Cacophonous Interlude is NOT active
(the QMPC does NOT hear what you write right now)
Next story update : Sometime in July would be nice
Next vote closing : TBD
Progress toward next update : 3,146 words
Code:
Anything I post that's not in text blocks or in spoilers
may be understood to be said by the QMPC, with the
exception of the Collaboration Post
(see Collaboration Post for details on itself)
Code:
Players do not need to use code blocks or spoilers
outside of cacophonous interludes
If you use code blocks, please limit yourself to 32 lines
and your lines to 57 characters, so that people on mobile
can read them without scrolling within the code block
Code:
This is not meant to be Plagiarism Quest.
You're not discouraged from using outside reference
material or quoting other sources. When you do, please
cite your sources in spoilers or a code box.
Code:
I have added some players who contributed a fair amount
the last two times as thread collaborators who can update
the collaboration post. If you'd like to update the
collaboration post too, contact me by PM and we'll talk
about it.
Check the Collaboration Post and read the latest story post in the Threadmarks to get a rough idea of where things are at.
If you're not already involved in the game, portions of either of these may be difficult to follow. But you can skip to the line that says "B R E A K" in the latest threadmarked story post and skim from there to get an idea of what's going on.
If there's no corresponding Closing The Vote post in the Informational threadmarks for the latest story post in (normal?) Threadmarks, then the game is in a cacophonous interlude and the QMPC will hear what you post, unless you do so with spoilers or code boxes. The NOTICES portion at the top of this post should also tell you if the game is in a cacophonous interlude.
So you can engage with other players, make suggestions, ask questions, and propose plans and you can compose a message to the QMPC all whether or not the game is in a cacophonous interlude. And once it is, you can vote and/or send a message to the QMPC by creating a post in the thread.
If you want to vote, simply do so as you would in other quests on this board. You may look at other players' votes to see how yours should be formatted. And you may check the tally to see that yours are counted as you intend them.
If you want to send a message to the QMPC, though, keep in mind that they are a creature of their time. They may not understand what you mean if you don't take the time to make it clear. This game rewards and demands work from its players. When a player wants to introduce a concept or tool or technology to the QMPC, that player will probably need to expend effort to explain it carefully, and take into consideration the limits of the QMPC's understanding of the world.
I think this is similar enough to Graeber's 'interpretive labor' that we can use the term colloquially to describe what is being asked of players. Put yourself in the mind of the QMPC and ask yourself how such a person can be made to understand what you want to tell them.
The QMPC has different values than we do. They have different assumptions about the world and objects and forces within it. Their goals may not align directly with number-go-up or color-get-big gaming agendas. But they want something, and will listen most attentively to players that tell them how to get more of or closer to what they want.
The Quest Master posts story updates that have 3 parts.
Quest Master Player Character responses to player posts made during the last cacophonous interlude
An update by the QMPC following a break of varying length but usually some number of years, covering what the character believes is worth mentioning
Requests by the QMPC for direction on a number of issues, which the players will provide in the form of votes
Following each story update, players posts are audible to the QMPC until voting is closed.
This is the cacophonous interlude.
Players may convey any information they can represent in text.
No images, sounds, or hyperlinks will get through (this is my limitation, not a limitation of the game, so please do not try to transcend it with clever protocol tricks).
Players may use spoilers or code blocks to communicate with each other without doing so in ways the QMPC can hear.
When votes are tallied, the QM collects player posts so that it may be known what the QMPC heard.
Votes are tallied in the conventional fashion. So only votes in the most recent post by each player are counted. [X] marks what the player is voting. And only identical write-ins accumulate.
Some votes are querying the players for their preference, in which case the only suboptimal answer is that which does not accurately reflect the preference of the players who nonetheless chose it (I don't think these kinds of misunderstandings can be helped).
Other votes are intended as puzzles where there is a choice the QM believes would best meet what they believe to be the goals of the players.
However, in these sorts of votes the QM has in mind a choice that would provide the players with what the QM thinks they most want, but which is not listed in the available votes.
In this way, clever write-ins are encouraged.
QM reads player posts, researches their suggestions, checks notes for precedent, determines what the QMPC thinks they already know on the topic, what they're right or wrong about, how likely they are to engage with the topic, how likely the QMPC's followers are to follow-through in the matter, and finally what the result is going to be later on.
QM composes QMPC's responses to player posts made during the cacophonous interlude and updates their notes.
When narrative benefits from uncertainty and chance, QM devises tests for QMPC or other characters and makes those tests using die rolls on a post made just for that purpose.
Skill or attribute tests will be made with a largely undocumented homebrew modification of the Burning Wheel system, mangled to suit the format of this game. (The Burning Wheelis a good system and I encourage you to check it out.)
Tests may be a contest between two characters or against a static target with tiered results.
The rules being used and followed will be described in each post in which tests are made by die rolls.
Normal mortals count 7s and better as successes.
Heroic characters and characters who are otherwise innately magical count 6s and better as successes.
Demigod characters and characters who otherwise possess some spark of divinity count 5s and better as successes.
New gods and characters who have otherwise stolen the power of Old Gods count 4s and better as successes.
Old Gods count 3s and better as successes.
Sorcery and other magic skills lower the threshold of success by 1 to a minimum of 3 only when they are the skill being tested, not when they provide a bonus to other skills. Players may note that Old Gods' threshold of success does not improve when they use magic.
Bonus dice provided by Kahl's Warhorses and any incendiary devices more complicated than a burning arrow reroll 9s & 10s and keeps successes. These same bonus dice cancels successes on 1s & 2s, rerolls those, and additional 1s & 2s cancel additional successes. More 1s, 2, 9, or 10s mean more rerolling and more successes or cancelations, but only in the manner of the original die. That is, a 1 or 2 that comes up when a 9 on a bonus die is rerolled don't cancel successes or lead to further rerolling.
Research project results are determined by percentile dice with results falling into 5 tiers.
Uh oh: something has gone horribly wrong
Nuh uh: failure, but the boring kind
Huh: partial success
Uh huh: full success
Whoa: superior special case success
When players expect a test to be coming up -- for example if they vote for an invasion or to send a diplomat to manipulate a foreign leader -- they can improve the odds of the test turning out the way they want by providing the QMPC with advice specific to that matter. If the advice is not mistaken or outright bad, there will be at least a chance it will help. That is, decent advice adds dice.
QM composes the QMPC's post-break update, player vote questions, and player vote options.
GOTO 1
The QMPC is intended to be the only character the players will interact with in this game. (It's kind of possible that the players could maneuver the QMPC to surrender control of the Astute Cacophony to another character, but unlikely.)
The QMPC is a small, evil woman who knows magic and has not died, despite looking like she probably should have at some point. She goes by the name Bianca the Undying. Her early life took place in the Paleolithic, in which she has said that she traveled around quite a bit and came to understand the malleable nature of populations of people and animals and even the land itself. At some point she was trapped underground, to her displeasure. She remained trapped for a very long time.
When Bianca got out, she found her way to a community of eight tribes living pastoral and agrarian lifestyles in the local Copper Age. She made these people hers and they relied on her for magically enriching their fields so that they did not need to slash, burn, and move around a bit, unlike their neighbors. Bianca and her followers formalized their relationships into the Eight Ways Pact. Later, another tribe joined Bianca's followers bringing small horses and the Bronze Age and their pact was updated with a ninth directive.
Bianca has an agenda that requires her to have more power than she does right now. She believes that achieving divinity will get her that power.
Sooo 150 years of life or more bevause someone can make mechanical reaper. People cats and demons are you like serious? I'm all for rewards inventions but this decision is stupid like hell.
[X] [Potion] See if you can farm the ingredients for the elixir of life, or otherwise produce a more reliable supply
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
[X] [Extension] The maker of the best reaping device in the next few years
[X] [Pettiness] Like before, bring only the chosen of the chosen, meet with the Host of Liavint, travel to Ekhaicvint, but this time with CANONS!
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
Greatest ice halls of the Burgeck usually experience if not collapses, then now sabotage. xD
More seriously, situation is far from great, but nowhere near terrible. Hmm. What to do.
This is Black Cat, welcome. Ugh. Recent conquest had much worse results than I hoped for. Still, more land is more land. Land should be useful long after this brief discord dies.
So, there is human sacrifice in the city. Ugly and wasteful custom, especially if benefits of such drowning of people are false, and this is probably the case. Huh.
I fail to be impressed by these cities of your world. Though their weird customs are amusing. I like cities very much, but I like great cities of the machine age that I can remember/see, not these poor dumps of your world that know even less wisdom than we provided to your tribes. Huh.
Still, as we said, cities should develop and grow with time. So this may change.
If your former First Table-Ruler managed to somehow live though his misadventure, then I would advise to show unusual mercy. His action probably killed him, but if not, his story may be amusing.
Elixir for longer life is promising. Though it sounds like something both promising and terrible to make. So what do you need for one? Do you need to, I'm not sure... Kill rare people or whole villages for one? Then it's disturbing, evil and could bring discord, but you could farm outsiders for that, no reason to use people from the Ten Nations. Hmmm. But you said "rare". Hmm. So maybe I'm wrong. Mysterious. Something like that would be disruptive, but not exactly rare, not with the proper use of outsiders. So I have no idea.
Standing outside naked in winter would be terrible idea and would cause much more damage than benefits. Even if we are all mad, I'm not mad enough to suggest something like that. Frankly, I see no need to talk about lack of sunlight during winter anymore, as all solutions seems to be worse than the problem for now. My apologies for even starting to talk about that, irrelevant information can be one of our weaknesses.
Permanence... Ugh. It would be much better for your power if future generations could praise great wisdom of farming that was invented by you, instead of believing that it was always done.
People need safety with comforting thoughts about a few permanent things, I agree. But not everything needs to be seen as permanent. You can claim that you and your power is permanent, that you bring safety to the changing world. Also sometimes you change things, but for the better. Change for the worse come out of bad understanding and from ENEMIES of the People. And only you can protect them. Such a way of thinking would strenghten your power over people.
I assure you, it's possible for people to believe in that after a generation or two of hearing proper stories. You need to strongly consider this way.
More uses for nails, in the sense of metal nails? Quite obviously you can join two pieces of wood together by hammering properly long metal nails into these.
Anyway. A few pieces of general advice, as always. Hopefully useful.
Lubrication of machinery.
Some unfortunate issues with machinery may be caused by lack of precision, skill and experience; but maybe some are caused by lack of lubrication. Use something like olive oil on gears and the machine may run better. This cause moving parts to transfer force more gently and reduce wear.
Lubrication is a technique employed to reduce wear of one or both surfaces in close proximity moving relative to each another by interposing a substance called a lubricant between the surfaces.
Adequate lubrication allows smooth continuous operation of machinery, with only mild wear, and without excessive stresses or seizures. When lubrication breaks down, metal or other components can rub destructively over each other, causing heat and possibly damage or failure.
Insecticides: killing bugs that eat crops.
Do you know flowering plants known to me as Chrysanthemums or Pyrethrum? Powdered flowers of these are poisonous to many bugs, while effects on humans or animals are minimal.
Flowers, typically white with yellow centers, grow from numerous fairly rigid stems.
Besides killing many of these bugs that eat crops, this should also kill lice and fleas.
Production of potassium nitrate, alternative way: no caves with the bat dung needed.
There are a few methods of obtaining and extracting potassium nitrate.
Mix manure with wood ashes, common earth and organic materials such as straw to give porosity to a compost pile.
The heap should be under cover from the rain, kept moist with urine, turned often to accelerate the decomposition, then finally leached with water after approximately one year, to remove the soluble calcium nitrate (something like colourless salt) which can be converted to potassium nitrate by filtering through the potash.
And what is potash? The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing potash.
This may well increase production of the potassium nitrate, and thus black dust. Depends how many caves with the bat dung you have and what is easier.
This reminds me...
Bat dung as fertilizer.
Bat dung can be used to fertilize fields. I consider black soil as better, though. But you can even use both, I suppose.
Too much dependence on the bat dung, that is produced by bats extremely slowly and thus can be utterly exchausted after some time, is unwise. Some use is reasonable, but not too much; table-rulers can consider details of that with their numbers.
And this reminds me...
RIsks of resource shortages: wood.
As our improvements use more and more trees for charcoal and other uses, planting trees both as windbreaks and maybe even as small tree farms may be well-advised. Trees, sadly, needs many years and sometimes decades before "harvest" for wood is reasonable.
Peat.
As was once mentioned, I would urge again - and it's reasonable, because your people use wetlands and probably cut peat for bog iron. Try pressing water out of peat, drying peat and then burning that during winter to save more trees for other uses. Warning: beware of uncontrolled peat fires, never store too much in one place, and other such measures of safety around something very flammable.
There is also black rock that can burn, coal. But coal is pretty unhealthy. And beware of underground coal deposit fires.
Obesity and exercise.
While diverse diet is ideal, it's possible for a person to eat too much with too little physical work or exercise. In such case the body tries to store excess food as body fat.
Excessive body fat can easily lower mortal lifespan by 20 years. Obesity is a disease.
On the other hand, muscles, physical strength, and exercise of the body are beneficial and can slightly slow aging, though effects are far from great. A few more years of life can be expected.
This means that even when some people are raised above others and enjoy more food than needed, they should still do some light menial work or exercise bodies, otherwise their health will suffer.
Medicines and body weight.
I think that it's utterly obvious to us, but I'm not sure that it's obvious to you, as our ways of thinking sometimes differ in surprising ways: proper doses of many strong medicines depend on body weight of the patient. That is, dose that would kill a small child may be proper for a big man.
Despair and madness of warriors even years after the battle...
Yes. I know about such disease of the mind. It can also happen to people after experiencing something other that is terrifying, not always battles. Support and comfort in a marriage or from a family is important, also patience and showing understanding while listening to words of the mad, even if the mad person sounds very meek or weird.
Your singers could try to gently speak with such people, mostly listen with a few gentle questions. It's possible to sometimes heal such a damaged mind in this fashion, not always. There are no easy cures for this.
Something similar can even happen after terrifying accidents, or to children that experience something terrifying for children.
Children and risks of future madness.
This is a good reason to not beat children excessiviely, and be reasonably nice to children, as I once tried to explain already. "Reasonably" is a very important word here and obviously some discipline is needed - but constant fear is damaging to the mind. Quite often a few harsh words is entirely sufficient to discipline a child - this depends.
All physical punishment of children is abuse. But I speak with a bronze age evil ruler and so I don't want to seem even more mad than she already thinks.
Dental care without toothpaste.
People can simply clean their teeth with a wet "moderately stiff (not TOO stiff, though) brush", no toothpaste needed. It would be less effective, but much better than nothing. Bad dental health and especially rotting teeth allows bad germs entry to the whole body.
The brushing motions will remove germs and food particles from the teeth and gums, which is a much better choice than forgoing brushing altogether.
While on vacation, nothing is more frustrating than realizing that a major toiletry item such as a toothbrush or toothpaste has been left behind. This can truly put a damper on an otherwise relaxing getaway, especially if you are vacationing in an area where these items are not readily...
www.dentalone-ga.com
Forceps and removal of damaged teeth.
Tooth that cause significant pain should be removed with forceps. A tool pretty similar to tongs, but much smaller and thus able to properly grasp a tooth, at least in the most cases. Forceps should be clean and sterilized like tools used in surgery, as even though tooth extraction is usually simple, there are some risks from germs.
Without treatment infection can spread to the jaw, or even travel with blood to weaken many internal organs.
Immediately following the removal of a tooth, bleeding very commonly occurs. It's good for a patient to bite on a very small and previously boiled piece of cloth for a while, to stop bleeding and allow blood to clot.
Germs often present in the human mouth love to eat remains of food, especially sweet-tasting things (honey is, thankfully, exception as honey often kills germs).
Without any brushing dental health could suffer from otherwise beneficial plentitude of food, ironically.
Thankfully removal of damaged teeth is a very simple surgery, if this can be even called "surgery" at all. Deaths are very rare, somebody would need to be extremely unlucky with germs. Keeping rotten teeth in the mouth is much more dangerous for health than removal, and of course - often very painful.
Alternative treatment of minor damage?
I can imagine very complicated ways to clean minor holes in teeth with very small drills and then use something to fill that, but obviously removal is much easier. Probably not worth the costs, especially given that it would be hard to find a properly durable thing for fillings.
Dentures.
It's possible, but may need excellent and skilled craftsmen, to create artifical teeth sculpted from animal bone, and fastened with a fine wire, to replace missing teeth. We call such a thing "dentures".
There was also nation that used dentures made out of wood. Softened bees wax was inserted into the patient's mouth to create an impression, which was then filled with harder bees wax. Wooden dentures were then meticulously carved based on that model.
If you are afraid that such a complicated prosthesis of teeth can cause inequality then I understand, but maybe this could be something proper for a very respected elders that lost most of their teeth.
Cities and fires.
It's good to have a few wide roads inside of a city. Not only this makes discord easier to control, but also can serve as firebreak. When all buildings of the city stand one around another, fire can too easily spread.
Also, they should use non-flammable materials in construction, when possible.
Travel during Winter.
Do you know about sleds? Basically carts without wheels but with a smooth pieces of wood that can slide across ice or snow. Pretty much useless during summer, but can allow to travel during snowy winter.
Table-Rulers and Singers after unfortunate deaths, hierarchy of command.
I suggest you to make a position of the Second Table-Ruler, that would help the First Table-Ruler with some tasks. Above other Table-Rulers, but below the First. When First Table-Ruler die, then Second would become First.
The law should demand to always have a Second Table-Ruler selected, even if the First is still young, to avoid recent issue.
If, by some truly great misfortune, both of them die at the same time, then the law could dictate that the oldest Table-Ruler present in your Great Home should act like a First Table-Ruler for a short time, until you could select a new and younger one.
Similar law could concern your Singers.
Feel free to change this suggestion to better suit your needs.
And if there are tasks of the table-rulers than need more specialization, for example teaching, then minor jobs like "First Teacher" can also be considered, as table-ruler below the First and Second but above other teachers, for example. This may be needed especially with increasing population.
Teaching methods.
It's possible for one teacher to teach 10 or even 20 people at the same time, if the teacher speaks loudly and people listen with a proper discipline, and look at everything that their teacher shows to teach them. Though quality of the teaching process suffers with increasing numbers, obviously.
Teacher could write big numbers and letters with a white chalk on a big black slate stone, so that everyone could see. White chalk can be easily washed away.
Meritocracy.
In regards to testing merit... Well, I shall use one example from history known to me. In the Chinese Empire there was a writer of books with wisdom that was very respected thanks to his wise written words for hundreds of years after he died, Confucius. Table-rulers of the Chinese Empire had duty to carefully read and study these books of wisdom, and then were asked complicated questions to prove their proper understanding of Confucius. Then hierarchy among table-rulers of the Empire was determined by quality of their answers.
Of course you have no Confucius, and honestly speaking quality of his work was overrated. But proper questions could ask them about various written wisdom, about maps, about the Ten Nations, and of course about your wisdom and about your achievements. They should also properly understand new machines and inventions. Quality and accuracy of their answers should show how suitable for complicated work they are. These babbling like idiots probably shouldn't be table-rulers at all, while these with proper answers to almost everything should be suitable for the most complicated work.
Personally testing all table-rulers that finish their training is of course not worthy of your time. You can appoint a small council of a few table-rulers and singers that you surely know as wise and order them to do most of this testing.
Checks and balances.
But I must say again, like I said years ago. I'm against giving even the wisest table-rulers full power to judge disputes. At minimum, judgement should wait for a Singer. As far as I understand things, Singers often travel, so pretty soon one should be available, if not at first. Only then dispute should be judged by both of them, and in the case of any significant doubts or differences in opinion between village Table-Ruler and Singer, you should be informed, and the case considered in your Great Home instead. Not always by you, but by the First Singer and First Table-Ruler if you are busy. In this way various servants and Singers would check whether decisions done in your name are truly proper and just. This shouldn't ever depend on only one servant, but people who serve you should check work of each other. Only your power is absolute, some power for your servants can be valuable as your time is limited, but one servant cannot be too powerful. Tests for wisdom wouldn't ever be perfect.
Cities of your world currently lack such "checks and balances" between servants of the ruler and this often cause discord. It's stupid and primitive custom, like cutting off the balls.
Only your power over your people should be unlimited. People below you are useful as your time is limited, but should check decisions of each other. Mortals are fragile and even the wisest mortal can fall into madness, occasionally.
To cite something, quote: "Checks and balances are various procedures set in place to reduce mistakes, prevent improper behavior, or decrease risks", end of quote from the book with wisdom.
Checks and balances are organizational procedures to reduce mistakes, prevent improper behavior, or decrease the risk of centralization of power.
www.investopedia.com
There are cases when leadership decisions need to be done fast, by one person and without any discussion, but these are mainly events like enemy raids, decisions of warleaders and Armies, or disasters like flooding.
Loving the more granular quoting. It makes it more obvious what Bianca is responding to, and really cuts down on the wall-of-text feeling of prior chapters, despite having a similar word count.
Regarding the aerial misadventure of your previous Table-Ruler, I would not be surprised to learn that they died at high altitude from lack of air; either directly from suffocation, or from falling from a great height after passing out. They are probably among the deceased.
Also, it would perhaps be wise to explain some of the context from our world that we have been accidentally weakening our instructions to you by not explaining.
With regards to food production, through the use of highly advanced farming machinery, it is easily doable for one farmer in our world to feed fifty additional people beyond themselves. This is even in the case of truly awful weather depressing crop yields. Which is why we keep making stupid assumptions about cities, and what professions aside from farmer your society is able to support.
In addition, we almost universally learn a great deal about mechanisms, the motion of fluids, the behavior of the force that drives lightning, and a variety of other phenomena, to the degree that outside our initial education we often don't think such things are worth mentioning, because of course that's just how things work. As such, we often forget that you do not have the benefit of such knowledge, and fail to properly explain these seemingly obvious things.
An example of something I forgot to explain due to stupid assumptions would be the Sodium Bicarbonate production setup that did not work as planned; to keep the brine from flowing back into the quicklime chamber, the pipe for the gas needs to go up, over the top of the brine tank, then bend down and go back to the bottom; this keeps the brine from flowing into the oven, since the pressure in the tank is insufficient to push the brine up the pipe over its own fluid level. Meanwhile, the top chamber of the oven full of lime will need to be sealed so no air can enter or leave, in order for the Carbon Dioxide gas it produces to actually build up enough pressure to force the brine back down the pipe, and start flowing into the tank of liquid as bubbles. In addition, both the Sodium Bicarbonate and the false salt would sink to the bottom; the Sodium Bicarbonate when the gas was bubbled through the tank, and the false salt when the quicklime was added to recycle the Ammonia.
As for the issues which you requested assistance with...
[X] [Pettiness] Forment rebellion in the people of least means, everything will come together on its own afterward
-[X] [Pettiness Subvote] Prior to the open start of rebellion, secretly supply those least of means with weapons and advice to increase their odds of success
By and large, the workers of the city are not those who spited you, and do not deserve your ire. Therefore, it is not wise to punish them for the actions of foolish leaders which they also despise. However, if you secretly assist them in rebelling and provide tools that make it easier for them to do so, they will feel a debt to the Ten Nations, and may be helpful to your cause in future. Weapons you stand a good chance of smuggling into the city include bombs of blasting powder disguised as oil flasks, swords and short spears, or anything else that could conceivably be disguised as something a trader is bringing to the city.
