You're the Queen - Now What? [CK2ish Character-Focused Quest]

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I'm surprised we don't have advisors who specialize in magic and religion. The latter seems especially relevant given the number of very different Churches.

Speaking of money, we should probably avoid selling titles other than ceremonial ones, and I'd rather keep the artwork to avoid a loss of prestige and keep some reserve funds for emergencies.

As for new advisors, I would prefer Arandel Synvara as our diplomat. Divination is a very useful skill and this guy must really have a lot of experience. We also receive advice from a magic specialist. I wonder if he can be convinced to help Vanessa with her own magic.

As far as the Judge's position goes, for me, it's basically a choice between Lady Aster Corex and Itrick Grosdan. Integrity is an excellent trait in a judge, and rewarding a man who has suffered at the hands of a tyrant should be well received. On the other hand, mercy is also quite important, especially considering the deity we have chosen.
 
Eternal_0bserver said:
I'm surprised we don't have advisors who specialize in magic and religion. The latter seems especially relevant given the number of very different Churches.
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For the first, that's usually the function of a Court Wizard, but Vanessa *is* her own Court Wizard (and Court Wizards aren't formally part of the Council, though they usually sit in on meetings) and for the latter, well, there are 22 churches, so who will advise on all of them? Everyone (except for the Order of the White Torrent, I suppose) who believes in the divine is a polytheist of some sort. Even a cleric of say, Maedon will spare a prayer to Tyria when he and his wife are trying to have kids, for instance.

And, unlike say, ASOIAF, where the faithfulness of most southerners was nominal at best, most characters are reasonably devout, unless they're Alatrist, or the like. Granted, devout looks different here than in say, Christianity, but 🤷
 

][TAX ASSESSMENTS] South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax & Mining Tax

[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Lordship Land Tax Phase 1 (Of 2)

Both of those are by far the best options for a single reason, their value has the least chance to have been degraded during the war, because don't forget when reassessing tax's there is a chance that there is less value then their was before, especially after a civil war.

Best to let the other sectors recover before reassessing them.

[ ][SINECURES] Don't Sell Sinecures

Corruption and incompetence will be the death of us besides it isn't that much money.

[ ][ROYAL TREASURES] Melt Down Assorted Gold and Silver Items in the Palace & Other Royal Properties to be Minted Later (Provides progress towards resolving Currency Contraction)

-[ ] Melt Down only the most unnecessary or tacky items

It isn't likely to do much but it also wouldn't hurt us, so might as well.

[ ][CORRESPONDENCE] Gather Reports On The State Of The Roads (Opens More Road-Repair Related Tasks) (Base Chance 70% + Stewardship)*

The roads should be our priority because fixing them will take time and bring a lot to the table when its done.

[ ][ROYAL VAULTS] Negotiate Bridge Loan of 100 Dureks To Help Pay Down Current Debts (Failure will mean no loan, Weak Success will mean the higher of the two offered interest rates, Strong Success will mean the lower of the two) (Must be Used To Pay Down Existing Debts)
-[ ] From The Goldaxe Bank (Lortan Dwarves) (11% or 9%) (Base Chance 50% + Stewardship)*

Even if we get a weak successes we still swing the interest payment by 4 Durek's per month (which is about a 3% reduction in interest) for basically nothing. And we got a good chance of succeeding. (42% strong successes, 46% weak successes 12% failure

[ ][HIGH MARSHALL] Have Rienne Personally Deal With Banditry (Will Result in Follow up Votes. All tasks there will be +Martial, with variable trait applicability) (If not picked, the option to assign other Generals to deal with bandits will be available in a followup vote)
-[ ] Banditry in the Thornmarch

We should deal with bandits the fastest we can and thonmarch is literally the province that gives us the most revenue so it's the priority.

Now, I don't actually want to reduce our army size not while things are so unstable, we need the army so we can both get to dealing with the bandits and have a solid core to deal with surprise attempt at invasions.

