Xantalos
Turtle-Speed Writing
And I suppose Pride In Acceptance got merged in with something else?
The Ymaryn: Succession
- Thread starter Redium
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Alt. History
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
Joy, and Purity isn't even under any strain. Makes sense, but still.... *grumbles over that stupid vote, even years later*
[X] Plan Sunrise
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Glassmaker
-[X] The Yeoman
-[X] The Rebellious Daughter
The yeoman will remove a rival of the local governor making him happy with us and a martial/diplomatic advisor that will be useful as reunifying the empire will make it more stable.
The rebellious daughter gives us Legitimacy that we are going to need to survive dealing with the current crisis.
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Glassmaker
-[X] The Yeoman
-[X] The Rebellious Daughter
The yeoman will remove a rival of the local governor making him happy with us and a martial/diplomatic advisor that will be useful as reunifying the empire will make it more stable.
The rebellious daughter gives us Legitimacy that we are going to need to survive dealing with the current crisis.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Its weird that there is nothing where Pride in Acceptance used to be. I know Purity was killing it, but I didn't think we'd lose an entire slot.
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Balance
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Shipmaster
-[X] The Spicer
-[X] The Rebellious Daughter
Not a lot of agreement here.
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Shipmaster
-[X] The Spicer
-[X] The Rebellious Daughter
Not a lot of agreement here.
According to AN, Purity was poised to wipe PiA out. So it did some time in the last thousand years.
The slot still exists, you just have nothing to fill it with right now. You're likely going to pick something up during the duration of the Dissolution. It will probably only be Lv.1 though and those Values tend not to be powerful. They need to be tended, either leveled up or merged with other values to get good.
Voting is Closed!
The winning options is:
[X] Plan Aranfan
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Glassmaker
-[X] The Spicer
-[X] Guildsman's Girl
Aranfan's is the biggest single vote block, but if you take things by line each option is still the most popular on its own right.
I am a bit surprised that there was no interest in picking up any advisors with dedicated military experience. Either in this vote or the last one.
I mean:
#highland kingdom delenda est
#nomads are coming
- Location
- Hell
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
The Ymaryn have never been a particularly Martial people. We're weird like that. Also, I'm pretty sure the Nomads have already came, and their strength should be spent for a few generations.
Fair. For my quest I observed that the players had consistently pushed back against purity at every opportunity, and the only reason they didn't kill it first chance was because they had been wanting to fix the half-exile abuses for forever. So I figured they'd have gotten rid of it eventually.
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
Its funny because that was never going to happen by the very nature of what half exiles are, actually many choices by the voters in poc are funny due to things like that.
Turn 1: Critical Council
Turn 1: Critical Council
1620 AGF, Reign of Ydrys the 170 King ofAll Ymaryn
[X] Plan Aranfan
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Glassmaker
-[X] The Spicer
-[X] Guildsman's Girl
"The People are sick," Ydrys said quietly. "Dying. And we must find some way to fix it."
The Kingdom of the Ymaryn were in desperate straits, worse than any other time in recorded history. Starvation still stalked corners of the land; their once unitary state had shattered, Splinter States arising that seemed to almost-but-not-quite challenge the Core for prominence. And all they had to do it with was a Council near constantly at each other's throats.
Haul was a glassmaker, an Artisan, skilled in alchemy and industry. He'd been recognized as a singular great among his many peers because of his discovery of a new treatment of glass that made it take on brilian purple hues. As for the man himself? Ydrys tried to ignore the not-quite-snort that seemed to fall from his perpetual frown. For all his skill, this was a man who never seemed to learn how to smile.
"We've been rotting from the inside out since before you were born," Haul countered.
"Based on what?" Ianto shot back. "I've taught the best of the People for decades and been on this Earth only just short of sixty years and seen no such sign. We were on the cusp, the threshold, the border of greatness!"
As the most elderly member on the council with hair more white than black, he'd naturally be a figure of some respect. Especially since he was a full-blooded Patrician and one of the few people considered worthy of teaching at the Academy of Valleyhome. The fact that Haul, a mere Artisan, never quite seemed to give proper respect clearly chafed.
"Yeah, then how'd the Khan nearly gut us?" Haul asked. "As a people they've barely even heard of soap let alone alchemy. How'd they set the entire north on fire in six months?"
"You think someone sold us out." It wasn't a question. Ydrys had some thoughts along those lines at points . . . but he couldn't believe it. Not after seeing the Khan's men go through entire villages, gathering up the men and forcing them to walk past a cart. If they were taller than the wheel? They'd be shortened until they fit. It wasn't clean. Women and children? They didn't die, but what happened was worse.
"Greenshore'll answer for what they've done."
"Those louts?" Haul asked. "They're a waste of space. Didn't fight, didn't help the Khan. Not really anyway. He still would've nearly cut us down even if he didn't have their supplies."
"You think this goes to the heart of the People." Ianto said. "You know what the Khan's men did. Who?"
Pulling out a long brass tube, Haul set it down on the table. "I don't know. But someone was involved. I saw it when the Khan came to Valleyhome. One of the People, whispering in his ear."
Picking up the brass tube, Ydrys was surprised. Looking through it seemed to make everything suddenly bigger. A lot bigger. It was grainy, dark, and there were obvious inclusions in the image, but it was unlike anything he'd ever seen.
"It's a telescope," Haul explained. "If you cut glass just right, it can make things seem closer than they actually are. I could see up close before the final battle and I'd recognize one of the People anywhere compared to some foreigner."
"Your premise is still faulty, flawed, and incomplete. What would there be to gain in casting down the People? Millions are dead, we are weaker than ever, and starvation stalks the land! Who wins? Any conspiracy, no matter how elementary, complex, or convoluted must have an end goal. Why else conspire otherwise? Your conjecture is empty, sitting on a foundation of sand."