[X] [Potion] See if you can farm the ingredients for the elixir of life, or otherwise produce a more reliable supply
While a dose of longevity potion here or there would indeed be useful as an incentive, far better would be the ability to brew up a batch reliably. Thus, you could retain useful people for far longer, while also tempting others to join with the promise of an elongated lifespan. If the ingredients are rare plants, see if those plants can be cultivated. If they are special stones, either locate a spot where they can be mined, or very specifically state what types of stones are needed. Most true gemstones can be made artificially with the correct knowledge, which I would gladly impart to you once I know which stones are needed.
Needless to say, if this plan works, it removes much of the need to pick and choose who receives the elixir of life.
I have no advice regarding the cult.
[X] [Festival] Around the largest building the Burgeck have raised
Hopefully, the sight of such impressive architecture will re-ignite interest in your more ambitious projects. If not among the Burgeck, then perhaps among the other peoples of the Nations.
Fellow Voice, I disagree with your opinion. Of course I'm right and exercise matters in controlling weight, as exercise, and menial work for that matter, change amount of energy needed for the body to function.
The I that is Demon greets you once more Bianca. I rejoice in yet another city being added to your mighty empire, reveling in the sweet scents of victory, and writhing with the ecstacy of speaking such delicious madness into your eagerly salivating ears. Or wait, is that earwax? Ewww.
[X] [Cacophony] Demonic Spoon
[X] [Pettiness] Like before, bring only the chosen of the chosen, meet with the Host of Liavint, travel to Ekhaicvint, but this time with CANONS!
* Cannons
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
I would appreciate the specifics of the "rare and disruptive" materials of the life-extension elixir Bianca? It almost sounds like you grinding up babies, except babies aren't rare.
[X] [Extension] The maker of the best reaping device in the next few years
I speak of the sort of mechanical wisdom that is difficult to convey with words Bianca, at least my own winding tunnel variety. The best way I can think of to encourage it is to reward those so seem to excel in such mechanical sophistication.
[X] [Cult] Send singers and table-rulers to openly investigate
Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear! This sounds suspiciously like them making tribute to gods who are not you, which is of course a violation of the Ten Ways Pact Bianca.
[X] [Festival] 'Open' land just beyond the borders of Tash
This sort of large-scale festival tends to cause a large mess and potentially some damage to the environment. Don't hold it anywhere important. That's not even taking into account the inevitable drunken brawling.
How do you know of sulphur Bianca? Do your trade for it, and if so from where, or is it found within your lands, and if so, could you describe the place where it is gathered to me?
How did the Senbakoki fare Bianca? Were they not deemed wise?
How did the mushroom farming turn out Bianca?
The signs of insufficient sunlight are long-term and can be difficult to quantify, but poor skeleton development is among them. The most obvious short-term symptom is depression. If you're people are getting an hour of sunlight on the hands and face every other day or so, then that should be more than enough to be safe. The only time your people are likely to get insufficient sunlight is in the deepest winter, and this should not have too much of an impact on their long-term health.
Milk is mostly safe if drinken fresh, that is to say, the same day it was milked. However it can quickly spoil into a disease carrier. The types of diseases spread by milk take a long time to show symptoms and there is no obvious sign that the milk has been spoiled.
Saltwort, glasswort, picklegrass or marsh samphire. It often grows in salt marshes, mud flats, estuaries, generally near to sea or next to salt pans. Glasswort is a smooth, fleshy, salt-tolerant plant grow up to about a footlength in height, with succulent (fleshy), jointed, branching stems. Its jointed stems range in color from bright green to deep red. The leaves are scale-like formations along the segments of the stem. Glasswort ihas fleshy plump stems, resembling asparagus spears. In the autumn, this plant turns bright crimson, adding dramatic beauty to the salt marshes it inhabits.
Hemp is food
Bianca, did you know that hemp seeds and hemp leaves are edible? Hemp is indeed an ideal material for rope, and should primarily be used for that, and things made from ropes like fishing nets, and rough cloth that can be used to make tough sacks to hold grain, or poor clothing for slaves.
Wildlife Management:
The key to long-term sustainable hunting populations is twofold. First, do not overhunt, limiting the amount of game that may be hunted each season and forbid hunting of a particular type of game entirely in their breeding season to allow game populations to recover. Second, kill off all competing predators like wolves, lions, tigers, foxes and so on, since they're directly reducing the amount of game available for you to hunt.
The second method should only be practised of large-scale responsible hunting will regularly be carried out, as otherwise without the population control of predators the game population will increase rapidly, they will overgraze their available food, and then their population will collapse as food sources disappear.
Salt Licks
Animals need salt. Both wild and domestic. Put out blocks of salt for your domestic animals to lick on, and for wild animals to lick on, and this will help both of them to flourish. Salt Licks also make decent lures to hunt wild game.
Wintering Livestock
There are three things you need to focus on for livestock in the winter, shelter, food and water. Seemingly obvious no?
Shelter: grow tree windbreaks around pastures as was previously mentioned for crops, or put up portable windbreaks made of wood or mudcaked straw or whatever, essentially just two thin walls forming corner for the livestock to shelter in is sufficient for most animals. The windbreaks will shelter the livestock from the cold winds, which allows them to survive the winter more easily. Move the portable windbreaks every week or so to prevent disease outbreaks from keeping the livestock in their own manure.
Their pastures should be kept relatively flat and free of snow.
Some byre, large structures specifically to house your livestock during winter, or at least the coldest winter nights, can also be considered.
Water: Livestock must have access to unfrozen water. Give them water troughs and break the ice forming on the surface every so often maybe.
Feed: Winter pasture feeding will probably need to be supplemented with hay and maybe grains if you can spare it.
The focus of this publication is to highlight alternative practices for consideration as an alternative to winter animal confinement in a feedlot. Advantages and disadvantages are highlighted based on available research.
www.ag.ndsu.edu
Harbours
Fishing with nets is fishing with nets, more or less. I would suggest an alternative focus area, bigger ships.
Ships small enough that they can be easily dragged out of the water is so last decade. You need big ships that always stay in the water, and for that you need harbours to serve as an anchorage for them. A good harbour is surrounded on three sides by land, so the water is calm even in storms, and is relatively deep, so ships don't scrape their hulls.
Find such a location along your coastline, and begin building a dock there, with wooden walkways supported by wooden poles heading into the water for ships to anchor next to and sailors to embark and disembark. Eventually the whole thing should grow into a goodsized town if all goes well.
Dry-Dock
How to actually build these bigger ships? With drydocks! Dig a dry enclosure into the soil near the water of the harbour, making it waterproof with concrete or whatnot, placing properly shaped blocks to support a ships keel along the bottom, pumps to drain water, and with gate at its border with the sea, you can build the gate first and dig out the water side afterwards.
Then simply build your ship in the dry-dock, and open the gates to let the water in, and get the ship out of the drydock. Of course, additional temporary support struts will probably be needed during the building process. Dry-docks are also useful for repairing and maintaining these big ships you will hopefully be building, sailing the damaged vessel into a water-filled dry-dock and using pumps (or buckets I guess) to drain it after the gate is closed.
Talking out my ass cap'n!
I would like to request that you describe the grains Bianca. The brambles, are their berries black or red, and seem to be made of many smaller berries glued together into a bigger lump? If so, then they are probably some form of blackberry, which is nice.
Ah yes the lacrymae Batavicae . An interesting little glass trick. The glass is under tension, which paradoxically makes it stronger. The same principle can be applied to make tempered flat glass plates stronger than normal glass, but heating the plates until they're molten and then rapidly cooling them. While you may not be able to do this technologically at the moment, perhaps magic can do the trick.
One study does not make your conclusion correct, and I direct you to this article.
Exercise is good for you, but using it as a tool for weight loss is folly, because at certain level, calories expenditure will remain flat and the body will try to maintain that specific caloric expenditure. This is known as constrained total energy expenditure.
An unhealthy obese person should focus more on diet if they want to to lose weight and be healthy. Exercise is a useful tool for becoming healthy, but we should not misunderstand how our tool function. It's far easier to lose weight by controlling the amount of calories you eat as opposed to burning them off, which is easily undone by a snack.
I modified my words significantly with more advice. Now, fellow Voices. Any thoughts? What should we decide? And how terrible or difficult the elixir for life can be to produce, what do you think? Surely the magican was able to once produce his elixir without ruling over a major nation. And yet it's mentioned as extremely hard. Hm.
No. There are many prerequisites before they can utilize wood pulp, but they don't have enough of a cloth industry to support significant old rag based paper making. I would suggest a focus improving the cloth supply first.
Maybe woodblock printing could work on the clay tablets, not the printing press?
I mean, you simply use properly carved piece of wood, and you can even hammer that instead of using a press. Sounds decent for clay.
Certainly seals could make impression on clay. Why not something bigger, to copy whole pages. Hmm.
And, Bianca, as you may still hear this conversation of mine with another Voice. We are less mad than you think. This is another language issue, like nails previously. Seals are animals from the sea, but we use the same word for something that is pressed to clay or wax and leave impression, like fingerprints but letters or image.
Improving cloth supply... Indeed. I have no idea how to describe textile machinery properly (and besides, I said more than enough already), but if somebody could do that, then simply great.
Bianca, I have some additional advice. A bit pertains to the reaping machine's issue with the wheel slipping. The rest is unsolicited explanations of an institution which mass adoption of the reaping and threshing machines will allow the Nations to support, and which will greatly increase the rate at which new inventions are discovered, even without our active assistance. Also a bit of advice on cannon design.
First up, the issue with the reaping machine slipping could be resolved by using gears to turn the blades instead of just friction between the wheels. A gear is a lot like a wheel, but with ridges along the edge so that when two gears touch, they interlock and turn each other with no chance of slipping. Just use nails to affix such a gear to the wheel the device rolls on, and have that turn the blades using another gear.
And now, for the institution of knowledge I mentioned. In its most basic form, it has three core components: Schools, Printers, and Public Libraries. Schools teach people to read (and possibly a few other things) from an early age, ensuring that they can easily access written knowledge. Printers allow easy and quick duplication of written words, meaning that there's actually a point to teaching so many people to read, and allows important written works to be quickly spread across the Nations. Public Libraries meanwhile provide a freely accessible way to read written texts, allowing those inclined to do so to the ability to rapidly acquire more in-depth knowledge.
So, each component will now be examined in-depth.
First up, Schools. Attendance of schools for children as young as three years can have useful results, because at such young ages the brain is rapidly developing, and is learning at a greatly increased pace from the adulthood years. As such, children learning in schools in this manner will have a significantly easier time learning to read than if they miss the chance to do so until adulthood. A simple school can operate in a single-room building and only need a single teacher in order to teach basic literacy and some other useful knowledge skills by age six or seven.
This young age range is also the optimal time to teach all the languages of the Nations due to the previously mentioned rapid development of the brain, thus breaking down the barriers to communication between the people of the Nations. As an added benefit, this makes learning new languages permanently easier in the future!
At present, I would recommend starting fairly modest with what you attempt to teach each child in school: The ability to read, arithmetic using a simple abacus, the languages of the Nations, and maybe a bit of history and geography if you really want to stretch things. As an added bonus, school can allow you to plant the seeds of certain ideas in the young upcoming generation; one particularly useful idea to impart is one named Progress in our world, which is the idea of deliberately changing the world for the better, and constantly searching for improved ways of doing things.
That said, in order to get the best effect from schools, attendance needs to be free, and heavily encouraged if it isn't outright made mandatory. This minimizes the number of people who grow up without the ability to read, and thus cannot benefit from Public Libraries or Printers. In addition, classes for adults should also be available, so as to ensure that the gift of literacy can be spread even further. That said, a school does not need to be open all year; particularly busy times such as planting or harvest can be made breaks in the school session, so that those involved in schooling can still assist with feeding everyone.
Next, Printers. Unlike Schools or Libraries, a Printer is a mechanical device. There are many possible designs for printers, but the one I am about to describe is likely to be within your ability to create and effectively use. It is designed to work on clay tablets due to the fact that you cannot produce parchment in sufficient quantity for mass distribution, and nor do you have the ability to produce paper in any capacity. For the record, paper is best described as a parchment-equivalent made out of plant fibers.
The basic idea of this Printer is that you have a large rack capable of holding blocks that each stamp a written character into a clay tablet. These blocks are designed to be interchangeable with each other, so that they can be re-arranged in any order on the holding rack; I would recommend casting the blocks out of lead or copper at your preference, using the same mold for each copy of the same block for a given printer. That said, carved wood can also work, if you can have it carved precisely enough. In addition, specifically cut engraved images can be made to slot into the rack for the blocks, so that a given tablet can have both text and relief images.
In any case, the general design of a basic Printer requires three sliding components, arranged into a press. First is the tray for the clay tablets, which needs to be able to slide out from under the press, both to be put in the kiln to fire the tablets into their finished form, and so new blank tablets can be loaded onto it. Second, the press itself needs to be able to slide up and down; I would recommend using a screw device to control the height of the press, but you can probably devise something that will work just as well. Third, the top surface of the press needs to allow the rack for type to be slid in and out, so that it can be easily worked on between printing sessions. This also allows multiple racks of letter blocks to be retained at once, allowing the printer to be rapidly switched between different pre-set arrangements of letter blocks.
All together, such a Printer can easily stamp clay tablets for subsequent firing and distribution in massive numbers, vastly increasing the amount of any given written work that is available for any given person to read. This can be used for more resilient historical record keeping, accurate spreading of news throughout the Nations, describing the fundamentals of how to perform a certain task, detailing how to make various useful devices and materials, and preserving stories so that anyone who wishes can read them at any time.
The last part of this institution of knowledge is Public Libraries. A Public Library is a building where large numbers of written texts are stored in an organized fashion, so that finding a specific text is fairly easy to do. Even more critically, these texts can be read and maybe borrowed by anyone who desires to do so, provided that they bring it back within a reasonable time. This has the effect of vastly increasing the average person's ability to access knowledge, which has several beneficial effects.
First and foremost, it enables those interested in enacting change for the better to actually do so, as they can more easily learn what has already been done without repeating the same inventions and methods over and over; in addition, reading about what is already known can inspire such people to try and add to what is known. It also allows for a given person to explore new complicated skills to a degree without needing an expert to actively teach them, though such still greatly assists. Lastly and of least importance, it can function as a means of entertainment, since fun stories may also be written down, duplicated at a Printer, then distributed to many public libraries.
For the resulting institution of knowledge to have the best possible effect, schools and public libraries need to be accessible to most people. And of course, Printers are required to make schools and libraries accessible.
And now, more on Cannons.
First and foremost, if you're firing solid cannonballs or scattershot, making the largest possible cannon isn't necessarily the best option. The reason for this is velocity; while the mass of a projectile certainly contributes to the damage it causes, how fast it goes is far more important. As such, you can get similar destruction from a medium sized cannon compared to a massively large one, since the medium cannon will shoot its cannonball much faster. This is especially the case if the cannon is rather long relative to the size of ball it shoots, since that gives the shot more distance to build up speed. As an added advantage, it's much easier to carry a large stock of ammunition for a medium cannon than a massively oversized one, and the medium cannon will be both quicker to load and easier to aim.
Also, shot benefits greatly from something called wadding. Wadding is a patch of cloth applied between the shot and the powder charge to keep the hot gas produced by the powder from leaking; this eliminates the normal leakage of gas, ensuring far more of the force produced goes into getting the projectile up to full speed.
None of the above applies in the case of bombshells. A bombshell is a hollow metallic sphere filled with pellets and blasting dust, with the only hole to the inside containing a slow-burning fuse. Generally, a bombshell should be fired at a high angle from a short cannon with a wide bore, with the fuse being pointed away from the propelling charge. The reason for this is that the hot gases produced by firing will light the fuse, meaning that when the bombshell comes back down, it will surely explode, causing great havoc across a wide area. As such, high impact velocity is not needed to do damage. Pointing the fuse away from the propelling charge prevents it from being forced inside the bombshell and setting it off immediately.
First, Liberty, I am going to request that you remove the veil on that message, so that Bianca can hear it.
And, as I noted, the advent of more advanced harvesting and threshing devices will have the effect of reducing the labor required to produce a given amount of food. I am explicitly stating that the system of schools should only be implemented after the food supply has been strengthened enough to afford it.
The advantages of universal literacy and access to information are many and varied. If the school system as I have described is infeasible, then just use part of the year of service to Bianca already legally mandated to teach people to read. Those inclined to make use of said skills would then take it upon themselves to do so, provided that there is a suitable library to study from. That said, to make a system of libraries, there is really no other way to make it practical than to use printers to duplicate written works.
Why am I hearing cannonballs and cannons? They are totally inappropriate technology for a society that can barely produce iron, much less have a need for it!
I'm Black Cat, though it's true that some people call me Liberty. Anyway, in regards to our conversation that you want Bianca to hear. Just Write, as I whispered, I disagree with you.
Mass education though small places to learn? It's true that such places could teach what Bianca wants them to teach, and tablets in the buildings with tablets could say what she wants to say, but it's not feasible for now outside of her Great Home, where table-rulers are already educated.
Educating all people in villages is simply not possible, why would they want to learn, how could they have time? For now stories of her Singers are for that.
I'm not Bianca, but I can imagine obvious thought processes. "How attendance can be free, if labor and time of children is taken from the family?", she could ask. We have maybe one busy table-ruler in a mid-sized village. Now according to your plan he would need to also "educate" children in a new building... Ugh. Now this is our madness. It's not a good advice for now.
If, as you say, the Ten Nations enter the Machine Age and start to overflow with simple to make machine-produced food and goods, then it could be considered. But I'm afraid that entering the machine age is not so simple when you barely managed to enter the Iron Age, if that.
Also. Even if you can copy a few pages thousands of times with woodblock printing, one short "book" maybe... And this is useful, yes... Even then you cannot copy anywhere near full written wisdom in such a fashion. Do you even know how big and weighty a clay tablet equivalent to ONE PAGE is?
Comparable to the whole paper or parchment book. That is, pretty inconvenient.
You are too late; I shared the knowledge of black powder and the basics of cannonry already. The Nations can and do already produce such weapons. I am now simply offering refinements to the basic concept.
It is the word of the three that is losing that such negative spoken word must not grace the thread of our cacophony.
So begone I say!
BEGONE YE HAIRLESS RODENT OF THE DARKNESS BENEATH!
So, a few last things I want to mention, during this session of speaking.
I would like to clarify an important fact about our means of communication, Bianca: Due to the way it distorts time, we cannot hear your questions about what we say until after the end of a communication session. As such, we are literally incapable of answering said questions promptly, until the next communication session. This is also why we tend to offer so much advice unprompted; were we to wait for questions to answer, it would take an impractically long time on our end to get through all of them.
Next up is my discussion on Incentive Structures, Class Theory, and Economic Systems. AKA, my blatant attempt to make Bianca a Communist.
Next, I would like to present you with a means for better analyzing how societies behave, a set of concepts I call Incentive Structures, Class Theory and Economic Systems. To a large degree, these are already ideas you have some grasp of, but I hope to provide a bit of additional insight in this regard. In addition, I will use these concepts to explain a societal trap that you will almost certainly want to avoid at all costs.
So, an incentive structure is the idea of analyzing a person's environment and role, and seeing what that environment means they are encouraged to do, even if it's the opposite of what they're ostensibly supposed to be doing. It's easiest to explain with an example; in this case, I will be using the example of the deceased King of Wrul.
So, broadly, the King of Wrul was largely dependent on his army to remain in power, AND he wanted to make extremely sure that one of his direct descendants would succeed him as the next king. Another complication is that other Kings were in direct conflict with him, as they all were required to be vigilant against other kings aiming to snatch up parts of their power base to secure their own position.
All of this combined to heavily influence the King of Wrul's behavior; because he was dependent on his host of warriors to maintain power, he was required to heavily tax food from the rural areas around the city, so that he could feed both his warriors and the craftsmen who made the weapons and equipment for those warriors to use. To arrange such with a minimum amount of fuss, he made a deal with Erweh's priests so that they would try bringing the farmers around to his desired way of thinking.
Further, this desire to ensure that his direct offspring succeeded him as King was the primary motive for turning servants into eunuchs; he wanted to make absolutely certain that he was the only possible person who could impregnate his wife or wives.
Lastly, the manic accumulation of baubles was largely tied to a mix of raw greed, and the aforementioned problems with other kings. Having such a massive collection of shiny things both allowed him to 'buy off' possible opponents driven more by greed than sense, and demonstrated to anyone wanting to gauge his power that he was a powerful enough conqueror to make attempting to attack him folly. Of course, you clearly proved that this line of thought was folly when you killed him, but it was the way he thought, in all likelihood.
As you almost certainly noticed, nearly all of these incentives lead to behavior that was bad for the common people associated with Wrul, those serving the King, and could have ended disastrously for the Nations, if he was not so soundly defeated. Certain behaviors of his were almost certainly entirely due to his personal inclinations as an individual, but much was simply dictated by his position as a king who depended on his warriors to maintain his power.
Broadly, Class Theory is just the idea of applying Incentive Structures to groups of people in order to predict their behavior in aggregate. These groups can largely be categorized based on how they ensure their livelihood, their relation to other classes of people, and other incentives they have. For example, your Singers and Table-Rulers can be considered as a somewhat separate class from the common free people of the Nations, as they have a different role in society and a different set of incentives.
Lastly, an Economic System is a description of how a set of social classes interact, along with how needed food, services, and goods are distributed through society. It's a pretty simple concept, but it can be quite complex to describe all the various social classes in an economic system and their incentive structures.
Now, for me to explain the trap. The trap in question is an economic system known as Capitalism.
Within Capitalism, the primary institutions of economic activity are markets and Corporations. Meanwhile, the primary classes are a private owner class, and an ostensibly free worker class.
Broadly, a Corporation is a firm that is owned by either one rich person, or a small council of rich people. These corporations hire people to produce whatever good or perform whatever service the corporation sells to the rest of society, with the rich owners claiming all the wealth that the Corporation gets from the market, and only awarding the workers a pitiful trickle of baubles used as a medium of exchange.
Obviously, few would willingly work with a Corporation that siphons away the product of their labor in such a manner, and the owner class knows this. Thus, they make it nearly impossible to acquire even basic necessities without a ready supply of baubles to spend on the market for food, or housing, or medicine. THAT is the true function of a 'free market' in a Capitalist system. In addition, the owner class will put every effort into influencing whatever political leadership is present in order to remove laws that get in the way of them doing so.
The worker class meanwhile proceeds to be reduced to slaves in all but name, due to routes to survival that don't pass through the owner class controlled market being systematically closed off. This often leads to the worker class standing together in common defiance of the owner class, which is a problem that is almost guaranteed to lead to violence.
Other problems with Capitalism are that it blinds a society to long-term problems; since the various Corporations are in competition with each other and only concerned with concentrating wealth on the owner class in the short-term, these institutions will often prioritize short-term wealth extraction over long-term sustainability, destroying much of society's resources in the process. Meanwhile, those who actually attempt to maintain long-term viability will tend to be mercilessly crushed by those who only prioritize short-term gain.
Another problem with Capitalism is that it impoverishes society as a whole. Since wealth is sucked away from the worker class to the owner class's short-term gain, there are few resources left for the worker class to build new societal institutions outside the narrow mold dictated by the owner class, thus damaging the worker class further, and forcing them into a short-term survival mindset with little ability to change things aside from an attempt to round up the entire owner class and kill them all.
Seriously, do not allow Capitalism to come into being, it will lead to nothing but trouble.
Just Write, I see what you said, or what you want to say.
I would be tempted to heavily disagree with your critique of capitalism, Just Write, if not for the fact that it's so extremely premature, that, I think, Bianca wouldn't even understand your words.
I also appreciate all attempts to explain complicated opinions and systems. But, I shall say a few words.
