Behind the Serpent Throne (CK2)

Turn 8--Results, D
Turn 8--Results, D

[x] Pao of Lineage Isanaori: Of an ancient lineage that has deep roots in Hari-Os, he's surprisingly loyal despite the likely betrayal of his province, and this itself might serve as a symbol, on top of his definite skill and understanding of the waterways. He might be able to help with transportation of goods in several cases, and he's certainly going to helpful in dealing with the enemy's more mobile units.
[X] Jin'ha: The cousin of a prominent local businessman, he has risen rapidly in the esteem of the army in the area. More specifically, he's known for his knowledge of the local terrain of Csrae, and his skill at hunting out bandits. However, he might not be the best choice once the terrain shifts into Irit, but there is plenty to be done in Csirit the city that he could be tasked with.
[X] Jun: A slayer of bandits and writer of accounts, he seems in some ways a boastful man, clearly overstating his capacity for work. And yet he's also known for his quick, decisive action in tough moments, and for his willingness both to obey the rules of his superiors while understanding that in battle there is often confusion and uncertainty.
[X] Niu of Lineage Yantae: A soft man, in fact a bureaucrat by profession, but one who despite his clean hands has a family whose military background goes back five generations. He's neat, cultured, and clean, Kuojah's man to the core, but has a definite understanding both of logistics and cannons and the latest technological problems. He would not do well on a battlefield, but generals are needed for far more than that.

The choices were not simple, in one sense. Jun, for instance, was a man who had managed to impress Kiralo despite his boasting, not because of it. And more than that, as the days began to slowly slip by, he was aware more and more that each choice was pressing him onward. Like a man on the river, paddling faster and faster until he was caught at last in the rapids of the river, drawn and thrown about.

At the mercy of the Gods whether he'd arrive on dry land or not. Would Jin'ha be helpful here, or on the road, or--

Every question formed more questions. Every problem seemed at once intractable and simple. Kiralo walked through the halls almost at a sprint, he bathed so quickly as to barely immerse himself in water, scrubbing fast and desperately. He ate what he needed, and no more, and had to hope that it was enough.

Because the letter was coming. It would arrive soon. And then war would be officially declared.

At least his connections to Jin'ha had put the city on a good footing. Its merchants would report to a number of administrators who would oversee the matter. The Emperor would be safe, and more than that, the people would be kept carefully ignorant if a defeat happened. War was not long in the songs or stories, battles followed battles followed battles. In a single day, the Empire could be lost, but Kiralo was not going to gamble everything.

He wasn't, but what about Prince Jinhai? Cs-Pao had not known anything more about him, and Prince Jinhai was no fool.

But did that mean he didn't gamble? Because ultimately, this entire endeavor was an ambitious gamble. Just as Kiralo's arrival had been. If he had merely wished to have wealth and power of a more traditional sense, he could have sought them any number of ways. Heck, he could have gone to court for a time to attempt to put in place men who would at least listen to him. Kuojah hadn't trusted him, but Kuojah was old. He wanted more power than could be held in any man's hands but an Emperor, and that itself was a form of madness.

Kiralo wouldn't pick up the title of Emperor, he'd all but hinted at to Kueli, if it was dropped at his feet. He would take cloth and cover it, and allow its proper owner to grab it up and resume its use. To be an Emperor seemed a miserable burden, but it was one many sought in their darkest hearts.

The city was stretched out before Kiralo, and he looked down on it as he had once looked down on another city. Was it being offered then?

Certainly if he had killed the son of another prince and married his daughter, there was an outside chance he'd now by the Prince of a Southlander city. Powerful, wealthy, but unstable.

And now he was powerful, wealthy, but unstable in a very different place. Sometimes when one chose not to gamble once, one chose when the dice came around again to put your coins in, heap them up against the certainty of ruin, and see what the bones said.

The city would keep, or it would fall. That was an inane statement, and yet it was the most true one he could think of. He was not going to be leaving immediately, not even close. In fact, it would be a long time indeed, by comparison to his haste, before he left. Months of preparation before they were ready to leave.

But he would not be able to talk to Kuojah without the war in his voice. His father. That meant very little. In the Southlands, family mattered deeply, and yet brothers killed brothers with stunning regularity for power. At the highest rungs of society, blood was something you slipped on, and plunged down to your doom if you allowed it to rest as it did, trusting in its bonds.

Slick were the rungs, and greased was the horse that the Prince rode without a saddle.

Hari-Su needed to understand that. This was Kiralo's message. That relying on a hope that a man rising from nowhere would ascend to the Imperial throne was banking on failure. The inevitably of victory was not what Kiralo said, but it was what he hinted in the letters. Of course, Kiralo's step-sister in Hari-Su knew this more than anyone else. She would die, if the Emperor was deposed.

She feared for her life, he'd bet, far more than she wanted to continue her actions against the Governor. Would he respond favorably to Kiralo's letter, and the message that came ahead, of Jinhai's trial? If he didn't, then it would be to loyal vassals to manipulate the game. The Governor was a smart man, he would understand when he was outmaneuvered, and in Hari-Su they feared the Southland as only men who were half of Southlandish blood could. Not all of them, but the intermingling had definitely happened, and while the Governor himself was pure-blooded Csirit of Iritian stock, as his family had been for the century that he'd been in charge, before the last governor...this was not a state that could be achieved at every level.

Not without disqualifying too much competence. The civil service exams, which would not go through this year, were rigid in some ways, and they encouraged an understanding of Csiritan culture and scholarship that could not rest easy with Southlander religion and poetry, but they did not forbid one from taking the exam. It was carefully fair, in ways that he knew meant that a scholar needed to pretend to certain things.

But Kiralo could not blame this on Kuojah, it was traditional. And more than that, he could not even think it all that wrong. After all, ultimately, there was something to be said for preventing impious men, incapable of understanding Csirit enough to serve as scholars and officials, from gaining power and precedence.

Those who had other beliefs but could learn to hide them were one thing, and certainly Kiralo understood the dangers of Yeadalt, of pinning in a group of heretics and people of different, non-Irit based stocks, more and more of them, until they became a seething mass, a barely manageable province. And Kuojah had cut off some of their paths to advancement and power, bottled them up.

Yet he was unwilling to take what some might have thought the necessary step if one was to refuse to conciliate with them. What had been the necessary step. Killing those that got out of line, driving them from villages into a city where they could be watched in one segment of it...all sorts of means and methods of past control in the last few centuries. The worst of both worlds, as Kiralo understood it.

He would change the world, but that was the world he lived in. And probably would for years, perhaps decades to come. It took time. Change too fast was like a river breaking through a dam, when change should be like the water of a bath slowly rising to cover all in warmth.

At least, that is what he had always been taught, and what Kuojah believed.

******

"Tomorrow, most likely," Kiralo said to Kuojah, kneeling in front of him, glancing at the tea set. It was the most lovely he had ever seen, and the old man sitting across from him, his father, seemed in fine health, compared to last winter.

"Good. Its arrival will change things," Kuojah admitted, "Perhaps for the better, since it's clear now that he would never be satisfied. If not war, he would try to sabotage things in peacetime, and so to stand out in the open means he might die."

"I'll see what I can do, Cs-Kuojah," Kiralo said with a polite smile, "But I do have to ask...what do you intend to do with this court?"

"Keep it from panicking." Kuojah shook his head and asked, his voice low, "What are our odds?"

"Better than they could be." Kiralo sipped his tea, allowing the flavors to sooth his mood, which was jumpy, even nervous. He was aware of the many ways that disaster could slip in unseen. "Worse than I might dream of starting with."

"I trust you," Kuojah said, "To act in the way you think best. Should you live, Cs-Kiralo, you are my heir."

"Ah?" Kiralo asked, looking at his father. "Is death staring you so close in the face?"

"No. Not at all. The Emperor will be taught to the best of my ability, but I understand that when I die the river will wash clean much good and ill." He shook his head, "I have made mistakes, and you are so young, so young that you are sure you will not if you held my power."

"Maybe I would make different mistakes, but your mistakes have brought us here," Kiralo said, his voice harsh, "Perhaps different mistakes would send us to different battles? And yet, here we are."

"Perhaps this is fair. But perhaps it is not," Kuojah said, drinking his tea carefully, sipping it, staring across at Kiralo, those long, delicate fingers of his curled around the cup. "What you must understand is that if I was guilty of half of what I am blamed for, then I would be a monster without master, a man who not only sometimes guided the Emperor, but was in fact the Emperor in more than name and function. If I had that kind of control, then do you think I wouldn't have made the world better? If I could have acted in a way that would always get good outcomes? If I could sing and the air could hear my words, if I could write and the world might read them? That is why I have asked into your beliefs, I have asked into your loyalty, then and now and forever, and found them strong, but sure of far too many things."

"You said you are not guilty of everything that others say you are?" Kiralo asked.

"Yes."

"Did you abandon my mother? Did you try to take me from her?" Kiralo asked, raising his voice, "The very reasons you give betray the truth. If you want to know what I think, I think that we are strong enough that we do not need to close ourselves off. That our wealth might aid the world, but the world might also aid our wealth. Our power. That we might create an even more perfect and mighty Empire."

"And so you discuss and treat with Anlans? You would have the Southland borders thrown open, the northern borders explored, even though the people beyond seem to be barbarians?" Kuojah asked, hoarsely, sounding tired. "We have tried to treat with them. War is an extension of commerce, far too often." Kuojah shrugged, "I do not expect you to understand, I do not expect you to agree."

"Good, then," Kiralo said. "Then know this. I wish you no special harm. Maybe once I did, but meeting you has shown me the truth. You are not a monster that I can slay, even if I wanted to anymore. You had something. You know that, don't you? For the first time in your life, I suspect, a woman loved you without reservations."

"She took my son from me, she took the you that would not be sitting here insulting his father."

Kiralo spread his arms, "I will be judged for my impiety, my lack of filial respect. I welcome it, as all people welcome judgement. But tell me. Did you love her?"

"Love has nothing to do with marriage," Kuojah said.

"That makes it all the more special, doesn't it?" Kiralo asked, "A fluke. A fluke. And you failed. You could not bend enough. Your enemies might have muttered, but so what? Your wife might have been annoyed, but she died not that long after. There are competing levels of morality!" Kiralo stood up, setting down the cup, which sloshed a little, "So if you truly wish for me to go out, if you lack the bravery to face that sometimes there are situations in which you must bend, then I ask something as you. Consider it all of the payment."

Kiralo shook his head, "Your wealth would be nice, your positions, your lands...do not think I am a man without ambitions, and without something to covet. But I would give all of it up if you would do one thing."

"What?" Kuojah asked, coldly.

"She loved you even after she left. If I survive, or if I don't and you still have the power to act--"

Kuojah winced, his eyes showing a strange tenderness.

"I might die. Perhaps the odds are better than good," Kiralo said, with a shrug, "That is war." He wasn't afraid. He'd seen death close up, had brushed past it like a strange spirit whose name he didn't know, and it had power over him, yes, but only so much. "Bring her home. Bury her in a pool in the area of the park I am sure you have picked out. Next to you. Perhaps near a tree, like those she knew as a girl. Do that, please. I know it is in your power. I know you know where she was buried. When the war ends, perhaps it will be a low priority, but is not old age the time to confront these things?"

He found that his eyes were hot, and he stood, turning his face into a mask, "Excuse me...father. I shall take my leave."

He turned, and left.

