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Glimmers In The Dark-(A Supernatural Mercantilism Quest In Alternate History Europe)
- Thread starter Dapperlad1
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The Choice
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The year is 1500 after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The previous century is a darkened, terrible dream in the eyes of many, holding nothing but fear and misery for most. Yet for others, it represented a new chance, an era of opportunity reserved only for those who would dare to push onwards.
Some of those people went into alchemical laboratories in the depths of the Queen of Cities, coming out as heroes. Others tried their luck in the grandest sciences revealed to Man by divine wisdom in that darkest time, inventing machinery, mixing up potent brews and even practising witchery for the protection of their people.
Success was had, the vast hordes of the Impaler's son beaten back by heroism, miracles and more shot and powder than is strictly sane. Thrace was retaken with blood and fire, Greece reclaimed with trickery and explosives, Bulgaria taken with tremendous force and the most advanced technologies of the time, and finally, with great effort, the very citadel of the damned and unholy monsters was shattered.
The response was apocalyptic, Mihnea's army ravaged the Balkans with infernal might, crashing to the very walls of Constantinople, following his father's example and pushing to burn even this mighty bastion to its foundations. The walls were valiantly held at immense cost of life and damage to the city itself. The Evil was driven back by the finest warriors this Empire could produce, even if they sacrificed their lives for it, and was sent running without an army or support.
With a great effort, his escape was tracked, his location found and a team of mighty warriors and Bacchus Attaliates, master alchemist and hero of the Empire took to battle and slew him. An event which resulted in a colossal detonation that shook the world, igniting the sky as far as Vienna.
With his death, a new era was born, an era of unprecedented growth was birthed and wealth drove to obscene new heights by a war-time industry that was expanding to never-before-seen rates of production. Munitions, powder and weapons sold made Rome rich beyond measure and after that same war, it sparked more conflict with the Djinn to their east in pursuit of ancient borders.
Strange happenings in the Balkans saw more destruction, including the annihilation of two entire armies of Romans by method of a burning wave of light leaving no evidence of them save for Damascene steel in suspicious piles on blasted flat plains of exposed stone and glassed earth. No real proof came of this event's source and the proceedings afterwards are shrouded in mystery and myth.
The conflict with the Djinn turns to outright war as Mesopotamia was retaken with blood and fire. Sorceries of elder myth were overcome with careful strategy and overwhelming force until they were pushed fully across the Zagros mountains, banished to far away Parthia to whatever fate awaited them there.
In these days, the Empire lives triumphant, returned from the deepest brink of history to finally claim glorious standing in the world. This is where your story begins.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The interlocking Ochimata ways that swallow the countryside are a familiar sight to most now. Cranking gears sounding out with metallic grinding even miles out, much less a few meters out of a station. A station services the passenger Ochimata you step from, seven oxen driving a brass crankshaft the size of small home to instil potential energy for its travels.
The crowd pushes past you, kept in control by stolid armoured Tzakones brandishing jet black soft clubs made from alchemically solidified petroleum that regularly push it back to order. Rabblerousers spread, but are beaten down and arrested. A megaphone-wielding Quaesitor screams out commands to order, demanding the crowd fall in line.
You make it through them with effort, some hands having to be batted away before they steal every coin in your purse, and perhaps the purse itself. Concrete streets, freshly rebuilt after the siege a decade prior rendered it shattered, extend out in gleaming white tracts that seem to infinitely extending outwards.
Vast buildings stretch up a dozen stories, marble-like glimmer giving them a beautiful appearance like the rest of this city. The rented Ochimata, a large brass thing which is armoured and protected to prevent overtaking by desperate workers, takes you over to the building where the supposed "Head Tradesman of Constantinople" is to meet you for some reason.
White streets turn red and broken as the remains of a work riot are being cleaned still, Athanatopouloi being deployed in force as they brandished firearms toward the Tzakones. Broken bodies and blistered flesh consumes the path ahead, but the Ochimata driver pays it no heed, the large wheels and fenced-off tramways on the interior of roads allowing the worst of it to be avoided easily enough.
Distant work riots ignite with the glow of alchemically produced flame, the workers firebombing something or other in rage whilst Tzakone disperse them forcefully, choking gasses and heavy impacting clubs being used to great effect on them.
Finally, you arrive at this damned place. The brass of the Ochimata still shining even as the wheels glint with the smallest portions of blood and gore trailing behind it as you exit, going towards the generally anonymous's building shine, somehow bereft of blood and chips even in the less than prosperous part of Constantinople.
Yet, a question remains unanswered, one of the most important. Who are you and, of course, who are you from?
[X] A son of a gunsmith and his merchant wife, the explosion of work in the times of war made your father obscenely wealthy and your mother similarly so. A normal man, you did not benefit from alchemical enhancement like so many of your peers, and in terms of sciences, you never had much of a head for them beyond economics. Now, with their passing, you were to meet with their guildmaster to assess properties and determine what their wills put forth. This new affair with this Head Tradesman of Constantinople is unexpected.
[X] Born to nobility just a bit under two decades ago, your house has, as of recent times fallen apart. Like most children, of your generation, heavy mutagens were applied to force you into excellence. Your mind was enhanced, your strength is inhuman and your lifespan nearly unlimited so long as elixirs continue to flow into you. The old family lands were in Greece, with rich vineyards and urban centres contained within them. However, they were levelled by the rage of the Evil. Some of the old treasury remains, but it is limited and you have yet to claim it due to this Tradesman.
[X] The eighth son of a sea-side copper mine owner in Anatolia, you never expected to really amount to much in your father's work. Instead, he sent you off to the Naturalist college where you learnt everything from gears and mechanics to art and biology. Of course, as you finished your studies as a fully grown man, your return home was soured by the fact that your entire family had been butchered by the rampant spread of sea-borne monsters that somehow gained the ability to invade the land. Now, after weeks of screaming at local liege lords and stewards, you've come to the capital to settle the matter of ownership.
Some of those people went into alchemical laboratories in the depths of the Queen of Cities, coming out as heroes. Others tried their luck in the grandest sciences revealed to Man by divine wisdom in that darkest time, inventing machinery, mixing up potent brews and even practising witchery for the protection of their people.
Success was had, the vast hordes of the Impaler's son beaten back by heroism, miracles and more shot and powder than is strictly sane. Thrace was retaken with blood and fire, Greece reclaimed with trickery and explosives, Bulgaria taken with tremendous force and the most advanced technologies of the time, and finally, with great effort, the very citadel of the damned and unholy monsters was shattered.
The response was apocalyptic, Mihnea's army ravaged the Balkans with infernal might, crashing to the very walls of Constantinople, following his father's example and pushing to burn even this mighty bastion to its foundations. The walls were valiantly held at immense cost of life and damage to the city itself. The Evil was driven back by the finest warriors this Empire could produce, even if they sacrificed their lives for it, and was sent running without an army or support.
With a great effort, his escape was tracked, his location found and a team of mighty warriors and Bacchus Attaliates, master alchemist and hero of the Empire took to battle and slew him. An event which resulted in a colossal detonation that shook the world, igniting the sky as far as Vienna.
With his death, a new era was born, an era of unprecedented growth was birthed and wealth drove to obscene new heights by a war-time industry that was expanding to never-before-seen rates of production. Munitions, powder and weapons sold made Rome rich beyond measure and after that same war, it sparked more conflict with the Djinn to their east in pursuit of ancient borders.
Strange happenings in the Balkans saw more destruction, including the annihilation of two entire armies of Romans by method of a burning wave of light leaving no evidence of them save for Damascene steel in suspicious piles on blasted flat plains of exposed stone and glassed earth. No real proof came of this event's source and the proceedings afterwards are shrouded in mystery and myth.
The conflict with the Djinn turns to outright war as Mesopotamia was retaken with blood and fire. Sorceries of elder myth were overcome with careful strategy and overwhelming force until they were pushed fully across the Zagros mountains, banished to far away Parthia to whatever fate awaited them there.
In these days, the Empire lives triumphant, returned from the deepest brink of history to finally claim glorious standing in the world. This is where your story begins.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The interlocking Ochimata ways that swallow the countryside are a familiar sight to most now. Cranking gears sounding out with metallic grinding even miles out, much less a few meters out of a station. A station services the passenger Ochimata you step from, seven oxen driving a brass crankshaft the size of small home to instil potential energy for its travels.
The crowd pushes past you, kept in control by stolid armoured Tzakones brandishing jet black soft clubs made from alchemically solidified petroleum that regularly push it back to order. Rabblerousers spread, but are beaten down and arrested. A megaphone-wielding Quaesitor screams out commands to order, demanding the crowd fall in line.
You make it through them with effort, some hands having to be batted away before they steal every coin in your purse, and perhaps the purse itself. Concrete streets, freshly rebuilt after the siege a decade prior rendered it shattered, extend out in gleaming white tracts that seem to infinitely extending outwards.
Vast buildings stretch up a dozen stories, marble-like glimmer giving them a beautiful appearance like the rest of this city. The rented Ochimata, a large brass thing which is armoured and protected to prevent overtaking by desperate workers, takes you over to the building where the supposed "Head Tradesman of Constantinople" is to meet you for some reason.
