About a third of population is within the rich southern lands, while the other two-thirds is spread out across the Gylruv lands. Pretty much all of your manufacturing capacity is in Ymaryn lands at the moment. Retreat across the tundra is not a viable solution to the issue, and if Trelli is seized hostile sea powers with access to the Saffron Sea can raid the Yllthon coast and attack critical shipping. Basically you have a number of fixed points that need to be protected, and the key targets in your territory are not protected by General Winter to any extent.
Culture: The Guilds & Invention (Why We Must Break The Guilds)
Are rails a thing yet? It's strange to me that we have clockwork industry but didn't invent the loom before Sketch did. Was our old manufacturing assets a suppression for labour saving innovations?
Rails in of themselves are used in mining and transport, but no one has developed a proper steam locomotive yet.
The Guilds semi-accidentally, semi-intentionally have been strangling a number of mechanization processes in the crib. While water powered trip hammers and the like are used they tend to be mechanically pretty simple and replace apprentice work rather than journeyman work, a lot of the more complicated inventions have gone no where because the early prototypes produce a product that falls far short of guild standards, leading to rejection. Any would be inventor thus has to be able to produce a power loom centuries in advance of what is currently available without being able to iterate off pre-existing designs. Without the guilds as backers, it is outright dangerous to step on their toes as they can and will kill if necessary to protect their monopolies, and currently have state backing in enforcement. Potentially a noble could go far from guild influence and set up a factory on their land and be able to get away from it, but that would involve getting complicated machines that might not work properly shipped out to the middle of nowhere, which has little appeal, especially in comparison to getting a commission to settle east for your second and third sons.
To give some more insight on the internal situation in France during the revolution.
After the constitution of 1791 the new constitutional monarchy focussed on new economical policies and land reform. It confiscated church lands in return for assignats, first regarded as bonds and later paper currency. The land was then sold to wealthy members of the middle class and wealthy farmers. Due to various reasons the poor couldn't take advantage of this (large, undiveded and expensive plots, far away auctions, ect). Peasants also had to pay compensation and were very much against some of the ideas against communal village lands. These reforms were very focussed on economical individualism. Guilds and labor union like organizations were also abolished, for various reasons. This "freedom of work" (because one didn't need to become part of a restrictive guild to join an occupation) was very unpopular and led to enormous labor issues and strikes.
Meanwhile a new national identity was constructed by creating new national symbols and getting rid of old ones belonging to the monarchy or the church. Think, liberty trees, caps, colors, festivals, songs, Marianne, ect.
The Assembly quarreled with the church of the confiscation of property and the loss of the tithe (which ruined church organized charity and eduction for the lower classes). The Assembly also tried to make the church subordinate to the state, not on purpose, but simply due to the other changes. It now needed government funding in order to maintain its churches and schools for example. Any way they attempted to set up a national church bound to the government and in line with the ideals of the revolution, the French church dragged its feet, so the government appealed to the Pope, who denounced the entire revolution instead. This led to a church schism and drove most French catholics into the hands of the pope, undoing centuries of Gallican Liberties along the way.
Despite popular believe, the European monarchies were reluctant to get involved with the affairs of France, even as the philosofical debate raged across the continent. Conflict began with the declaration of Pillnitz, which was made by Leopold II of Austria in order to be a meaningless statement in order to appease the French émigrés who fled France. It promised an intervention only if all european powers agreed on it, which was never going to happen. The French émigrés were delighted and ran with it announcingthat they would return with an army at they back to right all wrongs dealt to them. The declaration enraged the French against the monarchies of Europe and pushed the Girondins in power, who wanted to export the revolution to neighbouring countries in order to distract from problems at home. Meanwhile the remaining royalists were also in favor, because they believed a war might restore the damaged reputation of the king. Dreading the return of the old regime France declare dwar on "the King of Hungary and Bohemia."
The war intensfied the internal unrest in France, the Assembly had done little for the lower classes. The émigrés had taken most of the gold with the as they fled the country, assignats had become the sole remaining currency, prices soared, and due to political instability the assignats quickly lost their value. This combined with scarcity in food cause prices to rise. But even so, when treatened with the return of the old regime and the return of the émigrés and all it would imply, the working classes rallied to the revolution, but not the government in power because it lacked the confidence of large elements of the population. In addition, the war went badly at first, Prussia joined Austria immediately. They declared the Brunswick Manifesto in the summer of 1792, demanding the safety of the French royal family. This caused the people of France to identify the king with the invading powers and they turned against him because they could not trust him and was playing both sides. Recruits gathering in Paris and the local lower classes stormed the palace, killed the local detachment of the Swiss Guard, proclaimed the Commune of Paris and usurped the power of the Assembly. Anarchy reigned in Paris and a new national government was formed.
