...I've never once used salt when cooking rice chinese style. You just bring it to a low boil and keep it there until it dries sufficiently(takes about 5-10 minutes for a small pot, though if you're using anything larger it can vary. Alternatively you can steam the rice separate from the heating element to prevent any burned rice.
Definitely not going to see any salt being used by the poorest.
Sticking is not a concern unless you deliberately use glutinous rice.
You really only salt rice for taste and in my experience that's usually after cooking. I'm more familiar with how rice is cooked in Japan, but assuming you don't want sticky rice you just rinse the starch off before cooking. Salt does nothing for that.
What would you like to see a longer post about between updates at some point? Not a formal vote but I'm open to suggestions.
-Spirit pacts and blessings
Give credit where credit's due, we want to make an ally of one of our most influential colleagues. Unsure if it doesn't already fall under 'just the facts' though.
The phrase "Silverport has no King" is perhaps the nearest thing to a national anthem found in the mercantile city-state where our story is set. In their fairy tales and nursery rhymes, the archetypal king is a depicted as a meddling busybody, dictating to everybody where to stand and where to sit, what you must buy and what you may sell, the length of a spear and the weight of a shield, when to get up and when to go to bed. One particularly bad fictional king is known to reserve even colors by class: serfs only get to say "light" and "dark", nonserfs may also say "red" and "green", while "blue" is reserved for the nobility, and all the finer shades are the king's sole property to name and enjoy.
Historians trace the origins of this exaggerated cultural mythology to a specific edict by a king of the Iron Empire several centuries ago who enjoyed a certain mixed dish, and demanded that anyone selling and/or growing one of the component foodstuffs of the dish must also sell and/or grow at least half as much of the other. This was the last in a series of increasingly intrusive edicts, resulting in a widespread uprising that led to the independence of the city of Silverport and its birth as the political entity we know today. It also significantly weakened the Iron Empire, which would continue calving off smaller statelets for about a century until eventually it collapsed completely. The Stratocracy of Tokara is one of these statelets that survived due to making a sharp turn away towards theocratic-philosophical militarism. Several other splinter states such as the Golden Empire proved to be little more than pretenders and successor state claimants, and most of these collapsed as well due to their legitimising principle being already severely injured.
Explicit knowledge of this is not widespread in Silverport, but there is a vague general understanding that one of the bad things about a monarch is that the monarch will tend towards the totalitarian, "I can do anything just because I'm in charge".
It may be illuminating to compare this to common RL views on separation of powers and the like, too. There is significant commonality of agreement on the principle, 'no one man should have all that power'. But the relevant currents of RL political philosophy usually focus on the element of one man and are fairly accepting of all that power being shared among a group of a hundred or so, while political philosophy in Silverport would focus more on the phrase all that power. The reservation of colors to the ruling class would still be obviously wicked if it were voted by a parliament rather than decreed by a king, n'est-ce pas?
If you showed a modern western democratic state to Silverport and said "This is where the abolition of kings got us", they'd scream in horror and then ask to go back to monarchy, or perhaps instead see about killing every member of the local parliament/congress/other legislature for still committing all the misdeeds of monarchs, only now there's a hundred of them all foisting off responsibility on each other. True, democratic states don't reserve color names. But they do reserve entire professions for people who have taken a state-sanctioned years-long training course, which is arguably worse as it renders people unable to earn money, and implies that the professions in the abstract are the property of the state.
To sum up: Silverport's anti-royalism is more anti-totalitarian, where western democratic anti-royalism is more anti-authoritarian.
A secondary complaint often made in Silverport against kings is in the nature of their taxes. Silverport's many fees and rents can easily be just as impoverishing as any royal tax, and as intrusive as any royal decree, but fees in Silverport at least theoretically are supposed have a specific purpose behind each of them: This fee is the fee for docking at my pier, this fee is the fee for setting up your stall on my land. Taxes, by contrast, are viewed as what the monarch just takes out of desire or for unrelated reasons.
There have been some attempts by philosophers at a synthesis view that considers the monarch to be the owner of a country and taxes to be the fee paid for the privilege of living on the monarch's land, thereby making monarchy a form of national social contract. This view has not been popular in Silverport.
[*] [Report] Just the facts, but leave out the Census as anything other than a work in progress.
[*] [Action] Plan Merely The Flow Of Wealth
-[*] I should continue fixing the palace budget and restoring cash flow.
-[*] The palace budget is unfixable as it stands, I should sort out the palace's underlying obligations.
