[X] [Forge] This sounds like a good business venture. Set up a new forge to begin production and continue research.
[X] [Report] Just the facts.
[X] [Orders] Plan Incremental Improvements
-[X] The palace budget is almost balanced. Just a little more work and it could pay for itself.
-[X] We need a whole new set of proper fortification walls for the city so we're not scrambling to patch them up next time there's a war.
-[X] The census is a lot more important than I thought, order me to do that properly.
@Exmorri
The new city god Zhu is an underling of Zara Metal-Mother, right? What effects will having a metalworking/mining-themed God have on Silverport? Also, as a chosen mortal with Zara's blessing, where does that put us? Would we theoretically have Zhu's ear whenever we ask for it, as long as we remain blessed by Zara? Also, do we know the nature of the blessing Shining Void got from Zhu?
The new city god Zhu is an underling of Zara Metal-Mother, right? What effects will having a metalworking/mining-themed God have on Silverport? Also, as a chosen mortal with Zara's blessing, where does that put us? Would we theoretically have Zhu's ear whenever we ask for it, as long as we remain blessed by Zara? Also, do we know the nature of the blessing Shining Void got from Zhu?
@Siual In order:
No, Zhu is a city god and location gods don't answer to domain gods. That said, it would be reasonable to infer they are on good terms and Zara is higher-ranking overall and probably helped arrange for Zhu's promotion and there is potentially underling-like currying of favor going on somewhere.
In principle it's supposed to have no particular effects who gets promoted in the divine ranks, the world is not morphic to will that way. In practice it will have socially mediated effects where Zhu has personal tastes and biases.
Zara's favor - another social thing, distinct from the mechanical blessing - means Zhu will probably put you on the VIP list of people who have caught the attention of the higher-ups.
You don't know its nature. But since you asked, I'll have Marble ask at the upcoming council meeting.
You jostle, shove, elbow and nudge your way out of the Sun Temple alongside Jade, muttering excuses and imprecations as you struggle to make your way through the throng. The deafening chant of "ZHU! ZHU! ZHU!" continues, the priests at the front trying to restore order, the ushers at the door getting violent as the crowd outside tries ever harder to break in. You get a minor bruise to the face in the process, but manage to exit the temple without worse complications. Outside, you see the parade route is just as packed. All traffic in the city must have come to a complete standstill.
"Just a moment - my foot." says Jade once you're clear of the thickest part of the crowd, pulling off her sandal.
"Someone stepped on it?" You put an arm around her waist to support her as she balances on one leg.
"Twice. Still better than staying in there." she says with a grimace. "A lot of people are going to be hard of hearing after that."
You nod in agreement. "Complete mess. They packed the temple full of people and then put in gods and elementals to boot. The place was fuller-than-full."
"Should we go home?" asks Jade.
"No. Let's find somewhere better we can see the parade from." you suggest.
"Carry me?"
"Are you that hurt?"
"No, I just like it when you carry me." Jade smiles impishly.
You sigh and shake your head. "What did I do to deserve you?"
The noise of the crowd gradually fades as the two of you walk through the near-deserted streets. Jade has given up on asking to be carried and settled for leaning heavily on you as she walks, her long dark hair occasionally flapping on your shoulder and getting in your face where it has escaped from its restraints. You turn and travel parallel to the parade route, enjoying the peace and quiet. Even if your attendance was brief, you saw enough of the ceremony to recall the participants, and it really was quite impressive, surpassing any gathering you've been at before.
An old man and a young man are sitting on the edge of an unusual two-storey house overlooking the crowds. You wave up to them. They wave back. You ask if you can join them. The young man takes a moment to confer with the old man before calling down that yes, some company is welcome. Jade follows you up a ladder on the side of the house, her foot evidently recovered.
"What brings you up here? New to the city?" asks the young man.
"No, we escaped from the ceremonies." you answer. "I couldn't stand the chaos and my wife couldn't stand the noise."
The young man squints at you. "You were at the ceremonies? Should I know you?"
"Avalanche Marble, Steward of the Palace." you introduce yourself. "And my wife, Avalanche Jade, part-owner of the Dolphin Teahouse."