Meanwhile the disorganized French armies won their first victory and managed to drive the Prussians back. They continued to occupy Belgium, Savoy and the left bank of the Rhine. The new National Convention decreed assistance to all people wishing to recover their libery and ordered the generals to dissolve the old order in all occupied territories, confiscating govenment and church property, abolishing tithes, hunting rights, and dues and set up provincial administrations. This spurred the British and Dutch intervention in the war in 1793. Meanwhile, Prussia, Austria and Russia were distracted with the partition of Poland. The infant French Republic was now at war with all of Europe.
Meanwhile a faction of the Girondins, known as "the mountain" rose in popularity. This new faction owed their support to the most radical and popular elements in Paris. They focussed most of their attention on the needs of the lower classes and (correctly) denounced the desposed royal family of collusion with the Austians. They also favored a more direct democracy and began thinking of leading the masses against the Convention itself. Still they would work with the Girondins during the emergency. The king meanwhile, was sentenced to death.
In April 1793 the popular general Dumouriez, who had won the victories in Belgium, defected to Austria. The French we driven from Belgium and invasion agains seemed imminent. Counter-Revolutionaries rejoiced, from revolutionaries came the cry: "We have been betrayed!". Prices continued to climb, currency fell, food was getting harder to get, and the working classes were growing restless. They demanded price controls, currency controls, rationing, anti-hoarding laws and increased requisitioning to increase the flow of goods. They denounced the bourgeois traders as profiteers. The Mountain went along, the Girondins resisted and were ousted from power and arrested by a mob.
The Mountain ruled the Convention, but the Convention ruled little. Foreign armies were again invading France. in the west, in Vendée, the Peasants revolted against military conscription, inspired by refractory priests, British agents and royalist emissaries. The great provincial cities were also in revolt, Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles and others, partially inspired by Girondin remnants, they demanded a more federal and decentralized republic. They despised the ascendancy of Paris and wanted to return to the regional independence they had experienced during the old regime. These revolts became counterrevolutionary because they were the ones that flocked to assist them. The Convention was also threatened on the Left. The Mountain had inspired even more excited militants called enragés. These enragés declared parliamentary methodes useless and formed revolutionary armies throughout the country that scoured the rural areas for food, denounced counterrevolutionaries and preached the ideals of the revolution.
Within this madness, one of the least understood figures in history rose to power in the Convention.
Robespierre.
Robespierre launched a program to repress the anarchy, civil strife in the country, as well as the counterrevolution. He also prepared a constitution for a govenment not reliant on the Commune of Paris. With this in mind, the Comittee of Public Safety was founded. The Comittee itself set up a reign of terror under its revolutionary courts, this was an alternative to the earlier lynch laws and anarchy that produced the September massacres. It's victims were royalists, early revolutionaries, innocents and even members of the Mountain in the end. Most deaths were in places that had openly revolted against the Convention, such as Vendée. 40.000 people reportedly died during the terror, which in the end devolved into a kind of selfperpetuating mess of revolutionary violence.
The Committee operated as a joint dictatorship and war cabinet. It prepared and guided legislation, sent attaché to the armies, spread bulletins of laws to people knew which laws they were supposed to follow. It centralized the administration and decreed the Levée en Masse, calling on all able bodied men to join the army and all others to serve the nation in any way they could. Most scientist worked or were protected by the Committee. The Committee also introduced economic controls which had been demanded by the enragés. The value of the assignats ceased to fall. This way, the Committee protected the purchasing power of itself and the masses. By introducing anti-hoarding laws, controling the export of gold, confiscating specie and currency and repaying people with assignats, it had stabilized the economy. Food and supplies for army and towns were raised by a system of requisitions, it worked , but not very well and the Committee angered many by keeping down wages. The Committee also produced a constitution, which was to be adopted when the emergency was over.
Meanwhile the revolutionaries escalated even more. The party of the extreme revolution, the Hébertines, gathered traction. Denouncing all merchants and boureoisie, they believed all religion to be counterrevolutionary and wanted to dechristianise France. Presured by the Hébertines, in an attempt to please both Catholics and the Hébertines, Robespierre concieved the cult of the Supreme being. An act the alienated both sides and played an important part in his fall from grace.
Afterwards the Committee cracked down on the Hébertines, the revolutionary armies were supressed, the Commune of Paris destroyed. The Mountain underwent another purge, this time the right wing Dantonists were destroyed. The working class leaders became disillusioned with the revolution, and felt that it no longer served their interests.
In spite of this, by spring 1794 the French Republic possessed an army of 800.000 men, the largest army ever raised by a European power. It was a national army representing a people at arms, commanded by officers promoted by merrit and composed of troops whol felt themselves citizens fighting for their own cause. Its intense political-mindedness made it more formidable and contrasted strongly with the indifference of the opposing troops, some of whom were serfs and none of whom had any sense of of membership to their own political systems.
The allied forced could not combine their might against France, each pursuing their own interests. Within six months French had reconquered Belguim and their cavalry rode into Amsterdam on the ice. The old Dutch provinces ended and were reformed into the Batavian Republic. In the east, Kosciusko's revolution in Poland was crushed by Russian and Prussian troops. These successes made the French less willing to put up with Robespierre, who had alienated all significant parties, and was guillotined on July 28 1794.
