Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
Yea and the way were decreasing that trait is going to cause a massive brain drain and intense spikes of incompetency which means everyone in our nation gets fucked over.
The Ymaryn: Succession
- Thread starter Redium
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Alt. History
- Location
- Hell
?
Are you under the impression we are trying to do that on purpose? They are happy about it, but we are both trying to get more administrators. We are in a bad situation and there are only half-fixes for it now.
Now can we focus on the vote instead? There are a lot of choices and we should pick a goal.
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
Anyway, look at this data. Given this data, we can now estimate the right number of people needed to solve the crisis.
We know that if we had kept the relative + peasantry, we would have had enough patricians to solve the issue within a couple of years, even after we'd kick out the commoners again.
In contrast, our current system passes 70% of men and 20% of women. If we assume that an equal amount of men and women participate, then that means that we pass 90% as many patricians as in the commoner+relative scenario. This means the crisis is practically solved, we just need a bunch of bodies to stopgap the bleeding for now, and we're done.
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
- Location
- Hell
Yeah, that's true. However, those traits result in the Ymaryn being isolationist and self-satisfied with themselves. From the perspective of managing the ambitions of our advisors -- namely, Rhys, the future King and his dreams of an empire of foreign diplomatic exchange; and Haul, the mad-scientist Artisan advisor who is already bitter that the King seems to be using him as an expendable and interchangeable pawn -- decreasing the influence those traits have over the Ymaryn society removes blocks on fulfilling their ambitions, lessening the chance of them flipping out and wrecking any concerted plan to recover. (We lost the ability to direct Ianto because Ydrys's trauma over his best friend suiciding, frex.)
(The principal problem trait is Purity, but that's not under strain, unfortunately. And Greater Justice and Joyous Symphony -- the traits that synergize to stifle innovation and social reform -- are both also critical or foundational parts of how the civilization even works.)
As for the votes.
[ ] Public reprimand
[ ] Private censure
[ ] Do nothing
Personally either Private censure or Do nothing works; everything else just strikes me as bad. Private censure works better; convey to Haul that he should tell Ydrys about his frustrated desires, as well as encourage Aderyn's intrigue efforts.
[ ] Send Rhys to try placate them (Lose his action this turn, success is not guaranteed)
[ ] Promise to carve out a new headquarters for them somewhere within 5 years.
[ ] Intervene with Dyfan to retract the donation of land. (Spend your Favour with Dyfan)
[ ] Pledge support for the Spiritbonded to rebuild the Heaven's Hawks March under their authority.
[ ] Grant your blessing.
I'm inclined towards granting the movement. Dyfan is a Martial Hero whose Ambition is to Conquer the Steppes, having the Holy Order dedicated towards calvary would be a great boon towards that. Our own martial ambitions would only be served by keeping the Spiritbonded within control of the Core if we want to rebuild Heaven's Hawk for the Northeastern bulwark against the steppes, or in Txolla's wars.
[ ] Promise to carve out a new headquarters for them somewhere within 5 years.
[ ] Intervene with Dyfan to retract the donation of land. (Spend your Favour with Dyfan)
[ ] Pledge support for the Spiritbonded to rebuild the Heaven's Hawks March under their authority.
[ ] Grant your blessing.
I'm inclined towards granting the movement. Dyfan is a Martial Hero whose Ambition is to Conquer the Steppes, having the Holy Order dedicated towards calvary would be a great boon towards that. Our own martial ambitions would only be served by keeping the Spiritbonded within control of the Core if we want to rebuild Heaven's Hawk for the Northeastern bulwark against the steppes, or in Txolla's wars.
[ ] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
-[ ] Call back retired Patricians
-[ ] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum
-[ ] Accept non-Patricians with on-the-job administrative experience as Patricians
-[ ] Try recruiting Mercenary Patricians?
-[ ] Advertise among the other Splinter States and poach from them
The principal thing is that we need bodies. Mercenary leaders should only work in the context of filling out our armies' command structure, but the gaps in our bureaucracy are much bigger than anything we can gain with that option. The option I'm most inclined towards is to acknowledge those acting as Patricians as such -- that's what Ydrys has been doing when he tried to rebuild the Neighborhood Watches. Changing the Academies' curriculum gets the same failures of lack of broad knowledge base as taking in non-Patricians, but extends the failure to the long-term.
We could call back retired Patricians and recognize non-Patricians, and suffer the mid-term education failure, too...
