Blood of the Gods: A Fantasy CKII Quest

I suppose it depends on the dice, and if we're rolling multiple dice?

Like a trivial task might get multiple dice? Or maybe in general tasks which have a lower DC than bonus would get multiple dice?
 
We seem to be at least competent in every category, then. Somewhat skilled when it comes to diplomacy and intrigue. We certainly went well in meeting with the troops, though I do wish we'd spent it with the governors instead.

Next option basically determines what we want to go with for some of our last stat boosts. I'm actually finding myself fairly fond of a decent stewardship rating so that we can be decent at pulling off projects and finding money for the reforms we'll want to launch. Learning is another option... though I'm not personally a fan of magic, it seems like kind of a waste to vote the tremendous handicap of that background in and then just ignore what there is to learn from her. I'll probably go for diplomacy or stewardship.
 
Wow that charisma with the troops. Me likey.

Khui is a dangerous man. Let us use him as much as we can but never trust him.
 
Yay!
Those trait rolls were good.

I personally want more Intrigue so we can identify our enemies and allies more. We can't delegate that to anybody. Our stewardship, while very desirable, is coming along well.
I'd prefer Intrigue for now.

Ignore the above. Intrigue is our highest stat, we can afford to level Stewardship or Learning. I prefer Stewardship, then.
 
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We could shore up our weaknesses or progress further on our path to become exceptional in our strengths rather that merely good. It is a tougher decision than I had anticipated.

I think I'll go for the strengths for narrative. I think it will be more interesting to read about using suboptimal tools in novel ways to solve problems, rather than having the correct tool for everything.

Diplomacy ought to let us find competent help. Intrigue ought to allow us to dispose of the disloyal.
 
I just found this quest but il echo some other posters in this, what was the point in going for the magician mother if you are gonna let learning be a Low stat?
 
We could shore up our weaknesses or progress further on our path to become exceptional in our strengths rather that merely good. It is a tougher decision than I had anticipated.

I think I'll go for the strengths for narrative. I think it will be more interesting to read about using suboptimal tools in novel ways to solve problems, rather than having the correct tool for everything.

Diplomacy ought to let us find competent help. Intrigue ought to allow us to dispose of the disloyal.

Either way, for our age, I think we're sitting pretty, honestly. I mean, even Diplomacy, which could use a bit more, we're good enough to be competent at it in a courtly setting, or at least close to it.
 
I'd rather shore up our weaknesses - We don't want to be critically reliant on, say, a good stewardship advisor. We ought to try and have good enough stats that competent or even dismal advisors in a category wont murderize our position.
 
I just found this quest but il echo some other posters in this, what was the point in going for the magician mother if you are gonna let learning be a Low stat?
The idea is that our mother will do the magic for us, as our mother we can ensure her loyalty, thus we can focus on any stat we want whilst our mother covers our weakness
 
The idea is that our mother will do the magic for us, as our mother we can ensure her loyalty, thus we can focus on any stat we want whilst our mother covers our weakness

That's hilariously misguided, I think.

Besides the fact that she won't be there forever and we need to make our own way in the world.

There are so many things wrong with it, that I'm not sure where to begin, honestly. :p
 
Old age, mostly, it seems.

If not for that, she'd be a great choice. Loyal and competent (if not exceptional) at her job.
 
Old age, mostly, it seems.

If not for that, she'd be a great choice. Loyal and competent (if not exceptional) at her job.

It's more than that. She's going to be loyal to us in some ways, but she's also our mother. That creates certain complexities, both in our own decisions and her...but also in how it's viewed.

We have to make our own way, because if everything we do is seen to be our mother whispering in our ear, we're not going to get anywhere. She's also, as we've seen, a little suspicious...if rightfully so, and so I suspect that listening to her will drive us in that direction. Which could be good, it could be bad.
 
Prologue IX
Interregnum Year 12-13

In your twelfth year the mood of the palace lightens as Khui dispatches back his report on the expedition to Upper Kemet. He smashed the bandits outside Swenett according to plan, and within a month of arriving at the frontier. The bandit chieftain was captured and executed and the surviving men enslaved to pay for the expedition. Furthermore the victory had shown that several of the tribes across the frontier had taken part in the raiding, so Khui followed up his campaign against the bandits with attacks on their depleted villages. He had captured a great many cattle and taken slaves and had forced the tribes to swear vassalage to Kemet and cease their attacks on cavarans. The threat of starvation and the powerful divine oaths they swore would keep them loyal, which went a long way to restoring order and stability in the province. Khui was hailed within the palace for his skill and capabilities and held as a model for the warriors of the much-degraded army; soon he joined the Royal Council as the commander of the Royal Army.

With the passage of the year your aunt the Dowager Queen weakens again and spends more time in her chamber. Ma'atneferure spends more time to tending to your aunt and so is less available to take you on outings to the city or to escort you to meet your friends outside the palace. But you are now old enough to assert some preferences in who teaches you, and have received a number of offers and petitions in that regard. Your mother has expressed little preference on the matter as she continues to impart her own teachings to you though her contempt for the High Priest of Atum, Atumnemhat, is expressed freely. She also again warns you that Ma'atneferure is a creature of your aunt and that Meryawy is well-meaning but weak and not an appropriate model for a Queen. Though when questioned on the corruption of the eunuchs she tells you that you would do well to make your own observations rather than trust to the words of others; gossip may, after all, be slander.