The fall of Robespierre stunned the nation, the Committee lost part of its power, Price controls and regulations were removed. Inflation resumed its course, prices agains rose, and the disoriented and leaderless working classes suffered more than ever. Again revolts broke out, one of which dispersed the Convention by force, troops were recalled to Paris, the uprising was crushed and thousands were deported. In the end, it were the bourgeois and nouveaux riches who stood triumphant. These Thermidorians purged many ex-Jacobins, but had not lost faith in the revolution, even if they believed democracy tainted by red terror and mob rule. They still believed in individuel rights and a written constitution. The new Convention made a seperate peace with Spain and Prussia and a new constitution was established.
The new constitution led to the creation of the Directory in 1795, which was the first formally constituted French Republic. It was politically weak and vulnerable because it rested on a narrow social base. It was also bound by certain military conquests, such as Belgium, which were now considered constitutionally incorporated into France even though they had yet to be ceded by the Habsburgs, nor had the British accepted these occupations. It gave people the right to vote, but only for electors, it had and upper and lower chamber, and five directors. It was dominated by a small amount of property owners, rural and urban. In order to defend the revolution form counterrevolutionaries, two thirds of both the initial upper and lower house had to have served in the Convention. This interverence with the freedom of election led to several royalist uprisings in Paris, which were supressed by a young general named Bonapart on the orders of the Convention. The new Republic was dependent on military protection form the start.
Like its predecessors, the new Republic was beset by enemies left and right. On the right, royalists agitated against the government. Their greatest handicap being the would be king Louis XVIII, who continued to announce his intent to completely restore the Old Regime. So it was said that the Bourbons "learned nothing and forgot nothing". Many in France did not adhere to the Republic, but merely to any system that could shut out the Bourbons and the privileged nobility. On the left, many favored the democratic ideals of the revolution. A tiny group under "Gracchus" Badeuf wished to overthrow the Directory and abolish all property. Dadeuf was Guillotined by the Directory, meanwhile the lower classes were ignored and continued to suffer from the ravages of inflation and scarcity.
During the first free elections in 1797, the royalists were the clear victors. This was something the republicans and the regicides could not endure. Nor was it endurable to General Napoleon Bonapart. Napoleon had gained command of an army in 1796 and in two brilliant campaigns had crushed the Austrians in Italy. Soon, like all generals, he had become independent of the government in Paris, which was in no financial state to pay its troops or supply them. Napoleon became self-supporting, made the government in Paris dependent on him and developed a foreign policy of his own. He rallied the Italians to his cause and established a republic modelled on the French system in the Po Valley. The Directory intended to return Milan to Austria as compensation for the conquest of Belgium, but Bonapart instisted that the Republic needed to hold its position in both Belgium and Italy. He needed the Republicans in power, because the Royalists and the restored king could easily return the conquered lands and leave both the sister republics in the Netherlands and Italy to their fates. Was peace dear enough to be purchased by a return of the old regime as proclaimed by Louis XVIII?
England, meanwhile was poised to make peace with France. The war had gone badly, it suffered from severe political instability and had revoked habeas corpus in order to contain revolts. Crops were bad and bread was scarce and costly, inflation was rising due to loans to support the war effort, most of the gold had been sent to the continent in order to finance its allies, famine threatened, the population was restless, and there were mutinies in the fleet. Ireland was in open rebellion and the Austrians were routed.
In France, the Royalists were the party of peace. The Republicans were bound by the constitution to protect it's conquests and they were losing control of their generals.
All this led to the coup d'etat of Fructidor in september 1797, the turning point for the Republic. The Directory asked Bonaparte for help, who sent one of his generals, Augereau, to Paris. Augereau and his men stood guard as the Directory annulled the results of the election of the previous spring. The old Republicans secured themselfs into power, under the justification that they were defending the constitution and preventing the return of Louis XVIII and the Old Regime. But in doing so violated their own constitution and quashed the first free election ever held in the French Republic. The "new" government broke off negotiations with England, but signed peace with Austria.
The following months the revolution spread through Italy, creating many new republics based on the French model. In Germany the disposed nobility from the left bank of the Rhine was compensated by church territories on the east of the Rhine, signaling the start of the reconstruction of Germany. The Empire sank to the level of a land rush or real estate speculation.
After Fructidor the idea of maintaining the republic as a constitutional goverment was given up. There were more uprisings, more quashed elections, more purges of the left and right. The Directory turned into a ineffective dictatorship. It failed to restore financial confidene or stability, guerrila activity flared up again in Vendée and western France, and the religious schism became more extreme. Meanwhile, Napoleon returned from Italy a hero. He received command of an army training to invade England, but concluded it was too early to invade and decided to strike at England indirectly by invading Egypt. This alarmed the Russians, who had their own ambitions in the region. At the same time the Austrians became increasingly opposed to the French rearrangement of Germany. This led to the creation of the Second Coalition. Realizing the threat, Napoleon left his army in Egypt and returned to France. There he discovered that members of the Directory were planning a coup in order to restore order, however they still needed support from the army.