-[ ] Call back retired Patricians
-[ ] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum
-[ ] Accept non-Patricians with on-the-job administrative experience as Patricians
-[ ] Advertise among the other Splinter States and poach from them
The principal thing is that we need bodies. Mercenary leaders should only work in the context of filling out our armies' command structure, but the gaps in our bureaucracy are much bigger than anything we can gain with that option. The option I'm most inclined towards is to acknowledge those acting as Patricians as such -- that's what Ydrys has been doing when he tried to rebuild the Neighborhood Watches. Changing the Academies' curriculum gets the same failures of lack of broad knowledge base as taking in non-Patricians, but extends the failure to the long-term.
We could call back retired Patricians and recognize non-Patricians, and suffer the mid-term education failure, too...
[ ] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns
[ ] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns
[ ] Ydrys: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health
[ ] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
[ ] Ydrys: Recreate the Census
Either Neighborhood Watches or Salterns. Only 1, since we still need to respond to the Patrician Crisis. Everything else can be set aside, for now. Preferably the Salterns, since that's part of Txolla's Loyalty conditions and the Salterns only pay out in the short-mid-term, if I recall correctly.
[ ] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns
[ ] Ydrys: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health
[ ] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
Either Neighborhood Watches or Salterns. Only 1, since we still need to respond to the Patrician Crisis. Everything else can be set aside, for now. Preferably the Salterns, since that's part of Txolla's Loyalty conditions and the Salterns only pay out in the short-mid-term, if I recall correctly.
[ ] Rhys: Mend fences between Ydrys and Ianto.
[ ] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
[ ] Rhys: Investigate a Councilor
-[ ] (Haul/Ianto/Prydyer/Aderyn/Euryg)
[ ] Rhys: Create a wide web of contacts across the Ymaryn sphere
[ ] Rhys: Focused Contacts
-[ ] (Western Wall/Greenshore/Hyatha/Thunder Mountains/Txolla)
[ ] Rhys: Monsoon Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Syffryn Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Great Plains situation
I prefer to investigate the Khan's generals. As our Martial advisor says, we have a known threat, we need to be ready for them. Otherwise, getting basic info from the disparate parts of the empire would let us know where we should direct our efforts towards.
[ ] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[ ] (Haul/Ianto/Prydyer/Aderyn/Euryg)
[ ] Rhys: Create a wide web of contacts across the Ymaryn sphere
-[ ] (Western Wall/Greenshore/Hyatha/Thunder Mountains/Txolla)
[ ] Rhys: Monsoon Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Syffryn Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Great Plains situation
I prefer to investigate the Khan's generals. As our Martial advisor says, we have a known threat, we need to be ready for them. Otherwise, getting basic info from the disparate parts of the empire would let us know where we should direct our efforts towards.
[ ] Haul: Contact Thunder Mountain
[] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
[ ] Haul: Applying Current Telescopes:
-[ ] (Army/Navy/Sale/Communications)
[ ] Haul Survey Txolla for resources
[ ] Haul: Investigate ways to alchemically separate silver and lead without mercury
[ ] Haul: Try to negotiate with Gylyes for access to mercury
[ ] Haul: Establish a lead-silver mine in the northern Core
Perfect the telescope. His Ambition is acting up, it needs to be fed if we want to keep him (and I do).
[ ] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Prydyer: Rebuilding Market Towns
[] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
[ ] Prydyer: Build Loyalist sentiment in Txolla
[ ] Pryder: Focused Contacts: Txolla
[ ] Pryder: Complete a general agricultural land use survey.
Get info on foreign markets, for use in launching a foreign trade mission on ships.
[ ] Prydyer: Rebuilding Market Towns
[] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
[ ] Prydyer: Build Loyalist sentiment in Txolla
[ ] Pryder: Focused Contacts: Txolla
[ ] Pryder: Complete a general agricultural land use survey.
Get info on foreign markets, for use in launching a foreign trade mission on ships.
[ ] Ianto: Dismiss this councilor and find another; damn the scandal.
[ ] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
Getting another Patrician and Learning advisor doesn't strike me as worth a scandal.
[ ] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
Getting another Patrician and Learning advisor doesn't strike me as worth a scandal.
