>>3279417
Fuck it, I'll bite.
>The Lizardfolk, of the Radiant Empire of Tzcoatl
>>Slave-driver of the Silver Temple

>>3279425
Kind of you, Anon.Hope you like gathering tribute for the gods and driving conquered peoples before you.

>>3279441
It's my favourite thing to do, actually.

>>3279417
>>The Lizardfolk, of the Radiant Empire of Tzcoatl
>>>Slave-driver of the Silver Temple


sound cool

>>3279417
All options look pretty cool, but I'll support slavers so we can start.

>>The Lizardfolk, of the Radiant Empire of Tzcoatl
>>>Slave-driver of the Silver Temple

>>3279713
>>3279490
>>3279425

>>Slave Driver of the Silver Temple
>>Mechanics: You are a servant to the High Priests of the Silver Temple, which manages newly conquered lands before they become provinces, placed in charge of

You were spawned for a purpose, bred all for war and battle. Spawned and bred long to be a giant, a hulking beast of scale and fang, alike to a crocodile and a troll in one form, with a macahuitl of biting obsidian pressed into your claws as you took your earliest steps. Unlike the smaller war-breeds, the whip-tails and snap-jaws, you were bred too for command, your voice meant to boom over their prattling. Though not among the priesthood, the highest and most glorious of Tzcoatl's servants in the world and rulers of his empire, you are among the highest step of the war-breeds. A commander, by blood and appointment.

The silver scale running along your tail marks you, further, to serve the silver temple, which manages all the lands newly won by the radiant armies of the sun until they might become provinces, properly settled by the base classes. You have served many years already, and worn out your youth directing a troupe of whiptails to put down rebellions among the orcs in the eastern badlands, but now you have been given a much higher place. You are to be a Slave-driver, by the will of mighty Tzcoatl. Dispatched with a few troupes of soldiers, you will be set to work in a subdued territory, quelling revolt in the locals and taking from them their tribute.

This great honour is more than you could have dreamt. You are to rule over a new-taken province like a priest-king, with all power within the region in your hands. Great glory might be won, and power too, if you succeed, but failure will mean death, and worse, dishonour. Your name will be scratched from the temple records, your body buried in the dirt like a dwarf to rot and be devoured by worms. Such dishonour does not bear thinking of. You met set off.

>Which province is yours?
>Coahuil (Black Sword) - A ragged, coastal country inhabited by the Hashuti, Troll-kin, discarded clods of dirt from Tzcoatl's crafting of the world. They ruled it, formerly, but now are to be hunted down and slaughtered, with their former slaves, called Ratling by the Tzcoatl for their stature, to be taken up by the Empire. The Empire desires the iron of this region, along with the extermination of the hated Hashuti.
>Tzepec (Sun's Hollow) - A vale in the north, surrounded by mountains filled with goblins and giants, itself inhabited by a rebellious and wild bunch of humans. The Empire's interest here is in wheat and food for her armies.
>Huezoc (Might's Wall) - A hilly province in the north-east, pressed against the wild steppe and filled with gold and silver. The locals, a variety of men, orcs and dwarves are only half conquered, and must be reduced to slavery and forced into the mines, for the glory of the Temple.

>>3279809>Tzepec (Sun's Hollow) - A vale in the north, surrounded by mountains filled with goblins and giants, itself inhabited by a rebellious and wild bunch of humans. The Empire's interest here is in wheat and food for her armies.

ascension to granary province of the empire

>>3279809

>>Mechanics
>Each turn you must give tribute of a certain value to the representatives of the Temple. Underfulfilment of this demand will see you lose favour and eventually be punished. Over-fulfilment will see higher favour and support, though future expectations will rise.
>You must manage unrest in the province, exact tribute and defend the Empire's boundary. Further orders may come in future.

>You are: [Crocodilian War-Breed] - +25 To Personal Combat, +15 to Warfare and +20 to Intimidation. -20 to Diplomacy with the Empire's Foes, -5 to diplomacy with non-enemy outsiders in a peaceful setting.

>You start with: 30 [War-Breed Lifeguard] (Your officers and bodyguard), 200 [Snapjaw Warriors] (Robust warriors, the backbone of your army) and 300 [Whiptail Skirmishers] (Lighter warriors, but faster moving)
>You start with: 150 Taels of Silver. You will receive a stipend of 50 Taels each turn you complete your tribute requirement in order to pay your soldiers. Other supplies must be bought out of pocket or request.
>You start with: 2 Imperial Favour (Favour may be used to mitigate the damage when you fail the court's requests, or to requisition goods. Opportunities to spend favour will be presented every once in a while)

>>3279809
>Coahuil (Black Sword)

The halflings are easily manipulated allies. We promise them to replace the yoke of the troll-kin with the newer slightly gentler yoke of our glorious empire. Use them as massed, disposable light infantry.