"Must'e argue?" Prydyer asked. The larger southern tried to play peacemaker. He wasn't as good at it as Rhys, but the Heir was away, still negotiating with Gylys. Swathed in silk, he was soft and routuned. He disliked conflict it seemed.
"Quiet. Frygi," Haul said. "All you did during the war was sip wine in the south. Your betters are talking."
Ianto leapt to his feet, a blistering response on his tongue before he pulled up short. Prydyer just placidly popped another grape into his mouth. "Say what you will, it doesn't change the end game. We're in this together now."
"Haul," Ydrys said. "Refrain from such conduct in the future. This is not your workshop, it is mine." Thankfully, the other man's teeth closed with a click and Ydrys let out a silent breath. He shouldn't be looking after children; especially when they were all older than he.
"Has Rhys sen' wor' about the negotiations w'Gylys?" Prydyer asked.
"Slowly. Gylys is skeptical of the arrangements. Rhys believes negotiations will conclude soon and the marriage is to be set for the year after next," Ydrys said. The Lord of Hyatha was clearly reluctant to send his daughter abroad to marry and she was still young. While of the proper age, it was clear Gylys wanted to wait to ensure her health. "There's been questions of what exactly the proper bridewealth would be as well as security. He wants his daughter to have the right to a full unit of Spythurii."
"A unit of bodyguards? In the capital? Alongside the Crown's guards or in place of them?" Ianto asked.
"Can you trust them?" Haul said a moment later. "A hundred men isn't enough to stage a palace coup, but it's enough to slit your throat in the night."
"Thank you, Haul. Rhys seems to think that this isn't an elaborate assassination plot. Gylys loves his daughter and if I die, she would be a co-conspirator. As for the girl herself, Rhys says she's intelligent. He can't say for certain, but he suspects that if she were to sit the Exams, she'd be recognized as a Master or Philosopher."
"Truly? It is as you say?" Ianto asked. "No women sit the Exams for obvious reasons so we cannot be certain; where has she received her education?"
"A retired priest. He apparently attained a Mastery before feeling the call of the cloth. He's near eighty from what I've heard, but still sharp."
"Surprising that forty years among those natterers didn't make his head soft, weak, and feeble," Ianto responded. "Especially with fifteen year of retirement on top."
"Those wor's are ill thought," Prydyer said. That must have been the first time Ydrys saw the spicer appear even slightly ruffled. There was no threat in his voice, but compared to the normally jovial smile he wore, this was different. Serious.
"Regardless," Ydrys said. "The Kingdom is in dire straits."
While they had done enough to stave off starvation (for now), the food situation of People was still critical. Roads and other infrastructure had mostly been untouched by the Khan's men as they too needed it to move through the dense forests of the Kingdom, but the towns and villages that served as hubs for trade and distribution were burned to the ground and looted. It would do little good for the People to produce food, but still be unable to get it to hungry bellies.
On the other hand, the ancient salterns located along the northeastern edge of the Yllthon Mor had been damaged and were out of commission. Without salt, the People lost one of their best ways of preserving food. There was still smoking and other means of dry storage, but salt was incredibly vital as a medicine for the people living in Txolla; it was necessary for their health.
With Blackmouth destroyed and Redshore heavily damaged, the harbours on the Yllthyon Mor were also significantly damaged. Unless they were fixed, international trade would suffer and there was substantial danger in that. Ydrys knew that most of the trade from the Far East travelled up the rivers from Txolla, through the Canal of Valleyhome and then down through the Sncruv river to Redshore. If the harbours of Redshore were disabled for any significant period, trade would reroute. The tribes of Khemri had supposedly dug their own canal through the Sheheshamal Desert into the river Djeb. It was a pale imitation of the People's canal and their markets were poorer, but once trade redirected itself, it wouldn't come back. If trade rerouted, the world would notice and question the People's suddenly weakened state.
It would be blood in the water.
Alternatively, Ydrys could lend his considerable ability in simply reconstructing farms and other facilities. It wouldn't necessarily solve the problem of resource distribution, but getting more people back to work and land under cultivation would mean more food. Much of it would go to waste without salt or transportation, but it would help disperse the population and make logistics easier. Of course, dispersing the population into the countryside would also weaken the ability of the Crown to organize them.
"Thoughts?" Ydrys asked.
"Trade," Prydyer responded simply. "The mar'et towns, and the sal'ens don't matter. There's bandits in the countryside an' we've'n way t' control them. The army's… gone. Mostly."
"People will starve, die, and suffer if we focus on trade," Ianto said. "The markets will make central control and redistribution easier. It allows us to act as one."
"How much 'oes a stone's worth or bread or two firkin of milk cost?" Prydyer asked. "In the Core or Txolla? 1 bwyll. If we were to buy internationally? Four phrys."
That was a fifth the price.
"How?" Ydrys asked.
"Ah!" Ianto started. "You are of course most definitely and assuredly speaking of Stylltyng's Supposition! Things are more expensive inside the Kingdom because there is more gold held by our Mint. Most countries in the Syffryn sea buy our goods with precious metals, effectively transferring their wealth permanently to us in exchange for transient goods like cotton, tea, spices, and silk."
"Aye. 'ow much gold did 'e Khan make off with?"
"Somewhere between 13 and 18 thousand tonnes," Ydrys responded instantly. Was that supposed to be a lot? He wasn't sure, but it likely represented only a 4th of the amount of precious metals accessible to the People. He couldn't be sure how much was held by the temples in religious icons as well as reserves, but those were effectively lost to the Crown given how tightly the temples held control over them.
"If we lose con'rol over Far East trade, we'll lose tha' each decade," Prydyer promised. "Once trade's secure, we can buy food and salt if we need."
