I'll allow it. Your picks for attributes look good, no changes there.
For the origin...
[+1 Diplomacy, +1 Stewardship, can access superior trade contacts; low initial numbers - some actions will be restricted or more difficult until the shortage is compensated for]
[X] fake it till you make it
-[x] Name - Valentina Van Charlla (original name, which she may or may not abandon completely depending on how things go - Kirij Greenerfingers)
-[x] gender - woman
-[x] goblin (+2 martial, +1 learning)
-[x] Hedonist (+2 Diplomacy, +1 Intrigue, -1 Stewardship, -1 Spirituality, +10 Fertility)
-[x] Horticulturist (+1 Stewardship, +2 Learning)
-[x] deceitful (+3 intrigue)
-[x] unlettered (-2 learning)
-[x] origin - scam artist
-[x] Territory: Hooktongue Hinterlands
You sit in the branches of a craggy, half-dead old oak, look out on your domain (such that it is), and breathe the clean air of freedom. It's chill and damp, with the light of dawn only just cresting over the looming tors to the east to begin spreading the sun's warmth.
You've camped under the outermost eaves of the Narlmarches - to the west and south, your sightline quickly fades out under the gloom of the canopy, while to the east the trees thin out rapidly to reveal open grassland and rolling hills. It's a good spot; the surrounding trees cut the wind, a small river wends its way through within easy walking distance, and many of the nearby trees are oak and hazel and should provide plenty of nuts come autumn. It's taken your troupe more than a week to get here, moving under the forest where possible and with your rangers on high alert, but you think this is it.
An expanse of tents and lean-tos stretches out before you like the spreading roots of some enormous canvas-and-leather plant, pitched wherever there is room between tighter stands of trees and brambles. The air is alive with the murmur of conversation and the sundry noises of the few hundred people (mostly various longshanks, though there are a fair contingent of other goblins, all of them sharing a couple of yurts) who've followed you here - and isn't that a heady thought - preparing to break their fasts, and otherwise readying themselves to face the day. To follow your lead, and begin making a home here.
Were you anyone else, the task might be daunting, but you only feel a thrill of excitement.
You absently watch the curling streamer of blue smoke from someone's cooking fire for a while, until a pointed little nip on your ear snaps you back - you reach back and pull Boggle off your shoulder, his beady black eyes expectant. With your other, rat-free hand, you reach into the handy pouch you always keep tied to your belt, retrieve a carefully portioned scrap of dried iceroot, and pop it into your mouth. It's tough like old boots as you gnaw gamely at it, and it's acrid and bitter as always, but you can feel it going to work swiftly.
You have supplies to get you through the next few months - dry rations, spare cloth and canvas, seeds, ritual supplies to aid in foraging, hunting, and the myriad other tasks needed to survive in the wilderness - but after that you'll need to have more permanent solutions. Many of the shelters your people have brought with them will need to be replaced before winter, you'll need to construct defences before the locals come to take advantage, food needs to be sorted out so you're not depleting the local forest, and a hundred other things need your attention. You probably don't have enough druids.
Time to get to work!
[You currently have 1200 'gold' in your treasury, no income, and per-turn upkeep of 164]
MARTIAL: You don't have much of a fighting force at the moment, just a collection of half-drilled militia and a small cadre of rangers who are happier scouting on the fringes than fighting in formation. You can harass bandits, perhaps even distract them, but you're not sure of your ability to defend against a concerted raid.
[Choose 1]
-[ ] Drilling the Troops
Right now, your forces are hardly worth the name. Poorly armed, poorly disciplined, their morale high but untested. You can't fix the equipment problem (yet), but training and discipline is something you can manage.
Cost: 30 gold, 2 turns
Reward: Improve Militia Training to Drilled
-[ ] Basic Fortifications
The only protection your fledgling settlement has at the moment is obscurity, and the more you scout around or establish contact with Brevoy or other surrounding states, the harder it will be to maintain that secrecy. Before that happens, you should probably start laying down some solid defences. Concealed pits and ditches with and without spikes, snares, deadfall traps - you'll put the rangers on it.
Cost: 50 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Basic defences constructed around your settlement, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 10
-[ ] Bloody Their Noses
Of course, you could also take a more proactive approach to your own protection. Small teams of your sneakier people could go out into the Greenbelt and… manage the bandit population.
