dinomannitro6
all your gender is belong to us
- Location
- The Land Where The Sunflowers Bloom
[X] Plan Neutrality
I'm a High Fantasy Tax Collector, So What? A CKII Tax Collector Quest
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
-
- Tags
- death ck2 quest all proceeds go to real spiders are we revolutionaries or reactionaries today criminal justice discussion makes the gm fuzzy don't count your boats before they sail granary management if i lose my meows get me likes to replace them justice spider knock knock it's the finance ministry meows for discussion while supplies last taxation taxes this is not an empire quest
[X] Plan: Get on my Level
The Kingdom of Oskaria and the Wyvern Wars
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Oskaria as a state in the late 9th-century CE has to be understood through the events that truly shaped it: the Wyvern Wars - and how the aftermath of the Third Wyvern War eventually led to its dissolution. I will be testing you on your knowledge of this, understand, boy?
Good. Now, the thing to understand that before the first Wyvern War, the Kingdom of Oskaria was a dissolute patchwork of feudal holdings, like much of the rest of the continent. The most important part of their location, however, was their proximity to the northeastern steppes. While the steppes were not without humans or other human-affiliated races, the dragon and wyvern civilization that existed on the steppes was far more nomadic, and to explain their civilization in more detail would be more than we have time to explain in this lesson.
Regardless of them, sometime in the late 6th century a dragon began to unify the great flocks of wyverns and dragons on the steppes. Supposedly, this dragon unified great masses of wyverns and dragons to conquer an impossibly large swathe of territory - for humanoids, of course. Dragons are...different, evidently. But! Instead of living to the dragon's full age, something claimed this Dragon King's life. Confusion reigned in the territories that the dragon's grand armies had managed to conquer, eventually resulting in a great movement of the wyvern armies that the Dragon King had assembled. One of those armies headed west into Oskaria, beginning the First Wyvern War.
During this time, the Compact had still held great sway over the populace, so naturally the armies sent against the wyvern armies were Compact-compliant. Since the Compact had at that point proscribed the use of gunpowder, that meant the armies consisted of knights, bowmen, and the traditional image of those times. Needless to say, the First Wyvern War was a grueling ten year bloodbath that only ended with a grand alliance that managed to push the wyvern armies back onto the steppes. During those ten years, the Compact began loosening technological restrictions in order to better fight the wyvern army; the specter of the true Dragon King army sweeping out of the steppes and conquering everything between the steppes and the ocean was too horrible for the Compact and its devout followers to contemplate, apparently, so the restrictions on gunpowder were released, along with a bevy of other material advances.
Oskaria itself, at the frontline, was badly scarred by the First Wyvern War. We're still uncovering what appears to be entire cities burnt to cinders by that wyvern flock, and an identity emerged to match. Society miilitarized and came together like never before, to ensure no invading force could scorch the land as badly as the First Wyvern War. Thus Oskaria's grand fortress cities begin appearing in this era; thus Oskaria's cannons and musketry leap to the forefront of weapons development.
By the time sixty-odd years later, when the children of the children of the First Wyvern War are growing into the fullness of their age, the Second Wyvern Army assembles. At this point, Oskaria has managed to cobble together an army that begins to show the first true signs of being an early modern army, with widespread distribution of musketeers and shot interspersed with heavy adventurer support. When the Second Wyvern Army attacks over the border, expecting a largely unchanged country as they had in the past hundred years, they are met with musketeers, artillery, and hardened adventurers who have spent the last fifty years strengthening themselves. On the Second Wyvern War's side, however, we now know that there was an unusually canny Dragon on their side, directing the Wyvern army in maneuvers around the countryside to avoid and disable the incredible strength of the coalition army. Each battle for the coalition was hard-fought, but usually a victory - while the army remained intact. When the wyverns began dispersing into columns, however, the nobles decided to take their retinues to go home and defend their land, leading their forces to slowly be defeated in detail by wyvern forces that were always wherever would be most disastrous for the coalition forces.
This new phase of the war lasted for thirty to forty years, interspersed with incredible outbreaks of famine and disease as the wyverns lay waste to the fields and shied away from attacking the cannon-defended cities.
Eventually, however, the stalemate finally broke with several key advances. The first was the advancement of firearms during the period; where the firearms at the beginning of the period tended to pierce slightly into wyvernflesh past the scales, firearms towards the end of the Wyvern War began to become truly strong enough to deal more than superficial wounds to wyverns - even if the Compact disapproved. This advancement was paired with a strengthening central authority, as recalcitrant nobles were quite literally burnt up by the wyvern columns. With their armies reduced from the incredible and loosely-aligned armies of 60,000 that characterized the beginning of the Second Wyvern War to a centrally controlled and hardened 20,000 troops, the army began executing the same strategy that the wyvern armies had used to wreak such havoc on Oskaria - a defeat in detail, destroying the columns of wyverns ravaging the countryside. They were aided by nonhumanoid auxillaries, who correctly surmised that the Kingdom was in far too poor a shape to turn away help from any quarter - in fact, arguably the decisive turning point was the colony of jumping spiders that managed to outpace the approaching wyvern armies in order to inform of the allied forces of an extremely short window where the Dragon commander's forces were too spread out to defend each other successfully.
When all was said and done, the Oskarian army won, but barely, and at incredible cost.
At the end of the war, Oskaria was a shell of its former self, traumatized by the war that seemed to last longer than the peace that proceeded it. The remaining survivors of the war, greatly reduced in number, agreed that centralizing authority and ensuring better governance was the only way to survive the next Wyvern War - and there could be no gainsaying the King's authority. What better way to ensure that then by ensuring that the King was not only the most popular member of the nobility, but also by ensuring complete consensus among the nobility? Thus the system of elected Kings and the Sejm's ability to halt proceedings to debate in further detail were established, creating central ministries for the state to truly be able to support the early modern army that Oskaria had been so strained to support before the war; where before the war the forces of 60,000 coalition forces nearly broke Oskaria simply hosting it, in the wake of the Second Wyvern War and the movement towards centralization, Oskaria began supporting a modernized force of 60-80,000 troops. The good weather and excellent harvests during this period provided an additional boost, bolstering confidence. In some fashion, as the generation after the victors of the Second Wyvern War grew up, Oskaria began to enter a golden age.
