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The term for the current First Citizen is over, and a new ruler must be elected.

What qualities does the newly elected First Citizen have?
(You have 12 points which you can put into any kind of skill. You may put a skill into the negatives to gain more points.)

A short explanation:
Internal Affairs
Statemanship - Skills and wisdom of managing public affairs: Good when dealing with subordinates and the public.
Enterprising - Initiative and resourcefulness: Good for problemsolving and noticing opportunities.
Coordination - Making sure things happen as intended: Good when managing projects and ensuring smooth progress.

External Affairs
Diplomacy - Managing relations with foreign actors: Good for improving relations and avoiding miscommunication
Espionage - Subterfuge and subversion: Good when external interests needs adjustments.
Trade - Ensuring profitable flow of goods: Good for importing and exporting wares at beneficial prices.

Personal
Drive - Effort applied in work
Flexible - Ability to change and adapt
Psyche - Mental condition
(2/2)

>>5872090
>Statesmanship 0
>Enterprising 0
>Coordination 2

>Diplomacy 3
>Espionage 3
>Trade 0

>Drive 2
>Flexible 2
>Psyche 0

I want a mediocre statesman, who's really good with talking with people and "making" this just go his way. And since we are a trade hub and we have some freedoms, we are in a great position to leverage our diplomatic and unchivalrous ways to ensure further freedoms for our realm.
Now just to see if the voting will go my way.

>>5872090

Internal Affairs
1 Statemanship
1 Enterprising
1 Coordination

External Affairs
1 Diplomacy
0 Espionage
1 Trade

Personal
3 Drive
2 Flexible
2 Psyche

Basically we’re a very ambitious, naive newbie but sort of bad at actually managing Trenfel. Lots of room to grow!

>>5872090
Internal Affairs
Statemanship - Skills and wisdom of managing public affairs: Good when dealing with subordinates and the public.
>0
Enterprising - Initiative and resourcefulness: Good for problemsolving and noticing opportunities.
>+1
Coordination - Making sure things happen as intended: Good when managing projects and ensuring smooth progress.
>+1

External Affairs
Diplomacy - Managing relations with foreign actors: Good for improving relations and avoiding miscommunication
>0
Espionage - Subterfuge and subversion: Good when external interests needs adjustments.
>-2
Trade - Ensuring profitable flow of goods: Good for importing and exporting wares at beneficial prices.
>+1

Personal
Drive - Effort applied in work
>-1
Flexible - Ability to change and adapt
>0
Psyche - Mental condition
>0

The idea is basically someone chosen for their straightforward nature as someone who "works smarter, not harder", though in practice this just means they use their experience in trade, management, and affinity for finding opportunities to cover for their laziness. At least they're honest about it, no tricks, no espionage, and people know it.

I'm guessing Flexibility is a 'choose this to level up/shift around skills faster' skill and Psyche is sanity?

>>5872112
That's cool, but where are the +12 pts?
You're supposed to apply the 12 points to it, rather than keep it at 0.

>>5872090
>>5872112
Whoops, I misinterpreted the chart, no idea how, guess I'm just tired.

Internal Affairs
Statemanship - Skills and wisdom of managing public affairs: Good when dealing with subordinates and the public.
>+1
Enterprising - Initiative and resourcefulness: Good for problemsolving and noticing opportunities.
>+4
Coordination - Making sure things happen as intended: Good when managing projects and ensuring smooth progress.
>+4

External Affairs
Diplomacy - Managing relations with foreign actors: Good for improving relations and avoiding miscommunication
>+1
Espionage - Subterfuge and subversion: Good when external interests needs adjustments.
>-2
Trade - Ensuring profitable flow of goods: Good for importing and exporting wares at beneficial prices.
>+4

Personal
Drive - Effort applied in work
>-1
Flexible - Ability to change and adapt
>0
Psyche - Mental condition
>+1

Im letting the vote run for a little while longer. In the meantime:
Do you prefer voting for one statchart, or that I mix one up from each one?