On November 9 1799, armed soldiers under the leaderschip of Bonapart drove the legislators from the chambers in what was later called the coup d'etat of Brumaire. They proclaimed a new Republic, which Bonaparte entitled the Consulate.
It happened that the French Republic, falling into the hands of a general, fell also to a man whom many of his contemporaries and some later historians viewed as a "genius" or a "great man". Under the Consulate France reverted to a form a enlightened despotism and Bonaparte may be thought of as the last and most eminent of the enlightened despots. Self-government through elected bodies was ruthlessly pushed aside. Bonaparte delighted in affiming the sovereignty of the people, but in his mind the people were a sovereign, like Voltair's God, who created the world but never thereafter interfered in it. He clearly saw that a government's authority when it was held to represent the entire nation. In the weeks after Brumaire he held a referendum on a new constitution. The people could take it or leave it. They overwhelmingly chose to take it.
The constitution set up a make-believe series of parliamentary institutions which quickly fell into disuse. The regime did not represented anyone, and that was its strength, because it provoked less opposition. Abroad, the Russians withdrew from the war and the Austrians were again defeated. At home Napoleon reformed the government and restored order where all others had failed, the rebels at Vendée were put down, laws and taxes were enforced, a general amnesty was granted to exiles of all stripes, from émigrés to republicans, on the condition that they would stop quarreling with each other. Napoleon staffed his administration with both royalists and republicans, made peace with the pope, thereby end the schism. For the first time in ten years the government was collecting taxes and stability was restored.
With the Consulate, the revolution was over. If the highest hopes of the revolution had not been accomplished, many of the worst inequities and inefficiencies of the Old Regime had atleast been cured. The middle class felt secure with its victory and former aristocrats were beginning to accept the new system. The working class movement, which had been repeatedly frustrated during the revolution would reappear thirty years later.
Source:
R.R Palmer, A History of Europe in the Modern World.
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Culture: Royal Absolutism, Stewardship & Constitutionalism in Eastern Syffryn
Kielmyr are a Constitutional Monarchy at this point, sprung from the various wheeling and dealing that was already part of the laws Queen Maggrit implemented to keep the Triple Monarchy from flying apart at the seams in its early days. They believe that citizens have a very strong duty to the crown, but also that it is the crown's responsibility to maintain its covenant with its people, from peasant to prince.
The Styrmyr have always been militarily in a more precarious position, and thus took a more absolutist position.
The 'stewardship' is something of a blend of ideas on rights and obligations, that posits that there is a tension between natural rights and the responsibilities towards society, and that this tension can be best managed by (noble/royal) intervention using expert means. It allows for more personal rights and freedoms than an absolutist stance, but is far more controlling and paternalistic than a more liberal reading of such philosophies.
[X][Kyberi] 1 PW - Send in proper negotiators and scholars to sort it all out (-1 Temp Happiness, +1 Temp Consciousness, situation resolved, ???)
[X][Crisis] 1 PW - Send aid to the Kielmyr (-1 temp SoL, +1 Temp Trust)
[X][Paying] 0 PW - Bank and Business Fun
-[X][Paying] +1 Temp IC
EY 1803
The man was of no particular height, perhaps a bit on the short side, certainly on the thinner side of what the Qeshyks found normal. His cheeks were smooth, and his mustache thin and brought to points with wax, and worst of all there was a pair of thin lenses perched upon his nose. While at least not some frilly, pampered noble, the man who was going east to sort out the trouble with settlers and tribes was not the example of masculinity that the Qeshyks were the sort to actually respect. Worse yet, he went by a ridiculously cutesy diminutive, "Glitter Boy", essentially, that made little sense and cost him significantly more respect among the tribes escorting him out. The Qeshyks were utterly loyal to the Haddyth, but they frequently had very little respect for the Patriarchs other subjects.
Finally, on the third day after meeting up with the delegation getting off the river boat at the boundaries of one clan and moving further east towards the troublesome spot, the Qeshyks decided that they were not going to just let this little ponce be among them without some degree of humiliation. While not outright assaulting him, they practically dragged him from his tent to come sit with them around the campfire while they drank the sort of hard, concentrated liquor that could be shipped further out and diluted rather than the far weaker wines or beers of the westerners and southerners. The plan was to get him nice and drunk and then drag him out into the woods to wake up in a panic in the morning, knock some of the unnecessary pretensions of civilization off the man. Disgustingly, while he put up very little protest to their actions, he brought with him his stupid little shaving kit.
The bottle of liquor went around the circle of men, Glitter Boy taking it whenever offered, but only taking barely acceptable gulps to barely pause in the elaborate ritual of cutting away his masculinity he went through every day. The Qeshyks jeered his efforts, and he just made quiet, polite explanations of his behavior - excuses more like - that floated just on the cusp of unintentional insult. All eyes were on him as the tiny piece of useless steel flashed with the firelight, hoping he would make a slip with either his blade or his interaction with him. They all wanted an excuse to escalate, but he never quite gave it to them, never quite danced so far over the line of acceptable behaviour to make anything more serious than trying to get him drunk to teach him a lesson justified.
