Random event 1 said:
As hard as the first few years of living on the plateau had been, compared to the decade that followed, they were very fondly remembered by the people of Pyratryst and the few farms that constituted the entirety of the realm of New Tasakarim.
Little princess Anora never even experienced summer the first two years of her life. Born as she and Taesta had been at the cusp of transitioning from the harsh mountain winter into what was supposed to be wet rainy spring, what happened instead was strengthening instead of abating of the freezing winter winds accompanied by no precipitation whatsoever.
With no rains, and the freezing winds keeping snow from melting from the mountain tops, the local creek dried up by what was supposed to be late-spring, and the rest of water sources fared no better. Even artisanal water levels dropped to almost nothing.
The drought lasted well into the winter time, and the harvest that year was only even possible thanks to the royal couple exhausting themselves daily, week after week, just to call enough water from the earth to support the bare necessary minimum needed for all the people and animals, and whatever miniscule amounts were left over was used to water the crops.
Thankfully, the bad weather inconvenienced the barbarians and monsters just as much as, if not even more, it did the people of Tasakarim.
Soon enough, it would show that that first year was nothing more than the calm before the storm.
The next year was even colder, with even stronger winds howling and tearing across the shelves, and when it finally did start raining, it was chock full of hail.
Chunks of ice big enough to seriously hurt a man fell every couple of days from what was supposed to be early autumn well into winter, some rare few pieces even reaching the sizes of human heads.
From there the situation went further down with rains coming back and not stopping. Year after year after year it kept on pouring. The world got turned into endless deluges, floods, and mudslides, up until the final few years when the interminable rains settled down into heavy snows, but, thankfully, at that point, the augurs and priests all agreed after a decade that the weather was at long last normalizing down to relatively sane levels.
And not a moment too soon. Not even The Spark could have saved the new realm, had the catastrophic conditions continued on for much longer.
Random event 2 said:
1d100=63 - Mysteries on the side of the mountain
Still, for all the myriad troubles and damages caused by the Mad Weather, one fact remained undeniable.
The faces of the plateau shelves, especially the high shelf that they had settled upon, got markedly transformed. What seemed as impregnable cliffs and steep slopes got washed away or filed in, giving the shelf more room.
And to the south and west of Pyratryst, high upon the cliff face separated from the plateau by a narrow yet extremely deep ravine that continued all the way through to the edge of the shelf, the changes uncovered something truly extraordinary.
An ancient, craggy, yet still apparently fully functional carved door, seemingly seamlessly inlaid into the face of the cliff.
The only reason it was even visible at all was that it was remarkably smooth and even, in sharp contrast to the rock face surrounding it.
Some amongst the academics of Pyratryst even allowed themselves to optimistically speculate that the doors might be an indication of ancient Dwarowi, or at least of their work, but most others derided such baseless fleets of fancy, due in no small part to the fact that all of the evidence that the stout folk ever even existed come solely from myths and legends from before the breaking of magic.
But, the fact was that the doors got uncovered, the scholars were fervent in their desires to study it, and if the crown wished to capitalize upon it in any form, a fortified forward camp would need to be established at the site with, at the very minimum, semi-permanent garrison and quarters for the academics and whatever workforce they might deem necessary.
planed event said:
"Well, I never thought I might see this happen. My big sister, the inimitable Countess of Sastor, marrying a lowly and ignoble
musician. What, I wonder, would our poor departed parents say now..." Idrien teased his sister, his voice carefully measured and quieted so as to not awaken the little bundle of temper that was his eight-month-old daughter, currently -
finally - asleep nestled in his arms.