Eventually, like everyone in Oskaria expected, the Third Wyvern War began. This wyvern army was largely made out of the same mold as the First Wyvern War, not the terrible Second Wyvern War - this time there would be no canny Dragon commander to inflict horribly disproportionate violence on the countryside, but rather a group of loosely aligned wyverns that could only be commanded to go towards the same direction. King Melka I the Pious led the initial defense, well into his old age by this point. At the end of the first year's fighting, he finally admitted that he couldn't lead the army anymore and willingly stepped down in favor of King Muran I, then known as the Reformer. He took an already professionally hardened force and made it into the greatest army on the continent. He unified the commands of field artillery, muskets, and magic to create a force quite more than the sum of its components, and under his masterful touch the wyvern army was effectively broken in the field by the end of the first decade. What followed was another two decades of slow but steady annihilation to the east of the most eastern provinces, culminating in a decisive battle where Julius the Bold led the final cavalry charge. King Muran, greatly aged and with his once sharp mind dulling every year, began slackening the controls the King had over the nation's control, and this new nobility, already three generations distant from the horrors of the Second Wyvern War and greatly buoyed by the easy and righteous victories of the Third Wyvern War, began pushing more and more.
The thing that ultimately dooms Oskaria, then, is the period after the Third Wyvern War, where King Muran refused to step down or let someone else eventually take the kingship, as the nobility began to push to reclaim power and wealth from the King, especially the nobility that had come of age during the cleanup period of the Third Wyvern War, where noble cavalry ran down the scattered wyvern armies. These nobles grew more and more greedy, beginning to exercise more of their own powers to bring money to their own coffers. When King Muran's body finally acknowledged that the soul had left decades ago, the nobles were clamoring for a King who would respect the rights of the nobility. Who better than the Julius the Bold, Hero of the Third Wyvern War?
Under King Julius' reign, the ministries and the royal army that his predecessors had spent so much blood and sweat creating was sold off and disbanded piecemeal, returning the power and ceasing to collect the wealth that had made the kingdom what it was. The reforms that King Muran had abortedly made during his prime years were steadily rolled back and complicated, with extra tangles added at every step so that some noble or another could enjoy an old privilege that had been set aside during the Wyvern Wars.
This near-full century of decentralization of power and creation of new and special cases, then, leads directly to the events of the Transulinia Crusade - and its aftermath. But of course, we will be covering that - next time, after I make sure you've understood this material, you hear?
Good. Now, the thing to understand that before the first Wyvern War, the Kingdom of Oskaria was a dissolute patchwork of feudal holdings, like much of the rest of the continent. The most important part of their location, however, was their proximity to the northeastern steppes. While the steppes were not without humans or other human-affiliated races, the dragon and wyvern civilization that existed on the steppes was far more nomadic, and to explain their civilization in more detail would be more than we have time to explain in this lesson.
Regardless of them, sometime in the late 6th century a dragon began to unify the great flocks of wyverns and dragons on the steppes. Supposedly, this dragon unified great masses of wyverns and dragons to conquer an impossibly large swathe of territory - for humanoids, of course. Dragons are...different, evidently. But! Instead of living to the dragon's full age, something claimed this Dragon King's life. Confusion reigned in the territories that the dragon's grand armies had managed to conquer, eventually resulting in a great movement of the wyvern armies that the Dragon King had assembled. One of those armies headed west into Oskaria, beginning the First Wyvern War.
During this time, the Compact had still held great sway over the populace, so naturally the armies sent against the wyvern armies were Compact-compliant. Since the Compact had at that point proscribed the use of gunpowder, that meant the armies consisted of knights, bowmen, and the traditional image of those times. Needless to say, the First Wyvern War was a grueling ten year bloodbath that only ended with a grand alliance that managed to push the wyvern armies back onto the steppes. During those ten years, the Compact began loosening technological restrictions in order to better fight the wyvern army; the specter of the true Dragon King army sweeping out of the steppes and conquering everything between the steppes and the ocean was too horrible for the Compact and its devout followers to contemplate, apparently, so the restrictions on gunpowder were released, along with a bevy of other material advances.
Oskaria itself, at the frontline, was badly scarred by the First Wyvern War. We're still uncovering what appears to be entire cities burnt to cinders by that wyvern flock, and an identity emerged to match. Society miilitarized and came together like never before, to ensure no invading force could scorch the land as badly as the First Wyvern War. Thus Oskaria's grand fortress cities begin appearing in this era; thus Oskaria's cannons and musketry leap to the forefront of weapons development.
By the time sixty-odd years later, when the children of the children of the First Wyvern War are growing into the fullness of their age, the Second Wyvern Army assembles. At this point, Oskaria has managed to cobble together an army that begins to show the first true signs of being an early modern army, with widespread distribution of musketeers and shot interspersed with heavy adventurer support. When the Second Wyvern Army attacks over the border, expecting a largely unchanged country as they had in the past hundred years, they are met with musketeers, artillery, and hardened adventurers who have spent the last fifty years strengthening themselves. On the Second Wyvern War's side, however, we now know that there was an unusually canny Dragon on their side, directing the Wyvern army in maneuvers around the countryside to avoid and disable the incredible strength of the coalition army. Each battle for the coalition was hard-fought, but usually a victory - while the army remained intact. When the wyverns began dispersing into columns, however, the nobles decided to take their retinues to go home and defend their land, leading their forces to slowly be defeated in detail by wyvern forces that were always wherever would be most disastrous for the coalition forces.
This new phase of the war lasted for thirty to forty years, interspersed with incredible outbreaks of famine and disease as the wyverns lay waste to the fields and shied away from attacking the cannon-defended cities.