>>3279830
Now you're thinking with portals. That's the spirit, anon.

>>3279830
good idea, the halflings hate them
i change
>>3279820


this to
>Coahuil (Black Sword)

File: The Province - Copy.png (36 KB, 1108x932)

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>>3279830
>>3279966

>>Coahuil, Black Sword

The journey to the north is always a hard one, especially for one so used to the sweltering heat of the badlands. You pass first downriver along the Great Paleqo, mother of rivers from the seat of the Silver Temple northwards. For many weeks you sit on the river barge chartered for your journey, along with your company of scarcely more than five hundred. Eventually the river draws too shallow to sail, and you disembark, to engage in one of the harsher marches of your life, across the mountains the Empire has long known as Caonok, the Black Mountains. The newly conquered region lies beyond the great ridge of basalt and granite, and so your men face the miserable trek up through the mountain passes, and down past the regional capital, Zhacotl, where slave ratlings already toil at silver mining and the corpses of the accursed Hashuti writhe in pyres on the roadside.

The regional governor, High Priest Barb-In-Eye does not come out to meet you, being of the higher nobility and far above your rank, but a delegation comes out from Zhacotl's black, snow-dusted stone pyramid, headed by one of the lower class, a scribe-gecko who brings with him a few wagons of supplies. His name, he says after an improperly short bow to one so much his superior, is Ink-in-Claw, an understandably common name among his caste. He will be the governor's representative in your company, and will be the one to manage the reception and haulage of your yearly tribute payments. If you attempt to lie to the governor, it is likely he will report you. He is dry, quiet, but clearly unused to marching and to warfare.

You are angry to have a quill-bearing bureaucrat forced upon you, but you shall have to live with it. With few words, you march down into the new region further and further into the mud and rain of the north-west. The region is named Caozaco, "Black Mud", and you are quickly aquainted with why, as your claws bog down in the mud. There are not even imperial roads beyond the capital; you must rely on mud tracks. The only relief are the bridges, which are, of course, remarkably well kept.

As you draw near your province, you are faced with a final decision before arriving; how to approach the land and where to set camp. Ink-in-Claw is happy to show you a map of the region, and you set to deliberation.

>How do you enter Coahuil? (Light grey are other surrounding provinces, black stars are large local settlements with more than 500 people)
>Through the smaller provinces on its border to the south, to pass your fellow local governors on the way and to arrive near the coast, where the wealthiest villages should be. (Dark Red)
>Directly, through the back-country forests and past Troll-Blood Lake, the site of the battle that won the province, and likely a hot-bed of resistance. (Brown)

>>3280094
>Through the smaller provinces on its border to the south, to pass your fellow local governors on the way and to arrive near the coast, where the wealthiest villages should be. (Dark Red)

>>3280094
>Through the smaller provinces on its border to the south, to pass your fellow local governors on the way and to arrive near the coast, where the wealthiest villages should be. (Dark Red)

Get a glimpse at what our neighbors are up to before diving into the thick of it. No need to stroll into a hot-zone right away.

>>3280094
>Through the smaller provinces on its border to the south, to pass your fellow local governors on the way and to arrive near the coast, where the wealthiest villages should be. (Dark Red)

good writing op. i'm at work rn but i will participate any time i can. i'l support dark red

>>3280094
>Through the smaller provinces on its border to the south, to pass your fellow local governors on the way and to arrive near the coast, where the wealthiest villages should be. (Dark Red)

>>3280110
>>3280118
>>3280125
>>3280227

You make the sensible choice not to charge directly into the heart of resistance before even seeing your foe, and to instead size up your companions, your brother governors. Coahuil, you are aware, has been designated as a feeder-province, a breadbasket for the surrounding, more mountainous regions. Food you extract will be distributed out to the region's miners and to its garrison. So, you rule over a much larger province than the palatine border provinces surrounding your own. You know there are others, but two of these provinces are on your route to Coahuil; a goblin infested region named Tlezoc and a larger, coastal province intended to raise the area's local navy, named Toani.

