For the second time this month, COVID has come to my job. This time, a coworker tested positive, as opposed to a client's mother testing positive and not having it in her to make her son get tested. So, the company is shut down for quarantine, and I am in quarantine when in my home, so I do not endanger my wife and housemate.
Again.
You'd think this would leave me with ample free time to write, but it turns out that being able to see but not touch the people I love is massively distressing to me and it kind of tanks my ability to function, so frankly expect nothing for a while longer.
[X] Write-in, including counteroffers which may require a roll.
-[X] You won't negotiate with these monsters. You have only one offer for them: Talk, and get a reasonably comfy life sentence. Or don't talk, and they get the death penalty. The more informations they give us, the more comforts they get in their PERMANENT stay in prison. No. of Votes: 6
[x] Pittauro
[x] Chiaroscuro
[x] Dermon
[x] Mr Tebbs
[x] Silvereagle21
[x] UlseDovThur
[X] Life imprisonment. An apartment somewhere sequestered from any people, under biotic restraints, monitored at all times, with all creature comforts of a matriarch in comfortable political exile. If she escapes, you will find her and you will put a bullet in her head. This is about as generous as you will get. If she doesn't take it, you will throw her into the darkest hole on the planet you can find and fucking collapse the exit behind her. No. of Votes: 3
[X] Raiseth
[X] EBR
[X] picklepikkl
[X] Counter offer. Surrender the information and have her sentence commuted to service in the armed forces until death or permanent solitary confinement instead of death. No. of Votes: 1
[x] Something
Total No. of Voters: 58
Your winner!
[X] No. It would be criminally reckless to gamble with the lives of your citizenry this way. You will follow up on Li'Sai's lead, and find another way instead.
I'm writing it now and it's a year update, so potentially tonight. If not, then almost certainly four days from now at the earliest; my job does twelve-hour shifts and I'm on for the next three days.
Forgot this was the census year, folks, and the math is more complicated with time due to me tracking several additional factors, now. I will chunk away at this when off of work; it shouldn't take too much time. We'll see. See y'all around!
[X] No. It would be criminally reckless to gamble with the lives of your citizenry this way. You will follow up on Li'Sai's lead, and find another way instead.
Year 35: 514 GS
Surprisingly, much of your focus this year goes into the census.
The census finally completes this year, and the various Delegates of the Assembly most involved in the project start talking about it constantly. It's not that it isn't good data. It's great, actually. Vol Kam Prime is booming, both from a literal baby boom and from a massive surge of migration from the Vol Union. With transport cheap, and a habitable planet with lots of colony work at the other end, the people come in droves. A lot of it is of a distinctly...ideological...flavor, though. Owning one of the only volus garden worlds outside of the Citadel's control has some attraction, apparently, to the right people.
That's a matter for later, though. Of particular interest is the report's broader demographic focus.
Present Population: 9,285,325,299 (5,210,567,200 Salarian [~56%], 2,115,408,750 Batarian [~23%], 1,092,104,933 Asari [~12%], 867,244,416 Volus [~9%]). 712,417,481 colonial population (~8%).
Population At Previous Census (509 GS): 8,433,780,375 (4,533,425,000 Salarian [~54%], 2,017,675,000 Batarian [~24%], 1,087,171,575 Asari [~13%], 795,508,800 Volus [~9%]). 553,429,000 colonial population (~7%).
You can actually see the dent that the Battle of Eletania left in your population, if you squint at the figures year by year; mostly in the batarians. Still, your population has grown as it always has; more, even. Eletania is a harbinger of nasty things to come if you don't get your army up to snuff prior to beginning regular ground operations, but the naval war is as low-impact on your demographics as it has ever been, for all the funding it sucks up.
Otherwise, things have changed little. The salarian population has continued to expand wildly, far more than your other populations, as the dalatrasses continue to order more and more eggs fertilized into females. They eke a couple of percentage points from the batarians and asari. The volus, however, gain enough people from the explosive growth of and influx to Vol Kam Prime that they keep about the same proportion. It's good data, and the more detailed information on the internal distribution of your population and the very high-level state of your citizens is also virtually priceless, especially with the extremely rapid shifts brought by your grand exertion towards colonization. All of that is good.
The more mixed news regards the Delegates' command of the news stations as they talk about it. They hype it up endlessly. It's not just a census, oh no. It's a critical function of state, one performed entirely by the legislature and beyond the authority of the executive. A triumph of Virmirean republicanism, and an example to all the galaxy. Truly an inspiration. And they have so many other ideas-
-ah, pending the PM's approval. Naturally. She does hold veto power, you know.