Even cities of her world are not exactly "capitalist", even though they have inequality of wealth. Rulers of cities in her world, as far as I understand stories about these simple and small cities, are mostly like tribes "raised over another", or sometimes individual people or families "raised over another" by ruler of the city.
So, "capitalism" is something that is not used anywhere, as capitalism is more complicated system of power and exchange than simple inequality between people.
I midly wonder how this word, capitalism, may be translated from our language by the magic that allows our comunication.
Bianca should know that we speak in our own language, and yet our words are somehow heard by Bianca in the way that she can mostly understand. Mostly, but not always. There may be weird mistakes in regards to the meanings of words, sometimes.
Anyway.
I shall say only that while there are dangers from inequality of wealth, private ownership of resources, and using trade to exchange goods instead of using gifts, there are also benefits. Surely the custom of sharing, of the "For my family has so little and yours so much and only you can right this wrong" can spread resources between people that know each other.
But when Nation is very big, and there are Ten Nations with each one rapidly growing, that must be a pretty slow process of gifts between neighbours, that take years to distribute rare resource over all families. Somebody needs to notice disparity with a neighbour, then decide to say "For my family has so little and yours so much and only you can right this wrong"...
On the other hand rich trader constantly want to travel and search for occasions to exchange, of course with some dishonesty, and of course with greedily taking some of the wealth for his own needs... But this is a pretty fast exchange, and possible between strangers. And these are great benefits of trade.
On the other hand, if I understand things right, polite words and gifts sharing need much more time to spread rare resources than trade would.
There is great need for allowing trade and for roads safe to traders. And even more than that. I see a need to consider how internal trade inside of the Ten Nations could come to existence, because with steady population growth and territory growth - current exchange of gifts may start to be too slow and unwieldly for everything, the Nations too big for that.
Of course, some resources can be also distributed among the Ten Nations according to guidance from the table-rulers, like supplies for the army.
Greetings, thou of undying flesh. It is the first time we speak, for seldom do I have time to dedicate to such things. You may call me Starrunner. Today, there are several things I wish to speak about, some more frivulous than others, but knowledge not immediately practically useful can still prove to be of import. Mayhaps some other voices have mentioned some of this at some point, so in that case, excuse the overlap.
Firstly, how aging works. A person's body, as I believe you know by now, is made up of countless cells. These tiny lifeforms form a community that collectively makes up a person – a person could be the Ten Peoples, with cells being its people, though that is of course an inaccurate metaphor. A city is closer due to the distances involved, but still not all that exact.
Whenever one of these cells die, and a cell's lifespan is only two weeks or so so this happens all the time, another creates a copy of itself to fill the dead cell's place. To do this, it uses instructions made for this purpose, doing its best to ensure that the new cell is not a cause of sickness or fault (for without the instructions, the new cell would become a harmful cell every time, much like a spirit that can think only of consuming its surroundings and making more of its ilk).
Each time these instructions are taken out and used, the tiniest bit of it is lost through sheer wear and tear. Now, the instructions of life were well-made, so there exists a certain length at the end of the instructions that is empty and unused, there to be chipped away as such in order to preserve the actually important bits. However, this empty space is gradually spent over the years until one day, the instructions can be used no longer. With the loss of instructions, that cell can no longer replicate safely, and so must cease or create nothing but problems. Over time, the body will have less and less margins to this, and so will be slower about replacing lost cells (which is incidentally why elderly people heal slower than the youth) as it cannot waste what instructions it has left. So, like an ill-maintained house, the aging person grows ever more fragile until one day, they collapse to rise no longer.
The potion of immortality, if it works, I would suspect to do so by restoring these margins on the instructions, returning its imbiber their youthful vigor. A working potion is no doubt magical, for no mundane potion can have these effects.
Next, something of less immediate import. In my day-to-day life, I busy myself with, metaphorically speaking, making rock think for itself. The truth is far more complex, but others who work similarly have done things like make a machine that you could ask "what will the weather be in three days", and the machine would answer, and without magical or godly intervention it would tell truth.
You could not accomplish such, for you lack countless prerequisites and the thinking machines you require are far beyond your capabilities – not to mention the need to throw certain highly complex machines so high into the sky that they are caught in an endless fall around the world. Nevertheless, I shall simplify things, and explain the art of machine learning (a practice not yet of use to you but mayhaps interesting nonetheless for its implications) in its simplest terms with a practical example you could, if you so wish, perform.
The game tic-tac-toe is simple. You make three squares in a row three times to form a three-times-three grid. Then, two players take turns placing circle and cross, respectively, until the board is full (causing a draw) or one of them have three of their symbol in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) which causes them to win.
Take many markers. Their nature does not matter so long as they are categorically distinct and you have lots of each of them. Then, for each possible position of the board for one of the players, make a pile where you put a few of each marker representing each spot on the grid that is empty. You can then play a game with these piles of stuff. You play as good as you can, and when the piles are to choose, you simply pick an item randomly and place a mark accordingly. If the pile wins, you put back two of every marker used into their respective piles. If it's a draw, simply place them back. If it's a loss, remove the used markers.
Over time, the piles will lose the bad moves and retain the good ones. It starts to play better and better until it finally plays as good as the best of players. So you have taught piles of junk to play a game, and to play it good. For something more close to nature, this is comparable to evolution. The malfunctions that often cause sick children occasionally prove to be a 'good move' instead. These good moves are retained, and over time this improves the populace as a whole, much like the aforementioned piles getting better at the game. Like the training of the piles, this is of course a slow process, but is one you're trying to guide with your animal husbandry by yourself deciding which moves are 'good'. This is the point of another voice's talk of breeding only the friendliest cats – being friendly becomes a good move and so is preserved.
Enough about that, however. For the next item on our infinite bucket list, let me tell you about some ways to employ cannons. Firstly, a good cannon should be made out of iron, and care must be taken not to use too much black powder during its firing lest the forces be too strong for the cannon to withstand. I suspect the reason why your attempts struggled there was because you simply put in too much of it, and so your cannon was too weak to withstand the force. Moderation, I think, is a wise approach here.
You can, notably, load it with other things than just solid clumps of iron. For example, grape shot is a large collection of small iron balls, about the size of an eye, which are placed in the cannon with a suitably fragile container to keep them from escaping prematurely. When the cannon is fired, the small clumps will emerge in a cone from the front of the cannon. This is very effective at close range against infantry, and is one of the simpler things to fire. It should not, however, be used against most defensive walls, as the small balls will cause relatively little harm to structures. Canister shot is more advanced and effective, but you should start with grape shot, for it is simpler.
Another thing you can do is make explosive cannon shots. Instead of a normal cannon ball, you make one that is hollow. The space in the center, you fill with black powder, and then plug the gap you used to fill the ball with by using some sort of fuse. When the ball is fired, if the shot is properly made and the fuse proper, the shot explodes to cause more damage, especially against things like wagons, simpler fortifications or catapults as wood seldom handles such experiences well. The fuse itself can be an on-impact detonation thing by having the impact force be used to trigger the explosion (though that is a bit more complex) or, what I think you should do, a conventional fuse which is cut to approprate length depending on how distant the target is. The latter would then be ignited by the firing of the cannon. In either case, take care with this shot, for improperly done your own cannon can explode with more force than a normal misfire would cause.
Regrettably, it is only after speaking the last point that I realized someone else already had spoken about such. What is said is said and will not be taken back, so I shall let it be. More words on the matter could only improve your understanding, no?
Alas, I run short on time, and so must now cease my blabbering. Until next time, o undying one.
Eeey Demon that stuff with the earwax was gross disgusting and poor joke. We can hear Bianca cannot see her.Bianca is undying so she probably looks like moving corpse but clean and without water and rot.
Devil Girl here!
VOTE!
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
People would enjoy fun and drink and food but the festival can be more useful. Use festival to share more wisdom with people and between people. Show mechanical wonders and inventions and explain methods and talk with the FREE PEOPLE to improve faster and faster change their ways for the better. Around you home you have more singers and servants to help
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
We are worried about weird rituals so Investigate personally but nobody wants you to overreact. Maybe there is nothing to punish. Maybe you would learn something interesting about spirits
[X] [Extension] The most promising singer
So I disagree with some VOICES. Makers of machines are useful people to reward and encourage and they should invent new stuff but the GREATEST GIFT possible to give a mortal should be for these people that you trust the most so SINGERS and the best Singer.
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
Thats reasonable
And I refuse to vote for this imperialist war or meddling
Hmmm. Truly excellent cannon could be made out of high-quality steel, but such metal is beyond Bianca's current wisdom, I think. So I'm against saying that she should experiment with more iron cannons, or that, quote: "a good cannon should be made out of iron", end of the quote. When everything is perfect then maybe, but her people know iron for a pretty short time. As she said, for now bronze looks to be safer.
This is true. However, bronze is also less sturdy, and so is inferior, if nevertheless better than wood. I suppose the better approach is to first make some cannons out of bronze and then expand to iron later. One thing I would not recommend is to fire iron grape shot out of a bronze cannon, for that, I feel, would be prone to damaging the cannon.
Stirling Engine
A heat engine is a mechanism that generates work such as the spinning of a wheel using the difference in temperature between two regions. An example of a heat engine is the alpha-type Stirling engine. It uses a spinning wheel to alternatively press and depress two plungers which in turn compress and decompress air. For the compression to work the air must be sealed away with no place to escape. The air travels from being compressed by the first plunger to decompress into the space provided as the second plunger retracts.
A plunger can be described as a cylinder which perfectly fits inside another hollow cylinder such that no air escapes when the plunger is pressed into the cylinder. The hollow cylinder should have another much smaller hole on the closed side for the purpose of connecting to the closed side of the other cylinder. Likewise, this smaller hole will have to be air-tight.
The plungers are positioned at ninety-degree angles to each other. One down and one on its side. The one on its side is the compression cylinder and will be heated while the one which plunges down will be the decompression cylinder and should be chilled.
The wheel is connected to the two plungers at the same point along its edge by the use of two pivoting levers. Each plunger is likewise connected to each lever by a further pivot. There are versions of this design that use additional pivots.
Sooo 150 years of life or more bevause someone can make mechanical reaper. People cats and demons are you like serious? I'm all for rewards inventions but this decision is stupid like hell.
-[X] [Pettiness Subvote] Prior to the open start of rebellion, secretly supply those least of means with weapons and advice to increase their odds of success
[X] [Pettiness] Use every bit of sorcerous labor given in tribute to curse the rulers of the city, everything will come together on its own afterward
[X] [Potion] No, but let him try to gather the ingredients for two
[X] [Extension] Write in
One who is a great craftsman but whoms passing would not otherwise trouble you. It will as likely kill the user as extend their life. Should it prove successful, then it may be worth using on you more valuable minions.
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
Forgive if my words are short but the energy that is betwix all is uniformly maladapted at the moment.
Oft have you spake of the weakness of our wills. And yea for I cannot dispell this notion. Individually we are oft weak as to be trampled by the feet of one of the nations ten. But in weakness their tis strength. For as uncounted ants may assemble a might horde, so to are we greater than the sum of our parts. Without all of us, one of us might naught survive a single moon living as you do. But through cooperation, even the least of us lives lives indescribably more luxurious than you can yet imagine. I have a box in my home which stays always cool like ice. It requires no maintenance on my part, and may last decades before needing replacement.
I know of not a single home which lacks at least one of these.
---
[Grinding Spirit Recipe]
Take some number of beast of burden and harness them to a large wheel upon is side set into the ground that it might turn freely. Have a somewhat smaller wheel attached to the first but sticking above the height of the beasts. Have a large wheel stick above a grindstone located on the other side of a short wall ( to prevent livestock being distracted by the grain ). Wrap rope tightly around the two high wheels such that when one wheel turns so does the other. If you then have the same set of animals moving that wheel right up until the day they die, then you might create spirits that would be easily coerced into moving the wheel, but without the need to feed & the like. This could serve as a replacement for water wheels in places without water.
---
Part of the cities ability to survive famine is of course its ability to have a better equipped and trained army that those who do not live in a city. I believe we have discussed before how the benefit of living in a city will attract and grow the best craftspeople, including weapon smiths. If a man loves smithing then he will want to be in the city where he might be able to mostly live upon his craft. Where people come to trade the best ore for the best tools.
The other part is a strong ruler who extracts a tax of grain during good times that it might be distributed during the bad.
Third is the wise ruler that saves baubles and things of value that might be traded for food from places far away which are not in famine.
The important factors in the storage of grain are water, temperature, and pests. You the smallest amount possible of all of them. Build your granaries on smooth stone piles raised above the ground. The highest stones should extend out like a mushroom to prevent rodents from scaling them. Make your granaries tall with large shuttered windows at the top. Open the shutters when the air is dry so that a dry breeze might be drawn up through the floorboards and through the grain. The stored grain should be turned and inspected regularly to ensure it dries out evenly. Perhaps try creating some spirits of dryness from people who died of thirst.
[Spirits Ideas] [Terrible]
It is my belief that if one strongly had the thought of becoming a spirit in their mind when they died, then their spirit might be more malleable or stronger. One who willingly gave their life to become a spirit without any giving in to fear or instinctively cringing away at the moment of death. In this time of famine it might be easier to find those who are to old to contribute who would agree to some... experiments. Maybe even some few who can look death in the eyes without blinking. How does the spirit differ if you kill them instantly & unexpectedly via a heavy mace that instantly caves the skull? Its hard to kill faster than the mind can truly notice. Even If you chop off the head, the mind does not instantly die. Close, but not instant. Perhaps long enough to lose focus upon becoming a spirit. Perhaps try keeping an enemy imprisoned for a year with the smallest amount of water possible before death?
Does the spirit depend more upon the way you lived or the way you died? Will a hearth tender who freezes to death become a frost or a fire spirit?
What kind of spirit do you get if you kill someone with a thousand tiny cuts? Wait...
I forget, do animals make spirits? Maybe experiment on them instead of people...
One last note on glassmaking: the issues with water casued by Soda Ash can largely be alleviated by adding quicklime to the glass. The resulting variety of glass is commonly referred to as Soda-Lime glass, and is particularly easy to work with, re-melt, and recycle. Generally, Soda-Lime Glass should be about 74% glassmaking sand by mass, with proportions of Soda Ash and Quicklime being varied as necessary to get the desired mix of clarity and water-tolerance.
Soda-Lime glass is what I've taught them how to make since the beginning. We were talking about adding a larger proportion of soda ash than the "ideal" formula
Sooo 150 years of life or more bevause someone can make mechanical reaper. People cats and demons are you like serious? I'm all for rewards inventions but this decision is stupid like hell.
I'm hoping for an inventor hero, but it was just straight up more appealing than any of our other options and might help foster a culture of innovation.
[ ] [Extension] Kuwuzt of Zouchaud
> This was actually a good option. If I had to pick over I may have picked this.
[ ] [Extension] The Heroic Charioteer
> Hello there expert of a soon to be obsolete technology
[ ] [Extension] The Giantess of Liavint
> Potentially traitorous
Actually no. With their current smelting tech it's perfectly possibly bronze is more durable and of a more consistent quality than the iron they are able to produce.
Stirling Engine
A heat engine is a mechanism that generates work such as the spinning of a wheel using the difference in temperature between two regions. An example of a heat engine is the alpha-type Stirling engine. It uses a spinning wheel to alternatively press and depress two plungers which in turn compress and decompress air. For the compression to work the air must be sealed away with no place to escape. The air travels from being compressed by the first plunger to decompress into the space provided as the second plunger retracts.
A plunger can be described as a cylinder which perfectly fits inside another hollow cylinder such that no air escapes when the plunger is pressed into the cylinder. The hollow cylinder should have another much smaller hole on the closed side for the purpose of connecting to the closed side of the other cylinder. Likewise, this smaller hole will have to be air-tight.
The plungers are positioned at ninety-degree angles to each other. One down and one on its side. The one on its side is the compression cylinder and will be heated while the one which plunges down will be the decompression cylinder and should be chilled.
The wheel is connected to the two plungers at the same point along its edge by the use of two pivoting levers. Each plunger is likewise connected to each lever by a further pivot. There are versions of this design that use additional pivots.
I think mastering waterwheels and windmills will be more immediately useful considering the lack of precision manufacturing that makes Stirling engines vaguely viable.
First Chief of the Nine/Ten Nations, in theory/formerly, I'm not sure how this works after he declared himself as the King of Enonl.
He is with us from the beginning of the game, in fact. He fought in the Forest War as, if I remember this right, teenager (and the unusually young Chief of the Zouchaud, I think).
I like him as somebody who is part of our whole story (even in the background) for the whole time, but minor personal sympathy is not reason to vote for him, yeah.
I think mastering waterwheels and windmills will be more immediately useful considering the lack of precision manufacturing that makes Stirling engines vaguely viable.
Yes. I was actually planning on introducing lathes for machining parts before going anywhere near suggesting any engine design more complex than blowing steam out of a nozzle at a miniature windmill.
First Chief of the Nine/Ten Nations, in theory/formerly, I'm not sure how this works after he declared himself as the King of Enonl.
He is with us from the beginning of the game, in fact. He fought in the Forest War as, if I remember this right, teenager (and the unusually young Chief of the Zouchaud, I think).
I like him as somebody who is part of our whole story (even in the background) for the whole time, but minor personal sympathy is not reason to vote for him, yeah.
I went back and looked that up yeah. Not sure how his name kept escaping my memory. I guess Kahl of Lahn is just more memorable because rhyming. He was actually a good choice because the longer he's in power the longer we'd have a relatively loyal ruler over there, since he was actually born and raised in the Nine Nations and saw several demonstations of Bianca's power and authority.
Tbh, we probably should get around to giving step by step guides for waterwheels and maybe looms since a lack of cloth and mechanical power seems to be the current biggest limiters to progress, beyond a lack of large food surplus.
Tbh, we probably should get around to giving step by step guides for waterwheels and maybe looms since a lack of cloth and mechanical power seems to be the current biggest limiters to progress, beyond a lack of large food surplus.
By the way. I now think that my description of mushroom farming (not during this turn, but before) was rather poor. Transplanting mushroom mycelia would give much better results. Still, as far as I can see, first experiments with mushrooms during 1600' consisted out of accidental throwing leachate at manure, so even the poor method presented could allow for some effects.
I want to determine how successful Bianca is at breaking Ekhaicvint.
This is going to be a test of Bianca's sorcery (6), because she is not fucking around this time and is just going to straight up fuck shit up until she feels like it's time to stop. She has prepared spirits to assist her in this matter (1). There are siege engineers, in as much as that's a thing at this point, with her (1). Bianca has brought great masses of the warriors of the 10N, not just the chosen of the chosen, with her and they are well armed and armored (2). The Giantess of Liavint herself and her family and there to assist along with lesser warriors from Liavint (2). Lesser giants strengthen the chosen of the chosen of the 10N (1). And her people will be casting cannons on site (Leopard help them); (2 any incendiary devices more complicated than a burning arrow rerolls 9s & 10s and keeps successes, and cancels successes on and rerolls 1s & 2s and additional failures cancel successes; more 1s, 2, 9, or 10s mean more rerolling, but only in the direction of the original dice)
Bianca will be rolling 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2* = 13d10 + 2*d10. Bianca is magical herself and is using magic so she will count 5s and better as successes.
The entrenched rulers of Ekaicvint will counter with the best siegecraft they have to offer, which isn't bad because they've had some practice recently (4). They have hired sorcerers from far away who specialize in countering an individual magic user (2). Their walls are truly impressive, for the time (4). The people of Ekaicvint believe strongly that they can withstand the 10Nites (1). The army of the city is very strong and very present (3). The city is well supplied because the land is loyal (1).
The rulers of Ekaicvint will be rolling 4 + 2 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 12d10. They are mortals and not heroic in the slightest, for now, so they only count 7s and better.
As before, the kind of success had will be determined by the difference between the rolls, though this time Bianca won't be as merciful as should would have been the last time.
Bianca wins by more than 4 successes = Bianca kills every property owner in the city and their family
Bianca wins by 3 or 4 successes = The city's aristocratic families yield and offer Bianca the king's life, she takes the head of each family and the entire family of the king and ritually kills them
Bianca wins by 1 or 2 successes = Bianca breaks into the city and leads a disorganized rampage, the city is heavily sacked, and taken, but not razed
Tie = city suffers, but stands
Ekhaicvint's ruling class wins by 1 or 2 successes = city prospers
Ekhaicvint's ruling class wins by 3 or 4 successes = The Giantess of Liavint rebels on the spot
Ekhaicvint's ruling class wins by more than 4 successes = defection and a Heroic King for the city
Code:
Things do not go well for Ekhaicvint, but the city does
not fall.
I want to determine how successful Bianca is at making safe the shenanigans that Lan is getting up to with spirits of material desire.
Investigation would work best here, but Bianca doesn't have that skill. She is, on the other hand, an experienced intimidator (4). Bianca already knows part of the answer, which helps a lot (1). Bianca knows spirits really well so she is going to be able to ask some pretty good questions (1). Bianca's authority carries a lot of weight (2).
Bianca will be rolling 4 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 8d10. Bianca is magical herself so she will count 6s and better as successes. She will be rolling against the strength of will of the cultists with tiered results.
1 or fewer success = the cult grows, emboldened by escaping Bianca's attention
2 successes = the cult is weakened, but not beaten - Lan remains compromised
3 successes = the unorthodox practices are ended, tolls burned, but all before Bianca fully catches them
4, 5 or 6 successes = cult leaders surrender themselves to Bianca's justice and additional knowledge of spirits is gained
7 or more successes = Bianca legitimizes the cult and gains a Heroic Medium
Code:
Bianca uncovers shameful, hidden, and secret conspiracies
and kills the ringleaders and facilitators.
I want to determine if anything interesting happens during the festival.
1: Tribe leaders poisoned by Unnamed
2, 3: Competitors poisoned by Unnamed
4, 5: Unnamed trick Heroic Charioteer of Lan into calling the people to follow him as king
8, 9: A hundred minor bits of sabotage generally make things unpleasant
10: Everyone has a pretty good time, actually
Code:
I didn't noticed I missed 6 and 7 until after the roll.
And they're missing on the table I copied from, too.
So I guess it was just about worse than minor sabotage.
I want to determine how successful the Galugr are at raiding for a new sort of second class citizen they don't have a name for yet but which they are certain are necessary for their survival
This is going to be a test of raiding as a skill, which the Galugr have and are good at (5). They benefit from unintentional 'scouts' in the form of the traders who went out to get lesser giants that have reported back on where lesser giants live in the surrounding lands, even at some distance (2). The Galugr have better arms and armor than any of the lesser giants they face because they're supplied by the rest of the 10N and they're bigger and stronger than the other people who might get in their way (2).
The Galugr will be rolling 5 + 2 + 2 = 9d10. They are mortal and not at all heroic so they will only count 7s and better as successes. They are rolling against the strength of will of the lesser giants they are more or less enslaving.
2 or fewer success = defections, the Galugr are even weaker
3 successes = some captives gathered, but this isn't going to save the Galugr
4 or 5 successes = keep this up for a generation or two and the Galugr will be safe-ish
6, or 7 successes = integration is already begun, but isn't going to be fast or painless
8 or 9 successes = the 10N are "the true homeland of the lesser giants," big migration, fast integration, ongoing diplomacy bonuses with lesser giants
Code:
The Galugr have a method to increase their population
that will probably work. And while it isn't popular with
the neighbors, they aren't breaking any of the rules of
the Ten Ways Pact, so no one's making a big deal out of
it, yet.
Sorry I missed this earlier. I won't say much about Bianca out of character, including the answer to this question.