Eventually, however, the stalemate finally broke with several key advances. The first was the advancement of firearms during the period; where the firearms at the beginning of the period tended to pierce slightly into wyvernflesh past the scales, firearms towards the end of the Wyvern War began to become truly strong enough to deal more than superficial wounds to wyverns - even if the Compact disapproved. This advancement was paired with a strengthening central authority, as recalcitrant nobles were quite literally burnt up by the wyvern columns. With their armies reduced from the incredible and loosely-aligned armies of 60,000 that characterized the beginning of the Second Wyvern War to a centrally controlled and hardened 20,000 troops, the army began executing the same strategy that the wyvern armies had used to wreak such havoc on Oskaria - a defeat in detail, destroying the columns of wyverns ravaging the countryside. They were aided by nonhumanoid auxillaries, who correctly surmised that the Kingdom was in far too poor a shape to turn away help from any quarter - in fact, arguably the decisive turning point was the colony of jumping spiders that managed to outpace the approaching wyvern armies in order to inform of the allied forces of an extremely short window where the Dragon commander's forces were too spread out to defend each other successfully.
When all was said and done, the Oskarian army won, but barely, and at incredible cost.
At the end of the war, Oskaria was a shell of its former self, traumatized by the war that seemed to last longer than the peace that proceeded it. The remaining survivors of the war, greatly reduced in number, agreed that centralizing authority and ensuring better governance was the only way to survive the next Wyvern War - and there could be no gainsaying the King's authority. What better way to ensure that then by ensuring that the King was not only the most popular member of the nobility, but also by ensuring complete consensus among the nobility? Thus the system of elected Kings and the Sejm's ability to halt proceedings to debate in further detail were established, creating central ministries for the state to truly be able to support the early modern army that Oskaria had been so strained to support before the war; where before the war the forces of 60,000 coalition forces nearly broke Oskaria simply hosting it, in the wake of the Second Wyvern War and the movement towards centralization, Oskaria began supporting a modernized force of 60-80,000 troops. The good weather and excellent harvests during this period provided an additional boost, bolstering confidence. In some fashion, as the generation after the victors of the Second Wyvern War grew up, Oskaria began to enter a golden age.
Eventually, like everyone in Oskaria expected, the Third Wyvern War began. This wyvern army was largely made out of the same mold as the First Wyvern War, not the terrible Second Wyvern War - this time there would be no canny Dragon commander to inflict horribly disproportionate violence on the countryside, but rather a group of loosely aligned wyverns that could only be commanded to go towards the same direction. King Melka I the Pious led the initial defense, well into his old age by this point. At the end of the first year's fighting, he finally admitted that he couldn't lead the army anymore and willingly stepped down in favor of King Muran I, then known as the Reformer. He took an already professionally hardened force and made it into the greatest army on the continent. He unified the commands of field artillery, muskets, and magic to create a force quite more than the sum of its components, and under his masterful touch the wyvern army was effectively broken in the field by the end of the first decade. What followed was another two decades of slow but steady annihilation to the east of the most eastern provinces, culminating in a decisive battle where Julius the Bold led the final cavalry charge. King Muran, greatly aged and with his once sharp mind dulling every year, began slackening the controls the King had over the nation's control, and this new nobility, already three generations distant from the horrors of the Second Wyvern War and greatly buoyed by the easy and righteous victories of the Third Wyvern War, began pushing more and more.
The thing that ultimately dooms Oskaria, then, is the period after the Third Wyvern War, where King Muran refused to step down or let someone else eventually take the kingship, as the nobility began to push to reclaim power and wealth from the King, especially the nobility that had come of age during the cleanup period of the Third Wyvern War, where noble cavalry ran down the scattered wyvern armies. These nobles grew more and more greedy, beginning to exercise more of their own powers to bring money to their own coffers. When King Muran's body finally acknowledged that the soul had left decades ago, the nobles were clamoring for a King who would respect the rights of the nobility. Who better than the Julius the Bold, Hero of the Third Wyvern War?
Under King Julius' reign, the ministries and the royal army that his predecessors had spent so much blood and sweat creating was sold off and disbanded piecemeal, returning the power and ceasing to collect the wealth that had made the kingdom what it was. The reforms that King Muran had abortedly made during his prime years were steadily rolled back and complicated, with extra tangles added at every step so that some noble or another could enjoy an old privilege that had been set aside during the Wyvern Wars.
This near-full century of decentralization of power and creation of new and special cases, then, leads directly to the events of the Transulinia Crusade - and its aftermath. But of course, we will be covering that - next time, after I make sure you've understood this material, you hear?
- Transcript of a tutoring session about Oskaria and the Wyvern Wars, circa 1200 CE.
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Wait... is this what Agueda is?
GRAINY RESOLUTION MONTH 2 ROLL CALL
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Plan: The Countess wins, 5 - 4 - 2. I want to get the rolls done so I can sleep before 3AM and still get the update out earlyish in the day
Roll me 7d100s.
Martial: Force Requisition - Natalia: DC: 10. Base Stat: 16 + 1 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy: Natalia's Invitation: DC: 10. Base Stat: 20 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Intrigue: Hit the Wahner Books: DC: 25. Base Stat: 22 + 3 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Learning: The Root of the Issue II: DC: 15. Base Stat: 20 - 2. Cost: 0 Budget.
Stewardship: Account Review - Natalia: DC: 20. Base Stat: 23. Cost: 0 Budget.
Piety: Spiritual Politics: DC: 25. Base Stat: 23. Cost: 0 Budget.
Roll me 7d100s.
Martial: Force Requisition - Natalia: DC: 10. Base Stat: 16 + 1 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy: Natalia's Invitation: DC: 10. Base Stat: 20 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Intrigue: Hit the Wahner Books: DC: 25. Base Stat: 22 + 3 + 1. Cost: 0 Budget.
Learning: The Root of the Issue II: DC: 15. Base Stat: 20 - 2. Cost: 0 Budget.
Stewardship: Account Review - Natalia: DC: 20. Base Stat: 23. Cost: 0 Budget.
Piety: Spiritual Politics: DC: 25. Base Stat: 23. Cost: 0 Budget.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
I've got it.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Rolling...