One instant the little man was drawing the fire-flickering steel across his throat, the next he had a pistol in hand from a pouch that the Qeshyks hadn't even realized, its retort shattering the relative silence, and the bottle that the man opposite the ambassador had been drinking from. Before the Qeshyks could even process this the little man had already grabbed a musket from where it had been propped against a barrel and was running off into the dark of the night. Shock turned to anger a moment later, the proud warriors all drawing steel in outrage, before there was the thunder and lightning of a musket going off in the night, followed shortly after by the Glitter Boy in the declaring, "Got it! All clear!"
Rushing out to meet him, the Qeshyks stumbled to a stop as torch light illuminated the scene. Glitter Boy was standing at the very edge of the illumination of the campfire, smoothly clearing the barrel of the musket for return to its owner, standing above the body of a tiger. Just seeing the body put a horrified thrill through the Qeshyks, and most made warding gestures against the various demons of the distant taiga. Even in death the beast was a thing of the reaper made manifest. Upon closer examination it could also be seen that a long scar marred the back left leg, and while still powerful the creature's ribs poked painfully out of its side. A healthy tiger would not approach a camp of men so close, but an injured and hungry one might. The injury was however old, even if still debilitating. To the experienced men, there was only one conclusion.
Maneater.
Passing the musket back to the stunned man he had taken it from, Glitter Boy said, "Apologies, I had only intended to drink with you this evening, that was a bit more excitement than was wise."
Tentatively poking closer, the Qeshyks noted that there was only one visible fresh wound upon the beast, a shot to the back of the head that could have only come from the musket, and could have only been done with the beast already collapsed. A precautionary shot on an already downed foe.
Looking at their expressions, Glitter Boy squatted down by the tiger's head and lifted up the lid of its right eye, revealing a dark pit in the inconstant light. Glitter Boy had shot it in the eye!
A slight smirk on his face, Glitter Boy said, "This is not my first trip to Kyberi, just the first one meeting with your fine tribe. I figured that with my habits and appearance you wouldn't believe that I was actually competent in the way you think of. I figured lightly annoying you until brought me to drink and then showing off the fact that I shave myself rather than get a servant to do it, even with a couple of belts of hard liquor in me, would help establish my credentials. Didn't expect to actually be able to break out my tiger stripes after all of this though."
The Qeshyks blinked. Tiger stripes were the stylized markings on riding pants, boots, and horse blankets that marked a man as a killer equal to a tiger, and the Qeshyks did not hand them out lightly, especially not to outsiders. Still, for Glitter Boy to have...
Wait...
Their looks caused the man's boyish face to grow into a larger grin, the shadows cast from the inconstant light of the fire giving him a sinister cast that had not been there before.
"Did you know that, among the differences between Yllthon Sea Gylruvian and Eastern Qeshyk Gylruvian, you can get 'Glitter Boy' as the masculine diminutive of 'Shining One'?" He said in the first time the Qeshyks had ever heard something so disgustingly academic sound so threatening.
Shining One. Because you dared not call the tiger by its true name, lest you call it to you and your flocks.
Chuckling lightly, Tiger said, "I wonder what would have gone with 'Sweetie' instead. My wife does so love to debase the titles I pick up on my missions, but then again I do love her so much. I always promise her to shave every day when out there."
Processing what 'Sweetie' could possibly mean while also having the dawning feeling of how much they were going to get chewed out over not properly posting lookouts because they were so focused upon humiliating the outsider, they then realized that the diminutive made it unclear whether the root was 'Sugar' or 'Honey'. Honey, as in Honey Eater, as in the other monster of the deep woods that they dare not say the true name of.
Returning to his seat, Tiger picked up his razor and flicked it lazily between his fingers, the sharp steel flashing with the fire in the night as it went through motions too quick for the amount of effort he was putting into moving it, the man's eyes almost glowing with animal intensity. "I promise her that I won't let the dexterity of practicing every day lapse when out in the wilderness. Very important skill for a husband to have, don't you know." Picking up the pistol he had dropped, he tucked it loosely into the semi-hidden holster at his side. "Among 'other things' it means that I'm always ready to defend her honour from any ruffians who might accost us."
For the rest of the trip the Qeshyks gave the diplomat no trouble, especially since now that he had proven his credentials to them he interacted with them much more on their own terms. He was still odd, but they very much understood why the Haddyth had sent this man out here.
1804 EY
In New Blackmouth, Poetyr was getting good news out of the diplomats and theologians sent east to smooth over the issues there, but the act had caused... issues. Mostly in that while he had strengthened the idea that he was out to protect all under his dominion, that had also strengthened the idea that he had to protect all under his dominion, and that was riling the People up.