-[ ] (Rhys/Haul/Ianto/Prydyer/Euryg)
[ ] Aderyn: Create a wide web of contacts across the Ymaryn sphere
[ ] Aderyn: Focused Contacts
-[ ] (Western Wall/Greenshore/Hyatha/Thunder Mountains/Txolla)
[ ] Aderyn: Investigate the Cults
[ ] Aderyn: Serial Killer Investigation
[ ] Aderyn: Investigate the attacks on Half-Exiles
[] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches
Basically everything else under her purview is less important. The Neighborhood Watches are the lowest levels of the Crown, and we need them filled out completely if we want to use our Admin Hero effectively.
[ ] Euryg: Logistics Overhaul Reform
[ ] Euryg: Strategic Independence Reform
[ ] Euryg: Militia Training Reform
[ ] Euryg: Establish Valleyhome City Levy
[ ] Euryg: Look into Mass Levy demobilization
[ ] Euryg: Take stock of the Royal Navy
[ ] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
[ ] Euryg: Work on rebuilding city walls
[ ] Euryg: Begin recalling arms and armour from the Khan's war
The principal thing is to support the Highlander war, and then prepare to deal with any other martial threat in the near-future. The Logistics Overhaul simplifies supply lines and would let our armies have better strategic mobility, though it strikes me as a little slow to build for now. The Strategic Independence might let our Gentry have more strategic impact, and might be quicker than everything else. Putting a light infantry special forces commander in charge of a guerrilla war supported by mercenary armies sounds like it should work very well -- it all depends on how confident we are that the Highlanders will go away quickly.
Possibly the Navy can be done for synergy with Haul+Prydyer?
[ ] Euryg: Strategic Independence Reform
[ ] Euryg: Establish Valleyhome City Levy
[ ] Euryg: Look into Mass Levy demobilization
[ ] Euryg: Take stock of the Royal Navy
[ ] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
[ ] Euryg: Work on rebuilding city walls
The principal thing is to support the Highlander war, and then prepare to deal with any other martial threat in the near-future. The Logistics Overhaul simplifies supply lines and would let our armies have better strategic mobility, though it strikes me as a little slow to build for now. The Strategic Independence might let our Gentry have more strategic impact, and might be quicker than everything else. Putting a light infantry special forces commander in charge of a guerrilla war supported by mercenary armies sounds like it should work very well -- it all depends on how confident we are that the Highlanders will go away quickly.
Possibly the Navy can be done for synergy with Haul+Prydyer?
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Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
While true, i'd rather alter the society around those traits rather than the traits themselves, we need to encourage intellectualism rather than get rid of it, They are the most powerful traits we have and the social stratisfication will naturally decrease as technology improves since the peasantry will get better and better as their time is increased due to not needing to constantly work on farming or whatever their low class job is.
Honestly now that we know that the commoner option could have saved us the trait it would have been even better because it keeps the option for the peasantry to eventually get through the exams.
Not quite, @lioli got it. Ianto is super elitist. He's curious, inquisitive, and willing to go out and examine the world, but he does this from a place where he's utterly convinced his worldview is right and that his particular social class is the best. Anything that fails to live up to his standards is abominable; the fact that Ydrys lowered standards physically hurts him and he's enabled the suicide of students who couldn't live up. He said that was a good thing and, unfortunately, most of Ymaryn society agrees. Of course, Ydrys also saw quite intimately how severely the high standards of the People have harmed them. As he said in the second chapter, the worst moment of his life — worse than his family situation or the existential and psychotically bloody war against the Khan — was his best friend's suicide during their Academy days since he couldn't hack it. The standards issue is also why Ydrys has such a strained relationship with his family, he hasn't seen them or really interacted with them beyond sporadic letters since he was 10 years old. He's 29 right now, he barely even remembers the faces of his parents and they've aged so much he wouldn't even recognize them. This in turn contributed to his fear of getting married and having kids of his own — as King, his children will have standards impossibly higher than what is already set. This is on top of people trying to exploit them to get at Ydrys.
By every measure Ydrys is the best of what Ymaryn society is able to produce, but personally he's super fucked up. His Dream has always been to reform society so that education, something Ydrys will admit he really loved, doesn't destroy people.
The mistake you made is reading in a social status conflict that doesn't exist. Both Ianto and Ydrys are patricians. They are of equal social backgrounds and Ianto would be the first to admit that Ydrys is a superior scholar to him. Now it's true that Ydrys' family is from the Eastern Core which is much more rural than the rest of the Core, but that doesn't matter; both of them went to the Academies and passed with honours so they're of equal status before you consider Ydrys as King.
