It is unwise to demand that we continue the audit then slack off. Void is very much Taking An Interest in this project. This is a very bad time to not do our job.
[x] Plan Even Flow
- 1 action
- 1 action
-[x] Cheaters are probably memorizing the new exams as you speak. Tweak them a little, and then see who still provides last year's answers this year.
The audit's basically done. I understood our intent in asking for more time to be buying time to decide whether we wanted to do anything political with the information we gathered.
The exam revision is our big achievement so far after a hefty action investment. I think it's worth spending some effort to keep it as an unvarnished success.
The audit's basically done. I understood our intent in asking for more time to be buying time to decide whether we wanted to do anything political with the information we gathered.
That is not at all my understanding of the situation. There is most definitely more corruption to find and if we wanted to do something sketchy with blackmail (we don't) we would have been vastly better off telling Void we had dealt with the bad apples and were ready to do other things.
The exam revision is our big achievement so far after a hefty action investment. I think it's worth spending some effort to keep it as an unvarnished success.
[X] Plan Audit and Advertise
-[X] Pick between 0 and 6 actions to spend on watching present spending
--[X] 3
-[X] Go and help out at your experimental forge. It'll surely go better with both your vision and your new understanding to assist.
-[X] Go out and promote mirrormetal. Find uses for it. Look for more buyers. Advertise. Hustle.
-[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.
-[X] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (Clan Wisdom) (Free action)
@Exmorri the Abominations disappeared on New Year's Day, correct? Is there any relevance to the day they were first sighted, aside from the fact that it was roughly nine months prior?
The exam revision is our big achievement so far after a hefty action investment. I think it's worth spending some effort to keep it as an unvarnished success.
The fluff was very specific in what we did to the exam though, and that was we changed it from single word or sentence answers to ones requiring statements. It's already so much harder to memorize, combined with the fact that the questions on it aren't set and rotate, that it was mentioned that someone capable of memorizing all of the various examination statements is probably good enough to qualify anyway. As others have mentioned, our character believed that the exam as it is was good enough to see out the Portlords term.
The high priest of the Temple of the City - you think you should know this one, but you struggle to remember his name. Did you see him at Zhu's investiture, perhaps?
What's interesting about the last two updates, was that this was mentioned twice, and our character is both organized and has an eiditic memory so really should know the new name of the High Priest for the cities God. I'm not sure what it could be though, but I can't imagine the author deciding to mention it twice and it not being relevant to something.
----
[X] Plan Audit, Advertise, and Godly connections
-[X] Pick between 0 and 6 actions to spend on watching present spending
--[X] 2
-[X] Pick between 0 and 6 actions to spend on watching past spending
--[X] 1
-[X] Go and help out at your experimental forge. It'll surely go better with both your vision and your new understanding to assist.
-[X] Go out and promote mirrormetal. Find uses for it. Look for more buyers. Advertise. Hustle.
-[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.
-[X] Socialize and build connections with the Temple of the City
And so due to the above and the irregularities, I'd prefer to pursue it to see where it leads. At the very least we know it'll be interesting, because we know for a fact that there is a God in residence there or attends there and everyone in the city pays respects towards it, so it should be very helpful for us to do regardless. Our goal politically is also to get Avalanche to become a fifth Great Clan, and I don't doubt that Zhu or it's priests could be helpful with that or likewise a hindrance if they wish to stop it so it would be wise to make connections.
The rest of the plan involves spending three actions on continuing the audit, helping out at the forge, and promoting Mirrormetal. With slow and steady providing rerolls it should mean we do well on the audit itself with minimal chance of missing something particularly with our traits, and ideally we'd get the final point of Master Smith from practicing our craft.
There could be some synergy if we can advertise our mirrormetal to the Temple too, as it's the sort of wow factor that would appeal I imagine.
Whoo. Vacation was a blast. Visiting grandparents, attending a wedding, bathing in the sea. Also I lost my passport and had to go see the police.