"Haul?" Ydrys finally asked.
"I can't say, your Highness," he said. "I know nothing about these matters. As long as the urban poor receive enough food so they don't lynch us all, that's all I think we need."
"Speaking of urban concerns," Ianto started. "There has been a disturbing spate of murders in the dark alleys of Valleyhome. Gruesome and unspeakable crimes. One of my students had… an ominous report of a body he found that looked like it was hacked apart half a hundred times. It was more stain than corpse."
"Crime of passion?" Haul asked. "Or are you thinking there's something else?"
"I've taken a first look at that specific body and from what I can tell, it's actually more than one stitched together in some horrific monstrosity. Two men at least, one a young adult and the other perhaps half the age. As for the weapon used? I want to say something serrated, but it's hard to tell. They're more pieces than people."
"The urbanites are on edge," Haul guessed. "We should take action. At least a dozen cases have already been found."
"Have the weapons from the Khan's War been reclaimed?" Prydyer asked. "Is this an opportunistic criminal taking advantage to settle scores?"
Ydrys shook his head. "Not even a one-in-ten. There must still be millions unaccounted for." Having some type of deranged, psychotic killer on the loose was going to complicate things. Would a young man who'd spent the last five years fighting and killing be willing to turn over weapons that could save their families? No and it would hurt the Crown to ask for them. Would it be better or worse if it was one killer as opposed to an underground syndicate?
On the other hand, having literally millions of armed people would likely mean those arms would be used, in anger if nothing else.
"Do you think this is related to the cults that have been popping up?" Ydrys eventually asked. There wasn't necessarily anything tying the cults to the crime, but small groups of people who deliberately cultivated populism and secrecy? They didn't necessarily look very innocent either.
"Without studying the beliefs of the cults, I couldn't rule them out."
"You also can't blame 'em," Prydyer pointed out.
"Setting that aside," Haul said. "There's the question of what we should focus on inside the city itself. Public health is overwhelmed, collapsing under the strain of so many wounded and dead. The Census records are now completely inaccurate, we couldn't even begin to call for a City Levy. The neighbourhood watches are gone — as the strange killings have no doubt pointed out to us — and a hundred other things."
"Big or small. An immediate fix or underlying overhaul. Do we plan for now or the distant future? As I see it," Ianto said, "Fixing the Census records would solve most of our issues. It would let us know what we're actually working with. We could determine what positions we need to fill and what are already occupied."
"The Census? Doing a new one would take years," Ydrys said. "In the normal course, it's almost two years to compile everything and that's when we know most of the answers; things don't typically change much from the last go round. This time? Five years, at least. Could be as much as ten." There was just so much that was unknown and so many people were dead. Virtually everyone from the Last King's staff had perished in the fighting after the city walls were breached. Based only on the friends that Ydrys remembered from the Academy, more that half of the nobility of the Core were dead. Well over half.
In the end, they had been called to do their duty and put it all on the line and they were not found wanting. No one would question their worth.
"Smaller things, a City Levy, public health, a neighbourhood watch; they're all much more limited and scope and easy to accomplish. Those are reasonable to finish, but their effects will be limited solely to Valleyhome. In the meantime, what will each of you focus on?"
Haul answered quickly, setting his telescope on the table. "These," he said simply. "I can either work on perfecting them or putting them into use. As for where they can be used? Communication infrastructure, with the army, with the navy, or as an item for sale."
"Should you not be focused on coordinating the artisans?" Ianto sniffed.
"Coordinate to what?" Haul snapped back. "Do you think there's material to do anything? Without the harbours and the market towns, we don't have enough ore, cloth, dyes, wood, or anything else. If you want us to manufacture something, it's going to have to be recycled or made from things as common as literal dirt. Glass, thankfully, is made from literal dirt."
"You couldn't fin' new markets?" Prydyer asked.
"Not without harbours," Haul said. "Even then, most of our raw materials came from Hyatha or Greenshore. There's mines to the north and east of the Core, but most of those are tapped out."
"Then re-tap them," Ianto said. "Or negotiate with Hyatha."
"Gylys won't send materials to us, not when he could use them domestically." Haul settled sullenly. "Sourcing them from Greenshore or finding them domestically could be accomplished, but we would need the market towns re-established to transport anything internally and the harbours to get things from Greenshore. And it is going to be a lot more expensive than having materials than you're used to."
Ydrys winced. It was fairly obvious that sourcing things from Greenshore would be cheapest, but it would anger everyone to deal with those traitors. Rhys would be . . . displeased.
Prydyer spoke next. "For myself, I could assist you by working on reseeding farms. Or looking to find resources internationally. My knowledge of who exactly we could buy from is . . . limited so I would need to spend time on research, but it would let us know where to find the resources we need. Or I could look into what's still available for us to sell."
"It's all money," Haul said. "Isn't there something a bit more practical you can do?"
"I could work on moving people south to Txolla. Extra labour is always necessary on the farms and if we start slow, integrating them shouldn't be hard."
"Did we, also, not make the decision to send people to Western Wall?" Ianto asked. "The army must be strained keeping order, discipline, and control. It would be inadvisable, impudent, and foolish to now give them conflicting orders to move people south."
"Alternatively," Prydyer said. "I could work on bringing people north. Specialists in agriculture and construction to help us repair the core. It would annoy the Governor, no doubt to take away valuable labour from him, but it would help us."
"How loyal is the Governor?" Haul asked.
"As loyal as c'n be expected," Prydyer responded, "Which is no' 't all. Right now, there's 'othing tying him to us beyon' the fact that Rhys managed to talk sweetly to him. If goin' over to Forhuch would save his skin, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He would feel bad about 't, but many people agree with the rhetoric of the easterners. The Core was lax when it spurned the Great Khan and dr'gged us into a bloody war of extermination."
