one so much
[] Take a cue from Lya and read a book, or several. While magic allows one to drink in the knowledge of most tomes in a few moments there is something to be said for enjoying the experience at your leisure
-[] Write in
Lya: *cooped up in her cabin with a book the entire trip even though there's wonders unseen out every window and an air of HIGH ADVENTURE in the endless blue just out the door* 🤓
Viserys: *literally such an extrovert he talks to. Every. Single. Person. On the ship.* 😎
The Mission Goal
At it's core, the goal of this operation is as simple as it is ambitious. To create an artificial race that will then establish itself as one of the major species in the Imperium, if not the entire multiverse. Obviously, this is nothing that can be expected to be done within a few months, but a long-term project that will span decades and centuries to see it's full results, but every journey has to start somewhere. As it is, there is no better time then the current time to begin this project, as it would synergize well with various settlement efforts and the realm is both young and flush with coin, making it much easier to integrate a new ethnicity.
In most planar realms, there is a certain degree of specialization between the races of a realm. Giants often tend towards manual labor and warfare, where their strength is an advantage, while for example Azers and Salamanders have a natural affinity towards smithing and related crafts. By and large, humans act as the jack of all trades that can be found almost in every profession, though compared to their huge population numbers, those humans rising to the pinnacle of whatever art they choose for themselves are exceedingly rare. However, the Plane of Balance currently lacks this diversified ethnic makeup, with non-human inhabitants being only tiny minorities compared to the global population.
As such, there are plenty of niches that would normally be filled by people who are well adapted to the environment or task at hand, which are entirely vacant on the Plane of Balance. One of the biggest gaps is the underground close to the surface, an area that is settled to a small degree by Fey and immigrants from the Plane of Earth. By and large though, huge mountain ranges lay vacant, with no one taming their slopes, driving tunnels through their ridges and extracting the treasures hidden within. Humans are ill adapted to this environment, as they require sunlight and fresh produce to stay healthy, unlike species that can subsist on cavern growing plants and mushrooms or even consume earth and minerals directly. It is here that the Kobold species can find a unique niche, as they are well adapted to living underground and have a certain affinity for artisanship.
Furthermore, the introduction of a species that can comfortably live underground could greatly increase the population density per square kilometer, both in cities and rural areas, simply by expanding settlements into the ground. This has the added benefit that it reinforces the settlement above through sturdy constructions beneath, synergizes well with efforts to improve sanitation, and even provides a certain amount of security against threats from below, as the settlement and resulting perspective shift would allow all inhabitants of a settlement to be more aware and wary of potential threats below them. Lastly, they are still a very adaptable species, like the humans who designed them, allowing them to easily integrate with other underground communities, such as Pech or Ratfolk settlements, to the benefit of both sides.
The goal is therefore not an act of mere hubris, but an attempt to enrich the world and strengthen it for the future.
Stats
Imperial Kobold
Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Modifiers: As a rule, Kobolds are fast but weak, yet there is much potential in them. They gain +2 Dexterity, –4 Strength, –2 Constitution, and can choose one attribute to receive a +2 Bonus.
Languages: Kobolds begin play speaking Draconic and one additional lanuage. Kobolds with high Intelligence scores can choose additional languages. The languages availableto them are: Westerosi Common, Low Valyrian, High Valyrian, Celestial and Infernal.
Great Heritage: Being descendants of dragons and humans, Kobolds have inherited an innate adaptability and cleverness from both sides of their ancestry. They gain a bonus Feat at first level like a Human.
Senses Racial Traits
Darkvision: Kobolds can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
Alternate Racial Traits
The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.
Beast Bond Some kobolds have a talent for training animals and beasts to help them both on and off the battlefield. Kobolds with this racial trait gain a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal and Ridechecks. Handle Animal and Ride are always class skills for them. This racial trait replaces Great Heritage.
Dragonmaw Your draconic heritage makes you smile- not just because it makes you happy, but also because your powerful teeth and jaws are proof of your kinship with a chromatic dragon. You gain a bite attack that deals 1d4 points of damage. Once per day, you can deal 1d6 points of additional energy damage with your bite attack. The damage type depends on your scale color: acid for black or green; electricity for blue; fire for red; cold for white. If you have a different scale color, you still gain a bite attack, but cannot deal the additional energy damage. This racial traits replaces the armor racial trait.
Dragon-Scaled Some kobolds are hatched with scales of such vivid color that their connection to a particular sort of chromatic dragon seems undeniable. Whether this coloration is just a quirk of a stray egg or a trait shared by all the members of a tribe, these kobolds gain a resistance that makes them especially suited to work alongside dragonsmatching the color of the kobold's scales. Black-scaled and green-scaled kobolds with this racial trait gain acid resistance 5. Blue-scaled kobolds with this racial trait gain electricity resistance 5. Red-scaled kobolds with this racial trait gain fire resistance 5. White-scaled kobolds with this racial trait gain cold resistance 5. This racial trait replaces the armor racial trait.
