>>4304835
You carefully review the diplomat angel’s requests and compare them with your own goals. You consider sharing the information about the underground elves, but in the end, you refrain from mentioning it. The value of the information outweighs the possible chance of claim shifts. You mention that you plan a construction of a large city in the area, but nothing about its possible new residents. Timotheus instantly understands that it would require a cooperation with Ceno pantheon, commenting that “It would be a quite large favor, as you probably know”, but refraining from sharing further opinions. You also agree to meet up with the Twins eventually as you want to finish with setting up in the region sufficiently first, to which you’ve received a reply not to worry and to take your time, they understand.

Regarding the trade deal, you agree to check out the fines and taxes option first. Pantheons seem to have most treaties making them exempt from being responsible for mortal actions and there is no way for them to stop missionary efforts of individuals or even small groups. If HN won’t tolerate your “religion” in their borders, why should you tolerate theirs? However, if the problem of religious or cultural contamination gets out of hand you will be forced to close the border, so to speak. As this is an opportunity, HN is not losing out on any currently existing advantages. It is a boon for them and us, but if you close the border, Holies don’t lose anything from it. Timotheus’ quick agreement to these terms suggests that you were right in that assessment.

>>4304844
Then came the Oracle, to which you’ve refused. This would essentially be a spy in your territory for all intends and purposes and thus you won’t be allowing them in Farsalos. You will, however, allow for one to be stationed in one of HN border strongholds in the region. It takes you all two hours to fly there at most so it would be a mild inconvenience for you if you want to contact them. It is a bigger inconvenience for them if they want to contact you, but they can use a messenger. A truly compromise decision, leaving both sides unhappy. The diplomat thinks for almost two minutes, supposedly awaiting instructions from above after which he says that these terms are not perfect but… acceptable. He hopes that eventually Chorus would earn your trust enough for this measure to no longer be needed.

Now, the couple subjects of more controversial variety. You will give no promises of never joining a pantheon, however you don’t plan to join anyone yet and you plan to do your own thing for now, if it suffices. The reply is a single nod, which you interpret as “good enough”. Now came the fun part, the claim. You will maintain the claim for the entire region including the access to the sea and you will compete for it. You mention that you don’t have sufficient mortal military to take it by force right now, but you expect Ceno to support your claim and if Holies take it, you would be planning to take the region back. “It’s a shame…” says the angel, “but I do understand your reasoning and I suppose that this subject can’t be solved without force. Be aware that our mortal armies would defend the area and upon the NAP treaty you can’t personally spearhead the attack into our established borders. Still, your future military is free to try and push us out. Just between the two of us, projections show that you would likely not have enough population for that even with equal technology and gear. Still, good luck. How does that saying go… fortune favors the bold?”

>>4304845
At the very end you ask to clarify the Guarantee of Independence. “In its essence, it is a type of very light protectorate. You don’t owe us anything except the gratitude for it being implemented. We reserve the right to nullify the agreement and we mainly press issues through our clout, not an actual threat of violence. In essence, if another state tries to threaten you or your future small state, this would cause a massive fallout of our relations with the offender. However, it won’t be a declaration of war, we don’t want a “WW1 bundle”, as Seraphs put it. After that the burden of fixing the mess falls on the diplomatic corps of the Chorus. We may send a compliment of mortal forces or even some angels if the threat is serious enough more for a show of force rather than true protection. Next to no risk for you, little risk for us. If you want more then you can apply for a protectorate agreement which means relinquishing some of your external relations to us. Also note that some of the smaller states have two or even three-way Independence agreements between all of the local states which so far proved as a good insurance against aggression. The three power blocs are roughly matched, no one wants to take on both of others at the same time and especially so if it is a joint effort.” You review the wording just in case and in the end, you agree on these terms. You don’t really see the negatives, other than owing them a favor which you still can probably refuse.

After a little bit more of documentation reviews and paper signing for the Guarantee of Independence agreement, you consider this diplomatic session over. Overall, you don’t view it as perfect, but it was not too bad and you ticked off most of the things you wanted. And it only took four hours. You wonder how his men are holding up outside of the gates. The diplo- angel, polite as always, decided not to burden you with his presence any longer than was needed. A thought of introducing him to stay for a day crossed your mind, but you didn’t really like him on some ground level and thus you’ve skipped it. Maybe it is the fact that he is a diplomat bootlicker, or maybe it is his appearance or personality, these people don’t attract you. Tabby was already packed up and ready to leave. You stopped her for a moment.

>>4304847

“Hey, Tabita” you say. She turns towards you, nods and waits for you to continue, “I know that we didn’t get off from a good start, but feel free to visit at any time. Just send a message first so that I can get ready for your arrival, ok?” She looks surprised for a few moments and then nods. She speaks: “Thank you for accommodating me, I’m afraid that I’m not sure if I’ll even have the option, lower angels have a lot of tasks, as you might’ve guessed. But if God wills it, we shall meet again, I’ve enjoyed your presence, it was very… illuminating. I guess this is farewell then?” You reply positively. The diplo-angel looks at all of this and makes a small tight-lipped smile that you’ve almost missed. You really hope that it’s nothing sinister. Holy Nation’s delegation then packs up and leaves, the carts filled with bags full of golden coins stays. You guess that it is the time to distribute wealth…

>Distribute all repayments to the families that lost their loved ones only, this should set them up for life
>Distribute repayments to the families and the rest goes to village coffers, they’d appreciate the boost
>Distribute repayments to the people who lost their family members and those who were captured, mental trauma has to be compensated as well
>Distribute repayments to families, affected individuals and village coffers
>Distribute to families, affected individuals and “Ag Inc”, you’ve suffered the loss of quite some steel and processed metals, speaking less of all the equipment
>Distribute to families and “Ag Incorporated”
>Distribute to all affected parties, but you can cut the cake only so far
>Keep the spoils to yourself
>Other plans?

>>4304835
And the last thread is archived, no worries

>>4304852
>>Distribute repayments to families, affected individuals and village coffers

hosting local economy

I say we set out immediately and build a fortress on that hill, hire villagers or mercenaries just to stand there.

as it is close to our "capital" and one of our 2 standing structures it would be in accordance to the NAP for us to defend it if it's attacked and they woun't be able to make their hold there

>>4304868
+1

>>4304852

>Distribute repayments to the families and the rest goes to village coffers, they’d appreciate the boost

>>4304868
+1

That fort could be part pf the beacon warning system too

>>4304868
You do realize that we would have to hold out there and if we move out for one reason or another it would be free to capture. A border fortress according to the NAP is a "mortal" facility and can be attacked even though it is in range of our protection. Defense radiates from our facilities like factories. Thus we end up with this weird situation that we can support it personally but it can still get conquered, especially when we are not there for one reason or another. I recommend to wait for what Nike' has to say, I'll put the decision on the next game post

>>4304879
ok then, hold on on it, we could get Ceno support on the matter since the last thing they'd want is for the Phillies to hold that position

>>4304876
>>4304872
>>4304870
>>4304868
Alright, writing

>>4304909
If we are talking with Nike, we should ask her if she can recomend any mercenary groups for us, she may now some of them, and ask her those who are at leadt honorable, as far as mercenaries go

>>4304909
>https://pastebin.com/ThR1eYvc
You split the treasure in three unequal parts, the part for paying to those who have lost someone, the part to pay for those who were captured and the part you’d give to the village treasury. You’d be giving quite generous payouts to the families, several times the rate of the so- called “blood money”, the sum paid out by a killer to the family of the deceased as reparations to decrease or negate the sentence. It is a common law in the four states, although some forbid “total payout” with the killer being forced to stand trial and get a sentence in the end regardless, even if it would be reduced. The people you’ve saved from being captive would get the least payout per man, it would still be a sizeable sum but not as huge as the repayments to the families of the deceased which are supposed to last for years giving a chance for the family to restructure their income if they’ve lost a bread bringer. The remaining sum, which is about a half of the entire payout, would go to the village coffers. It was intended to be a return for your stolen materials and broken equipment, but you don’t really need this sum and you’ve already finished fixing everything. At the same time the village would be happy for new funds that would help them with kickstarting the economy as it acts as essentially a local bank by giving out loans. It is not as sophisticated as your modern banks and bankruptcy in Ceno usually involves a form of forced servitude, but still it is something. Also, it makes purchases for the village community itself such as the farm animals which would need to be partially replaced after the HN incident.