"How were we to know?" Ianto asked. "The Khan wasn't even the hundredth warlord we'd turned back. What made this one different?"
"Simply? Oceans of blood." Rapping his fingers on the table, Prydyer smiled. "To deal with The Gov'ner before he becomes a pro'lem, I could lean on connections I have in Txolla. Build something loyal to the Crown for certain, not jus' sweet words."
What was there to say to that?
"Ianto?" Ydrys finally asked.
"With your permission Highness, I would like permission to open the old archives and do over things the People have forgotten or simply left unused. I do not believe the Great Khan came out of nowhere and that is a theory I shall prove. Of course, at the same time, I'll look for things of use, but the archives are best catalogued by the tonne, not the book. There's thousands of years of writing and records."
"The murders," Haul said. "You should catalogue the cults.
"The Khan's magics," Prydyer also suggested. "The things they 'id were unbelievable."
Shrugging, Ianto conceded that was also possible. "Studying the Khan's War in depth would be incredibly valuable," he admitted.
Silently struggling, Ianto finally firmed his resolve. "Or, you could give permission for me to delve into the archives of the Blackbirds, Spiritbonded and Carrion Eaters." He said simply as if it wasn't blasphemy and sacrilege all in one.
Despite the desire, Ydrys couldn't bring himself to shout at the elderly academic. Cracking open the archives of any of the Holy Orders would utterly alienate them if it was discovered. On the other hand, so much could be learned. How much was hidden by them out of jealous secrecy? The Blackbirds were known to be able to speak with their eponymous animal, Carrion Eaters destroyed diseases that confused all other physicians, and the Spiritbonded could raise beasts for war in a way that was absolutely uncanny.
"And you would do this openly?" he finally asked. "Based on my authority."
"If subtle inquiries were rebuffed." Yes, in other words.
"You'll have my decision soon," Ydrys said. "All of you."
Ydrys can sacrifice (1) of his actions to allow his subordinates to take an extra action from their section. You can do this as many times as Ydrys has actions.
You currently have (1) Authority and (2) Influence. To show which action you're investing these in tag it with brackets at the end, i.e. Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns (Authority).
Authority is (currently) unique to the Ymaryn and represents the centralization of the Ymaryn state. It is an absolute command to sit down, shut up, and get something done. It utterly bypasses the need for any roll or luck. It always gives you the best possible result.
Influence represents your ability to convince the bureaucracy of state, the factions, the people, anything and everyone to go along with you. This is very much cajoling and convincing, backroom dealing and compromise, not ordering. It is influenced by narrative and luck.
Untagged actions are down to luck entirely.
Authority and Influence do have a cap after which point you will be prompted to vest them into your subordinate permanently. It can be gained or lost based on your actions.
Ydrys should focus on (Up to 2):
[ ] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns
[ ] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns
[ ] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours
[ ] Ydrys: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Ydrys: Constructing City Levies
[ ] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health
[ ] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
[ ] Ydrys: Serial Killer Taskforce
[ ] Ydrys: Recreate the Census
Rhys should focus on (1):
[ ] Rhys: Internal Contacts
[ ] Rhys: Investigate a Councilor
-[ ] (Haul/Ianto/Prydyer)
[ ] Rhys: Wide web across the Ymaryn sphere
[ ] Rhys: Focused Contacts
-[ ] (Western Wall/Greenshore/Hyatha/Forhuch/Txolla)
[ ] Rhys: Monsoon Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Syffryn Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Great Plains situation
Haul should focus on (1):
[ ] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
[ ] Haul: Applying Current Telescopes:
-[ ] (Army/Navy/Sale/Communications)
[ ] Haul: Survey the Core for resources
[ ] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore
Prydyer should focus on (1):
[ ] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Prydyer: Assessing internal markets
[ ] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
[ ] Prydyer: Move People to Txolla
[ ] Prydyer: Move Txollan specialists to the Core
[ ] Prydyer: Build Loyalist sentiment in Txolla
Ianto should focus on (1):
[ ] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
[ ] Ianto: Investigating the Great Khan's magic
[ ] Ianto: Curate the Cults
[ ] Ianto: Delve into the Royal Archives
[ ] Ianto: Crack Open a Holy Archive
-[ ] (Blackbird/Carrion Eater/Spiritbonded)
1620 AGF, Reign of Ydrys the 170 King of
[X] Plan Aranfan
-[X] The Professor
-[X] The Glassmaker
-[X] The Spicer
-[X] Guildsman's Girl
"The People are sick," Ydrys said quietly. "Dying. And we must find some way to fix it."
The Kingdom of the Ymaryn were in desperate straits, worse than any other time in recorded history. Starvation still stalked corners of the land; their once unitary state had shattered, Splinter States arising that seemed to almost-but-not-quite challenge the Core for prominence. And all they had to do it with was a Council near constantly at each other's throats.
Haul was a glassmaker, an Artisan, skilled in alchemy and industry. He'd been recognized as a singular great among his many peers because of his discovery of a new treatment of glass that made it take on brilian purple hues. As for the man himself? Ydrys tried to ignore the not-quite-snort that seemed to fall from his perpetual frown. For all his skill, this was a man who never seemed to learn how to smile.
"We've been rotting from the inside out since before you were born," Haul countered.
"Based on what?" Ianto shot back. "I've taught the best of the People for decades and been on this Earth only just short of sixty years and seen no such sign. We were on the cusp, the threshold, the border of greatness!"
As the most elderly member on the council with hair more white than black, he'd naturally be a figure of some respect. Especially since he was a full-blooded Patrician and one of the few people considered worthy of teaching at the Academy of Valleyhome. The fact that Haul, a mere Artisan, never quite seemed to give proper respect clearly chafed.