"Never heard of either of you." says the young man, and turns to the old man, raising his voice a bit. "Hey Da, they're important people!"
The old man's serene expression is only briefly interrupted as he looks around to advise his son "Then be polite to them." before turning once more to gaze out over the city and ignore you.
Jade fusses a little as she tries to find a comfortable spot to sit next to you. Comfortable spots are sadly scarce on a rooftop, though. She tsks and fusses some more, trying to restore order and put her hair back in place under her hairband. A faint cool breeze blows. You tuck your hands into your sleeves so they won't get cold. Offering to help Jade with her hair, you know from experience, is a way of getting stuck holding strands of it for twice as long as it takes her to fix it on her own.
Eventually a roar in the distance signals that the procession is coming. Everyone on the roof looks in the direction of the sound. Only a few flags and banners are visible over the rooftops at this distance. As it gets closer, more and more of the grand parade comes into view. Zhu sits in the middle of a paper model of the city atop a parade wagon, surrounded by a cadre of priests. Void leads a group of very important people next. Then comes a troupe of performers singing and dancing, then what you hope is a very impressive costume and not actually a seven-foot oni, although if it's a costume it's good enough you can't be sure at this distance. Then several other parade floats and festive people follow down the road.
"This is better than being in the temple." you remark to Jade. "Shame we're missing the music though."
"Hire your own musicians next time. You're wealthy, you can afford it."
"One does not stay wealthy by indulging in every whim that comes to mind."
"One does not stay happy by storing up wealth all day, either." she retorts.
Now that's a preposterous charge she's implying. Store up wealth? You? You lean closer and put a gentle finger to her lips rather than argue further. She obediently shuts up, but doots your nose in response. You stare at her. She stares right back. You wonder what the most dignified way out of the situation is. Ignoring it will make you lose face. Retaliating in kind will probably lead to further dooting and make you look ridiculous in public. Escalating too harshly would make you look vile and petty. After a moment's thought you grasp both her hands in yours and pinch them tightly. Jade bows her head in surrender. You graciously accept and change the subject.
"I think our sons are going to be drawing pictures of today. Do you think they'll draw Zhu or the oni bigger?"
"I think Zhu."
The last dregs of the parade trundle by on their way to the city temple. You climb down from the roof and make your way home to see your children.
Social interlude as promised, main vote is going to be extended a day since this is what you get for now, and I'll probably be moving to a somewhat slower overall update schedule in the near future so that I don't burn out.
I think you are the one who keeps bringing up our embezzlement. Could you please stop?
Embezzlement isn't as serious as it should be. Although, we really should IC look into what our punishment for embezzlement should be and how our corrupt predecessors dealt with the issue, if accusations of corruption were directed at themselves.
Our embezzlement is expected by those who are aware of our position's history. Void likely knows, but we are good at the job and would make an unfortunate enemy. Jade is on our side, for some reason.
If we embezzle, but are still maintaining a better bueracracy than our predecessors with embezzlement, where is the harm?
We don't actually know what the law says about the steward embezzling funds, considering our predcessors were the heads of a corrupt beuracracy they probably had an escape plan pre-built in case they were caught, maybe a obscure law or tradition to not die if caught?
Final point, we need the plus 50 in embezzlements, until we have a source of income that can replace the funds we embezzle each turn, we seemingly can never stop. Our expenses each turn are hard to predict.
We can't stop embezzling now, Void is unlikely to be the one to dig into our embezzlement. We don't need to stop, Jade likes Marble. Why would we ever stop embezzling? I feel the embezzlement adds to the character of Marble and I can't help but smile at the crook who made the world a better place without sticking to the straight and narrow.
Slippery slope. Sets a bad example. Makes us a hypocrite. Makes a significant number of voters, myself included, highly uncomfortable.
If the mirror forge works out I will almost certainly advocate that we stop embezzling. Even if it doesn't work out I will advocate that we pull embezzling back to the absolute minimum we can survive, which will be significantly better once our debt is paid around year four/turn eight.