[ ][SECRETS] Rebuild Internal Spy Network (Phase 1 of ?) (No roll required. Each phase opens more [SECRETS] options down the line and improves chances of success of internal spy operations, as well as giving increased chance for intelligence to be 'passively' received)
-[ ]Provide Funds to Speed up/Improve Process. 10 Dureks.

This should be a priority, knowing what the fuck goes on in our own country should be delt with ASP, in the end time is more valuable then coin so spending some to speed things up is worthwhile.

[ ][ENVOYS] Arandel Synvara, an elf who lives in Eaglecrest and a skilled wizard. Nearly 400 years old, Arandel is well-traveled and experienced, and has been an adventurer, a court wizard, a freelance enchanter and more. In recent decades, he's become an internationally respected mediator between mages disputing over all manner of things, as well as between mages and non-mages. A skilled diviner

Experienced, a mage and isn't a part of an internal faction this is the beast we could hop for.


[ ][JUSTICE] Itrick Grosdan, a high-ranking cleric of Askiran. Most concerned with the maintenance of order, he is an advocate for flexible laws and clear, humane sentences. Vocal opponent of torture (which is legal under certain circumstances in Halrun, including as punishment for crimes. An old man, he has served as essentially a freelance investigator and prosecutor for Brunn, briefly Syrokis, and various nobles and towns, as well as Port Lest.

Not a part of an internal faction, generally compassionate he's the best of the three.


[ ][QUEEN] Decide what to do with the confiscated estates from the lords that were attainted. (Scene & Followup Vote)

[ ][QUEEN] Meet with representatives of merchants active on Lake Raida to try to increase dock revenues) (Base Chance: 47% + Diplomacy + Stewardship)

Getting revenue and dealing with the lands we have free should be a priority, searching for matches can be started next turn were our situation will -hopefully- be less dire.
 

Kylia Quilor said:
ou don't have anything for the Keeper of Sheriffs and Reeves to do. Was that deliberate (because you didn't know which to pick) or accidental?
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Accidental, meant to put this but there are a lot of options so must have missed it when scrolling up and down to pick things.

[ ][SHERIFFS AND REEVES] Appoint trustworthy and capable people to fill leadership positions in the Reeves to manage royal properties (Base Chance: 53% + Diplomacy + 1/2 Stewardship)*
 
I want to start with showing a quick overview of our budget.

Budget:
Treasury: 50 Dureks
Income Per Month: 225 Dureks
Expenses Per Month: 143.25 Dureks
Interest Per Month: 118.5 Dureks

This means that we have a deficit of 36.75 Dureks at the moment. We are given multiple ways of dealing with this deficit, but the most impactful one is demobilization, since the current expense for the royal army is 91.25 Dureks, which means that a 25% reduction would save us 22.8125 Dureks, which would only leave us with a deficit of around 14 Dureks.

Kylia Quilor said:
Tax Assessments (Pick 2 to get resolved this turn)
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Eaglecrest Trade Fees
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Port Lest Trade Fees
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Eaglecrest 3% Wealth Tax
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Port Lest 4% Wealth Tax
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax & Mining Tax
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Lordship Land Tax Phase 1 (Of 2)
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Town Trade Revenue Phase 1 (Of 2)
[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Write in Other Tax Source To Be Assessed (See Assets Post)
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Kylia Quilor said:
Port Lest Trade Fees: 9 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) (Modifier: Outdated Tax Assessments)
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Kylia Quilor said:
South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax, Mining Tax & Feudal Dues: 10 Dureks (Modifiers Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads)
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Kylia Quilor said:
Lordships Land Tax and Feudal Dues: 20 Dureks (Modifiers: Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged, Assorted Exemptions, Banditry)
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When it comes to tax assessments, then I would like to ask @Kylia Quilor, if we may do both action required to get up to date tax assessment on one turn, since the I would like to do Lordships Land Tax and Feudal Dues, since it is one of our biggest taxes, which might mean that we will get more of a tax increase from it.

