[X][Merc] No
[X][Boats] Improve current design (Current design becomes longship)
[X][Mill] Grant additional authority to pursue it (-2 Econ, -2 Wealth, -2 Art, -1 Centralization, ???)
[X][WC] Full development (-3 Econ, -1 Econ Expansion, -3 Wealth, -2 Centralization, +5 Art, +5 Mysticism, new trade good)
[X][React] Main Proclaim Glory
[X][Refugee] Widely advertise that you have room (-3 Stability, chance of further loss, +9-11 Econ, neither city loses True City status, ???)
Rulwyna looked over the proposals for development given to her and shoved large amounts of authority for developing them off to those who came up with the proposals, as she knew that the next few years were going to be rather rough and she would need to focus her attention on dealing with the floods of both water and people. People were already coming in from other groups, seeking food and shelter from the malevolent gygo the world had become, and as such Rulwyna authorized the construction of new law steles across the land, as well as making sure that the storytellers sang the praises of her as the king, so as to let the People know that she was in control and would protect them, and all of the newcomers could be informed of what was going on.
Newcomers came and the People let it be whispered by their traders that they had plenty of food for those willing to work hard on the land or in the cities. More and more people came, but they brought their troubles with them. Efforts to keep outsiders from bringing disease with them frayed at the edges, and the food distribution system was pushed to near the breaking point. Fear set in and corruption began to wrap tendrils around the system, which of course caused more problems. For a brief moment it looked like the wheels would come off, but Rulwyna declared both a second campaign to reinforce the telling of the law, and a sweeping royal crackdown on lawbreakers.
[X] Megaproject
[X] Restore Order
Provinces – [Main] Proclaim Glory, [Main] Enforce Justice, [Sec] Enforce Justice
Stallions – [Main] New Settlement, [Main] Build Wall
Western – [Main] New Trails, [Main] Build Dock, [Sec] Expand Econ, [Sec] Survey
Greenshore – [Main] Trade Mission – Trelli, [Main] Trade Mission – Into the Wild (West)
Hatvalley – [Main] New Trails, [Sec] Expand Forest, [Sec] Survey
And, amazingly, it worked. Everything seemed to go just perfectly politically despite the instability of the weather and the uncertainty of the harvests. Perhaps it was the fact that Rulwyna emphasized that the office of the king was meant to be accessible to those with legitimate complaints against their superiors, perhaps it was the fact that the talons of the Blackbirds fell on those with power at least as often as they fell on those at the bottom of the system, perhaps it was the fact that for all they were scared and unused to the way that things were done, the refugees coming in saw that the system was at least somewhat functional and put effort into working for their new common good.
Climate Instability Damage this turn: (-2 Econ, -2 Econ Expansion, -1 Stability)
Stability raised over max, extra kicked into megaproject, progress now at 5/8-12?
Better yet, with the new mine opening up the People had access to a fantastic new pigment in the form of vermillion - for use in situation where people were to never handle vigorously or food or water was to come into contact with the dye - and the fantastical quicksilver that could be derived from it with some difficulty. Rulwyna's mother would have given anything to have been able to know of such a thing - and while it wasn't showing much use yet, the alchemists would surely learn new things in its study. Already there was an argument that the four elements already identified required extension: primordial gygo suggested a material that was both hot and cold, wet and dry simultaneously, and quicksilver gave some credence to the idea that impure forms of gygo could still be derived in modern times. However, there had also been an argument that there should also be a counterpart in the form of something that was neither hot nor cold, wet nor dry. While some were arguing that this material would be the mediator in transformations between other elements - most often seen of as being a theoretically pure form of vitriol without the need of a water base to carry the transformative substance in a way humans could control. It was a fascinating argument that Rulwyna would have loved to devote more time to, but unfortunately she was pretty sure that she would only ever be allowed to wade in the issue if someone insisted on making some temple setting that used a silver sea as representative of primordial gygo and someone else insisted that such an interpretation was incorrect.