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Rolling for number three still in the autopass range
Not great but doesn't really matter.
Not great but doesn't really matter.
Rolling, one moment..
Edit your comment then hit throw dice, It should be next to the preview button.
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Thx mate, will try now
- Location
- USA
Dice... 🎲
- Location
- France
random roll
Plan neutrality is good, and exactly what I was first planning.
But... while it is risky, I think we do have a chance of doing this on the cheap if we side with the Countess.
[X] Plan: The Countess
EDIT: Sigh.....
But... while it is risky, I think we do have a chance of doing this on the cheap if we side with the Countess.
[X] Plan: The Countess
EDIT: Sigh.....
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It seems that we are accepting gifts from one of the parties that we were supposed to investigate.
It is too late now, but I want to explain why this is a bad thing.
It shouldn't e about the countess being right or wrong, but it should be about the legitimacy of the case itself. By accepting her invitation we have weakened the case against the count in the eyes of third parties.
It is too late now, but I want to explain why this is a bad thing.
It shouldn't e about the countess being right or wrong, but it should be about the legitimacy of the case itself. By accepting her invitation we have weakened the case against the count in the eyes of third parties.
What do you mean about the integrity of the case when you just have to bribe a willing judge and lay all the blame for the commons to a corrupt family that even the worst of the spirits won't shield? If the country is in anyway not filled to the brim with corruption and ineptitude from the bottom-up and would have our actions be blocked by a single noble in the Sejm at peacetime then maybe there's a point there. But the near-century long gutting of royal ministries has made any efforts of trying to have a clean track record to be close to impossible if you are forced to follow the ever changing laws that each person follows because the Sejm also destroyed any sense of uniformity in the kingdom. It would take a long time before this joke of a legal system would be reformed or be thrown out by the fires of the revolution.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's the principle of the thing.
Just because something may technically be legal doesn't mean that you should be doing it.
You can't reform a broken and corrupt system if you appear just as corrupt. If you accept gifts and favours on one side and denounce the taking of gifts and favours on the other side you will just be called a hypocrite and no amount of campaigning will help you fix the system if you are 'just as bad as the rest.'
Yes reforms are slow and ethics are hard to keep to, but we are a tax collector and should hold ourselves to higher standards. Even if the case already seems to be an open and shut case.
CASE: GRAINY RESOLUTION MONTH 2
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Diplomacy
Natalia's Invitation
DC: 10. Roll: 20 + 1 + 8.8 = 29.8
Stewardship
Account Review - Natalia
DC: 20. Roll: 23 + 1.7 = 24.7
You sigh. The classic cursed choice of all workers ever: choosing between fast, cheap and good. Since the army was coming to town soon, and your budget was severely crimped, you had to choose fast and cheap.
So that means you need to decide which faction you side with, and soon. You know - be honest, Agueda, suspect - thank you Kerrie, we will be taking your contributions later in this box you carry around, you say, waving an empty box. You suspect that the Wahners are more likely to be lying, on the basis of their reputation and the Countess' word that she's been paying your taxes except the Wahners have been stealing it...well shit, when you put it that way it sounds like a leap of faith.
A-aren't you great at jumping, Tekla woozily asks.
Gently, you grab a wet towel and press down on his head. Please, be silent until his fever truly breaks, you say as you physically muffle him. Besides, that was entirely metaphorical. As far as your remaining family goes, you're not a real jumper unless you can make the Anakaran Run just like the founder did during the Second Wyvern Wars, but, well -
I distinctly remember you flunking out a third out of the way, Kerrie snarks.
That's the in the past, you wave off. Besides, you don't want to hear it from Miss "Strategically Soaked Dress" about embarrassments, or you'll be here all day.
Regardless, you have priorities to act upon.
The first thing you do, then, is accept the Countess' invitation to study her records. You're an assessor, after all, and it'll help you figure out what your next steps are, of course. The Countess gladly hands you the documents which were definitely doctored, but whatever, they always are.
At least her current projections look somewhat attached to reality; they're definitely along the lines of what you saw from her late husband's records and what you noticed about her lands as you came into the territory.
The problem is what she's projecting into the future, once the potato begins reaching a greater penetration. Her primary claim is that the potato, once adopted en masse, could be planted in fallow periods and still manage high grain output in the following seasons during the productive seasons, quite literally doubling or tripling the total food output of the land.
You want to see what the hell her proof of all this is.
She provides you some documents from her own native Alanyiva, where the local Compact has apparently allowed a limited adoption of the potato crop, watched their crop output increase slightly. Only slightly, however, because the adoption was so limited. Shortly afterwards, she was sent off her husband-to-be, and, well, the rest is a memory close-by, she said, turning away.
Hm, you mutter. You have basically no way to confirm that except to plant it yourself and find out the hard way, so you'll file that away as "unlikely" until you can confirm it yourself.
You then ask to take a look at her accounts, just to confirm her side of the story. She gladly grants your request, and hands over documents. She's pretty good - instead of trying to pretend that there was anything to hide normally, she just left it all off the accounts and labeled it as irrelevant gains and losses. You can punch holes in detailed but wrong accounts, but if she packs it all away into "irrelevant gains and losses" and presents it as a partial account, well, you've got nothing.
Guaranteed she was hiding something in that mess, but whatever, the grain imports and the crop outflows to what begins as "Julia Wahner" and quickly devolves into "that woman" broadly confirms her side of the story.
Of course, while "that woman" could be concealing more tax fraud, you're pretty much forced to accept her story at a close enough value. If you absolutely had to you could try to break in and obtain the documents, despite the head maid's glares - it's not like she could seriously stop you if you decided to make a concerted effort.
Faced with that, you sigh, and accept her invitation to let her guide you through the upper crust of society - firmly on the side of justice, standing behind her, of course.
You conduct yourself with aplomb, and so the advantage temporarily swings over to the Countess.
Hostile Intrigue Interr - Intrigue Roll: 12 + 7.6 = 19.6. DC: 25.
I shot the problem, so it's fine, right?