Eh, embezzlement is practically so integral to the job(see like 90% of the stuff we were fixing) that nobody bats an eye, as long as the job IS done. Given how extensively the previous administration cheated in basically every department for their own profit for every counciler, portlord AND religious factor, I suspect if we ever stop altogether people would be giving us funny looks wondering what our game is.
Hey just a question @Exmorri … But wasn't the 'Pay Debt off at 35g a turn' option supposed to have paid off the entire debt after 4 years? Which meant we shouldn't have needed to pay for it this year?
Or was it, 4 years after this year, meaning it's now paid off?
Hey just a question @Exmorri … But wasn't the 'Pay Debt off at 35g a turn' option supposed to have paid off the entire debt after 4 years? Which meant we shouldn't have needed to pay for it this year?
Or was it, 4 years after this year, meaning it's now paid off?
[*] [Report] Just the facts.
[*] [Forge] This sounds like a good business venture. Set up a new forge to begin production and continue research.
[*] Plan We have options
-[*] The palace budget is almost balanced. Just a little more work and it could pay for itself.
-[*] The new exams are a stopgap measure, they're going to get memorized too eventually. I need more time to redesign the whole examination system.
-[*] The census is a lot more important than I thought, order me to do that properly.
-[*] The city walls could still use a lot more work to make them even better.
-[*] Clan Bridge and their allies need to be destroyed. Peacefully and financially, of course.
-[*] Let's invent central banking.
You order a second forge built to your specifications and see about finding another apprentice smith and an apprentice alchemist to work at it. This should be easier to run than the old one, now that you have a procedure to follow, rather than throwing molten metal and strange salts at the wall until something sticks...
[New mirrormetal forge cost: -20g.]
You stay long enough to see the first light, bright alloy come out before you go to prepare your reports. Then it's off to see the Portlord.
---
Ebuskun's presence at this meeting of the Privy Council is a pleasant surprise. She's early, or maybe Void is late, giving you a chance to talk. The odd foreign princess is brimming with enthusiasm as she relates her adventures up the Slow River. "-so I ask her to clarify, do you need it back intact or is it enough to tear it down from there? and she says taking it down is good. Which means instead of attacking heavy wall or making elaborate stratagem, I prepare a fire arrow, draw hard, and shoot it where it stands. Poof! There goes their glory and prestige!"
"I can imagine." says Blade. "One of the dangers of putting your trophies on display in public. It must be mortifying to see it shot down and burnt like that."
The Portlord eventually turns up, looking unkempt and smelling of wine and incense. "Packed schedule today." he says. "We'll do short summaries first. Morning, have you gotten any leverage on the Tokarans for me?"
"No. I had some until one of my agents defected."
"Vet better." says Void, frowning.
"I vet as well as I can. But I cannot foresee every possible entanglement with every one of the Petty Princes." says Morning defensively. "In this case the Queen of Heart's End. Ever heard of her?"
"No." the Portlord admits. "Fine. Hammering out final terms with Tokara will just have to be at a disadvantage. Blade! Clan Gold has turned very polite to me again. How much of that is from what, and how honest?"
The chancellor opens and closes his mouth a few times as he thinks how to summarize. "My work, Zhu's investiture, general city normalization, hearing about Ebuskun's recent accomplishments, and finally some turning inwards because all outer directions are a mess now. They're honest."
"Good to hear the city's normalizing. I hope you can look away from it for a little while, then, because I'll need you backing me up on negotiations with Tokara and Helmsland in the near future. Marble?"
"Decent progress across the board. The palace could be running a profit next year at this rate, which I'm sure the others will immediately find a use for."
"If they haven't planned it already." says Void, and looks towards Ebuskun.
She grins. "We are gloriously victorious. The Tokaran forces have proved incompetent when put to the test, and the League is disorganized. I have obeyed your order to withdraw with spoils, but I still think we could have conquered."
"We've had this discussion before. Attempting outright conquest would have made the League organize."
Ebuskun throws up her hands in frustration. "Let me go and I can conquer them faster than they organize!"
Void shakes his head. "It's not worth the risk. Morale should be restored now; for the next few months I want you to focus on restoring discipline and recruiting. You'll be going back to the spider forest eventually." He cocks his head and finally looks towards the sage.
