For untold centuries the world turned, kingdoms rose and fell, heroes became legends and...
Neutrality Quest
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User Total DreamerGhost 4
OP
- Location
- Europe
For untold centuries the world turned, kingdoms rose and fell, heroes became legends and monsters became nightmares. For just as long, creatures of Light and Darkness fought each other in endless battles. Human warriors perished to orc berserkers which were cut down by elven archers whom were slaughtered by vampire led undead hordes only to be themselves annihilated under dwarven hammers. Angels fought against demons and paladins battled strange cults of fallen gods. The battle of good and evil, the righteous and wicked…
The stupid and the moronic.
You are not involved in the war, as much as it's possible when a war is that big. Through subterfuge, diplomacy cunning, guile and having just enough defences to not be worth conquering you have managed to stay neutral. But in recent times the war has only grown larger in scale. As technology and magic developed, the scale of damage has only grown, and Gods are taking increasing interest in what is happening to their believers. Battles rage in the ethereal skies above just as much as they do on the ground below. Now it is your time to keep you and yours out of trouble and you have your work cut out for you. But who are you and yours?
[]Wizards
Pros
Exploding edge magic – You are the ones creating the spells and you keep the best stuff for yourselves.
Make items wanted by all sides – There is exactly one place where any item can be made and that place is here.
Fearsome – Well trained mage is the next most dangerous thing after a dragon. Most people respect that.
Cons
Few in number – You are more of organisation than a kingdom.
No natural population growth. – Children of mages do not necessarily inherit the talent. The only way to grow is to recruit novices.
Godless – Wizards give lip service to the Elder God of Magic, but otherwise do not deal with Gods.
[]Golems
Pros
No food consumption – Constructs of metal and stone do not require anything besides some repairs every decade or so.
Absurdly tough – There are many things that kill others that aren't even worth noticing to your people. Like poison or heat or time.
Master craftsmen – Not having any real needs most Golems take up a craft and practice it until disturbed, which can mean decades of swordsmithing at a time.
Devour heat – As body of a golem heats up, it's movements speed up, reaching their maximum of roughly twice speed and agility of humans at 200C
Cons
Low population growth – Golems are not born but constructed. There are few specialised and respected golems that craft new ones. It does not happen swiftly.
Decentralised – Golems have no real government, operating as individuals and only occasionally meeting to discuss matters that affect them all.
Slow moving – Natural speed of a golem is a quarter of a human. This makes them about twice as fast as tortoises.
Hubris – Many Golems have no respect for danger or skills that other races possess.
[]Minotaurs
Pros
Warrior culture – All minotaurs have skill and strength comparable to elite warriors of other races.
Great smiths – Minotaur metalcraft is among best there is.
Labyrinth delvers – Minotaurs instinctively know the layout of any structure they are in.
Cons
Tribal –Minotaurs live in small tribes and the tribes have no overarching leader.
Carnivorous – Minotaurs can only eat meat.
Magic hating – Standard procedure for gained magic items it to smash it with a hammer for three days and toss the remains in a vault.
The stupid and the moronic.
You are not involved in the war, as much as it's possible when a war is that big. Through subterfuge, diplomacy cunning, guile and having just enough defences to not be worth conquering you have managed to stay neutral. But in recent times the war has only grown larger in scale. As technology and magic developed, the scale of damage has only grown, and Gods are taking increasing interest in what is happening to their believers. Battles rage in the ethereal skies above just as much as they do on the ground below. Now it is your time to keep you and yours out of trouble and you have your work cut out for you. But who are you and yours?
[]Wizards
Pros
Exploding edge magic – You are the ones creating the spells and you keep the best stuff for yourselves.
Make items wanted by all sides – There is exactly one place where any item can be made and that place is here.
Fearsome – Well trained mage is the next most dangerous thing after a dragon. Most people respect that.
Cons
Few in number – You are more of organisation than a kingdom.
No natural population growth. – Children of mages do not necessarily inherit the talent. The only way to grow is to recruit novices.
Godless – Wizards give lip service to the Elder God of Magic, but otherwise do not deal with Gods.