Frightener Like the great dragons, you can strike fear in the hearts of your foes with your majestic presence. Few enemies suspect that you make yourself look more dangerous with simple tricks you learned back when you were newly hatched. You gain a +1 racial bonus to the DC of saving throws against spells you cast with the fear descriptor. This racial trait replaces the armor racial trait.
Wings Some kobolds are born with wings that allow them to soar through the skies like their dragon bretheren. You gain a Fly speed of 30 ft. with Clumsy maneuverability. This replaces Great Heritage.
Prehensile Tail Your tail is especially flexible and strong, so you've learned to use it to grab small items. You can retrieve small items as a Swift action and draw a hidden weapon as a Move action. This replaces the Armored trait.
Shoulder to Shoulder Having lived and worked in close quarters with your tribe-mates, you've learned how to maneuver within their personal space without disturbing them. You can occupy the same space as one other Small ally without penalty. If you share a space with another kobold who has this trait, you each gain a +1 circumstance bonus to AC, as you help jostle one another out of the way of incoming attacks. You also gain a +1 racial bonus on aid another rolls. This racial trait replaces Armored.
Learned Having an innate understanding of many tasks and crafts makes it easy for you to learn new skills. You gain an additional skill point for each level you possess. This replaces Great Heritage.
Talented You have a knack for a certain kind of work. Pick two Profession or Craft skills. You gain a +2 Bonus to these skills and they are always considered Class Skills for you. This replaces Great Heritage.
Sturdy You are a lot stronger and hardier then most of your brethren, but some whisper that you are a bit dim for it. You gain +2 Strength and +4 Constitution, but also take a -2 penalty to all mental attributes.
Aquatic Water has always been a second home to you. You gain a Swim speed of 30 ft. and the ability to breath water. This replaces Great Heritage.
Giant The others in your clutch always looked up to you. Literally. You are Medium sized instead of small. You loose all Size based modifiers and gain +4 STR and -2 DEX. This replaces Great Heritage. Many Kobolds who have this trait are also Sturdy.
Challenges
There are three main challenges that will be faced in this project. The first is the issue of ensuring the viability of the population as Kobolds should become as stable and healthy species that can sustain itself and even grow without the injection of more produced individuals. The second is the necessary care and education of the first Kobolds that will be brought into existence, as they will not be born in an existing community or culture, but made in Gogossos. Third and last is the issue of integrating Kobolds into existing communities, but also the creation of new communities to give them the space and opportunity to establish their own culture.
Due to their draconic ancestry, it can be assumed that the first task is easier for Kobolds then for most other species, as inbreeding and genetic drift appear to be much smaller issues for people of draconic descent. None the less, a certain minimum amount of care and consideration should be spent on this issue to avoid disruptions in the project dooming the young race. Factoring this into the considerations, the Minimum Viable Population for Kobolds is likely an order of magnitude lower then that of regular mammals, meaning that a population of as little as 100 individuals has a high probability of being viable, while a population of 1,000 individuals would be almost definitely capable of long-term survival without inbreeding depression or similar issues. Other factors for extinction are mainly sickness and random calamities, which could easily decimate a singular population. Therefore, it must be striven to distribute the population across a large area to minimize these risk, while trying to maintain a population number of at least 100, better 1,000 individuals per location to ensure their viability in case of a complete loss of all other sites.
However, the second issue highlights why it would not be entirely possible to achieve these goals immediately. The logistics of making and caring for 10,000 essential newborn babies would be tremendous and ultimately a disservice to the young species as this scenario invites a very homogeneous and sterile life experience for the first individuals. The first batches should therefore be limited and provided with as much different stimuli as possible to allow subsequent generations to learn not only from outsider teachers, but also their predecessors. While this is hardly a normal parent-child relationship, it is as close as manageable under these circumstances and the experience of having to care for others of their own species is one that should be introduced early into the young culture to prevent social maladjustments caused by too extensive external care.
Which leads us the third issue, namely the establishment of new communities by Kobolds or their integration into existing communities. Here it is hard to plan in advance, as many decisions in this stage will be informed by the experience gained from the teaching of the first few generations. In general though, it should be ensured that a healthy mix of pure Kobold settlements and shared multi-racial settlements exist to provide both the room necessary for a distinct Kobold culture and identity to form, but also to ensure proper integration into existing socio-economic structures. Pure Kobold settlements in remote locales should be avoided at all costs to prevent isolationism or even xenophobia from developing. While these communities should be by definition less dependent on other races then mixed communities, it should still be ensured that regular, productive contact with trade caravans and non-Kobold neighbors exists.