"I've found three projects that look worthwhile: a better composite bow, a firedust projector, and a new chariot design." says Three. "Surprisingly many bad ideas."
"Mmmph. None of those are really what I hoped for right now. Chariot is probably the worst in a forest, bow would be bad too but firedust is expensive... Ebuskun?"
"Bow." says Ebuskun without hesitation.
"Good." The Portlord frowns suspiciously towards the entrance door to the council chamber, as though expecting an interruption any moment.
When several seconds pass without anything happening, he relaxes. "Blade," he asks the chancellor, "what do you think are the largest obstacles to elevating House Avalanche?"
"Marble himself is one." Blade says, and turns to you. "That's not to cast aspersions on the quality of your character; it's just that you're young, and a near non-entity outside of Avalanche. There's very little gossip about you, and what there is is so quiet partly because you're seen as one of nature's clerks. One of the first things you did here was hire more clerks to back you up, after all. On the good side, it means you have no overt enemies."
That's... accurate, you suppose. 'Clerk' feels like a slightly small word, not befitting of your true importance and inspiration, but you suppose you haven't covered yourself in glory yet. Maybe when the starmetal comes. (Or if, says a cynical little voice.)
"Also I haven't counted closely, but I get their impression Avalanche's levy is quite small. A bit more military heft would help their position." Blade continues. "Pillar is unimpeccable, at least."
"More weight to throw around would be good regardless." says Void. "I'll mention it to Pillar when I see him. Marble, you have been consistently diligent, what do you propose we do next, now that Silverport is flourishing once more?"
"Make the palace budget actually positive, hold a proper census, fix the exams so they stay fixed longer, new city wall, a new moneylending operation I've invented, or maybe undermine Clan Bridge." you reel off.
"I like that last one." says the Portlord with amusement in his eyes. "You're growing a political sense. But I think the exams are a better fit for the moment. I'd very much like to keep around the newfound competence you've introduced recently. There's not much slack left to fix in the budget, is there?"
"Nnnno." you admit. "The temple donatives and shrine upkeep are the largest post, and I imagine that-"
"-that is a sensitive matter, yes." Void agrees. "Examinations it is, and later you can see about examining the candidates for honesty. Oh, and talk to Three afterwards, she has a book for you."
You look curiously at Three. The sage shrugs and nods.
"We're still not interrupted? Amazing." says Void. "Ebuskun, something went wrong in the retreat from the demon spider forests. Have you figured out what, and how to make that not happen again?"
"Army is too large with too many small parts." says Ebuskun. "Cannot use horns well there, order goes to relay and turns into rumor, retreat turns into rout, soldiers without orders start running when they see other units pulling back, run into unsafe areas. Easiest way to fix problem in forest is order to stand ground until I come personally with new order, but that will not work for anything else."
Void sighs. "The detriments of split command, I see. But in most other situations you want units able to react without waiting for you, so..." He bites his lip and thinks. "I realize it's a difficult problem. But see if you can come up with some suggestions for improvement anyway. Otherwise, recruiting and discipline, still."
Morning speaks up next. "I have several possible plans, but I'm guessing recruitment and expansion into the League should be my priority?"
Void nods. "Sounds sensible. Maybe try to get them to pick a few fights and fall apart now that the Warmaster and I are pulling out, but only if you have a very good opportunity. I don't want to provoke them into forming up harder. Now, I think that's everything for the moment."
"Wait. I have a question." you stand up as the Portlord rises and turns to leave. "I couldn't hear properly over the noise at the temple, but what blessing did you get from Zhu?"
"What did I get? You ask a difficult question." he says sagely. "The touch of the divine is not so easily measured. But I can tell you at least what I requested: Vigilance."
He files out and waves a few of the others with him, leaving you alone with Wolf Three. The sage pulls a small, slim booklet out of her robes and hands it to you. Its cover bears a few glyphs on a plain brown background. The largest one resembles a set of concentric rings, or maybe an eye in a circle. You look uncomprehendingly from the book to Three and back again. "A Book of Gates." she says portentously.