[]Golems
Pros
No food consumption – Constructs of metal and stone do not require anything besides some repairs every decade or so.
Absurdly tough – There are many things that kill others that aren't even worth noticing to your people. Like poison or heat or time.
Master craftsmen – Not having any real needs most Golems take up a craft and practice it until disturbed, which can mean decades of swordsmithing at a time.
Devour heat – As body of a golem heats up, it's movements speed up, reaching their maximum of roughly twice speed and agility of humans at 200C
Cons
Low population growth – Golems are not born but constructed. There are few specialised and respected golems that craft new ones. It does not happen swiftly.
Decentralised – Golems have no real government, operating as individuals and only occasionally meeting to discuss matters that affect them all.
Slow moving – Natural speed of a golem is a quarter of a human. This makes them about twice as fast as tortoises.
Hubris – Many Golems have no respect for danger or skills that other races possess.
[]Minotaurs
Pros
Warrior culture – All minotaurs have skill and strength comparable to elite warriors of other races.
Great smiths – Minotaur metalcraft is among best there is.
Labyrinth delvers – Minotaurs instinctively know the layout of any structure they are in.
Cons
Tribal –Minotaurs live in small tribes and the tribes have no overarching leader.
Carnivorous – Minotaurs can only eat meat.
Magic hating – Standard procedure for gained magic items it to smash it with a hammer for three days and toss the remains in a vault.
Chapter 0
- Location
- Europe
Golems are a proud race, their pride rising from both their nature and their achievements. Having no need for food or shelter and having no fear of weather nor beasts, they took to more complex occupations almost immediately. While Humans fought against hyenas barehanded Golems practised masonry. When Elves constructed their first bows Golems had built crossbows. When Dwarves smelted iron for the first time Golems had already finished their first steel body prototype. Meeting other races for the first time has been a considerable disappointment that never truly dissipated. In those times, Kingdoms of light and darkness were almost irrelevant in their destructive capabilities.
Since their creation Golems had seen the world as a mass of raw materials for artisans to work with, and sour meetings of the past convinced Golems that they were most blessed and that this world was ultimately theirs. As such, they dispersed, feeling no danger to bring them together nor having any need for cooperation. They went through the world, building structures and artwork as they desired, leaving their craft behind them. The short and fleeting lived fleshlings could admire them, knowing that they'd never reach such heights.
But reach such heights they did. Golems had grown complacent, without any need for improvement all that pushed them was their own desire. This was enough, as there were very few ways for a Golem to slack off, but due to scattering the masters of craft often could not compare their works or share their insights. Only two cities of Golems stood, Steel river and Himlonde, rightfully called Peerless. Dwarves had caught up to Golems in metalcrafting while Elves even exceeded them in woodwork, but when it came to architecture Golems were still the best there were.
But the cities might not stand for long. The war raged, and what Kingdoms of Light and Darkness lacked in their culture, history and craft they made up in numbers, magic and guile. With each year, the requests from Human fortress of Baran Dandeli to the west and undead legions led by Lich Knight to the east became more forceful. In the south forces of Sir Greywolf fought against cultists of Peny, both imploring your aid. More distant kingdoms sent letters asking for aid, promising that the end times were upon us all and that we could stop the worst from happening if we acted. But who are we?
[] Administrator of Steel River You rule the city and try to keep all sides happy enough to try to bribe you rather than conquer you
[] Richest Merchant of Himlonde You are responsible for keeping the trade going and convincing people to trade with you rather than rob you
[] General of the First Steel legion You go and tell the lesser races to sort their shit out away and not bother the important people
Since their creation Golems had seen the world as a mass of raw materials for artisans to work with, and sour meetings of the past convinced Golems that they were most blessed and that this world was ultimately theirs. As such, they dispersed, feeling no danger to bring them together nor having any need for cooperation. They went through the world, building structures and artwork as they desired, leaving their craft behind them. The short and fleeting lived fleshlings could admire them, knowing that they'd never reach such heights.