"Yeah, then how'd the Khan nearly gut us?" Haul asked. "As a people they've barely even heard of soap let alone alchemy. How'd they set the entire north on fire in six months?"
"You think someone sold us out." It wasn't a question. Ydrys had some thoughts along those lines at points . . . but he couldn't believe it. Not after seeing the Khan's men go through entire villages, gathering up the men and forcing them to walk past a cart. If they were taller than the wheel? They'd be shortened until they fit. It wasn't clean. Women and children? They didn't die, but what happened was worse.
"Greenshore'll answer for what they've done."
"Those louts?" Haul asked. "They're a waste of space. Didn't fight, didn't help the Khan. Not really anyway. He still would've nearly cut us down even if he didn't have their supplies."
"You think this goes to the heart of the People." Ianto said. "You know what the Khan's men did. Who?"
Pulling out a long brass tube, Haul set it down on the table. "I don't know. But someone was involved. I saw it when the Khan came to Valleyhome. One of the People, whispering in his ear."
Picking up the brass tube, Ydrys was surprised. Looking through it seemed to make everything suddenly bigger. A lot bigger. It was grainy, dark, and there were obvious inclusions in the image, but it was unlike anything he'd ever seen.
"It's a telescope," Haul explained. "If you cut glass just right, it can make things seem closer than they actually are. I could see up close before the final battle and I'd recognize one of the People anywhere compared to some foreigner."
"Your premise is still faulty, flawed, and incomplete. What would there be to gain in casting down the People? Millions are dead, we are weaker than ever, and starvation stalks the land! Who wins? Any conspiracy, no matter how elementary, complex, or convoluted must have an end goal. Why else conspire otherwise? Your conjecture is empty, sitting on a foundation of sand."
"Must'e argue?" Prydyer asked. The larger southern tried to play peacemaker. He wasn't as good at it as Rhys, but the Heir was away, still negotiating with Gylys. Swathed in silk, he was soft and routuned. He disliked conflict it seemed.
"Quiet. Frygi," Haul said. "All you did during the war was sip wine in the south. Your betters are talking."
Ianto leapt to his feet, a blistering response on his tongue before he pulled up short. Prydyer just placidly popped another grape into his mouth. "Say what you will, it doesn't change the end game. We're in this together now."
"Haul," Ydrys said. "Refrain from such conduct in the future. This is not your workshop, it is mine." Thankfully, the other man's teeth closed with a click and Ydrys let out a silent breath. He shouldn't be looking after children; especially when they were all older than he.
"Has Rhys sen' wor' about the negotiations w'Gylys?" Prydyer asked.
"Slowly. Gylys is skeptical of the arrangements. Rhys believes negotiations will conclude soon and the marriage is to be set for the year after next," Ydrys said. The Lord of Hyatha was clearly reluctant to send his daughter abroad to marry and she was still young. While of the proper age, it was clear Gylys wanted to wait to ensure her health. "There's been questions of what exactly the proper bridewealth would be as well as security. He wants his daughter to have the right to a full unit of Spythurii."
"A unit of bodyguards? In the capital? Alongside the Crown's guards or in place of them?" Ianto asked.
"Can you trust them?" Haul said a moment later. "A hundred men isn't enough to stage a palace coup, but it's enough to slit your throat in the night."
"Thank you, Haul. Rhys seems to think that this isn't an elaborate assassination plot. Gylys loves his daughter and if I die, she would be a co-conspirator. As for the girl herself, Rhys says she's intelligent. He can't say for certain, but he suspects that if she were to sit the Exams, she'd be recognized as a Master or Philosopher."
"Truly? It is as you say?" Ianto asked. "No women sit the Exams for obvious reasons so we cannot be certain; where has she received her education?"
"A retired priest. He apparently attained a Mastery before feeling the call of the cloth. He's near eighty from what I've heard, but still sharp."
"Surprising that forty years among those natterers didn't make his head soft, weak, and feeble," Ianto responded. "Especially with fifteen year of retirement on top."
"Those wor's are ill thought," Prydyer said. That must have been the first time Ydrys saw the spicer appear even slightly ruffled. There was no threat in his voice, but compared to the normally jovial smile he wore, this was different. Serious.
"Regardless," Ydrys said. "The Kingdom is in dire straits."
While they had done enough to stave off starvation (for now), the food situation of People was still critical. Roads and other infrastructure had mostly been untouched by the Khan's men as they too needed it to move through the dense forests of the Kingdom, but the towns and villages that served as hubs for trade and distribution were burned to the ground and looted. It would do little good for the People to produce food, but still be unable to get it to hungry bellies.
On the other hand, the ancient salterns located along the northeastern edge of the Yllthon Mor had been damaged and were out of commission. Without salt, the People lost one of their best ways of preserving food. There was still smoking and other means of dry storage, but salt was incredibly vital as a medicine for the people living in Txolla; it was necessary for their health.
With Blackmouth destroyed and Redshore heavily damaged, the harbours on the Yllthyon Mor were also significantly damaged. Unless they were fixed, international trade would suffer and there was substantial danger in that. Ydrys knew that most of the trade from the Far East travelled up the rivers from Txolla, through the Canal of Valleyhome and then down through the Sncruv river to Redshore. If the harbours of Redshore were disabled for any significant period, trade would reroute. The tribes of Khemri had supposedly dug their own canal through the Sheheshamal Desert into the river Djeb. It was a pale imitation of the People's canal and their markets were poorer, but once trade redirected itself, it wouldn't come back. If trade rerouted, the world would notice and question the People's suddenly weakened state.
It would be blood in the water.