The march through Tlezoc is hard, but you pay careful attention and find it to be entirely safe. Not only are there no goblin camps near the roads, there are actual roads. New-built and simple, for certain, but it seems your fellow Tlepan (Commander) has done well for himself, and gotten the goblins into work camps quickly. After three or four days wandering through narrow defiles and small valleys full of beleaguered human-goblin villages, you pass the fortified camp of the Tlepan, a monitor war-form named Karnoc, who himself comes to greet you, his scales bright red and his teeth smiling. You ate, one night, in his camp, and discovered that by chance you'd been companions in a campaign in the badlands, he sent you on your way with fresh food and a warning that the local halflings would do no work on each seventh day, no matter how many were beaten or whipped.

Next, you passed through Toani, after a steep march towards from the mountainous uplands. The marshland better suited most of your men, and morale blossomed when lizards were discovered living locally, a wonderful omen. Otherwise, however, little good news. The Tlepan of Toani, it seems, was negligent, corrupt or simply stupid - the locals roamed free in their settlements without oversight, the stone roads of Tlezoc had no equal, and the Tlepan's cliffside camp was barely even fortified. You disdained to stop for dinner, despite messages begging you to do so, and inviting you to trade in lumber, food and soldiers in future.

Heedless of the fool-tlepan, you marched on, undergoing the final stretch of a journey half way across a continent. Your men were tired, your supplies all but exhausted, and your patience wearing extremely thin. You stepped up over a small hillock, across the boundary marker, and into your new province.

Coahuil is certainly a distinctive land, as you march a mile or so inland, your skirmishers fanning out to scout out the local area and beyond. The cliffs are its most obvious feature; comprised all of black-white flecked granite with an almost polished sheen, you can see how they earned the province its name. Descending down to the beaches is a challenge, where beaches exist, but there are a few small pathways, large enough for you or two men stood abreast to lower themselves down towards the sea. It takes a day for you to arrive at the first sign of civilization - a small riverside fishing village of halflings.

Perhaps two hundred of the little rat-folk dwell here, in houses made of woven lattices of willow-branches overlaid with clay-mud. Their primitive houses are small, and clustered together around a large granary. In short order, your men enter the village, just before dawn, and corral the wild, terrified creatures out into the plaza. Once there, your lifeguard goes about the standard procedure, demanding the village's leader and demanding access to their storage. The halflings, standing as tall as your knee and only about as broad, acquiesce immediately and with terror in their eyes.

A chieftain is brought before you, along with a small pile of accumulated grain and salt-herring. The chieftain does his best not to quiver in terror, as he falls to the ground in supplication, pressing his face into the dirt, begging in an accented form of the common tongue.

"Please, please, welcome oh great one, Oh Sword of the Radiant One, have mercy on this creature"

It is the expected greeting. The empire does not, and has never brooked defiance. You note with satisfaction that he even remembered that it is forbidden for a slave-race to use the name of mighty Tzcoatl. You incline your head slightly, the signal to rise, and the halfling does so.

"Oh mighty Tlepan, we are humble, quiet and simple folk. We have little to give! The soldiers took much from us"

You hiss in irritation. The pile of tribute assembled before you is much too small. Much too little. More will be needed.

>What will be bestowed upon this village, and the other coastal villages of this locality?
>The Chain - They have failed, and thus given up their freedom. This villages that cannot provide sufficient tribute will have their entire population enslaved. You will need labourers going forward. (Gain 6,000 Halfling Slaves)
>The Yoke - They have failed, but they are clearly loyal and doing their utmost. All of the tribute they have, and a little more, will be taken. They will have a hard year, but they will not starve. They will continue to farm the land. (Gain, 150 Bushels of Grain)
>The Sling - They are loyal. They are quiet. They are evidently incapable farmers. The entire adult male population will be forced to arm and taken as war-slaves. Lords among their countrymen, but slaves in all else. (Gain, in total from all of the villages, 1,500 [Halfling War-Slaves])

>>3280423
>The Yoke - They have failed, but they are clearly loyal and doing their utmost. All of the tribute they have, and a little more, will be taken. They will have a hard year, but they will not starve. They will continue to farm the land. (Gain, 150 Bushels of Grain)

>>3280423
>>The Yoke - They have failed, but they are clearly loyal and doing their utmost. All of the tribute they have, and a little more, will be taken. They will have a hard year, but they will not starve. They will continue to farm the land. (Gain, 150 Bushels of Grain)

>>3280423
You are giving us way too hard choices.

Chain, Worker slaves are always needed, but no one would be left to farm the land.

Yoke, We need loyal farm villages, but can these villages increase their yield at all? The Grain is needed right away as is an easy choice.

Sling, unwilling, scared slave soldiers, don't sound that useful at the moment.