"Is that what it says? I don't speak Old Tongue." you respond, gingerly opening the booklet to a random page. The interior is written in more of the same gibberish glyphs. Some of the writing is in a different style and color from the rest. Annotations, perhaps.
"Oh. I didn't think about that. I could teach you. Or just go through the book with you if you have the time."
"But... why? What's this got to do with me." You look up and down to the booklet again, still perplexed.
"You are a sensible person who will do your job and not jump to conclusions." Three explains. "Shining Void speaks highly of you. This book contains potentially sensitive matters I discovered while doing his research into the Abominations. I would like someone trustworthy to discuss it with, and the conclusions I've reached."
Hm. That's potentially interesting, but definitely not your purview. You hand the book back and tell her you'll consider it later - right now you should get to work.
---
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 actions 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 current palace examinations test five general subjects. 1) mathematics, 2) writing and calligraphy, 3) history and literature, 4) social rites and customs, 5) music and poetry. You have previously made small adjustments to some of the quantities and persons mentioned to throw off memorized answers while keeping the same overall model. Now you have an opportunity to do significantly larger overhauls. First, for the amount of time and energy you wish to spend altering the exams, choose one in this section.
-[] On second thought, another small update will be enough to discourage the new memorizers. (One action, cannot change curriculum.)
-[] The examination form has lasted so long for good reason. It needs cleaning, but not remaking. (Two actions)
-[] Approach the examinations with an open mind. Keep what is good, remove what is not good, and write new forms. (Three actions)
-[] Much change is required. Use the old exams as a skeleton on which to build new flesh. (Four actions.)
-[] There is little worth keeping here. Look to the old exams for inspiration only, and write mostly anew. (Five actions)
-[] Remake the examinations in their entirety. (Six actions.)
-[] Let the exam work consume your life. (Seven or more is possible if you overwork.)
Curriculum: Choose one or more in this section for how you plan to alter the examinations for palace staff. Does not take an action.
--[] No change, it's fine as it is. (This and only this must be chosen if you spend only one action updating exams.)
--[] More weight to mathematics. This is used to track money, which is very important.
--[] More weight to writing. This is used to record and accumulate knowledge, which is very important.
--[] More weight to history. This is used to read precedent and not be surprised or fooled by an old new idea, which is very important.
--[] More weight to rites. This is used to maintain a harmonious society, which is very important.
--[] More weight to music. This is used to communicate the things that are not easily said plainly, which is very important.
--[] More weight to everything. Make the exams longer and harder.
--[] Add a section on strategy at Ebuskun's recommendation.
--[] Call on the temple of Kui Xing, God of Examinations, for a full collaboration.
--[] Write-in other alterations
Clarifying edit: as long as you're spending at least two actions of time and energy, you can make any number of curriculum changes, even none.
Maintain Your Triumphs: You've made great strides, but much of it might go even better if you spare time to see to its upkeep, or might decay if you do not.
-[] Go and help out at your experimental forge. It'll surely go better with both your vision and your new understanding to assist.
-[] There's ongoing staff turnover even when you're not actively recruiting and replacing. Apply some oversight.
-[] Useless expenditures, like weeds, will grow on the palace budget over time. Prune them.
-[] The city walls could still use more fortifying. See about that.
Self-improvement: Can attempt to raise one of your attributes. Difficulty increases as the base attribute rises. New skills are also listed here. Training defaults to Stewardship if you don't specify an attribute.
-[] 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. You have a lot of experience to draw on now.
-[] 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.
-[] Study Smithing. Zara has blessed you with particular competence and understanding here.
-[] Study Old Tongue and Three's booklet.
Miscellaneous:
-[] Abuse your office to sabotage some target of your choice.
-[] Abuse your office to shift your personal obligations onto the palace budget.
-[] Maybe you could follow up on that provisional census. (Write in approach)
-[] Go out and promote mirrormetal. Find uses for it. Look for more buyers. Advertise. Hustle.
-[] Something else?
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. Use an action to take your time to think and plan properly before you do anything else. 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.
-[] Shut down the mirrormetal forge.
-[] Shut down the experimental starmetal forge.
None of these take an action.
QM notes:
-The music and poetry subject also touches on tracking which songs people are singing, and knowing the mood of the population, not just memorizing a songbook or playing an instrument.
