Shifting winds
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X][Mine] Admit that mistakes were made on the record so that future rulers might not repeat them (-1 Stability)
[X][Main] Improve Annual Festival
[X][Secondary] Expand Economy
[X][Secondary] Change Policy - Megaproject Support
Provinces – [Main] Megaproject, [Main] Expand Econ
Stallions – [Main] Art Patronage, [Sec] New Settlement, [Sec] Build Walls
Western - [Main] Build Watchtowers, [Main] New Trails, [Main] Expand Econ, [Sec] Survey
Greenshore – [Main] Build Mills x2
Hatvalley – [Main] New Settlement, [Main] Build Mills, [Sec] New Trails
Heaven's Hawk – [Main] Survey, [Main] Trade Mission – Nomads
Lowland Minors – [Main] Build Walls, [Main] Expand Econ
The king considered the issue for a long time, discussing it with his advisors and those who might be affected, before he finally came to a conclusion.
"We encouraged this. Perhaps we did not cause it, perhaps we are free from blame, but are we free from guilt? Could not more have been done? Perhaps, perhaps not, but future generations can never learn and do better if we do not admit fault here, if we do not say, 'We moved too fast because we got greedy'. So, take this tragedy and make it known, let people know that mistakes were made, but that we shall try better in the future. Take the wealth we took from this and turn it back to the community, such that all will know that this was meant to enrich all, and not a greedy few."
And thus it was the lessons were learned and taught, and the People did have the shock of knowing that their leadership could really screw things up with short sighted greed.
Only then, something unexpected happened. The gods smiled upon the People. The People had found peace with the environment, their neighbours, and even the demons within themselves, and for this peace the rains and winds shifted. Unstable mud became wonderfully stable, moist soil that seemed eager to be planted, and the places where water liked to pool and stagnate dried to become green glens. With just a bit of work the water works were adjusted and generations of labour turned into a bursting of life. The demons of disease haunting the forests disappeared entirely, and all the efforts the People had put into fighting them turned into a tremendous release from the misery of loss of children and elders. Only in myths and the oldest records was such a thing as this ever heard of, but the king's apology to the People soon became a celebration.
The gods had been testing them, and they passed! Life begat life, generosity begat generosity, and peace begat peace! Somewhere along the line the music of the festivals took this up, something changing in the way they did things to better express the transcendent joy to be alive and know that the purpose the gods had made for them was to be alive and love each other!
Symphony -> Joyous Symphony
All have their part to play in this world, be it their interaction with each other, their neighbours, or with the spirits. When all the parts of a group are moving in peaceful accord, the result is greater than the sum of the parts, and transcendental to behold.
Pros: Bonus to collective action, spiritually and ecologically harmonious actions, and to concerted efforts. Gain +1 Stability every time a defensive war non-destructively ends.
Cons: Disharmony is to be corrected, require casus belli to declare war
And with the winds and rains calmed, the seas became easier to cross, and with no wars with their neighbours the People once more could trade openly and move their goods in relative safety, wealth flowed like never before. Even if tax collection was still being weird and there were inefficiencies and odd forms of corruption, suddenly so much was moving that it was hard to see the little losses, even if the king was assured that it was actually quite a lot once you tallied it all.
Climate Change Ended!
Disrupted Trade Ended!
Baby Boom Activated!
All started at the beginning of the turn!
Limited to a relatively small area, Greenshore also leveraged the considerable wealth they produced in serving as a way point between the People and the Metal Workers and the Trelli to build extensive mill projects. Interestingly, somewhere along the line someone had figured out a way to get the wheel to run in reverse, with input power being used to raise water up - probably some clever fellow trying to drain a swampy area - and the principle had become implemented in a most interesting way. By attaching a water lifting wheel to a stronger water wheel you could have water lifted by the motion of the river, which radically simplified the aqueduct project Greenshore was working on, as well as providing new insights for other locations where the problem was not so much access to water but getting the water to the right elevation to be simultaneously useful but safe to have running through your city. It might also be of great use in mines where the lower levels had an unfortunate tendency to fill up with water.