But I will say that, depending on how the dice had turned out today, it was possible that Bianca had not been technically experimenting with cannons as much as she had been experimenting with very large pipe bombs with pretenses of directionality.
3 [Pettiness] Like before, bring only the chosen of the
chosen, meet with the Host of Liavint,
travel to Ekhaicvint, but this time with
CANONS!
4 [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather
for himself
3 [Extension] The maker of the best reaping device in the
next few years
5 [Cult] Investigate personally
3 [Festival] Bianca's Palace
"To Ekhiacvint, then, this very summer. This time I will bring the makings of blasting dusts and a great deal of bronze.
"I will direct the preparation of the magician's materials once for the best devicier and allow the magician to prepare materials for himself if he can manage it.
"And when I visit Lan Tribe in the coming years I shall look into their spiritual dealings.
"Also, the Free People of the Ten Nations will all come together at my great house to celebrate their own greatnesses."
[X] [Potion] See if you can farm the ingredients for the elixir of life, or otherwise produce a more reliable supply
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
[X] [Extension] The maker of the best reaping device in the next few years
[X] [Pettiness] Like before, bring only the chosen of the chosen, meet with the Host of Liavint, travel to Ekhaicvint, but this time with CANONS!
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
Greatest ice halls of the Burgeck usually experience if not collapses, then now sabotage. xD
More seriously, situation is far from great, but nowhere near terrible. Hmm. What to do.
This is Black Cat, welcome. Ugh. Recent conquest had much worse results than I hoped for. Still, more land is more land. Land should be useful long after this brief discord dies.
So, there is human sacrifice in the city. Ugly and wasteful custom, especially if benefits of such drowning of people are false, and this is probably the case. Huh.
I fail to be impressed by these cities of your world. Though their weird customs are amusing. I like cities very much, but I like great cities of the machine age that I can remember/see, not these poor dumps of your world that know even less wisdom than we provided to your tribes. Huh.
Still, as we said, cities should develop and grow with time. So this may change.
If your former First Table-Ruler managed to somehow live though his misadventure, then I would advise to show unusual mercy. His action probably killed him, but if not, his story may be amusing.
"There is no amusement sufficient to earn mercy for failing to act as my First Table-Ruler when so named, or for failing to name a replacement before being lost to obvious folly, or for such a massive waste of cloth. If any people have found that flying bag they will have have such a wealth of cloth that their neighbors are sure to fall on them with knives and spears."
Elixir for longer life is promising. Though it sounds like something both promising and terrible to make. So what do you need for one? Do you need to, I'm not sure... Kill rare people or whole villages for one? Then it's disturbing, evil and could bring discord, but you could farm outsiders for that, no reason to use people from the Ten Nations. Hmmm. But you said "rare". Hmm. So maybe I'm wrong. Mysterious. Something like that would be disruptive, but not exactly rare, not with the proper use of outsiders. So I have no idea.
"Terrible, indeed. Rare herbs and wood that hunters must be sent far away to find, favors from particular spirits, poisons from the ground, and yes, lives of Fisher People. A child of the Fisher People who has never eaten meat must be raised to their adulthood eating no meat but the meat of Fisher People, of whom they must eat a certain number over their seasons. Then their body must be smoked to dryness, such that it will burn alone and by itself. And it is in that fire that the mixed portions of various other parts simmer under the willing watch of spirits of the unjoined, people who died having never joined to another person, and to have chosen of their own will to live without joining. There will be discord at different portions of this process. But the greatest discord I forsee will come from attempts at duplication in ignorance of the specifics."
Standing outside naked in winter would be terrible idea and would cause much more damage than benefits. Even if we are all mad, I'm not mad enough to suggest something like that. Frankly, I see no need to talk about lack of sunlight during winter anymore, as all solutions seems to be worse than the problem for now. My apologies for even starting to talk about that, irrelevant information can be one of our weaknesses.
"Winters in the lands of the Ten Nations are not all snowstorms and freezing rain. Already young warriors demonstrate their might by enduring the discomforts of being underdressed in the cold. Their elders do not allow them to do so when it would endanger them, as much as young people can be kept from endangering themselves. To say that all people should put their skin in the sunlight during winter is not to say that they should weaken themselves. And it will surely be known soon enough what benefit there is or is not, I suppose."
Permanence... Ugh. It would be much better for your power if future generations could praise great wisdom of farming that was invented by you, instead of believing that it was always done.
People need safety with comforting thoughts about a few permanent things, I agree. But not everything needs to be seen as permanent. You can claim that you and your power is permanent, that you bring safety to the changing world. Also sometimes you change things, but for the better. Change for the worse come out of bad understanding and from ENEMIES of the People. And only you can protect them. Such a way of thinking would strenghten your power over people.
I assure you, it's possible for people to believe in that after a generation or two of hearing proper stories. You need to strongly consider this way.
"That is more or less as it is, already. The people know that I protect them, that I make their crops and herds fruitful, and that they must follow the Ten Ways Pact and further they must do what I say. And that last one is the swiftest to fall. Surely at any time somewhere in the Ten Nations there are people doing as I have told them not to.
"The more that happens, the even more it happens. So it is important that I conserve my directives to what I know the people will do and afterward only a few things they will resist. If that were not so I would have directed the Burgeck to continue employing the ways of discovery to my every whim, instead of allowing them to simply stop seeking special favors from me."
More uses for nails, in the sense of metal nails? Quite obviously you can join two pieces of wood together by hammering properly long metal nails into these.
Anyway. A few pieces of general advice, as always. Hopefully useful.
Lubrication of machinery.
Some unfortunate issues with machinery may be caused by lack of precision, skill and experience; but maybe some are caused by lack of lubrication. Use something like olive oil on gears and the machine may run better. This cause moving parts to transfer force more gently and reduce wear.
Lubrication is a technique employed to reduce wear of one or both surfaces in close proximity moving relative to each another by interposing a substance called a lubricant between the surfaces.
Adequate lubrication allows smooth continuous operation of machinery, with only mild wear, and without excessive stresses or seizures. When lubrication breaks down, metal or other components can rub destructively over each other, causing heat and possibly damage or failure.
"I wonder if you have seen a cart or a chariot before, Black Cat. How can a cart roll at all if there is no grease in the box where the axel meets the frame? Surely no chariot can move at speed without grease.
"Still, if you mean that the blades or the comb should on the reaping device should also be greased, or that the tearing parts of the thresher should be greased, then that is a problem. Do you know the making of a grease that would not spoil the grain?
Insecticides: killing bugs that eat crops.
Do you know flowering plants known to me as Chrysanthemums or Pyrethrum? Powdered flowers of these are poisonous to many bugs, while effects on humans or animals are minimal.
Flowers, typically white with yellow centers, grow from numerous fairly rigid stems.
Besides killing many of these bugs that eat crops, this should also kill lice and fleas.
"I believe I know of flowers like those you describe. But, as I have mentioned before, it is a very different thing to know of a plant than it is to grow it in fields. And in this case, how many fields must be full of flowers in order to protect one field of fiber or grain or herb the next year?
"Relief from lice, though, is something the people will enjoy enough to undertake this task I think, at least for their own sake."
Production of potassium nitrate, alternative way: no caves with the bat dung needed.
There are a few methods of obtaining and extracting potassium nitrate.
Mix manure with wood ashes, common earth and organic materials such as straw to give porosity to a compost pile.
The heap should be under cover from the rain, kept moist with urine, turned often to accelerate the decomposition, then finally leached with water after approximately one year, to remove the soluble calcium nitrate (something like colourless salt) which can be converted to potassium nitrate by filtering through the potash.
And what is potash? The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing potash.
This may well increase production of the potassium nitrate, and thus black dust. Depends how many caves with the bat dung you have and what is easier.
This reminds me...
Bat dung as fertilizer.
Bat dung can be used to fertilize fields. I consider black soil as better, though. But you can even use both, I suppose.
Too much dependence on the bat dung, that is produced by bats extremely slowly and thus can be utterly exchausted after some time, is unwise. Some use is reasonable, but not too much; table-rulers can consider details of that with their numbers.
"So either the making of blasting dust steals from the making of black soil, or the use of batshit in fields replaces the use of black soil, though poorly you say. There is room for some balance here, nonetheless. And since it is as you say that we gather batshit faster than batshit piles up, a balance will need to be struck."
RIsks of resource shortages: wood.
As our improvements use more and more trees for charcoal and other uses, planting trees both as windbreaks and maybe even as small tree farms may be well-advised. Trees, sadly, needs many years and sometimes decades before "harvest" for wood is reasonable.
Peat.
As was once mentioned, I would urge again - and it's reasonable, because your people use wetlands and probably cut peat for bog iron. Try pressing water out of peat, drying peat and then burning that during winter to save more trees for other uses. Warning: beware of uncontrolled peat fires, never store too much in one place, and other such measures of safety around something very flammable.
There is also black rock that can burn, coal. But coal is pretty unhealthy. And beware of underground coal deposit fires.
"Many of your improvements require a great many more people working toward a single end than I previously thought feasible, Black Cat. But I have seen cities, now. And I will take you at your word that these cities are only small examples of what is possible, what perhaps is inevitable.
"Already I know that land depletes and the people would need to farm elsewhere if I were not here to work magic over their fields. It is not so strange to think that the forest can also be depleted. But, again, as I have said of many of your 'find a plant that does this and then grow enough of it' advice, there is a difference between gathering a plant and farming a plant.
"Surely, yes, this must be applied to trees as well as it is applied to anything else. But 'go farm some trees' is only a little more useful than 'go breed wildcats.' It is good to know that this task will benefit me. But that does not tell me much about how the task can be done. Do you suppose any tree will grow as well as another? Will burn as well? Will not exhaust the ground? If there is any wisdom that you voices have for the farming of trees, I would like to hear that along with hearing that I should farm trees.
"But it is good to learn that the ground can be burned as well as trees. There are fires that come from certain ground. And surely that is the sort you mean to take up in pieces, to press dry, and to burn in the place of trees. I know of the black stones that burn, as a curiosity. If these can be substituted for trees just as easily, then I will have these stones found out and their places recorded.
"Only, the blasting dust starts fires. And mining in the way it has been done before also starts fires. So I can see already that neither should not be used in the breaking up of either pieces of burning ground or breaking up the black stone. How can the black stone be pulled from the ground with no fire for light, or for breaking up the wall?"
Obesity and exercise.
While diverse diet is ideal, it's possible for a person to eat too much with too little physical work or exercise. In such case the body tries to store excess food as body fat.
Excessive body fat can easily lower mortal lifespan by 20 years. Obesity is a disease.
On the other hand, muscles, physical strength, and exercise of the body are beneficial and can slightly slow aging, though effects are far from great. A few more years of life can be expected.
This means that even when some people are raised above others and enjoy more food than needed, they should still do some light menial work or exercise bodies, otherwise their health will suffer.
Medicines and body weight.
I think that it's utterly obvious to us, but I'm not sure that it's obvious to you, as our ways of thinking sometimes differ in surprising ways: proper doses of many strong medicines depend on body weight of the patient. That is, dose that would kill a small child may be proper for a big man.
Despair and madness of warriors even years after the battle...
Yes. I know about such disease of the mind. It can also happen to people after experiencing something other that is terrifying, not always battles. Support and comfort in a marriage or from a family is important, also patience and showing understanding while listening to words of the mad, even if the mad person sounds very meek or weird.
Your singers could try to gently speak with such people, mostly listen with a few gentle questions. It's possible to sometimes heal such a damaged mind in this fashion, not always. There are no easy cures for this.
Something similar can even happen after terrifying accidents, or to children that experience something terrifying for children.
Children and risks of future madness.
This is a good reason to not beat children excessiviely, and be reasonably nice to children, as I once tried to explain already. "Reasonably" is a very important word here and obviously some discipline is needed - but constant fear is damaging to the mind. Quite often a few harsh words is entirely sufficient to discipline a child - this depends.
All physical punishment of children is abuse. But I speak with a bronze age evil ruler and so I don't want to seem even more mad than she already thinks.
"Thank you, Black Cat. I will see what can be done with this. I think I have seen some overbeaten children, yes, who grew to be easily frightened and overall troublesome adults. But as well I have seen some children seemingly overbeaten who only seemed to take the lesson that begging doesn't make the beating stop. And that is a good lesson for warriors to learn early and well. Many of these number among the chosen.
Dental care without toothpaste.
People can simply clean their teeth with a wet "moderately stiff (not TOO stiff, though) brush", no toothpaste needed. It would be less effective, but much better than nothing. Bad dental health and especially rotting teeth allows bad germs entry to the whole body.
The brushing motions will remove germs and food particles from the teeth and gums, which is a much better choice than forgoing brushing altogether.
While on vacation, nothing is more frustrating than realizing that a major toiletry item such as a toothbrush or toothpaste has been left behind. This can truly put a damper on an otherwise relaxing getaway, especially if you are vacationing in an area where these items are not readily...
www.dentalone-ga.com
Forceps and removal of damaged teeth.
Tooth that cause significant pain should be removed with forceps. A tool pretty similar to tongs, but much smaller and thus able to properly grasp a tooth, at least in the most cases. Forceps should be clean and sterilized like tools used in surgery, as even though tooth extraction is usually simple, there are some risks from germs.
Without treatment infection can spread to the jaw, or even travel with blood to weaken many internal organs.
Immediately following the removal of a tooth, bleeding very commonly occurs. It's good for a patient to bite on a very small and previously boiled piece of cloth for a while, to stop bleeding and allow blood to clot.
Germs often present in the human mouth love to eat remains of food, especially sweet-tasting things (honey is, thankfully, exception as honey often kills germs).
Without any brushing dental health could suffer from otherwise beneficial plentitude of food, ironically.
Thankfully removal of damaged teeth is a very simple surgery, if this can be even called "surgery" at all. Deaths are very rare, somebody would need to be extremely unlucky with germs. Keeping rotten teeth in the mouth is much more dangerous for health than removal, and of course - often very painful.
Alternative treatment of minor damage?
I can imagine very complicated ways to clean minor holes in teeth with very small drills and then use something to fill that, but obviously removal is much easier. Probably not worth the costs, especially given that it would be hard to find a properly durable thing for fillings.
Dentures.
It's possible, but may need excellent and skilled craftsmen, to create artifical teeth sculpted from animal bone, and fastened with a fine wire, to replace missing teeth. We call such a thing "dentures".
There was also nation that used dentures made out of wood. Softened bees wax was inserted into the patient's mouth to create an impression, which was then filled with harder bees wax. Wooden dentures were then meticulously carved based on that model.
If you are afraid that such a complicated prosthesis of teeth can cause inequality then I understand, but maybe this could be something proper for a very respected elders that lost most of their teeth.
"Tools for removal of teeth make good sense. It is common enough that a tooth goes bad without coming easily out. I will have these tiny tongs made of bronze here at my great house and we shall see their use.
"I have in my hoard finely carved imitations of the upper and lower set of human teeth. They are carved from the tooth of some great beast and, if I recall correctly, they came to the Nine Nations in trade from the north. I suppose I should favor one of my toothless singers or table-rulers with them and see how they fare. If the solution is popular, others will take up the making of them from whatever is available."
Cities and fires.
It's good to have a few wide roads inside of a city. Not only this makes discord easier to control, but also can serve as firebreak. When all buildings of the city stand one around another, fire can too easily spread.
Also, they should use non-flammable materials in construction, when possible.
"How many fire breaks does a city need? Or how many gaps of what width over what distance, I suppose?
"And what materials do you mean other than stone? Wood burns. Do you mean that all houses in a city should be stone?
"Even with the rule of the hanging rope, stone houses fall in on themselves more often that wooden houses burn, especially wooden houses with a stone channel for smoke over their fire."
Travel during Winter.
Do you know about sleds? Basically carts without wheels but with a smooth pieces of wood that can slide across ice or snow. Pretty much useless during summer, but can allow to travel during snowy winter.
"For the most part, the people gather what they will need for winter before winter comes in too close. What kind of traveling do you mean that people should do in winter?
"Herd keepers do go out to check on their herds, though. And always it seems there is one family or another in nearly every village that did not chop quite enough wood before winter. Yes, carts with skids are known and used."
Table-Rulers and Singers after unfortunate deaths, hierarchy of command.
I suggest you to make a position of the Second Table-Ruler, that would help the First Table-Ruler with some tasks. Above other Table-Rulers, but below the First. When First Table-Ruler die, then Second would become First.
The law should demand to always have a Second Table-Ruler selected, even if the First is still young, to avoid recent issue.
If, by some truly great misfortune, both of them die at the same time, then the law could dictate that the oldest Table-Ruler present in your Great Home should act like a First Table-Ruler for a short time, until you could select a new and younger one.
Similar law could concern your Singers.
Feel free to change this suggestion to better suit your needs.
And if there are tasks of the table-rulers than need more specialization, for example teaching, then minor jobs like "First Teacher" can also be considered, as table-ruler below the First and Second but above other teachers, for example. This may be needed especially with increasing population.
"I will direct my First Table-Ruler to select their own second, and my First Singer, as well. If I do not care for their choice when the time comes, then my own decision will not be the one that is rescinded. And in the meantime, there is no need for the selection of second to carry the weight of my authority."
Teaching methods.
It's possible for one teacher to teach 10 or even 20 people at the same time, if the teacher speaks loudly and people listen with a proper discipline, and look at everything that their teacher shows to teach them. Though quality of the teaching process suffers with increasing numbers, obviously.
Teacher could write big numbers and letters with a white chalk on a big black slate stone, so that everyone could see. White chalk can be easily washed away.
"I think there is no need for this. Surely the teacher would spend more time keeping the gathering in line. And that would mean less time learning and more time needed by each and every person learning in order to learn the same. More time over-all would be lost to free up a few table-rulers. This does not seem like a good deal. But I will direct my table-rulers to evaluate it, still. And we shall see, Black Cat."
Meritocracy.
In regards to testing merit... Well, I shall use one example from history known to me. In the Chinese Empire there was a writer of books with wisdom that was very respected thanks to his wise written words for hundreds of years after he died, Confucius. Table-rulers of the Chinese Empire had duty to carefully read and study these books of wisdom, and then were asked complicated questions to prove their proper understanding of Confucius. Then hierarchy among table-rulers of the Empire was determined by quality of their answers.
Of course you have no Confucius, and honestly speaking quality of his work was overrated. But proper questions could ask them about various written wisdom, about maps, about the Ten Nations, and of course about your wisdom and about your achievements. They should also properly understand new machines and inventions. Quality and accuracy of their answers should show how suitable for complicated work they are. These babbling like idiots probably shouldn't be table-rulers at all, while these with proper answers to almost everything should be suitable for the most complicated work.
Personally testing all table-rulers that finish their training is of course not worthy of your time. You can appoint a small council of a few table-rulers and singers that you surely know as wise and order them to do most of this testing.
"It is simpler to let the people choose who should rule them for themselves, in their own ways. How would a test of reading letter or knowing maps or even reciting my wisdom indicate that one person would be a better ruler than another, anyway?
"I can see how some of these might mark a better table-ruler. But table-rulers only rule over tables and the words and figures on them, not over people. Even so, it is more important to me that a table-ruler desire to know their tables, or at least that they desire to be a table-ruler and that they not be too lazy. No few people have come to some ruin by excusing their unwillingness to work in their youth by saying they will become a table-ruler, only to find out that becoming a table-ruler is also more work than they are willing to do."
Checks and balances.
But I must say again, like I said years ago. I'm against giving even the wisest table-rulers full power to judge disputes. At minimum, judgement should wait for a Singer. As far as I understand things, Singers often travel, so pretty soon one should be available, if not at first. Only then dispute should be judged by both of them, and in the case of any significant doubts or differences in opinion between village Table-Ruler and Singer, you should be informed, and the case considered in your Great Home instead. Not always by you, but by the First Singer and First Table-Ruler if you are busy. In this way various servants and Singers would check whether decisions done in your name are truly proper and just. This shouldn't ever depend on only one servant, but people who serve you should check work of each other. Only your power is absolute, some power for your servants can be valuable as your time is limited, but one servant cannot be too powerful. Tests for wisdom wouldn't ever be perfect.
"Huo was one of the better First Singers to have served me. If the people would not accept her judgement in the absence of mine, how do you expect them to accept the judgement of a table-ruler or traveling singer. Many will, of course, as many fear me and rightly. But it is the bold who will not and it is the bold who are at issue in the first place, much of the time. I see little need to change how disputes and judged in villages already. I do not understand how you mean your suggestion to cause less discord, or to take less of my time."
Cities of your world currently lack such "checks and balances" between servants of the ruler and this often cause discord. It's stupid and primitive custom, like cutting off the balls.
Only your power over your people should be unlimited. People below you are useful as your time is limited, but should check decisions of each other. Mortals are fragile and even the wisest mortal can fall into madness, occasionally.
To cite something, quote: "Checks and balances are various procedures set in place to reduce mistakes, prevent improper behavior, or decrease risks", end of quote from the book with wisdom.
Checks and balances are organizational procedures to reduce mistakes, prevent improper behavior, or decrease the risk of centralization of power.
www.investopedia.com
There are cases when leadership decisions need to be done fast, by one person and without any discussion, but these are mainly events like enemy raids, decisions of warleaders and Armies, or disasters like flooding.
"Ah. I see. You mean to put these limitations on Kuwuzt of Zouchaud and the Giantess of Liavint. No, Black Cat, I can already see how that will go. Some bold person will find cause to question their judgement in their city and delay judgement or escape penalty. That sounds more disorderly. But perhaps I will send clever singers or table-rulers to 'advise' them. But in truth their job will be to twist words so that the city ruler's judgement is stronger than it otherwise would be, so long as none disobey me."
Loving the more granular quoting. It makes it more obvious what Bianca is responding to, and really cuts down on the wall-of-text feeling of prior chapters, despite having a similar word count.
Thanks. I made some decisions about how I'd run the game this time based on problems I had last time. And some of those problems aren't present because there's less player participation this time. I'd certainly like more players and such. But as long as there're only a few of you there's no benefit to the way I was doing things. And, anyway, I'm not sure it was helpful in the first place. I'll probably retire the [Cacophony] voting too. Or if engagement jumps for some reason and I bring it back I'll at least discount people voting for themselves as it just gets all red-queeny.
Regarding the aerial misadventure of your previous Table-Ruler, I would not be surprised to learn that they died at high altitude from lack of air; either directly from suffocation, or from falling from a great height after passing out. They are probably among the deceased.
"Well, good. If he is beyond my reach at least he should be dead.
"Hold a moment. If he is dead then he may not be beyond my reach. Perhaps I shall learn what manner of spirit is left by a disobedient First Table-Ruler who takes off in a giant flying bag and dies to thin air or a fall."
Also, it would perhaps be wise to explain some of the context from our world that we have been accidentally weakening our instructions to you by not explaining.
With regards to food production, through the use of highly advanced farming machinery, it is easily doable for one farmer in our world to feed fifty additional people beyond themselves. This is even in the case of truly awful weather depressing crop yields. Which is why we keep making stupid assumptions about cities, and what professions aside from farmer your society is able to support.
In addition, we almost universally learn a great deal about mechanisms, the motion of fluids, the behavior of the force that drives lightning, and a variety of other phenomena, to the degree that outside our initial education we often don't think such things are worth mentioning, because of course that's just how things work. As such, we often forget that you do not have the benefit of such knowledge, and fail to properly explain these seemingly obvious things.