If we cannot do both parts of the assessment on one turn, then I would pick South Tarkos Thanedom and Port Lest Trade Fees, though I am planning to have the keeper of correspondence speed up the tax assessments, so we might be able to do them this turn too.

Edit:
Based on the response I got, then I think, that I will do South Tarkos Thanedom and Port Lest Trade Fees, this turn, and have priority for Correspondence be Lordships Land Tax and Feudal Dues, with the secondary being Eaglecrest Trade Fees.

Kylia Quilor said:
Owed to the Feltrini Bank (Varaday Republic): 100 Dureks (15% Interest) (15 Dureks)
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Kylia Quilor said:
[ ][ROYAL VAULTS] Negotiate Bridge Loan of 100 Dureks To Help Pay Down Current Debts (Failure will mean no loan, Weak Success will mean the higher of the two offered interest rates, Strong Success will mean the lower of the two) (Must be Used To Pay Down Existing Debts)
-[ ] From The Goldaxe Bank (Lortan Dwarves) (11% or 9%) (Base Chance 50% + Stewardship)*
-[ ] From The Caragio Bank (Varaday Republic) (13% or 11%) (Base Chance 60% + Stewardship)*
-[ ] From the Veterger Bank (Selissa) (14% or 12%) (Base Chance 70% + Stewardship)*
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One of our loans with the highest interest is to the Feltrini Bank and since the size of the loan matches the size of a potential Bridge loan, then it serves as a good comparison on how much money we might save with a Bridge loan.

I think we should attempt to get a Bridge loan from the Goldaxe Bank, since it might save us either 4 or 6 Dureks per month and with Rucdorn's stewardship of 10 and trait bonus of 5 to loan negotiation, we would have a chance of 65%.

[]Plan: Fix the economy
-[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Port Lest Trade Fees
-[ ][TAX ASSESSMENTS] South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax & Mining Tax
-[ ][SINECURES] Don't Sell Sinecures
-[ ][ROYAL TREASURES] Melt Down Assorted Gold and Silver Items in the Palace & Other Royal Properties to be Minted Later (Provides progress towards resolving Currency Contraction)
--[ ] Melt Down only the most unnecessary or tacky items
-[ ][CORRESPONDENCE] Personally Oversee Tax Assessments (Up to 2 more Tax Assessments Will be Finished This Turn) (Base Chance 50% + Stewardship + 1/2 Learning)*
-[ ] Priority: Lordship Land Tax Phase 1 (Of 2)
-[ ] Secondary: Eaglecrest Trade Fees
-[ ][ROYAL VAULTS] Negotiate Bridge Loan of 100 Dureks To Help Pay Down Current Debts (Failure will mean no loan, Weak Success will mean the higher of the two offered interest rates, Strong Success will mean the lower of the two) (Must be Used To Pay Down Existing Debts)
--[ ] From The Goldaxe Bank (Lortan Dwarves) (11% or 9%) (Base Chance 50% + Stewardship)*
-[ ][HIGH MARSHALL] Have Rienne Personally Demobilize Forces (Strong Success means quarter demobilization bonus must be paid, Weak Success means half demobilization bonus must be paid, failure means full demobilization bonus must be paid) (Demobilization Bonus is, by default, one third of the soldiers upkeep.) (Demobilization can still be done separately if Rienne is not assigned to oversee it) (Base Chance: 55% + Martial + Diplomacy)*
--[ ] Straight 25% Demobilization (Reduce all categories of soldier by 25%)
-[ ][SECRETS] Rebuild Internal Spy Network (Phase 1 of ?) (No roll required. Each phase opens more [SECRETS] options down the line and improves chances of success of internal spy operations, as well as giving increased chance for intelligence to be 'passively' received)
-[ ][SHERIFFS AND REEVES] Gather Reports On The State Of The Roads (Opens More Road-Repair Related Tasks) (Base Chance 70% + Stewardship)*
-[ ][ENVOYS] ???
-[ ][JUSTICE] ???
-[ ][QUEEN] Personally Oversee The Sale of Confiscated Property (Weak Success Results in 25% more money from Sales, Strong Success Results in 50% more money from sales) (Base Chance 45% + Stewardship + Diplomacy)
-[ ][QUEEN] Decide what to do with the confiscated estates from the lords that were attainted. (Scene & Followup Vote)

This is my current thoughts on what a decent plan might be.

