General Summary
Gnarled Hills Domain - Wanesun 2321
In the outpost of Mav Mayot, Landryn steps in front of the gathered companions and begins.
"Greetings Council, since this is our first official month as a domain, I would like the opportunity to take you through some of the decisions you will need to make on a monthly basis. What we decide here will take some work throughout Wanesun to make happen, but coming together in council and having this conversation, is important if we wish the Gnarled Hills to rise.
"We have little enough influence, but this makes keeping the domain stable fairly easy. Oelandria is planning to use her time to visit the lands and rally our people behind us. We will also need to allocate resources to pay for upkeep to the domain, and we don't have any Unrest to deal with, so our upkeep is finished."
"As we think of edicts and proclamations of the council, let's look to setting our domain up for success."
"Luckily, a few weeks ago, we met and gathered friends and family to fill out our council, replacing members of the Venatore who may be away for extended periods and may not be able to contribute the necessary time to effectively fulfill council roles. That being said, we have one change to discuss, with our Diplomat Rostam taking Virion's place in the Venatore, at least for a while, we need a new grand diplomat."
At that point, the council came together and decided that Allamir would replace Rostam as Diplomat, while the goliath Pavuu would fill the role of Warden.
"While I know you are interested in claiming the lands to the northeast, which would put us close to Dornath, and I don't think we're ready for conflict yet. Due south is Ironstar Hold, we should send the diplomat out and try to persuade them to join us. The hill region to the southeast, and the southern Frogger's Moor is unclaimed territory, and claiming it is not likely to irritate anyone. In any case, it would require the Council to explore the region and eliminate any threats and cost resources."
At Abebane's suggestion, the council chose not to expand into the southeastern hills, staying within the areas already claimed.
"You are able to resource two Terrain Improvements this month. The cost to finish the Outpost is 12 BP. I believe that is too much of an expense at this time, let the Venatore continue to fund the outpost improvements until we feel comfortable enough to take over the work. I would suggest Farms around the Outpost, which would cost 4 BP, but pay for itself in a few months' time. I might also suggest a Sawmill in the Dymrak Valley at a cost of 3 BP. It will increase Stability and income, and also pay for itself in a few months' time."
Abebane already was thinking of building the sawmill, but he also wants the farm in the Dymrak Valley, along the river, leaving the lands around the Outpost of Mav Mayot alone for now.
"You can create a Settlement on the banks of the Red River in the Dymrak Valley. Because that area is grasslands, it requires no preparation time, but costs 1 BP Preparation Cost to found the settlement. I suggest Redoak or Redpine as a name, Red for the Red River and Oak or Pine for the Dymrak Forest. You can begin building immediately. Since this is your kingdom’s first settlement, you should start with an Inn, Shrine, Monastery, or Watchtower. In addition, you may also purchase and construct 1 House or Mansion. If your first building is an Inn, you must construct a House next to it, as building an Inn requires an adjacent House (or Tenements in a Town). I would suggest an Inn or Watchtower, together with Houses."
The council agrees to the settling of a village, and after a few days of scouting the river, chose a spot to found Dymrak Village. They immediately sent out word that they were looking for an innkeeper to settle in the village and began the construction of houses along the riverbank, near the inn construction. The homes were completed before the end of Wanesun, but the inn wouldn't be up and running for another month.
"We have to choose between building the settlement or recruiting men. The settlement is more important than mustering a unit. A good rule of thumb is that we can recruit up to 10% of the population for guardsmen or soldiers, not counting mercenaries of course. At this point, all we could muster is a squad (10 men). I would advise waiting until we begin to attract the population necessary to field a proper force.
"We also need to let our neighbors know how expansionist we plan to be, set a time-table for regular holidays, and a level of taxation. I would suggest taking a standard view of expansions and taxation, and quarterly Holidays. We may have more play in this at a later time, but for right now, let's play it safe.
"For Special Edicts, I believe we should send Allamir out to Ironstar Mine and see if we could bring them into the fold peacefully, but the council may have other ideas."
The council did discuss some ideas, the idea of sending Fulton Silk into Dornath to conduct full-scale espionage activities was actually too expensive for the new domain, and not worth the cost. The council did send Allamir out to meet Hathor Ironstar. Over drinks, Hathor told of the time when Tostig and Hrun's band of adventurers helped when they broke into a tomb of an undead evil wizard under the mine. His people are miners, not adventurers or soldiers, and he isn't opposed to the idea of some light taxes for safety and security.
He's been having trouble lately with an influx of ogres, all being called by a so-called ogre king. He can have one of his men point out a few ogre holds, but he doesn't know where the ogre king is located. If the council can deal with the ogres, he'd be willing to join up, and he knows he could convince the smaller mines in the region to sign on as well.
"Whew, that was a lot of planning, but we have set our edicts for the month, letting everyone know where we stand on many issues. More to do. More to do."
"Now we reach the fun part, income. We started the month with a treasury of 45 build or resource points, but have spent 18 build points so far. If no one needs to withdraw funds from the treasury, make deposits to the treasury, or sell some items for build points, then all that needs to be done is to send Brannon out to collect the monthly taxes."
Brannon does indeed spend a few days on the road collecting taxes and earns 8 BP, which brings the treasury up to 35 BP.
"Everyone has their assignments for the month. Now we just need to wait and see how everyone does and if any fortunate or unfortunate events pop up during the month. I thank the council for your time. I have had my manservant take notes of these proceedings for review at a later time. As you gain confidence and experience, I do plan on stepping back and enjoying Morrell's fabulous wine cellar and letting you all do the hard work. As the Grand Duke's voice on the council, I will of course have my own ideas and suggestion from time to time, but the work should be yours."
Comments