Only because I stabbed the other three, you rejoinder.
Shut up, Kerrie says. Though, she says, did we really have to get the painting bloodstained? Kerrie liked that painting!
Aim more carefully next time, you shrug, as you rifle through your potential assailant's pockets.
Honestly, she tuts, what were they thinking? It's not like your deaths would be easy to pass off as a mistake or a simple burglary, so this was just...pointlessly stupid.
Desperation, you shrug. Makes people do stupid things.
Fair, she nodded. In any case, that means you've got a visit you need to schedule soon.
Three days from now?
Nah. Tomorrow morning.
Martial
Force Requisition - Natalia
DC: 10. Roll: 16 + 1 + 1 + 6.0 = 24.0
Intrigue
Hit the Wahner Books
DC: 25. Roll: 22 + 3 + 1 + 3.9 = 29.9
There's only time to get the Countess' most loyal forces in order to conduct a daybreak raid tomorrow morning, you say. The Countess gapes like a fish, but fortunately for you the Head Maid immediately understood what you meant and went to grab the blunderbuss.
In the morning, the rooster crows - and Kerrie slams a giant log into a door. You quietly huff, amused by the contrast between Kerrie slamming a log into the door taller than she was while Cormag awkwardly stood by with a book that barely fit into the palm of his hand.
"King's Authority, open up!" Kerrie bellows, with the force of magic behind it. At least, you're pretty sure that it's magic, since Tekla was sure it was magic. "Final warning," she bellows, slamming the log into the door again. The door creaked, the locking bar giving way.
Some hapless servant opens the door, at which point your team storms through the gates goes straight to detain or control the Wahner family forces, at least before they can properly respond.
By the time the day reaches halfway up the sky, you have their forces under control, and leave it to Cormag and the Head Maid to watch over your prisoners, sorry, temporary detainees, as you go about securing the actual evidence.
You manage to secure some - however, it appears as though...bluntly, the Wahner family is so shit at keeping records that you can't prove intent.
Oh, sure, the "Gifts" column in their accounts was probably growing year over year - but you couldn't figure out the damn periods because they just wrote it in chicken-scratch without ever putting down what the date of transactions were. You might be able to track down the gift-givers and start trying to figure out who gave what when, but damn, this was going to be a mess.
At least this was theoretically all above board.
When you come back, there is apparently some sort of problem where the members of the Wahner family's retinue has gotten word and demanded with the force of the army on what grounds the Wahners were being detained for.
You bluntly state attempted murder of a royal agent.
They insinuate that maybe you're not a real royal agent because insects can't be agents of the crown, polishing their weapons.
You smile, and ask if they'd like to repeat that again, as you hold up the royal seal in your hands.
Some murmuring begins among the rear of the crowd, but the clear ringleader attempts to shore up the crowd by keeping up the pressure, claiming it's just a fake, and that if anything, the real servants of the king and their lords should arrest you.
Before any of them can react, you are in his face, with the seal in one hand and your pistols in the others.
Say that again, you quietly request.
They acquiesce, and you leave with the accounts of the Wahner family in hand.
Learning
The Root of the Issue II
DC: 15. Roll: 20 - 2 + 4.7 = 22.7
Bedridden as he is, Tekla can only manage the most basic maintenance of his efforts, and keeping up with whatever he's managed to write out. The potato crops continue to sprout, as he uproots only a number of plants to judge the growth of these plants, asking you to take notes for him since...well, his hands won't stop shaking.
You quietly acquiesce, and with one hand write up his reports in far more legible script.
Piety
Spiritual Politics
DC: 25. Roll 23 + 2.1 = 25.1
The spiritual politics get more complicated, especially since you start by asking what it would take for them to accept the potato - or rather, how you might be able to get the Divine Gathering as a whole to accept the potato, when they themselves don't want it.
It takes a little bit of persuasion, but you eventually convince the ones you care about that you were merely seeing whose loyalties lied where, while you prepare for the real case. This was all simply preparing the case, you insinuate, without ever stating which side of the case you would be on.
Apparently, the Divine Gathering would be properly described as a gathering of gatherings, each tasked with maintaining the Compact of the Precursors as a whole, with an eye towards being conservative with the proliferation of ideas. As such, the local Compact was strongly disposed towards simply restricting the proliferation of this crop, even if, no, especially because the crop had the potential to be so transformative.
However...if there was a sufficiently strong case that you could make...the spirits might be able to approve it.
Might.
Random Event Roll: 47
With the effectively immediate dismantlement of the Wahner's family's immediately available power, the remnants of their retinue flock to the banner of the Baron Kaufmann - just as the Countess begins pushing forward and all-fronts offensive to make her people adopt the potato in full, with their agents dispatched to ensure that the people adopted the crops - and receive a bonus too, if they were sufficiently willing.
You hold your head in your hands and silently scream.
This was just about the worst way to go about it!
Especially since the landholders and peasantry had unified in their opposition!
Revealed Potential Achievements:
I Am Altering The Terms: Convince the local Compact to loosen technological barriers.
Pray That I Do Not Alter It Further: Convince farmers to adopt a new crop - with or without the Compact's permission.
Order Above All: Prevent the adoption of a new technology.
The Starting Penalty Is Waived: Successfully feed the army without starving the peasantry.
Salaries and Wage Expense: 4 Budget.
Net Loss: 4 Budget.
Remaining Budget: 86
Lightly speaking, this was a clusterfuck. The peasantry and landed class of elites were pushing for a petition against the abuse of noble power by the Countess - and by pushing you meant forming up into mobs with pitchforks and torches to hunt down the agents of the Countess - , the spirits wanted to prosecute her or hear her out or something, and by the way you still needed to prosecute the Wahner families for trying to murder you. Don't forget the army arriving in four to six months - that meant that you would have to start planting food as quickly as possible if you even wanted a hope of a harvest large enough to tide over the army and the civilians.
You really never get the easy jobs.
At least Tekla recovered from his illness.
With 86 Budget remaining and a big problem brewing on your hands, you are free to spend up to 20 Budget this turn.