Once you were done with funds distribution, you finally decided to report the results of negotiations with Ceno. “Hi Ag, just managed to get clear of the work expecting the call from you” said Nike’, which is not that surprising, her Oracle likely relays current events in Farsalos to Nika. She is also a “spy”, you just tolerate her way more than a HN spy, so to say. After filling her in, she thinks for a bit and says: “Well, congratulations with your first official inter- pantheon agreements. I expected something like that since they already displayed themselves from their bad side and would wish to gain your trust before proposing anything bigger. I don’t think that they’d be stupid enough to put anything bad in that sword as you could’ve just let us check it out, but good call on the possible mortal reaction. Since you’ve taken their Guarantee of Independence, we would like to propose our own version officially. Essentially all of the same terms as it is an inter- pantheon standard. I think that most other treaties can wait for you to actually form a new state, currently you are still technically in Ceno after all.

>>4305161
We will most likely support your claim for that region. As much as we like more territory, we are already one of the most powerful unified states and thus we frankly are not as desperate for it as Holies who are blocked by Valistrat, Etheans, us and small chunks of harsh wilderness from expanding anywhere. I honestly expect a struggle for the region and in recent couple weeks Ceno forces were moving towards the border in case of hostilities. It looks like we might have to be aggressors here. Mercenaries won’t hold, Ceno prohibits mercenary organizations above a certain size, Valistrat straight up banned non- governmental military forces and I doubt you’d manage to hire Etheans. Plus, Holies would be sending their regulars here which is up to ten thousand people with good gear. No offense, but I seriously doubt that you’d manage to get enough mercs even if you could pay them. I think the best course of actions would be to let us duke it out and then when you’re ready we would retreat and you can take the fort, which is at least a couple of years optimistically. How does that sound?

>Sounds good, do just that
>Alright, call me when your forces are in position, I’ll help with fort assembly
>Alright, you can try rallying dark elves, although you doubt that there would be a lot of them willing to help. Their heavy infantry is pretty amazing though…
>Maybe another war within two- three years from the last one is not that smart? Can you spare the mortals and pass on the territory to Holies? You’ll clear them out from the area later

…Speaking of which, the nearby fort was recovered but it is in a pretty sorry state and military saw your walls and wants to examine Farsalos as a better replacement for the local garrison, if you agree you’d get a couple hundred regulars hanging out in your village, but you’d likely need to build stuff for them, barracks, training facilities, etc. All up to you, last thing I’d want is to force military onto your territory, even if it is still ours on paper. You get the idea.
>Accept regular military presence
>Reject regular military presence

>>4305162
As for Mina, I think she can return when Belkh starts with the cleanup which is roughly in a week. Nina doesn’t have many cups and she would be committing over half of them meaning that they’d have to be pulled out of some other places and thus it is the main reason for the delays, the secondary reason was, of course, HN presence. I have no doubt that they’d be watching but they won’t interfere. Also, at this point it would be acceptable for a cup bearer to be in position as our presence would be justified by the project. Officially Mina would be a communication point between you and me, like an Oracle but actively following you instead of sitting in the shrine.

Here I have a scouting report of the area, and there are a few issues. The terrain is similar to the one projected, it is a lowland flat close to a river, mostly sedimentary rock under thin layer of dirt with some hills and thus only a few minor changes to the city plan would be required. City would have a very shallow slope going towards the river. There were several monster nests identified that would have to be destroyed along with three out of five of the “slaver” settlements along with the largest one in the region. They would be uncomfortably close to the planned city area and one of them is within city limits. As we recognize the claim of the area, we need to ask you first. Do you authorize us to displace them?

We plan to decisively attack their villages with cups, recover, heal and return slaves back home, scatter the remaining populations and in the end torch the site. I doubt that there should be much in terms of ethical concerns, they are stone age slaver raiders with cruel rituals and torturous methods. I bet that the locals would give out a sigh of relief once we are done with them. We expect… moderate to high mortal losses exclusively among slavers. We won’t be destroying them to the point of killing women and children, we aren’t monsters after all, but unless something is arranged, they’d have a high attrition rate as they move through the forest towards their remaining settlements. Your call on what to do with them, maybe defend them on their way, ship them off to their friends, recover them and reeducate, you get the idea. You can participate if you want, but cups can solve all of it without the need to bother you, except the reeducation thing if you go for it. You’d basically have three- four hundred of almost exclusively women and children with no Ceno language, lots of psychic trauma, no possessions, no homes and a widely different and violent protoculture. We need to decide what to do with them before we start deforestation.”

>>4305164
>Nike’ is free to act at her discretion in your territory, her plan sounds ok
>You wish to minimize casualties altogether, tell her to send envoys with demands to the slavers. Either they hand over slaves and leave or they get pushed out by force. If they refuse, go for plan A
>You wish to lower casualties among the “civilians”, assist women and children in their trips to the other villages
>You need more people so you will build more housing and introduce them into Farsalos. What could go wrong?
>You need to reeducate them first, a separate guarded village nearby would be a nice option.
>That sounds imperialistic as fuck, you’ll deal with it your own way…
>Other ideas?

>>4305162
>>Alright, call me when your forces are in position, I’ll help with fort assembly
>Alright, you can try rallying dark elves, although you doubt that there would be a lot of them willing to help. Their heavy infantry is pretty amazing though…
maybe not soon, but maybe some time from now when they properly settle we could get the elves on it so they can feel they own the territory too by helping defending it
>Accept regular military presence
we have effectively zero dudes so I guess it would help keeping order, ask if it would not harm the independence thing because if it would we better avoid it

my first instinct is to go with
>You wish to lower casualties among the “civilians”, assist women and children in their trips to the other villages
but I can agree with
>You need to reeducate them first, a separate guarded village nearby would be a nice option.

if enough people want it.

Tell Nike we are kid of overwhelmed with all the diplomatic and treaty talk, it was easier and more enjoyable when it was just us hunting monsters right?
but we will get the hang of it I think


should we bring that dear elven high priestess for a look when the city starts being built? that can make them direct more refugees our way if word spreads around that there is a safe place with a godly guardian awaiting for them

>>4305195
+1

>>4305195
Sure, I agree.

Instead of harboring and constructing facilities for the troops here wouldn't it be easier to fix their fort's fortifications?

>>4305195
Regarding independence, Ceno soldiers might cause issues with the local cult and the general abrasion that usually happens when you have civilians and active military in the same area. Also, they can object if you straight up declare independence for the area they are in, not so much if you do that in your new city only leaving Farsalos in Ceno. They would back down if Ceno gods support you though. Main issue is that they are completely new faces and they have no idea who you are. You'd have to deal with a spike of issues shortly after their arrival which would gradually decrease as they acclimate to living here and having you around the place. Stuff like challenging your authority and being... unfriendly to what they'd consider as disruptive elements, you get the picture. They would MASSIVELY boost Ceno defenses though adding to like 40 guys that are in Militia currently. Note that they are a separate entity and are not a refill of militia forces, they don't take orders from the village or you.

>>4305212
The fort was wooden and it was slowly abandoned, rotted and then got eventually destroyed by an unexpected monster attack. Farsalos has stone walls, existing support infrastructure and very good road connection, unlike fort's ruins. While it can be fixed, state military is examining an option to use what's there already instead of building from basically scratch. Easier and cheaper, so to say, and you get defenders in return.