I picked doing internal spy network, since it will be useful and since it is free compared to foreign spy networks, and since I do not have an opinion on whom to pick for envoy or justice at the moment, then I kept those spots empty.

I put our queen on overseeing sale of confiscated property, since she has a diplomacy of 9 and a stewardship of 8, giving her a bonus of 17 to that action, and it will help with our deficit. Hopefully dealing with the confiscated estates will do the same.
 
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Mortenkam said:
if we may do both action required to get up to date tax assessment on one turn, since the I would like to do Lordships Land Tax and Feudal Dues, since it is one of our biggest taxes, which might mean that we will get more of a tax increase from it.
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You can't. The "Lordships" in the income line represents a hundred and twenty or so Lords and their estates scattered all over the Kingdom, and many Lords have multiple estates that are not close together, though none as extensively as Lady Balmain. So no matter how you slice it, it's just time consuming to get done. Realistically it should probably take more than 2 phases (representing 2 months of work), but you know, realism isn't always fun.
 
Kylia Quilor said:
You can't. The "Lordships" in the income line represents a hundred and twenty or so Lords and their estates scattered all over the Kingdom, and many Lords have multiple estates that are not close together, though none as extensively as Lady Balmain. So no matter how you slice it, it's just time consuming to get done. Realistically it should probably take more than 2 phases (representing 2 months of work), but you know, realism isn't always fun.
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Good to know, then I will likely have to change my plan a bit.
 
Mortenkam said:
but the most impactful one is demobilization, s
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See while demobilizing would save us a lot of money, it'll also leave us vunebale to invasion (well somewhat) I think that having the army stay in it current size until we deal with the bandits and make sure that A) we aren't going to be invaded and B) that our fortifications are all what they should be.

If anyone were to try and take advantage of our moment of economic weakness now would be the time.

Mortenkam said:
we would have a chance of 65%.
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We actually have a very good chance on that action despite what is said narratively (42% strong successes, 46% weak successes, 12% failure), and even a weak success would see us save 4 Durek's a turn (which is more then 10% of our deficit).
 
uri said:
See while demobilizing would save us a lot of money, it'll also leave us vunebale to invasion (well somewhat) I think that having the army stay in it current size until we deal with the bandits and make sure that A) we aren't going to be invaded and B) that our fortifications are all what they should be.

If anyone were to try and take advantage of our moment of economic weakness now would be the time.
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Well, our High Marshall reassured us, that we would be able to handle it okay, if it happened, and honestly, I think we will have a hard time affording waiting even a single month with demobilizing, especially since it cost us money to demobilize soldiers.


uri said:
We actually have a very good chance on that action despite what is said narratively (42% strong successes, 46% weak successes, 12% failure), and even a weak success would see us save 4 Durek's a turn (which is more then 10% of our deficit).
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Yeah, even a weak success will help with bringing down the deficit, though not as much as a demobilization will.
 