An example of something I forgot to explain due to stupid assumptions would be the Sodium Bicarbonate production setup that did not work as planned; to keep the brine from flowing back into the quicklime chamber, the pipe for the gas needs to go up, over the top of the brine tank, then bend down and go back to the bottom; this keeps the brine from flowing into the oven, since the pressure in the tank is insufficient to push the brine up the pipe over its own fluid level. Meanwhile, the top chamber of the oven full of lime will need to be sealed so no air can enter or leave, in order for the Carbon Dioxide gas it produces to actually build up enough pressure to force the brine back down the pipe, and start flowing into the tank of liquid as bubbles. In addition, both the Sodium Bicarbonate and the false salt would sink to the bottom; the Sodium Bicarbonate when the gas was bubbled through the tank, and the false salt when the quicklime was added to recycle the Ammonia.
As for the issues which you requested assistance with...
[X] [Pettiness] Forment rebellion in the people of least means, everything will come together on its own afterward
-[X] [Pettiness Subvote] Prior to the open start of rebellion, secretly supply those least of means with weapons and advice to increase their odds of success
By and large, the workers of the city are not those who spited you, and do not deserve your ire. Therefore, it is not wise to punish them for the actions of foolish leaders which they also despise. However, if you secretly assist them in rebelling and provide tools that make it easier for them to do so, they will feel a debt to the Ten Nations, and may be helpful to your cause in future. Weapons you stand a good chance of smuggling into the city include bombs of blasting powder disguised as oil flasks, swords and short spears, or anything else that could conceivably be disguised as something a trader is bringing to the city.
[X] [Potion] See if you can farm the ingredients for the elixir of life, or otherwise produce a more reliable supply
While a dose of longevity potion here or there would indeed be useful as an incentive, far better would be the ability to brew up a batch reliably. Thus, you could retain useful people for far longer, while also tempting others to join with the promise of an elongated lifespan. If the ingredients are rare plants, see if those plants can be cultivated. If they are special stones, either locate a spot where they can be mined, or very specifically state what types of stones are needed. Most true gemstones can be made artificially with the correct knowledge, which I would gladly impart to you once I know which stones are needed.
Needless to say, if this plan works, it removes much of the need to pick and choose who receives the elixir of life.
I have no advice regarding the cult.
[X] [Festival] Around the largest building the Burgeck have raised
Hopefully, the sight of such impressive architecture will re-ignite interest in your more ambitious projects. If not among the Burgeck, then perhaps among the other peoples of the Nations.
"That is more clear, Just Write. So the baking of the rocks in the hot chamber creates a vapor, like redewing, but rocks. That is why we need the baking chamber sealed, which is difficult. Will it only be used once, then, and rebuilt each time? In any case, a pipe carries the vapor into another pot, and down to the bottom of that pot. Why should the second pot be held higher, anyway? If this is like the redewing, why not just use two pots like redewing? In any case, the seawater and ammon-stuff sits in the second pot and the vapors from the baked stones burble through it, causing the desired stuff to form along the bottom. Then the pot is emptied so the stuff can be collected and it is baked, too. And the seawater and ammon-stuff is added to the baked stones for redewing of the ammonstuff, which also creates the false salt..
"These terrible ideas sound less mad, now, at least. I will direct the people to attempt this again and we will see if we get clearer glass out of it."
Fellow Voice, I disagree with your opinion. Of course I'm right and exercise matters in controlling weight, as exercise, and menial work for that matter, change amount of energy needed for the body to function.
"People get fat when there is plenty more than plenty. It is good that such plenty can be had, but rare. Some few times I have met a person who was fat to the point of struggling. Sometimes those die younger than most, sometimes not.
"I have seen more such recently, among the city people. Soft, just as I knew they would be. And some of those who are no longer lifted above others are no longer fat to struggling, though I am told they were before.
"I don't know what controlling weight is meant to do. If the people fatten it is because they have had good fortune, and of course my favor. And if they are fat to struggling then they rely on those around them, who may assist them or mock them. It seems to me the matter solves itself, if it is a danger."
The I that is Demon greets you once more Bianca. I rejoice in yet another city being added to your mighty empire, reveling in the sweet scents of victory, and writhing with the ecstacy of speaking such delicious madness into your eagerly salivating ears. Or wait, is that earwax? Ewww.
[X] [Pettiness] Like before, bring only the chosen of the chosen, meet with the Host of Liavint, travel to Ekhaicvint, but this time with CANONS!
* Cannons
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
I would appreciate the specifics of the "rare and disruptive" materials of the life-extension elixir Bianca? It almost sounds like you grinding up babies, except babies aren't rare.
[X] [Extension] The maker of the best reaping device in the next few years
I speak of the sort of mechanical wisdom that is difficult to convey with words Bianca, at least my own winding tunnel variety. The best way I can think of to encourage it is to reward those so seem to excel in such mechanical sophistication.
[X] [Cult] Send singers and table-rulers to openly investigate
Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear! This sounds suspiciously like them making tribute to gods who are not you, which is of course a violation of the Ten Ways Pact Bianca.
[X] [Festival] 'Open' land just beyond the borders of Tash
This sort of large-scale festival tends to cause a large mess and potentially some damage to the environment. Don't hold it anywhere important. That's not even taking into account the inevitable drunken brawling.
How do you know of sulphur Bianca? Do your trade for it, and if so from where, or is it found within your lands, and if so, could you describe the place where it is gathered to me?
"Some stones stand out more than others. And keep in mind, Demon, that I saw much more of the world before my captivity, even if I have traveled relatively little since. While I might not have known the significance or use of everything I saw, then, I did see volcanoes. I am fairly sure, though, that their burning rivers that turn to stone were never made of iron, despite what you voices have said of liquid metal deep in the ground.
"I do not often trade for anything. But I have acquired some sulfur by trade, as it happens. Sulfur comes from places where water springs from the ground hot as though spilled from a pot in a fire. And there are sometimes around volcanoes places where the air chokes or sickens and some sulfur may be found there. There is no such place within the lands of the Ten Nations."
"The threshing combs work and are a good use of iron, I think. I am sure their use will spread throughout the lands of the Ten Nations, given time. I directed one to be made from cattlebone, which has also worked well enough. The greater part of the device is not the comb, though. The block it is affixed to must be sufficiently heavy to not shift with the threshing."
"Not every sort of mushroom gathered from the woodlands takes well to the rotpiles and logs their wash is shaken on. But the gardens in the villages around my great house now include at least one more thing that must be protected from various pests. And, as it happens, I now have one poison that was difficult to prepare in much more ready supply."
The signs of insufficient sunlight are long-term and can be difficult to quantify, but poor skeleton development is among them. The most obvious short-term symptom is depression. If you're people are getting an hour of sunlight on the hands and face every other day or so, then that should be more than enough to be safe. The only time your people are likely to get insufficient sunlight is in the deepest winter, and this should not have too much of an impact on their long-term health.
Milk is mostly safe if drinken fresh, that is to say, the same day it was milked. However it can quickly spoil into a disease carrier. The types of diseases spread by milk take a long time to show symptoms and there is no obvious sign that the milk has been spoiled.
Saltwort, glasswort, picklegrass or marsh samphire. It often grows in salt marshes, mud flats, estuaries, generally near to sea or next to salt pans. Glasswort is a smooth, fleshy, salt-tolerant plant grow up to about a footlength in height, with succulent (fleshy), jointed, branching stems. Its jointed stems range in color from bright green to deep red. The leaves are scale-like formations along the segments of the stem. Glasswort ihas fleshy plump stems, resembling asparagus spears. In the autumn, this plant turns bright crimson, adding dramatic beauty to the salt marshes it inhabits.
Hemp is food
Bianca, did you know that hemp seeds and hemp leaves are edible? Hemp is indeed an ideal material for rope, and should primarily be used for that, and things made from ropes like fishing nets, and rough cloth that can be used to make tough sacks to hold grain, or poor clothing for slaves.
"That plant is known, though what manner of spear you call asparagus is not.
"Hemp seeds now are needed for growing more hemp. When there is a surplus then surely the people will eat them. But I have better use of more hemp plants at this time than of some small number of seeds."
Wildlife Management:
The key to long-term sustainable hunting populations is twofold. First, do not overhunt, limiting the amount of game that may be hunted each season and forbid hunting of a particular type of game entirely in their breeding season to allow game populations to recover. Second, kill off all competing predators like wolves, lions, tigers, foxes and so on, since they're directly reducing the amount of game available for you to hunt.
The second method should only be practised of large-scale responsible hunting will regularly be carried out, as otherwise without the population control of predators the game population will increase rapidly, they will overgraze their available food, and then their population will collapse as food sources disappear.
"The wildlands are so great that one who is limited to a single lifetime could easily believe that they cannot change it, that there will always be more game. I have seen differently. I saw differently even before my captivity.
"People, I think, come to eliminate the hunting creatures without knowing they do so. Partially because hunting creatures also hunt people, and people tend to come out ahead over time. And partially because there are so many fewer hunting creatures than there are game creatures.
"I have not seen a great cat alive since I reemerged, though I have some fine skins brought it trade. And the vicious spotted beast these people have no word for, whose back curves like a hill, whose face is like a leastwolf but who cleans their crotch like a cat, those beasts seem gone and unknown.
"I don't know if all the foxes could be killed, meaningfully. Surely some would come from elsewhere. The same would be true of wolves, though they should be easier to catch when they return on account of their howling and larger leavings.
"Nonetheless, the people still kill the wolves they can and yet there are still wolves. I would not want a plague of hares. Surely they would eat the people's food before they fully died off.
"My table-rulers already count game taken, or try to. They try to keep count of what food is gathered by and what food is conserved by all the Free People of the Ten Nations. I will direct that a review of these countings should be done year, to see if game is running short in any place. And in that place I will see about restricting hunters. I do not know if that will so easily be done, though. You cannot tell someone they cannot gather food and expect them to comply joyfully. Not if they aren't mad."
Salt Licks
Animals need salt. Both wild and domestic. Put out blocks of salt for your domestic animals to lick on, and for wild animals to lick on, and this will help both of them to flourish. Salt Licks also make decent lures to hunt wild game.
"Salt is not so readily available that it can be left out in the woods for the health of game. What can the people do to obtain such a bounty of salt?"
Wintering Livestock
There are three things you need to focus on for livestock in the winter, shelter, food and water. Seemingly obvious no?
Shelter: grow tree windbreaks around pastures as was previously mentioned for crops, or put up portable windbreaks made of wood or mudcaked straw or whatever, essentially just two thin walls forming corner for the livestock to shelter in is sufficient for most animals. The windbreaks will shelter the livestock from the cold winds, which allows them to survive the winter more easily. Move the portable windbreaks every week or so to prevent disease outbreaks from keeping the livestock in their own manure.
Their pastures should be kept relatively flat and free of snow.
Some byre, large structures specifically to house your livestock during winter, or at least the coldest winter nights, can also be considered.
Water: Livestock must have access to unfrozen water. Give them water troughs and break the ice forming on the surface every so often maybe.
Feed: Winter pasture feeding will probably need to be supplemented with hay and maybe grains if you can spare it.
The focus of this publication is to highlight alternative practices for consideration as an alternative to winter animal confinement in a feedlot. Advantages and disadvantages are highlighted based on available research.
"Tell me, Demon, how the people can keep a pasture free of snow? Otherwise, yes. This sounds wise. I will have my singers learn what the most successful herd-keepers do in the winter. And I will take measure of what they do, and combine it with this wisdom to direct the less successful to do better."
Harbours
Fishing with nets is fishing with nets, more or less. I would suggest an alternative focus area, bigger ships.
Ships small enough that they can be easily dragged out of the water is so last decade. You need big ships that always stay in the water, and for that you need harbours to serve as an anchorage for them. A good harbour is surrounded on three sides by land, so the water is calm even in storms, and is relatively deep, so ships don't scrape their hulls.
Find such a location along your coastline, and begin building a dock there, with wooden walkways supported by wooden poles heading into the water for ships to anchor next to and sailors to embark and disembark. Eventually the whole thing should grow into a goodsized town if all goes well.
Dry-Dock
How to actually build these bigger ships? With drydocks! Dig a dry enclosure into the soil near the water of the harbour, making it waterproof with concrete or whatnot, placing properly shaped blocks to support a ships keel along the bottom, pumps to drain water, and with gate at its border with the sea, you can build the gate first and dig out the water side afterwards.
Then simply build your ship in the dry-dock, and open the gates to let the water in, and get the ship out of the drydock. Of course, additional temporary support struts will probably be needed during the building process. Dry-docks are also useful for repairing and maintaining these big ships you will hopefully be building, sailing the damaged vessel into a water-filled dry-dock and using pumps (or buckets I guess) to drain it after the gate is closed.
"Boats that are not taken out of the water grow heavy, slow, and have an increasing inclination to sinking. Tell me how to make the boats you are talking about, with or without a permanent cofferdam in which to build them.
I would like to request that you describe the grains Bianca. The brambles, are their berries black or red, and seem to be made of many smaller berries glued together into a bigger lump? If so, then they are probably some form of blackberry, which is nice.
"Some of the strange grains are longer, or more round, or have a darker color. One sort looks different but seems to only be wheat. Another grew so poorly that I fed it to hogs to be done with it.
"The bramble berries you describe are well known, already. They grow in the woodlands and were brought in to grow in gardens as well. When you voices suggested that popular woodland plant be brought to gardens I did direct the people to do so and blackberries are one plant that took to it. But there seems little point, really. The berries are numerous enough in the woodlands. And they are not well liked in gardens for their thorns and their inclination to overtake the land.
"The bramble berries from Enonl are similar but lighter in color and, I am told, have a different flavor. They also must be cut back every two years in order to fruit well, sometimes back to their roots."
Ah yes the lacrymae Batavicae . An interesting little glass trick. The glass is under tension, which paradoxically makes it stronger. The same principle can be applied to make tempered flat glass plates stronger than normal glass, but heating the plates until they're molten and then rapidly cooling them. While you may not be able to do this technologically at the moment, perhaps magic can do the trick.
One study does not make your conclusion correct, and I direct you to this article.
Exercise is good for you, but using it as a tool for weight loss is folly, because at certain level, calories expenditure will remain flat and the body will try to maintain that specific caloric expenditure. This is known as constrained total energy expenditure.
An unhealthy obese person should focus more on diet if they want to to lose weight and be healthy. Exercise is a useful tool for becoming healthy, but we should not misunderstand how our tool function. It's far easier to lose weight by controlling the amount of calories you eat as opposed to burning them off, which is easily undone by a snack.
"I know a lack of exertion makes people soft. And I know a plenty of plenty of food will make people fat. It sounds as though it takes the combination of the two to make people fat so that they struggle. So if that plentitude is taken away, then the fatness to struggling should fade, too.
"In any case, it is of little concern. Those few who are fat to struggling are my concern."
I modified my words significantly with more advice. Now, fellow Voices. Any thoughts? What should we decide? And how terrible or difficult the elixir for life can be to produce, what do you think? Surely the magican was able to once produce his elixir without ruling over a major nation. And yet it's mentioned as extremely hard. Hm.
No. There are many prerequisites before they can utilize wood pulp, but they don't have enough of a cloth industry to support significant old rag based paper making. I would suggest a focus improving the cloth supply first.
Maybe woodblock printing could work on the clay tablets, not the printing press?
I mean, you simply use properly carved piece of wood, and you can even hammer that instead of using a press. Sounds decent for clay.
Certainly seals could make impression on clay. Why not something bigger, to copy whole pages. Hmm.
And, Bianca, as you may still hear this conversation of mine with another Voice. We are less mad than you think. This is another language issue, like nails previously. Seals are animals from the sea, but we use the same word for something that is pressed to clay or wax and leave impression, like fingerprints but letters or image.
It's not the homonym that confused matters when you talked about nails. It's the fact that they're literally the same word. Metal nails are called that in English because they are like little metal claws, which were also called nails at the time in whatever form English had back then.
Seal and seal, on the other hand, have different origins so, FYI, they come across as different words to Bianca. Now, Bianca doesn't have wax seals, so that one ends up being something like 'sign' with noticeable but impenetrable connotations to her. But the other is definitely the animal.
If you read my Conneticut Yan- Oh My Godlessness, I'm a Lich! story from a few years back you might already be aware that I have opinions on how language translated to or from a fantasy world ought to be handled.
Improving cloth supply... Indeed. I have no idea how to describe textile machinery properly (and besides, I said more than enough already), but if somebody could do that, then simply great.
Bianca, I have some additional advice. A bit pertains to the reaping machine's issue with the wheel slipping. The rest is unsolicited explanations of an institution which mass adoption of the reaping and threshing machines will allow the Nations to support, and which will greatly increase the rate at which new inventions are discovered, even without our active assistance. Also a bit of advice on cannon design.
First up, the issue with the reaping machine slipping could be resolved by using gears to turn the blades instead of just friction between the wheels. A gear is a lot like a wheel, but with ridges along the edge so that when two gears touch, they interlock and turn each other with no chance of slipping. Just use nails to affix such a gear to the wheel the device rolls on, and have that turn the blades using another gear.
"The Burgeck made use of gears, at my direction, when they built the water wheel that was prone to breaking itself into flying pieces. It would be no better for that to happen in fields at harvest, but I will see if some compromise between the flying to pieces and the flattening of stalks can be found."
And now, for the institution of knowledge I mentioned. In its most basic form, it has three core components: Schools, Printers, and Public Libraries. Schools teach people to read (and possibly a few other things) from an early age, ensuring that they can easily access written knowledge. Printers allow easy and quick duplication of written words, meaning that there's actually a point to teaching so many people to read, and allows important written works to be quickly spread across the Nations. Public Libraries meanwhile provide a freely accessible way to read written texts, allowing those inclined to do so to the ability to rapidly acquire more in-depth knowledge.
So, each component will now be examined in-depth.
First up, Schools. Attendance of schools for children as young as three years can have useful results, because at such young ages the brain is rapidly developing, and is learning at a greatly increased pace from the adulthood years. As such, children learning in schools in this manner will have a significantly easier time learning to read than if they miss the chance to do so until adulthood. A simple school can operate in a single-room building and only need a single teacher in order to teach basic literacy and some other useful knowledge skills by age six or seven.
This young age range is also the optimal time to teach all the languages of the Nations due to the previously mentioned rapid development of the brain, thus breaking down the barriers to communication between the people of the Nations. As an added benefit, this makes learning new languages permanently easier in the future!
At present, I would recommend starting fairly modest with what you attempt to teach each child in school: The ability to read, arithmetic using a simple abacus, the languages of the Nations, and maybe a bit of history and geography if you really want to stretch things. As an added bonus, school can allow you to plant the seeds of certain ideas in the young upcoming generation; one particularly useful idea to impart is one named Progress in our world, which is the idea of deliberately changing the world for the better, and constantly searching for improved ways of doing things.
That said, in order to get the best effect from schools, attendance needs to be free, and heavily encouraged if it isn't outright made mandatory. This minimizes the number of people who grow up without the ability to read, and thus cannot benefit from Public Libraries or Printers. In addition, classes for adults should also be available, so as to ensure that the gift of literacy can be spread even further. That said, a school does not need to be open all year; particularly busy times such as planting or harvest can be made breaks in the school session, so that those involved in schooling can still assist with feeding everyone.
"I can see the use, the power even of a people where each and every one of the is at least half table-ruler. But we already know that any child old enough to start learning letters is old enough to contribute to their families. And not only during planting and harvest, but at all times of the year.
"My singers tell the people that it is good for their children to learn certain things, certain songs and stories and truths of the world before and now the system of letters enough that they know how letters work to language. But time is only taken for this in winter. And only certain families keep the practice up if no singer or table-ruler is in their house in winter. And, further, these lessons are never taken in the absence of other labors, but while the children work at crafts or play.
"I do listen, Just Write. And I do not disbelieve that there will come a time when one person's labor feeds fifty. When that time comes I suppose there might not be so much labor needed from children, and they can be instructed in this way.
"In this time, though, the best I think that can be had is for the people to grow with the understanding that there is no magic in letters alone, to know that sums may be counted, and from these under the eyes of singers and table-rulers for those with promise as table-rulers to be chosen."
Next, Printers. Unlike Schools or Libraries, a Printer is a mechanical device. There are many possible designs for printers, but the one I am about to describe is likely to be within your ability to create and effectively use. It is designed to work on clay tablets due to the fact that you cannot produce parchment in sufficient quantity for mass distribution, and nor do you have the ability to produce paper in any capacity. For the record, paper is best described as a parchment-equivalent made out of plant fibers.
The basic idea of this Printer is that you have a large rack capable of holding blocks that each stamp a written character into a clay tablet. These blocks are designed to be interchangeable with each other, so that they can be re-arranged in any order on the holding rack; I would recommend casting the blocks out of lead or copper at your preference, using the same mold for each copy of the same block for a given printer. That said, carved wood can also work, if you can have it carved precisely enough. In addition, specifically cut engraved images can be made to slot into the rack for the blocks, so that a given tablet can have both text and relief images.
In any case, the general design of a basic Printer requires three sliding components, arranged into a press. First is the tray for the clay tablets, which needs to be able to slide out from under the press, both to be put in the kiln to fire the tablets into their finished form, and so new blank tablets can be loaded onto it. Second, the press itself needs to be able to slide up and down; I would recommend using a screw device to control the height of the press, but you can probably devise something that will work just as well. Third, the top surface of the press needs to allow the rack for type to be slid in and out, so that it can be easily worked on between printing sessions. This also allows multiple racks of letter blocks to be retained at once, allowing the printer to be rapidly switched between different pre-set arrangements of letter blocks.
All together, such a Printer can easily stamp clay tablets for subsequent firing and distribution in massive numbers, vastly increasing the amount of any given written work that is available for any given person to read. This can be used for more resilient historical record keeping, accurate spreading of news throughout the Nations, describing the fundamentals of how to perform a certain task, detailing how to make various useful devices and materials, and preserving stories so that anyone who wishes can read them at any time.
"So first a reusable mold should be made of the letter stamp that will be held on the plate. Then wax castings of that mold should be made. Then those are wrapped in a clay cast of their own, and the wax is recovered in the firing. And finally copper is poured into the clay mold through the channel to form the lettered stamps. Is that right?
"Then the stamps are arranged into words and sayings on the plate, perhaps with a cut image as well. Then this play is loaded into the pressing device. Tablets of clay are also loaded into the device, which presses the words and image into them. And afterward the tablets are fired.
"I am unsure this is much of a time-saver. It is not often that many copies of the same tablet are called for. But my table-rulers will evaluate it."
The last part of this institution of knowledge is Public Libraries. A Public Library is a building where large numbers of written texts are stored in an organized fashion, so that finding a specific text is fairly easy to do. Even more critically, these texts can be read and maybe borrowed by anyone who desires to do so, provided that they bring it back within a reasonable time. This has the effect of vastly increasing the average person's ability to access knowledge, which has several beneficial effects.
First and foremost, it enables those interested in enacting change for the better to actually do so, as they can more easily learn what has already been done without repeating the same inventions and methods over and over; in addition, reading about what is already known can inspire such people to try and add to what is known. It also allows for a given person to explore new complicated skills to a degree without needing an expert to actively teach them, though such still greatly assists. Lastly and of least importance, it can function as a means of entertainment, since fun stories may also be written down, duplicated at a Printer, then distributed to many public libraries.
For the resulting institution of knowledge to have the best possible effect, schools and public libraries need to be accessible to most people. And of course, Printers are required to make schools and libraries accessible.
"My singers and table-rulers already maintain a storage of tablets and scrolls and also codicies. These are all ever-increasing in number and they say it grows more and more difficult with time to find what one seeks within it.
"It is a large house and well protected with a good roof, so I do not enter it.
"I do not know if anyone comes to the lands around my great house to read from the storage place of words and sayings. If someone did they might be regarded with suspicion, but I do not think they would be turned away.