>>4305213
well, I guess we already have Mina's first task when she's back. keep these guys in line, they are bound to respect her a lot.
if we have to make their facilities build them as separate as possible to reduce the problems then

>>4305166
_______________________________
Aaand it is midnight. Sorry guys but we'll have to pause for today. I'll be honest, I'm pretty ashaimed that we only had two game posts in an entire day, my sleep is not fixed yet. I aim more for 4-5 full posts a day. I really hope you don't mind, it is temporary and hopefully I can get it under control. In worst case I would have to get it under control by the end of summer which would mean the return of much earlier starts. To compensate a little bit I will be replying to the vote tomorrow. I hope you've enjoyed and feel free to ask questions, give suggestions and discuss, I try to answer everything.

>>4305279
“Alright, call me when your forces are in position, I’ll help with fort assembly” you tell to Nike’, or more accurately, her muse that’s currently being puppeteered by Nike’, and she replies with a nod. “I would appreciate that” she says, “We can’t send a cup bearer into contested territory while you are a free actor here. A rapidly assembled fortress would allow for Ceno forces to hold on for the area more easily. I’ll leave the decision on specifics to you, but I recommend to construct a wooden fortification. It would be assembled faster and you could construct several in the time it would take to build a stone alternative. I will send you the notes on most commonly utilized Ceno designs for wooden fortifications.” You nod in agreement and mention that you could try to rally the underground elves to help with the offensive. “I don’t think that it would be a good idea. They are currently in a crisis and until the city at least starts construction they have no real reason to trust you and they won’t reroute the remnant’s military force from defense of their civilians in the Labyrinth towards essentially attempting a landgrab on the surface. You could get some forces, but this would be a battle between a couple thousands of mortals, I doubt that there are more than several thousands of the elven heavy infantry left in the world, sadly.” You nod in understanding, you could still try it, but maybe you’d have to wait for something to give them in exchange like new homes.

“I accept the soldiers” you then mentioned changing the subject, “we have like 40 people in militia, regulars would be of a great help defending Farsalos.” Oracle smiled and replied: “Alright, I’ll tell the local command that they are free to send an inspection. Military doesn’t usually live in normal houses for the sake of maintaining discipline, I’ll give you some plans for the barracks and stuff that you might want to construct at your earliest convenience. Just barracks are needed at first, but there might be a request for a training facility and stables that you should probably place outside of the inner walls due to their size. They will come with their own standard issue gear; you can supply them with something better but you’d have to talk their leadership into it beforehand. Regular food and other supplies would arrive at Farsalos to negate the strain of such a population increase. From the issues you might experience, they might be sheepish about you and your cult. Also expect some abrasion with the civvies. They would be told of a local goddess so they won’t be too surprised, but don’t expect them to trust you or to follow your orders especially if they won’t align with their instructions. They are a Ceno military force, not Ag State military, no offense. This should still beef up Farsalos defenses massively.”

>>4306648
“Regarding the slavers, try to reduce casualties. I’d say let’s give them a warning: they are to hand over their slaves and move out of our territory. If they refuse it would be possible to drive them out. I don’t favor the chances of women and children fleeing through monster infested forest so let’s move them to my domain. I will build a small village to house them and I’ll try to reeducate and integrate these people into my society. Is it acceptable?” Nike thinks for a few moments and replies “I don’t see any issues; it is a sound plan. You’d need to get on with it fast though, deforestation squad arrives in a week and they’d quickly start working on clearing the forest and killing the monsters. Any extra time you take would cause schedule delays.” You reply that you understand and mentally bump up the priority of the task all the way to “critical”.

“You know, this political and diplomacy stuff is a bit overwhelming, it was way easier when we were just fighting monsters, right?” Nike’ chuckles and replies “Yeah, sometimes I’d better fight walking mountains rather than sit through another boring diplomatic session. But that’s the price of power in both physical and political sense of the word. Those of SGs who didn’t do that didn’t form long lasting empires… By the way, here:” as she says it, the priestess passes a large blue triangular gem to you. The gem has a frame made out of gold with decorative inscriptions that don’t seem to mean anything. “Yaw asked me to pass this to you. Remember the hologram table? It is a much smaller and weaker version of it. Basically, fuel it with energy, open up mentally and start forming images in your head and in return it would project them above itself. Monochrome and looking like wireframes, unfortunately, the fancy colored version is a pain in the ass to make and takes a lot of training to use effectively. Still, he said that it should help you with tutoring Rheia and maybe explaining things more intuitively.” You thank Nike’ for the gift, to which she replies “Don’t mention it, every one of us has one, Yaw’s is actually inside of his halo because he uses it so often. In any case, it was great chatting with you, expect military to send a couple guys to check out Farsalos in a few weeks plus a bunch of cups next… Tuesday, I think. I have to bounce now, see you!” and the connection was cut. Well, looks like the busy days are back…

__________________________________________
And that’s all for this week. Short, I know, sorry. Feel free to ask questions, give suggestions and discuss. Beyond giving me stuff to do during weekday breaks, it keeps the thread alive for longer. I hope you’ve enjoyed and I’ll see you next time.

>>4306649
thanks for the update, so, the order goes, slaver refugee village, barracks, then probably wooden forts, after that we should check up on the dark elves, maybe bring Haven and SIg along, you never know when you'll find something interesting in the labyrinth, oh and let both know of what's happening, there will be monster hunting in the woods soon so Sig will probably want a piece of that even if cups will be involved there's bound to be some stragglers

>>4306649
Well, the chat with Nike’ was… eventful. Looks like the issue of choosing what you need to do was removed as another list of critical importance tasks took its place. You decided that you’d start with the new village set up for the slaver… reeducation. Then you’d look into barracks and training area for Ceno soldiers after which you’ll start on the rapid construction of the advance wooden fortresses. Lots of construction ahead of you, it seems. By that point the cleanup of the new city’s area would begin which means you’d have something to show to your underground elf friends so it would make sense to visit them in the end. Thus, with near future thoroughly planned, you set off things into motion…

First of all, the re-education village. You can’t shake off the feeling that it sounds a bit too authoritarian and colonialist for your taste, but that’s basically its function: to forcefully integrate its occupants to a more quote on and quote “civilized” culture. You’d be essentially taking natives and forcing them to accept your societal and ethical norms. Hopefully you’d manage to do that in a peaceful manner, but you expect that it won’t go smoothly for a billion different reasons, main of which are the fact that people associated with you would’ve killed off nearly all of their men, stolen all of their slaves, forced them off their ancestral lands and made them live in an environment that they are not used to under the rules that are alien to them. You expect anything from minor misconduct to regular attempts at rebellion or attempts to flee. Thus, the village would be a weird mix of a jail and a comfy settlement with spacious multistory houses, running water and maybe a plaza with some greenery.

This dictates a very specific type of design: the village would be surrounded by a wall similar to the one around the inner Farsalos, but unlike that wall it would have battlements on both sides: on the outside to protect the village from without and from the inside to protect it from within. The wall would be a great force multiplier that would allow for a smaller contingent of your forces to project their influence over a much more numerous people, which was historically the role of a castle and the reason why they were built. That means that the wall becomes a sort of self- contained fortress which puts in more and more demands for its design like places to store provisions, house the troops, store arms, armor and ammunition and so on and so forth. This essentially drives the design into a shape of medieval castles with a large stone keep surrounded by the wall with one side touching the keep’s wall. You think that you’d solve the issue of who’s actually going to man the fortress later when Ceno military arrives, for now you only need to pick a spot…

>>4314009
You have quite a few places to choose from based on the areas that you’ve already scouted. First choice would, of course, be in the Limestone Basin to the North-East-East from Farsalos. It is the area with that geyser and rich deposits of sulfur, coal and lead. You have an outpost there which should make a commute to the village easier and the local resources might allow for the new villagers to become your miners. However, even as the giant wolf population has decreased, they are still reasonably common there which places a degree of risk in establishing anything in that territory.