Cute.
Frustrations with their snide implications aside, you take their point. You've had your own anxieties about the amount of power you hold over your society, and while performing a census is more a test of the legislature's ability to operate a bureaucracy than their competence to govern, this does demonstrate that non-you people can be trusted to operate functions of government without your direct supervision, in a nicely public manner.
It's not urgent, of course. Very few people are willing to stake their political careers on successfully calling you out, given what you've done with all your power. But, they are laying groundwork, clearly enough. And you have thought about the issue, at considerable length.
Food for further thought, then. Perhaps there is time, now, to take further steps.
Credit Reserves: 610,500.
Yearly Income: 473,000.
Martial: "The Ministry is at capacity, Prime Minister. At this point, we're busy enough with special projects that we can't really take on anymore; normal operations are about all we can manage."
Choose none. 2 Locked.
[ ] Another!: Since you've lost the quarians, it's time to crank out a new raiding fleet with the slack in your budget. Time: 3 years. Cost: 70,000 credits, -43,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 90%. Effect: Get the shipyards fully spooled up once more, and build the 4th Raiding Fleet. With your shipyards choked with new orders to replace destroyed vessels, or involved in the already delayed and cost-overrun-ridden project to produce a dedicated occupation fleet, you cannot seriously begin establishment of more fleets.
[X] Occupation Patrols: If there's one thing the last few years have shown, it's that Virmire has a need for dedicated occupation forces. Presently, two-thirds of your on-paper raiding fleets are tied down suppressing rachni holdouts rather than doing their jobs, and you may see your commitments expanding, should you receive the Nubian Expanse. Get your naval design bureau to design a few dedicated bombardment vessels and order a production run. Time: 2 of 4 years complete. Cost: 85,000 credits, -43,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Introduce dedicated bombardment vessel formations to your navy for the explicit purpose of bombarding and suppressing rachni-held worlds behind the front lines, freeing up the 1st and 2nd Raiding Fleets for battle duties.
[ ] Evacuation Procedures: You now have an evacuation plan for Eletania, but it is woefully inadequate. You cannot begin evacuation procedures every time the Rachni mount an assault on Attican Beta. It happens too frequently. It's time to review your procedures and get them up to scratch. Time: 1 year. Cost: 15,000 credits. Chance of Success: 85%. Effect: Draw up a one hour evacuation plan for the upcoming Eletania colony, its orbitals, and its army bases (including CAG headquarters) in the event of the Rachni mounting an assault.
[ ] Army Mechanization: Your Army has made the request for a massive expansion in the amount of materiel they can field, and they've drawn up plans for what they'd like. It is...extensive. Your troops are already fairly mechanized, but frankly, they've always lagged behind; what this proposal suggests is the work of years. Frankly, at this point what you need is an expansion in your industrial capacity suitable for servicing the Army's needs, but before that you need to get to work on closing the gap with what you have now and designing new equipment for the next generation of soldiers. This is a massive project, and will require an immense investment. Time: Locked until complete, 10 years at present rate. Cost: -40,000 yearly income every year option is active, reduces to -20,000 yearly income once option completes. Chance of Success: Rolled yearly; 30% for no delays, 70% for rapid pace. Effect: Acquire an army equipped to the task of seizing Rachni worlds or defending your own from Rachni assault. May not receive DD or EX modifiers.
[X] Expand Military Shipbuilding: With the sudden, massive growth in your available resources, your shipyards are once again your bottleneck in the size of your navy. It is time to begin another round of expansion. Time: 1 of 2 years complete. Cost: 47,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%. Effect: Subsidize or purchase expansions to your various shipbuilders' ability to produce the weapons of a naval war, allowing you to withstand a higher rate of production.
Diplomacy: "Welcome back, Mira. We have much to do! We have a steady foundation in the Alliance. It is time to begin making use of it. Domestically, things are quiet as well; our foundation here is rock-solid."
Choose 2.
[ ] Embassy Exchange: You never actually visited Rannoch during your state visit tour, but they have expressed some hesitant willingness to commit to an embassy exchange. Some members of your cabinet have talked about the possibility of breaking the Republic from the Citadel, with these embassies being step one. You personally think that it'd be a long time coming...but then again, despite how you often act, you are an asari... Time: 1 year. Cost: 38,000 credits. Chance of Success: 60%. Effect: Negotiate an exchange of formally embassies between yourself and the infamously isolationist Republic of Rannoch.