18 is too young to begin writing the Exams. Ydrys wrote them at 19 and that was considered hideously young. Most begin at 21 or 22 and most people often fail once or twice first.
I mean . . . you hired mercenary armies right? Why couldn't you get mercenary patricians? Isn't that how it works?
They are very much not your vassals right now.
The big conflict of the quest is going to be working with the Splinter States enough to keep you loosely together until you can reunify. It's going to take assistance as well as subtle sabotage to make it happen. It's much more a diplomatic or intrigue problem than anything else.
Not quite. The real reason is that most of the male Philosophers ended up getting killed in battle against the Khan. Ydrys event hints at this when he recognizes that the list of Philosophers is simply too short; most of them are dead. By lowering the score needed to pass, you got a bumper crop, but these were people who would've normally failed out, not scored well.
Ding!
Note: this is a reprimand, you're just doing it in private. If you want to talk to Haul, that's one option down. This vote is essentially organized from most severe response to least severe.
It is entirely possible to mitigate the dangerous social side effects of Life of Arete without getting rid of it (Getting rid of Die But Do It is the most obvious solution). Part of the reason it got so bad was because of the utter isolation and ossification that the Ymaryn Kingdom underwent over the last thousand years. When there's only so many careers of suitable status available, how do you ration them? The simplest answer is credentialism, some thing I'm sure many modern people are familiar with. A lot of the problems of the Kingdom are going to be almost modern in nature just because of the structures that have developed.
Euryg thinks the military reforms can wait. They're not going to do anything without at least Valleyhome's City Levy rebuilt. Plus, the lack of follow up after the Great Khan regarding demobilization and arms control has meant that so much has slipped through the cracks that you can't even begin to guess.
I think it was in the update, but 2/3s of the examinees were male and 1/3 female. You are on the border of solving the crisis, but I wanted to correct an incorrect assumption.
Yes.
However, because of everyone's experiences in PoC, I think regaining DGE will be over someone's dead body. Divine Glorious Elites basically caused PoC, the quest this is based on, to explode into salt and quickly terminate thereafter. This is likely a player limit, not a game issue.
Elitism hasn't made the Ymaryn isolationist. That is honestly on the players and the reluctance of considering diplomacy instead of focusing on internal issues; it ties back to PoC and the Lightning Rounds this quest was based on. The only thing that may interfere with diplomacy is Purity and I think that's a value that everyone would be more than happy to see go.
You have right now two Primary Intrigue Advisors, a Primary Diplo advisory and a secondary Diplo/Trade advisor, take advantage of that.
Also, it's unlikely Rhys will be King; he's older than Ydrys. It would take Ydrys dying of stress, illness, violence, or assassination for it to happen. All of those are very possible, but less likely than Rhys dying first of old age or violence (diplomat is a risky job).
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
Both fortunately and unfortunately, not all the players from PoC have come here, so we might actually be able to regain the trait without salt, the trait itself has a bad con, but its something easy to mitigate if we can get traits that increase innovation, technology naturally solves the traits negative as the peasantry and eventual middle class gain more time to actually study.
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ugh, I sat here building a plan for too long before throwing my hands up and calling it a lost cause, I can't get myself invested into it.
I think we should resolve the professors conflict with Rhys and let the spirit bonded go, they'd just be another action series otherwise. We gotta triage and all. No idea on the patrician crisis but fuck divine glorious elites anyway, if only we can knock off purity (no mercenaries). Maybe have the wife build networks, I dunno if we need to do that before investigations.
I see I've been ninjaed. The gaining of Divine Glorious Elites was literally the beginning of the end of Paths Of Civilization and in character, the Kindgom of the People. It died and we celebrate! Let's avoid it like the plague, "infallible" elites has never been a good thing at any point in history, ever, period.
I think we should resolve the professors conflict with Rhys and let the spirit bonded go, they'd just be another action series otherwise. We gotta triage and all. No idea on the patrician crisis but fuck divine glorious elites anyway, if only we can knock off purity (no mercenaries). Maybe have the wife build networks, I dunno if we need to do that before investigations.
I see I've been ninjaed. The gaining of Divine Glorious Elites was literally the beginning of the end of Paths Of Civilization and in character, the Kindgom of the People. It died and we celebrate! Let's avoid it like the plague, "infallible" elites has never been a good thing at any point in history, ever, period.
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
Okay maybe i was wrong about the salt....