Regular posting should resume now that that unpleasantness is over.
[*] Plan Audit and Advertise
-[*] Pick between 0 and 6 actions to spend on watching present spending
--[*] 3
-[*] Go and help out at your experimental forge. It'll surely go better with both your vision and your new understanding to assist.
-[*] Go out and promote mirrormetal. Find uses for it. Look for more buyers. Advertise. Hustle.
-[*] 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.
-[*] Socialize and build connections with one of the great clans of Silverport. (Clan Wisdom) (Free action)
Once more unto the breach, or the books, as it were. Now you are armed with both firsthand experience, and its cousin momentum, as you continue the audits.
[Stewardship: A great many rolls at a large bonus]
Chancellor Blade is still spending part of his job budget buying nice clothes for himself from contacts, and you are able to confirm now that he's still siphoning off a second part into his own pocket. (25g each)
Marshall Ebuskun seems as honest as ever.
Spymaster Morning's affairs are much easier to comprehend on this second pass. You gain a new respect for the value of information as you go through this part of the audit as you consider that several repeating odd values are almost certainly the results of moneychanging. You imagine you could suss out which payments are to foreign agents in which regions if you looked up the exchange rates, but... well... you're not doing counter-espionage here, and the topic isn't all that interesting.
Overall, you become confident that all Morning's expenditures are to real agents and sources, and the man isn't embezzling personally. But there's still that undercurrent of potential pseudo-embezzlement by virtue of the fact that he's disproportionately hiring from Clan Gold. They don't have a reputation for producing professional spies that would justify this. (Then again, that's exactly the reputation a clan of spies would want to have, isn't it?)
Sage Three is doing nothing unusual.
Looking at the lower ranks, the previously discovered culprits are still there. Be-Possessed-Of-All-Sagely-Qualities-That-Exist-Under-Heaven continues to embezzle stall fees, ignorant of your vigilance. Gold Thread is still taking bribes, and with some further investigation into the dock records you also discover a bit about what she's been taking bribes for - fixing berths and dockworker teams.
As you suspected, there are indeed more irregularities. Deer Duty, a stamp keeper for alcohol inspections, has been slacking off on his inspections, reporting a fictional underling as doing them, and pocketing the pay of said underling. It's only a small amount, but it's also very clearly malicious. And sloppy. He could probably have gotten away with it if he'd hired someone who did exist and then overstated their salary. Mountain Bull, a recruiter, has been selling costly letters of recommendation for clan soldiers wanting to join the elite palace guard. Wisdom Fly, a clerk at the offerings office, has been embezzling from the temple donations. Dust Pain, a recently hired invigilator, has been buying cheap and fragile paper for some of the examinations and billing for high-quality paper. And there are a couple more small fry.
Months later, after diligently poring over transaction records and purchase receipts and listening to testimonies and watching paper-sellers fidget worriedly as they fail to remember transactions that never happened and grow quite concerned at the prospect that the palace Steward is investigating them for possibly forgetting a transaction that did take place, you're confident you've found all the worst offenders.
It's not as bad as you'd feared. There are several frauds, true, but with the palace employing thousands of people it would be overly optimistic to expect every last one to be scrupulously honest.
(As you know.)
With your own embezzlement having ceased, and the experimental starmetal forge still costing quite a bit for its upkeep, you figure you should be more active in trying to earn money on the mirrormetal you've discovered along the way.
You arrange a meeting with a pair of quartermasters, one from the palace and one from Clan Bridge, and make your offer. They're intrigued by the prospect of better signaling mirrors, and both sign off on initial purchases. Your follow-up proposal for mirrored shields to reflect sunlight into the eyes of the enemy is sadly deemed impractical and too expensive, so you look elsewhere for the mass sales you want.