You have one [Free] Action that you may spend on an action in any category.
You can cooperate with your teammates to add +3 base stat to an action that you are cooperating on. It is represented by using your [Free] Action on one of your already-selected Actions.
Martial (Choose 1) {Kerrie Action}
[] [Martial] Political Expedience
Fuck it, try to throw a few sacrifices to the roaring mobs. Hopefully that'll pacify them, at least enough that they stop preventing literally any business from being done. DC: 20. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Martial] Push For Retreat
You need to convince the Countess' troops to dial it way back and stop trying to force the adoption of the potato because that just about guarantees that the mobs outside the cities are tearing up the hated potato crops wherever they go. DC: 22. Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy (Choose 1) {Cormag Action}
[] [Diplomacy] Let Them Have Grain
Okay, this adoption of potatoes has clearly gone badly. Advise the Countess that she needs to back off this year and just let her peasants plant grain, at least until the army has gone through. DC: 30. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
You know what? The Countess has a point. If these potatoes are even half of what she's made it out to be, adopting the potato is the way of the future. Of course, you'll need to essentially take over the campaign to promote potatoes, but you might be able to do it. DC: 24. Cost: 4 Budget.
Intrigue (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Intrigue] Sloshing An Ocean
On the one hand: the Wahner family's complete inability to keep straight records even within the family makes the case for tax evasion that much harder to prove. On the other hand: since their records are so shit you could probably steal some without anyone the wiser, now that they've been so heavily disrupted. DC: 25. Gain: 6 Budget.
[] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books
Bluntly, you don't trust the Countess' documents at all. You'd be far better off simply breaking in and taking a look at what she has written down yourself. DC: 27. Cost: 0 Budget.
Learning (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
As the potatoes head into their third month of growing, you need Tekla to continue watching over the plants and the soil to make sure nothing too undue is happening to it. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Learning] Magical Mapping
Part of the problem is that the spirits feel threatened by the changeover from the three-field system to one revolving around grain and potatoes - perhaps by assessing their territory and calculating impacts, you might be able to alleviate some of these concerns? DC: 25. Cost: 2 Budget.
Stewardship (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Stewardship] Inheritance Law I
Clearly, the question of who should legally get to rule this province is a touchy subject. Perhaps it would be best to look into what the relevant laws for this area should have been. DC: 30. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] Just Look Up the Jurisdiction I
So. How...exactly, do you go about charging a bunch of nobles for the crime of attempting to murder. Genuine question, honestly. DC: 27. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
You're going to want to figure out how much and where the potato edicts are being resisted exactly, so that you can better figure out what your next steps ought to be. DC: 20. Cost: 2 Budget.
Piety (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Piety] Local Politics
Alright, you've got a decent case for the potato's adoption as a temporary measure to help feed the hungry army that'll come roaring through. You just need to...make it. DC: 27. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Piety] For Whose Justice
Well, you've seen mobs organize into direct resistance to unjust rule before, and the last few times it had something to do with Justice. Time to maybe check in and see what's going on. DC: 27. Cost: 0 Budget.
Natalia's Invitation
DC: 10. Roll: 20 + 1 + 8.8 = 29.8
Stewardship
Account Review - Natalia
DC: 20. Roll: 23 + 1.7 = 24.7
You sigh. The classic cursed choice of all workers ever: choosing between fast, cheap and good. Since the army was coming to town soon, and your budget was severely crimped, you had to choose fast and cheap.
So that means you need to decide which faction you side with, and soon. You know - be honest, Agueda, suspect - thank you Kerrie, we will be taking your contributions later in this box you carry around, you say, waving an empty box. You suspect that the Wahners are more likely to be lying, on the basis of their reputation and the Countess' word that she's been paying your taxes except the Wahners have been stealing it...well shit, when you put it that way it sounds like a leap of faith.
A-aren't you great at jumping, Tekla woozily asks.
Gently, you grab a wet towel and press down on his head. Please, be silent until his fever truly breaks, you say as you physically muffle him. Besides, that was entirely metaphorical. As far as your remaining family goes, you're not a real jumper unless you can make the Anakaran Run just like the founder did during the Second Wyvern Wars, but, well -
I distinctly remember you flunking out a third out of the way, Kerrie snarks.
That's the in the past, you wave off. Besides, you don't want to hear it from Miss "Strategically Soaked Dress" about embarrassments, or you'll be here all day.
Regardless, you have priorities to act upon.
The first thing you do, then, is accept the Countess' invitation to study her records. You're an assessor, after all, and it'll help you figure out what your next steps are, of course. The Countess gladly hands you the documents which were definitely doctored, but whatever, they always are.
At least her current projections look somewhat attached to reality; they're definitely along the lines of what you saw from her late husband's records and what you noticed about her lands as you came into the territory.
The problem is what she's projecting into the future, once the potato begins reaching a greater penetration. Her primary claim is that the potato, once adopted en masse, could be planted in fallow periods and still manage high grain output in the following seasons during the productive seasons, quite literally doubling or tripling the total food output of the land.
You want to see what the hell her proof of all this is.
She provides you some documents from her own native Alanyiva, where the local Compact has apparently allowed a limited adoption of the potato crop, watched their crop output increase slightly. Only slightly, however, because the adoption was so limited. Shortly afterwards, she was sent off her husband-to-be, and, well, the rest is a memory close-by, she said, turning away.
Hm, you mutter. You have basically no way to confirm that except to plant it yourself and find out the hard way, so you'll file that away as "unlikely" until you can confirm it yourself.
You then ask to take a look at her accounts, just to confirm her side of the story. She gladly grants your request, and hands over documents. She's pretty good - instead of trying to pretend that there was anything to hide normally, she just left it all off the accounts and labeled it as irrelevant gains and losses. You can punch holes in detailed but wrong accounts, but if she packs it all away into "irrelevant gains and losses" and presents it as a partial account, well, you've got nothing.
Guaranteed she was hiding something in that mess, but whatever, the grain imports and the crop outflows to what begins as "Julia Wahner" and quickly devolves into "that woman" broadly confirms her side of the story.