Cost: 20 gold, DC 50, 1 turn
Reward: Delay discovery of your settlement
-[ ] Ranging
While your rangers are currently occupying themselves with maintaining a basic perimeter around your nascent town, they could be doing more and patrolling further. Work with them to set up a proper patrol plan, then have the militia take up the slack of guarding the immediate area. Aside from immediate threats, they may also find traces of past expeditions into the area, and possibly even useful things they left behind.
Cost: Free, 1 turn
Reward: Establish a wider patrol radius, gain advance warning of incoming threats, reduce the DC of Bandit Bothering and Bloody Their Noses, may find useful tools or infrastructure from previous attempted settlements
-[ ] Hunting
As a druid, you have a responsibility to protect the green places of the world from reckless exploitation; as a leader, you have a responsibility to make sure the people that follow you are cared for. You'll have to be careful not to strip the area bare of wildlife to feed all the hungry mouths you need to, but carefully managed hunting parties led by rangers or druids should be able to maintain the balance between morals and necessity. Meat will fill your people's bellies, bone can be used for tools, and skins can be fashioned into clothing and armour or prepared for trade.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 0/25/50, 1 turn
Reward: Reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 10/20/30
DIPLOMACY - Your settlement might be small, but you have big plans! Plans that include being recognised as a nation of your own and respected by your peers! How hard can it be?
[Choose 1]
-[ ] Howdy, Neighbours! Brevoy Edition
You need to begin establishing trade connections sooner rather or later. While an established druidic circle and careful land management can sustain a small community practically indefinitely, to establish more than a small town you'll need to draw people, and trade. Brevoy, by virtue of being the shortest distance to travel, is the easiest of the surrounding countries to begin establishing connections in, and Brevoyan merchants always have a hunger for the spoils of the Stolen Lands.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 25, 1 turn
Reward: Make contact with Brevoyan merchants, small trade income, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 20
-[ ] Howdy, Neighbours! River Kingdoms Edition
While trade and travel connections are vital, nothing says you have to go through Brevoy to do it. If your people take the river downstream and south, it will link up with the Little Sellen and then pass into the River Kingdom of Mivon on its way to the Inner Sea. It would be a longer journey, and with the Greenbelt not made safe a rather more dangerous one, but Mivon is remarkably stable and inwardly-focused, so they are otherwise a safe option.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 50, 1 turn
Reward: Make contact with Mivoni merchants, small trade income, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 20
-[ ] Howdy, Neighbours! Local Edition
It can't just be bandits out here! The Stolen Lands, while never having been successfully tamed, have never been truly empty of settlement - rumour goes around that from time to time strange folk will arrive in the River Kingdoms, trade in timber or skins or gathered herbs for supplies and tools, then disappear back into the wilds. Of course, if any of these people are to be found it would be a difficult undertaking, if they've hidden themselves well enough to avoid predation by the local brigands.
Cost: 30 gold, DC ???, 1 turn
Reward: Find hidden settlements in the Greenbelt?
INTRIGUE - Sneakery, skulduggery, ne'er-do-well-ism. There are many ways to win a fight, as the rangers say. While if the bandits come calling in force you cannot hope to do more than contain the damage, you can perhaps… lead them astray.
[Choose 1]
-[ ] Cover Your Tracks
Several hundred people on the move is not an inconspicuous party, even moving as swiftly and as carefully as they could. With rangers and druids you can have the trail muddled to a degree - you probably can't fully erase the evidence of your passage, but you can at least make it unclear where you went.
Cost: Free, DC 25/50, 1 turn
Reward: Delay discovery of your settlement
-[ ] Bandit Bothering
There are bandits in the Greenbelt. The question is "where?" While they are scattered all over - your rangers certainly found traces of enough temporary camps to be certain of that on the trek out - the reports of raids out of the area over the last few years tell not of scattered bands of brigands, but larger, more organized groups, and perhaps even a single overarching leader. You need more information, and while finding whatever headquarters they have is currently out of the question, nothing says you can't set your people to work finding an outlying camp to raid for intel.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 50, 1 turn
Reward: More information on the Greenbelt bandits
-[ ] Information Services
Aside from trade connections, it would be good to just get feelers out into the world. A finger on the proverbial pulse, as it were. See if you can find people willing to trade news.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 25 or 50 (can only be taken with or after [Howdy Neighbours!] Brevoy or River Kingdoms editions), 1 turn
Reward: World News updates, beginning with the chosen region
STEWARDSHIP - Everyone's busy right now with the myriad processes of establishing a new settlement. Even just managing what gets placed where, you've got your work cut out for you.