Feel free to ask any questions if there is anything unclear.
>>5872112
Flexibility is the characters ability to meet changes, unexpected and to a smaller degree expected, and appropriately respond or adjust.
Psyche is your characters mental fortitude when faced with stress and duress, or other mentally taxing situations

>>5872108
+1

I like the idea of being absolutely shit at everything but being successful because of the effort.

>>5872090
Statesmanship: 2
Enterprising: 2
Coordination: 2

Diplomacy: 1
Espionage: -2
Trade: 1

Drive: 2
Flexible: 2
Psyche: 2

>>5872121
One stat chart, I think it is best that the whole chart that gets the most votes should be preferred over taking individual skills with the most votes, that way we get an actually coherent character out of this vote.

>stats
Oh. I guess that just makes it sound like Flex and Enterprising overlap a bit too much, the bit that distinguishes them being the personal versus city management aspect, I guess.

Okay, so sanity basically.

Would Espionage also cover counter-espionage?

>>5872090
Statesmanship: 1
Enterprising: 0
Coordination: 3

Diplomacy: 3
Espionage: 0
Trade: 1

Drive: 3
Flexible: 1
Psyche: 0

>>5872132
+1
This quest gives me an idea that a coherent character will do the best.
Also, maybe consider an reverse vote or an elimination vote, where people are voting for the character they want the least.

>>5872132
Enterprising is more about opportunities, turning something that is already good or fine into something better
Flexibility is more about the unexpected and bad situations either negated or made into something good

But yes, there is some overlap

Espionage covers counter-espionage as well, in the sense of foreign actors meddling in our business.
If the actors are local, it falls more under statesmanship. Espionage will still have an effect in such circumstances too

So far it seems most voters agree on a very driven character, with high focus on personal skills
I will call the vote on that unless there is any tiebreakers in the next ten or so minutes

>>5872108
+1

Marjun was elected First Citizen by the council!
Born and raised Ejudic, he knows the ins and outs of local culture. His humble beginnings and otherwise lack of connections to any of the big local political players made him a very attractive candidate to the council. Certain of neutrality and good intentions was what got Marjun elected over the competition.

There are currently not a lot of problems that needs solving, so the yearly budget can be spent more freely.

Available state budget: 5
(Monetary resources set aside for usage.)
Available personal budget: 4
(The characters own money.)
Budged is an abstract representation. State and personal budget is NOT the same amount. Unspent budget is saved. You may have negative budget.

The council has some suggestions for budget allocation:
>Incorporate and construct a watchtower on the north western hilltop. There are no conflicts going on right now, but it never hurts to be prepared. It is estimated this project will cost 2 budget if made with wood, 5 if made with stone.
>Create a library in the administrative part of town. Knowledge is handy for any upcoming statesmen, which will surely lead to better administrators. Estimated cost is 3 budget.
>Save the current budget for now. If times get tougher, the extra capital is sure to come in handy.
>Write in

(There will come a time to use personal budget later, dont worry :) )

>>5872160
>Construct a stone Watchtower (5 Budget)

This may be a lot of budget, but what other time are we going to be able build this shit? We're inevitably going to be bogged down with administration and trade and other boring shit that'll distract us from preparing military when shit really goes down. This might be the only chance to spend budget all at once on a big project since we're newly elected.

Getting a solid, sturdy, military building to make it a issue for long-time so we can completely focus on the fun shit like trade.

>>5872168
*non-issue

>>5872160
>Build library.
>Build watchtower (2 budget.)
While a stone watchtower would be great and preparing for anything is the smart idea, I see no need to spend all our budget on an area with no current conflict when we can build a simple watchtower that gets the job done as well as a library, which would definitely help us all the time rather then just during conflict. I agree with the other guy that we should build what we can before we’re caught up in red tape though.

>>5872160
Nice try QM, but I'm gonna need the following info before I can make any choices:
>Food sources (predominant and auxiliary)
>Broader political situation (within the empire and outside, as well as our regional neighbours)
>Trade route, what is being traded and where is it going and how it's going (naval I presume, but we may do overland trade aswell)
>Local produce
>State of our infrastructure (for an example, building a good harbor might be a massive boon)
>Social issues we are currently facing
>Political rivals within the town (very few medieval town republics turned out well when bickering internally)

>>5872160
>Construct a stone Watchtower (5 Budget)

>>5872168
+1
Fuck it

>>5872177
Kek +1

>>5872177
+1 knowledge is power.