White streets turn red and broken as the remains of a work riot are being cleaned still, Athanatopouloi being deployed in force as they brandished firearms toward the Tzakones. Broken bodies and blistered flesh consumes the path ahead, but the Ochimata driver pays it no heed, the large wheels and fenced-off tramways on the interior of roads allowing the worst of it to be avoided easily enough.
Distant work riots ignite with the glow of alchemically produced flame, the workers firebombing something or other in rage whilst Tzakone disperse them forcefully, choking gasses and heavy impacting clubs being used to great effect on them.
Finally, you arrive at this damned place. The brass of the Ochimata still shining even as the wheels glint with the smallest portions of blood and gore trailing behind it as you exit, going towards the generally anonymous's building shine, somehow bereft of blood and chips even in the less than prosperous part of Constantinople.
Yet, a question remains unanswered, one of the most important. Who are you and, of course, who are you from?
[X] A son of a gunsmith and his merchant wife, the explosion of work in the times of war made your father obscenely wealthy and your mother similarly so. A normal man, you did not benefit from alchemical enhancement like so many of your peers, and in terms of sciences, you never had much of a head for them beyond economics. Now, with their passing, you were to meet with their guildmaster to assess properties and determine what their wills put forth. This new affair with this Head Tradesman of Constantinople is unexpected.
[X] Born to nobility just a bit under two decades ago, your house has, as of recent times fallen apart. Like most children, of your generation, heavy mutagens were applied to force you into excellence. Your mind was enhanced, your strength is inhuman and your lifespan nearly unlimited so long as elixirs continue to flow into you. The old family lands were in Greece, with rich vineyards and urban centres contained within them. However, they were levelled by the rage of the Evil. Some of the old treasury remains, but it is limited and you have yet to claim it due to this Tradesman.
[X] The eighth son of a sea-side copper mine owner in Anatolia, you never expected to really amount to much in your father's work. Instead, he sent you off to the Naturalist college where you learnt everything from gears and mechanics to art and biology. Of course, as you finished your studies as a fully grown man, your return home was soured by the fact that your entire family had been butchered by the rampant spread of sea-borne monsters that somehow gained the ability to invade the land. Now, after weeks of screaming at local liege lords and stewards, you've come to the capital to settle the matter of ownership.
Economics
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Current Wealth-484 Stavraton
Family Upkeep-100 Stavraton/Turn
Alchemical Laboratory-45 Stavraton/Turn
Paper Mill-30 Stavraton/Turn
No Other Upkeep As of Turn 2
Properties
Alchemical Laboratory with 30 Units of Production
Medicine is currently being Produced.
Paper Mill with 55 Units of Production.
Paper is currently being Produced
Farming Estate with 250 Units of Production
Grains are currently being produced.
Resource Income
Quality Timber-130 units per turn. Stockpile=130 Units
Medicine-30 units per turn. Stockpile=0 Units
Paper-55 units per turn. Stockpile=0 Units
Grains-250 units per turn. Stockpile=250 Units
Current Transportation Fleet.
Rail-Ochimata X2. Capacity-90 units. Range-400km. Maintenance per stop-20 Stavraton
Screw-driven Cargo Ship-80 units. Range-1000km. Maintenance per stop-25 Stavraton
Family Upkeep-100 Stavraton/Turn
Alchemical Laboratory-45 Stavraton/Turn
Paper Mill-30 Stavraton/Turn
No Other Upkeep As of Turn 2
Properties
Alchemical Laboratory with 30 Units of Production
Medicine is currently being Produced.
Paper Mill with 55 Units of Production.
Paper is currently being Produced
Farming Estate with 250 Units of Production
Grains are currently being produced.
Resource Income
Quality Timber-130 units per turn. Stockpile=130 Units
Medicine-30 units per turn. Stockpile=0 Units
Paper-55 units per turn. Stockpile=0 Units
Grains-250 units per turn. Stockpile=250 Units
Current Transportation Fleet.
Rail-Ochimata X2. Capacity-90 units. Range-400km. Maintenance per stop-20 Stavraton
Screw-driven Cargo Ship-80 units. Range-1000km. Maintenance per stop-25 Stavraton
Last edited:
Characters
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Magnus Diogenus
Age-19
Combat Statistics
1HP, 1 Armour, STR 2(1d4)
Mobility-Foot Infantry
Special Attacks:Handgun (2d6)
Social Statistics
Manipulation (To connive, twist and manipulate others) 50
Charisma (To convince, embolden and drive others) 50
Composure (To withstand, logically convince and straighten out others) 50
Age-19
Combat Statistics
1HP, 1 Armour, STR 2(1d4)
Mobility-Foot Infantry
Special Attacks:Handgun (2d6)
Social Statistics
Manipulation (To connive, twist and manipulate others) 50
Charisma (To convince, embolden and drive others) 50
Composure (To withstand, logically convince and straighten out others) 50
Last edited:
Miscellaneous
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Rail Ochimata. Price-500 Stavraton. Capacity-90 units of cargo. Range-400 kilometres.
Walker Ochimata Fleet. Price-300 Stavraton. Capacity-50 units of cargo. Range-350 kilometres.
Screw Driven Cargo Ship. Price-500 Stavraton. Capacity-80 units of cargo. Range-1000 kilometres.
Walker Ochimata Fleet. Price-300 Stavraton. Capacity-50 units of cargo. Range-350 kilometres.
Screw Driven Cargo Ship. Price-500 Stavraton. Capacity-80 units of cargo. Range-1000 kilometres.
Last edited:
Turn 0.5
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The door is smooth, well oiled and crafted by someone of expertise and great skill, exactly the reason you push it open with as much force as you can manage. The door doesn't notice it beyond some noise on the far impact with the wall it sits beside.
The nicely cooled interior of this place is a welcome relief from the coiling, damp baking temperature of Constantinople. Marble- true marble, not shaped concrete- provides the flooring of this place, done up in large tiling that is finely engraved by obvious masters of the art.
A man sits, aged and of finely developed belly, on a luxurious sofa that practically swallows him. To his sides stand heavily armed guards in modern armour, the spring and gear tension in their mace-wielding frames nearly audible. You find yourself itching to grab a hold of the firearm on your belt holster at their presence.
"Come, young man, come and sit." His voice was surprisingly bass-filled and powerful for someone of his shape and age, he gestures with a large hand ridden with calluses from years of hard work, "You and I have much to discuss."
The fact he seems so confident and self-assured sends spikes of anger through you, but such things are easily crushed by an exceptional effort of internal will. "Of course, Master Tradesman." You sit down, opposite of him in a comfortable chair with substantial padding. "I hear you are the source of my troubles?" An easy grin and jesting tone of voice puts the otherwise aggression-fueled sentence to an easy and acceptable weight.
In response, the Tradesman laughs, joy on his face clear at the energy you display. "A joy to see a young man's energy in this trade!" Shaking his head and raising from his lounge to a more proper sit. "But this is about your money, let's not dally." He brings out several paper sheaves, neatly bound together via a spring inset on one side.
Still, with a generally joyful expression, he proceeds to speak "And, indeed, the situation is somewhat complex." You stiffen somewhat at that, worry welling up in your gut at those words. "Please explain further, Master Tradesman."
Pulling the papers closer to him and leafing through them, he explains. "Well, your father's businesses were, indeed a critical wartime industry, and as the war against the eastern spirits has only recently ended, a quirk of law has, to my sincerest apologies, seen them taken as state interest and are now being run by his Imperial Majesties War Administration."
"...Ah." Is all you can muster, anger and no small amount of rage building in you. "May I see the documents?" You ask, hoping you will read something different in them than what he has said. Without a word, the older man hands them over to you for inspection.
No amount of scanning them changes the truth, your family's property has been confiscated. The banks still remain and, of course, your home, but nothing else. No factories, no workshops, nothing at all. Calmly, you hand back the documents. "Is that all you felt the need to inform me of, Master Tradesman?" Barely contained hostility thrumming in the deepest portions of your voice.
A look of pity that inflames that rage ever higher comes across his face, "No, sadly, I've no truly good news for you. Please, head to your banks and acquire the funds you need to live." Once again, his voice is surprisingly deep and, as of very recently, growing tremendously grating.
Wordlessly, you stand, make your way towards the door and get back into the waiting Ochimata.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The banks are a dull journey of extracting all your funds in a nicely protected vault-Ochimata, trundling on six legs hissing with tension, you take a ride on the side of it, forgoing simpler transport for this.
A thousand thoughts play through your mind, annoyance, blinding white rage and more that you cannot describe bursting in and out of awareness. The Ochimata makes it through a crowd of rioters, either moving around them or forcing them out of the way with their bulk.
Eventually, after a few hour's journeys outside the city, you make it to the family manor, though not quite as magnificent as some noble houses, it is still a work of exceptional beauty and opulence. Large pillars fountaining water into pools which serve as both decoration and places to lounge in.
It is only when you make it inside that the facade breaks and your fist shatters some priceless glass case protecting expensive chinaware, which also breaks. Catching yourself from the frenzy that awaits, you focus instead on the matters of economics, remaking your fortune.