No, instead Rulwyna spent much of her time approving projects, appointing advisors and administrators, and listening to appeals. For the most part it was a combination of tedious and exhausting, given that she couldn't let herself rest lest she make a bad call and cause damage to an already precarious situation. Possibly the worst thing though was that it cut so deeply into her personal time, and all of the people she really cared about were high performers like herself who also had much to do. She had children with Ynarthyn and Sobtuthyn - none of them was entirely sure whose father was whose but they generally went with 'both' among themselves-, but there was never enough time to spend with any of them, and it twinged something within her from her own childhood, but she didn't know what else to do. Years went by and the world grew older and the best Rulwyna knew to do with her children was to support them even as she told them to go out into the world and build their own network of contacts so that they too might become king one day.
At least trade of the new dye and quicksilver was starting to bring in fresh resources, and news had it that increased trade with Trelli had also brought them into contact with traders from new and exotic peoples like the Khemetri and Saffron Islanders... which was unfortunately a necessary thing because trade elsewhere was running into trouble. Other kingdoms were falling into decline, their ability to provide for their own needs flagging, thus leaving them little to trade with outsiders. The Metal Workers had lost all pretenses of being ruled centrally, breaking up into numerous villages and one or two small "cities", none of which could provide the same output as they once all had. There had been an expedition further to the west, up the river that the trading post had been on but going further inland instead of heading up into the mountains, and new tribes had been located, but while not doing as poorly as many others, that was mostly because they had never been particularly rich anyway. Closer to home the Highlanders and Hathatyn had suffered from the abandonment of dozens of villages along the periphery of their territory, the populations mostly moving away - a significant fraction to the People! - when disease, crop failures, and political disruption made living in their current homes no longer tenable.
Still, even though it was now paying out considerably in terms of its investment, there were some who were concerned that the Greenshore Trading Post was now in a place where it would no longer be most useful. Only time would see.
Greenshore Trading Post has reached maturity, and can either be converted to a Colony or will remain as is, generating +1 Diplomacy a turn and occasional bonus Wealth
Upon burying Sobtuthyn due to simple age, Rulwyna was forced to realize just how white and grey the people around her had become, and in sitting down to cry over the loss of her friend she also realized that her own hair was losing its colour. She would not be around forever, and more than that all of the competent people she had put or helped put into places of power would not be around forever. Her son Ylrulthyn looked set up to become heir before the question was relevant for who would take over for her, but beyond that? She had no idea. The responsibilities of the king needed to be reduced so that those less capable than her would be able to handle the task. That meant delegation, but more than that it meant delegation with teeth. The only question was who to give teeth. The priests already held considerable social acclaim for their work in communing with spirits, tending to the sick, and maintaining the forests, and were generally neutral in most disputes... but perhaps that was because they had little direct power other than votes in the election of the king and spiritual advisors. Granting more authority to the various artisan associations would almost certainly reduce the workload of the the king over having to approve the various projects they were always needing approval for, although then again there were a lot of frivolous requests. Then there was the process of adding in lower level chiefs to handle more of the local work so that the king could focus on the higher level work, although that tended to have the issue of separating the king from the lower level people and creating spaces for corruption to seep in. There were also some lower level chiefs with ambitions to rework local land management efforts, but Rulwyna wasn't sure about them.
How to manage over-centralization?
[] Empower the priests as an alternate authority (-2 Centralization, +1 Religious Authority)
[] Grant the artisans additional freedom to manage their resources (-2 Centralization, +3 Art)
[] Install additional layers of chiefs (-1 Centralization, +1 Hierarchy)
[] Redistribute land (-2 Centralization, +3 Wealth)
Beyond that, there was also the issue that the project to keep the forests from becoming disease ridden mires was consuming resources at an alarming rate. Rulwyna simply had to direct the entire kingdom to focusing their efforts on further food production in order to keep the granaries from emptying out anywhere, especially with the forests ultimately being less productive in terms of pure food than farms, and large influxes of refugees to gladly work the farms while specialists migrated into the forests.
Reaction Action locked in as Expand Econ, only one burst of refugees coming in this turn