[] Plan: Reconstruction Begins
-[][TAX ASSESSMENTS] Port Lest Trade Fees
-[][TAX ASSESSMENTS] South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax & Mining Tax
-[][SINECURES] Don't Sell Sinecures
-[][ROYAL TREASURES] Melt Down Assorted Gold and Silver Items in the Palace & Other Royal Properties to be Minted Later (Provides progress towards resolving Currency Contraction)
--[] Melt Down only the most unnecessary or tacky items
-[][CORRESPONDENCE] Gather Reports On Banditry (Improves Base Chance of future Anti-Banditry Tasks) (Base Chance 65% + Stewardship)
-[][ROYAL VAULTS] Personally Oversee The Sale of Confiscated Property (Weak Success Results in 25% more money from Sales, Strong Success Results in 50% more money from sales) (Base Chance 45% + Stewardship + Diplomacy)
-[][HIGH MARSHALL] Inspect the Officer Corps (Success will locate and purge incompetent, corrupt or disloyal officers. Runs the risk of lowering army morale and organization on Weak Success or failure) (Base Chance 48% + Martial + Diplomacy)*
-[][SECRETS] Rebuild an External Spy Network (Costs 5 Dureks) (Provides passive intelligence and improves chances of spy operations inside a given state)
--[] In Morvak (Base Chance: 60% + Intrigue)*
-[][HIGH MARSHALL] Inspect the Officer Corps (Success will locate and purge incompetent, corrupt or disloyal officers. Runs the risk of lowering army morale and organization on Weak Success or failure) (Base Chance 48% + Martial + Diplomacy)*
-[][SHERIFFS AND REEVES] Gather Reports On The State Of The Roads (Opens More Road-Repair Related Tasks) (Base Chance 70% + Stewardship)*
-[][ENVOYS] Lady Carissa Floren, a noblewoman with relatives in Nerinthar, Veldros, Restid and Velermarch. Charming, friendly and well-liked, she can establish rapport with almost anyone very quickly, or so is her reputation. Lost her older brother and mother to Syrokis's war with Morvak, and her family was rewarded with property in the Thornmarch after the war with Morvak. Doesn't really lean progressive or conservative, as a noble.
-[][JUSTICE] Itrick Grosdan, a high-ranking cleric of Askiran. Most concerned with the maintenance of order, he is an advocate for flexible laws and clear, humane sentences. Vocal opponent of torture (which is legal under certain circumstances in Halrun, including as punishment for crimes. An old man, he has served as essentially a freelance investigator and prosecutor for Brunn, briefly Syrokis, and various nobles and towns, as well as Port Lest.
-[][QUEEN] Decide what to do with the confiscated estates from the lords that were attainted. (Scene & Followup Vote)
-[][QUEEN] Rule on the dispute over who gets the County of Aloce (Scene & Followup Vote)

Reasons for things beyond what I already stated:
  • Guys, don't leap to demobilization straight away. Remember that this is all contingent on Morvak not planning on invading. Which is why I want Vallefor having the spy network there, and Rienne clearing out the liabilities in our military chain of command first. If things look okay, then we can start releasing soldiers.
  • On a related note, this is behind my thinking we should collate our reports, to ensure banditry is ousted as soon and smoothly as possible.
  • On a second related note, given that we just now got made Queen, it's too soon to expect internal threats to arise. So we have a couple months to start rebuilding our foreign networks before looking to internal affairs.
  • I think Floren for Envoys, because she's not really aligned with a faction either, and while mages are shiny, we need someone with both solid expertise and skills.
 
Clockwokis said:
Huh, out of cutiosity could we just magic up a baby? Or is magic incapable of creating life like that?
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Very much incapable of something like that. Like, in the lore of the setting, supposedly the Archmagi of the Dawning Wars and pre-Dawning Wars era could do that, but that's like saying the first King of Sumeria ruled for 28,000 years (Which is what the sumerian Kings List claims)
 
Kylia Quilor said:
For the first, that's usually the function of a Court Wizard, but Vanessa *is* her own Court Wizard (and Court Wizards aren't formally part of the Council, though they usually sit in on meetings) and for the latter, well, there are 22 churches, so who will advise on all of them? Everyone (except for the Order of the White Torrent, I suppose) who believes in the divine is a polytheist of some sort. Even a cleric of say, Maedon will spare a prayer to Tyria when he and his wife are trying to have kids, for instance.