-[*] Have you seen what passes for a toll gate in this city? It's both an economic and a military disaster! Our walls need fixing, fast.
"Morning, Three, let me hear from you first. I'm very curious to know what sort of things the Abominations would be of a mind to write down." says the Portlord.
"It can't be blackmail." says his spymaster. "Well, not just blackmail. At first I thought the Abominations might just be very, very good at ferreting out vices and secrets, because a lot of the lists of sins seemed just on the edge of the plausible, while there were only a rare few of them I was able to confirm. Then we found a page naming my aunt and it accused her of poisoning me, which I know for a fact she didn't."
"Are you sure she didn't just bungle the attempt?" asks Void sardonically.
"Yes!" says Morning firmly. "She-"
Before he can go on a familial tangent, Three cuts in. "We have three new guesses for what's actually written. First, that it's a set of notes for a whisper campaign, and these documents list what rumors would be most effective to blacken someone's reputation with. Second, the notes describe what people could be tempted or pressured into. The third is that these notes are lies and traps meant to pit us against one another."
Void taps his desk, deep in thought. "Mmm. Hmmmmm. Doesn't actually matter, I think. Lock them all away somewhere for the moment. Any progress on making sure the Abominations don't return?"
"Almost nothing. There's no precedent for anyone like them in anything I've read."
"Almost? What do you have?"
"A stab in the dark. I think the Abominations at their core might be souls torn loose from the normal cycle of reincarnation, who have to steal bodies rather than being reborn. They're powerful and mad because they have centuries of experience without rest or correction."
"And how does that help us?"
"It doesn't, not yet. But I might be able to find some way to force them back onto the right path."
"And our patron god?"
"The priests say 'Eternal Light has gone into seclusion' and then go mum. They've been resistant to further inquiry."
The Portlord sighs long and loud. "In conclusion, you have nothing useful for me? Unfortunate. In that case, I want you to turn your attention to the various spirit courts of the region, particularly the wood spirits. I'm hearing about a bunch of giant spider attacks coming from the southern forests." He looks around the council, hoping for better news, and you step up.
"With Blade's help, all the ports and docks are now fully registered as befits your office, paying their fees once more. I estimate that alone has cut the losses of the palace budget by at least forty talents a year, and it will only continue to rise as commerce returns to Silverport now that the Abominations are gone." you report happily. "Road tolls were both smaller and harder to work with. I've made significant progress there too, but I want to suggest something be done about the outer city walls. They're a mess. Some parts are properly fortified, others are just leftover estate walls, and some streets even have two separate walls each with their own toll gate at either end because the people owning either end both wanted a cut." You've looked over the figures so many times, you don't even need to consult your notes as you deliver the summary. "I've also gotten some miscellaneous obligations in order. At this rate I'm confident I can have the palace budget mostly staunched as you wanted by the end of the year, but I fear I may be bailing water out of a leaky boat."
"And what is the boat in this metaphor?"
"The city. We're leaking payments to ill-defined obligations, leaking tolls at the walls, and the latter are also a military disaster waiting to happen."
"Caligia is embroiled in civil war, Tokara doesn't have the force to threaten us, Foundation considers themselves a vassal state with no independent foreign policy, who are you expecting military disaster from?"
[Where indeed? Martial, 26+8=34.]
You look to Ebuskun for advice. Predicting who might invade Silverport is not your forte. She looks back at you uncertainly, and shrugs. "Caligia's civil war isn't going to last forever." you venture. "And walls take time to construct."
"I suppose. Nonetheless." declares the Portlord. "Continue as you were. Keep getting our finances in order. I'm confident the niceties will either solve themselves or prove unimportant."
Ebuskun's report passes in a haze of military terms and regiments and names of units. It mostly goes in one ear and out the other. Shining Void tells her to see about expanding the army and to prepare for a brief campaign in the Bloody Hills to get the troops blooded and victorious.
Chancellor Blade gives his report next. Clan Bridge is still in opposition. His bribery fund is running low, and he needs more money for that so Clan Bridge doesn't outspend him gathering allies. He's also been approached by one of the claimants to the throne of Caligia, who promises favorable trading terms in exchange for Silverport's support. Meaning a lot more money. Shining Void says no, now is not the time to get involved in someone else's trouble - and looks to you, frowning. If we were to attempt picking a victor there, he asks, could you fund it?