But reach such heights they did. Golems had grown complacent, without any need for improvement all that pushed them was their own desire. This was enough, as there were very few ways for a Golem to slack off, but due to scattering the masters of craft often could not compare their works or share their insights. Only two cities of Golems stood, Steel river and Himlonde, rightfully called Peerless. Dwarves had caught up to Golems in metalcrafting while Elves even exceeded them in woodwork, but when it came to architecture Golems were still the best there were.
But the cities might not stand for long. The war raged, and what Kingdoms of Light and Darkness lacked in their culture, history and craft they made up in numbers, magic and guile. With each year, the requests from Human fortress of Baran Dandeli to the west and undead legions led by Lich Knight to the east became more forceful. In the south forces of Sir Greywolf fought against cultists of Peny, both imploring your aid. More distant kingdoms sent letters asking for aid, promising that the end times were upon us all and that we could stop the worst from happening if we acted. But who are we?
[] Administrator of Steel River You rule the city and try to keep all sides happy enough to try to bribe you rather than conquer you
[] Richest Merchant of Himlonde You are responsible for keeping the trade going and convincing people to trade with you rather than rob you
[] General of the First Steel legion You go and tell the lesser races to sort their shit out away and not bother the important people
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Chapter 1, Welcome, chosen Administrator
- Location
- Europe
You are Brakko Vem, Administrator of Steel River city and lord of all of its inhabitants. Well, not quite. Golems do not have any real nobility, since the basis of nobility, the land they rule and security they provide are entirely unnecessary for Golems. As such, your power over the city is somewhat limited and none of its inhabitants have to obey your orders. But you are not without power or wealth.
Lifesmiths, some of the most respected people in the Golem society, the ones tasked with forging new Golems, the unofficial official leaders of the Golemkind were the ones that gave you the title of Administrator and granted you a considerable amount of wealth, along with the power that wealth provides. In the city, you own all property that is not owned by someone else. This includes all public spaces, roads, and most importantly, all mines that are under the city. You also own vast numbers of Lesser Golems that you rent to others as workforce or employ to harvest resources. There are also fifty War Golems under your command as peacekeeping forces.
Your duties as Administrator are to provide resources to the Lifesmiths to continue their work as well as maintain current public spaces and construct new ones. Those are simple enough to do and shouldn't cause you any trouble. Usually, they are organised by Lifesmiths in their free time, but they gave you the wealth so you also gained the duties. This also raised their productivity, which leads you to suspect that they might also be onto the changes that are happening. For someone who stay underground all the time, they sure know a lot about what is happening above it.
No, your main task as the Administrator is to cater for all the visitors and diplomats of Steel River. Steel River was something of a trading hub, although not all saw it as such. For most Golem artisans, it was a place to flog all of their craft in exchange for raw materials to continue their practice. For visitors, it was a place to purchase Golem crafted items, all highly prized as almost anything sold here was of the highest quality. But there was one branch of products that mostly wasn't supplied by Golems and yet was in such a high demand that it merited its own market section, was sold for ludicrous prices and granted its makers special privileges. That produce was food and it was the first big hurdle of your task.
Golems did not need to eat, and as such, never bothered with hunting or agriculture. In the beginning of trade, this meant that visitors had to bring their own supplies, as it would be impossible to purchase any around here. As rumours of superior Golem craftsmanship spread, visitors increased in number and soon, first merchant brought with him not metals and stone to sell, but food. Entire caravan of dried meat, wine and bread was sold out in a week and the merchant left bearing same weight in silver. Since then, availability of food in the market increased enough to satisfy most of your potential visiting diplomats and emissaries, but the prices have not dropped much.
The next problem was the rooms. It would be your duty to provide housing for the guests. It would not be a major problem, as there was an entire city above ground that was used mostly as decoration with plenty of empty rooms. Furniture could be bought from local artisans, although things such as pillows would probably need to be imported. The real problem would arise if anyone wanted to see the true Golem city which was underground, filled with various poisonous gases and with an average air temperature of 300C. Dwarves will certainly hate staying above ground, same for most of the undead. Elves will hate living in stone structures, which was mostly what the city was built out of. Orcs will almost certainly bring pets, cultists will almost certainly warp any location they stay in and Humans are practically guaranteed to take "souvenirs" when they leave.