The second option is to plop the new village on the planned road between Holies and Farsalos on the bank of the river to the West. That way it would become a convenient place for travelers to stop in and it would provide a sense of border security for you as you can establish a beacon on top of the keep to warn you of any threats. In addition, the area between Farsalos and that spot can be considered relatively monster free thanks to the Mad Goddess Jane’s shenanigans, which would allow for more farmland and spots for more villages in the future. As an extra bonus you can use the river for an extra route by boat. Then again, placing anything there, especially something containing a lot of primitive ex- slavers is more threatened by religious conversion in comparison to Farsalos which is inhabited by people who already worship Ceno pantheon.

Third option is to place the village next to the existing docks and a factory complex on the river bank. The location is well connected with Farsalos, it is defended from monsters from one side by the river and it is closer than any other options. It is unlikely that captives would work in the factory any time soon though, but they can help on existing farms. Plus, proximity with Farsalos should help both in response times for relief forces and with the introduction of new social norms as the ex- slavers would see these norms already implemented successfully.

Fourth and last option would be to place the village close to the Tribal village that you’ve constructed to the North. From what you’ve heard from recent swap of the “exchange program participants”, your new village completely absorbed the old tribal village along with some of their smaller settlements concentrating their entire population there thanks to an enormous jump in standards of living. You might manage to delegate security to the Tribals at minimal cost, however Slavers and Tribals are at hostile terms for god knows how long so you expect some retributory abuse from their side…

>Option 1: Limestone Basin
>Option 2: River Border
>Option 3: Farsalos river shore next to the port
>Option 4: Close to Tribal village

>>4314011
>Option 3: Farsalos river shore next to the port
Tribals can be integrated later, accelerationism in industrial and informal parts is good.

>>4314011

>Option 3: Farsalos river shore next to the port

And use the river to our tribals to slowly put them in contact with one another but no put the ex-slavers under direct authority of the tribals, that way we can ease tensions between them and since they have similar technological and cultural bases they can help integrating quicker.

>>4314011

>Option 1: Limestone Basin
Our friends can deal with the wolves, actually, regardless of what we choose Sig, signy and Haven can kill some wolves to make the mines safer, we can help if its too much for them

>>4314011

>Option 3: Farsalos river shore next to the port

Quetions:
Can't this fort be expanded with training facilities and barracks and serve as a defense for our river instalations that were destroyed by the holies as well as a garrison for Ceno military?

>>4314036
Yes, that's a good idea. It can be done

>>4314051
Change my vote then, it would be good and the forces would be at walking distance to the city and its amenities

>>4314057
So, option 3?

>>4314013
>>4314027
>>4314030
>>4314032
Alright, option 3 it is, writing

>>4314061
Yup

>>4314066
You decide that a location closest to Farsalos would be the most beneficial for your goals as it would allow for easy access and potentially faster social integration. And then the idea hit you: you need to build a base for several hundred Ceno troops that would reside in Farsalos. The new village gives you an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: you could set it up with barracks, training grounds and other stuff for Ceno troops and they would, in turn, help you with defending the village and reeducating the Slavers. As far as you can see it, this is a win- win. There could, of course, be an issue with troops abusing the ex-slavers, but you’d have the same issue if you hired Farsalos militia as well, no one in Ceno liked slavers and the debt based indentured servitude that Ceno had specifically is temporary and had better rights than slaves and serfs in other nations, at least on paper. For one, they can’t be sold or killed.

Thus, you start with all of the foundation work near the river bank. The village would have a planned setup with a central square park/plaza, main road leading towards Farsalos with a smaller road at 90 degrees to it and a grid of 4-5 story tall buildings similar to the ones you’ve made for the Limestone Basin outpost. Multistory squares with a square opening in the middle for a tiny community space. The village also would have running water, sewers, a couple of granaries and some infrastructure for the future, but you don’t plan for it to grow big. There is going to be a large city nearby and then there is Farsalos which can start growing in the future as well. Thus, you forgo most of the administrative buildings as well as the majority of commercial projects that you could’ve gone for. The people who would be living here for years if not decades don’t have a concept for commerce while mixing them with existing population in any meaningful form would be pretty dangerous. There still would be enough jobs for them, the farms could be massively expanded with their help and eventually they might even work in the factories if they don’t become immediately obsolete with the massive output of the industrial zones in the city.

The keep itself would also be much different from medieval or Holy Nation keeps. Instead it would be more like a walled off appendage to the habitation section. It would contain a large tower, but that tower won’t be set up for being inhabited, instead the walled off territory would have 400 people worth of “standard issue” barracks somewhat modified by you to have running water, a couple buildings for habitation and offices of the officers, decently sized stables and a small training area. A bigger training area would be placed outside of the walls for obvious reasons. The main street would pass through the military section for reasons of security allowing them to guard the main entrance to the village.

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>>4314369
The main construction material for this village/fort is going to be basalt. You’ve now had quite a bit of experience with working on basalt masonry’s quirks and local rock is almost entirely igneous in nature. You build it out of stone blocks, essentially oversized bricks where possible which ends up saving you a lot of time on the walls. However, you are not done with the construction in time when you are approached by one of Yawgmoth’s cups…

You are surprised as you almost didn’t notice her until she appeared out of thin air. Apparently, she is equipped with some kind of cloaking device that makes her invisible in infrared and visible spectrums and you don’t like to constantly scan surroundings with more senses as it gets quite tiring. The cup calls herself “Ivy” and she is some sort of an archer. She also has a thick rubbery suit (or body, you really need to ask Yaw about that) colored mainly in cream and orange pieces. The most noticeable feature is her hood. It has some kind of short conical “ears” or “horns” on the sides that are articulated but she can still detach the cowl and flip it back leaving her head open. She also wears a full-face helmet that covers her entire head. It has an illuminated blue circle on the glossy black faceplate that makes it look like a large eye. Once she introduces herself, she takes off her helmet and shows you her face. She has reddish brown hair, blue eyes and almost childish facial features which makes you estimate her age of late teens to early 20s. She seems to be a very upbeat person judging by her intonation and a wide smile. “Goddess Agatha! I’m Ivy from Yawgmoth’s cohort. Me and my team will be hunting a lot of monsters and savages in your territories during the cleanup effort. I was asked to check if you’re ready to receive the first captives. If not, we will get to them later providing for a bit more time.” You thank her for her participation in the project to which she awkwardly giggles and scratches her head behind the “ears” on the cowl. She appears to prefer it on her head at all times.

>>4314370
You explain that you need about a week to finish with construction, to which she nods and says that she will relay that information. “Oh right, I’m supposed to tell you that the military inspection is also arriving in about a week. Perfect timing, right? Well, I shouldn’t be taking much more of your time then. Expect deforestation crew in a couple of days and “earthmovers” a couple weeks later when the city’s territory is cleared. Their leaders should show up at your doorstep to introduce themselves. Goddess Nike’ also mentioned that Muse Mina is attached to one of the clearing squads and she would come to visit you once her area is secure. I hope that you know who she is and why she wishes to see you since I’m a little bit confused on why a newbie cup would want to see a goddess besides her patron. But I guess it’s not my business. In any case…” She says, after which she bows and says “Farewell” in English before putting on her helmet and becoming invisible. Huh, so Ceno gods teach their cups English? Or did she just memorize a snippet of this “language of the gods”?