[ ] Good Fences: Your closest neighbor in the Terminus Alliance is the Frontier Confederacy. In terms of common interests, however, the two of you have another neighbor; the Remnant. You three are the nearest to the Rachni threat, and all have felt the sting of assault upon your home territory. It focuses the mind somewhat. The Confederacy and the Remnant are fairly weak on their own, and largely subordinate to other factions...but it occurs that you bring a sharp injection of strength to your set of common interests... Time: 1 year. Cost: 32,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Reach out to your closest neighbors and most co-interested allies, seeking to discuss your common interests and establish closer ties.
[ ] The Commonwealth Call For Aid: Your military strength was one of the things that the Alliance wanted to acquire. However, your obligations have expanded massively just as you've taken significant casualties. Instruct Shereel to bring a proposal before the Council requesting aid for the Commonwealth in reestablishing and expanding its fleets...although the Joint Fleets need to be rebuilt as well. With the support of the Cooperatives, this should be easier to swing, if you focus on it hard. Time: 1 year. Cost: 10,000 credits. Chance of Success: 40%. Effect: Acquire aid for expanding and maintaining your military.
[ ] Democratic Reforms: While the Delegates' coy attempts at starting to discredit you are not appreciated, you do understand where they're coming from. Democratic reform has been a mounting anxiety of yours, in recent years. The issue is doing it right; Marae and Kirai love to share horror stories with you of what happens when a government is formed poorly, and your particular form of governance is nearly without modern precedent. Rannoch hardly counts. You'll need to be wise, and plan carefully. Time: 1 year. Cost: 37,300. Chance of Success: 10%/40%/60%/90%. Effect: Develop a road map to adopt the, "Representative Democracy," government form. Quality of resulting ideas depends on rolled result. Slim or greater successes and failures disabled for this option. You do not get to retake this option in the event of a shit roll.
[ ] Checking In: So the salarians have really been cranking out the females lately for population expansion purposes, and they really don't, normally. Shereel -- whenever she stops by Taramnal or Virmire on visits back from Omega -- always seems unsettled by it. Maybe they'd benefit by you touching base with prominent members of the populace and seeing how things are going. Time: 1 year. Cost: 15,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Touch base with the Commonwealth's Dalatrasses to see how your largest demographic is bearing up under such a radical change in procedure.
Stewardship: "Work on the power rollout continues, Mira. We are also prepared to begin establishing the structure for our police force and beginning recruitment and training. Our other projects also remain, if you deem the need is greater."
Choose 1. 1 locked.
[ ] Establishing Force: You have resolved on a police force of expert investigators; most of the work for them will be administrative given the limited material demands they take. Time to get to it. Time: 3 years. Cost: 120,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%. Effect: Organize the Commonwealth National Investigative Service and equip them to planned spec. Much of this process will be training, given the high standard.
[X] Power Is Power: You have recently cracked power generation principles from Yulair technology offering a staggering improvement in gains. You, quite frankly, cannot afford not to roll it out as widely as possible. Time: 1 of 3 years complete. Cost: 75,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Better warships, +40,000 yearly income.
[ ] Military Production Expansion: While more typically the preserve of the MoW, the MoW is somewhat overstretched, at the moment, and the MoF is always interested in the labor-intensive work of building arms factories, so Lissa has volunteered to handle the work of expanding production for the Army. Time: 3 years. Cost: 87,000 credits. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Double the rate of advancement on the, "Army Mechanization," action thanks to improved industrial capacity.
[ ] Social Programs: Socialist rhetoric is increasingly popular with a populace under strain by war. You should be able to defray things with a reform of unemployment benefits, and you can deal with the cost at the moment. Time: 2 years. Cost: -32,000 yearly income (under present conditions). Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Expand and fund your unemployment benefits, undercutting the SP's opposition to your policies. With the Crash in living memory, this is not a difficult sell, and even the Prosperity Party won't complain too hard.
Intrigue: "We are on firmer ground, now. Sadly, the opportunity on Omega has likely closed, but we can focus on other options, now. I would like-" gshk "-to focus on solidifying our branch's foundations; we could use a steady stream of qualified recruits, and analysts are always welcome. That said-" gshk "-we are prepared to launch more active operations."
Choose 2.