>>5872168

I agree but maybe we can personally visit the site and see if we can’t scrounge back a point of wealth?

Seems like something our busybody Martin might do

>>5872182
Yeah, sure if the QM lets us. I assume there's going to some wrinkles after this vote in how we deal with the watchtower.

Im getting some food soon, and then I will be writing

I also wanted to clarify that our characters stats are based upon >>5872108 since this got the most votes, as well as other voters having a big focus on the personal skills

>>5872177
You will get some more info next post, regarding a lot of topics

Broader political situation
Information result basis: Diplomacy (1) + Espionage (0) + Trade (1) + council assistance (basic information provided)
The empire is in a period of prosperity. There are no wars and no famines. There are a few conflicts between some of the imperial cities, but it is nothing major at this moment.
These conflicts revolve around borders and mining rights. It could be possible to attempt to negotiate peace between them, but there is little to gain from it, except for possible trading benefits.
There is currently a good amount of weapons and metal in circulation. Weapons are cheap, while trained mercenaries are more expensive. Many cities have hired mercenaries and turned them into a permanent military or militia, while others have gone through the effort of training soldiers of their own.
The free residents of the Redwood forrest have been quiet for the most part, upholding the deal with the emperor of providing safe passage in the Redwood territories to all travelers, in exchange money and promises of not subjugating them.
The tribes and petty kings on the northwestern side of the mountainrange are currently occupied with their own problems. Few news come south anymore, making some border cities paranoid.
There is an empirewide shortage of aged cheese, as the humid weather these past few months have ruined many wheels before they could ever be sold.
(1/?)

Internal political situation
Information result basis: Statemanship (1) + Enterprising (1) + Coordination (1)+ council assistance (basic information provided)
We currently have a small but efficient harbor, built and partly funded by the empire, an administrative center with a spacious town hall, and a bunch of trader warehouses, some privately owned and some owned by the city.
The city earns the majority of its money on trade. Wares come and go by boat, and get shipped and sold into the mainland, with some wares being sold from the mainland and shipped onto the boats. The city taxes these transactions, while certain influential people also take part in the trading itself, making these citizens richer.
The city itself is currently not taking part in any city-to-city trade agreements, currently only serving as a hub for any and all to come and conduct trade. The emperor likes it this way, since this means we are as neutral as possible and not actively prioritizing anyone over others. Some of the more influential trader families argues it would be more profitable to establish some actual trade agreements, even if it may upset the emperor.
We also produce a good amount of crops along the city borders. These farms avoid many taxes on the produce, while only getting more taxed when their produce is sold out of the city. Most of what these farms grow is therefore usually sold to our town, making us more self reliant in regards to food. Combined with fishing off our coasts, the city has little need of importing more food.
There is rumor going around that certain freemen of the Redwoods are willing to sell some of their territory, even if they are not allowed to by the Redwood Commons Contract. Some argue that our city could profit heavily from the usage of the much desired crimson oak, which is very good for production of heavy duty ships. The Redwood Commons Contract states that the residents of the Redwoods, called freemen, are allowed to live there so long as they promise to follow and uphold any and all deals and agreements made between the Redwood representatives and the empire. Selling land is strictly forbidden, and could lead to trouble if we were to buy any.
While we are self sufficient in regards to food, we dont locally produce any trade goods. Sure, we sell some fish, but it does not provide that big of a profit. Some hope for investments, either from the city itself or from outside investors.
(2/?)

(Internal political situation continuation)

There are several trading families in town, all of them competing fairly with one another. Whenever one of them seems to become more influential than the others, they either tend to come down to their previous level, or the other families gain more power to match.
The small nobility presence is here primarily as an observer on behalf of the emperor. They have some power over the council, but they tend to not get involved in city matters.
Since the city is a vast majority of Ejudic, there is peace and harmony between citizens. Certain traders cause some problems every now and then, but these incidents have been minor so far. There is some concern from certain townsfolk that too many foreigners could end up moving into town if our current economic success continues like this for too long. They dont mind the increase in wealth however.