You wonder if this is a trick question of some sort. The palace is only out of debt thanks to his generous gift, still losing money, and two of your co-workers are about to spend even more money. No reasonable person in these circumstances would pay an army to fight someone else's war. "No. It would undo all the work I've done and then some."
Finally, Gold Morning says that he also needs some more money. Make that three of your co-workers. The old intelligence network is damaged, recruitment is slow, but at least the vetting has gone perfectly fine and turned up nobody troublesome in the least. "Seems to me all the turncoats, cowards and other men without principles left already." he says. "A few of the potential new recruits were obvious infiltrators and double agents, but the old core is solid."
---
Voting time. You have SIX (6) actions over the next six months (one turn). One action may represent a month of solid work, or one day a week over the course of the turn - please don't poke the abstraction too hard. Overwork choices give you an extra action rather than consuming one, so you can go up to nine if you're an absolute workaholic. You may spend two actions on one choice to focus extra time and effort on it. Voting is by plan.
Do Your Job: The palace budget is still in tatters after the reign of the Abominations, and you feel your efforts go unappreciated as your coworkers immediately find things to spend the money on. Money you don't really even have, save by the goodness of Clan Wisdom.
[] You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
[] Prioritize repairs, reconstruction and reutilization of palace-owned land so you can start charging rent on it again.
[] A bunch of Wisdom's gift has been spent already, but the majority remains. Lend it out to entrepreneurs. Then collect both interest and fees from them.
[] Ask your relatives for more advice. You have no shortage of relatives and they have no shortage of opinions.
[] The temple tithes and shrine offerings haven't been audited for decades. Some of these gods probably don't live here any more, or even exist. Who can you stop paying?
[] Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
[] The threats of audits you issued made some people clean up their act. Send more and better threats of audits, describing in more detail what's wrong.
[] The threats of audits you issued made some people implicitly admit they owed money by stalling. Make good on your threats, start auditing.
[] The Guardian and Dragon clans are dead, purge any remaining obligations to their former members.
[] Stall and procrastinate until problems hopefully solve themselves or creditors give up and offer to settle for less.
[] Write-in approach
Follow Your Passion: You are still plotting a great work of metallurgy to transmute iron into starmetal.
[] Look for materials. You'll need to buy a great deal of iron, of course, fuel, reagents, and a forge custom-built to your specifications.
[] Look for personnel. You'll need smiths, alchemists, probably a priest of the god of forges, maybe a thaumaturge or geomancer too.
[] Look for a starmetal sample. You'll want it as a reference to check the forge is on the right path.
[] Search more libraries. Maybe you'll find the information you want this time. (has a retry bonus this turn)
[] Consult with priests. Maybe you'll find a god willing to give or at least show you some starmetal.
About that census: You didn't bring it up at the council meeting and the Portlord didn't ask. But something feels off about your last estimate and the Portlord might raise it again in the future.
[] Asking clan heads to count their clan members would give you a second opinion.
[] Ask tariff collectors to count how many different people pass through the gates and ports every week.
[] Pick an ordinary district to count the population of, then divide Silverport's size by the district's size for an estimate.
[] Write-in new approach
Abuse your office:
[] Clan Bridge is moving to oppose the Portlord. Undermine and sabotage them. Subtly, of course - it should look like Fate objects to people who oppose the Portlord.
[] Some of the less scrupulous members of your own clan have suggested you should be quietly sabotaging Clan Plum instead.
[] Why choose? Falsify a few contracts to make both Bridge and Plum think the other owes them something.
[] See if you can shuffle your personal obligations onto the palace finances.
Self-improvement: Can attempt to raise one of your attributes. Difficulty increases as the base attribute rises.
[] Practice. Take some time away from what you're doing to look at how you're doing it and whether there's a better approach.
[] Tutoring. Ask one of your fellow councillors for advice in their field of expertise.
[] Paid Tutoring. Hire a professional teacher, like the ones your clan used to pay for when you were younger.
Social actions: One of these can be taken for free each turn in your spare time. Each additional selection from this section will still cost an action. You do not need to socialize with your own clan - that happens automatically unless you choose to skimp on family obligations.
[] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (choose which)
[] Spy on one of your fellow councillors. (choose which)
[] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (choose which)
[] Spend time with someone else. (choose whom)
Special actions:
[] Slow and Steady. Take your time to think and plan properly before you act. Other planned actions this turn get a bonus die to their rolls. Cannot be used if overworking.
[] Overwork: skimp on family obligations. You get an extra action this turn. May damage your social standing.
[] Overwork: skimp on religious obligations. You get an extra action this turn. May damage your social standing.