And, unlike say, ASOIAF, where the faithfulness of most southerners was nominal at best, most characters are reasonably devout, unless they're Alatrist, or the like. Granted, devout looks different here than in say, Christianity, but 🤷
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In my opinion, this is all the more compelling reason to have a person who will look after them all and convey their requests to the queen. It doesn't even have to be a priest, just someone who is well-versed in the doctrines, traditions and policies of different religions and can act as a mediator between them. Maybe we should think about introducing a position like this...
 
Mortenkam said:
Well, our High Marshall reassured us,
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That doesn't mean that said reassurance is correct, she basically said that we'll be all right if the fortification are the same in realty as they are on paper and I don't want to trust that blindly without actually being sure.

And even then, the enemy gets a vote, our spy network is best described as non-existent we don't know how many troops rivel nations can commit to offensives (hell we don't even know if there is a real risk) and this is a matter that I rather waste gold now then even more gold and blood later.

Besides the army is useful for clearing bandits so refraining from demobilizing until after they are delt with would be helpful.
 
MrRageQuit said:
  • Guys, don't leap to demobilization straight away. Remember that this is all contingent on Morvak not planning on invading. Which is why I want Vallefor having the spy network there, and Rienne clearing out the liabilities in our military chain of command first. If things look okay, then we can start releasing soldiers.
  • On a related note, this is behind my thinking we should collate our reports, to ensure banditry is ousted as soon and smoothly as possible.
  • On a second related note, given that we just now got made Queen, it's too soon to expect internal threats to arise. So we have a couple months to start rebuilding our foreign networks before looking to internal affairs.
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uri said:
That doesn't mean that said reassurance is correct, she basically said that we'll be all right if the fortification are the same in realty as they are on paper and I don't want to trust that blindly without actually being sure.

And even then, the enemy gets a vote, our spy network is best described as non-existent we don't know how many troops rivel nations can commit to offensives (hell we don't even know if there is a real risk) and this is a matter that I rather waste gold now then even more gold and blood later.

Besides the army is useful for clearing bandits so refraining from demobilizing until after they are delt with would be helpful.
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Well, I do think that you are both worrying too much about an invasion and too little about, how to deal with our deficit, especially, since we do not know, if there is a real risk of an invasion.

Though I will admit, that it might be worth it to invest in a spy network in Morvak , even if it cost 5 Dureks, and we could do other actions, like having our queen scry Thornmarch to check its defenses.

I also think that you are worrying too much about the bandits and I doubt, that we need to have the current size of our army to deal with them.
 
Mortenkam said:
Well, I do think that you are both worrying too much about an invasion and too little about, how to deal with our deficit, especially, since we do not know, if there is a real risk of an invasion.
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Well, the thing is that we aren't in a deficit per say. Sure, our net income is lower then the interest on our loans but we don't have to pay all of the interest every turn (in fact we probably shouldn't) and we do have enough in the treasury to soak up at least a turn of full interest payments (if not two with all the things we can do to reduce our debt and increase revenue).

And that gap is going to close with our action's that increase revenue and one-time large payments so I'm not too worried about the debt situation as we have a lot of ways to deal with that and it is a priority.

And while demobilizing would help with solving the problem faster, the damage we'll suffer if we get invaded will be far greater then the 12 or so Durek's that we save every turn.
 
Mortenkam said:
Well, I do think that you are both worrying too much about an invasion and too little about, how to deal with our deficit, especially, since we do not know, if there is a real risk of an invasion.
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It might well be that the risk of invasion is low, but we don't know that yet and the Thornmarch has the Morvakian Saber-Rattling modifier for a reason. There's no harm in spending a turn or two to make sure first.

As for the bandits, well, eliminating them will help bring in more money anyway, and the state needs to reassert its monopoly of force and public order for basic legitimacy. No screwups permitted!
 