[ ] Establish A Spy Academy: You were paralyzed, in recent years, by a lack of personnel for your intelligence branch. You've fixed it for now, but you want never to deal with that sort of headache again. Shurna's present model is almost an apprenticeship system; applicants need a sponsor, who will be responsible for their training. Your ex-Lystheni recruiters are, politely, horrified by the inefficiency of this. Get those recruiters to work on formalizing your recruitment, and make sure Shurna actually listens to them. Time: 3 years. Cost: -35,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Establish an academy for the training of new intelligence personnel, ensuring a steady flow of new recruits.
[ ] Support And Analysis: You have fearsome SIGINT capabilities, and your Lystheni helpers are working on your deficiencies in SAPINT. However, another personnel-intensive job that has suffered until now is analysis. This is another area where Shurna admits her methods have caused her to fall behind. She just needs more support staff to go to work on improving your ability to collate information into a usable form. Time: 2 years. Cost: -30,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 65%. Effect: Expand the MoI's Analysis Division, greatly improving your efficiency in turning tips into actionable intelligence.
[ ] Develop Anti-Rachni Intelligence Tactics: You've been waging a more effective intelligence war against the Rachni than most; still, that's not something you can just sit still on. Your methods to date are fairly brute-force; you want to try to trial new equipment, and deployment tactics for it, that will allow you to eavesdrop on Rachni movements less obtrusively than unleashing a swarm of probes with every raiding expedition. Time: 2 years. Cost: 47,000 credits. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Develop your tactics for eavesdropping on the Rachni.
[ ] Ears In the North: As part of the Terminus Alliance, it behooves you to keep an eye on your fellows. Omega is where the Alliance comes together; Omega is where you will plant your ears. The contact Kurik cultivated has certainly closed as an option after all this time, but you should be able to get some contacts who can point you to promising avenues of investigation. Time: 1 year. Cost: 36,000 credits. Chance of Success: 80%. Effect: Gain some ground-level contacts on Omega.
[ ] Eyes On the South: The Citadel is the major opposite number to the Terminus, and as your role in the fight for the Attican Traverse develops, you are increasingly likely to come into contact with their interests. You need information. The Citadel is the focal point for them as Omega is for the Alliance. You want your eyes locked on it. Time: 1 year. Cost: 45,000 credits. Chance of Success: 70%. Effect: Gain some ground-level contacts on the Citadel.
Learning: "Ah, I feel energized. I have waited a long time to begin work on the educational system. It will be wonderful to begin to see results. I recommend-" gshk "-pushing forward with this, Prime Minister; if we begin work on the dedicated military academies this year or next, we can have them ready by the next election. Also, I have a new research proposal which has made its way up the chain. Something about ships? They seem excited-" gshk "-anyway."
Choose 1. 1 locked.
[ ] Military Schools: While your educational system must, first and foremost, be for education, your decision to emphasize skills valuable to the military demands certain investments. One of your current series of test bed schools trains promising candidates for enlisted or officer service starting in mid-to-late adolescence. While your other test beds are closing down now, expand this set and formally adopt it into your school system. Time: 4 years. Cost: -40,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 80%. Effect: Establish the specialized academies needed to produce trained recruits for the military right at the cusp of adulthood.
[X] Curriculum Review: Your main-track schools have been integrating lessons learned from the test bed branches throughout the testing process. This makes it a somewhat simpler task to begin the final overhaul, but the sheer scale is still an issue. This will be a long process. Happily, after a certain amount of time you'll be able to turn it over to the experts on the ground. Time: 1 of 2 years locked, 1 of 4 years to completion. Cost: -15,000 yearly income. Chance of Success: 75%. Effect: Finish the process of integrating your new reforms to Virmire's new school system, instilling the desired overall martial tendency and giving staff the tools they need to identify promising military candidates early.
[ ] Destructive Testing: The Anarchy Sphere you originally found in Sikel has yielded little data, as of yet, but you have recently acquired an additional seventy-three of them. This opens up options for more destructive testing, prying them apart to see how they work. Time: 2 years. Cost: 1d10 anarchy spheres, 26,000 credits. Chance of Success: Progress, [52/???]. Effect: Significantly advance understanding of the anarchy spheres. Slightly increased risk of containment breaches.