The construction of the village/fortress progresses as you’ve planned and after just under a week of nonstop workshifts the walls are complete, the water is running and the buildings are constructed and furnished. Just as you were running final tests on the activated charcoal filters you’ve heard “Miss Agatha?” from behind the walls. You immediately float up and see who’s there. It is a child of one of the farmers from Farsalos, about two years older than Rheia, you don’t remember him by name. He is mounted on a horse that the village has recently purchased and he has been in charge of herding when the cows, goats and sheep are allowed to graze. “We have guests, Miss Agatha! Ceno soldiers, three of them. One of them looks like an officer of some kind. I was told to get you informed as soon as possible!” So, they’ve finally arrived, and not a moment too soon. You thank the kid for his hard work, check the filter for leaks one last time and fly back to Farsalos to meet the “regulars”.

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>>4314374
In the village you indeed find three soldiers on horseback that were debating something with village chief and a small group of other influential people. They are all likely some sort of officers, two men and a woman. One of them is obviously more important than others. He’s the grizzly man in his 30s with black hair and a short beard and he is the only one wearing a semblance of a steel full plate armor. Holy Nation’s technological embargo couldn’t be airtight enough and Ceno blacksmiths are implementing some of their techniques and designs. However, full plate in Ceno is considered to be excessively expensive and only Ceno equivalent of Company Commanders (or Centurions for Roman analogue, command of around 100 people) and up could afford one. Other two officers wear steel cuirasses and shoulderpads, but other parts of their armor are more comparable with Ceno’s most popular type of military suits- laminar armor. All three of them had blueish underarmor and deep blue capes with Elspeth’s owl on them. The Company Commander also had an etched owl shape on his chestpiece.

“Now… you’re telling me that the rumor of the Lone Goddess is real and she indeed inhabits this village? That’s some extraordinary claim, madam Zosime...” You smile and float up above the scene, you couldn’t plan for a better entrance. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, isn’t it right, Company Commander?” you ask causing everyone’s heads to turn towards you. “The name is Agatha and I’ve been expecting you, Nike’ told me that you’d arrive. Welcome to Farsalos.” The two lower officers are speechless while the Company commander clears his throat and continues: “Thank you for meeting us in person, miss Agatha. I am Company Commander Cirus. As you already know, we are here to inspect Farsalos for its fitness to house a contingent of Ceno border forces. As I can see you have amassed some significant following among the villagers, if that statue in the shrine of the twelve gods is a display of that. Do I understand correctly that Farsalos was attacked by Holy Nation’s warband and a certain number of villagers were captured? Could you please walk me through what happened and how were you involved?”

The commander is polite but noticeably tense when talking to you. It is likely that he understands that pissing off a goddess won’t do him much good, but it is obvious that he doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t think that it is good that the village has a goddess, at least.

>>4314377
> “Let’s be clear, I will not be judged, especially not by you. I suggest that you drop this subject immediately.”
> ”You’ve came here to review the amenities and defenses, so let’s focus on that. The situation was resolved. Let us not veer off course”
> ”Yes, there was a raid while I was temporarily absent. I saved all of the captives and reached an agreement with Holies. No further action is required. Now, up for a tour around the defenses?”
> “We can discuss this later after you’ve seen what we have to offer.”
> “I’ve just finished constructing a fort with all Ceno specifications just for your forces, shall we go inspect it?”
> Give him a more complete explanation of the events. An officer should be aware of the standing treaties, right?
> Other?

>>4314379
wow, this post took a while. It is midnight already. I don't want to reduce posting speed to only 2 a week so I will be replying to this one tomorrow. I hope that's alright

>>4314379

> ”Yes, there was a raid while I was temporarily absent. I saved all of the captives and reached an agreement with Holies. No further action is required. Now, up for a tour around the defenses?”

Short and to the point, polite but firm

>>4314396
+1

>>4314379

> ”Yes, there was a raid while I was temporarily absent. I saved all of the captives and reached an agreement with Holies. No further action is required. Now, up for a tour around the defenses?”

Monster hunting crews! Nice! And we'll get to see Mina too which is also nice

>>4314379
> ”Yes, there was a raid while I was temporarily absent. I saved all of the captives and reached an agreement with Holies. No further action is required. Now, up for a tour around the defenses?”

>>4314396
>>4314401
>>4314544
>>4315830
Yeah, I see the votes. Today's reply will be shifted to tomorrow due to some unforseen IRL complications, sorry about that

>>4315837
The commander’s question is quite obviously a probe designed to judge how you respond. Thus, you reply in a very short summary after which you attempt to change the subject: “Yes, there was a raid while I was temporarily absent. I saved all of the captives and reached an agreement with Holies. No further action is required. Now, up for a tour around the defenses?” Cirus makes a barely audible grunt which you interpret as mild disappointment before nodding and saying “I would like to know more as it will affect the decision. However, thank you for promising a tour.” Your best guess is that you resisted being baited. You could’ve attempted to excuse your actions or reacted more aggressively which would have changed his opinion of you drastically.

At first you display the current state of the village militia, Farsalos inner and outer walls as well as the few other structures that you’ve set up such as the Guard Station which acts as a combination of militia headquarters, small armory and a jail. Then there was an investigation of the militia itself, who luckily obliged and lined up with sole exception of lookouts as monsters are not out of the question yet. The militia was not impressive by Ceno standards, kind of average in number for a village of this or even a bit smaller size. In a world where monsters are a thing, every village has to have a permanent militia to keep a lookout for threats and usually be a first line of defense to give other villagers a chance to arm themselves. Commander did mention that the gear is of unexpected quality, steel items are very expensive to manufacture in Ceno and thus village militia is equipped better than standard medium infantry. Cirus offhandedly mentioned that there might be some interest in… local supply of gear eventually, if your production fits some requirements. The discipline was rated as satisfactory, which is apparently above average for village militias and is probably related to most of militiamen having Ceno military service history.

Nike’s temple was a welcome surprise, but it is not relevant for Ceno regular forces. Muses rarely involve themselves in combat or planning excluding some advisory roles. Thus, while soldiers pray to her, they wouldn’t be getting faster orders or troop movements through her oracle. It is nice to have and somewhat surprising if you don’t account for you being a goddess as well. This only proves that you have at least a friendly connection to the Goddess of War, which the inspection appreciates.

>>4320397
The village wall was considered an unprecedented luck for the Ceno military. When they received the reports, they didn’t believe that it could exist so far away from Ceno core territories and around a village instead of a large town. This is the major factor, as in comparison their previous fort in the nearby territory was only equipped with one layer of wooden wall and fell into disrepair. Of course, the military guys don’t mention it, you found that out from Nika. They likely see it as a leverage point: you have the wall with next to no people to man it while they have the people with next to no fort. If you didn’t know about their fort’s situation, they could exert more pressure by implying that they can get a similar “offer” by staying in their existing assets. It’s nice to have friends in high places, eh?

Once the village was toured, the company commander started talking about what needs to be done if their soldiers are to be positioned here. You politely waited for an opening in his explanation to propose something different. After all, the tour is not over. You lead the three officers on horses to the new addition to your territories, the yet unnamed “village/fort” as you brief them on the situation. Commander Cirus replies that he will think the proposal over as the facility is examined, which you take as a solid “maybe”. The walls are of similar characteristics of the ones around inner Farsalos, all the facilities are prepared, supplies are stocked and so on and so forth. The only catch is that the military would be babysitting ex-slavers.

“So, let me get this straight, you’re willing to provide this facility to our use in return for defending Farsalos and re-educating these… slavers? While bringing the light of Civilization to the savages is in our job description, you do know that we have other options?” You smile and reply: “Of course you do, if that decaying wooden wreck is considered a plan B”, which causes commander’s eyes to narrow for a fraction of a second. Yeah, he won’t be a great poker player. “This option, however, is very tempting. Far enough from Ceno civilians to minimize interference while close enough for R&R. I will run it through the higher brass, but there is a high chance that we will take up your offer. However, there is one thing that I wish to ask you, “miss” Agatha, if you are a goddess, why are you living at the edge of nowhere? Surely, you could reach your goals much easier if you lived closer to the country’s core in much higher luxury, speaking even less of what resources and support joining the Pantheon would bring. What are your goals here?”