In particular, they were now locked into war with the Tortun, more or less. The Tortun Republic had succeeded in humiliating the Emperor, forcing him to sign a dissolution of the Empire, leaving the Tortun Republic, the Ochruhr Kingdom, and a number of principalities and duchies that were still sorting themselves out. Unfortunately, they had also badly humiliated the Kielmyr despite the People's material support, stripping the ethnically Tortun parts from them. The Tortun Republic had then gone a step further and released the Wyrmyn majority parts of its territory as a puppet republic, and had declared that their aims would be to liberate the Wyrmyn from those who held them in bondage. That meant that they could massively expand the scope of their war with the Kielmyr, their intention clearly to strip the southern Kalesee ports from them. It also meant that they clearly had ambitions upon the People's Wyrmyn territory now as well.
Furious at inaction and made painfully clear of the proper relation between king and subject by his own actions, there were large contingents of the populace who were screaming for immediate war against the Tortun in defense of longstanding allies and protection of their own people from the scourge of republicanism. Even local republican leaning individuals were calling for war against what they saw as disingenuous abuse of principles for the gain of the Tortun. All in all, this meant that if the People did not go to war, there would certainly be enough civil strife that the Tortun would be able to take advantage of it and declare war anyway.
Frustratingly, while they had not done as well, the Hespranxer had received a boost to their ability to keep going by a large influx of specie from the UPM, who had decided to buy some of the rebelling colonies on their border from their fellow republic. Since those colonies had already been influenced by them and their republican speech, it was considered a clean way to calm things down and drawn them into their system without having to fight the Hespranxer and the rebels down the road. It also kept the Hespranxer treasuries from completely emptying, which was a plus. The Sketch also engaged in their own bit of territorial swapping, buying off the Kielmyr colonies in North Mahaxia. With their current troubles the Kielmyr were focusing everything they had into the Kalesee Sea and couldn't afford to go across the Artemian Ocean to protect those bits of rock and snow, even if they had some use in fur trade with local tribes. All in all, this meant that the Sketch and the Vortuga were going to remain focused on the Hespranxer, the Kielmyr had lost most of their offensive punch on land, and the only other land power were the Styrmyr, who had been distracted by a flare up in their southern mountain borders, the entrenched clans and city states of the region deciding they would take advantage of the problems on the continent.
Maybe the People should not have armed those fractious groups so well in generations past.
In any case, it was war with the Tortun, one way or another, and Poetyr had no intention of going into a civil war with a hostile power at his gates.
Happiness Lower than Militancy, Stability Roll Failed
If you do not declare war on the Tortun Republic (current cost, 2 PW) there will be rioting and probable civil war over the king's inaction, no doubt prompting invasion
You have up to 6 PW to determine you [Agenda] for this turn. Use the format
[][Agenda] Plan Name
-[][Agenda] Action X
-[][Agenda] Action Y
Develop Industry - 1PW: Increases IC and Active Development by 1, -1 Temp IC
Improve Standard of Living - 1PW: Temp Increases SoL by 1, -1 Temp IC
2PW: Increases SoL by 1, -1 IC
2PW + Innovation >10: Increases SoL by 1, -3 Temp IC
Construct Academy - 2 PW: -1 SoL, -1 Innovation, +1 Academy, requires available Academy Slot
Increase Armies - 1PW: Temp Increases Armies by 1, -1 Temp IC
2PW: Increases Armies by 1, -1 IC
2PW + Innovation >15: Increases Armies by 1, -3 Temp IC
Decrease Armies - 2PW: Armies -1, +1 IC
Increase Navies - 1PW: Temp Increases Navies by 1, -1 Temp IC
2PW: Increases Navies by 1, -1 IC
2PW + Innovation >15: Increases Navies by 1, -3 Temp IC
Decrease Navies - 2PW: Navies -1, +1 IC
Diplomatic Outreach - 1 PW: -1 Temp SoL, +2 Temp Trust
2 PW: +1 Trust, -3 Temp Trust
2 PW + >10 Espionage: +1 Trust, -1 Temp Trust
[Optionally Targetable At a Single Country, In Which Case Has Other Effects]
Keep Tabs - 1 PW: -1 Temp Espionage, -1 Temp Trust, Additional Information on 2 other nations
[Specify 2 Nations to Keep Tabs On, Can Also Target Two Groups of Minors]
Demonstrate Superiority - 1 PW: -1 Temp IC, +1 Prestige
If SoL highest of nations, additional +1 Prestige
If Education highest of nations, additional +1 Prestige
If Innovation highest of nations, additional +1 Prestige
If Prestige highest of nations, additional +1 Prestige
Begin War - 1 PW against Minor Powers
2 PW against Secondary Powers
3 PW against Great Powers
4 PW against Supreme Power
-1 PW cost if Great or Supreme Power
-1 PW cost against Rivals
Major Infrastructure Develop Transport Infrastructure - 1 PW, -3 Temp IC, +1 Max Development, (5 more uses to remove Undeveloped Hinterlands status) Claim Kyberi Territory - 1 PW, -1 Temp IC, +2 Max Development, increases required Transport Infrastructure to remove Undeveloped Hinterlands status
SPECIAL: Claiming Kyberi territory has extra opportunities this turn