You'll be damned if your family's prosperity ends with you.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The year is 1500, and your family's fortune is much diminished. You lack properties, you lack resources and you lack even a simple damned workforce courtesy of the rather byzantine bureaucracy of Rome.
Counting what money you have, it is a fortune beyond most, easily able to support you and your future children for generations, if they are willing to reduce themselves to mere good living rather than luxury, something you cannot allow.
Current Wealth-1800 Stavraton
Family Upkeep-100 Stavraton/Turn
No Other Upkeep As of Turn 0.5
Sending out word for a grand gathering of farmers, prospectors and a dozen other skilled varieties of individuals, you have a select few that, upon some investigation seemed worthwhile enough to pursue.
You could pursue just one or many more, but keep in mind that other things will require your attention and wealth.
[X] A large collection of Kurd shepherds have gathered, bringing their absolutely, uncomfortably colossal and unceasingly bleeting herd of sheep with them. They offer rights to their produce in exchange for the centralized sale of it and profit sharing of a small amount of it. (550 Stavraton contract fee, projected production of 10d8 units (Projected unit price=0.5-1.2 Stavraton) per turn.)
[X] From the depth of the Anatolian woods, a guild of woodcutters come out, long since having no contact with outside civilization. They offer a high-quality product harvested from the deep old growth, it displays exceptional strength and should be a valuable resource. (300 Stavraton contract fee, projected production of 65 units (Projected unit price=0.8-1.5 Stavraton) per turn.)
[X] A band of Thracian mercenaries fresh from an awful defeat in the Zagros mountains during the last days of the Djinn war. Hundreds of their number dead and massive amounts of equipment were lost. They are veterans, if ill-equipped and low on morale. Their leader promises a quick return to form and profit if they can simply be patronised by you. (600 Stavraton contract fee, has a weight of 50 units, Mercenary Contract mechanics unlocked.)
And, of course, a source of income is plenty good, but one cannot easily transport it by foot alone. There are many means in the world, but only a few are immediately available to you, and all are tremendously expensive.
[X] A fleet of walker Ochimata. It would provide you with immense route flexibility as well as reasonable weight capacity. It is, however, slower and more in danger from land-borne risks. (A purchasing price of 300 Stavraton. Can carry up to 50 units of cargo in a year with a range of 350 kilometres.)
[X] A license and Ochimata to operate on rails. With a great speed and incredible capacity for weight, it is a natural choice for the merchant with a vast output of materials or the desire to move it quickly across the land. It, however, must be loaded at rail stations for maximal efficiency. (A purchasing price of 500 Stavraton. Can carry up to 90 units of cargo in a year, but only along rail lines with a range of 400 kilometres.)
[X] A large vessel driven by clockwork screws. It can manage reasonable speed, and massive range, in the water and carry immense weight but needs to be loaded at a proper dockyard and is in danger from the beasts of the sea. (A purchasing price of 500 Stavraton. It can carry up to 80 units of cargo in a year with a range of 1000 kilometres.)
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should be the last pre-game action!
Please, vote in plan format!
The nicely cooled interior of this place is a welcome relief from the coiling, damp baking temperature of Constantinople. Marble- true marble, not shaped concrete- provides the flooring of this place, done up in large tiling that is finely engraved by obvious masters of the art.
A man sits, aged and of finely developed belly, on a luxurious sofa that practically swallows him. To his sides stand heavily armed guards in modern armour, the spring and gear tension in their mace-wielding frames nearly audible. You find yourself itching to grab a hold of the firearm on your belt holster at their presence.
"Come, young man, come and sit." His voice was surprisingly bass-filled and powerful for someone of his shape and age, he gestures with a large hand ridden with calluses from years of hard work, "You and I have much to discuss."
The fact he seems so confident and self-assured sends spikes of anger through you, but such things are easily crushed by an exceptional effort of internal will. "Of course, Master Tradesman." You sit down, opposite of him in a comfortable chair with substantial padding. "I hear you are the source of my troubles?" An easy grin and jesting tone of voice puts the otherwise aggression-fueled sentence to an easy and acceptable weight.
In response, the Tradesman laughs, joy on his face clear at the energy you display. "A joy to see a young man's energy in this trade!" Shaking his head and raising from his lounge to a more proper sit. "But this is about your money, let's not dally." He brings out several paper sheaves, neatly bound together via a spring inset on one side.
Still, with a generally joyful expression, he proceeds to speak "And, indeed, the situation is somewhat complex." You stiffen somewhat at that, worry welling up in your gut at those words. "Please explain further, Master Tradesman."
Pulling the papers closer to him and leafing through them, he explains. "Well, your father's businesses were, indeed a critical wartime industry, and as the war against the eastern spirits has only recently ended, a quirk of law has, to my sincerest apologies, seen them taken as state interest and are now being run by his Imperial Majesties War Administration."
"...Ah." Is all you can muster, anger and no small amount of rage building in you. "May I see the documents?" You ask, hoping you will read something different in them than what he has said. Without a word, the older man hands them over to you for inspection.
No amount of scanning them changes the truth, your family's property has been confiscated. The banks still remain and, of course, your home, but nothing else. No factories, no workshops, nothing at all. Calmly, you hand back the documents. "Is that all you felt the need to inform me of, Master Tradesman?" Barely contained hostility thrumming in the deepest portions of your voice.
A look of pity that inflames that rage ever higher comes across his face, "No, sadly, I've no truly good news for you. Please, head to your banks and acquire the funds you need to live." Once again, his voice is surprisingly deep and, as of very recently, growing tremendously grating.
Wordlessly, you stand, make your way towards the door and get back into the waiting Ochimata.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The banks are a dull journey of extracting all your funds in a nicely protected vault-Ochimata, trundling on six legs hissing with tension, you take a ride on the side of it, forgoing simpler transport for this.
A thousand thoughts play through your mind, annoyance, blinding white rage and more that you cannot describe bursting in and out of awareness. The Ochimata makes it through a crowd of rioters, either moving around them or forcing them out of the way with their bulk.
Eventually, after a few hour's journeys outside the city, you make it to the family manor, though not quite as magnificent as some noble houses, it is still a work of exceptional beauty and opulence. Large pillars fountaining water into pools which serve as both decoration and places to lounge in.
It is only when you make it inside that the facade breaks and your fist shatters some priceless glass case protecting expensive chinaware, which also breaks. Catching yourself from the frenzy that awaits, you focus instead on the matters of economics, remaking your fortune.
You'll be damned if your family's prosperity ends with you.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The year is 1500, and your family's fortune is much diminished. You lack properties, you lack resources and you lack even a simple damned workforce courtesy of the rather byzantine bureaucracy of Rome.
Counting what money you have, it is a fortune beyond most, easily able to support you and your future children for generations, if they are willing to reduce themselves to mere good living rather than luxury, something you cannot allow.
Current Wealth-1800 Stavraton
Family Upkeep-100 Stavraton/Turn
No Other Upkeep As of Turn 0.5
Sending out word for a grand gathering of farmers, prospectors and a dozen other skilled varieties of individuals, you have a select few that, upon some investigation seemed worthwhile enough to pursue.
You could pursue just one or many more, but keep in mind that other things will require your attention and wealth.
[X] A large collection of Kurd shepherds have gathered, bringing their absolutely, uncomfortably colossal and unceasingly bleeting herd of sheep with them. They offer rights to their produce in exchange for the centralized sale of it and profit sharing of a small amount of it. (550 Stavraton contract fee, projected production of 10d8 units (Projected unit price=0.5-1.2 Stavraton) per turn.)
[X] From the depth of the Anatolian woods, a guild of woodcutters come out, long since having no contact with outside civilization. They offer a high-quality product harvested from the deep old growth, it displays exceptional strength and should be a valuable resource. (300 Stavraton contract fee, projected production of 65 units (Projected unit price=0.8-1.5 Stavraton) per turn.)
[X] A band of Thracian mercenaries fresh from an awful defeat in the Zagros mountains during the last days of the Djinn war. Hundreds of their number dead and massive amounts of equipment were lost. They are veterans, if ill-equipped and low on morale. Their leader promises a quick return to form and profit if they can simply be patronised by you. (600 Stavraton contract fee, has a weight of 50 units, Mercenary Contract mechanics unlocked.)
And, of course, a source of income is plenty good, but one cannot easily transport it by foot alone. There are many means in the world, but only a few are immediately available to you, and all are tremendously expensive.
[X] A fleet of walker Ochimata. It would provide you with immense route flexibility as well as reasonable weight capacity. It is, however, slower and more in danger from land-borne risks. (A purchasing price of 300 Stavraton. Can carry up to 50 units of cargo in a year with a range of 350 kilometres.)
[X] A license and Ochimata to operate on rails. With a great speed and incredible capacity for weight, it is a natural choice for the merchant with a vast output of materials or the desire to move it quickly across the land. It, however, must be loaded at rail stations for maximal efficiency. (A purchasing price of 500 Stavraton. Can carry up to 90 units of cargo in a year, but only along rail lines with a range of 400 kilometres.)