The third and last problem is the diplomacy itself. Just saying no is easy, but will eventually bring dire consequences. It would be extremely difficult, probably impossible and certainly not worth it to take the city by conquest. If either side thinks that you are leaning towards the other they might strike at your operations outside the city, seeking to weaken a future enemy by raiding. If you fail to deliver on promises, the disappointed side might attack you out of spite.
With that in mind, this is a new day and it is tame to face it. You open your personal treasury and look over your spare bodies. Ah, the enlightened privilege of the Golems, to be able to change their bodies as other races change clothes. Which should you choose today? And which duties shall you attend first?
[X]Body of choice
-[X] Humanoid body of marble, 1.8m tall. – A body similar to those of mortal races in form and size
-[X] Steel body with four legs and four arms, 3m tall – War form of choice for the Golems, exceptionally intimidating
-[X] Humanoid body of bronze with four arms, 2.5m tall. – A typical body of a wealthy Golem, the current fashion
[X] Daily task
-[X] Seek out and hire some help
--[X]What kind?
-[X] Take account of resources you were given for your duties.
-[X] Look over surface buildings for suitable accommodations
-[X] Check the market to secure and order required supplies
Lifesmiths, some of the most respected people in the Golem society, the ones tasked with forging new Golems, the unofficial official leaders of the Golemkind were the ones that gave you the title of Administrator and granted you a considerable amount of wealth, along with the power that wealth provides. In the city, you own all property that is not owned by someone else. This includes all public spaces, roads, and most importantly, all mines that are under the city. You also own vast numbers of Lesser Golems that you rent to others as workforce or employ to harvest resources. There are also fifty War Golems under your command as peacekeeping forces.
Your duties as Administrator are to provide resources to the Lifesmiths to continue their work as well as maintain current public spaces and construct new ones. Those are simple enough to do and shouldn't cause you any trouble. Usually, they are organised by Lifesmiths in their free time, but they gave you the wealth so you also gained the duties. This also raised their productivity, which leads you to suspect that they might also be onto the changes that are happening. For someone who stay underground all the time, they sure know a lot about what is happening above it.
No, your main task as the Administrator is to cater for all the visitors and diplomats of Steel River. Steel River was something of a trading hub, although not all saw it as such. For most Golem artisans, it was a place to flog all of their craft in exchange for raw materials to continue their practice. For visitors, it was a place to purchase Golem crafted items, all highly prized as almost anything sold here was of the highest quality. But there was one branch of products that mostly wasn't supplied by Golems and yet was in such a high demand that it merited its own market section, was sold for ludicrous prices and granted its makers special privileges. That produce was food and it was the first big hurdle of your task.
Golems did not need to eat, and as such, never bothered with hunting or agriculture. In the beginning of trade, this meant that visitors had to bring their own supplies, as it would be impossible to purchase any around here. As rumours of superior Golem craftsmanship spread, visitors increased in number and soon, first merchant brought with him not metals and stone to sell, but food. Entire caravan of dried meat, wine and bread was sold out in a week and the merchant left bearing same weight in silver. Since then, availability of food in the market increased enough to satisfy most of your potential visiting diplomats and emissaries, but the prices have not dropped much.
The next problem was the rooms. It would be your duty to provide housing for the guests. It would not be a major problem, as there was an entire city above ground that was used mostly as decoration with plenty of empty rooms. Furniture could be bought from local artisans, although things such as pillows would probably need to be imported. The real problem would arise if anyone wanted to see the true Golem city which was underground, filled with various poisonous gases and with an average air temperature of 300C. Dwarves will certainly hate staying above ground, same for most of the undead. Elves will hate living in stone structures, which was mostly what the city was built out of. Orcs will almost certainly bring pets, cultists will almost certainly warp any location they stay in and Humans are practically guaranteed to take "souvenirs" when they leave.
