"The thread will (intermittently) remember that."[Stirland Tributaries underway. Estimated completion date: late 2493.]
That looks familiar. Ah yes I remember now:Keep The Wagons Rolling: Eike believes implicitly that logistical efficiency is absolutely essential for the continued survival of the Empire and its allies. +2 Learning, +3 Stewardship.
-[*] [EIC] Instil corporate policy: long-term financial good of the Empire.
Your collegiate interlude must come to an end, and this time your target is Blutdorf, where once more the major figures of the EIC gather to hear your words. You could simply give orders along these lines, but you're very much aware of how little an order can mean when the one who gave it isn't watching. As the Kislevites say: the Gods are high above, and the Tzar is far away. And while the EIC as a whole has bought into Wilhelmina's personal policy of 'don't skin the sheep', you're very aware that even the best-kept sheep are pinned down and forcibly shorn on a regular basis, so you don't want to entrust the Empire's long-term good to that alone.
So instead of commanding, you need to make them believe your words, and a week back in Eight Peaks prepared you for the task. Under the sceptical eye of burghers, carters and stevedores, you make a multi-pronged attack on selfish profit. You describe the perpetual state of every variety of anarchy in the Border Princes, and the many threats nearby that can and likely eventually will wipe out every one of them. You tell of the constant sacrifice in lives and materiel that keeps the roads safe and the rivers clear, and you tell them of how much it costs to hire a proper protective detail from Barak Varr to go through roads that have no such protections, and how little of even the best equipped return. And knowing your largely Stirlandian audience, you speak at length about Sylvania. The years between Boris Goldgatherer's death and the coronation of Mandred Ratslayer, when the plague raged through the territory again and again and only a stalemate between two existential threats kept the Sylvanians from total extinction.
Then you move on to the Time of the Three Emperors, when central power disintegrated and each individual city became vulnerable to any and every threat that wandered along. The Battle of Meadow Glades, and the town that was exterminated by the Elves of Athel Loren in retaliation for the trespass. The Night of the Restless Dead, when Sylvania declared independence. The Waaagh of Gorbad Ironclaw, which utterly destroyed Solland and came damn close to destroying Averland and the Moot. The Von Carsteins and the three Vampire Wars. The Fourth Sack of Marienburg. The corruption of the Order of the Blood Dragon. The partial destruction of Mordheim by meteor, and the subsequent complete destruction of Mordheim by anarchy. And finally, the Great War Against Chaos, and how close the Empire came to extinction before Magnus the Pious took power, defeated the Everchosen Asavar Kul, and rebuilt the Empire into the one that allowed each of them the chance to profit so handsomely from trade between provinces and countries.
You wrap up the presentation by reiterating the central point: the Empire was not merely needed for any profit to be made, it was needed to prevent the violent death of every single person present. Judging by the near-universal looks of horror on the faces of everyone present, you feel you managed to get the message across.
[Instil Corporate Policy: Stewardship, Breakpoints 40/80: 96+19+7(Library: The Empire of Man)=122.]
So does she know that her Aethyric Armour is a modded upgrade version?
[X] Swordplay
[X] Sofia
[X] The Black Water Canal
[X] Gold College