[X] A large vessel driven by clockwork screws. It can manage reasonable speed, and massive range, in the water and carry immense weight but needs to be loaded at a proper dockyard and is in danger from the beasts of the sea. (A purchasing price of 500 Stavraton. It can carry up to 80 units of cargo in a year with a range of 1000 kilometres.)
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should be the last pre-game action!
Please, vote in plan format!
Last edited:
Map as of 1500
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And this here is the (work in progress) map! With railways and a very small distance tracker near to Morocco!
Last edited:
Turn 1
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sending the Kurdish herders and the mercenaries away to other individuals, you enter negotiations with the woodcutters guild. They drive a harsh bargain in their own opinion, getting a contract fee that will let them live a life of absolute grandeur by their standards.
However, in your eyes, it's a worthy investment for tremendously high-quality timber, fit for shipbuilding and anything else you could use base wood for. Seeing records of their rates of production, you plan out two more purchases, a cargo ship that is relatively cheap for its size and a rail-Ochimata as well as its much more expensive Imperial rail license.
The two colossi sit in their respective stations, on the sea or land respectively ready for transport of anything you can provide to it. Their clicking engines roar with life as machinery is driven with unstoppable force. The respective cranking stations ever so slowly drive the vessel into functional shape with oxen strength.
Now comes the difficult, annoying part. Acquiring a purchaser.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Find Bargains
Roll=05-50(Composure)=-45 (Oh my)
You spend weeks patiently listening, conversing and convening with shipyard lords, construction magnates and firewood salesmen in a dozen different cities, making use of the vault-Ochimata as a personal transport vehicle.
A few bargains worth speaking about come to be, major cities requesting much of the product for a variety of reasons, but one special bargain catches your eye. An alchemists guild requests a tremendous amount of wood quickly.
Some new order for a Grand Katergon by the Imperial navy, thus requiring some tens of thousands of pounds of timber rated for alchemical treatment. This is far more than you can produce as of now, until, of course, you see the price they are willing to pay per pound.
Special Deal
Imperial Alchemists-3.5 Stavraton per unit-Demand=250 Quality Timber units Total-Time=2 Years (2 Turns)
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Constantinople-Transport unneeded.
Other opportunities of slightly lesser, but still excellent wealth provide themselves as well. From missionaries after the rescuing of lost souls wishing for transport to imperial munitions hauling contracts and many other options.
Ankaran Construction Magnates-1.1 Stavraton per unit-Demand=55 Quality Timber units Yearly-Time=6 Years (6 Years)
Direct Distance To Transport-Constantinople to Ankara-400km Overland.
Orthodox Church Missionaries-250 Stavraton-Weight=75 units-Time=1 Year
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Trebizond-1000KM Overland, 1000KM Oversea.
The Third Army Supply Corps-1.4 Stavraton per unit-Weight=120 Munitions units-Time=2 Years.
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Targoviste-725km Overland.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally, efforts to advance. Some contracts demand exceptional means that you do not quite yet have, as such, innovation is key. Whether it be ingratiating yourself with local administrations, sending out inquiries far and wide for deals, researching new and innovative methods of doing things or even simply purchasing heavy equipment for your operations, any action can be funded and attempted as below.
Every Stavraton spent gives a 1% chance of success to any action. This means if one were to spend, say, 200 Stavraton on an action, you would have a 200% chance of success barring, of course, difficulties that modify that chance of success down.
Rolled out, it would look like this.
Overthrowing the Empire
200 (Stavraton)-2000 (The Finest Espionage System in the Known World)
Target Number=-1800
Roll=55 (Failure)
You can spend these on anything, doing whatever you want!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Wealth-500 Stavraton
Current Upkeep-100 Stavraton
Resource Income
Quality Timber-65 units per turn. Stockpile=65 units.
Current Transportation Fleet.
Rail-Ochimata. Capacity-90 units. Range-400km. Maintenance per stop-20 Stavraton
Screw-driven Cargo Ship. Capacity-80 units. Range-1000km. Maintenance per stop-25 Stavraton
If you have to stretch beyond the range of a transportation method, it requires a place to cease movement and be cranked back to full strength. These can be anywhere, even in the middle of nowhere as the crew will manage, but it costs you a minor amount per stop.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, feel free to ask and clarify things as you need, I'll be here to help.
However, in your eyes, it's a worthy investment for tremendously high-quality timber, fit for shipbuilding and anything else you could use base wood for. Seeing records of their rates of production, you plan out two more purchases, a cargo ship that is relatively cheap for its size and a rail-Ochimata as well as its much more expensive Imperial rail license.
The two colossi sit in their respective stations, on the sea or land respectively ready for transport of anything you can provide to it. Their clicking engines roar with life as machinery is driven with unstoppable force. The respective cranking stations ever so slowly drive the vessel into functional shape with oxen strength.
Now comes the difficult, annoying part. Acquiring a purchaser.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Find Bargains
Roll=05-50(Composure)=-45 (Oh my)
You spend weeks patiently listening, conversing and convening with shipyard lords, construction magnates and firewood salesmen in a dozen different cities, making use of the vault-Ochimata as a personal transport vehicle.
A few bargains worth speaking about come to be, major cities requesting much of the product for a variety of reasons, but one special bargain catches your eye. An alchemists guild requests a tremendous amount of wood quickly.
Some new order for a Grand Katergon by the Imperial navy, thus requiring some tens of thousands of pounds of timber rated for alchemical treatment. This is far more than you can produce as of now, until, of course, you see the price they are willing to pay per pound.
Special Deal
Imperial Alchemists-3.5 Stavraton per unit-Demand=250 Quality Timber units Total-Time=2 Years (2 Turns)
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Constantinople-Transport unneeded.
Other opportunities of slightly lesser, but still excellent wealth provide themselves as well. From missionaries after the rescuing of lost souls wishing for transport to imperial munitions hauling contracts and many other options.
Ankaran Construction Magnates-1.1 Stavraton per unit-Demand=55 Quality Timber units Yearly-Time=6 Years (6 Years)
Direct Distance To Transport-Constantinople to Ankara-400km Overland.
Orthodox Church Missionaries-250 Stavraton-Weight=75 units-Time=1 Year
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Trebizond-1000KM Overland, 1000KM Oversea.
The Third Army Supply Corps-1.4 Stavraton per unit-Weight=120 Munitions units-Time=2 Years.
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Targoviste-725km Overland.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally, efforts to advance. Some contracts demand exceptional means that you do not quite yet have, as such, innovation is key. Whether it be ingratiating yourself with local administrations, sending out inquiries far and wide for deals, researching new and innovative methods of doing things or even simply purchasing heavy equipment for your operations, any action can be funded and attempted as below.
Every Stavraton spent gives a 1% chance of success to any action. This means if one were to spend, say, 200 Stavraton on an action, you would have a 200% chance of success barring, of course, difficulties that modify that chance of success down.
Rolled out, it would look like this.
Overthrowing the Empire
200 (Stavraton)-2000 (The Finest Espionage System in the Known World)
Target Number=-1800
Roll=55 (Failure)
You can spend these on anything, doing whatever you want!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Wealth-500 Stavraton
Current Upkeep-100 Stavraton
Resource Income
Quality Timber-65 units per turn. Stockpile=65 units.
Current Transportation Fleet.
Rail-Ochimata. Capacity-90 units. Range-400km. Maintenance per stop-20 Stavraton
Screw-driven Cargo Ship. Capacity-80 units. Range-1000km. Maintenance per stop-25 Stavraton
If you have to stretch beyond the range of a transportation method, it requires a place to cease movement and be cranked back to full strength. These can be anywhere, even in the middle of nowhere as the crew will manage, but it costs you a minor amount per stop.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, feel free to ask and clarify things as you need, I'll be here to help.
Turn 1 Results
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Imperial Alchemists
Finding yourself in the midsts of an alchemical laboratory isn't exactly where you thought your journey of wealth would begin, but here you are. Across from you, just now finishing up some crucially important measurements and pouring a black, tar-like substance that flows similarly to water, is the Master Alchemist that is your current interest.
The woman you are speaking to is reasonably young, perhaps a woman just in her second decade in appearance. Though, with Master Alchemists, this means she is anywhere between thirty and over one hundred years of age. Light hair suggests an origin other than Greek, whilst tan skin marks her as a native of the area. As the last drop of liquid drips down into the glass alembic, it mixes into a low, red-black substance which she quickly caps up.
"Apologies merchant, the last batch of Greek Fire just required the final addition of naphtha," Her face is somewhat apologetic whilst you reconsider exactly how close you were to the afterlife.
"Ah, is that, exactly, safe?" You hazard a question, already fairly confident in the answer you'll get. "Well, it hasn't killed me in fifty years, so I'll say it's perfectly safe." She gives the grin of a deranged madwoman, brown eyes gleaming near-unnaturally whilst a book is pulled out and opened.
"Merchant, I will need exactly four-hundred thousand pounds of wood in two years." She plainly says, noting something down in her book whilst your mind comes over a quarter-million pounds short of production needed to give her what she wants, nevertheless, you smile and nod. "Of course, only some expansion should easily get you that."