"Oh, hush you,
Your Majesty. Father would just grin that crooked, easygoing grin of his and try to get Kendrik roaring drunk, followed by extremely loud, extremely obscene, and extremely embarrassing spiel on what to do and not to do the first wedded night - not that the two of us need any advice regarding that, thank you very much - and you can wipe out that smirk right now Idri, you have no room to talk. You and Aelyn are still going at it like rabbits even after these seven years and three kids. Anyways, mother would agree with me that all else being equal I'd have married beneath my station - especially now that, according to
your wife I am a duchess, not that there is enough people nor territories to constitute even as much as a barony, much less having room for any dutchies - whomever I might marry and if such was the case, I might as well marry whomever I damn well please. And anyway, Kendrik is not a musician. He is a professor and a composer you uneducated philistine." Elanor did her best trying to present an aggrieved and huffy front, but it fooled no one. She had always been remarkably close with her brother, and as such neither could even remember a time in their lives they did more than ribb at each other.
Idirien's face softened down from the teasing smirk into a soft, loving smile.
He used his free arm to gently hug the bride-to-be around the shoulders and rested their foreheads together.
"I'm happy for you Nori. And for whatever it might be worth, I agree. Kendrik is a perfectly fine fellow, and as long as he is making you happy, he is a star in my books. Now whadaya say we go and rescue your groom from my lovely wife, I can see her traumatizing him from here."
Elanor broke into happy giggles she immediately strove to strangle, so as to avoid waking up their little champion wailer.
Planned event said:
Ladislaus family get together
5d4=3,2,2,2,1
As far as you are concerned neither the means by which they managed to do so nor that they actually did was important.
What
was concerning was that the Ladislauses managed to covertly contact their children and get them to join them, and you, without the brotherhood of the Talon ever finding out so until Luis himself informed the brotherhood when the time came for himself to prepare an expedition to go and escort the newcomers through the treacherous and dangerous passes.
Again, not that anyone actually faulted the venerable couple, but it certainly was a shock for everyone included.
Five children - four sons and a daughter, all married and with children, the eldest son with grandchildren of his own even.
Besides their own families, they were also accompanied by a gaggle of other trustworthy people they had collected along the way, or brought along, and supported and protected by the rest of Thaddeuses - Thaddeus being the eldest of Ladislaus siblings, whom in particular had been a captain in the X legion - unit and support elements.
The additional news Thaddeus brought turned out to be grim indeed.
For all reasons and purposes, the X legion did not exist anymore, not that they had been in good shape even before the outbreak of the rebellion, and the rest of the legions were dissolving or had already moved on as well.
It was hardly surprising when one gave a serious thought on the issues involved - without the state there was no real way for the legions to support themselves and by the sounds of it, no one had yet emerged from the broiling conflict and chaos of the fall of the empire that could reliably rally more than few hundred professional soldiers around themselves.
(+200 population. +30 Legionnaires (10 infantry, 10 archers, 6 foot scouts, 4 officers))
Building up military (roll difficulty 20)
- Continuous (will carry on into next turns without locking up any future choices. have to specify for how many turns. increases the roll difficulty by 10 for every additional turn) - 3 turns
1d100=77-3(Mad weather malus)=74; 74>50 Pass! will continue for two more turns
Despite the vagaries of the Mad Weather, or maybe because of it, the efforts to recruit and train up soldiers went rather smoothly and efficiently.
If nothing else, going into military meant certain food, clothing and accommodations in a world turned upside down. And a decent pension for one's family should they fall in the line of duty - something quite possible with all of the dangers the plateaus were teeming with.
(+16 Windriders, +120 Legionnaires (40 infantry, 30 archers, 20 foot scouts, 20 light cavalry, 10 engineers), +102 Pyratryst house guard; -238 population)
Securing the plains portion of the High shelf (roll difficulty 60. 100+ finishes project)
-Continuous (will carry on until finished without locking in any future choices. will be rolled again every turn until the sum of all rolls reaches or exceeds 111)
1d100=5-13=-8; Artificial critical failure. Necessary sum to finish the project now 120. will continue on until finished
Tying to secure the entirety of the plains turned into an unmitigated disaster.