However, even as the metaphorical skies cleared, there were soon new clouds on the horizon, mostly from the direction of the Trelli, although of course there were already fresh tensions brewing in the north with nomad tribe numbers increasing. The Trelli though... the Trelli had obviously learned from their trade with the People, and had begun to start striking their own coins to facilitate trade. This caused a minor hiccup as the Trelli became a net sink of silver and gold, but fortunately the People had both enough luxury items and enough production of their own that their own need of precious metals for coinage was not significantly affected. However...
"Any idea why there's so much less saffron this season?"
"The ships from the place where its made are more full of slaves these days - more profitable with all the fighting."
To slowly dawning realization and then horror, it was discovered that the Trelli had also figured out that you could pay warriors very well to fight very hard for you, and had turned this into a way to massively recruit from the tribes around them. Those that they were paying were being used to attack outlying tribes that didn't produce anything of "value", raiding them for slaves to be sold to richer trade partners, or those who might get "better" use out of them like the various groups that did mining with slaves and traded the results to the Trelli. The more loyal warriors were farmed out to the rich kingdoms of the Saffron Isles to better assist in their feuds... also producing more slaves, especially as Trelli coin fueled massive incentive to raid your neighbours for the money to buy their mercenaries before your neighbours did the same to you first.
Worse yet, there were rumours that the knife hulled ships that hugged the Trelli coasts and aggressively patrolled their strait were being built with the intent to fill with mercenaries to hunt the trade ships of the sea. Why trade with others when you could just take their things for yourself? So far these were just rumours coming from the unknown southern seas, but the People had to admit that their ships were mostly used for trade and exploration and weren't really meant for fighting in the way the sea cutting ships of the Trelli were.
One definite response was to put down a new trading post to the north-west of Trelli, upon the river that was the main access route into the interior of the mountains where the Tin Tribes dwelt. While definitely something of a provocation, it would allow the People to influence the tin trade before it got to Trelli. That would negatively influence both their finances and ability to arm their mercenaries, as well as reducing the flow of wealth necessary to keep the number of mercenaries they had hired happily paid off through simple competition. That might trigger a fight that the People would have a hard time supporting, but the Red Banner Company could be deployed to help the location stay safe while it was getting established and built. Hopefully they could also just use trade and shifting wealth around to get the Trelli to be less aggressive towards their neighbours, rather than encouraging strife for profit.
The gods had just lifted their curse from the People over not doing that!
There were other options too. There was another site to the east of Trelli, at the mouth of the river that had once fed out of north-west Hathatyn territory - now a scattered collection of villages and bandit clans. While less provocative towards the Trelli, it would greatly facilitate trade from Hatriver to the Trelli, enabling the People to more efficiently haul wealth away from that city via the mines from Hatvalley. It was also more defensible by the People, if still needing early protection by the Red Banner. Or perhaps they could set up a post in the far north to collect exotics... possibly also see if they could make bigger ships out of some of the semi-mythical trees that were said to be there.
Or maybe do nothing at all on that front.
Expansion
[] [Exp] Found Trelli Trade Post, West
[] [Exp] Found Trelli Trade Post, East
[] [Exp] Found Far Northern Trade Post
[] [Exp] Integrate the Stallion Tribes
[] [Exp] Found Mercenary Company
[] [Exp] Do nothing here
External Diplomacy
[] [Diplo] Open fresh trade (Two Sec Trade Missions to neighbours)
[] [Diplo] Demonstrate wealth (Main Salt Gift)
[] [Diplo] Need a bigger boat (Main More Boats)
[] [Diplo] Tie everything further together (Main New Trails)
[] [Diplo] Stay home, garden (Main Expand Econ)
Internal Focus
[] [Int] Build palace (Extra megaproject action)
[] [Int] Garden (Main Expand Econ)
[] [Int] Plant forests (Main Expand Forests)
[] [Int] Water wheels are awesome (Main Build Mills)
[] [Int] Party! (Main Improve Festival)
[X][Main] Improve Annual Festival
[X][Secondary] Expand Economy
[X][Secondary] Change Policy - Megaproject Support
Provinces – [Main] Megaproject, [Main] Expand Econ
Stallions – [Main] Art Patronage, [Sec] New Settlement, [Sec] Build Walls
Western - [Main] Build Watchtowers, [Main] New Trails, [Main] Expand Econ, [Sec] Survey
Greenshore – [Main] Build Mills x2
Hatvalley – [Main] New Settlement, [Main] Build Mills, [Sec] New Trails
Heaven's Hawk – [Main] Survey, [Main] Trade Mission – Nomads
Lowland Minors – [Main] Build Walls, [Main] Expand Econ
The king considered the issue for a long time, discussing it with his advisors and those who might be affected, before he finally came to a conclusion.