Talking to a silversmith provides some of them, giving you a contact point for sales of mirrors and shiny jewelry. Then they become popular, and you find you can not only sell off your entire supply but raise the price. Even a few more procurers hear about the mirrors, and you find yourself with very comfortable long-term prospects here.
As a speculative exercise, you briefly consider the possibility of a very long single-piece mirror to create a full-body, unbroken reflection - but you suppose it would either be unrealistically large and heavy if made thick, or else impractically fragile and hard to shape if made thin. Still, it would exceed what's possible with glass.
---
While all this is going on, it would appear that the Portlord has eventually decided to disseminate the fact that there is a Demon King on the loose. Gossip runs through the streets, twisting and distorting the facts as it goes: one rumor claims that a nation of intelligent spiders has appeared, while another says the Caligian Confederation is in league with the demons. For several weeks it's the topic of choice in teahouses, at workplaces and on the street. Buy a new hat and the hatter will ask in passing if you've heard about Hesperian's predations. Send an errand boy to do something distasteful, and he'll make spider gestures. None of the gossips have seen Hesperian in person, but everyone seems to know someone who knows someone who had a relative in the army who heard it from their officer who saw the Demon King up close.
---
Gold Morning has inquired with your family about your schedule, and requests the pleasure of your company, having rearranged his own schedule to fit in a few meetings. You accept with intrigued interest, not knowing the man very well.
The spymaster keeps a respectful distance at first, not discussing anything important or personal, but sharing gossip and legends and humorous anecdotes. The man seems a bottomless well of interesting stories. One is best advised to take them all with a grain of salt, though, as he also turns out to be prone to freewheeling speculation. Idle conversation with him is a pleasant relief from the various stresses of the world: the war, your wife, and your work among other things.
"You know what I hear they have far down south? A city with a massive temple built entirely out of bones. And it's not even a military monument; it's built from the bones of volunteers. It took them seven generations to get enough bone. All pale white, bleached clean by the sun and rain."
The city supposedly hosting this temple is named Ember, two thousand miles south, beyond vast jungles, where the sources of the Great River flow from the World's Edge mountains. Steam billows endlessly up from their heat, pouring down as rain nearby. They are volcanic, and behind the mountain range like a dam lies an ocean of molten rock, says Morning.
"Is this a different temple to the god of death from the temple in the city of necromancers you told me about?" you ask. "Because I thought you said that one was up north."
"The one up north is a temple to the god of funerals. Different thing." he says. Perhaps it is a clarification about the arcane nature of the Celestial Bureaucracy. Perhaps he is making the distinction up as he goes. You doubt he's ever been to either of these temples, nor do you have any plans to visit and see for yourself.
[Your Diplomacy: 39+15=54. +1 Opinion, now 6/10.]
Following the third meeting, you begin nudging Morning to talking about himself a bit more and far-off lands a bit less. You're curious about him - his job is far from public and he wasn't exactly famous in Clan Gold, either.
He's the fifth child of seven, from a minor branch of the clan. He's always been interested in picking up miscellaneous scraps of information from a young age, and loves to read and listen to stories whenever he can. He traveled abroad on two long-distance caravans to see the world before his parents started to pester him to settle down, get married, have children, and otherwise start doing something useful since he didn't manage to make much money either time. He allowed himself to be badgered into an arranged marriage (loveless, but not bitter, only distant), did only adequately on the Palace Examinations about fifteen years ago, and cycled around as help at various family businesses for quite some time while siring three children. He first met Wisdom Shining Void two years before Void's election as Portlord, but Morning had no inkling at the time that he would become spymaster.
"All I knew then, was Void could listen very intently. He seemed a lot more interested in my stories than most people to date, and suggested I look into a job as a tutor. He asked me a lot of questions about my family and my position, too."