The third and last problem is the diplomacy itself. Just saying no is easy, but will eventually bring dire consequences. It would be extremely difficult, probably impossible and certainly not worth it to take the city by conquest. If either side thinks that you are leaning towards the other they might strike at your operations outside the city, seeking to weaken a future enemy by raiding. If you fail to deliver on promises, the disappointed side might attack you out of spite.
With that in mind, this is a new day and it is tame to face it. You open your personal treasury and look over your spare bodies. Ah, the enlightened privilege of the Golems, to be able to change their bodies as other races change clothes. Which should you choose today? And which duties shall you attend first?
[X]Body of choice
-[X] Humanoid body of marble, 1.8m tall. – A body similar to those of mortal races in form and size
-[X] Steel body with four legs and four arms, 3m tall – War form of choice for the Golems, exceptionally intimidating
-[X] Humanoid body of bronze with four arms, 2.5m tall. – A typical body of a wealthy Golem, the current fashion
[X] Daily task
-[X] Seek out and hire some help
--[X]What kind?
-[X] Take account of resources you were given for your duties.
-[X] Look over surface buildings for suitable accommodations
-[X] Check the market to secure and order required supplies
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Chapter 2, Measuring duty and reward
- Location
- Europe
You decide to remain in your current body. You will need to interact with your lessers, but not necessarily now or even today. The choice of being nice or assertive can be made then. For now, there was wealth to measure. The Lifesmiths granted you a significant amount of both income and expenses. Lifesmiths had supplies enough for a week of work and would get dissatisfied if this amount ever drops below four days worth. They could chew through roughly twenty tonnes of stone or fifteen tonnes of iron each day, with some rarer supplies covered by commissioners creating the demand for rarities themselves.
The public spaces were in good condition now, and would remain so for a while, although it might be worth it to expand some roads and corridors. The only potential trouble here would be the markets, which were filled with many sources of filth, most of which objected to cleaning crews working at night. Something about the sound of thousand pounds of stone walking around as it mops away dust. There was also a matter of security. There was a considerable amount of wealth on display, which naturally attracted thieves, which in turn resulted in hiring of mercenaries that were often no better than bandits. This sometimes led to armed disagreements among merchants, usually right after someone's stock inexplicably caught fire. The place could benefit from some guards unaligned with any of the feuding groups. Of course, this would cut into your very limited numbers of reliable guards.
For income you gained, the easiest part to measure was the thousand lesser Golems you had, forming ten crews. Perfectly obedient workers, they did not tire, did not require breaks and they had oh so many uses. The trouble with them was that they required overseers. They were indeed perfectly obedient, they would listen to any command of anyone nearby. Also, they were not overly bright, they could deal with any task and even gain experience in form of remembering commands, but if anything unexpected would come up they would just freeze in place. Overseers would direct the lesser golem crews for high efficiency and some thief protection. Really, it is actually not that easy to steal a working crew. For one, they are not equipped with internal engines and thus can be caught up to by walking at a calm pace. For another, stealing them is a very high crime, and is punished accordingly. Your default overseers will be freshly created Golems that still owed the price of their body to Lifesmiths as part of your arangement, but more experienced overseers could be hired for increased eficiency.
Inspecting the documentation of the mines you find that there are six mines of iron, two of silver and two of copper. Gold was imported from Himlonde, bought from Dwarves or sometimes was sold by caravans arriving from mines away from either of the Golem cities. Although those were privately owned and usually all of their production was used up by their owners. Although there were no veins of gold under the city, there were enough gemstones to amount to one mine's worth. Then, of course, were the quarries. Mostly the type of stone mattered only due to specific individual buying having a color preference so only marble and obsidian were separated. There were six quarries of common stone and one quarry of marble under your control.
All of these resources would be rented out for money if you didn't use them in some other way. It took you but a moment to calculate estimated values.
Iron mine – 100 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of iron with a golem crew
Copper mine – 125 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of copper with a golem crew
Silver mine – 250 gold shards per day or 2 tonnes of silver with a golem crew
Gem mine – 500 gold shards per day or 1 chest of rough stones with a golem crew
Quarry – 50 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of stone with a golem crew
Marble quarry – 200 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of marble with a golem crew
Golem crew(100 lesser golems) – 100 gold shards per day
Total: 3350 gold shards per day
Golem crews actions unlocked!