[Choose 1]
-[ ] Forestry
The fact is, your people need more permanent homes, and the simplest way to do that is with timber. Druids do not care for the reckless clearcutting of healthy forest, nor carelessly tearing the skin of the earth for enormous quarries - but you must care for your people first, and of the two options timber is both easier to source, and easier to manage.
Cost: 50 gold, 2 turns
Reward: Begin organized logging, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 15, gain small income
-[ ] Food in the Forest
You cannot survive off foraging and travel rations forever. Sooner rather than later, you'll need to have crops growing and start living fully off the land's bounty. Druidic magic will speed things along, at least.
Cost: 30 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Establish farms, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 15, gain small income
-[ ] Prospecting
You can have your people look through the surrounding area for surface deposits of metals and other minerals. Careful mining can have those extracted with a minimum of harm and either kept for use or used for trade.
Cost: Free, DC 25, 1 turn
Reward: Find a site for potential mining (D100 roll for what you find)
-[ ] Building Boats
While you can certainly followthe rivers to get places, it won't actually make your travel any quicker or easier without boats. You came overland, so you certainly didn't bring any - making small watercraft isn't difficult, luckily.
Cost: 20 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Construct small boats; reduce the DC of Howdy Neighbours!
LEARNING - Oh, for a proper library. Or at least a nice quiet space free of immediate distractions. No matter, the pursuit of knowledge must continue!
[Choose 1]
-[ ] Establish a Test Garden
While some druids might look down on any kind of artificiality when it comes to growing things, you are not so dogmatic. A properly sectioned-off garden for experimentation is necessary for proper research and documentation when trying to breed plants!
Cost: 20 gold, 2 turns
Reward: Test garden established, small bonus to certain Learning actions
-[ ] Documenting Diversity
While the flora and fauna of the Stolen Lands are unlikely to greatly differ from those in the surrounding lands, it isn't impossible that there are species here that have never been documented before. You itch to catalog them.
Cost: 20 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Look for unique plants and animals in the Stolen Lands (D100 roll for what you find)
-[ ] Sorcerous Census
Magical talent to a greater or lesser extent is not uncommon on Golarion, though most will never reach great heights due to inclination, circumstance, or any other factor. Certainly, any given slice of the population will likely find at least a handful of magical 'tricks' among otherwise entirely mundane folk, and even some self-taught hedge mages and small-time witches. If you can determine who among your people know more than usual about the arcane, you can have them work together and start becoming more than the sum of their parts.
Cost: Free, 2 turns
Reward: Find and organize the minor arcane talents among your people, progress to establishing a unified arcane tradition
SPIRITUALITY - The earth hums at your touch, as does the air, the water. This is a place of power. The veil between the planes is thin, and things slip through. You do not think your presence has gone unnoticed.
[Choose 1]
-[ ] A New Grove
While your circle trusted you well enough to uproot themselves from their old lives and follow you on this quest, you could never have taken the grove with you. The old grove where so many druids lived and died, that was left to be reclaimed by the elements. You will need to find a new space for your druids, somewhere you may all attune to the energies of this new land and centre yourselves. A space for ritual and relaxation both, away from the pounding hubbub of the town you are building.
Cost: 50 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Establish a new grove for your druids, to act as a focus for their magics; reduce the DC of some actions and unlock new ones, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 10
-[ ] Druidic Defences
Aside from your more mundane defences, more magical protections may be put in place. Spells of binding and of harm to protect your borders, wards of protection and detection to discourage infiltration. Just small things for the moment, but they can serve as foundations for later works.
Cost: 50 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Fortify your settlement with magical defences, reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 10
-[ ] Ironwood
It is anathema for druids to wear dead metal against living flesh. Such is your pact and the price of your power. But of course this does not mean that you must go unprotected into battle, so druids long ago created a ritual to imbue wood with the resilience of the iron and steel used by the uninitiated. Ironwood armour is rare, though valued highly by more martially-inclined druids, but you know the material has more uses than that. It will be difficult - you do not fully know the ritual and the circle's records are infuriatingly vague, and without a proper ritual site it will be even harder, but you have time and ingenuity on your side.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 75, 1 turn
Reward: Begin producing ironwood; allows equipment upgrades for druids, increases logging and trade income
-[ ] Is There a Priest in Here?