[ ] Armor Developments: One of the researchers in the Prothean site on Amalinya had the mad idea to reconstruct one of the combat drones and activate it. After a running gun battle that you're given to understand involved three researchers, a university student there on an internship, and four members of the security team, they lured the drone into the facility's power core, where they proceeded to vent heat into the chamber until the drone melted. You're fuzzy on how, but this process apparently gave the intern some insights on the drone's armor material -- some form of ablative compound. The research team agrees, has offered her a permanent position after graduation, and their proposal has apparently found widespread approval and reached your desk. What is wrong with these people? Time 1 year. Cost: 62,000 credits. Chance of Success: 60%. Effect: Practical ablative armor principles (starts at dreadnought-scale).
Personal: "We have a lead on Nemata. We will want to move fast to investigate it. Although...I think I will stay out of this one, Mira. I am quite exhausted, after my fight with Li'Sai."
Choose 3.
[ ] Personal Attention: Sometimes, a project needs all hands on deck, including yours. Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: Automatic. Cost: Free. Effect: Oversee one of your chosen actions personally, adding your full stat in the relevant category (i.e., Martial for Martial actions) to the success roll. You may not apply this to a given action more than once.
[ ] Hit the Campaign Trail: You have the support of the people, and should never take it for granted. Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: 50%. Cost: 1,000 credits. Effect: Get out there and campaign for votes. Raise popularity with the populace by justifying administration decisions and being a visible and accessible public presence. A happier populace allows a deeper recruiting pool, for when you need it, as well as being just generally better. It would be advisable to spend some time on this or a similar option whenever re-election is near.
[ ] Take a Break: You are a parent, now, and your daughter is perfect. You want to spend all the time with her you can, and with Ilena -- the two of you are formally bonded now, after all. Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: 50%. Cost: Free. Effect: Take a step back from work, clear your schedule, and take a Goddess-damned vacation. Possible stat or trait gain; possible relationship gain with advisers or people of importance. Trait gain/stat growth for Loreia.
[ ] Commit Hero Unit: Heroes are potent, but somewhat unreliable. By ordering a Minister to get the best people you have on deck, you can nail them down and ensure that they'll commit to a project, if at the cost of preventing them from affecting any others. Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: Automatic. Cost: Free. Effect: Commit the selected hero unit to the option of your choice rather than risk the luck of the dice, as long as it's within their specialty. Their characteristic bonus will be added to your roll for that option, but the hero unit will not be able to affect any other options for the year. May only be chosen once per hero unit. Write in as addendum to the boosted option.
[ ] Investigate Nemata [Personally/Kirai/Marae/Lissa/K'Sharr/Kurik/Shurna/Shalaya]: Li'Sai talked, even if Rissiva went to a prison cell without uttering a word. There used to be a meeting point on Nemata. It's been a while, so who knows if it's still there, but it's the lead you have. Time: 1 year. Chance of Success: 65%. Cost: Risk. Effect: Send a team to investigate Nemata with one of the listed leaders. The roll will be intrigue; if there is opposition present, there will also be battle rolls. The effective stats of the team you send will be Martial 13/Intrigue 13. The highest stat between the deployed leader and the team will be the one rolled for all encounter rolls. Potentially lethal consequences for failed rolls.
MANUAL MORATORIUM; APPROVAL VOTING.
Welcome back, folks.
We return! I've missed writing this. I'm glad y'all missed it as well! Enjoy this update! Take some time, discuss it amongst yourselves. I'll wait.
Well we're back isn't that great! Now onto the quest! One of the things I definitely want to do is start doing democratic reforms for our government we're no longer in the danger zone of destruction so I feel we can begin to give power back to the people.
Intrigued wise I think we need that Spy school up and running as well as doing Support and Analysis. For stewardship I say the social reforms or the Police force and beyond that I don't really care for the rest too much.
I'm no planner, but if we're going to do Democratic Reforms, I think that's one that will definitely need Personal Attention. It's too integral to the future of the nation to leave it up to a bad roll, and we only get one shot at it.
I'm no planner, but if we're going to do Democratic Reforms, I think that's one that will definitely need Personal Attention. It's too integral to the future of the nation to leave it up to a bad roll, and we only get one shot at it.
Well we're back isn't that great! Now onto the quest! One of the things I definitely want to do is start doing democratic reforms for our government we're no longer in the danger zone of destruction so I feel we can begin to give power back to the people.
Intrigued wise I think we need that Spy school up and running as well as doing Support and Analysis. For stewardship I say the social reforms or the Police force and beyond that I don't really care for the rest too much.
If we do choose Democratic Reforms, keep in mind that it's a huge bet with very long term consequences. We'll want do do everything we can to add to the dice; that probably means personal attention and a hero unit if any are applicable.