Religious Settlement – Prophet's Home Temple (3/3)
Guess that was their objective.
Txolla – [Main] New Settlement – Southern Spirit Channel, [Main] Expand Econ
Tick Tock goes the clock on the Spirit March.
"We need a canal to traverse the Great River Cataracts to promote further trade," the Admin Chief said, bringing forth the intentions of the king to the Chamber of the Survey in the Royal Archives.
Not even needing to look at the surveys, the clerk there said, "There are a number of spots in the badlands that could be redone into a series of short canals and pools if there was a stable reservoir above them. Because of seepage at that volume of water, if you want to divert enough water you're going to have to anchor on stone, which means building in the cataracts, which means damming the entire Great River."
"You've already thought about this," the Admin Chief notes.
"Initiation for the post! Every Chief Surveyor has made the Senior Assistant Surveyors figure out how to go around the cataracts, which involves working out how to dam the entire Great River," the man says cheerfully, going to a shelf filled with parchment scrolls. "There are tablets in the rear that discuss similar practices that suggest this has been going on since before the gods taught man to read and write. Like, the first proposals might have come in the time when the gods dragged their trowel through the earth to make the Valleysnake Canal, such have been the stalled ambitions."
Hah, they've been spending THOUSANDS of years planning this. So much that it is industry standard to figure out how to do it.
As it was, not only was the site chosen quickly and expediently, but decisions elsewhere began to pay out for the dam quickly. Guild expansion of dye production mostly just expanded the ancient and traditional cultivation fields along the Redshore coast, but the increased number of stone pilings being made allowed for the expansion of the number of stoneworkers with aquatic expertise, who knew they would have a job after the expansion was done and only a few of them would be needed for maintenance. While the increased dye production was merely useful, the dye-alchemists had something more to play around with, and while those experiments did not pan out, a few of the attempts at using various ashes and residue from the glassworks as mordants produced new forms of mortar instead.
So we got improved underwater construction(just in time for the dam!) and for those who don't get the joke here:
-Mordants are used to make dye colors stick better to cloth so they don't fade, allowing you to use a greater variety of dyes since those which might normally wash away too easily can be made colorfast.
-They did their job TOO well so they got stuff that glues ROCK together.
And that means we have concrete for our dam, which is basically the best possible classical age dam we could have achieved.
Megaproject Completed!
Grand Bazaar
This overlarge example of a market serves as the cultural archetype of what a market is, forcing all others in the kingdom to step up their game. All markets have their effects increased as if they were one level higher, and can build markets one level higher than city level would normally allow, at double cost.
System Note: Level 1 Markets now convert 100% of city Econ input into Wealth, Level 2 Markets additionally convert 25% of Econ input into Culture, and Level 3 Markets will give Merchant Actions.
Damn, that makes big markets super valuable. Merchant Actions should cover Trade Missions, Salt Gifts and Games Invites. Yes, another drain on Wealth.
The increased activity from the bazaar also brought increased trouble, but fortunately the mayor had been keeping an eye out for that sort of thing, and had leaned on some external contacts to follow up a few leads. It seemed that while Uvothyn had clipped a number of burgeoning issues with the enclaves in the bud, some of the more radically puritan priests were still causing problems. In particular some of the most extreme adherents were covertly attacking people. The majority of these attacks were on marginalized and vulnerable groups like half-exiles, prostitutes, and anyone suspected of harbouring One God sympathies, but they also occasionally went after petty merchants, who they saw as encouraging greed and sin. That they had a tendency to target those who were involved with foreign trade more than internal trade was duly noted, as well as seeming to go after rumours of impiety among the shipbuilding artisans more often than in other occupations. It was obvious that these puritan radicals felt that outsiders brought disharmony and sin and felt that the People would be fundamentally better off alone and isolated.
Yeah hell no, that's illegal, and disharmonious to boot.
Born in a tent, the King of the Forhuch had already reclaimed a city and had established a system of courier relays throughout the Horse Mountains to keep in contact with the far flung tribes he was settling in the area while making sure the riders stayed sharp. The Pure before him had cleared out the region, turning it into a place ideal for nomads to settle their herds and flocks, but had also left the mines mostly intact, so with the wealth from the Salt Sea trade and access to the skilled slaves the Storm People provided he was able to rapidly revitalize the militarily significant industries.