Of course, while "that woman" could be concealing more tax fraud, you're pretty much forced to accept her story at a close enough value. If you absolutely had to you could try to break in and obtain the documents, despite the head maid's glares - it's not like she could seriously stop you if you decided to make a concerted effort.
Faced with that, you sigh, and accept her invitation to let her guide you through the upper crust of society - firmly on the side of justice, standing behind her, of course.
You conduct yourself with aplomb, and so the advantage temporarily swings over to the Countess.
Hostile Intrigue Interr - Intrigue Roll: 12 + 7.6 = 19.6. DC: 25.
I shot the problem, so it's fine, right?
Only because I stabbed the other three, you rejoinder.
Shut up, Kerrie says. Though, she says, did we really have to get the painting bloodstained? Kerrie liked that painting!
Aim more carefully next time, you shrug, as you rifle through your potential assailant's pockets.
Honestly, she tuts, what were they thinking? It's not like your deaths would be easy to pass off as a mistake or a simple burglary, so this was just...pointlessly stupid.
Desperation, you shrug. Makes people do stupid things.
Fair, she nodded. In any case, that means you've got a visit you need to schedule soon.
Three days from now?
Nah. Tomorrow morning.
Martial
Force Requisition - Natalia
DC: 10. Roll: 16 + 1 + 1 + 6.0 = 24.0
Intrigue
Hit the Wahner Books
DC: 25. Roll: 22 + 3 + 1 + 3.9 = 29.9
There's only time to get the Countess' most loyal forces in order to conduct a daybreak raid tomorrow morning, you say. The Countess gapes like a fish, but fortunately for you the Head Maid immediately understood what you meant and went to grab the blunderbuss.
In the morning, the rooster crows - and Kerrie slams a giant log into a door. You quietly huff, amused by the contrast between Kerrie slamming a log into the door taller than she was while Cormag awkwardly stood by with a book that barely fit into the palm of his hand.
"King's Authority, open up!" Kerrie bellows, with the force of magic behind it. At least, you're pretty sure that it's magic, since Tekla was sure it was magic. "Final warning," she bellows, slamming the log into the door again. The door creaked, the locking bar giving way.
Some hapless servant opens the door, at which point your team storms through the gates goes straight to detain or control the Wahner family forces, at least before they can properly respond.
By the time the day reaches halfway up the sky, you have their forces under control, and leave it to Cormag and the Head Maid to watch over your prisoners, sorry, temporary detainees, as you go about securing the actual evidence.
You manage to secure some - however, it appears as though...bluntly, the Wahner family is so shit at keeping records that you can't prove intent.
Oh, sure, the "Gifts" column in their accounts was probably growing year over year - but you couldn't figure out the damn periods because they just wrote it in chicken-scratch without ever putting down what the date of transactions were. You might be able to track down the gift-givers and start trying to figure out who gave what when, but damn, this was going to be a mess.
At least this was theoretically all above board.
When you come back, there is apparently some sort of problem where the members of the Wahner family's retinue has gotten word and demanded with the force of the army on what grounds the Wahners were being detained for.
You bluntly state attempted murder of a royal agent.
They insinuate that maybe you're not a real royal agent because insects can't be agents of the crown, polishing their weapons.
You smile, and ask if they'd like to repeat that again, as you hold up the royal seal in your hands.
Some murmuring begins among the rear of the crowd, but the clear ringleader attempts to shore up the crowd by keeping up the pressure, claiming it's just a fake, and that if anything, the real servants of the king and their lords should arrest you.
Before any of them can react, you are in his face, with the seal in one hand and your pistols in the others.
Say that again, you quietly request.
They acquiesce, and you leave with the accounts of the Wahner family in hand.
Learning
The Root of the Issue II
DC: 15. Roll: 20 - 2 + 4.7 = 22.7
Bedridden as he is, Tekla can only manage the most basic maintenance of his efforts, and keeping up with whatever he's managed to write out. The potato crops continue to sprout, as he uproots only a number of plants to judge the growth of these plants, asking you to take notes for him since...well, his hands won't stop shaking.
You quietly acquiesce, and with one hand write up his reports in far more legible script.
Piety
Spiritual Politics
DC: 25. Roll 23 + 2.1 = 25.1
The spiritual politics get more complicated, especially since you start by asking what it would take for them to accept the potato - or rather, how you might be able to get the Divine Gathering as a whole to accept the potato, when they themselves don't want it.
It takes a little bit of persuasion, but you eventually convince the ones you care about that you were merely seeing whose loyalties lied where, while you prepare for the real case. This was all simply preparing the case, you insinuate, without ever stating which side of the case you would be on.
Apparently, the Divine Gathering would be properly described as a gathering of gatherings, each tasked with maintaining the Compact of the Precursors as a whole, with an eye towards being conservative with the proliferation of ideas. As such, the local Compact was strongly disposed towards simply restricting the proliferation of this crop, even if, no, especially because the crop had the potential to be so transformative.
However...if there was a sufficiently strong case that you could make...the spirits might be able to approve it.
Might.
Random Event Roll: 47
With the effectively immediate dismantlement of the Wahner's family's immediately available power, the remnants of their retinue flock to the banner of the Baron Kaufmann - just as the Countess begins pushing forward and all-fronts offensive to make her people adopt the potato in full, with their agents dispatched to ensure that the people adopted the crops - and receive a bonus too, if they were sufficiently willing.
You hold your head in your hands and silently scream.
This was just about the worst way to go about it!
Especially since the landholders and peasantry had unified in their opposition!
Revealed Potential Achievements:
I Am Altering The Terms: Convince the local Compact to loosen technological barriers.
Pray That I Do Not Alter It Further: Convince farmers to adopt a new crop - with or without the Compact's permission.
Order Above All: Prevent the adoption of a new technology.
The Starting Penalty Is Waived: Successfully feed the army without starving the peasantry.
Salaries and Wage Expense: 4 Budget.