"We encouraged this. Perhaps we did not cause it, perhaps we are free from blame, but are we free from guilt? Could not more have been done? Perhaps, perhaps not, but future generations can never learn and do better if we do not admit fault here, if we do not say, 'We moved too fast because we got greedy'. So, take this tragedy and make it known, let people know that mistakes were made, but that we shall try better in the future. Take the wealth we took from this and turn it back to the community, such that all will know that this was meant to enrich all, and not a greedy few."
And thus it was the lessons were learned and taught, and the People did have the shock of knowing that their leadership could really screw things up with short sighted greed.
Only then, something unexpected happened. The gods smiled upon the People. The People had found peace with the environment, their neighbours, and even the demons within themselves, and for this peace the rains and winds shifted. Unstable mud became wonderfully stable, moist soil that seemed eager to be planted, and the places where water liked to pool and stagnate dried to become green glens. With just a bit of work the water works were adjusted and generations of labour turned into a bursting of life. The demons of disease haunting the forests disappeared entirely, and all the efforts the People had put into fighting them turned into a tremendous release from the misery of loss of children and elders. Only in myths and the oldest records was such a thing as this ever heard of, but the king's apology to the People soon became a celebration.
The gods had been testing them, and they passed! Life begat life, generosity begat generosity, and peace begat peace! Somewhere along the line the music of the festivals took this up, something changing in the way they did things to better express the transcendent joy to be alive and know that the purpose the gods had made for them was to be alive and love each other!
Symphony -> Joyous Symphony
All have their part to play in this world, be it their interaction with each other, their neighbours, or with the spirits. When all the parts of a group are moving in peaceful accord, the result is greater than the sum of the parts, and transcendental to behold.
Pros: Bonus to collective action, spiritually and ecologically harmonious actions, and to concerted efforts. Gain +1 Stability every time a defensive war non-destructively ends.
Cons: Disharmony is to be corrected, require casus belli to declare war
And with the winds and rains calmed, the seas became easier to cross, and with no wars with their neighbours the People once more could trade openly and move their goods in relative safety, wealth flowed like never before. Even if tax collection was still being weird and there were inefficiencies and odd forms of corruption, suddenly so much was moving that it was hard to see the little losses, even if the king was assured that it was actually quite a lot once you tallied it all.
Climate Change Ended!
Disrupted Trade Ended!
Baby Boom Activated!
All started at the beginning of the turn!
Limited to a relatively small area, Greenshore also leveraged the considerable wealth they produced in serving as a way point between the People and the Metal Workers and the Trelli to build extensive mill projects. Interestingly, somewhere along the line someone had figured out a way to get the wheel to run in reverse, with input power being used to raise water up - probably some clever fellow trying to drain a swampy area - and the principle had become implemented in a most interesting way. By attaching a water lifting wheel to a stronger water wheel you could have water lifted by the motion of the river, which radically simplified the aqueduct project Greenshore was working on, as well as providing new insights for other locations where the problem was not so much access to water but getting the water to the right elevation to be simultaneously useful but safe to have running through your city. It might also be of great use in mines where the lower levels had an unfortunate tendency to fill up with water.