******

"So he seeks to defy the Will of the Emperor?" a young boy boomed, his every word rehearsed, as he stepped down from the lily seat and began to walk towards the stairs. "I ask then, who here will stand with their Emperor? Need I even ask? Need it even be a question that this is the worst treason in the history of the last century? My own relative, a cousin not so distant, has defied the Gods and all good people."

People roared their affirmation.

"I demand him brought here, living or dead, to answer for his crimes. To answer for what he has done," the Emperor said, "War is upon us, and all that do not stand with their rightful ruler are doomed."

The boy looked around, and Kiralo stepped forward and threw himself to the ground.

"Rise, Kiralo. An army may be needed in order to put to flight this cowardly rebel and his small band of degenrate followers. As my Envoy, you are vested with the power to do what you wish in my name, in regards to the army."

Kiralo did not nod.

He listened, he knew. This was another moment, like his investment as Envoy. A war had begun.

Several paintings would depict this in the centuries to come, several accounts, several novels based around these days.

The war that would be known by a dozen names began here, or so people think, if it began anywhere.

The eyes of fate, of the Gods, to the extent that they did not gaze north towards a new chapter of history, the eyes of scholars then and later. All gazed upon him. Judged him.

None, then, with any sense envied him.

*****


[] Near Southland Temptations x2
Need: 30, Rolled: 1d100+10=93, 27

[] A Father's Decision
Need: 20, Rolled: 1d100+12=59

[] Watching the City
Need: 30, Rolled: 1d100+8=50

A/N: Alright, and so here we go! So, the war turn is next. That'll be a journey and a half.
 
OOC: Prep War
OOC: Prep War!

So, one element of preparing for war that one will have to deal with is the assigning of tasks. You will have a pool of Generals and Mages. Some actions will merely benefit from an assigned Mage or General, some cannot use them, being far too personal, and some REQUIRE one. Ultimately, once the actual war begins in the sense of marching, you'll have to permanently assign them to certain places.

Obvious example. You will need to keep someone in Csrae the city in order to manage things. Who you choose is up to you.

As for the action preparation? Think logically. Who you assign will have something to say about its success or failure. Pick people that make sense, or that you think can do the work. It's useless to do anything else, after all.

Your choices are more important than ever now. Choose wisely.

The update will be tomorrow. Voting will be two-round.
 
Turn 9--(Eary Summer), Planning, War Turn
Turn 9--War! (Start of Summer)

Reports/Analysis:
1d100+14-1=4?
Analysis 1: 1d100+30+1-1=??
Analysis 2: 1d100+30+2+1-1=??

Information is at the center of warfare. An army sends scouts, and so too does a military rely on reports and spies. Kiralo listened, carefully, to what was known about the capacities of his enemies and the disposition of his allies. Various nobles might or might not show up, and in what numbers, and in what condition. Some villages had trained men that could be turned into soldiers in a matter of time, while others might need a month, or more, of training. Time that they didn't have, which was why the traditional shortcut was to hand them a spear, tell them enough spirit names, and give them enough physical training that they managed to march, and hope that they learned as they went. Certainly, the average farmer had at least the physical hardiness, if not the strength and skill, to work and labor long hours.

His sources could not confirm several things. Was anyone coming from Hari-Nat? Nobody was sure, but Xissand nobles had sent more than a few letters pledging allegiance, and of course a noble would have to be a suicidal fool if he declared against the Emperor in his own province. Word came from Yeadalt, if tinged with the implication that there would be only a few troops, and Kiralo had reason to suspect that Hari-Bueli might send at least a few troops.

Irit sent positive word, and so did some parts of Nestirin, and the Governor of Hari-Su sent a message full of good cheer, platitudes, and an offer to put as many soldiers as needed at the ready. All in all, the situation could be worse, and Hirand was as divided as expected, and the message from Rerin spent most of its time talking about politics rather than discussing troop numbers and disposition.

Meanwhile, the Prince prepared. Word from the spies that Kiralo hadn't known about, but had suspected must be there, reported that the Prince was gathering forces from Basrat and Hari-Os, and that he was gathering and stockpiling food.

Kiralo's suspicion was that he would not march out this month. And that, more than that, Prince Jinhai wouldn't divide his forces if he could help it. He would have to to some extent, since the numbers he was likely to draw weren't going to be easy to move quickly, and speed was important. But Prince Jinhai wanted this war to end as fast as possible. A quick victory was the only way to keep everything together.

But he was no fool. His forces weren't gathered, though he did have a geographic advantage, compared to Kiralo.

One he'd press, press to the very end.

Weather: 1d100-1=71

The weather was good thus far, and the auguries seemed to tell of a summer that started mild, with few storms or long stretches of unbearable heat. It was weather that could be marched in, and if need be, weather that could be trained in, without any of the burdens that a summer could bring to campaigning.

The good weather might not last forever, but for the moment it was a blessing.

Progress/Forces: 1d100-1=66

Despite Kiralo's fears, the Council of Generals seemed to be working together. At least in Csrae, the forces were gathering, thousands of men press-ganged into the army. Training would have to be fast, it would have to be brutal, and there was very little time, in the grand scheme of things. The rhythms of the court that he'd spent so many months learning fell away, and Kiralo felt as if he was back in the Southlands.

And he would not lose this war, either.

******


Kiralo

Desc: Obviously, Kiralo can personally choose to work on a single thing, giving it as much of his time, focus and attention as he can. It isn't hard to guess what Kiralo is good at and what he isn't, though the answer is honestly 'everything' to some extent.

Kueli

Desc: A powerful man, if a foreigner and outsider who might draw ire, he is skilled in the use of spirits and in personal combat, and a very, very good cavalry leader, second only to Kiralo. He is also skilled in logistics.

Pao

Desc: Skilled at logistics, river transportation, and skirmishing and scout forces, he's also a decent general overall.

Jin'ha

Desc: Perfect for local affairs, he can also manage money very well, and might have a certain way with local people, including new recruits.

Jun

Desc: Quick, decisive and brave, he's skilled at dealing with even the rawest conscripts, but possesses no special knack outside the battlefield, relatively speaking.

Niu

Desc: Logistics, cannons, the bureaucracy, military men, his purview is actually rather wide, all things considered.

Ji'lae

Desc: A powerful Mage in personal combat, he has ties and connections that might prove more than a little useful.

Gen'ha

Description: A binder of spirits and a long-term worker, now might be the time that he can shine, in preparing ahead of time the spiritual protection that will be so needed.

Hi'sen

Desc: Hi'sen is a healer, first and foremost, and his magical and personal skills all revolve around this.

Bao'ren

Desc: A spirit-catcher, more at home in the wild than anywhere else, his skills might not be as useful before the march begins as one might hope. But perhaps there is a way.

Jaw-Lung

Desc: Guns, cannons. And then even more guns and cannons. Such is the way of Jaw-Lung.

Fugitive

Desc: ???

The biggest choice of all is if, or whether, the army will move out on its date with destiny this month. If it does, that will change the options wildly, and more than that, force any preparation to stand at where the tools are thrown down when the time runs out.

What is done?

[] Do not send out the army this month. It needs to train and gather, and give more time for allied forces to march to meet up with it and swell it.
[] Set out at the end of the month. Perhaps speed is best, if combined with caution? (-4 actions)
[] Set out three weeks into the month. (-8 actions)
[] Set out two weeks into the month, as soon as is possible. (-12 actions)

The Governor of Hari-Su needs direction on what he should do once he gathers up enough of his forces:

[] March on Hari-Os, hoping to distract them from sending troops, and perhaps threaten Prince Jinhai's rear.
[] March on the traitors within his own province, denying their troops to Jinhai, though of course it also means that the Governor's forces won't march forth to join you, though the trip would already be quite long.
[] March to join either the army at Irit, or the army at Csrae.

Hari-Bueli might send some troops, how much should letters press them to send?

[] "Send what can be sent, the borders are most important."
[] "Send as large a contingent as is practicable, the borders will hold for a season."
[] "Send everyone that can be sent. The Bueli can be dealt with after the traitor is dead."

Irit, too, needs orders, or rather the troops in Irit and the Governor's Forces

[] Press the attack against the peasant rebels. Try to deal with them, even if it costs men and resources. This might not be the time to deal with them, but they're on the backfoot at the moment.
[] Fortify the current positions and move themselves to be in the right location to intercept any pushes by Jinhai, and also be ready to link up with the main army when it comes on south. If it does.
[] Move to threaten Basrat. This might be dangerous, but perhaps it would draw Jinhai out. Would it be a bluff? Not enough information to be sure.


Martial/2=15 actions

Actions that say they require a general or a Mage, well, require a general or a Mage. Actions that have a [G] or [M] next to them *can* have a General or Mage attached, which depending on how good of a choice it is, might give bonuses and stuff!

Title: Training Days
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Training the new recruits and making sure they know what they need to know is vitally important. Important enough that this could well take up a good deal of Kiralo's time, or anyone's time in general. Dice invested in this are divided into two areas. Number of recruits dealt with, and the intensity and attempted thoroughness of the training. Training numbers can range from 1 to 4 dice, and training thoroughness can range from 1-3. These only involve all men that come in from Csrae. Others will arrive later, hopefully trained...hopefully.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

[G] Title: The Elite Cadre
Dice Rolled: Martial and Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 55%
Time: 1 Turn.
Text: The core of the army will always be the professional soldiers. Inspiring them and making sure that they are willing and able to work with the new recruits, and are a steady presence for them could be very important. But they might resent the interference, or the implication that they might fail in this duty on their own. Even if it might be true.
Requirements (if any): None

[G] Title: Hanin Hate
Dice Rolled: Martial, Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 40%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Like any elite, the Hanin are very, very confident in their prowess, and as a side effect of their history, they tend to be, at least in an era where the Southlands hasn't reared its head, contemptuous of cavalry. And the Southlanders in
Requirements (if any):

Title: Scouting In the Dust
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Now that his men have arrived, that means that Kiralo's new light cavalry scouting-based group is there. The men trained for that, especially, above and beyond battle. But there need to be more than a hundred of them. Training some of the light cavalry, or perhaps just anyone who has the knowledge and skill for it. It'd be dangerous, but perhaps it could be well compensated, and what matters most of all is that strengthening the scouting cavalry would extend the range of the army's field of vision.
Requirements (if any): 1 General.

Title: Heavy Horses
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The heavy cavalry has not received the same attention. Perhaps with the influx of young nobles, it might get some teeth to it, but only with a large investment of time and energy...time that doesn't exist. But some work could be done, even so, to at least make it workable.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

Title: Your Beast of Burden
Dice Rolled: N/A
Chance of Success: 100%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Getting enough oxen, horses, and other animals to help steady the supply train is of vital importance, especially in regards to making sure that they're used to the labor and spirits, making sure there are enough and that all is in good order. It's boring work, but important work.
Requirements (if any): None, thanks to the logistics success last turn.

[G] Title: Cannon Law
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: 60%
Time:1 Turn
Text: Cannons are a very tricky sort of weapon. Not all that useful on the battlefield, at least a lot of the time, though they're finding their place. Making sure that the cannons are ready for transport, and that the spiritual magic placed on them works, might matter. Certainly, if there are any forts to take along the way, it'll be vital, since cannons have replaced most other siege weapons in utility.
Requirements (if any): None

[G] [M] Title: A Doctor In the House?
Dice Rolled: Stewardship
Chance of Success: 50%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: A medical corps is very important to an army on the march. Very important, and very difficult to do well. Gather doctors now. Find money to pay them. Hope that it can all come together.
Requirements (if any): None required.