Taking your word at its base meaning, she nods "Excellent merchant, I will write up the contract immediately. Remember that failure to provide the resources is a failure to the state." A chilling reminder of the possible cost of failure. Nevertheless, your nerve keeps and you sign various binding agreements before exiting the laboratory just as a small explosion sounds from it.
Contract acquired, the initial sale provides 227.5 Stavraton.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finding a Source (Of Timber)
The first step to a successful bargain is acquiring multiple sources for completing that bargain. This is why you are seven hours into a series of idiotically fun activities with a magnate from the recolonized Wallachian territories by the name of Borislav.
Roll=99-50(Composure)-100 (Stavraton)=-49
"Tell me about that- Kakva ie dumata?-the story with the wife and the husband finding you again!" He laughs uproariously as he asks that, the wine having seeped straight through him as evidenced by flushed cheeks and a generally hammered demeanour. Putting one huge hand on the bar as you start to talk to balance himself, he listens intently.
"Well, it was a year back, when I was just barely a man! I was bouncing around this high society ballroom and, drunker than a sailor, stumbled into an absolutely beautiful woman." You yourself are feeling the liquor even if you have tried to keep the consumption low enough to be cognizant at great difficulty.
"We spoke like old friends and, of course, in a few minutes we did a lot more than just speak!" Borislav breaks into another bout of uproarious laughter, nearly falling off his stool whilst the crowd gathered around to join in the storytelling.
"Of course, the damnest thing happens just as I am, well, you know!" Tossing a grin around the room, they join in with the joyful expression you put forth. "Her husband walks in! Pulls a pistol on me!" You chuckle at the memory, continuing before interest is lost, "Of course, he missed, but the knife he pulled nearly didn't! Threw myself out of a window, landed in someone's cabbage pile and broke my arm!"
Shaking your head as the crowd cannot contain itself, you finish off. "Getting back home was interesting, explaining to my father why I needed to go to the physician for a broken arm was even more so!"
The night continues well enough, you keep the peace and joyful atmosphere and, at some point, get the contract you wrote up earlier and bargain for a price with the man, eventually settling on an amount. Despite how much you wish to argue the point, or maybe shoot the man, you let the night fade, enjoying what you can.
A settled purchasing of one Unit of Quality Timber for 2 Stavraton. Up to 125 Units total.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Bed With The Alchemists
Roll=1(Here we fucking go)-50 (Manipulation)-100 (Stavraton)=-149 (Critical Success)
How you found yourself breathless and shaking from a night with Master Alchemist Cynna is a long story involving alcohol, a silver tongue and perhaps more bravery than you should have shown. The point of the matter is that she is nearly a century your elder and you were barely keeping up, but you did.
With that good first impression, you've managed to build a relationship of sorts, something the priests would certainly call impious, but that's very much their issue, not yours. Sitting in her shop every few days and making idle conversation as she speaks of alchemical precepts with the joy of a driven teacher and exceptional skill at making the concepts understandable, seeing as even your dense mind is beginning to grasp onto some basics.
"So, to summarize, quicksilver, otherwise known as the metal of mercury, is a crucial tool for binding admixtures, allowing one to combine otherwise incompatible substances to produce exceptional effects!" Her light Macedonian accent makes every word engaging due to its exoticism, something you compound on by leaning in and generally making yourself attentive.
"Ah, isn't it toxic, however?" You ask, worried about the effects of such things, she responds with a dangerous grin, "Of course it is! That's why you don't breathe it in, and when you do, brew up something to fix the mounting damage to your mind!"
"Of course, Cynna, of course." You sigh at her antics, counting exactly how much a serum to recover whatever damage you've suffered here will cost.
Gotten an in with a Master Alchemist and by extension a few hundred journeymen and a few dozen apprentices. Also, she is absolutely mind-blowing in bed and, so are you apparently.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How Much Wood Can a Woodcutter Cut?
100 Stavraton
Target-100
Roll=54 (Success)
The first day you go to inspect the work environment, you get brought to a clearing in the woods stacked with logs, and a gaggle of men with splitting axes processing it in the most physically exhausting, inefficient manner possible.
Speaking niceties and applauding their inhuman work ethic, you head back to your home and start looking into options to make their efforts less mind-shatteringly stupid in their inefficiency.
A few solutions present themselves immediately, from alchemical enhancement of the workers which would cost an abject fortune to the solution you eventually settle on.
Buying a few dozen fourth-hand suits of clockwork armour from a decade ago during the second siege of Constantinople, you strip off much of the damascene steel that provides it with its armour, leaving just enough to protect the wearer from random impacts and selling the rest to make up the cost somewhat, you get them shipped to the woodcutters along with a few old soldiers that instruct them on how to use it.
A few weeks later, when you return to the camp, it is massively expanded as the forest has been cut back some four-hundred feet in every direction and you spot them using newly bought full steel axes to easily chop trees down in two swipes at most.
The people debranching them work with little tools, able to snap the branches off easily with armoured gauntlets and simply a large work blade to take away any remnant wood from them. Production rate skyrockets and you are nearly doubling the output of wood that is fed into stockpiles for sale.
Not quite enough to make up the difference needed, but certainly enough to make it much easier to do so in this Alchemists contract.
Quality Timber production increased to 130 per turn.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paper Milling
50 Stavraton
Target-50
Roll=54 (Near-Failure)
Construction of the paper mill does take place, all the space and probable equipment needed built just a few hundred yards away from your home. The issue, of course, is that you have no papermakers!
You've sent out dozens of requests, job offers and wage increases, but not a single soul will take your offer. You've absolutely no idea why. Perhaps it's the wages, you thought them fair, but evidently, others did not.
A paper mill is built, you just lack employees.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Supply Ammunition
The hours you are forced to spend in an office, waiting for paperwork to be delivered and a bureaucrat to sign off on the transport of munitions they requested are some of the most gruelling in your life.
You go through six cups of chai as well as a small dose of opium to keep steady and calm throughout the droning procedure, then you finally sign off on the transport of the powder and shot. Leaving the office, you get in your now personal ochimata and make your way to the rail station for the trip to Targoviste, aiming to connect with the locals there.
You make a profit of 106 Stavraton, and have the means to transport more.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Targoviste Travails
Roll=48-50 (Charisma)-50 (Stavraton)=-48
Arriving at Targoviste via your own Ochimata, it strikes you as underdeveloped. Old stone buildings abound- relics of a previous, more primitive era. Cobbled streets lie caked with mud whilst simple draft animals carry the weight of wagons behind them.
The people are hardy in appearance and filthy to go along with that image, but generally friendly as you find out in a local bar, doing your best to associate and stop being a stranger and instead appear as a friend.
It works well enough. You meet hunters, leatherworkers and a dozen other professionals who all operate fairly independently of one another. You detect no real resource of interest here that is already being tapped, but you do, however, detect a need for manpower.
The place is underpopulated, with a few thousand mere colonists providing the bulk of the population. Anyone who came here could easily own property by the right of simply walking onto it and would likely pay a reasonable price to do so.
All you have to do is somehow convince people of that fact.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit. No passenger source yet.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spreading Faith
The missionaries load into your vessel a few hundred at a time, getting sent off to Trebizond in rhythmic, days-long trips. What takes an inordinate amount of space is the sheer quantity of gold holy objects they apparently must bring along.
Shaking your head at the eccentricities of the clergy, you accept their generous pay heartily and allow them to go on their way.
250 Stavraton acquired, the faith aided, I guess.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trebizond Contracts
Roll=46-50(Charisma)-100(Stavraton)=-94
Sadly, with your time in Targoviste, you are unable to make a journey to Trebizond long-lasting. You do, however, manage to get into contact with the local miners and their guilds.
After months of back and forth letters, their needs are divined rather effectively. The mining guilds are currently operating with heavy machinery and the like. Unfortunately both black lung and other mining-related illnesses are epidemic so far from the Alchemists guilds of Constantinople, creating a great demand for medicine of any sort.
Additionally, the copper mines have recently re-opened after a terrible series of accidents which saw them collapse inwards, however, no one is currently pulling their output free, leaving it piling up en-masse without any place to sell it.
More Contracts Acquired.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Contracts
Trebizond Mining Guilds Medical Contract-Medicine-7 Stavraton Per Unit-30 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Trebizond Mining Guilds-Copper-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 300 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Targoviste Timber Magnate-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 125 Units-Quantity Contract.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
End of Turn Profits
New Balance=483.5=Rounded up to 484 Stavraton
No Change in Upkeep
Next Turn Soon!
Finding yourself in the midsts of an alchemical laboratory isn't exactly where you thought your journey of wealth would begin, but here you are. Across from you, just now finishing up some crucially important measurements and pouring a black, tar-like substance that flows similarly to water, is the Master Alchemist that is your current interest.
The woman you are speaking to is reasonably young, perhaps a woman just in her second decade in appearance. Though, with Master Alchemists, this means she is anywhere between thirty and over one hundred years of age. Light hair suggests an origin other than Greek, whilst tan skin marks her as a native of the area. As the last drop of liquid drips down into the glass alembic, it mixes into a low, red-black substance which she quickly caps up.