But anyways, I heavily disagree, while them being infallible is untrue, the trait itself encourages a level of competency unseen in real life. This trait is the underpinning of why our civilization is so ridiculously educated even for the lowliest of peasants. The Traits can be worked around to produce a better whole, while the destruction of the traits would result in massive backfire unless we play it well... which is both difficult, unlikely and loads of effort for what would ultimately be an overall downgrade.
- Location
- Hell
[X] Plan Contact Splinters
-[X] Tell him to stop
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum
[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Contact Thunder Mountain
-[X] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
-[X] Grant your blessing.
As Redium noted, we currently have a lot of characters that are more diplomatically inclined. He also made mention that to succeed we should ensure they stay dependent on us. In that case I am poaching the Patricians we need and finding out what is going on in Thunder Mountain. I also want to open up to foreign markets and see if we can get our resources that way. Just because Gold is useless to us, does not mean we cannot buy foreign supplies with it.
-[X] Tell him to stop
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum
[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Contact Thunder Mountain
-[X] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
-[X] Grant your blessing.
As Redium noted, we currently have a lot of characters that are more diplomatically inclined. He also made mention that to succeed we should ensure they stay dependent on us. In that case I am poaching the Patricians we need and finding out what is going on in Thunder Mountain. I also want to open up to foreign markets and see if we can get our resources that way. Just because Gold is useless to us, does not mean we cannot buy foreign supplies with it.
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- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You forgot to address the spiritbonded moving to Western Wall. I advise we give them our blessing, we can't afford to spend actions maintaining them.
I also think we need to have our wife track the serial killer or investigate the half exiles. We don't have a councilor that's directly responsible for the urban cities so I think we're missing more of what happening inside. Those problems shouldn't be allowed to fester, and we need to public health soon too before it blows up in our face.
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- Location
- Hell
I agree, I am adding the blessing. However, I think the best way to help the Half-Exiles is through the Watches
It looks like they assist in those matters normally and getting them will be of more help to the Half-Exiles.
zamin
The Watcher in the Dark
[X] Plan zamin
-[X] Tell him to stop
-[X] Grant your blessing
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns (Influence)
-[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches (Influence)
-[X] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
Well, this is a pretty complicated vote, so I might as well throw my hat into the ring. From the top:
-[X] Tell him to stop
-[X] Grant your blessing
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns (Influence)
-[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches (Influence)
-[X] Euryg: Personally direct the fighting against the Highlanders
Well, this is a pretty complicated vote, so I might as well throw my hat into the ring. From the top:
Haul's actions are toeing the line, but I don't think it's worth dismissing him quite yet. Let's just give him a warning not to overstep his bounds.
It's a shame, but we can't afford spending how many actions to placate the Spiritbonded Holy Order. I think it'd probably be better to let them go with our blessings so that at least we'll still maintain some good ties with them.
For the Patrician crisis, I believe that all of the available options are kinda bad:
- Call back retired Patricians: might help in the short term, but they're retired for a reason. A lot of them are probably going to drop dead soon and then we'll be back right where we started
- Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum: honestly, could work. At the very least, cutting out all the Martial parts would increase graduation rates. However, it's been pointed out that doing this will make our Patricians much less competent in the long term, so I'm not so keen on this option
- Accept non-Patricians with on-the-job administrative experiences as Patricians: Promote some of our middle managers to take over the jobs of their former superiors. I think this will help us tide over the current issue while bringing some much-needed new blood into our pool of Patricians
- Try recruiting Mercenary Patricians?: AHAHAHA no. Hiring mercenaries to fight is one thing, but hiring outsiders to manage our state administration is just asking for thieves and spies to come in. And odds are that there aren't even that many available outsiders with the skills we need anyway
- Advertise among the other Splinter States and poach from them: Hmmm... kinda mixed feelings about this. I think the usefulness of this action will depend on how we're planning to treat the Splinter States in the future. If we're trying to woo them over diplomatically, this'll just piss them off. But if we're already planning to retake them via force, then weakening them like this would be a great idea
As I'm unsure about how we're planning to handle the Splinter States, I'll go with the "Accept non-Patricians" option for now, but I'm willing to change it to "poaching from the Splinter States" if necessary.
Edit: Have changed to "Condense and accelerate" as others have pointed out that doing so may be better in the long term since it'll ensure that our experts are less likely to try doing everything and overwork themselves to death
For Ydrys' second action, I'm going to go with "Repairing Salterns" as those are a critical issue that should be solved sooner rather than later. And unlike the other options (Market Towns, Farms, etc.), this is something only Ydrys can do.