[G] Title: The Civic Guard
Dice Rolled: Stewardship and Martial
Chance of Success: 95%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: While the army is away, the civilians will pray. Or riot, that might happen to. Making sure that the civic guard is ready both for the influx of soldiers, and the absence of said soldiers, is important. Panic or bad news in a battle could cause riots, and riots threatened the city's stability. Luckily Kiralo had already begun looking into this.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Sprinkling of Mages
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn.
Text: Mages do not stand all alone, not in an army. While some cluster in groups, for large-scale battlefield magic, others serve as an attachment to existing units, to stand behind the line of spearmen and work their magic. Figuring out how to divide them up in a way that works best could definitely be important.
Requirements (if any): At least one Mage

Title: A Spiritual Hunt
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Finding and binding spirits in the local area can be a dangerous procedure. After all, keeping spirits in the area is important for many reasons, and so clearing them out could have negative impacts...but so could losing the war.
Requirements (if any): 1 Mage

Title: Spirit Support
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: 70%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Set up the basic spirit-structure that will help guard the camps from attack and make sure everything is working right. This is simple work, and yet doing it wrong is certainly possible. History tells of armies that did not have the basics down, and lost the war because of it.
Requirements (if any): 1 Mage

Title: The Garb of Conquerors
Dice Rolled: N/A
Chance of Success: 100%
Time:
Text: Now that they have the titles, many of the new generals and powerful lords are demanding that they be garbed appropriately to their station, and their garb recognized as official. Even if it looks absurd. Refusing to do so could be taken as a deadly insult...or it might be gotten away with. Either way, just admitting that it's all fine might be best.
Requirements (if any):

Title: The Sword of Plenty
Dice Rolled: Stewardship
Chance of Success: 80%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Kiralo might wish to match them. It is ridiculous, but the fanciful nature of their raiment might make it wise to match them, in both grandeur and in other means. One does not want to be shown up by one's own generals. And a new sword, one that can be wielded in battle but also as a symbol of office that won't break like the silver sword would if used, could be important.
Requirements (if any): None

[M] Title: A Roundabout Service
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy, Stewardship
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: With so many peasant men in the local area going off for war, there might be trouble with the various harvests and minor crops in the area. It would be no more than a gesture, but Kiralo could have the Mages of the Academy whose specialty is helping crops go out and help work with the local peasants. Saying it is no more than a gesture is to admit that it would not stop any larger problems, but a single
Requirements (if any): None

[M] Title: Quit It
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Aiyistin might well be a great spirit indeed, but that doesn't mean it can't be annoying. If it drags on Kiralo's eyesight in the middle of him loosing an arrow, it could lead to his death. The spirit might not be tameable, but it does need to know the importance of not interfering at the wrong time.
Requirements (if any):

Title: Repairing Ties
Dice Rolled: Martial, Diplomacy
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Kiralo has been away from his men for quite some time. Perhaps he should refamiliarize himself with them, since they are officially his household troops. So he should go around, make sure the people in the lower ranks are ready. He has money to outfit them, though there's...there is the question, if the war is won, what is to be done with them.
Requirements (if any): None

[G] Title: Camp Followers
Dice Rolled: Martial, Stewardship
Chance of Success: 90%
Time:1 Turn
Text: Every camp needs cooks, laundrywomen, and all manner of people. Some of course aren't necessarily wanted by the high command, such as the merchants bilking the soldiers' before they're even paid, or the endless stream of prostitutes hurrying along in the wagon trains to service the needs of the soldiers, but these are not things that can be stopped, so one might as well work to regulate them. as best can be done.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Lay Down the Law
Dice Rolled: Stewardship
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Laws to regulate the conduct of soldiers are as old as they are hard to enforce. It is important to make some body to guard the soldiers, to make sure that if two fight, they will be tried and appropriately punished. And in a less practical matter, cutting down on the worst excesses of soldiers towards civilians can be nothing but good.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

Title: To The Very Bones
Dice Rolled: Martial, Diplomacy
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Recruitment is already going to be very exacting, but it is possible that recruitment could be sped up and the standards lowered to sweep up even more men. While it may take more work to integrate them, it could be worth it, depending on Kiralo's plans.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

Title: Woodsman and Outlaws
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Skirmishers are the lowliest part of any army. Scouts of sorts, when one doesn't have enough cavalry (which they don't) they also serve as partisans and killers, and thus their reputation is low, and they aren't used by the Imperial Army, which just hires locals for that purpose when they go after bandits. Gather up some of these men, give them more training than they might otherwise receive, and pay them. And see whether they could be of more service than they were traditionally.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

Title: Sabotage Protection
Dice Rolled: Intrigue
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Sabotage is just the worst, isn't it? Yes. It is.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: The Mystery Mage
Dice Rolled: N/A
Chance of Success: 100%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Who are they? Really, who is this?
Requirements (if any): 1 Mage...you know, the Mystery One?

[G] Title: Integrating the Nobles
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 70%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The nobles are going to be a problem. Or at least they might be. They might be a huge problem, but they're also the price of getting what he'd needed. So now, how to make sure that their skills are redirected appropriately?
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Reserved Elite
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn.
Text: If it comes to a battle, there will of course be the main forces, and also reserves. Kiralo will need to find a way to shape these reserves, make sure that he has control of them, and more than that, forge them into a unit that can work together. Because reserves, when deployed, have the difficult challenge of turning a battle around. It is thus not something to do lightly.
Requirements (if any): 1 General

Title: Raising The Ranks
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: 65%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Any army needs people who can manage things. Who can make sure the average grunting soldier knows where to go. Sergeants, one might call them. Finding these people and making sure they have authority is very important, especially since they have to deal with the people one rung above, many of whom will be appointed nobles.
Requirements (if any): 1 General.

Title: A Blade Through The Soul of the World
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 50%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The Gods watch us. And so does the world, so do scholars. A blade pierces innocence, and leaves behind only death. The world watches, and thus it is best to ask the priests for blessings, for rituals of success and signs of favor, and it is best that one allow the scholars to see, even if at a distance, the events that will shape the world.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Quiet Contemplation
Dice Rolled: Learning
Chance of Success: ???
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Pray. Pray for the wisdom to lead tens of thousands of men into death. Pray that it can be done, and done successfully. To whatever end the Gods will will.
Requirements (if any): None

[M]Title: Priestly Aid
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Priests have magic too. They are not Mages, but then neither are the sages of the Southland. Perhaps some would be willing to go along with the army, both in their capacity as priests (and some will no matter what) but also in their capacity as magical advisers.
Requirements (if any): None

******

A/N: I bet this will get complicated, so first step. No need to assign Generals and Mages yet. Just note that if you use more than the number there is, that's, uh, a problem? So watch for that.
 
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Turn 9--Planning Part 2
Turn 9--Asset Assignment


Kiralo

Desc: Obviously, Kiralo can personally choose to work on a single thing, giving it as much of his time, focus and attention as he can. It isn't hard to guess what Kiralo is good at and what he isn't, though the answer is honestly 'everything' to some extent.

Kueli

Desc: A powerful man, if a foreigner and outsider who might draw ire, he is skilled in the use of spirits and in personal combat, and a very, very good cavalry leader, second only to Kiralo. He is also skilled in logistics.

Pao

Desc: Skilled at logistics, river transportation, and skirmishing and scout forces, he's also a decent general overall.

Jin'ha

Desc: Perfect for local affairs, he can also manage money very well, and might have a certain way with local people, including new recruits.

Jun

Desc: Quick, decisive and brave, he's skilled at dealing with even the rawest conscripts, but possesses no special knack outside the battlefield, relatively speaking.

Niu

Desc: Logistics, cannons, the bureaucracy, military men, his purview is actually rather wide, all things considered.

Ji'lae

Desc: A powerful Mage in personal combat, he has ties and connections that might prove more than a little useful.

Gen'ha

Description: A binder of spirits and a long-term worker, now might be the time that he can shine, in preparing ahead of time the spiritual protection that will be so needed.

Hi'sen

Desc: Hi'sen is a healer, first and foremost, and his magical and personal skills all revolve around this.

Bao'ren

Desc: A spirit-catcher, more at home in the wild than anywhere else, his skills might not be as useful before the march begins as one might hope. But perhaps there is a way.

Jaw-Lung

Desc: Guns, cannons. And then even more guns and cannons. Such is the way of Jaw-Lung.

Fugitive

Desc: ???

*****

[] Training Days
-[] Select a General.

[] Sprinkling of Mages
-[] At least one Mage. Choosing more can be better, but think about how they'd interact with each other. And so on.

[] Reserved Elite
-[] Choose 1 General.

[] Raising The Ranks
-[] Select a general.

[] Lay Down the Law
-[] Select a general.

[] Scouting In the Dust
-[] Select a general.

[] Spirit Support
-[] Choose one or more Mages.

[] [G] [M] A Doctor In the House?
-[] You may choose a Mage, a General, or both.

[] [G] Cannon Law
-[] If there are any left, you may choose a general.

[] [G] Integrating the Nobles
-[] You may select a general if you wish.
******

A/N: I'm dividing them into two categories so that you know to eat your broccoli before you eat your dinner. Because, for instance, in the prelim plan that Zeitgeist proposed...you'd run out of generals before filling all the places you wanted to throw one in. Just how it goes. Also, vote by plan.
 
Turn 9--Results, A
Turn 9--Part A

"Law is not a field I ever thought I'd see you digging into," Kueli said, "I cannot imagine you as a wise, long-bearded sage who knows every trial and precedent." The other man was sprawled, in the Southland fashion, across a couch.

It was a habit that now seemed almost a little odd to him, and he knew that this was part of adjusting. It didn't seem wrong, just different, the way Kueli was reclined like a Southlander Prince, picking at the bowl of fruit in front of him in a small room near the training field.

"It's important to keep them from causing havoc." Kiralo hesitated and said, "I can't stop certain things. They're going to go into fights, they're going to get drunk." He shrugged, "But I can't let it affect the army, and I don't want to have a roving squad of idiots let loose without any supervision."

There were other reasons, but, frowning, he wasn't sure how much concern for the lives of the peasants in the path of such an army weighed. After all, they were going to be robbed, or at least made to 'sell' their goods for a reduced price. The army would forage when it had to, and all the supplying and budgeting wouldn't stop the fact that they'd probably not be able to rely on the wagons the whole time, not without slowing to a snail's crawl.

But he knew that there were worse things an army could do, starting with murder and going up and up and up. It might not be encouraged, of course, but it would happen, and the most that could be done would be to control it. There was a reason that armies allowed women of a certain profession to follow along, and it was because it was far easier to keep it in-camp than have idiots, many of them driven by instincts more than sense, tramping around villages or going off on 'scouting patrols' that happen to have other purposes.

The specifics of the laws, on the other hand, would be intensely difficult, for though the laws had been made time and again, the old ones didn't quite fit.

"What about the scouts?" Kiralo asked, "Are they doing any better than the new men?"

"They're fine. You're just used to decent armies. Trust me, back when we were working with the militia's of the edgelands, we would have killed for someone who knew how to hold a spear. It's just the way they are. They aren't going to charge, and even in a formation, they're going to hesitate and cower and need to be prodded forward. It's why you have men with whips and swords and balls." Kueli laughed, shaking his head, "Seriously, though, what's the plan with the laws? You gonna make any examples?"

