Oh wow everything is on fire.
Not sure if it's a good thing I mised the initial rush or if sleeping off the headache was worth it.
Diplomacy
13 (overflowing) (+2) [+1]->
14 (overflowing) [+1]
The salt continues to flow
Economy 4 (+1)->
-1
The Economy...does not.
Martial 10->5 (+1)
And we lost half our manpower, though veterancy is still in play?
Looks like this is the Carrion Eater bonus.
Stability 0->-2 (upset)
Mine Stability hit coupled to the Econ damage from their attack.
Damned rolls, whenever we deal with metal stuff like this happens...
Legitimacy 2 (dented)
Art 3->5
Overflow is so handy, we're going to need some Proclaiming next.
Prestige 9->8
And we lost some face from getting sneak attacked. Damned nomads.
Hospitals! Just in time for the biggest loss in manpower ever too!
The damage was catastrophic on both sides, but even as the People were taking losses they were also progressively grinding away at the nomadic tribes. The People might take two loses for every nomad slain, but they could easily take three or four losses and be able to bounce back, where the nomads would be crippled for generations to come. Also, with the Carrion Eaters scouring the battlefield, many of those who were injured might live to fight another day, or at least be able to return to their families and pass on wisdom and experience.
Aka what Germany learned in WWII. Doesn't matter so much how well you fight, not if you kill ten tanks and the eleventh is rolling out anyway.
Carrion Eaters saved the day here, we'd have lost much worse without them.
It also meant that the Blackbirds could ask the enemy wounded questions much more frequently.
And that is a great idea.
Intel from their wounded is a somewhat novel idea.
"We can confirm that we felled neither their king nor their heir," the head scout, Ymeshyn stated, causing Hathachyn to grunt in displeasure. They had killed enough to relieve the pressure for several years, but that left the possibility that the heir would round up more tribes and have another go next generation.
Damned Nomad Heroes.
Actually, didn't they JUST round up every tribe in the near-zone. Would need to go further away to get more dudes.
Which is leading to a cessation of Nomad raids all along the nearer border of the Steppes.
Carefully he listened to the reports and compiled together events in his mind. The destruction was intense, but they had eliminated the vast majority of the warriors they had engaged, and overall the scouts estimated that this totaled about two thirds of the entire nomad warrior force.
It took a few moments for Hathachyn to process this, and he immediately held up a hand and asked, "Wait, I thought we got more than that with this last battle?"
The scouts went back over things, and then there was a sudden realization that several people had pieces of a greater picture that they had not realized up until this moment were connected.
No, they had taken out more than two-thirds of the force they had fought over the past season in brutal combat, but had not engaged that final third.
Oh goddammit.
TWO Heroes.
The Stallion Tribes were still mostly intact, but word had reached them from the territories to the south: a large section of the nomads had bypassed them a snuck into the lightly defended south while the majority of the People's warriors were in the north dealing with the majority of the nomads. The nomads had been clever and had avoided contact with the larger settlements, but they had pillaged, raped, and murdered their way through Northshore before exiting out through the northern edge of Stonepen and eastern edge of the Stallion Tribes, heading north and east, no doubt to link up with the remainder of their forces and then escape with their ill-gotten gains.
And here I hate being right.
Our defenses were
not enough, despite the claims to the contrary.
Our expansion had left us overstretched and the fortifications with big gaps.
The destruction of farms and granaries and the theft of animals soon enough was revealed to have had a major knock-on effect as there were thousands of displaced people and nowhere enough food locally to ensure that they would all be fed. For the first time in... ever... the People were facing a major famine in part of their territory. They were opening up what resources they had, but the king had pushed the granaries to their limits in order to move the large amounts of skilled labour needed for the new mine being opened, something that the People were already unhappy about. Riots erupted in Valleyhome and Redshore as the news got out, and the king was shaken by the raw need for blood the People wanted. While a few called for pulling their warriors back, far more were baying that the warriors should pursue the nomads and reclaim the people carried off by the nomads, and for many any arguments towards futility or that it would cripple the People if they continued to fight were merely signs of defeatism.
Cultural value adjustment event here I think?
Choose the primary focus of your first batch of iron goods
[] Tools (+8 Econ, +2 Martial, ???)
[] Weapons (+2 Econ, +8 Martial, ???)
Okay for tools and weapons here:
-Remember, 8 Econ buys us 16 Martial worth of chariots. 14 if accounting for the balancing.
-The Nomads had retreated out of range for half a generation, so I'm not sure who we'd be hitting with those weapoins until they return.
-This sets a cultural image of iron as well. Should it be recorded as first being used to kill our foes, or should be be recorded as first being used to save the harvests?
[] Restore order (Main usage)
[] Leave things be
Due to the rules, we should not take this if we take ANY Stability hits.
Pass.
Warrior distribution
[] Defensive (-1 Stability)
[] Offensive (+1 Stability)
[] Yes (+1 Stability, -1 Legitimacy, Martial focused character becomes king)
[] No (-1 Stability, +1 Legitimacy)
And here, we have to choose between drawbacks as we cannot eat both:
-Defensive + Yes = Short term benefits. Defensive preserves our force and allows us to spend next turn fixing our Martial, but the King sets a terrible precedent for regime change in war.
-Offensive + No = Short term risks from pushing the war aggressively, however, it preserves precedent, and furthermore, it potentially might do enough damage to buy us a full turn(and give the Nomads the conclusion that the Ymaryn are fooking crazy). Down this route we need the Iron Tools, beccause it's necessary for soaking attacks with our Economy.
-Offensive + Yes = Short term benefits with a skilled warleader prosecuting a war aggressively, but long term wise it'd lead to militarization of our leadership and of course, changing leaders while in a crisis is asking for trouble. Down this route we need the Iron Tools, beccause it's necessary for soaking attacks with our Economy.
So my vote:
[X] Tools (+8 Econ, +2 Martial, ???)
[X] Leave things be
[X] Offensive (+1 Stability)
[X] No (-1 Stability, +1 Legitimacy)