>>4320398
>Secret: your goals are yours alone, you make and change them as you see fit and you don’t feel obliged to share them
>Attachment: Farsalos is the first village you’ve met and you’ve already grew attached to its people. You don’t intend to move
>Freedom: you wish to remain friendly but neutral to all of the players in the region if possible. No one should extend their influence on you or your people
>Personal ambition: you wish to build a new state, and the territory near Farsalos is the only accessible unclaimed space in the region
>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered
>Other?

_______________________________________________
And that’s it for the previous week of SGQ. Sorry for being so late with it, real life came in the way. Speaking of which, this weeks’ Saturday thread is moved to Sunday due to an exam on Saturday. Please keep that in mind. As usual, feel free to discuss, ask questions and make suggestions. I hope you’ve enjoyed this thread.

>>4320400
>Freedom: you wish to remain friendly but neutral to all of the players in the region if possible. No one should extend their influence on you or your people

>>4320400
>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered

That worked for farsalos, for the dark elves, for the slaves....it's what we do

>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered

>>4320400
>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered
>Freedom: you wish to remain friendly but neutral to all of the players in the region if possible. No one should extend their influence on you or your people

Both of these seem right to me.

>>4320400
>>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered

and, it's not like we are averse to entering a pantheon, it's just that we are not confortable with the idea of people telling us HOW we will help people, we may yet decide to enter Ceno pantheon in the future, but for now we still have to figure out our place in this world, with their help I suppose. I don't like being neutral, because that reeks of inaction, I think we will end up helping those we consider friends and acting against injustices and things that strike us as wrong, so neutral is not the right worls, but kindness is.

>>4320400
>Freedom: you wish to remain friendly but neutral to all of the players in the region if possible. No one should extend their influence on you or your people
>Personal ambition: you wish to build a new state, and the territory near Farsalos is the only accessible unclaimed space in the region

>>4320400

>>Kindness: you wish to help people, all people. While you can’t help the whole world, Farsalos was in need and you couldn’t stand idly as its people suffered

>>4321825
Agreed

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>>4320400
“I have several reasons for staying here.” you reply, “First of all, I wish to help people, all people. While I can’t help everyone, I couldn’t just stand idly while Farsalos was in its state of great need. Secondly, I seek independence. While I’m not averse to joining the pantheon, I don’t want to be told how to help people, at least just yet. I still have to figure out my place in this world.” The officer looks at you for a few moments and then replies: “Understandable, I’ve heard of similar points of view, I believe such goals are more common among Outsiders, but it is hard to tell due to how rarely they visit these lands openly. It is also an honor to speak with an actual goddess, thank you for the tour. While I still need to send the report and the high brass needs to review it before the decision is made, I hope for a productive cooperation between you and Ceno army. I will send a messenger once the decision is finalized. For now, I believe that I’ve seen everything that I needed and we shall set off immediately.”

You glance at the sky, it is about 7 PM, a bit late to set off on the road. They’d barely get to Mirangi by nightfall at that rate. Thus, you propose them to stay for the night, but the commander refuses without specifying the reason. He believes that the information is time critical. What’s so time critical on how fit a settlement is to house soldiers? Oh… the Ceno-HN upcoming war, right. They likely want to stage something from Farsalos. Well, you shouldn’t be worried, it’s not a breach of treaties. You wish the soldiers luck and accompany them to the village gates from where they take the road that you’ve built to the nearest town.

Just as you were done with them and returned for final infrastructure checks, the first batch of ex- slavers arrived accompanied by five Cup Bearers, two from Nike’s cohort and others from Yaw’s. Ivy was among them, but not Mina, who is likely clearing another part of the forest. Speaking of which, aren’t there too many girls among Cup Bearers? You’ve seen a bunch of male Muses when visiting Nike’s place, but you haven’t seen any male Yaw’s cups, with exception of “servants”. In this gang one of Nike’s cups is a guy but everyone else is female. You wonder if it is just luck or if pantheon specifically picks female cups to work for you? Or maybe gender ratio among cups is seriously skewed. In any case, you accept the “package” and let them go while you handle the setup.

>>4327405
First batch of slaver survivors are women, and children below the age of 14, they seem to be a mix of a few humans and mostly the horned people that constitute the Tribals. To describe them, they are shocked, traumatized, horrified and angry, clothed in mostly hides with some handmade rough fabric in the mix. Shaken, dirty to the point that some of them look like they swam in the mud minutes ago. You have quite a job in front of you.

Luckily, Slavers and Tribals appear to be of a similar “ancestry”, as all of them speak similar dialects of their language and their populations are very similar as well, you don’t know where they got the humans though. Their humans are a bit different from Ceno ethnicity, which is mostly light Caucasian with light brown hair and unusual population of green and blue eyes. Slaver people have slightly darker skin, more akin to south Europeans or inhabitants of Mediterranean climates with mostly charcoal black hair and brown eyes. It doesn’t fit Holy Nation ethnicity either, which have a bit lighter shade of southern European skin color, common blue eyes and brown-auburn hair. You wonder if they are from Valistrat or some kind of local human population that was absorbed by slaver society.

With some commanding voice you manage to shut them up and made them listen to you after attempts for reason fall flat. They are too emotional to be reasoned with, thus you’ll have to push information into their heads by force. You quickly explain them your nature and that they would be living on your territory in the walled off village. This, of course, produces discontent which quickly changes to fear when the rowdiest of them are restrained with telekinesis. You feel disgusted at what you have to do, but there are no other options here. You herd them behind the walls, run a quick demonstration of how most common items work, where the food is stored and so on after which you close the gates and leave them to their own devices to pick the houses and hopefully get cleaned up. Per agreement with Farsalos militia, a dozen of the geared-up militiamen were already manning the posts on the wall perimeter. They would get replaced by Ceno military once those arrive, but for now they’d do. You’ll return to the subject of communicating with the ex- slavers once they had time to cool off a bit. You hope that the “new guests” won’t break too much stuff.

>>4327407
Alright, you hope that the situation is in equilibrium and no longer requires constant attention. Cups can drop off new ex- slavers right into the village, first wave can explain the ropes if they don’t burn it down in the meantime. According to the most recent message from Nike’, Ceno army is still assembling at the border and thus won’t start the military operations for at least two weeks, and if they do you shall be informed as soon as possible. The question now is how to spend this time in the most productive way…

Roll 1d20 and…
>Hands- on teaching of ex- slavers: you need to show yourself from a more benevolent side
>Visit to the Ihmisetians: with the cleanup started, you guess it is a good time to update the underground elves on the progress
>Clearance observation: you’re curious on how the Pantheon is clearing the land for your new city
>Research project: You have a couple of ideas that you’d like to work on
>Other ideas?