In a sense, it certainly would be easier. All of the new men were having to be trained in a number of things. Jin'ha had actually run him through the matter.

"I've only done it with bandit takers, but what you have to understand is that the militia is never going to be great for anything." The man, short and in his thirties, with a cultivated beard, looked over Kiralo uncertainty, still not sure of his place in all of this. He had local contacts and ties, and Kiralo had watched the training, thinking on how different it was with Rassit. "Most of the training should be to make sure they can march, obey orders, and fear you. Then you give them as many spirits, and as many names, as you can manage. Beyond letting them practice standing in formation, using a shield, stabbing...you aren't going to be able to make them into people who will go on their own."

"Very different from the Rassit," Kiralo said, frowning, looking at the other man, "So, we make them able to bear the march, and hope they stand up in battle?"

"You could train them a little, but it's not combat skill that matters. Battle's dangerous, even with the spirits, and so it's willingness to step forward and try, at least when we're talking rabble versus rabble. Bandits, now that's easy, they're decent individual fighters, but a line of crossbow or a few good soldiers and they're dying."

"I understand that much," Kiralo said, "Will they be ready?"

"Yes. We have to hope that the lords train their men a little as well, because otherwise we'll be getting ready all into the fall. Just wave after wave." He rubbed his eyes, "And we're going to have to move out of the city."

Kiralo frowned. That would be a nightmare, once it happened. He looked at the other man, "And the good news?"

"The good news is that it could be worse. This is what campaigns are."

"I know that much," Kiralo said, "Though I'd like to think that I'm not as incompetent as some I've seen in charge." He sighed and looked at Jin'ha. Evaluated him. "Talk to the local merchants, as well. See to it that if any soldier steals from them, it's reported to the right person. And that a record is kept, in case I want to see it."

"What? Why? A middle-man should handle that, someone with an iron rod."

Everyone knew that the only way rabble soldiers and the like would learn is through physical discipline. Beating and confinement were the two most common punishments in the laws and regulations he was trying to set up, and that was the way of the world. The Rassit did not act thus, but they were not a model for the world, far from it in some ways.

He would always be one of them, but their mindset was that of what they were: horsemen, and fast ones at that. A Rassit who felt mistreated could be a hundred miles away in a day, and even if other Rassit could chase him down, it'd mean they'd be going well out of the way of their objective, scattering any unity to the winds themselves.

"Because I've been told that it's a good idea," Kiralo said.

"By who?!"

******

"You have to show them that you have control," Yanmae said, in that soft, delicate voice of hers, as she glanced down at the tea. She seemed the last person to counsel harshness, but when he'd put his concerns in front of her, one of the two people he'd trust as regards to designing laws (and the only one who wasn't his father) she had been harsh.

"Death is not a punishment that should be meted out all that often, but they should fear it if they backslide. And you need to know how often people are punished because then you can know their offenses and can look for patterns."

"Patterns?"

She nodded, "Yes. Is a particular unit stunningly quiet, and yet you see no reason why? Perhaps someone is covering for them. And r-rapes…those will be hardest to notice." She frowned, her face troubled. "All this business of war and soldiers, it's not the kind of thing that interests me. But I know it is what interests you."

"It's what I'm best at, that's true," Kiralo asked, "Are things going well at court?"

He spent enough time there to know that nothing was on fire, but little more.

"Better than they could," Yanmae admitted with a shrug. "Better than they could. Father has things under control, but he's doubled the eunuch guards and servants."

"Why eunuch servants, when he could just use women?" Kiralo asked, frowning. It was something to think about, and he realized that there was a point to this musing, besides the fact that it was a point of curiosity.

Yanmae looked at him, her face blank, "I believe he might owe something to the eunuchs."

"That could be it. Perhaps it would create ties between me and them, even though I've not talked with them."

"You could hope so, but why would it matter, brother?" Yanmae asked.

"Because what better enforcers of certain laws than eunuch guards? Camp followers and prostitutes need to be regulated, and the men's...actions in regards to them need to be watched. And what better guards than eunuchs, if they can keep up?"

Yanmae shuddered, and he remembered that for all of her intelligence, she was a young woman of good breeding, and talk of prostitutes, any more than talk of mistresses that a future husband would likely take, was well beyond any politeness.

He watched her. That was one thing he had over her, or at least one thing that she wanted that he could give her. The absence of a marriage. And yet it was also one thing that he did not want to use against her. He knew what it was like, to be under the thumb, one way or another, of forces too powerful to buck, and he didn't want to be that sort of person.

Yet, even as an implied threat, one he would never carry out, it had its own weight. She didn't wish to marry, and if this was contrary to the way that men and women were supposed to live, that did not change that it was a contrariness that was entirely her own decision, if he had any say.

But he needed her, all the same. And she wanted to be needed. He felt as if he were peering at a painting from the wrong angle, and he rubbed his eyes, staring at her for a moment before saying, "I am sorry for what I said, Cs-Yanmae."

"It is fine. I simply cannot imagine why any woman would--" Yanmae paused, "Besides desperate need, and not all of them are desperate."

Kiralo frowned, and shrugged, "Why would any man, either?"

"Any man?" Yanmae asked, looking at him, the obvious question hanging in the air. Thus far, nobody else truly knew for sure that he was Mirena, at least at court. Kueli wouldn't spread that around, wouldn't have anyone to spread it around to, would consider it so obvious that it would not be worth saying.

"I'll marry when the time comes, Cs-Yanmae, and you have my promise that I will not marry you against your will, so long as I live."

"Then I should assure that you live to be older than father, Cs-Kiralo," Yanmae said, and her small, delicate face softened with relief.

*****

"I'm wondering about her. It is too bad I could not meet her, that would tell us for sure," Kueli said.

"Tell us what?" Kiralo asked, glancing at his friend as he played with an orange.

"Well, how devoted she is to never marrying. If she resists my charms, then she is truly dedicated to the task."

"You say that, you say that," Kiralo said, with a laugh, "But did you hear what the women called you when we went out?"

"What?" Kueli asked.

"Moustache Man," Kiralo said, nodding firmly.

"And of that I am proud, not embarrassed. I am not you, to cower at the prospect of being known for my looks. You could be drowning in...instead, here you are, trying to make laws to keep everyone from doing anything wrong, no matter how fun."

Kiralo shook his head, "There are limits. It is tiring, though, and so is the fact that people are already talking about you."

"And what are they saying?" Kueli asked.

"Besides the cracks about your moustache, you mean? That not only are you my right hand, but that I'm going to appoint you to high office, perhaps within the reserves."

"Are you?"

"I might, even," Kiralo admitted, glad that nobody was listening, "But…"

What's gone wrong? (Choose 1)

[] "Jun's somehow managed to get into a fight. He's going to duel one of the commanders tomorrow morning."
-[] "And I'm going to hope he doesn't die. Either way, that's one person who might not ever truly work with me, because Jun is my responsibility."
-[] "And I'm going to go there tonight and try to settle this matter, one way or another. I can only hope it doesn't make things worse."
[] "A commander has been caught encouraging lax discipline and abusing his men, including in some ways that deserve worse than a caning. Now a whole group of trained soldiers need to be evaluated to see if they were in on, say, the…" "The what?" "The...acts."
[] "Jun's run into the problem that far too many people are trying to gain control of any potential reserves. Especially with troops coming in from Xissand, it's likely to be a council. A literal council of war...within the main body."
-[] "And I want you to get a seat on it."
-[] "And this isn't acceptable. I am going to try my best to destroy any foolish notions while I still can."
[] "You won't believe the argument that the council of generals is putting forward, regarding army structure…" "That bad?" "Worse."

******

[] Lay Down the Law
-[] Kiralo
-[] Need: Variable, Rolled: 1d100+8=98


[] Reserved Elite (Jun)
Result: 1d100+15+5=36

A/N: And...ouch. That roll wasn't the best. It's not a complete failure or anything, since that'd be hard to do, but...it's a price. A very steep one, considering all of those undermine something about what the choice was getting at. This update wasn't great, but eh...
 
Turn 9--Results, B
Turn 9--Results, B

[X] "A commander has been caught encouraging lax discipline and abusing his men, including in some ways that deserve worse than a caning. Now a whole group of trained soldiers need to be evaluated to see if they were in on, say, the…" "The what?" "The...acts."

Kiralo prayed when he could. The gods, the many gods that worked together to sustain the world, they responded to prayer, but they also knew when to let things lie. He knew that. The gods had been formed of the hopes and prayers of the spirits, in a dying, crumbling world, and they had made humanity, a being that could tend to the world, perfect it, master it and the spirits and in doing so preserve it all.

Great Spirits had torn the world apart, and it was the duty of the Gods to maintain it...but also the duty of man himself.

So, he prayed when he could. Prayed because he believed in the empire, and he knew that the gods would do as they will, but he still wanted to do it. It was what they deserved, even if there was no benefit.

So he prayed for the empire and he prayed for his sister and his mother and sometimes even Kuojah, and for Kueli in his task of searching for scouting material, and he prayed for the men and women who had been brutalized by the foot soldiers.

Some were dead. Some were broken. And the commander had known of the cases, hadn't cared. Nobody would have cared except that, of course, one of the people brutalized a week before had been a maid who had a nobles' ear, likely because she was a mistress of his. And from there, evidence had piled up.

He'd visited a room where one of the women had been kept, after having been kidnapped. The smell of rot filled the air as he gazed on the form. She greeted him, staring out at him with blind eyes. Blinded eyes. A mass of scars and cuts where there had been eyes.

Lacking both legs, up to the knee. There had been many cases, some worse and others better.

Some of them were guilty of nothing more than getting drunk and beating other men up at the bar, or watching and saying nothing.

Others were murderers. Others were worse than murderers.

That summer day as he wiped his brow and talked to a mumbling woman whose teeth had been stoved in, whose dignity had been torn apart, torn out with her tongue, he had stared fury in the face and decided that he wanted them to pay.

That the only justice that could be granted was vengeance.

He'd held onto that fury, because it was all he could do. The commander was rotting in a dungeon, and the days were hot and the dungeon sweltering, and Kiralo had to pray, but what to pray to?

Noriniga, the god of healing? Or his subordinate Ushin, who cared for those who were crippled, those who were born with the souls of the whole, but without the bodies to match it. Or the minds, in some cases.

The fury was almost too overwhelming, and he went to pray. He went to meditate. He knelt in a pool of cool water.

And yet, ultimately, it wasn't even truly the pursuit of undue vengeance.

******

He stood, watching the people walk forward, hoods on their head. The sweltering heat was nothing, and he blinked, looking at the line. The line of people seemed to him fitting, almost. They were going to die, and yet all of his prayer had succeeded only in making him be able to be cool. It hadn't given him even the least kindness towards them.

They would be executed according to the rules, and then there were other spectacles. The executions were public, and the crowd buzzed, watched it all. Soldiers and peasants for whom this was their first vision of military life.

A loud man, tall and with a deep voice, booming out a list of crimes, and then they stumbled forward, and if Kiralo was captured alive, if he lost but didn't die, then he might be there before too long. Stumbling forward to die. Or perhaps allowed to kill himself via poison.

It all depended, Kiralo knew, hands knotting together, on what was best for the public. What message they wanted to send.

The executioner stepped forward, wearing white. A corpse. He hefted an axe. There were many ways to die, many far worse than this.