Between the horrendous weather, the much more vicious monsters than anticipated and the far more numerous barbarian hamlets than anyone even thought there might be outside of the forests, it was all the soldiers could do to defend Tasakarim claimed territories much less wage a proper campaign.
(-58 soldiers; territory unsecured, projects within the plains more difficult until the situation resolves)
Establishing a secure, fortified perimeter between the plains and the forest (roll difficulty 60. 75+ finishes project)
-Continuous (will carry on until finished without locking in any future choices. will be rolled again every turn until the sum of all rolls reaches or exceeds 80)
1d100=97-10=87; 87>80 Project completed!
Where securing the plains turned disastrous, the units tasked with establishing a clear perimeter between the woodlands and the plains met even the most optimistical of expectations the planners and commanders set upon them.
By the fifteenth anniversary of settling, a series of tall, sturdy, buttressed palisades with walkways ensured that the threat of barbarian and non-flying monster incursions from within the forests dropped to almost nonexistent levels.
(Perimeter established, freeing up soldiers for other operations, future military operations made easier)
Establishing at least somewhat secure path back towards the former lands of the empire (roll difficulty 60, 175+ finishes project)
-conceal it as much as possible (increases difficulty to 70, 200+ finishes project)
-Continuous (will carry on until finished without locking in any future choices. will be rolled again every turn until the sum of all rolls reaches or exceeds 200/225)
1d100=100+1d100=22(crit)=122-8=114; 225-114=111 remaining. will continue on until finished
The efforts to secure a reasonably safe path back into the lands of the old empire went fairly well indeed, with an estimated half of the work already getting completed even with all the extra effort necessary to make the safe paths as inconspicuous as possible.
(Paths unsafe, until project completes passage through liable to exact attritions unless accompanied by a sparked or divinely blessed individual/s; attrition only half as likely to happen due to progress)
Sending out armed patrols into the near reaches of the forest (roll difficulty 35)
1d100=47-12=35; 35=35 bare pass!
Nothing notable happened during the patrols into the forests - a few skirmishes with barbarians every year, eliminating a few monstrous beasts here or there...
Attrition was minimal and no one was lost due to stupidity nor bad luck.
Luis Ladislaus is not particularly impressed with the results, but overall no one has any reasons to complain.
(-12 soldiers. No particular happenings)
Scouting out the woodlands (roll difficulty 25)
1d100=74-15=59; 59>25 greater pass!
Where patroling soldiers venturing into the forest held no notable successes to speak off, the scouts did very well indeed.
They mapped out sizable portions of the forest, located a good number of barbarian hamlets and monster dens, and even found two sizable - well, sizable by barbarian standards - villages.
All in all a profitable decade and a half of effort.
(projects/operations within the near reaches of the forest made easier due to good intelligence)
Eliminating monster nests and lairs near the settlement and farmlands (roll difficulty 45)
1d100=70-6=64; 64>45 pass!
As much as the pacification efforts were a bust, at least everyone can be reasonably sure that all the monsters that had taken to nesting near the lands you settled got driven away and/or exterminated.
Even after there turned out to be a lot more of them than initially suspected.
Unfortunately, the soldiers can only be at so many places at once so there was no guarantee new lairs would not shortly spring up, but for now, things are as secure as one might hope for them to be.
(No attrition due to monsters this turn)
Expanding and upgrading the granite quarries along the winding path (roll difficulty 20)
1d100=46-7=39; 39>20 pass!
Unsurprisingly the new realm needed
a lot of stone for it's myriad of projects, so a real effort was put into planning out and utilizing the rich source of high-grade granite that was literally one relatively thin layer of earth beneath the capital of Pyratryst.
It took a lot of toil and sweat, busted tools and broken fingers, but eventually, even in the midst of the worst of the Mad Weather, the daily loads of granite coming up out of the quarries extending into the cliff face from the winding path became a usual and expected occurrence.