Gained: Golem fashion(I) - Prestige among your kin
[X] Noon
-[X] Seek out and hire some help
--[X]What kind?
-[X] Designate Golem crews some tasks (Can designate all crews among any number of choices as one action)
--[X] Mines(How many crews and where?)
--[X] Quarries(How many crews and where?)
--[X]City maintenance(How many crews?){Status unknown}
--[X]City expansion(How many crews?)
-[X] Look over surface buildings for suitable accommodations
-[X] Check the market to secure and order required supplies
[X] Will you send you war Golems to secure the market?
-[X] No, or at least, not now.
-[X] Yes (How many? 10 is minimum)
The public spaces were in good condition now, and would remain so for a while, although it might be worth it to expand some roads and corridors. The only potential trouble here would be the markets, which were filled with many sources of filth, most of which objected to cleaning crews working at night. Something about the sound of thousand pounds of stone walking around as it mops away dust. There was also a matter of security. There was a considerable amount of wealth on display, which naturally attracted thieves, which in turn resulted in hiring of mercenaries that were often no better than bandits. This sometimes led to armed disagreements among merchants, usually right after someone's stock inexplicably caught fire. The place could benefit from some guards unaligned with any of the feuding groups. Of course, this would cut into your very limited numbers of reliable guards.
For income you gained, the easiest part to measure was the thousand lesser Golems you had, forming ten crews. Perfectly obedient workers, they did not tire, did not require breaks and they had oh so many uses. The trouble with them was that they required overseers. They were indeed perfectly obedient, they would listen to any command of anyone nearby. Also, they were not overly bright, they could deal with any task and even gain experience in form of remembering commands, but if anything unexpected would come up they would just freeze in place. Overseers would direct the lesser golem crews for high efficiency and some thief protection. Really, it is actually not that easy to steal a working crew. For one, they are not equipped with internal engines and thus can be caught up to by walking at a calm pace. For another, stealing them is a very high crime, and is punished accordingly. Your default overseers will be freshly created Golems that still owed the price of their body to Lifesmiths as part of your arangement, but more experienced overseers could be hired for increased eficiency.
Inspecting the documentation of the mines you find that there are six mines of iron, two of silver and two of copper. Gold was imported from Himlonde, bought from Dwarves or sometimes was sold by caravans arriving from mines away from either of the Golem cities. Although those were privately owned and usually all of their production was used up by their owners. Although there were no veins of gold under the city, there were enough gemstones to amount to one mine's worth. Then, of course, were the quarries. Mostly the type of stone mattered only due to specific individual buying having a color preference so only marble and obsidian were separated. There were six quarries of common stone and one quarry of marble under your control.
All of these resources would be rented out for money if you didn't use them in some other way. It took you but a moment to calculate estimated values.
Iron mine – 100 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of iron with a golem crew
Copper mine – 125 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of copper with a golem crew
Silver mine – 250 gold shards per day or 2 tonnes of silver with a golem crew
Gem mine – 500 gold shards per day or 1 chest of rough stones with a golem crew
Quarry – 50 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of stone with a golem crew
Marble quarry – 200 gold shards per day or 5 tonnes of marble with a golem crew
Golem crew(100 lesser golems) – 100 gold shards per day
Total: 3350 gold shards per day
Golem crews actions unlocked!
Gained: Golem fashion(I) - Prestige among your kin
[X] Noon
-[X] Seek out and hire some help
--[X]What kind?
-[X] Designate Golem crews some tasks (Can designate all crews among any number of choices as one action)
--[X] Mines(How many crews and where?)
--[X] Quarries(How many crews and where?)
--[X]City maintenance(How many crews?){Status unknown}
--[X]City expansion(How many crews?)
-[X] Look over surface buildings for suitable accommodations
-[X] Check the market to secure and order required supplies
[X] Will you send you war Golems to secure the market?
-[X] No, or at least, not now.
-[X] Yes (How many? 10 is minimum)