They knelt, and down came the axe and he didn't look away. Flinching away from violence was not what a Rassit ,not what any warrior should do. And so he saw the head part from the party. The puddle of gore and blood that slowly collected.

You lived your life hurting others for good or ill. You didn't stand at the top, you didn't call yourself mercenary, and pretend that you weren't causing deaths. Kiralo wanted to step forward, wanted to clean up the puddle, because the second and third head, the blood from that meant it was spreading.

Just as a battle degenerates into a chaotic, terrified free-for-all, so too did the executions become messier. Sloppier. The men begged, or struggled more, and the cuts weren't as clean. He watched the blood, allowed it to register. The puddle grew and grew, and one man threw up before the axe fell, and that time, Kiralo did look away.

Breathed in and out, the spirits around him seeming almost to crane to see what it was that was going on. As if it were a show.

"Acts unbecoming a soldier, including assaults that resulted in the loss of valuable servants and work."

The families of the soldiers would pay, at least for the acts that were known. The nobles and merchants had lost valuable time and work, and so they would get paid, and then they'd put aside some of that for the family or the person themselves, who would put some aside anyways for their family.

The money would go down the chain, dwindling until, perhaps, this slick of blood in a hot day, as thousands watched became nothing more than a stick rice ball to a cousin's cousin's child.

The world made of it what you made of it. People died, and Kiralo watched, flinched only once, when some fool tried to make a drunken speech, his words slipping over each other, stumbling like he was a man walking across water-soaked rocks in a swift stream.

He fell. He humiliated himself, and there was no sympathy when he was forced down, not from the crowd with bayed, which cheered.

Sons and daughters and fathers and mothers were here too, and they got a different lesson from it. They learned something else, they learned something important.

Kiralo raised his hand. Another axe fell. Each hand raise...he could have stood back. He could have pretended that this was not his act.

Like they might have wanted to pretend that this was not theirs. They'd had trials, more than they deserved, hauled in front of a priest of the Judges. Twenty minutes each, to beg their defense or for forgiveness, and there had been remarkably little to sway even the most softhearted man, let alone an experienced Judge, who like the Ten that he served knew how to separate the guilty from the innocent, and knew more than that what Kiralo and the world expected.

His recommendations were, if anything, harsher.

But he had no use for their heads, or their bodies. They would be burned, and their ashes scattered in the common pool of criminals. No special dishonor would rest on their families, only themselves.

What mother thought of their son strangling a woman, what father dreamed of their son covering up a drunken act of accidental murder by tossing a body into muck.

No. The men had acted.

The commander? Would he die?

More blood pooled in that spot, and Kiralo frowned, lips pursing. He'd have to decide that.

*******

"It is a shame. This is what modernity brings, my father says," the young man said, burbled was more like it, in an accent that Niu couldn't quite place.

Niu, whose soft, delicate hands held the teacup, the long nails tapping against it. He was forty, and looked it, already balding, eyes gazing at the young man in front of him. Hair too long to be proper, but too short to have a ceremonial function, or to be a religious statement, the way some young men of pious standing wore it long to symbolize the river.

Skin a shade too dark, accent a shade off of the proper Iritan accent that Niu was used to, not the sort of person that Niu liked.

Niu had his own exacting standards, and this man did not fit them. "It is."

"Still, they had to die. I merely hope that Cs-Kiralo spares the commander. His cousin is of some import."

"No doubt," Niu said, "But less than you would think. He is not highly respected, but he is skilled. His loss is a small price to pay if it restores order in the army."

"Yeah, yeah. I was thinking. The men that remain need a good, hard commander. And people to assist such a man. My father is known for his justice and fairness, for the strictness with which he applies the religious laws to slackers and laybouts."

Niu nodded.

Nori, the young man in front of him, did indeed have a father whose piety and dedication to the law were famous. As was proper, he would send his men to beat and whip the impious or those who followed a dangerous religion, without any of the hesitation and weakness that lay at the heart of many flaws.

It was something that Niu could appreciate.

And so the son was likely of the same mold as the father. Still, if that was so, it would not be any true lie to tell this young man that the unit was going to be pulled from the reserves, put in the front line. He would do well there as with anywhere, if he was truly talented. And if he was not, then he would do less harm with a group of soldiers no longer regarded as one of the elites, as a trained and career group that could be relied upon.

He sipped the tea, and counted the days. Cs-Kiralo had to know what he was doing, and yet Niu would have rather been working on the cannons. Working with the men who dealt with that, examining the flaws in doctrine, or overseeing the vast logistical train that would have to be formed.

But, he obeyed. The Envoy was Cs-Kuojah's son, and a formidable man of great import, and so it was no real dishonor to listen to his advice, and to trust in his own judgement of the other man. Smart, wise, dangerous.

Kiralo was a man who could not be predicted. Any reasonable man wouldn't watch such death, but then any reasonable man wouldn't have risen so far and fast, and in the court, reason was merely yet another tool, Niu thought sadly.

Kiralo had genius, if he could just apply it on the scale that was needed now.

******

The cannon foundaries were hotter than ever in the summer, and Kiralo sat, watching as the body of a cannon was cast. Sparks flew, molten iron was cast into the proper shapes. Each cannon was an expense, and yet there would be if anything too few of them. It was only lucky that there would be little siegework, as trying to transport, say, one of the famous fifteen feet guns, or even larger, monstrous things as much for show as for use, would have been a nightmare and a half. As it was, even the smallest cannons were going to take time and work to haul.

He stood up, glancing at these men, and knew that their job was to create. His was to direct. And one direction he'd need to manage was that of focus.

And that question, well, it was a matter of asking himself: what was Prince Jinhai going to do? If it came down to a single battle on the field like in the old stories, then siegecraft would be far less useful. But if it became a cat and mouse game, of captures and recaptures, then a few more cannons of that sort...and there was also the matter to consider of the light cannons.

If he was going to deploy them, he'd need to train up troops to defend them, because it would take far too many cannons, and far too good of ground, to defend themselves on their own. This would be greater trouble, and yet could have greater advantages.

Quite a bit hung in the balance. Men trained and fought and sweat, and would soon die, while Kiralo planned and thought, considered things that might well lead to far more deaths than the ones he'd supervised the day before.

What to do with the commander?

[] Execute him. In the normal fashion. This would serve as a message to all others who contemplate such acts, and it would certainly be viscerally satisfying. There is no evidence that he took part in the worst of the acts, but the very fact that he knew and aided in hiding it all is unforgivable. It's disgusting.
[] Kill him. Painfully. This would send an even stronger message, and Kiralo might not have been able to hold back a spark of rage if it hadn't been for meditation. He might have done this no matter what, but he could still, coldly, no longer in the moment, decide that this is best.
[] He is to be imprisoned for life, his family name dishonored and stripped from him, but perhaps granting him his life is enough to impress any potential allies of his that Kiralo is not their enemy...or at least make them think it.

As for the cannons?

[] Focus on big cannons and siegework (new options unlocked)
[] Focus on light cannons and battlefield works (new options unlocked, and kinda required)

*****
[] [G] Integrating the Nobles
-[] Niu
-[] Need: 30, Rolled: 1d100+7 (Niu's diplomacy, good but not great)=66

[] [G] Cannon Law
-[] Need: 40, Rolled: 1d100+15=16...but natural ones are rerolled because of martial level, thank god. Roll #2 (for keeps)=78

A/N: And so here we go, another update.
 
Turn 9--Results, C
Turn 9--Results, C

Rest easy the souls of those he failed, Kiralo thought, looking at the headless corpse. The courtyard was far less crowded now as the men and white dragged the body away. He stepped forward, towards the pool of blood. The men who dragged him away were quiet, respectful as such things went.

He knew what war was, and he knew what the rights and privileges of an executioner and the man who defiled himself by handling death were.

The commander had already bribed the headman, paying out money for as clean of a death as possible, though he needed not fear. At least, he needed not fear Kiralo. It was the Judges that man should truly fear. Everything they could do, even the worst torture, was nothing compared to the true justice that would go to the deserving. Some might say he was weak, for refusing to go further...but it was because he knew that there was another set of judges, ones that would make their own decision, who would bring justice.

This, all of this...it didn't matter.

But it didn't make the corpse any less there. It had to be buried, acts had to be done. Whether he'd died in a ditch drunk or on a battlefield by cannon-volley, the body existed, even as the soul moved on.

He glanced down at the head, considered it. The commander had been in his late thirties, a long career behind him. He'd joined when he was a young man, and seen his way through the army, through an era of relative peace, only to die before the first real battles of the first real full-scale war in almost a century.

"Mount it in the market square for one week," Kiralo said, "Under a banner proclaiming his crime. Set a guard or two on it, to keep anyone from defiling it further."

There was an attendant there. In fact, he was getting used to talking to the very air and assuming that it would obey him, that a scribe or someone was writing down his words, translating them into policy without any of the hassle of having to act.

He'd thought about that before, the way the court seemed to distance the action from the reaction. In battle, even at its most distant, the general was connected. But in statecraft, a single decision could be sent a thousand miles while a man merely sits in a chair and dictates words.

Like poetry, it had a power that could neither be denied nor, by many, be understood.

So he acted, and people paid and people died that he never saw.

This was justice, or the best that mere humans could manage, and the thought left him cold, cold and in awe of the Gods and the Judges, the way they did so much better than many, even the wisest. And yet they'd made man, not in their image, but in the only image that would save the world.

It had to be going somewhere. This was all going to be worth it.

*****

Perhaps, then, it is not coincidence that brings him riding outside the city for the first time in months. It was a lovely summer day, all things considered, as he rode towards the camp. The river ran, king of rivers still, the farms along the way still worked tirelessly to supply some small fraction of the city's hunger.

Rice paddy fields, wet and muddy and no doubt miserable in the heat. There was always something growing, somewhere in the Empire, at every moment of every day, and there was perhaps something of a statement in that. He rode along, allowing the wind to blow through his hair, as he finally reached the camp, after almost an hour of riding. It was in a slight dip in the landscape, the roll of a hill that kept on rolling downwards, but couldn't be called a valley in even a child's imagining.

The camp was clean and neat, at least from a distance. Careful lines of tents, with rather more discipline than some Rassit managed to maintain, with several tents to serve as stables, people moving this way and that, chaos that was at a distance very controlled.

And in rode Kiralo, bodyguards at his back, gazing down at familiar faces as he entered.

Once he got closer, he could smell the familiar, pungent aroma of horses. Everything about them was familiar, and when you got well over a thousand horses in one place, the smell filled everything. Men ate and bathed and slept and no doubt did other things. It was everywhere and everything.

So familiar that even its worst incarnations seemed almost comforting as he rode into the camp, waving and sending greetings as he went.

"Sir, sir!" one young boy said. Boy? He was clearly a full Rassit now, as he hadn't been before. "Welcome back, sir!"

"Thank you," Kiralo said with a smile, and then, in a calculated move, he dismounted. "How was it on the border?"

They were speaking, of course, in Southlander.

"Good, good. Everyone says you went up north and became courtified, but I knew you'd come back, sir," he said.

"Of course I would, Oliane," Kiralo said, remembering the name he'd squirreled away months and months and months ago.

But the boy, young and impressionable, ugly in the way of a very, very eager but scruffy puppy, seemed thrilled by it.

It was easy, surprisingly easy, to charm first one and then others, allowing himself to be dragged this way and that.

He met the men in their tents, he talked with them, and everywhere he heard enthusiasm and concerns that now seemed laid to rest. Had he gone north and stopped being a Rassit? No. What were they going to do now that they were here? Fight, of course.