>The Yoke - They have failed, but they are clearly loyal and doing their utmost. All of the tribute they have, and a little more, will be taken. They will have a hard year, but they will not starve. They will continue to farm the land. (Gain, 150 Bushels of Grain)

>>3280423
>>The Sling - They are loyal. They are quiet. They are evidently incapable farmers. The entire adult male population will be forced to arm and taken as war-slaves. Lords among their countrymen, but slaves in all else. (Gain, in total from all of the villages, 1,500 [Halfling War-Slaves])
More practical to take other villages then live off this one

>>3280492
>>3280476
>>3280460

>The Yoke

For the next three weeks, you march along the coast unceasingly, with patrols going out to the dozens of small villages to garner their submission and their tribute. The Snapjaws face only a little trouble, having to execute three dozen troublemakers in all - making an excellent example of them. Soon enough, you have gathered a hundred and fifty bushels of tribute (Mainly grain, with plenty of salt herring), and have gotten a third of the way through the season. With the grain and fish so assembled in two dozen tribute carts, and your army safely assured of a foothold in the province, you are prepared to turn inland to the rowdier, more fertile grounds of the interior.

Of course, the option remains to go through and exact extra tolls on the coastal villages, either in temporary labour, permanent slavery or a higher burden of tax. You have two thirds of the season left, and Ink-in-Claw is only too happy to reveal that the total expected tribute is the exorbitant sum of 800 bushels.

>>Region Mechanics! - You may disperse your army at will, but for the moment you are concentrated in one of the regions of Coahuil - the coast. While you have troops present in a region, they may attempt actions within that province at your direction, such as gathering more tribute, taking a blood-tax of slaves, exterminating the natives, constructing something with slave labour, or any such thing. Your personal presence grants bonuses to the rolls required for actions.

>For now, you have no slave labour, so may not engage in production or construction. You do have both skirmishers and proper infantry, allowing for the full range of military actions.

>Actions (2 per turn, for now)

>Move to another area within the province? (How many men? Will you go with them?)
>Dispatch diplomatic or trading auspices to a nieghbouring Tlepan? (Who? Roll 1d100)

>Local
>Take a Blood-Tax (Takes every tenth man from the villages in the region as a slave, likely to cause unrest or possibly to be resisted, roll 1d20)
>Exact extra tribute (Will cause unrest, roll d100 to determine success)
>Press into service (A company of local soldiers may be forced into arms as conscripts. Roll d100 to determine success)
>Enforce servitude (Suppresses Unrest, more successful with more troops, roll 1d100 to determine success)
>Hunt Brigands/Trolls (Lowers unrest, increases prosperity, roll 2d6 to determine success)

>Coastal Coahuil Stats
>Unrest: 1/10
>Prosperity: 3/10
>Enemy Presence 2/10
>Infrastructure: 2/10

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>>3280703
So, two sets of choices, first, do you want to send anyone to any of the neighboring provinces, and if so who?

Remember you have

1 (You), 30 Crocodile War-Breed Infantry, 200 Snapjaw Infantry and 300 Whiptail Skirmishers

>The Northern are, a set of open plains, fertile and likely a source of much tribute, though apparently with a serious bandit problem.
>The central area, a mountainous region, the heart of the old Troll chiefdoms in the region
>The southern area, an open series of valleys, fertile and plentiful, but sparsely populated after the depredations of the war.

>>3280703
>Move to another area within the province
>Press into service

>Move to northern area with all troops, only leaving 20 snapjaw infantry and 50 whiptail skirmishers behind

North seems rich area that we should bleed to fulfill our tribute.

>>3280703
>Press into service (A company of local soldiers may be forced into arms as conscripts. Roll d100 to determine success)
>The southern area, an open series of valleys, fertile and plentiful, but sparsely populated after the depredations of the war.
Better to resettle and let the conscripts train a bit before hand.

>>3280763
This.

>>3280787
>>3280779

Sorry lads, I must be off for the night. Updates may come a bit more slowly. I hope you're enjoying the game so far.

>>3281002
It seems pretty interesting.

>>3280763
support.

maybe we should leave some Crocodile War-Breed as well ?

>>3280763
This, head north first so we can gather the needed tribute and the slaves we’ll need to build a nice and proper settlement for our lizard-kin in the south a few seasons from now.

>>3281242
This anon raises a good point, maybe we leave 5 crocodile war breeds to act as semi commanders for the force we’re leaving behind. I assume they’re more capable because of their smaller numbers.

>>3281242
>>3282608
Good point, as they are our bodyguards and officers, but I'd left only 2 war-breeds there. We need as many soldiers with us as possible.

>>3281002
it s nice