Fire enters Morning's voice as he discusses meeting Void again during the reign of the Abominations, and then his invitation to become spymaster at the palace four years ago. You can tell that Morning is fiercely devoted and loyal to Void, whom he views as one of the few men to meet him first with opportunities rather than demands and expectations. Morning doesn't blame his parents (or his siblings, or his aunts and uncles, or his many cousins, or the rest of his clan), oh no, don't get the wrong idea, they're good people, but sometimes a bit... rigid and unimaginative. Maybe if things go well and he has more children, he likes to imagine he might set off, make a break of it, and found a minor clan of his own. Maybe adopt some like-minded people, or perhaps found an academy instead.
You also get him to talk a bit about some of the work he's doing for Void - in vague generalities, naturally. Interspersed with more funny anecdotes like the personal bad habits of the Warmaster of Tokara.
---
It's a girl!
You can hear the baby girl crying for reasons known only to the newborn. Jade is crying from the pain and stress. Her mother is crying and you don't know why. The midwife is the only person in the birthing room not crying. Outside the room, you are crying in sympathy and relief. A large chunk of your household is sniffling too, also some cheering, congratulating, settling bets, well-wishing, suggesting names.
You have a third child, and the moment is no less wonderful than the first. Jade holds your new daughter, she calls you in to see her, and you tenderly embrace your wife, touching the infant's silky smooth cheek.
The crying soon stops with application of swaddling clothes. Jade presents the child to the rest of the family to great acclaim. Her cheeks are wet with tears, but her smile is radiant. Would that a painter could immortalize this moment. Certainly you will treasure it in your heart forever.
---
Too soon, alas, life returns to mundanity. You must go to your job and prepare your reports for the Portlord, you haven't looked in on your starmetal forge in a while, and you need to look to the future and build connections with other families if you are to become a power player rather than just a clerk as you grow older.
Admittedly a very skilled and well appreciated clerk, Wisdom says easily, and he puts in a good word for you when you are trying to make some of those connections.
Unfortunately, it's still not enough. Oh, you are treated well, greeted politely, viewed as a friend of Clan Wisdom, allowed to share gossip, hear good things about Clan Avalanche. But it's all very superficial. You're meeting with young men and women, not movers and shakers. You console yourself with the fact there is no disapproval, and there is potential. Some of the people you meet are likely to be powerful in the future. But for the moment, it seems you are still under scrutiny and evaluation. Perhaps your day will come in the future.
---
The experimental forge, once again, does not produce starmetal, nor even any great breakthrough like mirrormetal. You weigh mix alloys, dip molten metals in rare oils, and pray to Zara. It does not help. Twisted blooms, soot, ashes, and stained ingots are your only reward for the time being.
You keep a careful record of your attempts. Not for yourself, for you can remember them easily, but for the team of assistants. You leave them suggestions, too, which are easier and faster to write than to attempt.
And as you go to attend the council meeting, looking over your figures, you double-check before grinning at a discovery: the Palace of the Portlords is turning a profit. It's less than one talent a year at present, but it's a definite profit, for which your diligent and dutiful efforts can be credited with no small part, along with the natural growth and recovery of the city of course. And it's likely to keep increasing.
---
Voting time. Choose how much to tell the Portlord about the results of your audits. Choosing to leave someone out of your report will give you massive leverage for blackmailing them. (If you're feeling optimistically malicious, you could vote to try blackmailing one of the embezzlers for favors or money, and then tell Void anyway.) You can also propose other things to do with your results findings if you have clever ideas.
[] [Report] Write in
Suggest courses of action for the next turn (six months); the Portlord is likely to choose one of them. You can use this to your advantage. One possibility is to suggest things that align with your personal goals, another is to suggest things you can do easily and have plenty of time left over to spend elsewhere. However, if there's a pressing concern the boss has that is not covered by what you put forward, he may 'write in' your orders, and cause a relationship hit due to losing respect for your abilities. Votes for this will be in plan format - the more options you give the Portlord, the greater chance he'll pick one, but the less you can steer his instructions.
[] Plan name goes here
-[] The palace budget is almost balanced. Just a little more work and it could pay for itself.