Alternatively, Ydrys could lend his considerable ability in simply reconstructing farms and other facilities. It wouldn't necessarily solve the problem of resource distribution, but getting more people back to work and land under cultivation would mean more food. Much of it would go to waste without salt or transportation, but it would help disperse the population and make logistics easier. Of course, dispersing the population into the countryside would also weaken the ability of the Crown to organize them.
"Thoughts?" Ydrys asked.
"Trade," Prydyer responded simply. "The mar'et towns, and the sal'ens don't matter. There's bandits in the countryside an' we've'n way t' control them. The army's… gone. Mostly."
"People will starve, die, and suffer if we focus on trade," Ianto said. "The markets will make central control and redistribution easier. It allows us to act as one."
"How much 'oes a stone's worth or bread or two firkin of milk cost?" Prydyer asked. "In the Core or Txolla? 1 bwyll. If we were to buy internationally? Four phrys."
That was a fifth the price.
"How?" Ydrys asked.
"Ah!" Ianto started. "You are of course most definitely and assuredly speaking of Stylltyng's Supposition! Things are more expensive inside the Kingdom because there is more gold held by our Mint. Most countries in the Syffryn sea buy our goods with precious metals, effectively transferring their wealth permanently to us in exchange for transient goods like cotton, tea, spices, and silk."
"Aye. 'ow much gold did 'e Khan make off with?"
"Somewhere between 13 and 18 thousand tonnes," Ydrys responded instantly. Was that supposed to be a lot? He wasn't sure, but it likely represented only a 4th of the amount of precious metals accessible to the People. He couldn't be sure how much was held by the temples in religious icons as well as reserves, but those were effectively lost to the Crown given how tightly the temples held control over them.
"If we lose con'rol over Far East trade, we'll lose tha' each decade," Prydyer promised. "Once trade's secure, we can buy food and salt if we need."
"Haul?" Ydrys finally asked.
"I can't say, your Highness," he said. "I know nothing about these matters. As long as the urban poor receive enough food so they don't lynch us all, that's all I think we need."
"Speaking of urban concerns," Ianto started. "There has been a disturbing spate of murders in the dark alleys of Valleyhome. Gruesome and unspeakable crimes. One of my students had… an ominous report of a body he found that looked like it was hacked apart half a hundred times. It was more stain than corpse."
"Crime of passion?" Haul asked. "Or are you thinking there's something else?"
"I've taken a first look at that specific body and from what I can tell, it's actually more than one stitched together in some horrific monstrosity. Two men at least, one a young adult and the other perhaps half the age. As for the weapon used? I want to say something serrated, but it's hard to tell. They're more pieces than people."
"The urbanites are on edge," Haul guessed. "We should take action. At least a dozen cases have already been found."
"Have the weapons from the Khan's War been reclaimed?" Prydyer asked. "Is this an opportunistic criminal taking advantage to settle scores?"
Ydrys shook his head. "Not even a one-in-ten. There must still be millions unaccounted for." Having some type of deranged, psychotic killer on the loose was going to complicate things. Would a young man who'd spent the last five years fighting and killing be willing to turn over weapons that could save their families? No and it would hurt the Crown to ask for them. Would it be better or worse if it was one killer as opposed to an underground syndicate?
On the other hand, having literally millions of armed people would likely mean those arms would be used, in anger if nothing else.
"Do you think this is related to the cults that have been popping up?" Ydrys eventually asked. There wasn't necessarily anything tying the cults to the crime, but small groups of people who deliberately cultivated populism and secrecy? They didn't necessarily look very innocent either.
"Without studying the beliefs of the cults, I couldn't rule them out."
"You also can't blame 'em," Prydyer pointed out.
"Setting that aside," Haul said. "There's the question of what we should focus on inside the city itself. Public health is overwhelmed, collapsing under the strain of so many wounded and dead. The Census records are now completely inaccurate, we couldn't even begin to call for a City Levy. The neighbourhood watches are gone — as the strange killings have no doubt pointed out to us — and a hundred other things."
"Big or small. An immediate fix or underlying overhaul. Do we plan for now or the distant future? As I see it," Ianto said, "Fixing the Census records would solve most of our issues. It would let us know what we're actually working with. We could determine what positions we need to fill and what are already occupied."
"The Census? Doing a new one would take years," Ydrys said. "In the normal course, it's almost two years to compile everything and that's when we know most of the answers; things don't typically change much from the last go round. This time? Five years, at least. Could be as much as ten." There was just so much that was unknown and so many people were dead. Virtually everyone from the Last King's staff had perished in the fighting after the city walls were breached. Based only on the friends that Ydrys remembered from the Academy, more that half of the nobility of the Core were dead. Well over half.
In the end, they had been called to do their duty and put it all on the line and they were not found wanting. No one would question their worth.
"Smaller things, a City Levy, public health, a neighbourhood watch; they're all much more limited and scope and easy to accomplish. Those are reasonable to finish, but their effects will be limited solely to Valleyhome. In the meantime, what will each of you focus on?"
Haul answered quickly, setting his telescope on the table. "These," he said simply. "I can either work on perfecting them or putting them into use. As for where they can be used? Communication infrastructure, with the army, with the navy, or as an item for sale."
"Should you not be focused on coordinating the artisans?" Ianto sniffed.
"Coordinate to what?" Haul snapped back. "Do you think there's material to do anything? Without the harbours and the market towns, we don't have enough ore, cloth, dyes, wood, or anything else. If you want us to manufacture something, it's going to have to be recycled or made from things as common as literal dirt. Glass, thankfully, is made from literal dirt."
"You couldn't fin' new markets?" Prydyer asked.
"Not without harbours," Haul said. "Even then, most of our raw materials came from Hyatha or Greenshore. There's mines to the north and east of the Core, but most of those are tapped out."