For Rhys' action, I think the big priority right now is making sure that we're not about to see a new Khan 2: Electric Boogaloo. The absolute last thing we need right now is one of their old generals popping up to finish what their leader started.
For Haul, I'm kind of torn between "Perfecting Telescopes", "Investigating ways to seperate silver and lead without mercury" and "Establish a lead-silver mine". I'm still kinda mad about him going behind our back, but if he's determined to do his research no matter what then I'd rather him do it out in the open where everyone can see.
For Prydyer, I think the main priority right now should be to evaluate the former markets. Right now we know our own internal market, but that's only half the picture. I want to know exactly what is and is not in demand before we go making any big moves to reestablish our economy.
For Ianto... keep him for now. I don't think it's worth the scandal right this moment. That said, he's an old man and I think it might be a good idea to encourage him to retire sooner rather than later.
For Aderyn (who's apparently a goddamn Heroic Intrigue specialist!), I think we need to focus on rebuilding the neighbourhood watches first. The cult investigation, serial killer investigation, half-exile attacks... all of these actions would become a lot easier if we had a functional police force to call upon. So as tempting as it is to start establishing a web of contacts, I think this should be her first priority.
For our new Blackbird Euryg, I want him to personally handle the fighting against the Highlanders. Not only is he pefectly suited for this type of guerrila warfare, but the sooner we get rid of the Highlanders the quicker and easier it'll be to start working on the many other issues plaguing our military at the moment.
It's a shame, but we can't afford spending how many actions to placate the Spiritbonded Holy Order. I think it'd probably be better to let them go with our blessings so that at least we'll still maintain some good ties with them.
For the Patrician crisis, I believe that all of the available options are kinda bad:
- Call back retired Patricians: might help in the short term, but they're retired for a reason. A lot of them are probably going to drop dead soon and then we'll be back right where we started
- Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum: honestly, could work. At the very least, cutting out all the Martial parts would increase graduation rates. However, it's been pointed out that doing this will make our Patricians much less competent in the long term, so I'm not so keen on this option
- Accept non-Patricians with on-the-job administrative experiences as Patricians: Promote some of our middle managers to take over the jobs of their former superiors. I think this will help us tide over the current issue while bringing some much-needed new blood into our pool of Patricians
- Try recruiting Mercenary Patricians?: AHAHAHA no. Hiring mercenaries to fight is one thing, but hiring outsiders to manage our state administration is just asking for thieves and spies to come in. And odds are that there aren't even that many available outsiders with the skills we need anyway
- Advertise among the other Splinter States and poach from them: Hmmm... kinda mixed feelings about this. I think the usefulness of this action will depend on how we're planning to treat the Splinter States in the future. If we're trying to woo them over diplomatically, this'll just piss them off. But if we're already planning to retake them via force, then weakening them like this would be a great idea
As I'm unsure about how we're planning to handle the Splinter States, I'll go with the "Accept non-Patricians" option for now, but I'm willing to change it to "poaching from the Splinter States" if necessary.
Edit: Have changed to "Condense and accelerate" as others have pointed out that doing so may be better in the long term since it'll ensure that our experts are less likely to try doing everything and overwork themselves to death
For Ydrys' second action, I'm going to go with "Repairing Salterns" as those are a critical issue that should be solved sooner rather than later. And unlike the other options (Market Towns, Farms, etc.), this is something only Ydrys can do.
For Rhys' action, I think the big priority right now is making sure that we're not about to see a new Khan 2: Electric Boogaloo. The absolute last thing we need right now is one of their old generals popping up to finish what their leader started.
For Haul, I'm kind of torn between "Perfecting Telescopes", "Investigating ways to seperate silver and lead without mercury" and "Establish a lead-silver mine". I'm still kinda mad about him going behind our back, but if he's determined to do his research no matter what then I'd rather him do it out in the open where everyone can see.
For Prydyer, I think the main priority right now should be to evaluate the former markets. Right now we know our own internal market, but that's only half the picture. I want to know exactly what is and is not in demand before we go making any big moves to reestablish our economy.
For Ianto... keep him for now. I don't think it's worth the scandal right this moment. That said, he's an old man and I think it might be a good idea to encourage him to retire sooner rather than later.