"Apologies merchant, the last batch of Greek Fire just required the final addition of naphtha," Her face is somewhat apologetic whilst you reconsider exactly how close you were to the afterlife.
"Ah, is that, exactly, safe?" You hazard a question, already fairly confident in the answer you'll get. "Well, it hasn't killed me in fifty years, so I'll say it's perfectly safe." She gives the grin of a deranged madwoman, brown eyes gleaming near-unnaturally whilst a book is pulled out and opened.
"Merchant, I will need exactly four-hundred thousand pounds of wood in two years." She plainly says, noting something down in her book whilst your mind comes over a quarter-million pounds short of production needed to give her what she wants, nevertheless, you smile and nod. "Of course, only some expansion should easily get you that."
Taking your word at its base meaning, she nods "Excellent merchant, I will write up the contract immediately. Remember that failure to provide the resources is a failure to the state." A chilling reminder of the possible cost of failure. Nevertheless, your nerve keeps and you sign various binding agreements before exiting the laboratory just as a small explosion sounds from it.
Contract acquired, the initial sale provides 227.5 Stavraton.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finding a Source (Of Timber)
The first step to a successful bargain is acquiring multiple sources for completing that bargain. This is why you are seven hours into a series of idiotically fun activities with a magnate from the recolonized Wallachian territories by the name of Borislav.
Roll=99-50(Composure)-100 (Stavraton)=-49
"Tell me about that- Kakva ie dumata?-the story with the wife and the husband finding you again!" He laughs uproariously as he asks that, the wine having seeped straight through him as evidenced by flushed cheeks and a generally hammered demeanour. Putting one huge hand on the bar as you start to talk to balance himself, he listens intently.
"Well, it was a year back, when I was just barely a man! I was bouncing around this high society ballroom and, drunker than a sailor, stumbled into an absolutely beautiful woman." You yourself are feeling the liquor even if you have tried to keep the consumption low enough to be cognizant at great difficulty.
"We spoke like old friends and, of course, in a few minutes we did a lot more than just speak!" Borislav breaks into another bout of uproarious laughter, nearly falling off his stool whilst the crowd gathered around to join in the storytelling.
"Of course, the damnest thing happens just as I am, well, you know!" Tossing a grin around the room, they join in with the joyful expression you put forth. "Her husband walks in! Pulls a pistol on me!" You chuckle at the memory, continuing before interest is lost, "Of course, he missed, but the knife he pulled nearly didn't! Threw myself out of a window, landed in someone's cabbage pile and broke my arm!"
Shaking your head as the crowd cannot contain itself, you finish off. "Getting back home was interesting, explaining to my father why I needed to go to the physician for a broken arm was even more so!"
The night continues well enough, you keep the peace and joyful atmosphere and, at some point, get the contract you wrote up earlier and bargain for a price with the man, eventually settling on an amount. Despite how much you wish to argue the point, or maybe shoot the man, you let the night fade, enjoying what you can.
A settled purchasing of one Unit of Quality Timber for 2 Stavraton. Up to 125 Units total.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Bed With The Alchemists
Roll=1(Here we fucking go)-50 (Manipulation)-100 (Stavraton)=-149 (Critical Success)
How you found yourself breathless and shaking from a night with Master Alchemist Cynna is a long story involving alcohol, a silver tongue and perhaps more bravery than you should have shown. The point of the matter is that she is nearly a century your elder and you were barely keeping up, but you did.
With that good first impression, you've managed to build a relationship of sorts, something the priests would certainly call impious, but that's very much their issue, not yours. Sitting in her shop every few days and making idle conversation as she speaks of alchemical precepts with the joy of a driven teacher and exceptional skill at making the concepts understandable, seeing as even your dense mind is beginning to grasp onto some basics.
"So, to summarize, quicksilver, otherwise known as the metal of mercury, is a crucial tool for binding admixtures, allowing one to combine otherwise incompatible substances to produce exceptional effects!" Her light Macedonian accent makes every word engaging due to its exoticism, something you compound on by leaning in and generally making yourself attentive.
"Ah, isn't it toxic, however?" You ask, worried about the effects of such things, she responds with a dangerous grin, "Of course it is! That's why you don't breathe it in, and when you do, brew up something to fix the mounting damage to your mind!"
"Of course, Cynna, of course." You sigh at her antics, counting exactly how much a serum to recover whatever damage you've suffered here will cost.
Gotten an in with a Master Alchemist and by extension a few hundred journeymen and a few dozen apprentices. Also, she is absolutely mind-blowing in bed and, so are you apparently.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How Much Wood Can a Woodcutter Cut?
100 Stavraton
Target-100
Roll=54 (Success)
The first day you go to inspect the work environment, you get brought to a clearing in the woods stacked with logs, and a gaggle of men with splitting axes processing it in the most physically exhausting, inefficient manner possible.
Speaking niceties and applauding their inhuman work ethic, you head back to your home and start looking into options to make their efforts less mind-shatteringly stupid in their inefficiency.
A few solutions present themselves immediately, from alchemical enhancement of the workers which would cost an abject fortune to the solution you eventually settle on.
Buying a few dozen fourth-hand suits of clockwork armour from a decade ago during the second siege of Constantinople, you strip off much of the damascene steel that provides it with its armour, leaving just enough to protect the wearer from random impacts and selling the rest to make up the cost somewhat, you get them shipped to the woodcutters along with a few old soldiers that instruct them on how to use it.
A few weeks later, when you return to the camp, it is massively expanded as the forest has been cut back some four-hundred feet in every direction and you spot them using newly bought full steel axes to easily chop trees down in two swipes at most.
The people debranching them work with little tools, able to snap the branches off easily with armoured gauntlets and simply a large work blade to take away any remnant wood from them. Production rate skyrockets and you are nearly doubling the output of wood that is fed into stockpiles for sale.
Not quite enough to make up the difference needed, but certainly enough to make it much easier to do so in this Alchemists contract.
Quality Timber production increased to 130 per turn.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paper Milling
50 Stavraton
Target-50
Roll=54 (Near-Failure)
Construction of the paper mill does take place, all the space and probable equipment needed built just a few hundred yards away from your home. The issue, of course, is that you have no papermakers!
You've sent out dozens of requests, job offers and wage increases, but not a single soul will take your offer. You've absolutely no idea why. Perhaps it's the wages, you thought them fair, but evidently, others did not.
A paper mill is built, you just lack employees.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Supply Ammunition
The hours you are forced to spend in an office, waiting for paperwork to be delivered and a bureaucrat to sign off on the transport of munitions they requested are some of the most gruelling in your life.
You go through six cups of chai as well as a small dose of opium to keep steady and calm throughout the droning procedure, then you finally sign off on the transport of the powder and shot. Leaving the office, you get in your now personal ochimata and make your way to the rail station for the trip to Targoviste, aiming to connect with the locals there.
You make a profit of 106 Stavraton, and have the means to transport more.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Targoviste Travails
Roll=48-50 (Charisma)-50 (Stavraton)=-48
Arriving at Targoviste via your own Ochimata, it strikes you as underdeveloped. Old stone buildings abound- relics of a previous, more primitive era. Cobbled streets lie caked with mud whilst simple draft animals carry the weight of wagons behind them.
The people are hardy in appearance and filthy to go along with that image, but generally friendly as you find out in a local bar, doing your best to associate and stop being a stranger and instead appear as a friend.
It works well enough. You meet hunters, leatherworkers and a dozen other professionals who all operate fairly independently of one another. You detect no real resource of interest here that is already being tapped, but you do, however, detect a need for manpower.
The place is underpopulated, with a few thousand mere colonists providing the bulk of the population. Anyone who came here could easily own property by the right of simply walking onto it and would likely pay a reasonable price to do so.
All you have to do is somehow convince people of that fact.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit. No passenger source yet.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spreading Faith
The missionaries load into your vessel a few hundred at a time, getting sent off to Trebizond in rhythmic, days-long trips. What takes an inordinate amount of space is the sheer quantity of gold holy objects they apparently must bring along.
Shaking your head at the eccentricities of the clergy, you accept their generous pay heartily and allow them to go on their way.
250 Stavraton acquired, the faith aided, I guess.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trebizond Contracts
Roll=46-50(Charisma)-100(Stavraton)=-94
Sadly, with your time in Targoviste, you are unable to make a journey to Trebizond long-lasting. You do, however, manage to get into contact with the local miners and their guilds.
After months of back and forth letters, their needs are divined rather effectively. The mining guilds are currently operating with heavy machinery and the like. Unfortunately both black lung and other mining-related illnesses are epidemic so far from the Alchemists guilds of Constantinople, creating a great demand for medicine of any sort.
Additionally, the copper mines have recently re-opened after a terrible series of accidents which saw them collapse inwards, however, no one is currently pulling their output free, leaving it piling up en-masse without any place to sell it.