I think the discussion about army demobilization is really important, but I would like to focus attention on something else for a moment:

Income per year:______________2700 Dureks
Expenses per year:____________1719 Dureks
Crown Debts Total: 1,005 Dureks (1422 Dureks Interest)
Deficit:______________________-441 Dureks

We have an Average Annual Interest Rate of 141.49%.
These banks have an incredible return on investment right now.
There is no economic activity that I can think of that is positioned similarly.
For comparison, imagine you buy a farm for 1005 gold and after a year you not only have a farm that has not decreased in value, but also 1422 gold as income.

This may sound crazy, but it's a good thing.
We are not hopelessly underwater and the loans are not that high, just the interest is enormous.
The quicker we pay off these loans, the sooner we'll get the snowball rolling.

Whatever we do, we should try to raise as much capital as possible as quickly as possible.
 
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uri said:
Well, the thing is that we aren't in a deficit per say. Sure, our net income is lower then the interest on our loans but we don't have to pay all of the interest every turn (in fact we probably shouldn't) and we do have enough in the treasury to soak up at least a turn of full interest payments (if not two with all the things we can do to reduce our debt and increase revenue).

And that gap is going to close with our action's that increase revenue and one-time large payments so I'm not too worried about the debt situation as we have a lot of ways to deal with that and it is a priority.

And while demobilizing would help with solving the problem faster, the damage we'll suffer if we get invaded will be far greater then the 12 or so Durek's that we save every turn.
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MrRageQuit said:
It might well be that the risk of invasion is low, but we don't know that yet and the Thornmarch has the Morvakian Saber-Rattling modifier for a reason. There's no harm in spending a turn or two to make sure first.

As for the bandits, well, eliminating them will help bring in more money anyway, and the state needs to reassert its monopoly of force and public order for basic legitimacy. No screwups permitted!
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Well, we could probably handle a month or two with the army staying at its current size, though it will put back our efforts to get our debt under control, since even if we do not pay all the interest every turn, our debt will simply continue to grow rather than become smaller.

I will also point out that it is not 12 Dureks we will save by demobilizing by 25%, but 22.8125 Dureks, so it would be nearly a four-time bigger saving, than we can get from a bridge loan. I am unsure, how much money, that will be raised by selling confiscated property, but I would prefer to spend the money on getting the debt down, rather than keeping a large army on our payroll.

I will also note that with our treasury of 50 Dureks and a deficit of 36.75, that we will only 13.25 Dureks left, if we do not raise more money.
T.T said:
I think the discussion about army demobilization is really important, but I would like to focus attention on something else for a moment:

Income per year:______________2700 Dureks
Expenses per year:____________1719 Dureks
Crown Debts Total: 1,005 Dureks (1422 Dureks Interest)
Deficit:______________________-441 Dureks

We have an Average Annual Interest Rate of 141.49%.
These banks have an incredible return on investment right now.
There is no economic activity that I can think of that is positioned similarly.
For comparison, imagine you buy a farm for 1005 gold and after a year you not only have a farm that has not decreased in value, but also 1422 gold as income.

This may sound crazy, but it's a good thing.
We are not hopelessly underwater and the loans are not that high, just the interest is enormous.
The quicker we pay off these loans, the sooner we'll get the snowball rolling.

Whatever we do, we should try to raise as much capital as possible as quickly as possible.
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Yeah, the interest on those loans, is nearly as big as our current expenses, so if we succeed at bringing down the debt, then we will be able to afford a lot more.
 
Catpetter1981 said:
Could Vanessa potentially marry a Dwarven Prince(ss) (or Senior Vice-Presidwarf) of the Goldaxe Bank, and get access to their full financial backing?
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In theory, yes, in practice no, because humans and dwarfs cannot interbreed. Humans and Elves can, but that's because humans and elves share common ancestry (Not that anyone in-setting quite realizes that, they just know humans and dwarves can't have kids togetherr, and humans and elves can)

The Duke of Balpes did marry a dwarf, but she was his second wife - and he has an heir from his first wife.
 
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