For Aderyn (who's apparently a goddamn Heroic Intrigue specialist!), I think we need to focus on rebuilding the neighbourhood watches first. The cult investigation, serial killer investigation, half-exile attacks... all of these actions would become a lot easier if we had a functional police force to call upon. So as tempting as it is to start establishing a web of contacts, I think this should be her first priority.
For our new Blackbird Euryg, I want him to personally handle the fighting against the Highlanders. Not only is he pefectly suited for this type of guerrila warfare, but the sooner we get rid of the Highlanders the quicker and easier it'll be to start working on the many other issues plaguing our military at the moment.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Condensing the Academy curriculum may be what we need to solve the problem in the longer term as well as the short term. Right now a big problem is that the Patricians are expected to be good at everything which is not a sustainable approach at all. I'd much rather have to rely on advisors and experts than continue heaping punishing amounts of responsibility on a select few elites.
And of course this might downgrade Life of Arete even further.
And of course this might downgrade Life of Arete even further.
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Hmm... I could change that, but according to Redium
Some sabotage will be necessary eventually, to at least ensure that they do need the Core. I am willing to change it, but we should be willing to do something
It is critical, but currently it is at 50% efficiency, which is higher than the Neighborhood Watch.
and every Influence used seems to account for about 5-10 percent. With the Serial Killer, Cult Whispers, and Half-Exile Abuse, I feel that we need the Watch more at the moment.
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True, vote plan changed.
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
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- Present
We no longer get to take 2 Ydris actions. With the extra advisors, we get to take only 1 action + an extra action of a subordinate.
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...
I do believe we have two?
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
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- Present
We lost 2 half actions (wife and mil advisor) and got 1 back.
This leaves us with 1.5 actions, if my count is correct?
- Location
- his hidden lair
I'm going to play a bit of a devil's advocate here- I do think it's sort of fair to point out, for all that we have a stratified and elitist society, at this point it's as much a technocracy as a traditional aristocracy. DGE and our literal suicidally high standards is the biggest check and balance on our ruling elite. They have to be good administrators, or it's political suicide, they have to appear to be scrupulously fair and incorruptible- or it's possibly literally suicide. We have a pressure chock full of incredibly capable, skilled, and useful people. And the best part about it? All these incredibly useful people have such high standards culturally imposed on themselves they're largely kept in check rather than pulling a Marius, or a Sulla, or any of those who followed in their footsteps. It may seem weird from a modern perspective, but having a swathe of talented, capable people who aren't a threat to the throne or the state is an immense exception in history- and a huge advantage.
We have a pressure cooker producing the grist of our administration here. We need to play with it carefully, or it will absolutely explode in our faces.
We have a pressure cooker producing the grist of our administration here. We need to play with it carefully, or it will absolutely explode in our faces.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Censure, Salt and Civil Service
-[X] Private censure
-[X] Grant your blessing.
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns (Influence)
-[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Applying Current Telescopes:
--[X] (Army)
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches
(Authority)
-[X] Euryg: Strategic Independence Reform
It needs to be made clear to Haul that he cannot simply steal away what he wants for his personal ambitions. That being said we need to give him something he wants to do so I want him working on the practical matter of implementing telescopes.
We need salt for food and medicine pretty soon and the neighbourhood watches are a critical part of our civil service + law enforcement so they are a priority.
Increasing strategic independence is good in general, but would be especially useful in the guerilla warfare we're currently fighting against the Highlanders.
-[X] Private censure
-[X] Grant your blessing.
-[X] Ydrys: Continue to respond to the Patrician Crisis
--[X] Condense and accelerate the Academies' curriculum (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns (Influence)
-[X] Rhys: Investigate rumours of the Khan's generals.
-[X] Haul: Applying Current Telescopes:
--[X] (Army)
-[X] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
-[X] Inato: Maintain this councilor.
-[X] Aderyn: Rebuild Neighbourhood Watches
(Authority)
-[X] Euryg: Strategic Independence Reform
It needs to be made clear to Haul that he cannot simply steal away what he wants for his personal ambitions. That being said we need to give him something he wants to do so I want him working on the practical matter of implementing telescopes.
We need salt for food and medicine pretty soon and the neighbourhood watches are a critical part of our civil service + law enforcement so they are a priority.
Increasing strategic independence is good in general, but would be especially useful in the guerilla warfare we're currently fighting against the Highlanders.
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- Hell
Hmm...okay.
Plan has removed the second Ydrys action and added the Perfecting Telescopes action so Haul gets two actions. We give him what he wants, but we also pressure him to do more.