More Contracts Acquired.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Contracts
Trebizond Mining Guilds Medical Contract-Medicine-7 Stavraton Per Unit-30 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Trebizond Mining Guilds-Copper-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 300 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Targoviste Timber Magnate-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 125 Units-Quantity Contract.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
End of Turn Profits
New Balance=483.5=Rounded up to 484 Stavraton
No Change in Upkeep
Next Turn Soon!
Last edited:
Turn 2
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A reasonably profitable year and a few interesting events taking place within it is the most you could hope for. You've several responsibilities still, the paper contracts with your signature on them demanding they be fulfilled.
However, your mind is still relatively clear of worry as you've gathered the means to succeed in this endeavour. Let us hope that the world doesn't balls it up for you again.
In other news, you have turned twenty years of age, which is something you suppose. And Cynna continues being a regular partner in both discussion and other means, an opening into the rather unbelievably complex politics of the Imperial Alchemists guild.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Events
Rumour Roll=62-50(Manipulation)=12
News From Brittania: It is said a King named Arthur has returned from his mountain slumber and broken the mists that surrounded Britannia by steel and by love. He is well-regarded by his people as a kind, gentle ruler of exceptional generosity, but is also rumoured to be a pagan, unabashed in his worship of ancient spirits and idols.
Crusader Reckoning: The Crusaders are in a difficult position, their food supplies are insufficient, and their population is made up of maddened faithful and veteran warriors. Cities are being rebuilt as icons to God, full of faithful acts and obeisance to Him. Rumours of an inquisition forming within their borders to find enemies of God are unfounded in fact but spreading like wildfire.
Scandinavian Mysteries: Something has occurred in mainland Scandinavia. Reports of thunderstorms, hostile seas and monstrous sightings come from Baltic and North Sea sailors that near it. The port-city of Stockholm is gone, a captain of a carrack reports, the whole city is burnt down to bedrock and smells of a thunderstorm.
When observed from the crow's nest, a symbol of a colossal, miles wide and tall hammer is seen where the city once stood.
The New World: Spain revels in wealth from a New World across the city. Reports range of savage natives, heathen gods and human sacrifice that is being overcome by steel and God's might. Of course, darker rumours from men that return from that new world ladened with gold beyond anything the Continent has seen. Rumours of blood-drinking conquistadores, of matching strength with their heart-swelled pagan warriors. Rumours, of course, with no basis in them.
But so many similar reports?
In other news, new, strange crops have been brought over, but Spanish and Portugese farmers have not yet cracked the secrets of their growth.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Contracts
Imperial Alchemists-3.5 Stavraton per unit-Demand=185 Quality Timber units Time=1 Year
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Constantinople-Transport unneeded.
The Third Army Supply Corps-1.4 Stavraton per unit-Weight=35 Munitions units-Time=1 Years.
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Targoviste-725km Overland.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Contracts
Trebizond Mining Guilds Medical Contract-Medicine-7 Stavraton Per Unit-30 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Trebizond Mining Guilds-Copper-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 300 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Targoviste Timber Magnate-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 125 Units-Quantity Contract.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance=484 Stavraton
Family Upkeep=100
However, your mind is still relatively clear of worry as you've gathered the means to succeed in this endeavour. Let us hope that the world doesn't balls it up for you again.
In other news, you have turned twenty years of age, which is something you suppose. And Cynna continues being a regular partner in both discussion and other means, an opening into the rather unbelievably complex politics of the Imperial Alchemists guild.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
World Events
Rumour Roll=62-50(Manipulation)=12
News From Brittania: It is said a King named Arthur has returned from his mountain slumber and broken the mists that surrounded Britannia by steel and by love. He is well-regarded by his people as a kind, gentle ruler of exceptional generosity, but is also rumoured to be a pagan, unabashed in his worship of ancient spirits and idols.
Crusader Reckoning: The Crusaders are in a difficult position, their food supplies are insufficient, and their population is made up of maddened faithful and veteran warriors. Cities are being rebuilt as icons to God, full of faithful acts and obeisance to Him. Rumours of an inquisition forming within their borders to find enemies of God are unfounded in fact but spreading like wildfire.
Scandinavian Mysteries: Something has occurred in mainland Scandinavia. Reports of thunderstorms, hostile seas and monstrous sightings come from Baltic and North Sea sailors that near it. The port-city of Stockholm is gone, a captain of a carrack reports, the whole city is burnt down to bedrock and smells of a thunderstorm.
When observed from the crow's nest, a symbol of a colossal, miles wide and tall hammer is seen where the city once stood.
The New World: Spain revels in wealth from a New World across the city. Reports range of savage natives, heathen gods and human sacrifice that is being overcome by steel and God's might. Of course, darker rumours from men that return from that new world ladened with gold beyond anything the Continent has seen. Rumours of blood-drinking conquistadores, of matching strength with their heart-swelled pagan warriors. Rumours, of course, with no basis in them.
But so many similar reports?
In other news, new, strange crops have been brought over, but Spanish and Portugese farmers have not yet cracked the secrets of their growth.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current Contracts
Imperial Alchemists-3.5 Stavraton per unit-Demand=185 Quality Timber units Time=1 Year
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Constantinople-Transport unneeded.
The Third Army Supply Corps-1.4 Stavraton per unit-Weight=35 Munitions units-Time=1 Years.
Direct Distance to Transport-Constantinople to Targoviste-725km Overland.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Contracts
Trebizond Mining Guilds Medical Contract-Medicine-7 Stavraton Per Unit-30 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Trebizond Mining Guilds-Copper-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 300 Units-Contract Length Indefinite.
Targoviste Timber Magnate-2 Stavraton Purchase Per Unit-Up To 125 Units-Quantity Contract.
Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance=484 Stavraton
Family Upkeep=100
Turn 2 Results
- Location
- Albania
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Money flows as you get your most valuable contract yet done and over with. More lumber than you've seen in your life is treated in great alchemical vats which harden it to steel-like hardness with the flexibility of fresh greenwood.
Elsewhere in the world, great mountains of munitions are shipped to the waiting Roman armies, loading cannon and preparing soldiery for any future wars which threaten this land.
Shaking your head, you count the Stavraton instead of focusing on the wonders and riches of the world.
A good year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Physician, Supply Thyself.
150 Stavraton+80 (Cynna, Master Alchemist)-50 (Closed Market)
Critical Range 1-14
Roll=28 (Success)
"You want….. Medicine?" Cynna asks, somewhat confused. You grin, responding affably, "Yes, exactly!"
"Just….medicine. That's it? No specific illness? No issue you can describe?" She asks, now very much confused, "You do know that's not how that works, right?"
Smirking, you gesture vaguely to the wall of chemicals she has in her workshop, "Each of those can cure an illness, or vaguely help, no?" Pulling your hands back and to your front, you continue, "Thus, every piece of that is some form of medicine! I want it all dear, every part of it." The eerie glow of greed must be showing clearly on your face.
"You're a madman Magnus, an utter madman." Cynna complains, looking to her books, "But, I think, no promises are being made, I think I can help." She writes down an address on a piece of an empty page and tears it from her notebook, a sacrilegious waste of paper.
As you take and read it, it directs you to an address in the city, "There you will find a man similarly mad, he has been working on something to this effect for the past decade." Nodding fiercely at Cynna, you respond, "I can always count on you, love." Comes from your mouth idly as you lean over and plant a kiss on her lips.
You had intended to leave now, but the firm grab from Cynna quickly erases that plan. Later, then.
======
A few hours later, you found yourself in the home of a positively mad man. Your initial introduction to him was quite literally seeing his face melt off in a horrific show of alchemical mishandling before a second potion quickly replaces said flesh in a flurry of regrowing flesh, displaying medicinal capacity beyond anything you've seen in the hospitals and physicians therein.
This was followed by some very pleasant conversation wherein the man truly proved his utter madness and finally, you get him to agree to….industrialize his production of medicine by promising to allow him to experiment freely so long as he keeps a reasonable amount of production.
The cost to start this operation up was somewhat unseemly, but manageable with the fact you did not need to pay the man anything, simply get him his machinery and vast vats to work with.
200 additional Stavraton Spent to create Alchemical Laboratory, it is using its 30 units of production to make Medicine currently. It costs 45 Stavraton a turn for maintenance and supply.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copper Buyers
100 Stavraton
Roll=87 (Success)
Negotiations for this are easy enough, copper is a vital material to make brass, something useful for the finest workings of clockwork science. However, prices are not as favourable. A profit is acquired with the Ochimata crafters of Ankara, but they are only willing to pay a bare amount over the market price for you handling transport costs.
Cursing slightly, but accepting the mild profit you will make, you settle in agreement, placing the letter received into a folder to keep safe.
Ankaran Ochimata Fabricators-2.5 Stavraton Per Unit-Unlimited Units Intake
400KM from Constantinople Overland, 730KM from Trebizond Overland. No direct Sea Route.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercy for the Poor
100 Stavraton+100 (Servicing a Desperate Need)
Critical Range 1-20
Roll=4 (Critical)
The first time you go to the bishop assigned with dealing with the "administration" of the Church's finance and offer to move the poor, he practically shoves money your way before you get to the part where you will do it for free.
Conveniently omitting that fact as soon as you fully realize what they just said, you instead begin negotiating the arduous task of moving such numbers of folk across vast distances to unsettled lands.