-It's assumed you will be making at least a small offering to Kui Xing in the exam process, as part of your regular shrine expenditures. The temple option is for heavier involvement.
-Similarly, the mirrormetal forge will sell at least something even if you don't devote a major chunk of time to promoting it. A merchant republic has enough people looking for opportunities that some of them will contact you on their own.
-Players are welcome to make suggestions for how Ebuskun's command of the Silverport Expeditionary Force might be improved. Marble is a good organizer, after all. No need to put those in voting format.
[X] Plan Grinding Progress
-[X] Approach the examinations with an open mind. Keep what is good, remove what is not good, and write new forms. (Three actions)
--[X] More weight to everything. Make the exams longer and harder.
--[X] Add a section on strategy at Ebuskun's recommendation.
--[X] Call on the temple of Kui Xing, God of Examinations, for a full collaboration.
-[X] Study Smithing. Zara has blessed you with particular competence and understanding here.
-[X] Study Old Tongue and Three's booklet.
-[X] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (Ascension)
-[X] Slow and Steady. Use an action to take your time to think and plan properly before you do anything else. Other planned actions this turn get a bonus die to their rolls. Cannot be used if overworking.
Not sure how much weight I want to put on the exams in general, but toughening them up in general should be useful. Not going to toss out the whole thing though. Writing a whole syllabus from scratch is madness.
Was he expecting the new City God to want to take part in council meetings now too? It would make a certain amount of sense, given how the divine can interact with mortals.
"I like that last one." says the Portlord with amusement in his eyes. "You're growing a political sense. But I think the exams are a better fit for the moment. I'd very much like to keep around the newfound competence you've introduced recently. There's not much slack left to fix in the budget, is there?"
I presume this means that our clerks have been providing a bonus for the wider Palace organizations, instead of just our own department?
@Exmorri - for the examinations, must all of the Exam actions be done this turn or can it be split over several? I'm not too sure what you're going for narratively as it could make sense that it's either.
Well...we're hiring clerks, aren't we? Knowledge of the classics and poetry is a given considering that we're in an eastern-inspired setting with corresponding expectations towards the bureaucracy, but nothing will impact the way they do their jobs more than knowledge of mathematics. Especially if we push that central banking idea through, we're going to need a steady supply of numbercrunching clerks to keep up.
"Make the palace budget actually positive, hold a proper census, fix the exams so they stay fixed longer, new city wall, a new moneylending operation I've invented, or maybe undermine Clan Bridge." you reel off.
"I like that last one." says the Portlord with amusement in his eyes. "You're growing a political sense.
Was he expecting the new City God to want to take part in council meetings now too? It would make a certain amount of sense, given how the divine can interact with mortals.
In this case he was expecting to be interrupted by impatient people on his packed schedule. Interacting with the City God is the shared responsibility of the Chancellor and Sage. But I might have Zhu show up in the future.
@Exmorri - for the examinations, must all of the Exam actions be done this turn or can it be split over several? I'm not too sure what you're going for narratively as it could make sense that it's either.
The current vote is for how many actions you spend on the exams this turn, because the exams are your current main responsibility. When you're writing your report to the Portlord afterwards and suggesting orders for next turn, you can say "I need more time to continue working on the exams", and when you're voting actions for next turn, you can choose to continue working on the examinations (whether or not that is your main responsibility at the time).
That's partly a follow-up to Blade's earlier comment about you being a near non-entity politically, who's now learning to do things that will result in friends and enemies... abusing the authority of the palace for political gain is not that likable, really. But it's nice that you're getting into the game. Or at least considering it.
Well...we're hiring clerks, aren't we? Knowledge of the classics and poetry is a given considering that we're in an eastern-inspired setting with corresponding expectations towards the bureaucracy, but nothing will impact the way they do their jobs more than knowledge of mathematics. Especially if we push that central banking idea through, we're going to need a steady supply of numbercrunching clerks to keep up.
Are the exams only for people who'll be working under us, or for all government positions, including the departments of the other council members? I.E. are we really only looking for clerks, or also for diplomats, sages and generally scholary people?