Most of the people who followed you into the Stolen Lands follow druidic custom, and while many of them predictably honour Gozreh, Erastil, or similar deities, they perform their worship through action rather than prayer. However, not everyone in your settlement is a druid, and not everyone is going to be content (or comfortable) without the trappings of 'civilized' religion. You can take a census, at least - you might even find an actual cleric in this rabble, and otherwise you'll certainly field volunteers if anyone's willing to attempt being a chaplain. Oh, and a shrine - you'll probably need one of those.
Cost: 20 gold, 1 turn
Reward: Construct a small shrine, maybe find priests?
PERSONAL - Sure, you have free time. It's called 'sleeping!'
[Locked]
[Note: turns are currently a season/quarter-year in length. As you finish initial establishment, this will extend to a year per turn like other CK2 quests, and the expense or time investment of certain actions may change, as will upkeep and income. Advisors will become available starting next turn.]
- Ranging: It's free, it's quick, it lets us scope out the area and get familiar with it before we get visitors
- Local neighbors: best to get our own house in order first, and I don't think Brevoy or the River Kingdoms will give us the time of day yet (and until we can get an advisor who's more adept than Cricket, maybe we should wait on that anyways.) And they may be able to give us good advice on how to manage the area
-Bandit bothering: if the DC is reduced from ranging I think this should be manageable. Otherwise covering tracks seems simple and practical
-building boats: it's cheap and anything that makes it easier to start trade in the turn after next should be helpful. Why not get it done now?
-Sorcerous census: What are we working with? We can start looking for good subordinates and assistants to make future checks easier.
-New Grove OR druidic defense: both of these seem like practical options.
ETA: the second and third posts in the thread have been updated with Cricket's stats and our forces. Cricket is superb at learning, quite good at martial, spirituality, and stewardship, average-ok at intrigue, and absolutely awful at diplomacy. Which sounds about right.
- Ranging: It's free, it's quick, it lets us scope out the area and get familiar with it before we get visitors
- Local neighbors: best to get our own house in order first, and I don't think Brevoy or the River Kingdoms will give us the time of day yet (and until we can get an advisor who's more adept than Cricket, maybe we should wait on that anyways.) And they may be able to give us good advice on how to manage the area
-Bandit bothering: if the DC is reduced from ranging I think this should be manageable. Otherwise covering tracks seems simple and practical
-building boats: it's cheap and anything that makes it easier to start trade in the turn after next should be helpful. Why not get it done now?
-Sorcerous census: What are we working with? We can start looking for good subordinates and assistants to make future checks easier.
-New Grove OR druidic defense: both of these seem like practical options.
Farms for stewardship, right now we lose money each turn from upkeep before action expenses and farm reduces upkeep while also giving a small income. If we delay income too long we will get in a bad situation. Also for spiritual New Grove makes the most sense, druid settlers- setup the grove as the center first
[ ] Hunting
As a druid, you have a responsibility to protect the green places of the world from reckless exploitation; as a leader, you have a responsibility to make sure the people that follow you are cared for. You'll have to be careful not to strip the area bare of wildlife to feed all the hungry mouths you need to, but carefully managed hunting parties led by rangers or druids should be able to maintain the balance between morals and necessity. Meat will fill your people's bellies, bone can be used for tools, and skins can be fashioned into clothing and armour or prepared for trade.
Cost: 30 gold, DC 0/25/50, 1 turn
Reward: Reduce the Upkeep cost from [Unestablished] by 10/20/30
Permanent. Any action that is marked as reducing [Unestablished] basically represents your settlement getting dug in, more defended, and more self-sufficient. When you reduce that malus to 0, it goes away for good.
I'm leaning towards reducing our upkeep, personally - we've got 7 turns' worth in the bank, but it'd be less after action costs. Plus, from an in-character perspective, reducing the Unsettled penalty will also take the form of making sure our people have homes, foods and jobs to occupy themselves with.