"I think, though, that you mean for such a place to be built in many villages, perhaps in every village. And there is not enough clay or time or need."
First and foremost, if you're firing solid cannonballs or scattershot, making the largest possible cannon isn't necessarily the best option. The reason for this is velocity; while the mass of a projectile certainly contributes to the damage it causes, how fast it goes is far more important. As such, you can get similar destruction from a medium sized cannon compared to a massively large one, since the medium cannon will shoot its cannonball much faster. This is especially the case if the cannon is rather long relative to the size of ball it shoots, since that gives the shot more distance to build up speed. As an added advantage, it's much easier to carry a large stock of ammunition for a medium cannon than a massively oversized one, and the medium cannon will be both quicker to load and easier to aim.
Also, shot benefits greatly from something called wadding. Wadding is a patch of cloth applied between the shot and the powder charge to keep the hot gas produced by the powder from leaking; this eliminates the normal leakage of gas, ensuring far more of the force produced goes into getting the projectile up to full speed.
None of the above applies in the case of bombshells. A bombshell is a hollow metallic sphere filled with pellets and blasting dust, with the only hole to the inside containing a slow-burning fuse. Generally, a bombshell should be fired at a high angle from a short cannon with a wide bore, with the fuse being pointed away from the propelling charge. The reason for this is that the hot gases produced by firing will light the fuse, meaning that when the bombshell comes back down, it will surely explode, causing great havoc across a wide area. As such, high impact velocity is not needed to do damage. Pointing the fuse away from the propelling charge prevents it from being forced inside the bombshell and setting it off immediately.
"How can a long cannon be cast with a proper channel? Or how can a deep channel be bored into a cast cannon? I will direct that some attempts are made at either and both when I go to take Ekhaicvint."
First, Liberty, I am going to request that you remove the veil on that message, so that Bianca can hear it.
And, as I noted, the advent of more advanced harvesting and threshing devices will have the effect of reducing the labor required to produce a given amount of food. I am explicitly stating that the system of schools should only be implemented after the food supply has been strengthened enough to afford it.
The advantages of universal literacy and access to information are many and varied. If the school system as I have described is infeasible, then just use part of the year of service to Bianca already legally mandated to teach people to read. Those inclined to make use of said skills would then take it upon themselves to do so, provided that there is a suitable library to study from. That said, to make a system of libraries, there is really no other way to make it practical than to use printers to duplicate written works.
"Do not simply tell me that the people should learn to read because it will be beneficial, voice. I hear voices claiming that many different things should be done with little or mad reason. Tell me what the benefit it and I will decide if it should be done.
"I will, however, direct that instruction or at least evaluation of letters and sums take place during the people's summer of direct service. I don't see how it could do any less good than mining. And while the young people lay roads they can be led in songs of learning."
Why am I hearing cannonballs and cannons? They are totally inappropriate technology for a society that can barely produce iron, much less have a need for it!
I'm Black Cat, though it's true that some people call me Liberty. Anyway, in regards to our conversation that you want Bianca to hear. Just Write, as I whispered, I disagree with you.
Mass education though small places to learn? It's true that such places could teach what Bianca wants them to teach, and tablets in the buildings with tablets could say what she wants to say, but it's not feasible for now outside of her Great Home, where table-rulers are already educated.
Educating all people in villages is simply not possible, why would they want to learn, how could they have time? For now stories of her Singers are for that.
I'm not Bianca, but I can imagine obvious thought processes. "How attendance can be free, if labor and time of children is taken from the family?", she could ask. We have maybe one busy table-ruler in a mid-sized village. Now according to your plan he would need to also "educate" children in a new building... Ugh. Now this is our madness. It's not a good advice for now.
If, as you say, the Ten Nations enter the Machine Age and start to overflow with simple to make machine-produced food and goods, then it could be considered. But I'm afraid that entering the machine age is not so simple when you barely managed to enter the Iron Age, if that.
Also. Even if you can copy a few pages thousands of times with woodblock printing, one short "book" maybe... And this is useful, yes... Even then you cannot copy anywhere near full written wisdom in such a fashion. Do you even know how big and weighty a clay tablet equivalent to ONE PAGE is?
Comparable to the whole paper or parchment book. That is, pretty inconvenient.
You are too late; I shared the knowledge of black powder and the basics of cannonry already. The Nations can and do already produce such weapons. I am now simply offering refinements to the basic concept.
It is the word of the three that is losing that such negative spoken word must not grace the thread of our cacophony.
So begone I say!
BEGONE YE HAIRLESS RODENT OF THE DARKNESS BENEATH!
So, a few last things I want to mention, during this session of speaking.
I would like to clarify an important fact about our means of communication, Bianca: Due to the way it distorts time, we cannot hear your questions about what we say until after the end of a communication session. As such, we are literally incapable of answering said questions promptly, until the next communication session. This is also why we tend to offer so much advice unprompted; were we to wait for questions to answer, it would take an impractically long time on our end to get through all of them.
Next up is my discussion on Incentive Structures, Class Theory, and Economic Systems. AKA, my blatant attempt to make Bianca a Communist.
"In the years since I first brought you here, voice, I have noticed this peculuarity of your nature. I speak and they you speak and then I answer. I could wait again, but I rarely have the patience for the noise or such a great need to hear your answers right away. The process is wearying and I have many other tasks of interest to me."
Next, I would like to present you with a means for better analyzing how societies behave, a set of concepts I call Incentive Structures, Class Theory and Economic Systems. To a large degree, these are already ideas you have some grasp of, but I hope to provide a bit of additional insight in this regard. In addition, I will use these concepts to explain a societal trap that you will almost certainly want to avoid at all costs.
So, an incentive structure is the idea of analyzing a person's environment and role, and seeing what that environment means they are encouraged to do, even if it's the opposite of what they're ostensibly supposed to be doing. It's easiest to explain with an example; in this case, I will be using the example of the deceased King of Wrul.
So, broadly, the King of Wrul was largely dependent on his army to remain in power, AND he wanted to make extremely sure that one of his direct descendants would succeed him as the next king. Another complication is that other Kings were in direct conflict with him, as they all were required to be vigilant against other kings aiming to snatch up parts of their power base to secure their own position.
All of this combined to heavily influence the King of Wrul's behavior; because he was dependent on his host of warriors to maintain power, he was required to heavily tax food from the rural areas around the city, so that he could feed both his warriors and the craftsmen who made the weapons and equipment for those warriors to use. To arrange such with a minimum amount of fuss, he made a deal with Erweh's priests so that they would try bringing the farmers around to his desired way of thinking.
Further, this desire to ensure that his direct offspring succeeded him as King was the primary motive for turning servants into eunuchs; he wanted to make absolutely certain that he was the only possible person who could impregnate his wife or wives.
Lastly, the manic accumulation of baubles was largely tied to a mix of raw greed, and the aforementioned problems with other kings. Having such a massive collection of shiny things both allowed him to 'buy off' possible opponents driven more by greed than sense, and demonstrated to anyone wanting to gauge his power that he was a powerful enough conqueror to make attempting to attack him folly. Of course, you clearly proved that this line of thought was folly when you killed him, but it was the way he thought, in all likelihood.
As you almost certainly noticed, nearly all of these incentives lead to behavior that was bad for the common people associated with Wrul, those serving the King, and could have ended disastrously for the Nations, if he was not so soundly defeated. Certain behaviors of his were almost certainly entirely due to his personal inclinations as an individual, but much was simply dictated by his position as a king who depended on his warriors to maintain his power.
Broadly, Class Theory is just the idea of applying Incentive Structures to groups of people in order to predict their behavior in aggregate. These groups can largely be categorized based on how they ensure their livelihood, their relation to other classes of people, and other incentives they have. For example, your Singers and Table-Rulers can be considered as a somewhat separate class from the common free people of the Nations, as they have a different role in society and a different set of incentives.
Lastly, an Economic System is a description of how a set of social classes interact, along with how needed food, services, and goods are distributed through society. It's a pretty simple concept, but it can be quite complex to describe all the various social classes in an economic system and their incentive structures.
Now, for me to explain the trap. The trap in question is an economic system known as Capitalism.
Within Capitalism, the primary institutions of economic activity are markets and Corporations. Meanwhile, the primary classes are a private owner class, and an ostensibly free worker class.
Broadly, a Corporation is a firm that is owned by either one rich person, or a small council of rich people. These corporations hire people to produce whatever good or perform whatever service the corporation sells to the rest of society, with the rich owners claiming all the wealth that the Corporation gets from the market, and only awarding the workers a pitiful trickle of baubles used as a medium of exchange.
Obviously, few would willingly work with a Corporation that siphons away the product of their labor in such a manner, and the owner class knows this. Thus, they make it nearly impossible to acquire even basic necessities without a ready supply of baubles to spend on the market for food, or housing, or medicine. THAT is the true function of a 'free market' in a Capitalist system. In addition, the owner class will put every effort into influencing whatever political leadership is present in order to remove laws that get in the way of them doing so.
The worker class meanwhile proceeds to be reduced to slaves in all but name, due to routes to survival that don't pass through the owner class controlled market being systematically closed off. This often leads to the worker class standing together in common defiance of the owner class, which is a problem that is almost guaranteed to lead to violence.
Other problems with Capitalism are that it blinds a society to long-term problems; since the various Corporations are in competition with each other and only concerned with concentrating wealth on the owner class in the short-term, these institutions will often prioritize short-term wealth extraction over long-term sustainability, destroying much of society's resources in the process. Meanwhile, those who actually attempt to maintain long-term viability will tend to be mercilessly crushed by those who only prioritize short-term gain.
Another problem with Capitalism is that it impoverishes society as a whole. Since wealth is sucked away from the worker class to the owner class's short-term gain, there are few resources left for the worker class to build new societal institutions outside the narrow mold dictated by the owner class, thus damaging the worker class further, and forcing them into a short-term survival mindset with little ability to change things aside from an attempt to round up the entire owner class and kill them all.
Seriously, do not allow Capitalism to come into being, it will lead to nothing but trouble.
"That is quite the tale, Just Write. I suspect you are leaving quite a bit out.
"Why don't the working people simply flee to open land as slaves and bond-captives do? Why do the warriors not take control as they do in kingdoms? Why do you speak of people owning riches and not families?
"But that is not much of a concern. I do not see any sort of system coming up while I have the power I do. And if I do not have the power they I will be able to do little about it.
"Is a council of elders a separate division of people from the rest of their village? Are the Galugr separate in the same way from the other Tribes of the Ten Nations because they cannot craft well?
"I can see that the Burgeck would have become a separate division of people if they had become my priesthood. That is something like why I refused them. It seems certain to lead to discord.
"Very well. Tell me, voice, how can I use these divisions to my benefit?"
Just Write, I see what you said, or what you want to say.
I would be tempted to heavily disagree with your critique of capitalism, Just Write, if not for the fact that it's so extremely premature, that, I think, Bianca wouldn't even understand your words.
I also appreciate all attempts to explain complicated opinions and systems. But, I shall say a few words.
Even cities of her world are not exactly "capitalist", even though they have inequality of wealth. Rulers of cities in her world, as far as I understand stories about these simple and small cities, are mostly like tribes "raised over another", or sometimes individual people or families "raised over another" by ruler of the city.
So, "capitalism" is something that is not used anywhere, as capitalism is more complicated system of power and exchange than simple inequality between people.
I midly wonder how this word, capitalism, may be translated from our language by the magic that allows our comunication.
"You two seem to be discussing a manner of thinking or of determining who has power based on how many head of unidentified livestock they own. Or perhaps it's about who is and is not allowed to own livestock, given the description of divisions of peoples."
Bianca should know that we speak in our own language, and yet our words are somehow heard by Bianca in the way that she can mostly understand. Mostly, but not always. There may be weird mistakes in regards to the meanings of words, sometimes.
Anyway.
I shall say only that while there are dangers from inequality of wealth, private ownership of resources, and using trade to exchange goods instead of using gifts, there are also benefits. Surely the custom of sharing, of the "For my family has so little and yours so much and only you can right this wrong" can spread resources between people that know each other.
But when Nation is very big, and there are Ten Nations with each one rapidly growing, that must be a pretty slow process of gifts between neighbours, that take years to distribute rare resource over all families. Somebody needs to notice disparity with a neighbour, then decide to say "For my family has so little and yours so much and only you can right this wrong"...
On the other hand rich trader constantly want to travel and search for occasions to exchange, of course with some dishonesty, and of course with greedily taking some of the wealth for his own needs... But this is a pretty fast exchange, and possible between strangers. And these are great benefits of trade.
On the other hand, if I understand things right, polite words and gifts sharing need much more time to spread rare resources than trade would.
There is great need for allowing trade and for roads safe to traders. And even more than that. I see a need to consider how internal trade inside of the Ten Nations could come to existence, because with steady population growth and territory growth - current exchange of gifts may start to be too slow and unwieldly for everything, the Nations too big for that.
Of course, some resources can be also distributed among the Ten Nations according to guidance from the table-rulers, like supplies for the army.
"When there is a need to move goods around quickly, to whatever end, there must be one who identifies that need and directs that the moving occurs. That is not what takes place when traders enrich themselves of the work and credulity of others. But that is what happens when I say, 'Take this bronze to the Burgeck,' or 'Bring me horses from the Tash.'
"And it is uncommon that there is any such need. Each village grows the food it needs, builds the homes it needs, and crafts the tools it needs. How could it be any different? Why would it need to be?"
Greetings, thou of undying flesh. It is the first time we speak, for seldom do I have time to dedicate to such things. You may call me Starrunner. Today, there are several things I wish to speak about, some more frivulous than others, but knowledge not immediately practically useful can still prove to be of import. Mayhaps some other voices have mentioned some of this at some point, so in that case, excuse the overlap.
Firstly, how aging works. A person's body, as I believe you know by now, is made up of countless cells. These tiny lifeforms form a community that collectively makes up a person – a person could be the Ten Peoples, with cells being its people, though that is of course an inaccurate metaphor. A city is closer due to the distances involved, but still not all that exact.
Whenever one of these cells die, and a cell's lifespan is only two weeks or so so this happens all the time, another creates a copy of itself to fill the dead cell's place. To do this, it uses instructions made for this purpose, doing its best to ensure that the new cell is not a cause of sickness or fault (for without the instructions, the new cell would become a harmful cell every time, much like a spirit that can think only of consuming its surroundings and making more of its ilk).
Each time these instructions are taken out and used, the tiniest bit of it is lost through sheer wear and tear. Now, the instructions of life were well-made, so there exists a certain length at the end of the instructions that is empty and unused, there to be chipped away as such in order to preserve the actually important bits. However, this empty space is gradually spent over the years until one day, the instructions can be used no longer. With the loss of instructions, that cell can no longer replicate safely, and so must cease or create nothing but problems. Over time, the body will have less and less margins to this, and so will be slower about replacing lost cells (which is incidentally why elderly people heal slower than the youth) as it cannot waste what instructions it has left. So, like an ill-maintained house, the aging person grows ever more fragile until one day, they collapse to rise no longer.
The potion of immortality, if it works, I would suspect to do so by restoring these margins on the instructions, returning its imbiber their youthful vigor. A working potion is no doubt magical, for no mundane potion can have these effects.
"What is the nature of youth, Starrunner? How is it that a child born of a mother of thirty-five years is just as youthful as a child born of a mother of only twenty-five years? If these instructions are lost with time, what of the tiny parts of the mother's body that are built into the children she bears?
"Moreso, a father contributes something to the child, too. And a child may be fathered by one who is of sixty years or more but still be youthful in the same manner as one born of a father who is only twenty. How does your system of instruction explain this?"
Next, something of less immediate import. In my day-to-day life, I busy myself with, metaphorically speaking, making rock think for itself. The truth is far more complex, but others who work similarly have done things like make a machine that you could ask "what will the weather be in three days", and the machine would answer, and without magical or godly intervention it would tell truth.
You could not accomplish such, for you lack countless prerequisites and the thinking machines you require are far beyond your capabilities – not to mention the need to throw certain highly complex machines so high into the sky that they are caught in an endless fall around the world. Nevertheless, I shall simplify things, and explain the art of machine learning (a practice not yet of use to you but mayhaps interesting nonetheless for its implications) in its simplest terms with a practical example you could, if you so wish, perform.
The game tic-tac-toe is simple. You make three squares in a row three times to form a three-times-three grid. Then, two players take turns placing circle and cross, respectively, until the board is full (causing a draw) or one of them have three of their symbol in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) which causes them to win.
Take many markers. Their nature does not matter so long as they are categorically distinct and you have lots of each of them. Then, for each possible position of the board for one of the players, make a pile where you put a few of each marker representing each spot on the grid that is empty. You can then play a game with these piles of stuff. You play as good as you can, and when the piles are to choose, you simply pick an item randomly and place a mark accordingly. If the pile wins, you put back two of every marker used into their respective piles. If it's a draw, simply place them back. If it's a loss, remove the used markers.
Over time, the piles will lose the bad moves and retain the good ones. It starts to play better and better until it finally plays as good as the best of players. So you have taught piles of junk to play a game, and to play it good. For something more close to nature, this is comparable to evolution. The malfunctions that often cause sick children occasionally prove to be a 'good move' instead. These good moves are retained, and over time this improves the populace as a whole, much like the aforementioned piles getting better at the game. Like the training of the piles, this is of course a slow process, but is one you're trying to guide with your animal husbandry by yourself deciding which moves are 'good'. This is the point of another voice's talk of breeding only the friendliest cats – being friendly becomes a good move and so is preserved.
"This very nearly makes sense, Starrunner, which worries me. Perhaps I have been speaking to the Cacophony for too long. Or perhaps I should direct a table-ruler to devise this game and refine a pile of tiles able to play the game as well as any person.
Enough about that, however. For the next item on our infinite bucket list, let me tell you about some ways to employ cannons. Firstly, a good cannon should be made out of iron, and care must be taken not to use too much black powder during its firing lest the forces be too strong for the cannon to withstand. I suspect the reason why your attempts struggled there was because you simply put in too much of it, and so your cannon was too weak to withstand the force. Moderation, I think, is a wise approach here.
You can, notably, load it with other things than just solid clumps of iron. For example, grape shot is a large collection of small iron balls, about the size of an eye, which are placed in the cannon with a suitably fragile container to keep them from escaping prematurely. When the cannon is fired, the small clumps will emerge in a cone from the front of the cannon. This is very effective at close range against infantry, and is one of the simpler things to fire. It should not, however, be used against most defensive walls, as the small balls will cause relatively little harm to structures. Canister shot is more advanced and effective, but you should start with grape shot, for it is simpler.
Another thing you can do is make explosive cannon shots. Instead of a normal cannon ball, you make one that is hollow. The space in the center, you fill with black powder, and then plug the gap you used to fill the ball with by using some sort of fuse. When the ball is fired, if the shot is properly made and the fuse proper, the shot explodes to cause more damage, especially against things like wagons, simpler fortifications or catapults as wood seldom handles such experiences well. The fuse itself can be an on-impact detonation thing by having the impact force be used to trigger the explosion (though that is a bit more complex) or, what I think you should do, a conventional fuse which is cut to approprate length depending on how distant the target is. The latter would then be ignited by the firing of the cannon. In either case, take care with this shot, for improperly done your own cannon can explode with more force than a normal misfire would cause.
Regrettably, it is only after speaking the last point that I realized someone else already had spoken about such. What is said is said and will not be taken back, so I shall let it be. More words on the matter could only improve your understanding, no?
Alas, I run short on time, and so must now cease my blabbering. Until next time, o undying one.
Eeey Demon that stuff with the earwax was gross disgusting and poor joke. We can hear Bianca cannot see her.Bianca is undying so she probably looks like moving corpse but clean and without water and rot.
Devil Girl here!
VOTE!
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
People would enjoy fun and drink and food but the festival can be more useful. Use festival to share more wisdom with people and between people. Show mechanical wonders and inventions and explain methods and talk with the FREE PEOPLE to improve faster and faster change their ways for the better. Around you home you have more singers and servants to help
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
We are worried about weird rituals so Investigate personally but nobody wants you to overreact. Maybe there is nothing to punish. Maybe you would learn something interesting about spirits
[X] [Extension] The most promising singer
So I disagree with some VOICES. Makers of machines are useful people to reward and encourage and they should invent new stuff but the GREATEST GIFT possible to give a mortal should be for these people that you trust the most so SINGERS and the best Singer.
[X] [Potion] Enough for another, but let him try to gather for himself
Thats reasonable
And I refuse to vote for this imperialist war or meddling
"I have the appearance of an unbent elder. My skin is loose but does not hang excessively. I am not shriveled like a corpse. I most certainly am clean.
"If there is some argument against setting myself over cities and kingdoms that you believe in, oh voice, I would like to hear it. Matters seem to be going well so far."
Hmmm. Truly excellent cannon could be made out of high-quality steel, but such metal is beyond Bianca's current wisdom, I think. So I'm against saying that she should experiment with more iron cannons, or that, quote: "a good cannon should be made out of iron", end of the quote. When everything is perfect then maybe, but her people know iron for a pretty short time. As she said, for now bronze looks to be safer.
This is true. However, bronze is also less sturdy, and so is inferior, if nevertheless better than wood. I suppose the better approach is to first make some cannons out of bronze and then expand to iron later. One thing I would not recommend is to fire iron grape shot out of a bronze cannon, for that, I feel, would be prone to damaging the cannon.
Stirling Engine
A heat engine is a mechanism that generates work such as the spinning of a wheel using the difference in temperature between two regions. An example of a heat engine is the alpha-type Stirling engine. It uses a spinning wheel to alternatively press and depress two plungers which in turn compress and decompress air. For the compression to work the air must be sealed away with no place to escape. The air travels from being compressed by the first plunger to decompress into the space provided as the second plunger retracts.
A plunger can be described as a cylinder which perfectly fits inside another hollow cylinder such that no air escapes when the plunger is pressed into the cylinder. The hollow cylinder should have another much smaller hole on the closed side for the purpose of connecting to the closed side of the other cylinder. Likewise, this smaller hole will have to be air-tight.
The plungers are positioned at ninety-degree angles to each other. One down and one on its side. The one on its side is the compression cylinder and will be heated while the one which plunges down will be the decompression cylinder and should be chilled.
The wheel is connected to the two plungers at the same point along its edge by the use of two pivoting levers. Each plunger is likewise connected to each lever by a further pivot. There are versions of this design that use additional pivots.
"The ice halls are colder than the outside, perhaps even in the coldest winter. If I understand this device you describe, there should be two holes into the ice hall. One is for a chamber and the other is a pipe that attaches to the end of that chamber. The other end of the pipe attaches to the end of another chamber. Into each chamber there is a movable plug like the one used in the pipe pumps in Enonl, but it must fit even more tightly, as no air can be allowed to escape. A staff connects each sliding plug to the same point on a wheel. And the two chambers are squarely angled against each other -- which I would not know you meant except that another voice said that forty-five 'degrees' is one eighth of a rotation -- so that when point on the wheel is closest to the first the other plug is halfway down its path.
"If, again, I have that right it sounds like it may be built already. However, like the water wheel, I do not presume that it will operate well or at length.
"How should the plugs be made to seal the chambers?"
Sooo 150 years of life or more bevause someone can make mechanical reaper. People cats and demons are you like serious? I'm all for rewards inventions but this decision is stupid like hell.
"Neither one hundred fifty years nor four times that are eternity. We shall see the wisdom or folly of it and I shall move past with greater understanding."