[] Overwork: skimp on food and sleep. You get an extra action this turn. May result in poor health.
Optional plan elements you can add:
[] Stop embezzling.
[] Reduce embezzlement to 10g/turn. (Removes risk of discovery)
[] Reduce embezzlement to 25g/turn. (Reduces risk of discovery)
[] Increase embezzlement to 100g/turn. (Increases risk of discovery)
[] Change debt payment to 15g/turn.
[] Change debt payment to 25g/turn.
-New description of Slow and Steady should make it clearer that it still uses an action.
-There are better and worse options, but not trap options.
-You are on course to have the budget half balanced if you continue this turn like last turn.
-You can still go and learn Old Tongue, or various other skills, with a write in. But it's not as relevant any more so I've removed it from the default suggestions.
[X] Plan Too Much Work
-[X] You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
-[X] Prioritize repairs, reconstruction and reutilization of palace-owned land so you can start charging rent on it again.
-[X] The temple tithes and shrine offerings haven't been audited for decades. Some of these gods probably don't live here any more, or even exist. Who can you stop paying?
-[X] Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
-[X] The Guardian and Dragon clans are dead, purge any remaining obligations to their former members.
-[X] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (Princess Ebuskun)
-[X] Slow and Steady. Take your time to think and plan properly before you act. Other planned actions this turn get a bonus die to their rolls. Cannot be used if overworking.
Would people be interested in scaling back our embezzlement?
Or more accurately, what sort of timeline do we have for the embezzlement. Keeping it where it is now is probably untenable in the long run, so how long we we want to keep it at the 50/turn mark?
Would people be interested in scaling back our embezzlement?
Or more accurately, what sort of timeline do we have for the embezzlement. Keeping it where it is now is probably untenable in the long run, so how long we we want to keep it at the 50/turn mark?
probably for 2-3 more turns? by that point we either fixed the financial system where others can actually track our embezzlement or fixed it so that our embezzlement looks normal
Would people be interested in scaling back our embezzlement?
Or more accurately, what sort of timeline do we have for the embezzlement. Keeping it where it is now is probably untenable in the long run, so how long we we want to keep it at the 50/turn mark?
[X] Plan Too Much Work
-[X]1 You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
-[X]2 Prioritize repairs, reconstruction and reutilization of palace-owned land so you can start charging rent on it again.
-[X]3 The temple tithes and shrine offerings haven't been audited for decades. Some of these gods probably don't live here any more, or even exist. Who can you stop paying?
-[X]4 Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
-[X]5 The threats of audits you issued made some people implicitly admit they owed money by stalling. Make good on your threats, start auditing.
-[X]6 The Guardian and Dragon clans are dead, purge any remaining obligations to their former members.
-[X] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (Princess Ebuskun)
-[X]7 Slow and Steady. Take your time to think and plan properly before you act. Other planned actions this turn get a bonus die to their rolls. Cannot be used if overworking.
Social actions: One of these can be taken for free each turn in your spare time. Each additional selection from this section will still cost an action. You do not need to socialize with your own clan - that happens automatically unless you choose to skimp on family obligations.
On the topic of reliable censuses: @Exmorri approximately how many per cent of the population of Silverport is part of a clan? Does the clanmember count include retainers and so on? I'm assuming the poorer segment of the city's population generally doesn't belong to a clan, nor are they employed by one?
On the topic of reliable censuses: @Exmorri approximately how many per cent of the population of Silverport is part of a clan? Does the clanmember count include retainers and so on? I'm assuming the poorer segment of the city's population generally doesn't belong to a clan, nor are they employed by one?
A quarter to a half (context dependent), yes, and mostly yes.
To elaborate: An estimated 5% of the population are full members of the Big Five, and another 20-25% are full members of the many many smaller clans. There's no formal authority designating what constitutes a clan. As a rule of thumb, if your family manages three generations of prosperity and the recognition of an existing clan, your family is de facto a clan.
Retainers and other close associates would be included in the count even if they aren't full members-by-kinship, both because people like to bulk up the number of supporters they have when you ask them about that, and because in this case the PC would be trying to get as many people counted as possible if you voted for the relevant option. That's another 20-25%.
The other estimated half of the population that's definitely clanless includes the poor, the irrelevant, seasonal workers, foreigners, mystics et cetera. Does that make sense?
[X] Plan: Burn The Deadwood.
-[X] You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
-[X] The temple tithes and shrine offerings haven't been audited for decades. Some of these gods probably don't live here any more, or even exist. Who can you stop paying?