"Then re-tap them," Ianto said. "Or negotiate with Hyatha."
"Gylys won't send materials to us, not when he could use them domestically." Haul settled sullenly. "Sourcing them from Greenshore or finding them domestically could be accomplished, but we would need the market towns re-established to transport anything internally and the harbours to get things from Greenshore. And it is going to be a lot more expensive than having materials than you're used to."
Ydrys winced. It was fairly obvious that sourcing things from Greenshore would be cheapest, but it would anger everyone to deal with those traitors. Rhys would be . . . displeased.
Prydyer spoke next. "For myself, I could assist you by working on reseeding farms. Or looking to find resources internationally. My knowledge of who exactly we could buy from is . . . limited so I would need to spend time on research, but it would let us know where to find the resources we need. Or I could look into what's still available for us to sell."
"It's all money," Haul said. "Isn't there something a bit more practical you can do?"
"I could work on moving people south to Txolla. Extra labour is always necessary on the farms and if we start slow, integrating them shouldn't be hard."
"Did we, also, not make the decision to send people to Western Wall?" Ianto asked. "The army must be strained keeping order, discipline, and control. It would be inadvisable, impudent, and foolish to now give them conflicting orders to move people south."
"Alternatively," Prydyer said. "I could work on bringing people north. Specialists in agriculture and construction to help us repair the core. It would annoy the Governor, no doubt to take away valuable labour from him, but it would help us."
"How loyal is the Governor?" Haul asked.
"As loyal as c'n be expected," Prydyer responded, "Which is no' 't all. Right now, there's 'othing tying him to us beyon' the fact that Rhys managed to talk sweetly to him. If goin' over to Forhuch would save his skin, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He would feel bad about 't, but many people agree with the rhetoric of the easterners. The Core was lax when it spurned the Great Khan and dr'gged us into a bloody war of extermination."
"How were we to know?" Ianto asked. "The Khan wasn't even the hundredth warlord we'd turned back. What made this one different?"
"Simply? Oceans of blood." Rapping his fingers on the table, Prydyer smiled. "To deal with The Gov'ner before he becomes a pro'lem, I could lean on connections I have in Txolla. Build something loyal to the Crown for certain, not jus' sweet words."
What was there to say to that?
"Ianto?" Ydrys finally asked.
"With your permission Highness, I would like permission to open the old archives and do over things the People have forgotten or simply left unused. I do not believe the Great Khan came out of nowhere and that is a theory I shall prove. Of course, at the same time, I'll look for things of use, but the archives are best catalogued by the tonne, not the book. There's thousands of years of writing and records."
"The murders," Haul said. "You should catalogue the cults.
"The Khan's magics," Prydyer also suggested. "The things they 'id were unbelievable."
Shrugging, Ianto conceded that was also possible. "Studying the Khan's War in depth would be incredibly valuable," he admitted.
Silently struggling, Ianto finally firmed his resolve. "Or, you could give permission for me to delve into the archives of the Blackbirds, Spiritbonded and Carrion Eaters." He said simply as if it wasn't blasphemy and sacrilege all in one.
Despite the desire, Ydrys couldn't bring himself to shout at the elderly academic. Cracking open the archives of any of the Holy Orders would utterly alienate them if it was discovered. On the other hand, so much could be learned. How much was hidden by them out of jealous secrecy? The Blackbirds were known to be able to speak with their eponymous animal, Carrion Eaters destroyed diseases that confused all other physicians, and the Spiritbonded could raise beasts for war in a way that was absolutely uncanny.
"And you would do this openly?" he finally asked. "Based on my authority."
"If subtle inquiries were rebuffed." Yes, in other words.
"You'll have my decision soon," Ydrys said. "All of you."
Ydrys can sacrifice (1) of his actions to allow his subordinates to take an extra action from their section. You can do this as many times as Ydrys has actions.
You currently have (1) Authority and (2) Influence. To show which action you're investing these in tag it with brackets at the end, i.e. Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns (Authority).
Authority is (currently) unique to the Ymaryn and represents the centralization of the Ymaryn state. It is an absolute command to sit down, shut up, and get something done. It utterly bypasses the need for any roll or luck. It always gives you the best possible result.
Influence represents your ability to convince the bureaucracy of state, the factions, the people, anything and everyone to go along with you. This is very much cajoling and convincing, backroom dealing and compromise, not ordering. It is influenced by narrative and luck.
Untagged actions are down to luck entirely.
Authority and Influence do have a cap after which point you will be prompted to vest them into your subordinate permanently. It can be gained or lost based on your actions.
Ydrys should focus on (Up to 2):
[ ] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns
[ ] Ydrys: Repairing Salterns
[ ] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours
[ ] Ydrys: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Ydrys: Constructing City Levies
[ ] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health
[ ] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
[ ] Ydrys: Serial Killer Taskforce
[ ] Ydrys: Recreate the Census
Rhys should focus on (1):
[ ] Rhys: Internal Contacts
[ ] Rhys: Investigate a Councilor
-[ ] (Haul/Ianto/Prydyer)
[ ] Rhys: Wide web across the Ymaryn sphere
[ ] Rhys: Focused Contacts
-[ ] (Western Wall/Greenshore/Hyatha/Forhuch/Txolla)
[ ] Rhys: Monsoon Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Syffryn Sea situation
[ ] Rhys: Great Plains situation
Haul should focus on (1):
[ ] Haul: Perfecting Telescopes
[ ] Haul: Applying Current Telescopes:
-[ ] (Army/Navy/Sale/Communications)
[ ] Haul: Survey the Core for resources
[ ] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore
Prydyer should focus on (1):
[ ] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms
[ ] Prydyer: Assessing internal markets
[ ] Prydyer: Evaluating foreign markets
[ ] Prydyer: Move People to Txolla
[ ] Prydyer: Move Txollan specialists to the Core
[ ] Prydyer: Build Loyalist sentiment in Txolla
Ianto should focus on (1):
[ ] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
[ ] Ianto: Investigating the Great Khan's magic
[ ] Ianto: Curate the Cults
[ ] Ianto: Delve into the Royal Archives
[ ] Ianto: Crack Open a Holy Archive
-[ ] (Blackbird/Carrion Eater/Spiritbonded)
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10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
[X] Plan Recovery :
-[X] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms
-[X] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
Anyway, this is my plan. A focus on restoring internal and external trade, while also trying to pretend the capital from either dissolving in plague or chaos. Rhys figures out what goes on internally, Haul starts negotiating, Pryder restarts the farms and Ianto catologues lessons from the War before they're forgotten.