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>4327408
>>Visit to the Ihmisetians: with the cleanup started, you guess it is a good time to update the underground elves on the progress

time to start getting them used to the idea of surface living

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>4327408

>Hands- on teaching of ex- slavers: you need to show yourself from a more benevolent side

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>4327408

>Hands- on teaching of ex- slavers: you need to show yourself from a more benevolent side

Get the elves when we actually have something to show them, but we can drop off there for a cisit and just to see how they are going

>>4327408
By the way, the roll is mostly for how the ex- slavers would react to this. Just FYI

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>4327408
>Visit to the Ihmisetians: with the cleanup started, you guess it is a good time to update the underground elves on the progress

>>4327408

>Research project: You have a couple of ideas that you’d like to work on

Circuits, get better at them and try to do some protective ones for our friends

>>4327415
>
>>4327417
>>4327418
>>4327428
>>4327447
Two want to teach new tenants, two for visiting elves and one for research project. Doing combination of first two, writing

>>4327462
well, if we are teaching the ex-slavers we can elicit the help of the tribals that stayed in Farsalos or those that come and go between Farsalos and our tribal village as part of the cultural bridge and trade with the ships and ports
They are similar in culture but I understand that they used to be enemies so just ask for help from those who volunteer, explaining that while we defeated the slavers we would not want the innocent to meet the same fate so we are trying to make them part of us

>>4327462
After some consideration, you decided that it might be best if you provide some more… hands on approach to the captives. It is not healthy to just let them simmer. Plus, it is a great option to display your benevolence. You briefly consider going to the tribals and getting some volunteers who already had the experience of living in your buildings, however you have to put that on hold. If you are not around, you can’t keep them safe which can turn into anything from a hostage situation to a murder if you implement it before the guards are in place and the ex-slavers are pacified. You grab some spices from your stores and head to the new village to get accustomed with its new inhabitants. You really should make a decent name for it soon, calling it “new village” is getting a bit old.

When you get to its walls, you stop one of the guards and ask him what has happened in the couple hours you were missing. He reports that the ex- slavers for the first hour were huddled together in the plaza as it is the largest open spot with only a few stragglers investigating the streets and houses. They seem to have confirmed the food stores, but they are distrusting buildings for some reason so far. Some breaking sounds were heard in certain buildings similar to the sounds of breaking ceramics, so some pots and dishes are no longer usable. Currently more people are exploring the village, mostly around the walls, likely scouting for an exit. They are less bunched up at the moment but they are not taking houses. The man also reports that they seem to utilize tiny park area as a… bathroom. None of them seem to know how to use toilets and no one has showered. Great…

By that point you changed into your work clothes and left all your weapons at home. You can easily defend yourself without them while you’d look much less threatening. Maybe you should get a bigger wardrobe, you have the armor, the work clothes and the Chiton. You never felt the need for lots of clothing, but it might be nice to wear something less official than Chiton while fancier than a peasant dress. You’d have to be pretty sometimes for your image, right?

>>4327722
When you flew above the plaza and landed in the center of it, the people didn’t recognize you at first, but quickly the fear took over and the large group which was staying in the middle retreated and gave you a big circle of empty space. You smile kindly to them, which causes some to take another step back. Sigh… Well, time to get to work then. If they don’t want to go into houses, you’ll do this one outside. In about an hour you airlift a few large tables and a bunch of chairs into the plaza sufficient for everyone to take a seat. Then you privatized the communal cookhouse in Farsalos and started churning out meals for everyone using your personal spice stores. It is surprisingly quickly to cook with telekinesis, especially with the large-scale cookware found in the cookhouse like a meter-deep pot for porridges and soups.

When all was ready, you airlifted the food into the new village and settled it on the tables. You tell the inhabitants that they are free to enjoy the food. They don’t budge. Oh well, let’s see what else you can do… You make a short trip to Farsalos and borrow a musical instrument from one of the new villagers (you threw him some cash and promised to return it soon). It was a fretted string instrument of the size somewhere between a guitar and an ukulele and tuned like a lute. Its strings are made from gut like many ancient instruments similar to it, it’s not like you can expect nylon in Ceno. After a quick tune- up you return to the ex- slavers who are slowly making their way to the food. You land in the middle of the table formation and start playing something from Old Earth’s classical music. For some time, the slavers seem to fear you, but eventually they get used to your presence and make their way to the dishes, some even appear to enjoy your music. The tunes must be very alien to them.

>>4327726
This became the first bonding moment between you and them as they didn’t seem to fear you as much after that. You end up spending the whole next week around these people helping them to learn the functionality of “modern” amenities, showing them how to cook more advanced dishes and so on and so forth. They are still fearing you, but not to the point of nearly panicking in your presence, now they accept your explanations and assistance and they are less stressed out by their situation. After a couple of days of sleeping in the open in the park and plaza, most of them occupy some of the houses with the rest accompanying them on the fourth and fifth day. When you asked them on the reasons for that, one of the older women replied that shelter must be quick and easy to construct so that you can afford to lose it, this feels like a trap to leave her people defenseless against the monsters. You point out that these houses are very sturdy and the wall works both ways which would keep out all of the monsters. The woman, who turns out to be deceased slaver chief’s consort, sighs and tells you that it doesn’t matter, you can’t build tough enough to resist their wrath, no one can. But now they live and die on your whim so it is not much different. After that the old woman refused to continue on the subject and left. That’s pretty fatalistic, you hope that time would correct this issue.

You consider your involvement a great success: they stopped breaking things, learned how to use basically everything and are much less stressed. By the end of the year a second batch of survivors arrived and landed in the village, also mostly small children and women along with the first couple of weak- looking male teens who probably had enough brains to surrender. They acclimated much quicker thanks to those who already settled which means your system is working. Before you get dragged off to build fortifications on the frontlines you decide to quickly visit the dwarven ruin and see how the Ihmisetian underground elves are settling in. You want to bring some good news and check if your involvement is needed anywhere.

>Roll 1d20 please

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>4327729
>end of the year

Oh noes! How the time flies lol

>>4327729
I mistyped, end of the week. Oh wow I messed up

>>4327772
It's actually mid-late summer at the moment, Ag has been in the new world for just over a year

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>4327729

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>4327729

>>4327801
>>4327784
>>4327772
_______________________
It got to the point that my meds are making it hard to write again. I will post an update tomorrow, sorry.

>>4327838
Visiting Ihmisetian elves is pretty straightforward as usual. You gear up just in case, take some spices and surface food as a gift and head out to the entrance to the Labyrinth. You decided not to take anyone along this time since you intend for it to be a short visit and you don’t want to needlessly take people into the Labyrinth for obvious reasons of safety. You get all the way to the currently unmanned Labyrinth entrance defenses, you should really get some soldiers to hang out in the area, either elven or Ceno. But then again, it is not that well defended from the outside, it only has a palisade. Maybe an upgrade is in order, some surface defenses, maybe metal sheets on the door?

In any case, you don’t even need to take the elevator, you just jump into the opening from the surface and gently land on the sone slab floor. Part of the defenses is open to the sky while the other is covered by a layer of rock as well as a roof constructed by you. The sun is setting at such an angle as to not pour almost any light into the chamber making it very close to pitch black. This place really needs some quality lighting. If you were a normal person you’d likely be concerned and have difficulty navigating, but with multispectral vision and some kind of biological radar the only inconvenience for you is that it is hard to tell the colors. Everything looks monochrome in radar.

With little effort you remove massive iron reinforced beams that block the gate from opening while guard is absent and the massive doors slowly start swinging open under your telekinetic power. It reveals the usual pitch-black massive basalt tube going down at a 30-degree angle. You check the door on the other side and luckily there don’t seem to be any new massive scratches since last time. Maybe that type of monster doesn’t visit this section of the Labyrinth often. You close the doors behind you and float down the path until the intersection at which you stop curiously. One of the paths is completely blocked by firm and thick light grey “fabric” attached to the walls of the lava tube by sticky thick threads. You’ve preciously saw some webs in that direction so it is not such a great leap of logic to guess that the source is the same. The color and thread size of the larger anchor threads seems similar. Looks like your spider neighbors don’t want any visitors from that direction. You really hope that it is not a trapdoor spider lair because that would be a very scary and embarrassing way for you to die. You decide not to spend more time than you need to in the area just in case and sprint towards the direction of the dwarven ruin.