Proposed Plan
As the first generation of Kobolds will be the most important, they should be provided with special advantages to ensure their success. It is important that they can learn quickly, are sturdy and are accepted as leaders and teachers by those who will be born after them. As such, they will receive the Advanced Creature and Half-Dragon templates. These will henceforth be called G1 Kobolds. The next generation is somewhat less important, but will still quickly become the elders of the young species. Therefore and to avoid to sharp a drop in capabilities, the following G2 Kobolds will receive the Advanced Template. After this point, the production of regular baseline Kobolds can begin.
To ensure adequate care and education, the G1 Kobolds will be divided into classes. Each class will contain 25 G1 Kobolds, one Advanced Druid Creature Lotus Leshy, who will serve as the main teacher and four Advances Fungus Leshy, who will act as farmers that supply plants grown underground as their future settlements will likely produce. Other people will be invited as guest teachers into these classes from time to time, carefully selected to ensure an even balance of viewpoints provided to the impressionable young minds. Furthermore, the Kobolds will be shown the local culture and trades practiced int he location their class is based. These classes will be distributed all over the Imperium, with each Kobolds allocation to a given class being the result of a careful Divination to ensure optimal placement.
In total, a class of this stage costs:
25x G1 Kobold (CR 1, 300 IM each) - 7,500 IM
25x Divination Placement (5 IM each) - 125 IM
4x Advanced Fungus Leshy (CR 3, 450 IM each) - 1,800 IM
1x Advanced, Druid Creature Lotus Leshy (CR 8, 2,400 IM each) - 2,400 IM
Facilities and other expenses - 675 IM
Total: 12,500 IM
To ensure the viability of the species, even if the project has to be aborted after the first batch, there should be no less then 1,000 individuals be created in this batch. This amounts to 40 classes, costing 500,000 IM, which will be distributed across the Imperium in the following way:
Sorcerers Deep - 6 classes
Braavos - 4 classes
Volantis - 4 classes
Tyrosh - 2 classes
Lys - 2 classes
Myr - 2 classes
Mantarys - 2 classes
Tolos - 2 classes
Pentos - 2 classes
Golden Fields - 3 classes
Andalos - 3 classes
Basilisk Isles / Gogossos - 3 classes
Painted Mountains - 2 classes
Draconys - 2 classes
Skagos - 1 class
If possible and desirable, students should be shuffled through a few different locales during their education, though this is not mandatory. These classes will be educated until the point where their teachers deem them ready to live on their own and take on students of their own. At this point, all groups are shuffled according to the wishes and desires of the Kobolds and they will become the main teachers of the G2 generation, with their caregivers stepping back and only acting in a consulting role unless serious issues arise. For each G1 Kobold, there will be 2x G2 Kobolds produced, each one costing 150 IM and the full G2 batch costing 300,000 IM.
The second stage works mostly like the first, but it is at this point that serious efforts need to start to establish future Kobold settlements. The main sites are likely beneath and in the major cities of the realm, while pure Kobold communities can be established in the mountainous regions of Andalos, the Painted Mountains and the Basilisk Isles. Furthermore, it should be evaluated of settlements along the Rhoyne, near Valyria, on Skagos or in other sparsely populated areas would be viable and desirable. The G2 stage should resume until permanent settlements can be provided for all Kobolds up to the G3 generation and the G2 generation is adequately educated.
As the last Fleshforge batch, the G3 generation is the first one that receives no enhancements, costing a mere 112.5 IM per individual. In total, 6,000 individuals will be created, costing a total 675,000 IM, thus pushing the total cost of the project to 1.5 million IM plus the cost of the first settlements. At this point, the populations should be stable and self-sustaining, with social structures and culture beginning to develop. Thus this generation of Kobolds should be educated entirely by the G1 and G2 generations, potentially along the first natural born members of the species, though additional aid should be provided if necessary. Lastly, should there be any evidence of genetic defects or diseases in the existing population, it could be considered to create a G4 generation to further diversify the gene-pool, but this is only an emergency options if it becomes evident that there were serious issues with the genetic material used for prior batches.
Thus the project should conclude, with further steps only necessary to address problems that could not be foreseen at the time of writing these lines.
OOC: And before anyone complains about the price being so high, remember that last month alone saw roundabout 3 million IM invested into Fleshforging minions and the tax income alone came in at 4.7 million IM. For creating an entirely new species, this is a steal.
She despises what Aerys became in his later years, though she regrets the brother she remember from their childhood
As for the Starks, Brandon and Rickard's death was a tragedy in her eyes there was never a question bout it, she even regreted the execution of Aerys' mistress for supposed treason. She sees Eddard fondly for keeping Rhaegar's son safe
I'm an idiot that put in the wrong name because I'm rushing on my cell.
While I thank you for the answer, what I meant to ask is what does Elia Martell think of the subjects I brought up? We've heard little to nothing from someone that should be finding their balance, for lack of better words.
]