The quarries became the main industry of the city and, once deemed safe enough to facilitate so, even prince Taesta took to regularly visiting along with his tutors.
During one such visit, the young lad tried to determine just how far the vein went and reported that he couldn't. All he could say was that there was granite as far and deep as he could extend his senses through the stone. The conclusion was clear. Even by the roughest estimate, there was apparently enough granite there to at least build a city the size of the great merchant city of Trellyn and probably more!
(Granite resource secured for perpetuity. Future building projects made easier)
Establishing proper facilities to house your Royal Academy
-Specialized (roll difficulty 45. All colleges get personal building with space enough for additional facilities as suits their needs. If taken with Centralized difficulty lowers to 40. If taken with Scattered difficulty lowers to 35)
1d100=9-4=5; 5<35 fail!
-Scattered (roll difficulty 35. Colleges are unconnected. Cannot be taken with Centralized. Can be taken with Specialized)
1d100=21-10=11; 11<35 fail!
Overall fail!
If there was any greater truism than that it was even more difficult and less rewarding herding academics than herding cats, Lady - technically baroness here in new Tasakarim - Myria Ladislaus was yet to come across it.
For fifteen years the imbeciles she was supposed to run argued, feuded, sabotaged each other, and overall just wasted time!
Well, yes, Ok, the Mad Weather did make things appreciably difficult, but for all of the gods' sakes, thanks to the nincompoops' collective inability to act and work as reasonable adults, the planned project for establishing proper facilities for the royal colleges just kept getting delayed over and over.
On and on for almost fifteen godsforsaken years!
That was it! She was getting too old and too tired to continue dealing with that mess.
Their bloody majesties can bloody well find someone else to drop the thankless load of shit being the grandmaster of the academy represented.
(No academy)
Building a proper temple complex (roll difficulty 20. Must have at least one specific temple. Aditional temples can be delayed for following turns without locking in any options by appending FT at the end)
-To Ulair, the great god of the mountains, who holds dominion over pretty much every aspect of your current habitat
--Small (raises difficulty by 5)
1d100=24-24=0; 0<25. Artificial critical failure
Once might be happenstance.
Twice could be a coincidence.
But thrice...
The conclusions were inescapable.
Someone or something empathically does not want the temple to Ulair getting built.
And whomever and whatever they might be, they most certainly possessed some sort of serious power.
The first building getting constructed got washed away in a mudslide.
The second one went up in flames due to a hurricane wind picking up and carrying a lit lantern during one night right into the barrel of raisin used to stain wood at the construction site.
The third one... The third attempt was destroyed by a bolt of lightning descending from the almost completely black noonday skies.
There was to be no fourth attempt, by royal decree, not that anyone would have been willing to give it a go anyway.
And worst of all, some few people had started muttering that it was Isanela herself expressing displeasure that her supposed chosen had decided, yet again, to ignore her in favor of other gods...
(No temples. Until circumstances get investigated, unable to build temples to Ulair; morale penalty eliminated due to Demagogue trait. Unless taken next turn loose bonuses to building temples to Isanela)
Having the brotherhood of the Talon infiltrate and start building up agency in the lands of the former empire (roll difficulty 35)
-Order them to sow chaos and disorder (raises difficulty by 10, slightly increases the chance of discovery)
-Have volunteers from the college medicine join them (reduces difficulty by 5)
-Have volunteers from the college of philosophy and arts join them (reduces difficulty by 5)
-Have volunteers from the priesthood of Isanella join them (reduces difficulty by 5)
-Have agents screen for suitable spousal prospects for the royal children (slightly increases the chance of discovery, if non-assassin agents are also sent the penalty is eliminated)
1d100=49; 49>30 Pass!
Thanks be to all the gods that the Talons and other envoys got sent out early, before even prince Taesta got born, much less the Mad Weather made everything so much more difficult.