Royalist Faction - The king and his supporters. +1 PW when pleased, -1 PW when in conflict Pleased by Permanent Army Increases, displeased by support for Republicans Nobility - The lesser nobility and major landowners. +1 Temp Standard of Living when pleased, +1 Temp Consciousness when in conflict Pleased by Claiming Kyberi Territory, displeased by support for Republicans Merchants - Major merchant and guild factors with political input. +1 Temp IC when pleased, -1 Temp Standard of Living when in conflict Pleased by Permanent Naval Increase and screwing with the Syffrynites, displeased by economic restrictions Urbanites (Unofficial) - Urban lower and middle class. -1 Temp Happiness when in conflict Displeased by economic restrictions Peasants (Unofficial) - Rural peasants and freemen. -1 Temp IC when in conflict Displeased by too much Development
Econ
Industrial Cap 2 (Max. 3)
Development 11/17
Pollution 0
Culture
Consciousness 3 (4)
Standard of Living 4 (3)
Happiness 5 (3)/10
Research
Academies 3/3
Education 3
Innovation 2
Diplomacy
Trust 8 (9)
Espionage 8
Martial
Militancy 5
Armies 6
Navies 3
Political Will 6/10
Prestige
Min. 15
Current 50
AN: Will get the adjusted map and great power list up later today
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How It Works: The path to breaking the influence of the Guilds
Provided that in a frictionless, spherical Ymaryn the gestalt intellect giving it directives wanted to break the influenceo f hte Guilds perpetually, what would have to be done to achieve this?
Pursue mechanical and liberalizing techs, promote cheap credit for the development of areas away from the current core, and be prepared to suck down truly appalling hits to Happiness and SoL.
Culture: Shaving in the Hinterlands of Gylruv-Ymaryn
@Academia Nut a bit of a weird question to ask right now, but what's our fashion sense like right now? It seems the Kyberians still see beards as essential if I read it right, while the western Ymaryn seem to be more clean shaven?
It varies between the various regions. The big thing with shaving is access to quality razors and skilled hands. Thus being mostly clean shaven is seen of as a mostly rich thing, and the sort of rich person who doesn't exactly move around in rough conditions that much. The hinterland groups prefer well groomed but full beards, while many urban men prefer to keep close cropped beards without actually using razors. The upwardly mobile urban middle class will tend to learn how to shave or blow money on getting a barber to do it for them, so that they can appear richer than they actually are. Tiger is a bit odd in that he shaves himself as someone decently high up in the nobility, but given that he is an absolutely amazing shot (his pistol is basically a dueling pistol with rifling for extra accuracy) one can infer that he actually comes from a military background. He shaves literally as dexterity practice.
What do our advisors think of the Republic's armies and what do they think our chances against them are? I want to know how hilariously wrong they all are.
They are pretty confident, although they do note that the Tortun Republic was quite successful against the Ochruhr. Your army is better of course, but they do think that this might not be as quick a stomp as some of the more enthusiastic elements of society might think.
While I obviously grabbed the name off the Keshiks (and apparently ended up with the Persian spelling entirely by accident), the Qeshyks are the Cossacks here. They are Gylruvian nomads who are the main light cavalry force and they go out to the frontiers to bring in new tribes.
Crown Discussion on Euthanasia and Ritual Suicide Among the Ancient Ymaryn Relating to Anti-Ymaryn Slander
Citizens! In recent days it has come to the attention of the Patriarch that anti-Ymaryn republican radicals have been circulating pamphlets claiming that the Ancient Ymaryn would welcome in foreign guests only to sacrifice them to their gods, and that this proves the national lack of character of the People. Lies! Lies and slander! Do not believe those saying these things, but repudiate them immediately, and then find the nearest authority to report such activities to.
-From the Minister of Internal Safety
Addendum for Distribution to Authorized Scholars and Theologians:
Recent rumours of mass sacrifice by the Ancient Ymaryn are ludicrous on the face of them, their hatred of human sacrifice was well documented, but there are a number of finer points that you should be aware of when engaging with more experienced scholars advancing these arguments, as they stem from accidental or deliberate misreadings of ancient texts.
The ancient practice of lyllugew was a form of euthanasia practiced by ancient priests and shamans. By all accounts it was supposed to be a strictly controlled practice intended for those who were already dying, primarily the extremely elderly, grossly lamed, or terminally ill. Theoretically one was supposed to approach a priest or shaman on at least three different holy days (typically meaning approximately one month from start to end) where the priest would discuss the issue with the ill and attempt to ensure that death would be a release from pain. While obviously disturbing from a modern perspective, this practice was not in any way a form of sacrifice, and from discussion in their literature it was mostly meant for honoured members of their society at the end of their lives to pass on free of pain rather than to linger on.