Very apparently, the crown beat you to this idea, having funded many social programmes to incentivize movement away from the vastly overpopulated urban centres to the very edges of the Empire and in doing so, made an amount of money available for it.
Indeed, the amount of money is amazingly idiotic in size, as you discover in negotiations for price.
Upgraded Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2.5 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paper Actions
Paper Mill Workers
60 Stavraton+40 (Concrete Examples of a Workplace)
Target-100
Roll=85 (Success)
With a whole Mill as proof of employment, hiring workers becomes much easier. Once an actual miller is found, many more can be put into apprenticeships which you subsidize and then, finally, paper begins coming out in thick sheets which are carefully sliced for sale.
Now, where to sell it?
Workers found, Paper Mill begins production.
Paper Mill produces 55 Units of Paper a turn, it costs 30 Stavraton a Turn in Maintenance.
Paper Contracts
Bonus immense, contract found with church ties.
Thankfully, your previous conversation with the church comes in handy, as their purpose of keeping all records known to man consumes more paper than is strictly sane.
With a quick bit of negotiation, you acquire a generous price and begin the sale of paper, converting the inherently worthless sheets of wood pulp into actually valuable silver.
Paper to Hagia Sophia-No Distance-3.5 Stavraton Per Unit-90 Unit Demand-No Duration
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golden Sheafs
100 Stavraton
Target-100
Roll=53 (Success)
Purchasing land is quite easy, no one really owns much and the amount of money you offer for even an acre is life-changing for the landowners here, allowing you to amass an acreage of significant size, perhaps a few dozen when all is said and done.
The ready-made land to work is appreciated by arriving migrants as they immediately get to work, tilling and preparing for seeds to arrive.
Sensing that need, you immediately hop to, attempting to acquire industrial quantities of staple food crops from wherever you can.
Farming Estate Purchased, Up to 250 Units of Production a Year, no options to produce yet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Staple Stocks
50 Stavraton+35 (Botanist Connections, Courtesy of Cynna)
Target-85
Roll=31
You would have had to range far and wide if not for Cynna's help. Off-handedly she mentioned that the botanists have experimented with creating a superior food crop for the Empire, but so far, due to lack of funding and apparent raw difficulty of the matter, efforts have generally faltered and died.
This does, however, mean that the local guilds have millions of wheat, barley and rice seeds in storage, completely unused. Now, you have no idea how to grow rice and you doubt your sharecroppers do either, but wheat and barley are perfect for your purposes.
A simple letter gets a fair price for them, and you purchase the lot and ship it to Targoviste to be disseminated between the sharecroppers as per your desires.
Farming Estate adds Grains as a production choice. Automatically started planting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Turn Balance
Balance=827 Stavraton
Upkeeps already factored in. See Economics.
Copper Route could not be run, no demand in Constantinople for Ship, need more Transport methods.
Elsewhere in the world, great mountains of munitions are shipped to the waiting Roman armies, loading cannon and preparing soldiery for any future wars which threaten this land.
Shaking your head, you count the Stavraton instead of focusing on the wonders and riches of the world.
A good year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Physician, Supply Thyself.
150 Stavraton+80 (Cynna, Master Alchemist)-50 (Closed Market)
Critical Range 1-14
Roll=28 (Success)
"You want….. Medicine?" Cynna asks, somewhat confused. You grin, responding affably, "Yes, exactly!"
"Just….medicine. That's it? No specific illness? No issue you can describe?" She asks, now very much confused, "You do know that's not how that works, right?"
Smirking, you gesture vaguely to the wall of chemicals she has in her workshop, "Each of those can cure an illness, or vaguely help, no?" Pulling your hands back and to your front, you continue, "Thus, every piece of that is some form of medicine! I want it all dear, every part of it." The eerie glow of greed must be showing clearly on your face.
"You're a madman Magnus, an utter madman." Cynna complains, looking to her books, "But, I think, no promises are being made, I think I can help." She writes down an address on a piece of an empty page and tears it from her notebook, a sacrilegious waste of paper.
As you take and read it, it directs you to an address in the city, "There you will find a man similarly mad, he has been working on something to this effect for the past decade." Nodding fiercely at Cynna, you respond, "I can always count on you, love." Comes from your mouth idly as you lean over and plant a kiss on her lips.
You had intended to leave now, but the firm grab from Cynna quickly erases that plan. Later, then.
======
A few hours later, you found yourself in the home of a positively mad man. Your initial introduction to him was quite literally seeing his face melt off in a horrific show of alchemical mishandling before a second potion quickly replaces said flesh in a flurry of regrowing flesh, displaying medicinal capacity beyond anything you've seen in the hospitals and physicians therein.
This was followed by some very pleasant conversation wherein the man truly proved his utter madness and finally, you get him to agree to….industrialize his production of medicine by promising to allow him to experiment freely so long as he keeps a reasonable amount of production.
The cost to start this operation up was somewhat unseemly, but manageable with the fact you did not need to pay the man anything, simply get him his machinery and vast vats to work with.
200 additional Stavraton Spent to create Alchemical Laboratory, it is using its 30 units of production to make Medicine currently. It costs 45 Stavraton a turn for maintenance and supply.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copper Buyers
100 Stavraton
Roll=87 (Success)
Negotiations for this are easy enough, copper is a vital material to make brass, something useful for the finest workings of clockwork science. However, prices are not as favourable. A profit is acquired with the Ochimata crafters of Ankara, but they are only willing to pay a bare amount over the market price for you handling transport costs.
Cursing slightly, but accepting the mild profit you will make, you settle in agreement, placing the letter received into a folder to keep safe.
Ankaran Ochimata Fabricators-2.5 Stavraton Per Unit-Unlimited Units Intake
400KM from Constantinople Overland, 730KM from Trebizond Overland. No direct Sea Route.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercy for the Poor
100 Stavraton+100 (Servicing a Desperate Need)
Critical Range 1-20
Roll=4 (Critical)
The first time you go to the bishop assigned with dealing with the "administration" of the Church's finance and offer to move the poor, he practically shoves money your way before you get to the part where you will do it for free.
Conveniently omitting that fact as soon as you fully realize what they just said, you instead begin negotiating the arduous task of moving such numbers of folk across vast distances to unsettled lands.
Very apparently, the crown beat you to this idea, having funded many social programmes to incentivize movement away from the vastly overpopulated urban centres to the very edges of the Empire and in doing so, made an amount of money available for it.
Indeed, the amount of money is amazingly idiotic in size, as you discover in negotiations for price.
Upgraded Open Contract-Targoviste Passenger Route-2.5 Stavraton Per Passenger Unit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paper Actions
Paper Mill Workers
60 Stavraton+40 (Concrete Examples of a Workplace)
Target-100
Roll=85 (Success)
With a whole Mill as proof of employment, hiring workers becomes much easier. Once an actual miller is found, many more can be put into apprenticeships which you subsidize and then, finally, paper begins coming out in thick sheets which are carefully sliced for sale.
Now, where to sell it?
Workers found, Paper Mill begins production.
Paper Mill produces 55 Units of Paper a turn, it costs 30 Stavraton a Turn in Maintenance.
Paper Contracts
Bonus immense, contract found with church ties.
Thankfully, your previous conversation with the church comes in handy, as their purpose of keeping all records known to man consumes more paper than is strictly sane.
With a quick bit of negotiation, you acquire a generous price and begin the sale of paper, converting the inherently worthless sheets of wood pulp into actually valuable silver.
Paper to Hagia Sophia-No Distance-3.5 Stavraton Per Unit-90 Unit Demand-No Duration
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golden Sheafs
100 Stavraton
Target-100
Roll=53 (Success)
Purchasing land is quite easy, no one really owns much and the amount of money you offer for even an acre is life-changing for the landowners here, allowing you to amass an acreage of significant size, perhaps a few dozen when all is said and done.
The ready-made land to work is appreciated by arriving migrants as they immediately get to work, tilling and preparing for seeds to arrive.
Sensing that need, you immediately hop to, attempting to acquire industrial quantities of staple food crops from wherever you can.
Farming Estate Purchased, Up to 250 Units of Production a Year, no options to produce yet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Staple Stocks
50 Stavraton+35 (Botanist Connections, Courtesy of Cynna)
Target-85
Roll=31
You would have had to range far and wide if not for Cynna's help. Off-handedly she mentioned that the botanists have experimented with creating a superior food crop for the Empire, but so far, due to lack of funding and apparent raw difficulty of the matter, efforts have generally faltered and died.
This does, however, mean that the local guilds have millions of wheat, barley and rice seeds in storage, completely unused. Now, you have no idea how to grow rice and you doubt your sharecroppers do either, but wheat and barley are perfect for your purposes.
A simple letter gets a fair price for them, and you purchase the lot and ship it to Targoviste to be disseminated between the sharecroppers as per your desires.
Farming Estate adds Grains as a production choice. Automatically started planting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Turn Balance
Balance=827 Stavraton
Upkeeps already factored in. See Economics.
Copper Route could not be run, no demand in Constantinople for Ship, need more Transport methods.