That sounds like a Hero boosted megaproject.
Remarkably clever, the Forhuch were also experimenting with taking chariot archers and mounting them directly on their horses, and while there were a number of issues from what was reported back, if anyone could take the one off freaks who might have the skill and connection with their animals to do such an absurd thing as fire a bow from the back of a horse, it was the nomads.
And the Doom begins. Horse archers.
And then there were the Harmurri, who on their own weren't a problem. They were, however, getting rather freaked out by the fact that the Highlanders had come boiling out of their hills and had begun gobbling down minor tribes the Harmurri had put in place as a tripwire in case of aggression by the Highlanders or People. For their part, the Highlander priesthood had apparently usurped their king and whipped their people into a frenzy to attack and conquer. Khemetri colonies had apparently been the first course, and the lowland minors a palate cleanser, because it seemed that their next target was the Harmurri. While not directly threatening the Harmurri or People yet, the unease was obvious... and the Highlanders had been sending out agents to contact the One God followers within the People's territory to attempt to get them to 'rise up against their heathen oppressors'.
...and you guys want to get back on the Delenda Est list don't you?
While some of the One God followers had expressed interest, the same agents that had caught onto the puritan priests had also caught onto these foreign agents, and the memory of Uvothyn was still fresh and many of those affected by his efforts were of the opinion that their single God was a universal deity rather than the god of the Highlanders and thus saw no theological problems with siding with the People rather than the Highlanders. This loyalty was assuredly contingent on the kings continuing to protect them and not interfere with their strange worship and rituals, but still, the early warning either way was of significant use.
And the choice to reconcile pays off hugely.
Choose a Megaproject Bonus
[] [MP] Trade Excitement (+10 Wealth, +1 Stability from Guild demands)
We do have a bunch of expensive projects coming in, but its not the best.
Mild push towards a Trade value.
[] [MP] Royal Investment (+1-2 Free Progress to Dam Project)
Faster Dam means Faster Canal.
[] [MP] Expand Market Further (Redshore Level 3 Market 6/18)
Progress towards Merchant action.
Not desired yet, because this will make the other Infrastructure quests harder with a distraction.
[] [MP] Attract More People to City (Redshore Level 2 Block Housing 6/6)
Progress towards Ironworks 3.
Not desired because this will be detrimental to:
-Patrician quest(competition for passives)
-Urban Poor quest(cities less likely to reform for Free Cities)
-Priest quet(competition for passives)
[] [MP] Spread the Wealth Around (All Subordinates Receive +0-1 Loyalty)
Highly desired. It brings us from "must Influence next turn" to "must influence in the next 6 turns"
And makes the Banners all happier too. Which is important considering we don't want the banners to recruit some monotheists who think they're better off with the Highlanders.
Should also have a symbolic effect against the Puritans, as instead of taking the wealth for ourselves(like they claim), we grant it to those who helped us earn it.
Internal Trouble
[] [Int] Expel the One God followers before they can betray you (-2 Intrigue, +1 Stability, reduces potential enemy Intrigue actions, ???)
Boosts Purity. Probably going to SERIOUSLY ding Pride in Acceptance to boot.
[] [Int] Ignore the situation (???)
Let the situation cook and see if a better solution might emerge...or the extremists can take it as tacit approval like they did previously.
I think this might ding Justice and Loyalty the most, we're letting a crime go because it's inconvenient to deal with, while our People, vassals, are left to hang.
[] [Int] Crack down on the puritans (-2 Intrigue, -1 to +1 Stability, ???)
Punish our own idiots. Demonstrates Justice. May or may not dent Purity.
We show them why you don't go around beating and murdering monotheists because we will arrest you and its either the headman or the shit pits(which I suspect to Puritans, the shit pits are far worse)
[] [Int] Attempt to tear out these maniacs, root and branch (-2 Intrigue, -1 Stability, -1 Legitimacy, -1 RA, ???)
We have the Legitimacy AND the RA to spare on this.
