An interesting state of affairs where we're basically Hesse-Kassel (aka: "
Hessians") in Azeroth right now. Where the state (as much as we can be called a state) supply troops to others in exchange for various forms of repayment.
That's an obvious comparison yes, but I'd also note that the fundamental conditions that lead to mercenaries emerging are differnet in different circumstances. In feudal situations they're convenient because they're reliable and outside the feudal structure, whereas in the early modern period, professional soldiers are now required and feudal call ups don't really work, and the centralising monarchs are able to more efficiently retain professional soldiers.
I would compare Alterac more to the Swiss. There's just not a structure that permits the socialised and common mercenary 'lending' like Hesse used, while the Swiss are more comparable as a population who tended to do a lot of mercenary stuff.
But yes, it's still a reasonable comparison certainly.
The big problem is the dice hate our economy.
No more than they hate anyone else really. Some rolls are good, some aren't. You can certainly put more effort into it and that'll work better for you, or mitigate the rolls through preparatory action.
Finally caught up to this thread, and it's been a lot of fun and a lot of thought in terms of thinking of how to depict agency, different cultural norms, and what the Warcraft lore can actually mean. I would absolutely put this in my top 15 quests! I'm going to watch this thread and hopefully take part as well.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
A few questions regarding quest infrastrcuture, have you been using the 'sidestory' posts? I want to make sure these are useful to people and I'm aware than not everyone might look at them. When I read quests I tend not to read lots of the supporting background as it's not super relevant. I also did the quest summary post so hopefully that might be helpful.
Anything to be done on that front?
We are building up industry, but we are intending to put it to military use... like pretty much everything we do. This is our way.
There are lots of things. You've got hundreds of shaman about, you could do a load of Dark Shamanism and compell the elements of Alterac to improve land or to construct terrace farms, you could redirect rivers, or force the country to be warmer and not a snowy set of uplands andmountains.
Regent Gregor has actually done quite well. Grok doesn't really respect him, but he's managed to get the Syndicate nobles back participating in civil society, avoid completely capitulating to Dathrohan's influence, he's been lending a lot of money to kickstart the economy and relying extensively on the 'orc dividend' of having Grok about protecting the kingdom and keeping the Syndicate nobles from rising up against him.
Grok doesn't really understand industry or commerce. He gets that people trade stuff but its sort of like when the Romans tried to control inflation during their currency crises and didn't really 'get' the idea of an economic system. To Grok, industry is there to drive the war effort. That's because he's still operating on primitive communist sentiments. He doesn't actually own much and he certainly wouldn't really get the idea of corporate property etc.
In terms of how to provide for Alterac though, attract migrants, improve the land (actually a major one given its so difficult with medieval tech), provide security, regularise interactions between the military and civilian economies, provide stable employment and demand. Some of those things Grok is very well suited for, others no so much. He can do a lot for the extraction and refining of resources, and less for the social and instiutional side of things.
So far you've had an action hanging about to do more dark shaman stuff. If you as the players want to come up with a greater action then you can. So far, you could take that action and then I'd supply a list of things you've discovered and it would lead to further actions, but if you put effort into thinking about such things then I would certainly reward that.
This all stuff I've written about the Demonsword doing when Grok went to visit them. They control the geothermal springs of their valley, pull up metals and exploit other natural resources. Just apply that to a whole kingdom and you'd be significantly better off.
How do we even have enough to feed ourselves? Does Alterac have enough farmland? The extra seven thousands are going to put a strain on already thin resourses.
No, Alterac doesn't no, especially for all the Orcs. Currently you're importing food, which was why for example I made you take a merc action on one of the previous turns because you needed the material support from it. You're getting imports from southern Lordaeron around Southshore, from Gilneas and Ironforge, and from Stormwind. There's a lot of food heading north to fill Dathrohan's granaries and promote his war effort (given he can't forrage in the Plaguelands for obvious reasons). You're siphoning off some of that, as well as doing lots of hunting etc of course. This still doesn't produce great quality food, I've written Grok as eating jerky and stuff for example, but Orcs are pretty used to that.
Orcs probably also have significnatly more hardy digestive systems than humans, and can eat more things more easily, eg roots and stuff so they're doing better off than they might do if they were humans facing the same issues.
But indeed, you're not secure in terms of food.
If only there was some sort of 'harvest witch' or druid that you might get from Gilneas who could improve your agricultural productivity.
Is there a legal way to have Queen Prestor come in and take over from us if we decide to pack up and go? Something-something miraculously surviving heir with claims to the throne?
That's fine really, Prestor could arrive and Gregor and Grok would just relinquish their offices. They could also not do that but that would be rebellion etc. Anyway, it's entirely legal not really a problem. Prestor remains Queen regardless of where she actually is. There's plenty of kings this has happened to in history who spend little of their time in a particular holding. Richard I was King of England for 10 years but only actually in England for 6 months of that.