Tutors
(Choose Three Two):
[X] Your Mother
[ ] Ma'atneferure (Stewardship/Intrigue)
[ ] Meryawy (Piety/Learning)
[ ] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)
[ ] Royal Treasurer Ipy (Stewardship)
[ ] Astronomer Zizel-kur of the Garden of Ptah (Learning)
[ ] High Priest Atumnemhat (Piety)

Leisure Time

Not all of your time is spent being tutored. You have long had leisure to play with your friends Tayuheret, Bakenptah, and Paneferer. As you grow older you develop some adult interests and a desire to be taken seriously by adults. There are no end of palace servants, officials, and priests who leap at the chance to help instruct you and to promote their own agendas. Most of them are intensely boring and transparent, and while you maintain a façade of grace and interest you grow tired of their intrusions. Only a few pastimes really appeal to you, and only a few adults are important or cool enough for you to seek them out.

The Dowager Queen, your aunt, has retreated to her chambers more and more frequently but as a princess you have access to her. Your father was a poet of some renown, and she shared his interest in writing and reciting. Your instruction in literature from Meryawy has been supplemented with a few private audiences and lessons from the Dowager Queen. Taking up poetry at her invitation would make you appear mature and cultured, while giving you access to the regent who makes the final decisions until your coronation day. But your mother's warning remains clear; Neferet both loves and hates you, and she would seek to influence you in her favor. But influence is a two way street.

Meryawy, long a favorite tutor, has begun exploring the archives of the palace and has unearthed some ancient scrolls from long before the reign of the Great Ancestor. They may document the founding of Kemet under the legendary Pharaoh Iryhor, or bring new stories of the gods in their time of rule over the land. Or like the first two dozen scrolls you examined they may be manifests for the shipment of grain up the Nile to some long-forgotten port. Meryawy was disappointed by that but felt obliged to continue looking through, and he would appreciate the help.

Despite being less present your governess Ma'atneferure still oversees some of your lessons and arranges much off your day-to-day routine. Lately that has included some rudimentary music lessons, more aimed at appreciation of the qualities of instruments and how to dance pleasingly to them without formal structure. You could ask her to teach you to play the reed-flute and spend more time on the dance. You would become more graceful and lithe, and time spent with Ma'atneferure would often be spent with your aunt as well. Her connections and knowledge of the staff of the palace may also be very useful in the time to come when you take your place as the true ruler. You don't know how deep her loyalty to the Dowager Queen runs and if it might transfer to you in time.

The Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses is a man of refinement and knowledge who has always treated you with due respect. Everyone says the eunuchs are corrupt and not to be trusted but he seems to keep the palace and its household well-run. You've played a few rounds of the foreign game with him in the past, which he invariably won. You want to beat him sooner or later and time spent with him could be used to get to know him better. The eunuchs provide a lot of manpower for the royal bureaucracy and run your household without the distraction that ties to the temple or a prestigious family might bring. If they are corrupt they must be brought to heel, but if not they could a critical ally.

And then there are a couple of alternatives outside the palace. The men of the Division of Set presented a handsome peregrine falcon to you, taken as a hatchling from a nest in Upper Kemet. Training it to hunt will take some time, but once you do you have a ready excuse to leave the palace for the wilderness. Hunting with falcons is a noble sport and so will attract little attention as a foible. Procuring a training bow and setting up targets to shoot on the other hand would attract a lot of attention but it is the only form of arms you would be able to learn for the time being.

(Choose One):
[ ] Compose poetry with the Dowager Queen Neferet
[ ] Study the ancient scrolls with Meryawy
[ ] Learn dancing and the flute with Ma'atneferure
[ ] Play your foreign game against Ptahshepses
[ ] Learn how to hunt with your new falcon
[ ] Practice Archery with a training bow

Famine!

The good tidings of the twelfth year of your life turn to disaster in the thirteenth year. The flooding of the Nile comes early and it comes in tremendous force. Even the learned scholars of the Garden of Ptah fail to predict the massive flooding and the cost in human lives is immense. Kemet will be gravely weakened going forward, even if the frantic measures of the Dowager Queen and the palace restore order to the lands. You are fortunate that your father was a more than adequate steward and maintained the system of granaries across Kemet that can provide relief aid. But the complete failure of the year's harvest cycle will draw down those stocks to nearly nothing, and still the people starve.

You are isolated from the plight of the fellahin but the urban population of the capital still makes their discontent known. Riots break out in the month of Harvest, as surging mobs of craftsmen storm the bazaar and the foreigners' quarters on the rumor that the black market is based out of the area. The Guard of Horus restores order but hundreds are killed, and soon the cry calls out that the gods are punishing Kemet. The country yearns for a strong Pharaoh and every time you leave the confines of the palace you hear calls of contempt and abuse behind you. Your mother is truly frightened by the situation and assures you that she has a way out of the city if it becomes necessary. That reassures you, but you have no intention of failing your role as a princess.