It was so easy, it almost startled him. Had he changed? Or was it always like this. He'd almost forgotten how easy it was, how simple he could feel the heartbeat of HIS unit. These were his people, and so by the time he reached Kueli, he was a different man.

Lighter. More free. Better.

"You look like you're enjoying the time back," Kueli said when he entered the tent, stroking his mustache. "And here I was hearing that you were too busy with grim work in the capital."

"It really is busy," Kiralo said, "The cannons should be good, though. I think that they'll do wonders against the enemy formation, especially if we can follow up on it."

"Ah, of course," Kueli said, "Though what do we do once we've won the war?"

"Once we've won?" Kiralo asked, "I'm not there yet."

"Maybe not. But you have to get there eventually." Kueli stretched and said, "Are we staying here, are we going back?"

"Staying," Kiralo said, "I can afford to hire my own mercenary unit, if need be." Kiralo smiled and said, "You are my 'household troops' officially."

"Ahh, of course," Kueli said with a shrug, "And what a household. A stressed household with a father at odds with you, a sister who advises you on the law, and a burning need to cut loose."

"Oh? With what time?" Kiralo asked, walking over to a table that had been set up in the meeting room and plopping himself down. "Drinking means hangovers, and hangovers means miserable mornings."

"Don't even have to drink. How long's it been since you've tried up smoking? Or, well…" Kueli smirked and said, "The women of this city are quite generous when you have a lot of money, and I know a place like this has men as well…"

He'd been avoiding it for reasons he couldn't entirely understand. Some of it was wanting to be an unknown element, to be someone who might be seduced by some woman, someone who seemed disconnected from the desire that seemed to run the lives of far too many people at court, whose conversations were filled with desires and strange fancies.

And part of it was an uncertainty, a fear that connection would form and having done so he'd have an obligation. But that wouldn't have stopped him from just finding someone. There was plenty of sex in the courts outside of marriage, among the young bucks not yet married, and the older men whose marriage was nothing more than a fiction.

It would have been easy, and instead he'd hesitated.

He didn't understand why. So he shrugged, stretching a little bit, "Maybe I should, but there's more to do now. Still, keep going out there for me, I suppose. Is there anything you need?" Kiralo asked, "Any problems you're facing."

"Well, I think we could really draw in the people if we did things right. And I think that our men could use a pay increase, if you could drag that out somehow, I know--"

"Done," Kiralo said, smiling up at Kueli. "Money isn't an object. How is the scouting going?"

"Which sort? At this rate, and at the rate our men are making themselves known to the women of the city when they travel out to it, there will be a whole new generation of Rassit in two decades." Kueli walked over to the table and said, "But I was thinking about something. Our organization. We're going to be at the head of a small cavalry force, and I've heard you've told the Governor of Hari-Su to focus on his own business."

"I have. Gotta hope it keeps down their own cavalry numbers, and then we can use our superior quality against them."

"Well, in the meantime, that means we have a lot of recruiting to do."

"Dreaming of power and scope?" Kiralo asked. "You know the locals aren't going to have the basic training necessary, and some people might say that there's something profane in teaching it to Csiritans en masse."

"Eh, fuck 'em. The great spirits didn't forbid it, and so I'm going to do it," Kueli said. "If you think it wise."

Did he? He'd felt the mood of the Wind-Dancers, and it was the kind of mood that he would have loved to see before. They had always been skilled, but now they were in a land where they were a one of a kind elite, whose vital skills were on display for all to see.

The world was changing, if Kiralo could just grab on, and they could come with him. Kiralo considered it, leaning down a little, tapping the table for a moment as he thought about it. He was certainly glad that there were no major problems. But…

"Have there been any incidents?"

"A few. Language barriers are a thing, after all," Kueli said with a shrug, "You see, a week ago one of our men was in a brothel and they…"

He listened, frowning over at his friend, thinking about what he wanted.

What do they get out of this? (Choose 3)

[] Increase pay to the individual Rassit, with the money that Kiralo has stashed away. (Increase morale for this unit from Great to Superb.)
[] Use his resources to pave the way for more and better scouts, as per Kueli's efforts (+25 to Scouting roll.)
[] Increase training and recruitment of a new generation of Rassit. It's not likely to matter for the battle, since the search for scouts is different from the search for real Rassit, but starting work now might give a chance later on to expand the ranks. (Recruiting begins)
[] Smooth over any problems with the city, and in fact try to emphasize their role to the courts and other places. He is the barbarian who came from another land and is now a great general. Use this as a tool to enhance his own power...and their own prestige. (+1 Influence, now and after the war, other effects)
[] Some work could be done in integration training, so that the Rassit know how to work with the army as a whole, which is only increasing in size as time goes on. (Reduce teamwork penalties, unlock more options for mixed-force tactics.)

*******
[] Repairing Ties
-[] Roll: 1d100+14=114+67=181

A/N: So.
 
Turn 9--Results, D
Turn 9--Results, D

Scouting In The Dust


Kueli spat on the ground, out of sight of the new recruits. It was certainly the worst idea he'd ever had, that's how brilliant it was. Half of the so-called scouts were teenagers, and some of them even younger, and he'd scraped every barrel he could down to the last man, and he wondered whether any of the girls of the city would like to ride on a big, smelly beast.

Jokes like that made the fact that the moment he'd whistled, he'd gotten way too large of a job a little more tolerable. Him and the fifty elite scouts weren't enough for the hundreds who had shown up, and once they'd gotten rid of the kids who just wanted to steal a horse, they'd still had plenty.

What he had to consider, though, was the boys. Some were even younger than expected, and yet for at least some of the message running, if not the actual scouting, that would be as good as anything else.

"It's not like Kiralo ain't made of money," Kueli said, out loud. One of the other Rassit glanced at him, frowning a little, but Kueli shrugged it off. He could talk to himself if he wanted to: it was good fucking conversation.

So, he had hundreds and hundreds of mounted scouts to train, and only a little time to train them.

There was no way that any of them were going to become great warriors. It wasn't even needed. Some of the hostlers and scoundrals who had some skill in arms would be useful, but it wouldn't be a widespread sort of thing.

What mattered more was teaching them to keep their eyes out, look after their horses, and to retreat and report any sightings or information as soon as they got it. But there had to be something done about the idea of self-defense. He could just give them all a knife or a sword and hope they didn't kill themselves, and certainly it'd be amusing to watch, if not amusing if they fucked up in the middle of a campaign.

But, Kueli thought, giving a glance down at the spit, and then walking around the corner, there were ways to get around that.

"Now, how many of you know how to whistle?!"

******

Some people had to be dragged to the hospital even as it was being made. The first patients were those who were training and marching in the heat. As more and more people poured in, disease too became a problem that had to be watched. It was the nature of man to struggle against death, to put it off until the time of Judgement was right, and even if plenty of doctors merely wished for security and wealth, it was a noble profession, if a fraught one.

But he wasn't going to be the doctor to some rich man, he wasn't going to have to navigate protocol, or figure out just how to make actual diagnosis when viewing the man's wife was a forbidden act, where touching her arm was almost too far. He'd heard a lot about the ways that spirit-lore could supplement even spirit-using doctors, and that was why he had wanted to step outside of that.

Hi'sen had declared his desire to work with the army, and Kiralo had allowed him to do that. So he couldn't complain, not really, that some of the men were hard to work with, and others drunkards or fools. There were worse things in this world than dealing with fools. He could, for instance, be Ji'lae when Kiralo finally investigated that mysterious Mage of his, the one he'd been keeping under wraps for so long.

Hi'sen was his friend, yes, both the man was a fool, and the tall, hard young man had very little pity for him. Besides, Kiralo was said to have some mercy in him. He'd probably just yell, Hi'sen thought, as he looked at the assembled staff. He needed more and more people as the soldiers poured in. None had yet arrived from up north, but they were on the way, and closing in as the days raced by.

The men he had would not be enough for the increased burden, but this was his task, and he would complete it, no matter how difficult.

Now, if only there were more people injured than that, some of the trainees and doctors could use some work at doing more than consultation.

Well, he could hardly demand that the training of the troops be harsher, or less competent, and so he'd have to deal with the sickness he did have to treat. Deal with it, and test out what needed to be done.

Hi'sen knew it'd be until the last possible moment that everything was done...but it seemed as if it was getting done.

******

"Why in all fucks are you taking my boys!?" the fat man yelled at Kueli, "Get your own! They're doing just a fine job of driving the oxen, and they were just about trained, and then you got it in their head that--hey, hey, what are you doing?!"

"I'm reinforcing the walls," Gen'he said. A tall, strange looking young man, he moved as if he were afraid of being hit, and his voice seemed to trail off when he should be defending himself. After all, it was very important work.

Kueli grinned as the fat hostler ran over to Gen'he to bother him, and that was all that was needed. Slip out of the way, and let the man wear himself out. Because Kueli needed people, and it wasn't as if the hostler lacked in warm bodies to work with the warm bodies. It wasn't as if he'd really miss them, and the man should have known better than to stop a young man from turning to horses.

It was baffling, how utterly without any common sense Csiritans were. At least the ones up north. What young boy wouldn't want to be in the cavalry, what human being would make the choice to drive an oxen when he could drive a horse, running and laughing, across the flat plains of the world. He'd known men like the man whose name he hadn't even bothered to learn, but it still baffled him.

A good woman, a good drink, a good horse: these were temptations that were hard to deny.

So he left them to it, and left them to working things out.

******


"How long can it be left unknown?"

"I'm not sure," Ji'lae said, "I'm not sure what he suspects, but it can't be all that much. You should just keep quiet, and we can spring things on him later. As long as I keep on doing a good job, he'll have no reason to look into this. After all, if the mages are distributed and all of the units are doing well, then what does it matter, otherwise? You'll have your chance." He smiled, leaning back in the chair, "If it gets to Irit, there are some spirits you should watch out for, if you're going to prepare.

"Oh?"

"You see, the land of rivers and valleys has quite a few strange old spirits from the days of Empire, the sorts of spirits that could be used against the unwary, or so I've been told. It's a treasure trove, especially to someone who considers things in a different way."

"And I do?"

"Hey, hey, don't take it like that. I don't mean that," Ji'lae said, "You're just as much a part of this war as I am, I'm just saying we all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and once the war is done, I can help you search for what you're looking for. It's in Rerin, right?"

"It might be. Once I find it, a lot of things change."

"Maybe, but what matters is right now."

"Right now, I get it. It's not hard."

"Think of what we're fighting for, and you'll be fine!" Ji'lae broadened his smile, not sure how to get through to them.

"I know what you're fighting for, I know what I'm fighting for. We'll see beyond that."

"Cs-Kiralo is a good man." Ji'lae didn't know that much about him, but he'd been able to understand that.

"We shall see."

******

He kept on waiting for a problem, a mistake. But what he knew was that the worst mistakes, or the worst problems, would be ones he'd barely notice. Everything was going well. The doctors established, the Mages in place, the training going as well as could be expected, the preparation work done so that when they journeyed outward, they would be ready. Room was getting tight as troops finally came in from neighboring Xissand, and some from Yeadalt, a few more from Hari Nat, and the ones from Hari-Bueli were all expected to begin arriving in considerable numbers by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the forces from Rerin had arrived the other day.