-[X] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Preparing Public Health (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms
-[X] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
Anyway, this is my plan. A focus on restoring internal and external trade, while also trying to pretend the capital from either dissolving in plague or chaos. Rhys figures out what goes on internally, Haul starts negotiating, Pryder restarts the farms and Ianto catologues lessons from the War before they're forgotten.
maximillian
Civilised Sheep
- Location
- Ranch
[X] Plan Reestablish the Crown:
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Serial Killer Taskforce (Authority)
-[X] Rhys: Focused Contacts (Greenshore)
-[X] Haul: Survey the Core for Resources (Influence)
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding the Farms
-[X] Ianto: Curate the Cults
Pure internal focus, the crowns authority is near dead, so the first priority should be to reestablish it, get the people reacquainted with the crowns ability to act and the extent of its reach.
So catch the killer for a bit of needed PR, avoid dealing with Greenshore for now to prevent a still likely coup or assassination or just rioting in the streets, avoid opening up the markets until the reality of current weakness is sufficiently hidden.
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Serial Killer Taskforce (Authority)
-[X] Rhys: Focused Contacts (Greenshore)
-[X] Haul: Survey the Core for Resources (Influence)
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding the Farms
-[X] Ianto: Curate the Cults
Pure internal focus, the crowns authority is near dead, so the first priority should be to reestablish it, get the people reacquainted with the crowns ability to act and the extent of its reach.
So catch the killer for a bit of needed PR, avoid dealing with Greenshore for now to prevent a still likely coup or assassination or just rioting in the streets, avoid opening up the markets until the reality of current weakness is sufficiently hidden.
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10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
The market towns are internal, not external. They are what allow us to move goods around internally.
Without them, food can't move from the fields to the cities and so on. The internal resources, even if found, would sit around useless.
On top of that, the update strongly suggest that not re-opening external trade would be the greatest show of weakness.
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- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Recovery :
The bloody colon, damn.
The bloody colon, damn.
I made an error: Ydrys only gets two actions since two are locked in responding to the Dissolution Disaster.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
What.
What.
Edit: For reference, 18k tons of gold represents about a tenth of all the gold ever mined in the history of otl.
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10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
Moving that much gold would require something like 20 000 horses.
[X] Plan Internal Focus
-[X] Ydrys: Rebuilding Market Towns (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches (Influence)
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Survey the Core for Resources
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms (Influence)
-[X] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
This plan focusses internally, with fixing the markets (which currently are at 50%) and surveying for resources domestically.
[X] Plan External Focus
-[X] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours (Influence)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore (Authority)
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms (Influence)
-[X] Ianto: Cataloging the Great Khan's War
This plan aims to fix the Harbours and negotiate with Greenshore for resources.
Yes.
The numbers are probably high (I think on second thought the loot should really represent 1/4 of all Ymaryn gold), but it gets the point across. The Ymaryn were mindbendingly, stupidly wealthy before the Khan. As the only industrial power in the world; the source of glass, porcelain, spices, incense, silk, salt, wine, and other trade goods as well as being the middle-man between East and West meant you slowly, systematically drained all of the gold located in the Old World over the last 2000 years.
Of course, this is now a problem. No one really appreciated how wealthy the Ymaryn were since aside from the costs of staple goods being 5-10 times the expected price compared to what they would be internationally, there's not that much obvious wealth. Runaway inflation used to be a dire problem until the Mint managed to step up and deal with it. You used to have so much gold that it wrapped around to being useless; aside from looking pretty, what is it good for? Most of it ended up being sent to sit in basements of the local mint and collected dust for the last five hundred years. It did more harm than good being out there and accessible to the general public.
With the Khan's smashing success, now word is going to get out there that you are the loot piñata to end all loot piñatas. No one will likely act on it yet since they don't know you're weak, but if any cracks start to show, there will be ample motivation.
[X] Plan Harbor and cults
-[X] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore (Influence)
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms (Influence)
-[X] Ianto: Curate the Cults
Without the harbor repaired our trading partners will notice we are weak and i like to study the cults first before looking into the last war we are in no shape to start fighting now so finding out what went wrong can wait for a few turns.
-[X] Ydrys: Reopening Harbours (Authority)
-[X] Ydrys: Nurturing Neighbourhood Watches
-[X] Rhys: Internal Contacts
-[X] Haul: Negotiate with Greenshore (Influence)
-[X] Prydyer: Reseeding Farms (Influence)
-[X] Ianto: Curate the Cults
Without the harbor repaired our trading partners will notice we are weak and i like to study the cults first before looking into the last war we are in no shape to start fighting now so finding out what went wrong can wait for a few turns.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
*shakes head*
They aren't wealthy in the way that truly matters.
The fire is no longer warm....
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
- Location
- Hollister
[X] Plan External Focus