The practice of uyinjyr was simply animal sacrifice, as done by primitive societies. The vast majority of temple records in fact have to do with the maintenance of sacred herds and how many and what type of these animals were sacrificed.
Where these foul rumours come from is a conflation of lyllugew and ujinjyr in a most gross method. There are a number of temple records originating from bureaucratic administrators outside the temple hierarchy that make the suggestion to "increase sacrifices", with the grammar strongly suggesting that these were euphemistic terms, especially as these sorts of records typically appear around times of famine and plague. Further discussion appears to have been intentionally kept off the record, but from other records it is possible that the priests would lower their standards of acceptance for euthanasia so as to reduce the number of mouths to feed. However, given the surrounding circumstances, it is also possible that the famine and plague weakened the already vulnerable members of society to the point where they entered what they felt was a terminal decline. The few discussions of priests decrying the euphemistic use of the terminology appear to come in the Middle Empire when both euthanasia and animal sacrifice were in sharp decline. However, due to record degradation there are a number of cases of dubious examples of euphemistic usage attested, and further a number of scholars with obvious agendas have claimed that the records of animal sacrifice are in fact records of human sacrifice. Given the numbers present this very well should have rendered the empire devoid of life in short order.
This is further conflated with a phenomenon that had no specific term within Old Ymaryn, but was oft repeated within their dramatic writings and plays, what is now called 'downhill suicides'. These were cases of prominent individuals suffering some injury or failure, deciding that they had reached the peak of their ability, and choosing suicide over decline. This is a complex topic of scholarly and theological discussion, because while the plays mention it frequently, it remains unknown how prevalent it actually was. While some suggest that any individual with a minor imperfection might be pressured to kill themselves, and others suggest the phenomenon was confined to the upper classes, what evidence of the actual behaviour we have is scant and mixed. What is known is that there were many skilled individuals such as artisans, scholars, and priests who were physically lamed but lived long lives, and that there were distinct attempts to care for the mentally deficient, as in less enlightened times they were considered to be conduits for spirits to be cared for lest they reveal some prophecy or wisdom. Some rather disturbing notes suggest that alongside the potential increase in the euthanasia of elders and the chronically ill, during times of famine there was an uptick of "accidents" and "rituals gone wrong" among the least capable of these temple imbecile populations. However, there are also definitely individuals who did suffer injury of some sort who chose to kill themselves rather than continue on. The context of this is hard to tell, as while later priests decried the practice as vanity, accounts closer to the events tended to speak of things such as "self-sacrifice for the greater good". This sort of behaviour was occasionally done by those accused of serious crimes, who chose to protest their innocence in extreme ways by killing themselves rather than being found guilty.
Somewhat related is the phenomenon of "finding new fields", which was usually a euphemism for forcing an unwelcome member of society out through passive-aggressive social ostracism. Exile was frequently a death sentence, especially as those caught without proper travel authorization could be enslaved or executed for banditry if the local authorities did not want to welcome them into their community. The reasons for community hostility were never particularly elaborated on, as this phenomenon was mostly a lower class issue, and the literates only occasionally commented on it, usually when a particularly unjustified case caused some scandal among the nobility.
This final point ties into the also false accusation of the Ancient Ymaryn inviting individuals into their empire only to turn around and inflict slavery and death upon them. While true that the ancients were quite welcoming of outsiders in need, this was very frequently a method of demonstrating wealth and power among the upper classes. Furthermore their conception of slavery was one that an individual could only bring upon themselves via sin and criminality, hence why they were often actively opposed to other groups that were active slavers around them as they conceived of it as spreading sin and spiritual pollution. Thus when outsiders who were ignored of local norms trespassed on local laws, the punishments could result in a form of slavery or indentured servitude to the temples, who leased their labour out to the nobility but had rights of manumission. In certain phases there were a few notorious cases of outsiders choosing suicide before a trial rather than submit to judgement. Those spreading anti-Ymaryn slander will often take these examples, claim it was the norm, and then claim that all examples of euthanasia and animal sacrifice were in fact this sort of activity.
All in all, while there are in fact disturbing details of the ancestors of the Ymaryn and more distantly the Gylruv in the past, those were from less enlightened times, and when comparing the achievements of ancient nations none come out clean, and perhaps a handful can be counted as being as successful and advanced as the ancient Ymaryn. For most scholars these facts should be adequate to dismantle more sophisticated arguments of slanderers, but use caution in deploying them in public as the facts can easily confuse the uneducated. For those who wish to know more or participate in archival research, please send further correspondence with the Rainbow Trail Archival Society.
AN: This argument came up again elsewhere. So, while some may have extrapolated the situation being worse than it was, the ancient Ymaryn bureaucrats could be utterly ruthless towards their own population in bad times, and more than a few priests went along with them. I just figured that the idea had some applicability to propaganda, and a warning about some of the things the worst members of the People's society might latch onto as justification for horrors such as eugenics and fascist movements.