Men used to mountains, woodsmen and fighters the lot of them, tough and surprisingly well trained, all things considered. They'd taken to the city as quickly as could be expected, and Kiralo knew they were closer to ready now than they possibly would have been if he'd gone earlier. Conventional wisdom in this case had been correct.

Any temptation to rush, to buck the trends, to act like he was in charge of a bunch of Rassit rather than a far larger and more complicated army had been quashed by the struggle and conflict and complications he'd been dealing with, but now things seemed to be going almost smoothly.

He might even say they were going well, if he wished to tempt the Gods to throw a problem at him, or the world at least.

Letters from Hari-Su indicated early success, letters from Hari-Bueli told him that they were in Xissand already, marching south, and the first of three contingents was going to arrive just at the end. The rest? Probably by halfway through the next month.

If next month was the time to march, he'd probably have to move slowly enough to allow some to catch up.

And Nestirin had sent its troops into southern Irit, forging their way through some of the more lightly defended valleys, sure to link up with the army in Irit.

And what did the Prince do? What were his plans. He too must be doing the same thing, and if he were the prince, he'd try to skim the same route, to come at an angle to the problem of Irit. Or he'd just go through Hirand, march on the capital and dare Kiralo to do battle with him.

But the plains wouldn't be as tempting an option, now, if his spies told him of the work that Kiralo had been doing, or if his common sense told him that he was going to be getting startlingly little in the way of help from Hari-Su. And on the plains of Hirand, rich and central to the entire Empire, he'd be outmaneuvered far too easily.

But it all depended on how well Prince Jinhai was organizing.

Summer waxed in the capital, and tens of thousands moved as one, coming together as an army, as the city prepared for the worst and hoped for anything but. He slept and woke up and ate and worked and worked and worked and worked. His dreams were of war, and he knew this was a sign, perhaps. Dreams spoke to a person, and the dreams he had had, of a moment of chaos, of ordering a volley as the battle seemed to collapse, had been too specific. And yet they didn't have to mean what they meant. Reading dreams was complicated, and he found that what little time he had was eaten up not be drinking with Kueli, or by relaxing, but by praying.

For himself, and for the Empire he loved, dancing on the edge of a blade. He would be ready for whatever followed, even death, that he swore. The Gods were just and the Judges made their decisions without bias. He would go where he did, when he did, and until that moment he would struggle with all he had.

It was a strange sort of war he felt, the way he kept on thinking of Prince Jinhai, and not the vast army he was assembling, as if they were two men, sitting down for a game of Go, exchanging verses. And yet they might never meet.

The wind blew hot, and what followed shook the foundations of of an era.

Turn Nine has ended, but I think it might be fun to do an Interlude or something like that (Choose 1)

[] History book style recounting of some of the events leading to this.
[] Kuojah's Days.
[] A Man Who Must Slay His Family In His Heart.
[] The Will of Gods.
[] Runner.

*****

[] Raising The Ranks (Pao)
-[] Need: 35, Rolled: 1d100+15=45

[] Sprinkling of Mages (Ji'lae)
Need: 40, Result: 1d100+6=90

[] Spirit Support
-[] 2 mages: Gen'ha and Bao'ren
-[]Need: 30, Result: 1d100+13 (the highest of their Magic scores)=66


[] Beast of Burden.

[] Scouting In the Dust
Roll: 1d100+15+10+25 (Scouting)=115

[] [G] [M] A Doctor In the House?
-[] (Hi'sen)
-[] Result: 1d100+8+5=55

A/N: Alright, and so here we go! War!
 
Interlude: Kuojah's Days
Interlude: Kuojah's Days

[x] Kuojah's Days.

His bones hurt in the mornings. In the reflections of Ishino, the old scholar remarked that when young a man is like a flowing river, but when old, he was like a great mountain, and that this can be known by his bones. They were heavy, and yet weak, as the mountain was to the rain.

He'd never expected to get this old: or rather, he'd expected that he'd keep his youthful energy, that he'd twelve hours each day, and then watch a candle burn down as he signed documents and wrote theory and practice into effect each night. He thought he'd have his spirits at his beck and call, and that his body would never fail, and yet now, slowly but surely, it was failing him. He struggled with his spirits now, some of them unaware, or perhaps unwililng to be aware, of how old he was. They'd tug and pull at him, they'd whisper in his ears, and he'd sit there, staring off for a moment, trying to find what to say to set the world to right.

It'd been so easy, once. He'd been able to argue away those wishing for a much higher internal tax on river trade, humiliate them and show that their assumptions of endless peace with the sea-raiders were wrong.

He rose up, his stomach empty, and shuffled into the small side room, kneeling to eat as he ran through old grudges. Old, because what did it matter that he was the one who had insisted on funding the forts, who had worked on tying together Basrat and Hari-Os for the purpose of defense. He'd done all of that, and the Prince had benefitted, and called him someone unable and unwilling to protect the people of the Empire.

Emperor on earth, and all the Emperors with the Judges beyond, it was enough to drive him mad.

That was old age. It stole, it stole and stole and stole. And all you could do is blink and startle at all that you lost. He'd watched his father die, slowly, fall apart, lose his mind, and that was the last thing Kuojah wanted to lose. Everything else, he could stand. He would die, and his line would continue, and that was more than he'd thought before, more than he'd hoped for in the long days that he'd stood at the top of the world with nobody else there.

He'd served the Gods well, and he knew it was not merely folly but minor heresy to expect something from it. But then he'd had a son and then he'd lost a son, and even now he knew they were not truly father and son in the way two people should be. But he didn't know how to bridge the gap, knew that Kiralo would destroy his legacy as soon as continue it. He had his own ideas, he was halfway a barbarian, he thought of open borders and more and more money for the military, he didn't know half of what he needed to know about management, and yet he was competent enough that if Kuojah didn't stop him, he'd rise.

He'd be a disaster, his own kind of special, intelligent disaster, pursuing policies that were thought-out, calculated, but calculated wrongly. And yet, what other option was there? He was his son, and Kuojah had, perhaps, acted in a manner that was honorable but also questionable with the boy's mother.

The boy?

The boy, even though he now went off for death and whatever miniscule glory there was in war. All there was was death, necessary death perhaps, but he couldn't find it in him to feel anything of the glory some gave it.

His bones ached, and they had for over twenty years, and yet still he was alive.

*******

"We are born in the time that is best for our purpose," Kuojah read. "Are we?" It was a practice essay he'd been shown from a promising scholar, arguing a minor philosophical point that had been in contention for centuries. That of souls and birth. How did time work, how did history function, and what was man's place? It was heady stuff, and he nodded and got to reading.

How many years ago had he made essays like this? He had written, and he had felt lucky to be alive at any time, let alone now. He'd understood that this was the greatest Empire the world would ever see, and he'd thought himself the luckiest man alive just for having the ability to aid it, however he could.

He'd dressed carefully, stretched his budget, cultivated a small beard, become the sort of man who argued and debated everything, and yet now, now he grew more and more tired by the hustle and madness of the crowds, shouting their inanities. He was unable to spend the same time in debate and not come out bruised and wishing that it was gone, that it was done with. And yet, fight he still did.

So he wrote. Poetry that he knew was horrible, prose that he knew sometimes was too formal. He'd lost his touch, or at least he'd lost something, but his mind was still strong. Strong, and yet he thought of her.

He thought of her words, her soft corrections. The way her hand reached out as she raised fingers to count off her points, the way they didn't have to hate each other. The way they didn't hate each other, the way it wasn't an obligation. For a woman, she had always been surprisingly smart. Smart, and yet also willful. She had stolen everything from him, and she was not the last woman to do so.

To let down his standards.

And yet, now, with Kiralo in front of him, with his son here, it was hard to hold onto the strange feelings, hard to think of what had been.

When he could think of what might have been.

******

Violence, it came down to that. Executions filled the day, and while his son watched them, Kuojah sat in a room, already used to the distance that life created between action and consequences. It was saddening, but there was nothing he could do. So he sat, bones aching, eyes blurring a little with lack of sleep, and wrote a letter to a courtier, trying to make sure that he was not going to cause any trouble with the slight violation of protocol that they'd engaged in.

Him and the ministry. Him and the secretmongers. But the answer they'd returned back was baffling: the spirits of the late Emperor were warped in a way that made no sense. Which told him that there was something foreign, whether to the world or to Csirit, involved. But he didn't know any more, and they were as baffled as he. As baffled, and unsure of what step they would have to take next.

Perhaps he should...no. Now was not the time. The dead were dead, and yet the living needed tending.

*******

His bones had felt like jelly when she'd touched his hand. He'd melted, felt like a young man, felt like the first time he'd touched the arm of a woman who smiled back at him. It was too much, too much for him. Too much for a lonely fool. He'd fallen, and too hard, he'd lost all control of his senses and if his son now thought he was cold, and placid, like a lake, that wasn't so. It wasn't so at all. He paced, paced, paced as the month came to an end, as war took as long as peace and was ten times as expensive. The palace was bleeding money and yet all he could think of was the bleeding body of his wife, the one he'd come down there to pray for, and the girl he'd instead become fascinated with, even before it became physical.

And then after?

And then she'd died. She'd taken ill and died and he wasn't there, he'd been the one to drive her away. Yet, if he hadn't done that, where would he be now? Would Kiralo be a man to solve this solution? Or would fatherhood have changed him, would his lessons have made someone far better than him, someone who could solve all of this without violence? It was like staring into a mirror and trying to see someone else. All eventualities were ultimately just foolish dreams of the young, by the time you got to an age where you were making your final moves on the go board.

Where you were acting with an eye to a legacy that you didn't decide.

Because ultimately, it would be Kiralo who would see him buried and dead.

A part of him dreaded the possibility that this wouldn't be so. That Prince Jinhai would destroy it all.

It kept him awake at night, running through possibilities until he was tired. Lineage Ainin was alive for the moment, and that's all that mattered.

******

"It's common rumor," the man said.

"Common, but not all that important, no?" Kuojah asked, though inside he wondered, fearfully, if another would buck it all. If another person would fail him. He clutched his walking stick as he sat in the chair, rocking a little, this way and that. He was shrunken, perhaps too old to understand, or perhaps too old not to understand.

"Not important, but I thought you'd want to know." The man across from him was tall, broad, handsome. Perhaps even his son's type of man, if the rumors were true. It was, as he'd said, not important. Many men in court seduced both men and women, and even the rumors that he preferred only men, well…

That was the duty of a man and a woman. They were to get married and they were to maintain families. That was a duty that anyone should be able to understand, and yet would Kiralo be willful, would he think that love meant something when it came to marriage? Meant something when it hadn't for all that time? It wouldn't be the first time someone disappointed him, but it would be the last, and he'd never get to see it.

"I would. Is he associated with anyone in court?"

"No."

"Good, keep me informed," Kuojah said, shaking his head. Thin hair moved this way and that, swayed like grass in the breeze. He dealt with the court that was, not the court he wished. His son would find his way. And in the meantime, these were his days. Dealing with minor things, thinking about that essay, about each of its eight legs, about the way that it seemed so staid, and obvious, and yet he'd rejected it. Rejected it as too obvious, told the author that he'd need to do better to do well in the Civil Service Exam that would follow the war.

It would be delayed, but perhaps not for long.

*******

Remember a day early in a year that was without import for thousands. A woman looked sadly out the window, she dreamed of wings that could take her away. A man got drunk, and stumbled in. His son heated water, and then fed him that water. "They're out to get me, they're out to get me, you stupid, stupid whore! And you're...you're like everyone who--"

He hit her.