>>4335521
There you are greeted by four armed guards clad in heavy armor and equipped with spears. Their spears are tipped with the same kind of ceramic material as Claudina’s knife and their armor is made out of a combination of large and small interlocking plates made out of glossy purple material that reminds you of plastic. You hope that it is significantly tougher than what your intuition tells you. This time they immediately recognize you and let you in. You ask them how the things are going and one of them replies that it could be worse. They’ve lost several exploration teams so far while mapping in this direction which is about 20 people. Currently all exploration is on hold and they are here mostly for the sake of you and the remote chance that someone manages to come back after being gone for weeks. Well, it’s nice for them to hold the door for you, but did they really need to be that geared up? What would four guys manage to do against whatever supposedly wipes out dozens of people. You decide to keep that note to yourself for the sake of morale, thank them for sharing the information and continue into the settlement.

After a short walk through the tunnel you are greeted with the sight of progress. Well, the Ruin is now officially several times bigger than Farsalos. It’s kind of funny, while the place has a former dwarven name given for the first founder and ruler of the fortress, both you, Farsalos citizens and elves seem to consider it difficult to pronounce and the name that has stuck is “Ruin”. Pretty descriptive, if a bit dark. You doubt that the name would stay beyond Ihmisetian occupation once dwarves reclaim their territory, but it works for now.

The population count is approaching somewhere around 3000 of the underground elves. What buildings you constructed are completely occupied and more construction has already been done to accommodate more and more of the refugees. They seem to be almost entirely supplied by foodstuffs that are delivered from dwarven holds so they haven’t attempted to reclaim goblin infested areas yet, although you are noticing significantly higher military presence with two new units of 250 members of heavy infantry in each. Along with initial and a bit buffed up garrison this is 800 military personnel, just under a third of the entire current population. You expect that this is the sign of a military operation in the plans.

>>4335522
With most of the cleaning finally done and labor force getting more plentiful, all of the available fields in the Ruin were cleared from the tent city, tilted and planted with mostly one weird crop that you don’t recognize. It is obviously a mushroom of a dark grey color that grows up to your waist and forms an absolutely massive cylindrical cap similar in size to a corn cob. The cap is segmented into four or five sections vertically each of which are further subdivided into numerous “kernels” (if we continue corn analogy). Each of those kernels is about two times bigger than corn kernel and is attached to the main stem in a manner similar to broccoli. The harvesting process seems to involve placing a hand at the neck of the cob and sliding it upwards with some effort which causes all of the kernels to pop off leaving a sad remnant of a stem that now looks like a balding toilet brush. So that’s their staple crop, interesting.

You stop one of the Ihmisetians and ask them where their leadership is. They direct you to a larger one of the recently constructed buildings near the residential area. That building is circular in layout and it has some guards at the entrance. You take a somewhat more “scenic route” by walking opposed of taking a direct flight path for it and as you’ve expected this was reported before you made your way to the “headquarters”, which was to be expected. You are greeted by four Ihmisetian elves, three women with obviously religious clothes including Lower Priestess Amiya and one man in what you assume to be an officer’s uniform of sort. From what you found out from Claudina, Ihmisetian society is mostly matriarchic because most religious posts have to be occupied by women since only women could be possessed by their goddess. This “clergy” in its essence doubles as a civilian government. However, Ihmisetian military is historically mostly led by men with some notable exceptions and higher officer positions were involved in advisory role in this theocratic government with some additional powers mostly related to peacekeeping, immediate emergencies and wars, even if there was only one minor conflict with the dwarves in their history due to their lack of proximity to any other nation. Well, this is about to change, you think to yourself sadly.

>>4335524
“Goddess Agatha, it is wonderful that you have managed to spare some of your precious time to visit us. This is Lower Priestesses Halei and Irena, while this is Patilionna Commander Megus (Lieutenant Colonel equivalent). They arrived here to manage the ever-increasing population and a significant presence of our military.” After the introductions, the priestesses and the officer half bow as they are named. The officer seems to be pretty young- looking for his post, but you can’t trust the looks as Ihmisetians can live forever. He has naturally greyish white hair kept short, steel grey eyes that almost reflect light like mirrors and a well-toned runner physique, aka muscular but slim. Priestess Halei is the tallest of the three women while being noticeably thin, she has long black hair that she keeps to one side and she appears to have the most neutral appearance you’ve seen in a while. She’s either not very emotional in general or she has one hell of a pokerface. During the further talks she speaks with well measured voice that has little in terms of intonation. Priestess Irena has silvery white hair collected in a neat bun and her eyes are of an amazingly vibrant shade of purple. She carries a warm smile throughout the whole meeting. Both priestesses have a pattern of starry sky tattooed on their faces in luminescent ink similar to Amiya, but the patterns are different if not random.

“Please follow us inside, there is much to discuss.” Says Amiya and you follow the group into the building. Inside you see several statues with a vague female figure which you suppose is Aino. There is also a table with a map of the local Labyrinth along with a lot of pages laid on top, some chairs, a couple glow-quartz lamps hanging from the ceiling and a bunch of chests and other storage furniture. It seems to be half shrine half office which fits Ihmisetian Remnant’s ruling style.

>>4335525
“I promised to contact you when a more permanent decision would be made, but that still hasn’t happened yet, my apologies. There is, however, a very popular opinion among our people… I hope you would accept it. Majority of the clergy has decided that Aino is yet to abandon us and the current circumstances are trials we are meant to overcome and survive until our goddess returns. However, our people are very desperate. Just a couple weeks ago we lost a tenth of the surviving population in a giant monster attack. There are maybe 40 000 of us left that we know of…” she frowns and makes a long pause. “It is still being debated, but the majority leans toward the following option: they will accept you as their new goddess if you indeed save us all. However, most are not willing to abandon the covenants of Aino, so you won’t be our only goddess. Would that be… acceptable?”

>Yes, you see no problems with that
>Yes, with time they and their children would come around to your views anyway
>Yes, as long as the covenants won’t interfere with your ethics or plans such as governmental reforms
>Yes, if they don’t interfere with other citizens of different religions and cultures
>No, this is supposed to be a new start
>Other?

>>4335527
__________________________________
And on this note I finally post the update I promised. Next thread on Saturday!

>>4335527
>>Yes, if they don’t interfere with other citizens of different religions and cultures

they can do their thing if they let other do their things, on a religious level we are not opposed.

let's update them on the city
see if we can deal with that spider threat while we are here, they are already too few to be throwing themselves at that and it should be a quick extermination effort for us

>>4335527

>Yes, as long as the covenants won’t interfere with your ethics

>>4335527
>Yes, if they don’t interfere with other citizens of different religions and cultures
What actually are the tenets of the delves' religion? Were they described at some point that I seemingly can't remember or find?

Also, is this like us being a co-goddess of some sort or something else? Dunno if it's just me, but I think it'd be cool to assume the status of something like Godddess Regent with our role in their eyes being to hold the fort until either the day Aino returns (in perpetuity if needs be) or they decide she isn't going to. Oh heck, if she does come back there may be drama either way.

>>4335527
>Yes, if they don’t interfere with other citizens of different religions and cultures
The hot priestess again, maybe it's time to ask the meaning of her star pattern make up/tattoo, and it wouldn't be bad to learn more about their tenets

>>4336518
Well... I actually described only one of the tenets. When Aino left she ordered her subjects to maintain their society in perpetuity. Other tenets would be characterized by their isolationist society, but mostly ihmisetians will have to face the fact that they lack direct tenets for the society we are building. They don’t for example have religious tenets regarding other types of people or cultures since they barely encountered those on the regular and didn’t have any immigration. Their tenets are mostly focused on their internal society and that would come into conflict with our attempts at forming a democratic system.

Regarding the co- goddess thing, you understood correctly: you would become the second goddess in their new pantheon that would include you and Aino. Aino’s religious practices would still be followed and when/if she returns depending on how it goes she would be either equal or senior deity. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Goddess- Regent would be a nice way to describe it.

>>4335527
Next thread is here: >>4338424

>>4338455
And the thread is archived