-[X] Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
-[X] The threats of audits you issued made some people clean up their act. Send more and better threats of audits, describing in more detail what's wrong.
-[X] The Guardian and Dragon clans are dead, purge any remaining obligations to their former members.
-[X] Search more libraries. Maybe you'll find the information you want this time. (has a retry bonus this turn)
-[X] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (Princess Ebuskun)
[X] Plan: Burn The Deadwood.
-[X] You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
-[X] The temple tithes and shrine offerings haven't been audited for decades. Some of these gods probably don't live here any more, or even exist. Who can you stop paying?
-[X] Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
-[X] The threats of audits you issued made some people clean up their act. Send more and better threats of audits, describing in more detail what's wrong.
-[X] The Guardian and Dragon clans are dead, purge any remaining obligations to their former members.
-[X] Search more libraries. Maybe you'll find the information you want this time. (has a retry bonus this turn)
-[X] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (Princess Ebuskun)
A quarter to a half (context dependent), yes, and mostly yes.
To elaborate: An estimated 5% of the population are full members of the Big Five, and another 20-25% are full members of the many many smaller clans. There's no formal authority designating what constitutes a clan. As a rule of thumb, if your family manages three generations of prosperity and the recognition of an existing clan, your family is de facto a clan.
Retainers and other close associates would be included in the count even if they aren't full members-by-kinship, both because people like to bulk up the number of supporters they have when you ask them about that, and because in this case the PC would be trying to get as many people counted as possible if you voted for the relevant option. That's another 20-25%.
The other estimated half of the population that's definitely clanless includes the poor, the irrelevant, seasonal workers, foreigners, mystics et cetera. Does that make sense?
Here's a thought regarding a census on the latter segment of the population though. It'd be hideously impractical to go around and count all the inhabitants of the slums, so why not make them come to us? Organise a charity food handout in the slums, paid for by the Portlord's office. Count how many bowls of rice were given away, and mark the ones that were counted with a dab of ink on their hands to prevent double counts. The poor won't say no to a free lunch and will definitely show up, and will look upon the current Portlord more favourably (especially useful if he plans to go through with his...kingly ambitions). We'll have a reasonable count of the poor permanent population of Silverport without making it too obvious that we're holding a census. Marking them won't even seem that weird, after all you don't want people queueing multiple times and hoarding the food. Also ink doesn't really go off very well unless you use warm water and soap, something I suspect these people won't have in abundance.
We might need Shining Void to sign off for this though, and perhaps wait until the budget is well and truly stable so as to not appear suspicious towards the other Clans.
It won't be a perfect count of all non-clan permanent residents (I'm assuming the second sizeable group would be small-time craftsmen who just make barely enough to scrape by), but the slum-inhabitants are bound to be a large part of this category, and the ones that we'd normally have most difficulty counting. This, together with a Clan-count should at least give us fairly accurate picture of who lives within the city walls. Seasonal workers, sailors or passers-by and so on we'd have to count through tariffs collectors, but they're less relevant as they're not quite permanent inhabitants, and would likely have avoided the city when the Abominations reigned.
[X] Plan: Audit Time
-[X] You've made a start on the gates and tolls, but there are still bandits on the overland roads and double-tolls on the city roads. Keep fixing this.
-[X] Prioritize repairs, reconstruction and reutilization of palace-owned land so you can start charging rent on it again.
-[X] Go through the payroll of the palace guard and remove dead soldiers, missing soldiers, retired soldiers, and whoever else needs removing.
-[X] The threats of audits you issued made some people implicitly admit they owed money by stalling. Make good on your threats, start auditing.
-[X] Search more libraries. Maybe you'll find the information you want this time. (has a retry bonus this turn)
-[X] Asking clan heads to count their clan members would give you a second opinion.
-[X] Get to know one of your fellow councillors. (Princess Ebuskun)
Instead of just sending more threats to audit, we should make good on the threats we've already made. These people have had 6 months already, it's time we see just how much they owe us and what we can do to get our money back.
And since the Portlord didn't ask us about the census this last turn, it's a sure bet he'll ask us next turn. So we should at least try to get a pretty solid count of the clan-affiliated population of the city by going to the clan heads for him, and then use Siual's food charity plan when we have the budget better balanced than it currently is.
Instead of just sending more threats to audit, we should make good on the threats we've already made. These people have had 6 months already, it's time we see just how much they owe us and what we can do to get our money back.