The boy watched. The boy watched and thought of the man who knew everything, thought of how little he knew. Did he hate his father? No, he was not brave enough for that, and perhaps Kiralo was the better person.

Instead the boy had felt it wrap around him, felt it warp what he wanted to know, until all he wanted was escape. Until all he wanted was wings. But wings of words.

Flying was for birds. He was a boy of reason even then, learned and smart.

He wanted to be gone, and he'd left. He'd risen, and his father had died. It was the way of things, perhaps.

But it was a way he hated.

Kuojah, old now, stared out at the sky, half-asleep, as the sky darkened. As war clouds filled the horizon.

*******

Timing Again.

[] March the army out in two weeks. (-1 influence during the war for 'haste.'
[] March it out in three weeks.
[] March out in four weeks (-1 influence for the duration of the war because people are starting to get antsy.)
[] Do not march out this month. (-2)

*****

A/N: Yes! After this month, the penalties for not marching out will tend to grow, because you're moving with/against the consensus. Note: this lost influence does not effect court influence dice after the war, if you survive and win.
 
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Turn 10--Planning
Turn 10 (First Half of Mid-Summer)


The Will of the Gods


On a hot field, thousands died in Hari-Su. The enemy, having been pushed from several fortifications, has been followed and destroyed, trying to cross the river into Hari-Su. From there, a swift purge has followed. The Governor was clearly taking revenge on political enemies, but from what can be understood from afar, the people he was destroying were, for the most part, supporters of the Prince, and so this was not only accepted, but encouraged.

The battle, the first real full-scale battle of the war, leaves his army clear to move, with the back of the opposition broken in Hari-Su. There was only so much Kiralo could do at a distance, reading of the latest victories, but he could try to direct the movements of the Governor to some extent. The victories weren't complete, but there was enough that the army would be moving, and where should it go?

What does Kiralo advise?

[] Return to the border to fortify it, just in case.
[] Send raiding parties into Hari-Os, in order to harass the enemy.
[] March into Nestirin, and up towards Irit

******

The news has been rather more restrianed elsewhere. Yeadalt remains stable, stable enough that they've sent some troops...troops that will not arrive in time for the army's movements. But Kiralo can count on them to at least be there, which means that he could either have them follow the army up, to serve as reinforcements once things get bogged down, as they might well, or to serve as protection to the capital, as he saw fit.

Meanwhile, Nestirin, rather split, has finally had its troops sent out into Irit, moving to link up with the second Imperial army, but it has been plagued with misfortune, and might well be delayed.

No such delay seemed to plague Prince Jinhai. All reports seemed to indicate that his army had come together, or at least, was in the process of doing so, and he had already begun to promise favors to those who joined his service. This, of course, was entirely different from the upstanding, incorruptible behavior in the Imperial Court. Entirely unlike!

Events in Hirand are indecisive, and the borders of Hari-Bueli seemed to be holding, at least for the moment, with each force clashing while also sending troops towards their respective 'capitals' and all the while, people buzz about what Kiralo will do next.

And what the Prince will do.

Kiralo thought about it for a long time, and decided that on the balance, the most likely thing he'd do was wait closer to the end of the month, before marching out in a way that could threaten either Hirand or Irit. If things were not going so badly in Hari-Su, it was possible that he could use it as a feint, as a trick to draw people off. Or even split his forces, temporarily, for raids.

But Hari-Su was lost, and the Prince was not a dumb man. In fact, he was rather brilliant, from what Kiralo could guess. And bold, very, very bold. He'd draw what forces he had, which were probably somewhat inferior in numbers to Kiralo's if all of his troops gathered, but not so much that any outcome would be assured, and then he'd march towards Irit. He needed to take out a large chunk of Kiralo's forces before they could all link. Could he win even if Kiralo was able to gather and use his forces effectively?

Yes, actually, and if he managed a few tricks, a feint or two, it was all far too terrifyingly doable. But doable wasn't the same as pleasant. It wasn't even the same as likely. He needed to move, and, Kiralo decided, moving faster just might be the right action.

Of course, it wasn't the popular action, and if he failed to allow the army to truly come together, if the half-baked forces managed to flounder in their speed, then he would go down in history as one of the great fools of war. If he was remembered at all.

He felt the weight, and yet a part of him was glad for it. He'd always welcomed that sort of weight. He'd had ambitions, even if they were merely the ambitions of a child who dreamed of being a great warrior, since before he could walk.

What poet scorns attention? What general does not understand that his wars might one day be talked about, or at least mentioned as the background for far more important pieces of history, depending one one's views.

Kiralo didn't sleep much over the next weeks, really. He'd make up for it some other time. His dreams had been bad, anyways


Choose Actions

5 Influence (2 weeks, in a rush)-1 (Perm loss)+3 (Kuojah, Kueli, and the Mages)

One influence each is specifically directed towards the Army, Magic, and Court categories

[G] Title: Hanin Hate
Dice Rolled: Martial, Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 30%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Like any elite, the Hanin are very, very confident in their prowess, and as a side effect of their history, they tend to be, at least in an era where the Southlands hasn't reared its head, contemptuous of cavalry. And the Southlanders in general.
Requirements (if any):

[G] Title: The Civic Guard
Dice Rolled: Stewardship and Martial
Chance of Success: 75%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: While the army is away, the civilians will pray. Or riot, that might happen to. Making sure that the civic guard is ready both for the influx of soldiers, and the absence of said soldiers, is important. Panic or bad news in a battle could cause riots, and riots threatened the city's stability. Luckily Kiralo had already begun looking into this.
Requirements (if any): None

[G] Title: Camp Followers
Dice Rolled: Martial, Stewardship
Chance of Success: 70%
Time:1 Turn
Text: Every camp needs cooks, laundrywomen, and all manner of people. Some of course aren't necessarily wanted by the high command, such as the merchants bilking the soldiers' before they're even paid, or the endless stream of prostitutes hurrying along in the wagon trains to service the needs of the soldiers, but these are not things that can be stopped, so one might as well work to regulate them. as best can be done.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Woodsman and Outlaws
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Skirmishers are the lowliest part of any army. Scouts of sorts, when one doesn't have enough cavalry (which they don't) they also serve as partisans and killers, and thus their reputation is low, and they aren't used by the Imperial Army, which just hires locals for that purpose when they go after bandits. Gather up some of these men, give them more training than they might otherwise receive, and pay them. And see whether they could be of more service than they were traditionally.
Requirements (if any): 1 General
Title: To the Camps
Dice Rolled: None
Chance of Success: 100%
Text: The army is growing large enough to be unwieldly, to say the least. The barracks in the city can hold them for the moment, and they'll be gone soon enough, but perhaps it might cause less friction and trouble if they moved to the camps south of the city, and build on what his Rassit have already done?

Title: Horse and Foot As One
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: ???
Text: Combining mounted bowmen and infantry is a very hard task indeed, especially without Tarnarnin to serve as the shock forces. But it was something he'd seen done plenty of times, and so he was confident that he could manage something. How much could be managed in two weeks? Even a little bit might help.
Requirement: 1 General

Title: Scouting and You
Dice Rolled: Martial and Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 75%
Text: The army needs to understand and respect its Rassit scouts and their abilities, or else he might be arguing with other generals for the rest of the campaign about what they can and cannot do.

Title: All Bow Types
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy and Martial
Chance of Success: 55%
Text: If by some miracle he can make them put aside their dislike for at least a while, fast, light bowmen and heavy crossbowmen could totally work together...but he can't rely too much on them as long as he's afraid of them 'accidentally' shooting his men.
Requirements: Must take Hanin Hate, and succeed.

Title: Cannons on Wheels
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success: Variable
Text: Now that he's decided to make cannons the centerpiece of his work, he might as well get directly involved in churning out as many light cannons as can be made. Not many, considering the time crush, but something is always better than nothing.

Title: Cannon Guards
Dice Rolled: Martial
Chance of Success:
Text: Assigning troops to protect the cannons is vital. If they're going to be so far forward in the case of a battle...that means they'll be forward. That means they could be taken, and then used against his side. So, train infantry to work with and protect the cannons the same way they could work with and protect the Hanin crossbowmen. Only far less well, but that's time constraints for you.

Title: Academy Instructions
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy and Magic
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: While the army is away, the Academy and its Mages will stay at the city, and perhaps they could do something to help things on the home front, to keep things secure in the city.
Requirement: 1 Mage

Title: Testing and Weeding
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: 55%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The Mages are mostly well trained, sure. But how many know about war? Most of the ones that were dragged in by Ji'lae for one, but they aren't all of the Mages, and individual commanders have probably pulled in Mages with less experience. Perhaps a crash course could train them.
Requirement: 2 Mages

Title: Friends and Colleagues?
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 60%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Ji'lae and the others are barnacles, but very friendly and polite ones. Getting to understand them more might help him learn how to use them better.

[M]Title: Priestly Aid
Dice Rolled: Magic
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Priests have magic too. They are not Mages, but then neither are the sages of the Southland. Perhaps some would be willing to go along with the army, both in their capacity as priests (and some will no matter what) but also in their capacity as magical advisers.
Requirements (if any): None

Title: Bickering Factions, Blame Game?
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy, Stewardship
Chance of Success: ???
Time: 1 turn
Text: Already there are divisions between people on the actions of the army. In a way it was amusing, because their power has been so reduced. Kiralo had been made Envoy, and so the court couldn't do all that much to him, and the petty courtier games he'd played were revealed as, well, petty games. But they still have power despite this, and managing them is going to be difficult when every single one of them is sure that they have military genius.


Title: Imperial Observers?
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 70%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The Emperor has a right, far more than the random nobles and bureaucrats making criticisms, to know what was going on. So perhaps Kiralo should carefully choose a small number of impartial observers to take along and report back to the Emperor. Clearly less important, but still a factor, is that they might write about him, might find poems in his deeds, might--

Well, whether for better or worse, this may yet be a campaign worthy of song.

Title: The Boy Emperor
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: Kiralo has not talked to the Emperor in a little while, and it might be important to have one last meeting with him before leaving with the army.
Title: Secrets and Lies
Dice Rolled: Intrigue
Chance of Success: Variable
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The Department of Secrets could be a good ally to have, or they might be a troublesome aspect to deal with. Either way, they're likely to send plenty of spies along with him to watch his every step.

[1.2x] Title: Prayer for The Future
Dice Rolled: Learning, Diplomacy...
Chance of Success: Variable.
Time: 1 Turn
Text: The Gods watch him. They also, if Aiyistin is any judge, watch things more important than him. Now is the time to pray, now is a time for peace and for contemplation, now is a time to hope that they have in store for him victory. That he can win.

So he shall pray.

Title: Last Goodbyes
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: Varies
Time: 1 turn
Text: Meet with a few people before the campaign. Included are Kuojah, his sister, his other family, his friends, the Hari-Nat Governor's son, and others.

Title: Out In Court
Dice Rolled: Diplomacy
Chance of Success: 100%
Time: 1 Turn
Text: There is not much time to relax, but perhaps there is some. Drink in the courts one last time, go from party to party, see what happens, make connections, figure things out. Or perhaps merely get drunk.

*****

A/N: The modifier of 1.2x means that any plan with it is worth 1.2x normal. Kiralo's religious, what can you say?

So, not a lot of actions, so I cut down on the options a lot, including folding four different ones I had planned into a single 'meet with people' option.
 
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