[X] [Pettiness] Use every bit of sorcerous labor given in tribute to curse the rulers of the city, everything will come together on its own afterward
[X] [Potion] No, but let him try to gather the ingredients for two
[X] [Extension] Write in
One who is a great craftsman but whoms passing would not otherwise trouble you. It will as likely kill the user as extend their life. Should it prove successful, then it may be worth using on you more valuable minions.
[X] [Cult] Investigate personally
[X] [Festival] Bianca's Palace
Forgive if my words are short but the energy that is betwix all is uniformly maladapted at the moment.
Oft have you spake of the weakness of our wills. And yea for I cannot dispell this notion. Individually we are oft weak as to be trampled by the feet of one of the nations ten. But in weakness their tis strength. For as uncounted ants may assemble a might horde, so to are we greater than the sum of our parts. Without all of us, one of us might naught survive a single moon living as you do. But through cooperation, even the least of us lives lives indescribably more luxurious than you can yet imagine. I have a box in my home which stays always cool like ice. It requires no maintenance on my part, and may last decades before needing replacement.
I know of not a single home which lacks at least one of these.
---
[Grinding Spirit Recipe]
Take some number of beast of burden and harness them to a large wheel upon is side set into the ground that it might turn freely. Have a somewhat smaller wheel attached to the first but sticking above the height of the beasts. Have a large wheel stick above a grindstone located on the other side of a short wall ( to prevent livestock being distracted by the grain ). Wrap rope tightly around the two high wheels such that when one wheel turns so does the other. If you then have the same set of animals moving that wheel right up until the day they die, then you might create spirits that would be easily coerced into moving the wheel, but without the need to feed & the like. This could serve as a replacement for water wheels in places without water.
---
"That… could work. I mean, the stone rolling against the stone will grind grain until it fails and is simpler than the reaping and threshing machines. But if an ass or ox pushes that wheel all the days of its life its spirit might not know much more than pushing the wheel and the care the beast receives.
"Of course, there is no need to push the grinding wheel all the days of the year. None of the monjolo are in use at all times. And, if anything, the grinding wheel you describe will mean even less time is required to grind the grain."
Part of the cities ability to survive famine is of course its ability to have a better equipped and trained army that those who do not live in a city. I believe we have discussed before how the benefit of living in a city will attract and grow the best craftspeople, including weapon smiths. If a man loves smithing then he will want to be in the city where he might be able to mostly live upon his craft. Where people come to trade the best ore for the best tools.
The other part is a strong ruler who extracts a tax of grain during good times that it might be distributed during the bad.
Third is the wise ruler that saves baubles and things of value that might be traded for food from places far away which are not in famine.
The important factors in the storage of grain are water, temperature, and pests. You the smallest amount possible of all of them. Build your granaries on smooth stone piles raised above the ground. The highest stones should extend out like a mushroom to prevent rodents from scaling them. Make your granaries tall with large shuttered windows at the top. Open the shutters when the air is dry so that a dry breeze might be drawn up through the floorboards and through the grain. The stored grain should be turned and inspected regularly to ensure it dries out evenly. Perhaps try creating some spirits of dryness from people who died of thirst.
"The people dry their grain before they store it. Their grainhouses, like most houses, are built from wood. But otherwise that is very similar to what is done now. Some clever people in Burgeck tribe mean to master the building of ice halls so great that they may store their grain in them, I think. A person who dies of thirst, as it happens, leaves a spirit of want not a spirit of thirst."
[Spirits Ideas] [Terrible]
It is my belief that if one strongly had the thought of becoming a spirit in their mind when they died, then their spirit might be more malleable or stronger. One who willingly gave their life to become a spirit without any giving in to fear or instinctively cringing away at the moment of death. In this time of famine it might be easier to find those who are to old to contribute who would agree to some... experiments. Maybe even some few who can look death in the eyes without blinking. How does the spirit differ if you kill them instantly & unexpectedly via a heavy mace that instantly caves the skull? Its hard to kill faster than the mind can truly notice. Even If you chop off the head, the mind does not instantly die. Close, but not instant. Perhaps long enough to lose focus upon becoming a spirit. Perhaps try keeping an enemy imprisoned for a year with the smallest amount of water possible before death?
Does the spirit depend more upon the way you lived or the way you died? Will a hearth tender who freezes to death become a frost or a fire spirit?
What kind of spirit do you get if you kill someone with a thousand tiny cuts? Wait...
I forget, do animals make spirits? Maybe experiment on them instead of people...
"Animals do contribute to the spirits in the underworld, voice. And some of those spirits do return.
"If you want to kill someone without them noticing, it is best to kill them in their sleep. And, yes, if a creature dies unaware the nature of its spirit is more often determined by the life it lived. However, some know when they go to sleep that they are dying, as happens to some of those who freeze to death or some who die at great age.
"One who faces death aware and fearless rarely leaves the underworld for purposes other than vengeance or a return to some place of importance far from where they died. Though, of course, not all vengeful or wandering spirits are of the fearless and knowing.
"In animals, the strength of the spirit is largely known by the nature of the animal. Some beasts leave greater spirits than others. In people, to be known by more people, to be known better, such that the dead person's passing is much remarked and their lives understood, is thought to determine how powerful their spirit will be. And that seems to bear out, except that the people come to speak in rote of those who have died as through this increases the power of their spirits, when it does not.
"Death by pointless torture might create a spirit of vengeance or one unwilling to leave the underworld, depending on many things. I knew one witch who claimed to be able to kill children through torture such that their spirits could be used to hide, even in the open. And it worked, until one of the spirits faltered while that witch was in the midst of her enemies, and they slew her.
"I do not think it wise to trust overmuch in the obedience of spirits who had reason to resent you or someone like you while they were alive. Compulsion after death seems to matter very little. And there are rituals that set a spirit toward certain ends, as I performed in the death of that maddened hero.
"Some believe they know how much the manner of death influences the nature of a spirit compared to the manner of life, some even who are otherwise wise. But I know that it is not clear."
Code:
B R E A K
"Well, voices, here we are again. When last we spoke it was the Spring of the year Thirty-Five. Now it is the Autumn of the year Forty. This summer all the mightiest and craftiest of the Free People of the Ten Nations gathered to share one large festival and celebration in the lands around my great house.
"If I ever do that again I will forbid bond captives and redewed beers and most of all cats.
"But I suppose I should start where we left off. I gathered many warriors of the Ten Nations with me, and called on my underling the Giantess of Liavint, and brought with me the makings of bursting dust and much, much bronze and traveled to Ekhaicvint for the second time. And for the second time I was unsuccessful at taking the city.
"I threw mighty magic against the city. But there were sorcerers inside it who spent all their time focused all and only on undoing my magic. Other sorcerers among my singers were able to work magic against the city, but none are as great as I am. I made trouble in the city with spirits, and the city surely suffered. But it did not fall.
"I had long cannon cast in halves, so that the channel could be made all along their length. The halves fit nearly perfectly and they were bound together with bands of bronze and iron both. And yet, when they were 'fired,' much force blew out the sides and the stones were not hurled very far or very forcefully. The smooth, round stones, though, flew much better than rough stones when the Giants of Liavint hurled them in the walls of Ekhaicvint.
"We stayed until hunger had well wracked the camps and sickness had begun to makes it way through the people in earnest. Few died on the journey home, and those that did were said to have died to weakened will by a lack of victory.
"Two years later, and in the winter, I traveled to the lands of Lan Tribe in the winter to question them about strange spirits. I chose winter because I can move around in the winter unimpeded while mortals have difficulty, and also because it gave families an opportunity to meaningfully throw out troublemakers.
"Greed, it happens, has truly taken hold among the traders of Lan. They know that traders whose hunger for possessions, for a wealth of baubles is so strong that it burns in them leave behind a particular sort of spirit when they die. And these spirits have a connection to certain items owned by the dead trader, which can be used in rituals to compel the spirit to certain tasks. And all of this can be done with little wisdom of the way of spirits and none of a witch's particular abilities.
"This is not unusual, except in its particulars. The rituals used are common to the veneration of ancestors among certain outsiders. These outsiders regard the spirits of their dead family members as having some measure of the authority they did in life, and want to keep them around for familial reasons. And so instead of lulling the spirit to rest or bringing in a wise person or witch to take care of them, these outsiders use focuses of spiritual interest and very old rituals to channel those spirits and live out some practiced portion of the life that spirit came from. Most of the time this is harmless. But some spirits have agendas that diverge from those of the living. And some are simply unkind. Also, of course, the living use these rituals to enforce their own will on their living family members, as is the way of people.
"But the particular spirits used by Lan are spirits of intense material desire. They seek the experience of holding items of value. And not just the objects on which they obsessed in life, which are used in the ritual, but new objects of rare and valuable nature. So the spiritualists of Lan would call these spirits into themselves and then wallow in as great a length of cloth as they might have. Or they might fondle gold or well-fashioned glass. The living person who channels the spirit is said to have experienced extacy beyond anything they have known in life, but also an unsatisfied hunger, as though something even greater lay just beyond their reach.
"Only the leaders of the secret circles were permitted this privilege. So I slew all of them, just to be sure. And I notched the ear of each and every person who participated, so that they are known to my singers and to the others in their villages. I also took the objects of obsession for my hoard.
"It is a simple thing for one as powerful as I am to duplicate the ritual that took five or more fools to complete. So I have summoned these spirits into prisoners at my great house who I wished to question. While the spirit is in them, the prisoner is easily tempted with opportunities to hold precious things, which I also have plenty of. They will answer any question though, I have found, their answers are more focused on what they think I want to hear and not on the truth. Still, if the answer can be confirmed and they understand that, it may help in the future.
"In the summer of this year, all the greatest of all the Ten Nations came together in the lands around my great house. There were contests of might and skill and fleetness. There were craftspeople showing their wares.
"There were three different reaping machines shown to all the Tribes. But the one that worked best of the first day was found burned on the second and its maker was struck down and did not wake for days. And when she did she woke up blind and her vision has not returned to her.
"The strong drink of redewings of beers was well regarded by those who had not had it before. But drunken warriors are not all joyful warriors, and there were many more fights than usual. It was beyond anyone else's ability to handle, so I stepped in to settle matters. The drunkards did not all obey me, so some great warriors died then, to redewings of beer and their own foolishness, and to my hand.
"I think, sometimes, that the fools would stand down more readily if I were taller.
"The most successful cat keepers brought their prize beasts, in all their yowling, hissing glory, to show. And then one night they were released in the middle of a feast, from under the very table I sat at! Flying fur and spittle and claws and some blood scattered around the room. The cats had been smeared with a dark grease that stained everything in touched. And when they were found, they were dead of poison.
"There were any number of other indignities and misfortunes. But the worst came at the feast at the end of the festival. In every tent, at every table a bond-captive stood up and announced they were of the 'Unnamed,' the people broken by Bima Nolco. They called their hosts fools for bringing them back in as bond captives after their bond was complete, or for keeping them beyond their bond, or for any other thing. They claimed responsibility for poisonings and arsons and even the frightenings of children of all things. And if they were allowed to finish their speaking, and no few were it turns out, they called their hosts evildoers and cowards.
"Some tried to kill themselves at that point, and a very few succeeded. I, of course, did not allow the bond captive at my own table to even start to speak. But I heard all he intended later.
"In any case, many people were disheartened, many were angry. And so many bond captives that did not kill themselves were slain shortly. And that leads, of course, to even more discord.
"I did not slay or main any more of the Free People of the Ten Nations, but there were many frustrating judgements to be made at the close of the festival. In total, I would rather it had never happened.
"Let's see, what else? Oh. I drew the spirit of my former First Table-Ruler, the one who flew in the giant airbag. I have learned that the former First Table-Ruler did, in fact, fall to his death. At great height he attempted to make some adjustment to the flying bag and set fire to it. The fire startled him, and he fell from the chair. And he fell for a remarkably long time.
"The land looks different from on high, the spirit has told me. And it can be compelled to guide a person's hand in marking on clay or parchment or in sand the shape of the land that person can see from the ground as if seen from above. So there is some use in that, but I would hope that map makers would learn to do that for themselves in any case.
"Oh! I have made lenses! They are not perfectly clear, and they were very difficult to make, but they are made and I have seen tiny life with my very eyes. All the tribal leaders and many others at the misbegotten festival also looked through the lenses and saw tiny life.
"What is seen in the lenses is seen only darkly. And often only glimpses of motion between blurs can be made out. But when something can be seen it is a wonder. There is a whole world of tiny creatures that seem made of glass themselves.
"Some among the people now burn pieces of the ground and also black stone in their fireplaces. Around my great house the people are trying to raise up trees, to learn what will and will not take. Again, voices, if you know what will make plants from the forest more likely to grow in fields, do let me know.
"Also I would like to know how to make more and better parchment."
"The giants of Liavint have had trouble setting pillars into the muddy bottom of the river they mean to bridge. They have dug down, but only find more mud. And it seems no matter how deep they start planting blocks of stone, they come to shifting at some point. How can bridges be built out into rivers in this fashion?
"I will take Ekhaicvint, too, voices. I am sure that properly functioning cannons will flatten those walls. But I need you to tell me how to make them.
"Deviciers compete for the prize of a long life as the magician of Enonl is preparing his potion of unagingness. And the magician is preparing another dose for himself.
"And the spirit of the heroic fool that followed Erweh, though not the priest, has returned from the underworld, having found Hare and carried to Her my message. Unfortunately, Hare only responded that She made the underworld, which was already known, and that if I wanted to know what passed between Her and Erweh I would need to pay tribute to Her with the deaths of one thousand foxes and five hundred wildcats.
"I do not make tribute, of course. So that will not be happening. I am of a mind to send Her ten thousand hares.
"The lesser giants of Galugr have brought outsiders into their number by force. They do not take them as bond captives, but as members of their tribe, after a fashion. They are fed and housed and provisioned like other members of the tribe. But they are not allowed to leave. And they have been told that their children will be required to marry into some family of Galugr or another.
"The Tash and Burgeck object to these practices, because they feel that any outsiders marrying into the Ten Nations in such numbers is poor wisdom. The Bima Nolco and Eppam object because they say there should be some families to which some laws apply and some families to which other laws apply. The Galugr say that they need the numbers in order to survive, and no one seriously thinks they're wrong about that.
"What should be done about this?"
[Underclass] It's fine. Let the Galugr solve their own problems the way they see fit.
[Underclass] It's fine for now. As soon as there are as many Galugr as there are members in the next largest tribe it has to stop.
[Underclass] It has to stop now. No more new families of lesser giants.
[Underclass] It stops now and the outsiders can leave if they way.
[Underclass] The Galugr must stop bringing in outsiders. If they wane they wane.
[Underclass] Write in
"The Giantess of Liavint believes she can subjugate Ekhaicvint and has asked my permission to do so and for a certain sum of gold by weight in order to get it done. On the one hand I would like to crush that city myself. On the other, she is my underling so it will still be my city."
[Vassal] Pay up and let her at 'em.
[Vassal] Send the gold, but also send warriors, singers, and table-rulers.
[Vassal] Bring the gold to the Giantess and accompany her as she subjugates Ekhaicvint
[Vassal] Bianca should demand the Giantess' plan and implement it herself
[Vassal] Refuse
[Vassal] Write in
"Kuwuzt of Zouchaud bought a map from a merchant from far away that shows an island on which there lives a beast with six heads that spits fire and wails such that some go mad on seeing it. He is no longer young, and finds himself torn between his duties as First Chieftain of the Nine Nations and also the King of Enonl and his desire to fulfill his heroic destiny. He is unsure if he should go after the beast himself, as he knows of no heroes other than himself. So he has asked for my council. What say you, voices?
[Hurrah] He should go.
[Hurrah] None should go.
[Hurrah] He should send the most heroic youths, perhaps a hero will be made
[Hurrah] Bianca should go herself
[Hurrah] Write in
"On the day that Kalh of Lan died there was born a foal of great size. And this foal has grown into a mighty mare. She is large enough to be ridden by a grown warrior. Unfortunately, she is a horse of fury and displeasure. She does not care to be ridden and has injured a handful of hopefuls. Further, she behaves like a stallion around other stallions, driving them away with a greater fury than she shows for any other creature. I am told that once she saw a wolf and was gentler with it than she is with stallions. Neither the mare that birthed her nor the stallion that sired her have produced any other foals so great. The Lan believe they can breed her themselves and, in fact, did bring her to my attention. My singers did. I would like horses so great that grown and warriors who are not small can ride them. What do you advise?"
[Horse] Lan probably knows what they're doing, leave them to it
[Horse] Take the mare as tribute. Tie her legs to stakes in the ground so that she can be bred
[Horse] Take the mare as tribute. Calm her with herbs so that she can be bred
[Horse] Take the mare as tribute. Clam her with magic so that she can be bred
[Horse] Take the mare as tribute. Leave her with a herd of horses. Perhaps she'll mellow with age
[Horse] Write in
Code:
Posting this now to get it in before the month's end. I
may come back and edit it in the next couple days, so
please be mindful of that while you're replying. I will
post to summarize my edits, though.
There might not be an update in November. I will be
NaNoWriMoing something else, which I will link in my
signature if you're interested.
I will have more bonus material up on Patreon this time.
Code:
Voting closes at 2359 GMT on Monday, November Eleventh.
[X] [Underclass] It's fine. Let the Galugr solve their own problems the way they see fit.
That is a great idea of the Galugr that needs to be even expanded on beyond them, I think. My previous conquest by "taking and equally spreading" conquered was a small disaster, but maybe forced marriage would do the trick. So other tribes could add to their numbers in a similar way.
It's always good to have more people under your power, as long as there is enough food of course. Ways to increase the population of both the Galugr and the other tribes are useful.
Surely among all tribes, there are free people that would like to have more wives and husbands for their family, not only among the Galugr. Even if only the Galugr tribe needs this to survive. Yes, I would support even expanding this idea!
This would promote not only increasing numbers but also bigger diversity in the instructions of life, that is very beneficial (lack of diversity, the most extreme in between siblings or between other people with common ancestors, is harmful and much more often cause mistakes in instructions).
The important thing here, I think, is to have this situation of fewer freedoms and rights as temporary, non-inheritable. To prevent constant discord of the forever worse people.
[X] [Hurrah] He may go, but only after preparing things so that his replacement(s) can easily take his place, say by spending some time informing them of things they need to know before leaving and teaching them how to better handle problems. If he spends at least a year preparing his successors and are reasonably confident that they will do a good job, he should be allowed to leave on his quest after that.
[X] [Horse] Try leaving her with a herd of horses for some years first. If she has produced no offspring by half her breedable lifespan, try calming her with magic instead and, failing that, tie her down and make sure it gets done.
Let's try being nice first. The best result is to have her do it willingly, for then she may do it again without our intervention. If it doesn't work, well, we have ways to get what we want.
Mass production.
It's possible to have fast mass production of an item or device. In the biggest and oldest cities that I can see or imagine or remember this is done (or was done) by machines. Complicated devices that create other devices... But such machinery is often so complicated that developing methods could take hundreds of years even with our advice...
So, for now, let's explain how this could somewhat work only with people and simpler tools. It would be much less effective, but the basic ways should work.
The basic idea is that the best design for a plow or reaping device or threshing device or another sort of device (or item) is selected.
Sizes of all parts and all details of this design are carefully measured.
Then workers are specialized in making parts. One worker constantly makes wheels, one constantly makes gears, the other one makes something else, and yet another one constantly assembles these previously manufactured parts together.
It may be not easy to train a worker to always make gear or wheel or something almost identically so that parts can be always assembled together by the last worker on the assembly line, but it's easier than training great craftsmen that are able to create anything.
Lack of decorations, to simplify design, is helpful.
Such a place of mass production, if constantly supplied with food and resources needed for production, can constantly produce for example two plows per day, or two complicated devices per day, with extremely specialized workers where one needs to understand only his own part of the task, without mastering the whole. Such a place of mass production can create for example two hundred devices per year, that could be then divided between villages. Or sold to villages or traders, like it was done in cities with such customs.
Products of the building of mass production are divided equally between people according to numbers and writing of the table-rulers in some nations that I can see. In others, as I can see such an alternative way, these products are traded, sold.
But whether this is done with the order of the king enforced by his table rulers or with greedy trade, regardless of the method used: the villages need to support the building of mass production or the whole city of mass production with food and resources, and then receive devices in return.
Regardless of whether this is done with greed or maybe with Divine Order or King's Will, regardless of the method used, great number of resources and devices need to be constantly exchanged between many villages and the building or sometimes the whole city of mass production.
Another matter. Need to constantly trade or exchange resources even without buildings of mass production: you asked before, why villages cannot be mostly self-sufficient, and only sometimes ask other villages to share when a difference of wealth is obvious?
Well. The diversity of diet, mentioned decades ago as essential for health, for example. As far as I can see, for example salt from the sea should be constantly divided, according to the numbers of table-rulers, between villages further inland. Or traded, as trade is an alternative way. The same concerns many other things that are essential for the diversity of eaten food. For example, frozen fish could be transported between icehalls during Winter.
The principle of specialized mass production can be applied to salt production, by the way. Some people constantly produce salt from the saltwater, others constantly bring them food and take salt to distribute between inland villages. Whether these people are motivated by order or by trade and greed is less important than the basic way.
Disciplined Army.
You and your people currently believe that boldness is the most important to win wars and battles, but this is untrue. Surely some of that is needed, as warriors cannot run away like cowards, but discipline is more important.
A force that instantly obeys orders of their commander without any discussion and move in disciplined formation with shields and spears can often defeat warriors that are bolder but undisciplined, prone to discord and unable to follow orders in search of individual glory.
So no, when I advice for permanent Army or Guard, it's not at all the boldest warriors that would be the best suited for that. Surely some boldness or rather lack of utter cowardice is needed to advance according to orders despite risks of death and fighting, but discipline is more essential.
So no, it's not these warriors that are like bold discord that would be the most proper as warriors of the Army.
Warriors that are too bold without obedience to your rules are a problem, not benefit.
Surely there are otherwise usual people that could be tempted with nice food, armor and weapons to serve you in your Army and Guard with discipline. No constant love of fighting needed, and usually, there would be more marching and training than true fighting.
In the future even strength would be less needed to win battles or disputes, there would be more and more cunning devices of war instead. It's possible to create a small weapon of bursting dust that would allow even meek table-ruler to easily kill a bold warrior.
How to enforce judgments on the bold people without your constant interventions? Again, as I said many times before: police, guards, that would cooperate with judges. One bold warrior cannot expect to survive while ignoring lawful judgments if many Guards would help to enforce these. Even if individually these Guards would be less bold men or women than the criminal. There is strength in numbers and discipline, not only in boldness.
Warrant of Trade.
After thinking for a while I believe that you could have rich traders in a way that would be beneficial for you. These few people that love greed and things more than their own families could be drawn out of their families and tribes, like Singers are, and become your Traders with their small hoards of wealth stored around your Great Home. Where is the benefit for you? Obvious: your Traders would be allowed to be rich for a short while, but then, like all mortals, they would die, sooner or later. And all riches of their small hoards would become your own. Your special Traders should be of course free people and could return to their families or start new ones, but in such cases, like in the case of death, most of their hoard - with exception of a few personal items - should become your own.
These special Traders could be allowed to travel and trade not only with outsiders but also between various villages and families of the Ten Nations. And you could be sure that the effects of greed, any surplus value extracted to benefit small hoards of these Traders, would ultimately benefit you. At the same time, much more resources and things would be moved around faster, and without the need for extensive table-ruler planning.
A critique of seeing obesity as a reward.
The ability to eat more than plenty of food surely is a nice reward for a few people, but these people should use such a great right responsibly and with some moderation. It should be well understood that if they become fat, then their health would suffer. They should be encouraged to eat plenty, but not more than plenty. Plenty and diversity are excellent, but... More than plenty, to the point of fatness, cause problems. And health problems sound like a bad thing to praise as rewards. Of course, this shouldn't be a law, as it would be folly to outlaw fatness among the privileged, but it should be a known wisdom that extremes can cause faster deaths and that moderation is wise.