Net Loss: 4 Budget.
Remaining Budget: 86
Lightly speaking, this was a clusterfuck. The peasantry and landed class of elites were pushing for a petition against the abuse of noble power by the Countess - and by pushing you meant forming up into mobs with pitchforks and torches to hunt down the agents of the Countess - , the spirits wanted to prosecute her or hear her out or something, and by the way you still needed to prosecute the Wahner families for trying to murder you. Don't forget the army arriving in four to six months - that meant that you would have to start planting food as quickly as possible if you even wanted a hope of a harvest large enough to tide over the army and the civilians.
You really never get the easy jobs.
At least Tekla recovered from his illness.
With 86 Budget remaining and a big problem brewing on your hands, you are free to spend up to 20 Budget this turn.
You have one [Free] Action that you may spend on an action in any category.
You can cooperate with your teammates to add +3 base stat to an action that you are cooperating on. It is represented by using your [Free] Action on one of your already-selected Actions.
Martial (Choose 1) {Kerrie Action}
[] [Martial] Political Expedience
Fuck it, try to throw a few sacrifices to the roaring mobs. Hopefully that'll pacify them, at least enough that they stop preventing literally any business from being done. DC: 20. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Martial] Push For Retreat
You need to convince the Countess' troops to dial it way back and stop trying to force the adoption of the potato because that just about guarantees that the mobs outside the cities are tearing up the hated potato crops wherever they go. DC: 22. Cost: 0 Budget.
Diplomacy (Choose 1) {Cormag Action}
[] [Diplomacy] Let Them Have Grain
Okay, this adoption of potatoes has clearly gone badly. Advise the Countess that she needs to back off this year and just let her peasants plant grain, at least until the army has gone through. DC: 30. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
You know what? The Countess has a point. If these potatoes are even half of what she's made it out to be, adopting the potato is the way of the future. Of course, you'll need to essentially take over the campaign to promote potatoes, but you might be able to do it. DC: 24. Cost: 4 Budget.
Intrigue (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Intrigue] Sloshing An Ocean
On the one hand: the Wahner family's complete inability to keep straight records even within the family makes the case for tax evasion that much harder to prove. On the other hand: since their records are so shit you could probably steal some without anyone the wiser, now that they've been so heavily disrupted. DC: 25. Gain: 6 Budget.
[] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books
Bluntly, you don't trust the Countess' documents at all. You'd be far better off simply breaking in and taking a look at what she has written down yourself. DC: 27. Cost: 0 Budget.
Learning (Choose 1) {Tekla Action}
[] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
As the potatoes head into their third month of growing, you need Tekla to continue watching over the plants and the soil to make sure nothing too undue is happening to it. DC: 15. Cost: 0 Budget.
[] [Learning] Magical Mapping
Part of the problem is that the spirits feel threatened by the changeover from the three-field system to one revolving around grain and potatoes - perhaps by assessing their territory and calculating impacts, you might be able to alleviate some of these concerns? DC: 25. Cost: 2 Budget.
Stewardship (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Stewardship] Inheritance Law I
Clearly, the question of who should legally get to rule this province is a touchy subject. Perhaps it would be best to look into what the relevant laws for this area should have been. DC: 30. Cost: 4 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] Just Look Up the Jurisdiction I
So. How...exactly, do you go about charging a bunch of nobles for the crime of attempting to murder. Genuine question, honestly. DC: 27. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
You're going to want to figure out how much and where the potato edicts are being resisted exactly, so that you can better figure out what your next steps ought to be. DC: 20. Cost: 2 Budget.
Piety (Choose 1) {Agueda Action}
[] [Piety] Local Politics
Alright, you've got a decent case for the potato's adoption as a temporary measure to help feed the hungry army that'll come roaring through. You just need to...make it. DC: 27. Cost: 2 Budget.
[] [Piety] For Whose Justice
Well, you've seen mobs organize into direct resistance to unjust rule before, and the last few times it had something to do with Justice. Time to maybe check in and see what's going on. DC: 27. Cost: 0 Budget.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
Oh fuck me, I'm gonna have to support the landlords on this.
This is the worst.
This is the worst.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Prayer to the dice gods
-[X] [Martial] Push For Retreat
-[X] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
-[X] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books
-[X] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
-[X] Free [Learning] Magical Mapping
-[X] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
-[X] [Piety] Local Politics
this may be a bit of a risky plan but if we can point out how this is actually good for not that harmful, then we could maybe survive this nightmare.
Also stealing is bad.
-[X] [Martial] Push For Retreat
-[X] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
-[X] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books
-[X] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
-[X] Free [Learning] Magical Mapping
-[X] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
-[X] [Piety] Local Politics
this may be a bit of a risky plan but if we can point out how this is actually good for not that harmful, then we could maybe survive this nightmare.
Also stealing is bad.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That did not go well.
Alright, salvaging things....yeah, @WallFlower's plan is pretty close to what I would take as well, except I would put our free action into supporting the intrigue action - that's our riskiest roll, and if we flunk it, we've seriously offended the only real ally we have here.
[X]Slightly Less Risky Prayer to the Dice Gods
-[X] [Martial] Push For Retreat
-[X] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
-[X] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books + [Free]
-[X] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
-[X] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
-[X] [Piety] Local Politics
Alright, salvaging things....yeah, @WallFlower's plan is pretty close to what I would take as well, except I would put our free action into supporting the intrigue action - that's our riskiest roll, and if we flunk it, we've seriously offended the only real ally we have here.
[X]Slightly Less Risky Prayer to the Dice Gods
-[X] [Martial] Push For Retreat
-[X] [Diplomacy] Uprooting Society I
-[X] [Intrigue] Hit the Countess' Books + [Free]
-[X] [Learning] The Root of the Issue III
-[X] [Stewardship] Gauge Resistance
-[X] [Piety] Local Politics
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X]Slightly Less Risky Prayer to the Dice Gods
I can't help my risk averse nature.
I can't help my risk averse nature.
- Location
- France
[X]Slightly Less Risky Prayer to the Dice Gods