-[] I need more time to improve the examinations, I feel I'm not done yet.
-[] Redesigning the examination system is still of finite use, I should establish a Ministry of Exams to solve the problem indefinitely.
-[] 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.
-[] 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.
-[] Clan Bridge and their allies need to be destroyed. Peacefully and financially, of course.
-[] Let me continue auditing and hunt down more corruption in the palace. Still.
-[] Let's invent central banking.
-[] We're turning a profit, now can I get some time off to pursue my own interests for a bit?
-[] Other suggestions (write in)
QM notes:
Mirrormetal is now a stable income of 21g/turn.
Former wealth: 39g
Income: Wages 50g, mirrormetal 21g
Expenditures: Family 5g, shrines 5g, clerks 5g, experimental forge upkeep 38g
Current wealth: 57g
Chancellor Blade is still spending part of his job budget buying nice clothes for himself from contacts, and you are able to confirm now that he's still siphoning off a second part into his own pocket. (25g each)
[*] [Report] Publicly in council: I have discovered some corruption in the lower level staff but I believe there is more to be uncovered.
-[*] Privately to Void --[*] Chancellor Blade has been spending some of his discretionary budget on cloths from tailors with close connections to important people. Whether this is a valid use can be argued either way.
--[*] Spymaster Morning may be funnelling money to his clan through his spy network but it could just be case of him using people he trusts and spies not keeping their receipts .
--[*] Sage Three was being under paid at one point, with no apparent explanation.
--[*] Marshall Ebuskun appears to be scrupulously honest.
Too soon, alas, life returns to mundanity. You must go to your job and prepare your reports for the Portlord, you haven't looked in on your starmetal forge in a while, and you need to look to the future and build connections with other families if you are to become a power player rather than just a clerk as you grow older.
Admittedly a very skilled and well appreciated clerk, Wisdom says easily, and he puts in a good word for you when you are trying to make some of those connections.
Unfortunately, it's still not enough. Oh, you are treated well, greeted politely, viewed as a friend of Clan Wisdom, allowed to share gossip, hear good things about Clan Avalanche. But it's all very superficial. You're meeting with young men and women, not movers and shakers. You console yourself with the fact there is no disapproval, and there is potential. Some of the people you meet are likely to be powerful in the future. But for the moment, it seems you are still under scrutiny and evaluation. Perhaps your day will come in the future.
... that Marble needs to finally build his social capital in this city.
So making him introduce him to movers and shakers that didn't bother with us previously.
While I don't disagree, we saw from the prior turns just how bad the condition of the walls are so I believe they should be prioritized. They are vital in the military sense (defence for the city that is properly designed, instead of the hodge podge nature currently), economically (an expansion of the walls means the city itself can expand further, plus it means we can fully sort out the inner walls, manage how trade enters and exits the city which means we can tax it more efficiently if it's under our control, and it's a project that will employ a lot of labourers and act as a stimulus), and also politically (as it'll make the population and clans feel safer, so it should translate into being able to do more).
Given that one of the methods of a census of the population was goods being brought into the city, the Government controlling the entire outer wall means the bureaucracy should be much easier.
Given the completion of the wall also means the expansion of the city is possible, designing that expansion could be a wonderful project for our character to focus on and bring great prestige on a personal and clan level.
Let's just hope our fellow councillors can keep silent about it, at least for a while. Remember, the Portlord's Office is not supposed to make a profit. We might do well to suggest Clan Wisdom keeps up appearances and keeps pumping small but significant sums into the office. We might have to employ some creative bookkeeping to maintain the smokescreen as well.
[X] Bigger and Better
-[X] The palace budget is almost balanced. Just a little more work and it could pay for itself.
-[X] I need more time to improve the examinations, I feel I'm not done yet.
-[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] Let's invent central banking.
I have no suggestions on what to do about the audit report, except that if we do blackmail Blade we throw "one of nature's clerks" back at him.