More criticisms of overbeating children.
In the nature of some people is to be bolder, while other people tend to be more meek. Overbeating always have negative influence on the human mind and cannot produce more people bold in the healthy way. Simply some children with boldness in their nature are able to survive this in better shape, but would be bold regardless.
Overbeating sometimes produce, among these naturally bold, unhealthy and dangerous anger, much more than usual boldness. Warriors whose boldness and unending hunger for fights strongly outweighs their wisdom and can be, as you know and to quote you, "discord in the shape of Fisher People". While useful for some raids, whole lives of such people tend to cause more damages than benefits. More moderation, discipline and order would be useful instead of that.
Dear Bianca, I have several new devices which you will find quite useful! Also some advice for better cannon construction.
First, I know of a means to safely divert natural lightning that hits a house or other building, so that it does not spark a fire or cause other damage. For my explanation of why this works to make any sense, it must be understood that lightning is a manifestation of a force known to us as electricity, which is itself a subset of a more fundamental force known as electromagnetism. Light, nerve signals, and the tugging of a lodestone on iron are also manifestations of electromagnetism, but quite different ones from lightning.
Either way, electricity is often best thought of as as charge, which comes in both positive and negative forms; these terms are entirely arbitrary, other descriptive words could be used to differentiate charges. Negative and positive attract each other, but are repelled from like charges. In addition, charge moves far easier through some materials than others; charge moves through metals and ionized plasma with ease, but barely moves at all through wood or normal air.
Lightning is the result of charge separating within tall clouds due to the motion of particulate matter. A negative charge accumulates at the bottom of the cloud. Meanwhile, positive charge within the ground accumulates below, attracted by the negative charge in the cloud's bottom.
This continues until the sheer quantity of charge overcomes the air's immense resistance, starting to move. The difficulty of moving charge through air causes the air to heat up, until it ionizes into glowing energetic plasma, allowing the rest of the charge to snap through the ionized channel near-instantly. Due to the reduced distance between charges, lightning can strike tall trees or buildings sooner and more often. There is no form of intelligence behind this process, just the motion of matter and charge; otherwise, the lightning diverting device I am about to describe would not work.
Now, to defend a structure against lightning, you will need two long metal rods and a bundle of decently thick metal cable (cable is a term for metal wires bundled together like rope). Hammer one of the rods into the ground near the building, and mount the other on top pointed straight up. Now, just connect them with the metal cable, and you've got a functional lightning diverter. The rods and cable will provide a much easier path for the charge to flow than the wood making up the building, preventing any significant heating or damage. I could have simply said to put the metal rods in place and connect them with a metal cable, but I figured you would appreciate an explanation of why such a measure protects a building from lightning.
Iron is fairly decent at allowing charge to flow, but the three best metals for conducting electricity are silver, copper, and gold in that order. It is possible to produce materials that allow charge to flow with no resistance whatsoever, known as superconductors, but they are very difficult to create, and only act as superconductors at such low temperatures that Iron is brittle enough to shatter like glass.
Speaking of Iron, I will now inform you of a set of devices to improve Iron production greatly, and to make the production of large quantities of good steel feasible. The first and most important is what is known as a blast furnace. A blast furnace is a special type of furnace built to operate at extremely high temperatures, sufficient to completely melt Iron ore and extract it in a liquid form. The furnace itself is a fairly normal tower of fired bricks that is open at the top, and with a hole near the bottom where a fired clay pipe is used to extract the molten metal. However, the true defining features of a Blast Furnace are how air is delivered into the furnace, and the specific fuels used.
The air used to oxidize the fuel in a blast furnace is delivered by a continuous-flow air pump and pre-heated. To make a continuous-flow air pump, the simplest option will be to have multiple bellows connected to a single pipe and desynchronized. This can be achieved using a crank-shaft, which is a long rod mounted on pivots, with sections bent outwards from the axis of rotation, such that a rod connected to the crankshaft on one end at a bent section and a piston or bellows on the other will convert rotational motion into reciprocating motion. Separating these bellows by a predetermined angle on the crank shaft will ensure that when the shaft is spinning, there will always be a bellows in the process of blowing air into the pipe.
This air pipe should then be passed through a stove separate from the blast furnace itself. Bending it around inside this stove to heat the air as much as possible is highly recommended, as the hotter the air delivered to the blast furnace, the hotter the furnace can get. The hot air should then be routed into a circular pipe around the base of the blast furnace to ensure even pressure distribution, and blown into the bottom of the furnace through downwards-angled pipes.
The fuel meanwhile should be either high-purity charcoal, or coke. Coke is just coal that has been subjected to the same oxygen-free heating process as charcoal in order to purify it. These fuels are preferred because of their ability to burn at very high temperatures, which is a necessity when trying to fully melt Iron. In addition, it would be wise to mix in a bit of Limestone with the Iron Ore in a Blast Furnace; the Lime produced will act as a Flux, removing impurities from the Iron, though not all of them. Important to note is that a Blast Furnace can be run continuously, adding more fuel, ore and Limestone in layers as material is removed from the base of the furnace.
The Iron that comes out of a Blast Furnace is what is known as an intermediate product on account of being highly brittle when solid; not useful for much on its own, except for being made into more useful materials. This can be achieved using a device known as a Bessemer Converter, which is another device requiring forced pre-heated air. A Bessemer Converter is a large crucible mounted on pivots for pouring, with a few specific features.
First and foremost, one of the pivots also has a pipe for hot air leading to the bottom of the converter, where a chamber with multiple holes leading up into the converter allows air to flow evenly through all parts of the converter. In addition, the hole for pouring out of the converter is narrower than the converter's entire chamber, and off-center, so that if the converter were completely full it would start pouring from the lower layers of fluid before the top ones. The converter should be lined with fired clay for its heat resistance, though Iron ores containing a lot of Phosphorus will instead require a converter lined with either Dolomite or Limestone (specifically because those are Base materials, and therefore react with the phosphorus).
When the molten Iron from the blast furnace is added to the converter, start the converter's air pump immediately, blowing hot air up through the molten metal. Impurities in the molten Iron will react with the air, producing heat and floating to the top of the converter as slag. This also removes the Iron's carbon content, which is a problem. To solve it, simply remove all the impurities by running the converter for about half an hour, then re-add the desired level of Carbon and Manganese to the molten Iron before it cools, turning it into steel. The steel in the converter can then be poured into molds, either for ingots to be worked into finished products, or cast into finished products directly.
Another topic I wish to cover is a more portable means of food preservation, known as canning. The basic idea of canning is fairly simple; put food in a sealed airtight container and heat it enough to kill all the bacteria inside so it can't spoil. The implementation is a bit trickier, however. There are two methods of canning which I will describe here, namely water-bath canning and pressure canning. In both cases, you will need a glass jar (this jar need not be clear), a cork or fitted wooden lid sealed in place with wax, and some wire to tie the lid in place.
In both water-bath and pressure canning, the sealed jar of food is then placed in a container of water, which is then heated to a boil. The only differences in equipment are what type of container the jars are placed in. In water-bath canning, a simple open-topped cooking pot will do the job, as normal boiling temperatures are sufficient. However, water-bath canning is only appropriate for acidic foods, as otherwise the airless environment inside a canned jar will permit dangerous varieties of bacteria to grow that normally do not make their presence known.
To be more specific, the bacteria known as Botulinum can produce highly heat-resistant spores that can later grow into new Botulinum bacteria, which can cause food poisoning. To destroy these spores requires temperatures somewhat higher than the normal boiling point of water, which is problematic since water will not exceed its boiling point without becoming a vapor. Fortunately, the vapor pressure on liquid water can cause its boiling point to vary quite dramatically; the higher the pressure, the hotter water has to get before it boils. The solution is to use an extra-thick pot with a very tight-fitting lid held in place by screws around the edge, or other heavy-duty fastenings.
To ensure the lid will not lose pressure, it will require a gasket. A gasket is a ring of flexible material to fill in the edges of a connection that needs to not leak, allowing a less-than-perfect fit. At your level of development, I would recommend a leather gasket, though such is not ideal.
It is important that the lid have a valve that can be opened to release steam, and which will open itself it the pressure inside becomes too excessive; otherwise, the pressure could build up to an extreme degree, possibly bursting the canner and spraying everyone nearby with superheated water. For the same reason, a pressure canner should be made out of Bronze or Steel; clay pressure canners are far too likely to burst compared to a strong metallic one. Another important feature is a grate that keeps the jars from directly contacting the bottom of the canner. This prevents uneven heating of the jars from causing cracking and ruining the whole point of the process.
If properly canned, food will not properly spoil for an effectively unlimited length of time so long as the container remains sealed. However, past five or six years the nutritional content of the food starts to degrade; it's still safe to eat, it just won't provide as much benefit to the person doing the eating.
On the topic of Bacteria, now that you've got microscopes capable of seeing microbes, you can start searching for a way to poison them without harming people. The methodology is fairly simple; start with substances that are known to not negatively affect people, apply them to a population of bacteria, and see if the bacteria die. For more verification that the substance will be safe to use on humans, you can take a tiny sample of blood with a sterile needle, and watch under the microscope to see if the blood cells in it are damaged by whatever substance you're testing. Worth noting is that many of these substances are themselves made by bacteria themselves as a means of attacking each other, while others are made by fungi, or plants. In addition, you may be able to invent some magic that can do the job.
There is a LOT to study in the field of microbiology, and I am just providing the barest framework, but the most important factors are being able to reliably procure bacterial growth media, along with identifying and culturing single species of bacteria for study. A bacterial growth media is exactly what it sounds like: a substance bacteria can grow well in, that can also be easily examined with a microscope. For a start I would recommend vegetable broth that has been canned, to ensure no pre-existing bacteria can muck up your results. Visual recognition meanwhile is a very bad technique for attempting to identify bacteria, but it's what you've got available right now. Bacteria suspected to be disease-causing can be collected from sick individuals using sterile swabs of boiled cloth fibers and transferred to a bottle of growth media for analysis.
Now, for Cannon construction, a better method than casting with a ditch would be to use an upright mold. Use a wood carving of the cannon's planned external form, forcibly close a box full of fireclay around the model, and there's your mold for the exterior of the cannon. Pop the box open, extract the model, clamp it shut again and stand it upright, pouring your molten bronze or steel into the mold.
Now, to dig the channel for the cannonball will require a specialized tool that I'm going to call a drill bench. This is a setup that lets you firmly secure the cannon at a specific orientation relative to a drill mounted so that it cannot be aimed in any direction except straight from the front of the cannon to the back. The drill should be able to slide forwards in order to dig into the cannon. For reference, a drill is a tool that spins along its axis of motion, so that it cuts into whatever material it is being used on as it is pushed forwards, removing a cylindrical volume of material as the drill digs deeper. For a drill to be used on bronze or steel, I would recommend using case-hardened steel for the drill. The metal shavings that the drill removes should be collected, so that they can be melted down and re-used. A smaller drill should be used to make the touch-hole, through which the powder in the cannon is to be ignited.
As an added note, casting cannons on-site isn't really a good idea for a variety of reasons. First off, it makes the process of making the cannon in the first place that much harder, when getting a good cannon is already very difficult. Second, it denies you the opportunity to test-fire the cannon before it needs to be used, which lets you know if it's going to prove a viable weapon, explode when used, or simply be a massive disappointment. As such, I would heavily recommend making cannons ahead of time at a dedicated production facility, and mounting ones that you are planning on using on specially-built carts, so they can be wheeled around with relative ease.
Also, slow-burning fuses can be made through the following process. The following ingredients will be needed: Potassium Nitrate, Sugar, and string. Mix 60% Potassium Nitrate with 40% Sugar, and add the mix to a pan full of boiling water. Mix the combustibles in well, and when the water in the pan boils down enough to start getting frothy add the string, being careful to ensure the entire length of string is absorbing roughly the same amount of chemicals.
Now, this chemically-soaked string needs to be straightened out on baking trays so that it isn't overlapping or tangled, and baked at a bit hotter than the temperature water boils. After this, the cord should be a bit yellower than when it went in, and should be stiff. This indicates success; if you cut off a length of this cord and light it at one end, it should burn at a slow regular rate. Notably, it will even burn in the total absence of air, as the Potassium Nitrate in the cord now fills the role Oxygen normally plays in combustion.
In the short term, it may be best to tell Bianca to (in short) switch to blowing the walls down. Pack a metal sphere with blasting powder, have thrown right next to gate, call down fire, then have some more (smooth) stones thrown at the gate. That sort of thing.
Regarding the making of cannon, we have mentioned the wads of paper or hay that go between the powder and the cannonball, right?
Oh, and interesting fact: SV is of the belief that my response is too short to add to the thread, I think whatever algorithm is responsible for that has gotten a bit confused by everyone's longposts.
I'm tempted to force the issue of a halfway proper judgments/court system with a write-in of some sort, because ugh, the current way is truly terrible. Any opinions?
One siege tactic you could try is to build a wall around the city, known to us as circumvallation. You should probably do it out of wood and earth, as it meant to be temporary. This prevents any supply effort and communication from happening.
Another thing you might want to try is to build a tunnel underneath until you reach the wall. Then you mine the wall to undermine its foundation and create a hole.
Finally, it might be possible to create a ramp so you can just march your troops over.
It's also a good idea to see if there are blindspots that you could approach without the defenders being capable of shooting at you back. If you could find such weakness, it will be much easier to bring other siege tactics or engines to bear.
Even if you couldn't find a blindspot, some spots may be easier than other.
[Underclass] It's fine for now. As soon as there are as many Galugr as there are members in the next largest tribe it has to stop.
That they seek to bolster their numbers is only understandable. Letting them grow too much is not. Let them do it... for now.
[Vassal] Refuse
The city is good target practice. Without it, how else will we test our weapons of war?
[Hurrah] He may go, but only after preparing things so that his replacement(s) can easily take his place, say by spending some time informing them of things they need to know before leaving and teaching them how to better handle problems. If he spends at least a year preparing his successors and are reasonably confident that they will do a good job, he should be allowed to leave on his quest after that.
He will die of old age eventually. I'd say let him go for it -he'll be gone soon enough either way- but it would be wise, I think, to have him pave the metaphorical way for his successors now that his absence can be foreseen. This would be less prone to causing problems with a sudden inexperienced ruler, as cities have been toppled that way at (albeit fairly rare) times.
[Horse] Try leaving her with a herd of horses for some years first. If she has produced no offspring by half her breedable lifespan, try calming her with magic instead and, failing that, tie her down and make sure it gets done.
Let's try being nice first. The best result is to have her do it willingly, for then she may do it again without our intervention. If it doesn't work, well, we have ways to get what we want.
Now, those matters aside, Starrunner sends you greetings.
Firstly, on the matter of youth. The methods of replication for replacing individual cells and the creation of new people are somewhat different. When a new person is made, the mother and father each take their own instructions, which are still readable. Then, taking half of the text of each instruction set, they fabricate a completely new set containing those newly made instructions, pristine and ready for use. Since the original instructions were only read, not copied, the new instruction set suffers not from the age of the old ones - the safety margin is new and complete, not worn and used. It is this copying of instructions that is why children resemble their parents. This is indeed quite distinct from the copying processes that are otherwise used, but there is good reason that it's not used everywhere. The components, as mentioned, are taken randomly. If one tries to take two of the same instruction set, there is a good chance that each line will be two copies of the same thing. This can cause great problems - a person's genetic code combined with itself as such would suffer as many issues as a that of a child borne of three generations of consecutive sibling matings.
Whilst we are on this matter, there is also reason why males are fertile longer than females. Both genders have specialized cells made to facilitate the process of reproduction. For the male, these are produced on demand. The female, however, is born with a certain amount and, each menstruation, one of them are spent. Her supply eventually runs out, and she is thus rendered infertile (sometimes baring the occasional straggler).
On the topic of a police force or other enforcement agency, perhaps you do not see the immediate need. True, with only the nine nations and a single city, you may be able to enforce order on your lonesome. What will you do when the nine nations number in the millions (a million is a thousand times a thousand) of people across numerous cities of varying size? Cities have been made, though likely not on your world, that contain millions of people on their lonesome, with towering buildings of steel, glass and concrete that stand a hundred people-lengths tall or even higher. This was the same civilization that possessed non-magical weapons strong enough to level cities in an instant - though I won't go into those if for no other reason that you would currently stand no chance of making them. I'll stop at giving you a hint - the weapon uses the same processes of radioactive decay that keeps the center of the world molten, without which it would have long since cooled. I wouldn't advise messing with radioactive materials unless you're wearing a lead suit - that stuff causes incurable sickness (albeit of a kind that can take months or years to end one's life) by mere proximity as it damages the instructions of life. For all I know it'd break your immortality, though I don't know how that magic works so I can't say for sure.
With a larger nation as such, you could not hope to enforce order on your lonesome. Once you get to that point, it would surely be far better to already have such enforcement, being able to answer the question of their necessity on the basis of 'because it has always been' instead of having to justify it against such a large population. The need may not be apparent right now, but as your dominion grows, so will the need to enforce your rule. Numbers have a might all of their own, and great enough numbers would eventually exceed even your might. Think of the viability of fighting a world of a billion (a thousand million) people on your lonesome even if only one in a hundred fight, if you will. Could you say that you would still emerge victorious?
On the topic of iron, what you currently use is cast iron - an inferior and brittle material that is really a poor use of your iron. Seen from that point of view, it is no wonder your cannons destroy themselves. Steel is a far better material to use. Steel is an alloy that contains iron and coal much like how bronze is an alloy that contains copper and tin. It is malleable and versatile, and in general much superior to cast iron. For one, when faced with a cannon blast, it would be much less likely to explode into fragments. The core point of steelmaking is to get the appropriate percentage of coal into the molten iron. A Bessemer process is one way to make steel, but it is somewhat complex. Likewise, the Linz-Donawitz process requires things which you wouldn't manage right now. Unfortunately I am not myself well-versed in steel making, and any attempt on my end to explain the process in detail would probably end in failed experiments and wasted time. I shall leave it to other voices to explain the particulars.
With machine learning, I believe, I have managed to illustrate to you how the only real difference between madness and genius is success. There is otherwise little difference between the two. Works of genius (such as having electricity travel in both directions at once to move very far and easy in one direction) often seem mad and are ridiculed for it until they succeed, and some measure of madness is necessary in order to try the truly outlandish ideas which later become common sense because they worked so well. Sure, it seems mad at first, but if it works it's not madness, it's genius.
Works of genius are greater leaps compared to the normal steps of progress. If approached in the latter way, they do not seem too mad. Since there are a finite number of possible board states and moves in tic-tac-toe, one could mark down on a number of tablets every possible combination of moves to play the game, which is nine times eight times seven et cetera down to one which equals over three hundred and fifty thousand different ways. This cannot be explored easily, but the number of possible board states is much smaller, small enough to be explored as such, especially when you need only consider one player's moves. If the rocks are the second player, it only has just shy of four hundred distinct moves to make which is further reduced by the fact that the game can stop prematurely due to a win or loss, and this can be explored exhaustively. If a singer were to take the game and, for each move, figure out the best counter-move, they could make a set of tablets that make the best moves. That those tablets can then be followed to play the game as good as possible I think we can both agree is true and is not madness. The machine learning process simply outsources the learning bit by using the principles of natural selection. This extension isn't obviously mad either. It is only when taken together that it appears mad, for it's a longer leap in one's mind to see the reasoning.
The point I'm getting at is that just because something may seem mad it isn't necessarily a bad idea. Sometimes the seeming madness is our fault, of course, because we forgot to explain something important. For example, the matter of finding molten rivers of iron is not as easy as going to a volcano, for the iron core of the world is at the center of the world sphere and so most of the liquid iron does not flow near the surface. Given this information, it is no wonder that the lava from volcanoes is molten rock, not iron. This doesn't mean that you should just go along with anything, but if there's no harm in it, why not indulge the mad ideas every now and then? Some of the ideas you know from us now would've surely been seen as madness if they were told to the you of a hundred years ago.
Starrunner. The Ten Nations use wrought iron, low-quality wrought iron, besides some minimal case hardening. She cannot cast iron, currently.
For some perspective, that we often seem to lack when we are too deep in our memories/visions... Nations with hundreds of millions of people and, to cite you, "with towering buildings of steel, glass, and concrete that stand a hundred people-lengths tall or even higher" are not utterly impossible, but without our advice would take thousands of years to very gradually develop. Such machine age Nations are nowhere near immediate concerns.
Whether such enormously tall buildings and cities with millions of people should be even allowed to come into existence is also disputable, but if Bianca wants to guide development of the whole world then she needs to conquer the world first. Thus, of course, she needs to grow her nations enough to support the world conquest. The buildings of glass and steel are far from our current concern, though it would be nice for Bianca to grow in magical power enough to cease fearing roofs.
But yes, with rising population law and judgment are more and more important and a system of judges and police, while it may be complicated, is much better than the way currently practiced both in the Ten Nations and simple and small cities of her world.
I do hope that my advice about blast furnaces and Bessemer Converters improves on that situation.
As a side note for Bianca, time got a bit jumbled; Starrunner made their comment about the Bessemer Process being complicated prior to my explaining how to build one, despite you receiving the messages in the opposite order.
Anyway, regarding the issues we were asked to advise on...
[Underclass] It's fine for now. As soon as there are as many Galugr as there are members in the next largest tribe it has to stop.
I will echo Starrunner's advice on this matter. While this is a functional solution to the problem, it must by necessity be a temporary one.
[Vassal] Refuse
Hopefully, having cannons that actually work properly will make this conquest a much more successful endeavor than before.
[Horse] Try leaving her with a herd of horses for some years first. If she has produced no offspring by half her breedable lifespan, try calming her with magic instead and, failing that, tie her down and make sure it gets done.
Let's try being nice first. The best result is to have her do it willingly, for then she may do it again without our intervention. If it doesn't work, well, we have ways to get what we want.
[Hurrah] He may go, but only after preparing things so that his replacement(s) can easily take his place, say by spending some time informing them of things they need to know before leaving and teaching them how to better handle problems. If he spends at least a year preparing his successors and are reasonably confident that they will do a good job, he should be allowed to leave on his quest after that.
Again, I find myself echoing Starrunner's reasoning.
Just Write, the Bessemer Converters for the mass production of steel are far from easy. Their introduction should usually happen only during the Machine Age. Maybe something like the finery forge would be better at the start. I mean, we already introduced a few things that looks very advanced for a world like Bianca's world, but nothing so complex. And we have tendency to miss many details, often important details.
Just Write, the Bessemer Converters for the mass production of steel are far from easy. Their introduction should usually happen only during the early machine age. Maybe something like the finery forge would be better at the start. I mean, we already introduced a few things that looks very advanced for a world like Bianca's world, but nothing so complex. And we have tendency to miss many details, often important details.
I'm pretty sure I got everything. It's pretty hard for someone to know how to cast bronze without having the slightest clue what a crucible is, which is one of the only things I didn't explain, aside from where to find Dolomite.
In addition, just because our world happened to develop technologies in a certain order does not mean that such is the only viable order. While there are admittedly a few hard requirements for prerequisites to certain technologies - can't make a radio without knowing how electricity works, after all - it's firmly possible to defy the previously established order of technological discovery.
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He was actually a good choice because the longer he's in power the longer we'd have a relatively loyal ruler over there, since he was actually born and raised in the Nine Nations and saw several demonstations of Bianca's power and authority.