Brevoy's my pick for Diplomacy - DC is 25, so we should succeed on a 19 or up even with Cricket's low score. It'll go towards reducing our upkeep a fair amount between settling in & the income. Locals might be important (they're our neighbors, after all), but I don't like the unknown odds of success when Cricket's got a poor Diplo score.
I agree with Void Stalker on getting farms. Not sure for the rest of our actions, but I'd be more comfortable with some non-defense actions in Martial or Intrigue if we get Druidic Defenses, or New Grove if we do take some precautions elsewhere.
[ ] Plan Setting Up
-[ ] Ranging (Free, 1 turn)
-[ ] Howdy, Neighbours! Brevoy Edition (30G, -20UU, +income, 1 turn)
-[] Cover Your Tracks (Free, 1 turn)
-[] Food in the Forest (30G, +income -15UU, 1 turn)
-[ ] Sorcerous Census (Free, 2 turns)
-[ ] A New Grove (50G, -10UU, 1 turn)
Treasury: 1200
Cost: 110
Net: 1,090 before upkeep (not sure if discounts to upkeep and income apply this turn or the following turn)
Unestablished Upkeep: 100-15-10- 20 (75%+) = 55 or 75
A quick check and with no changes to upkeep or income we run out of money in 7.3 turns assuming 0 cost for actions, if we spend that timer shrinks. For this plan, Ranging to reduce other actions we might want and possible nab some useful items that could help other actions with a DC. Brevoy Edition is the lower DC between the known two and gives income and drops upkeep cost nicely , cover tracks is free so stretches our gold while also delaying potential trouble. Food gets us a food supply, reduces upkeep and gives income. Sorcerorus Census is free and so stretches our funds while new grove drops upkeep and feels right for druidic settlers
Action cost, as well as income, upkeep, and modifications to either will all be resolved at the end of the current turn/before the next turn, basically.
[] Plan Digging Our Roots
-[ ] Basic Fortifications
-[ ] Howdy, Neighbours! Local Edition
-[ ] Cover Your Tracks
-[ ] Food in the Forest
-[ ] Sorcerous Census
-[ ] Is There a Priest in Here?
Reasoning:
-Fortifications is cheap, immediate, and reduces the Unestablished penalty.
-Local Howdy nets us more knowledge of our immediate surroundings.
-Cover is free, and I think secrecy is one of our main advantages right now.
-We need food supply ASAP
-Census is free, and knowing who has what abilities is important.
-Accommodating the beliefs of other people is important. Plus OOC, Clerics are valuable.
Makes sense to me. I think a Grove will also be useful because, since we picked a druid origin, there is "immediate risk of attack from esoteric threats in the Stolen Lands as druidic magic is detected]." Having a magical center to focus through and get in touch with the land sounds like a good preparation for those esoteric threats, if they're going to be after us from the jump.
[X] Plan Wisdom of the Bear
-[x] Ranging
-[x] Howdy, Neighbors! Local Edition
-[x] Cover Your Tracks
-[x] Prospecting
-[x] Sorcerous Census
-[x] Druidic Defenses
This gives us a lot of breathing room by establishing us as a mobile but competent force in the area, staying under big radars and stocking our larders with trade goods and magical defenses. Later on, we can start digging in, fortifying, and extending roots, but right now this gives us knowledge of what's in the area, and the ability to avoid or mitigate it.
[X] Plan Setting Up
-[X] Ranging (Free, 1 turn)
-[X] Howdy, Neighbours! Brevoy Edition (30G, -20UU, +income, 1 turn)
-[X] Cover Your Tracks (Free, 1 turn)
-[X] Food in the Forest (30G, +income -15UU, 1 turn)
-[X] Sorcerous Census (Free, 2 turns)
-[X] A New Grove (50G, -10UU, 1 turn)
Treasury: 1200
Cost: 110
Net: 1,090 before upkeep (not sure if discounts to upkeep and income apply this turn or the following turn)
Unestablished Upkeep: 100-15-10- 20 (75%+) = 55 or 75
[X] Plan Digging Our Roots
-[X] Basic Fortifications
-[X] Howdy, Neighbours! Local Edition
-[X] Cover Your Tracks
-[X] Food in the Forest
-[X] Sorcerous Census
-[X] Is There a Priest in Here?