While the Regency makes the necessary decisions on how to allocate grain stores and where to station soldiers to restore order, you are old enough to push forward at least part of a response. One option would be to distribute the palace stores of grain to the people of Temes. Some austerity at the palace would help feed the most destitute of the capital's population and take some of the edge off the discontent, though it is by no means sufficient to feed the entire country. It seems like the most immediate option you can take and the only one guaranteed to be successful, though. Certain officials would be displeased at a cut in their effective salary and in the availability of meals at the palace but that seems like a minor price to pay for the good of the monarchy.

Another option would be to send an expedition to the southern lands of Kerma, which are not reliant on the Nile for their fertility, and purchase what grain might be had. It would be costly and there was no guarantee that sufficient grain was available. At one point early in the dynasty the Kermans were subjects of Kemet and had adopted much of the practices of the people of Kemet. In manners and religion they are the closest peoples to your own, and so there might be a feeling of kinship to play on. The last envoy from Kerma arrived before your father's death, and contact with the court of Kerma had ceased when you were a babe. Re-establishing ties would be a diplomatic feat the expedition would also have to accomplish and you had basically no idea what the state of affairs in the region was, save that a civil war had recently ended and a new King had been installed. The area south of the border could still be dangerous if demobilized bands had turned to robbing travelers, though.

Conversely the tardy vassals of the Kanaan might be threatened to pay tribute again, with the concession that it be delivered in grain shipments. That would be a comparatively risky course of action. The Kanaanites might not take a female monarch seriously, and the army of Kemet has still suffered from long neglect. That said you would be able to raise the levies of the country outside the period of Inundation and Kemet still commands more forces and gold than any Kanaanite prince. The risk of outside intervention would be limited since the Mitari are fighting against nomads in the far north and Babel-Ur is going through another period of disunity. Some Kanaanite princes might also welcome a restoration of protection from Kemet and be willing to pay off their debt of tribute in heavily discounted grain rather than gold, silver, or copper.

A final option would be to strike against the black market. The diversion and sale of grain from the granaries has undermined the relief efforts and confidence in the monarchy. Cracking down on the black market and uncovering the officials responsible for feeding it would improve internal distribution and restore public respect for officials. You can't do much yourself there, but you can support Ptahshepses and other officials in an investigation. But you don't know which members of the Royal Council can be trusted and your aunt would have to actually order the investigation. If the eunuchs are corrupt than any investigation would be pointless. If the temples are corrupt then any investigation may turn up facts that cannot be acted on. But if merchants and court scribes and Viceregal staff or even riverboat captains are involved, cracking down on them would disrupt the black market enough to insure a much more efficient distribution of the grain that Kemet does have.

(Choose One):
[ ] Distribute palace stores to the people of Temes
[ ] Send an expedition to Kerma seeking grain
[ ] Threaten the Kanaanite princes to resume tribute by providing grain
[ ] Try to uncover the leaders of the black market
 
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Was that a botch on the yearly flood rolls? Oh my.

[x] Royal Treasurer Ipy (Stewardship)
[X Astronomer Zizel-kur of the Garden of Ptah (Learning)

[X] Learn how to hunt with your new falcon
[X] Try to uncover the leaders of the black market

Strictly for balancing out our stat gains.
 
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Let's see, what do we know about Ipy? I mean, now that we're facing our first moderate crisis, it might be an opportune time to think about raising our Stewardship so that we'll be better able to deal with it next time.

I also want to press the Martial button at least a little.

[X] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)
[X] Royal Treasurer Ipy (Stewardship)


[X] Practice Archery with a training bow

...not at all sure about the choice to be made. Okay, so, obvious statement.

Choice one is an automatic success with Stewardship/Diplomacy to see how people react.
Choice two is a Diplomatic/Stewardship sort of action.
Choice three is Martial/Diplomacy (or rather Diplomacy based by the threat of Martial).
And four is Intrigue.

At least, so far as I can tell.
 
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[ X ] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)
[ X ] Royal Treasurer Ipy (Stewardship)
Try to go for some Diplomacy with Eunuch and try to get some more stewardship with Ipy.

[ X ] Learn how to hunt with your new falcon
I always like going for high martial when I play, I can see this getting us some increased health too.

[ X ] Try to uncover the leaders of the black market
 
Actually, the Division of Set might well be one of our loyal units that we'll be keeping.
 
[X] Ma'atneferure (Stewardship/Intrigue)
[X] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)

[X] Play your foreign game against Ptahshepses

[X] Try to uncover the leaders of the black market
 
[X] Ma'atneferure (Stewardship/Intrigue)
[X] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)

[X] Play your foreign game against Ptahshepses

[X] Send an expedition to Kerma seeking grain
 
[X] Ma'atneferure (Stewardship/Intrigue)
[X] Chief Eunuch Ptahshepses (Diplomacy/Intrigue/Stewardship)

[X] Play your foreign game against Ptahshepses

[X] Send an expedition to Kerma seeking grain
 
I think a major question is: Would Hunting increase the loyalty of the Division of Set to us? Loyalty is a biggie, after all.
 
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