Contacts were established, safe houses and other necessary facilities were repossessed or unsealed, resources and assets were reappropriated, proper covers had been built and then...
Then the Brotherhood of the Talon did what they were the best at.
Criminals, politicians, administrators, warlords, officers, down to even the messengers... they all got eliminated swiftly and efficiently, with varying amounts of brutality so as to throw the blame game in any of oh so, so many useful directions.
Any sort of cohesion got lost, all sorts of alliances got broken by apparent treachery, and so on and so forth...
The internecine conflicts and bickering blew up into another civil war before the previous one even really ended.
And throughout the former Tasakarim territories, in the taverns and seedy bars, graybeards muttered into their drinks that at least with Tasakars, no matter how horrible and twisted they had gotten at the end, at least there was something akin to safety and stability.
As for the other task, there the results were somewhat more mixed...
(Intrigue operations in the former empire easier. All operations/projects in the former empire easier. Chance to get detected overall malus got slightly reduced. Spousal candidates will be posted later.)
Reach out to the people of the city of Sastor (roll difficulty 35, increases the chance of discovery by a low amount)
1d100=39; 39>35
Not much to be said.
Thankfully the city still stands, and most of the same families that ran the things while the Fergaz family ruled are still more or less in control.
They got a bit roughened up in the intervening years, the standard had dropped down somewhat with the disruption in trade, but for the most part, the atmosphere in the city is stable and no one is complaining too much.
The few people in the know were even glad to find out that their lady and her brother were safe and sound up in the north. A gift was even sent out for Elanor's wedding!
(Contact with the city of Sastor established)
Reach out to the people of the north-western regions' towns (roll difficulty 35, slightly increases the chance of discovery, can be taken multiple times)
1d100=35; 35=35 bare pass.
Someone had almost dropped the ball when establishing contacts with the township of Stalker's Run, the primary hunter and trapper town situated on the northern edges of Seimiy woods, and thus the closest, decently sized, place of civilization to the New Tasakarim.
Thankfully, plentiful drink and bribes and one rousing brawl later everything settled down and proceeded amicably.
(Contact with the town of Stalker's Run established)
Reach out to the people of the north-western regions' villages (roll difficulty 25, can be taken multiple times)
-Convince them to join you (raises difficulty by 15, increases the chance of discovery by a low amount)
1d100=82; 82>40 great pass!
(AN: seeing as the plan actually had one contacting people slot less than the maximum of 8, and this was an exceptional success, and furthermore, you somehow managed to roll to avoid detection malus on every other choice, I'm treating this as if you had successfully entreated two villages)
Both of the villages had been in a poor state, on the edge of destitution really, and thus the people were, by and large, easy to convince to relocate and seek their fortunes elsewhere.
Like for instance, high up in the mountains upon the plateaus were the air was crisp, the grass green, law and order were upheld and the leaders actually put in an effort to make sure no one went hungry.
Your Recruiters really deserve a pay rise.
(+1900 population. +2000 population. Remarkably you rolled 0 atrition)
Reach out to members of the imperial academy
-College of Architecture (roll difficulty 15, slightly increases the chance of discovery)
--Convince them to join you (raises difficulty by 10)
1d100=35; 35>25 pass!
-College of Philosophy and Arts (roll difficulty 15, slightly increases the chance of discovery)
--Convince them to join you (raises difficulty by 10)
1d100=75; 75>25 exceptional pass!
In a world engulfed in chaos and strife, there is little need for scholars, architects, philosophers and academic artists. Thus, when given the opportunity to rejoin the majority of their brethren who had disappeared at the beginning of troubles, most were very intrigued indeed. When promised access to proper resources and facilities, it was all your agents could do to stop them from running headlong into the mountains.
Regrettably, some very few were ingratiating themselves to the new order, and after their new patrons fell in any number of ways they tended to perish alongside them and much of their works and libraries got irrevocably lost and destroyed.