However, even as the metaphorical skies cleared, there were soon new clouds on the horizon, mostly from the direction of the Trelli, although of course there were already fresh tensions brewing in the north with nomad tribe numbers increasing. The Trelli though... the Trelli had obviously learned from their trade with the People, and had begun to start striking their own coins to facilitate trade. This caused a minor hiccup as the Trelli became a net sink of silver and gold, but fortunately the People had both enough luxury items and enough production of their own that their own need of precious metals for coinage was not significantly affected. However...
"Any idea why there's so much less saffron this season?"
"The ships from the place where its made are more full of slaves these days - more profitable with all the fighting."
To slowly dawning realization and then horror, it was discovered that the Trelli had also figured out that you could pay warriors very well to fight very hard for you, and had turned this into a way to massively recruit from the tribes around them. Those that they were paying were being used to attack outlying tribes that didn't produce anything of "value", raiding them for slaves to be sold to richer trade partners, or those who might get "better" use out of them like the various groups that did mining with slaves and traded the results to the Trelli. The more loyal warriors were farmed out to the rich kingdoms of the Saffron Isles to better assist in their feuds... also producing more slaves, especially as Trelli coin fueled massive incentive to raid your neighbours for the money to buy their mercenaries before your neighbours did the same to you first.
Worse yet, there were rumours that the knife hulled ships that hugged the Trelli coasts and aggressively patrolled their strait were being built with the intent to fill with mercenaries to hunt the trade ships of the sea. Why trade with others when you could just take their things for yourself? So far these were just rumours coming from the unknown southern seas, but the People had to admit that their ships were mostly used for trade and exploration and weren't really meant for fighting in the way the sea cutting ships of the Trelli were.
One definite response was to put down a new trading post to the north-west of Trelli, upon the river that was the main access route into the interior of the mountains where the Tin Tribes dwelt. While definitely something of a provocation, it would allow the People to influence the tin trade before it got to Trelli. That would negatively influence both their finances and ability to arm their mercenaries, as well as reducing the flow of wealth necessary to keep the number of mercenaries they had hired happily paid off through simple competition. That might trigger a fight that the People would have a hard time supporting, but the Red Banner Company could be deployed to help the location stay safe while it was getting established and built. Hopefully they could also just use trade and shifting wealth around to get the Trelli to be less aggressive towards their neighbours, rather than encouraging strife for profit.
The gods had just lifted their curse from the People over not doing that!
There were other options too. There was another site to the east of Trelli, at the mouth of the river that had once fed out of north-west Hathatyn territory - now a scattered collection of villages and bandit clans. While less provocative towards the Trelli, it would greatly facilitate trade from Hatriver to the Trelli, enabling the People to more efficiently haul wealth away from that city via the mines from Hatvalley. It was also more defensible by the People, if still needing early protection by the Red Banner. Or perhaps they could set up a post in the far north to collect exotics... possibly also see if they could make bigger ships out of some of the semi-mythical trees that were said to be there.
Or maybe do nothing at all on that front.
Expansion
[] [Exp] Found Trelli Trade Post, West
[] [Exp] Found Trelli Trade Post, East
[] [Exp] Found Far Northern Trade Post
[] [Exp] Integrate the Stallion Tribes
[] [Exp] Found Mercenary Company
[] [Exp] Do nothing here
External Diplomacy
[] [Diplo] Open fresh trade (Two Sec Trade Missions to neighbours)
[] [Diplo] Demonstrate wealth (Main Salt Gift)
[] [Diplo] Need a bigger boat (Main More Boats)
[] [Diplo] Tie everything further together (Main New Trails)
[] [Diplo] Stay home, garden (Main Expand Econ)
Internal Focus
[] [Int] Build palace (Extra megaproject action)
[] [Int] Garden (Main Expand Econ)
[] [Int] Plant forests (Main Expand Forests)
[] [Int] Water wheels are awesome (Main Build Mills)
[] [Int] Party! (Main Improve Festival)