And
"Root and branch" here refers to a combination of political violence to execute, exile, and physically isolate a number of the major puritan priests and ringleaders while aggressively politically debating and isolating the root philosophies. Innocents and people undeserving of the punishments dealt it well get caught up in the process, but it is not intended to be a frenzied purge, although it could go sideways.
Pretty much a given that it'd erode Purity and does not
deliberately hurt our other values.
External Trouble
[] [Ext] The Storm People could use mercenaries, and you have some
-[] [Ext] SY: Red Banner
-[] [Ext] SY: Dragon Banner
-[] [Ext] SY: Blood Rain Banner
Yeah no, we're not helping them enslave the locals.
[] [Ext] Freehills could use mercenaries, and you have some
-[] [Ext] FH: Red Banner
-[] [Ext] FH: Dragon Banner
-[] [Ext] FH: Blood Rain Banner
Same here. Helping them hurts us.
[] [Ext] Find out more about what the Highlanders are up to (Main Trade Mission)
It COULD be a misunderstanding or an internal problem. We should check before stabbing.
[] [Ext] They are an obvious threat to you and your Games partners (Main War Mission)
-[] [Ext] Change to Offensive Policy
-[] [Ext] Change to Mass Levy Policy
Premature.
[] [Ext] Keep sending treasure to the Forhuch (Main Targeted Salt Gift)
Pros: Keeps the budding horse archers from looking at us with hostility.
Cons: We can't afford this. And it's funding their weapons program.
[] [Ext] Stay home, farm (Main Expand Econ)
Well...we could use more Econ. Always.
This helps progress towards refounding the cities.
React
[] [React] Expand Great Hall (2xGreat Hall Annexes)
Leaves us one Great Hall(which the passives can take care of) towards solving the Patrician quest.
[] [React] Improve Navy (Main More Warships)
Depends on if Freehills is getting aggressive or not towards us. It does meet the Trader quest, but leaves us low on Martial AND Wealth if we get attacked.
[] [React] Improve Horse Valley Temple (2xSec Temple Actions)
Priest quest fulfilled. This is mechanically suboptimal because the Temples are more expensive than Great Halls.
[] [React] Improve Soil Quality (Main Black Soil)
Progress towards Yeomen quest. Further from the Urban Poor quest.
[] [React] Need more scouts (Sec More Blackbirds + Sec More Spiritbonded)
More Martial, but no quest progress.
Cost actually hurts the other quests in fact
[] [React] Farm (Main Expand Econ, cannot take with switching to Mass Levy)
Well, it makes everything easier if we have the Econ...
PSN
[] [PSN] Sec Plant Hemp (-1 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Main Plant Hemp (-2 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Sec Plant Cotton (-1 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Main Plant Cotton (-2 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Sec Plant Poppies (-1 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Main Plant Poppies (-2 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Sec Expand Forests (-1 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Main Expand Forests (-2 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Sec Expand Econ (-1 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Main Expand Econ (-2 Cent + Costs)
[] [PSN] Nothing
Looks like we need Wealth, but have plenty of Econ. So Wealth choice it is. E: Econ turns to wealth anyways
So final vote for me:
[X] [MP] Spread the Wealth Around (All Subordinates Receive +0-1 Loyalty)
[X] [Int] Attempt to tear out these maniacs, root and branch (-2 Intrigue, -1 Stability, -1 Legitimacy, -1 RA, ???)
[X] [Ext] Find out more about what the Highlanders are up to (Main Trade Mission)
[X] [React] Expand Great Hall (2xGreat Hall Annexes)
[X] [PSN] Main Expand Econ (-2 Cent + Costs)
Stat balance wise:
Loyalty is the most expensive thing to raise of all the rewards. +0-1 Loyalty to all subordinates then is a Secondary Support Subordinate/Main Influence Subordinate to 6 Subordinates.
Mathematically that's 6 actions, 12 Econ and 12 Martial at the cheapest. Actions which we need to take in the near future.
Do consider just how hard it is to get that many Supports done compared to raising 1 Stability.
We're going to be taking Proclaim Glory next turn probably to refill lost Legitimacy, so we may as well get the Stability from there. By contrast starting a Golden Age one turn early isn't as valuable.