In completely other news, your agents did find several caches of texts, tools and other valuable academic resources, no doubt hidden away to preserve them from the vagaries of the chaos the old empire had descended into.
(effectively the entirety of colleges of architecture and P&A have joined you, with the great majority of the resources the colleges once wielded. initial bonuses the colleges provided increased. future recruitment of academics made easier)
Reach out to the Owl Brotherhood (1d10=10 roll difficulty of 30, slightly increases the chance of discovery)
-Convince them to join you (raises difficulty by 10, might raise penalty to chance of discovery by a tier)
1d100=1 critical fail! Fortune point expended 1d100=69; 69>40 pass. +1 permanent malus on the chance to be detected
No one is willing to talk about what happened when your agents managed to approach the Owl Brotherhood, though you do harbor some dark suspicions.
Nonetheless, It is done.
Owls are ready and willing to swear back into Tasakar royal service.
Though not of much use up on the plateau at the current times, due to their particular fields of expertise, in support to the Talons they shall prove invaluable.
(Intrigue operations in the former empire easier. Some operations/projects in the former empire easier. New projects unlocked. Chance to get detected overall malus got slightly reduced)
Reach out to the Eagle brotherhood (1d10=2 roll difficulty of 70, increases the chance of discovery by a middling-low amount)
-Convince them to join you (raises difficulty by 10, might raise penalty to chance of discovery by a tier)
Fortune roll used 85>80 pass!
Now, more than ever in the history of the Tasakarim, you needed the help of the Eagle brotherhood, for who better to help in war-torn lands than the one spy brotherhood that specializes in military espionage?
Finding them was exceedingly difficult, and convincing them to return under the auspices of the right and proper administration of the house Tasakar equally so.
It took a significant amount of time, long and harrowing negotiations, many, many assurances that no, Aelyn empathically did not suffer from the excesses and insanity that had plagued the last few generations of the family, and after a myriad of other smaller worries and fears got allayed, they finally succumbed and retook their oaths.
And immediately proved just as useful as it was expected out of them, if not more so.
Whereas captain Ladislaus was right in as much as that the legions formally no longer existed, Eagles clarified that in practical means they very much still carried on.
For instance, most of the III and IV joined up and then proceeded to march forth and 'assumed control' of the city and port of Redol, from which they proceeded to aid and support the efforts of the IX on the Teardrop and Horn Isles.
Elsewhere, the I was more or less employed by the Merchant city of Trellyun, II the same for Port Klap, and V settled down on Erya Island. VII trully dissolved, and the last anyone heard of VIII, they had been somewhere around Mountains of Morn.
(Intrigue operations in the former empire easier. Some operations/projects in the former empire easier. New projects unlocked. Chance to get detected overall malus got slightly reduced)
Chance of getting detected said:
1d100=?-?+?=82; 82>80
You got found out!
1d8=1 - Raven Brotherhood
Reaction: 1d100=85 85>75 Raven brotherhood is not negatively inclined toward you.
Event result:1d10=10 Raven brotherhood remained loyal and wish to renew their vows to you!
How or when they detected your actions or even came across the data of your existence they refused to divulge, but you are more than willing to concede them that.
A small, persistent, smug, suspicious voice at the back of your head whispers to you suspicions that whatever it is your agents are
not telling you about their initial aproach of the Owl brotherhood probably had more than a little to do with the gaze of the Ravens turning in your direction.
But such speculations are neither usefull nor productive usage of your time, the important thing is that the royal master spies are back where they belong, at your left hand.
(Intrigue operations easier. Some operations/projects easier. New projects unlocked. Chance to get detected overall malus got slightly reduced)
Special achievement! said:
Ears everywhere
Have more than half of the spy brotherhoods serving under you
AN: Yeah, as I said your luck is bizarre. Sometimes very good, sometimes equally terrible.
AN2: Info post updated! Check it if you are interested.
), I've decided that I should have made a fortune roll for the Exodus.