I think I should also clarify, the current budget is going to last you the entire year. There will be instances where you can gain more budget (or loose more), but until the year is over, this is all you have for now

Marjun orders the construction of a new stone watchtower. It costs the entire yearly budget, but it is probably prudent to be on the safer side. Peace cant last forever, after all.
Marjun decides to visit the construction to get a feel for the planning and the progress of the construction. Progress seems good, but upon closer inspection many of the workers seem to be rather slow in their work. Drive 3: Marjun knows exactly what this is, and he tells the project manager what it is: Lazyness. The allocated budget for the construction covers materials, wages, food and lodging for these workers. If they are just going to squander it like this, then there is no point in even hiring them.
After some angry discussions and a lot of negotiating, a new team is assembled to start construction. Progress is way faster now, and Marjun feels confident the project wont cost more than estimated. If things go well, it may even be lower.

Some months pass, and an offer is presented for the council. A local farmer has shown interest in starting grape farm, to produce wine. The required budget he asks for is negligeable and wont affect the overall budget, but the proposed plans suggest converting currently crop-yielding farms into grape producing ones. This will surely be a dent in our food production, making us more reliant on food imports.

Certain councillors argues that it would set a bad precedent to seize someone elses land for the benefit of others, even if it would likely provide huge economic gains. Someone suggests compensating for the seized land, but that would dip into our budget.
One prominent trader family asks that these plans are implemented, but under their control instead. They argue they know the ins and outs of the trade, and can easily net a profit. They could even offer some immidiate budget for the city right away for it.

How do we respond to this suggestion?
>Write in

(4/4)

>>5872319
>Keep things as they are

I'd rather stay self-sufficient with our food production, and dealing with pissed citizens from eminent domain or empowering a trade family doesn't seem like something we can deal with currently.

Right now we're the safe and neutral pick, basically voted in for our blandness so shaking things up could get people pissy.

>>5872319
Do we know how much budget the trader family would offer if we hand them control of the grape farm construction?

>>5872319
>Give permission to all trading clans that want to make the grapes for can do so. No monopolies. Give the farmer a (non-budget) amount of money as compensation for plans and publicly recommend him as an advisor on the wine trade to prospective trading clans looking into it.

No budget but this means no trading clan gets too powerful since their will be competition. Land doesn’t get taken and food imports don’t go up and farmer doesn’t get fucked too bad. I’d say a good compromise.

>>5872332
No, but you would estimate Trading 1 one budget up front. It would be hard to estimate a yearly budget addition from the farm, if any.
First it must be decided if the farmer is allowed to make this farm, if he gets a no, then the Trader may make another offer.
In theory, the trader may interject before your initial decision, then withdraw his suggestion after the fact. Some councillors do this to effectively block proposals and suggestions, that is to say if you say no to the farmer.

>>5872341
>>5872319
+1

>>5872341
+1
sounds like an interesting way to do things.

>>5872341

Why not make the trading families pay an annual fee for wine-selling rights?

We can use the wine tax money to buy up crops for lean winters and so forth, and will also drive up local crop prices to support our farmers too

>>5872355
I’ve been thinking that too but depending on how high the fee is, they might not consider it worth the price and then we’re left with nothing.

>>5872358

Why not set the fee pretty low but slowly increase it over the next few years?

>>5872361
I like that idea. Gimme a second. I’m gonna write up a combined proposition.

>>5872319
>Give permission to all trading clans that want to make the grapes so they can do so. No monopolies. Give the farmer a (non-budget) amount of money as compensation for plans and publicly recommend him as an advisor on the wine trade to prospective trading clans looking into it.
>Make the trading families pay an annual fee for wine-selling rights. Initially it will start at 8% of projected annual profits.

>>5872365
I dunno why I put projected in there. Scratch that.

>>5872319
>Refuse the conversion of current arable lands into vineyards, but allow the interested parties to establish these vinyards in unused areas of the hills. The establishers will receive no funding, but no land-rent will be charged for these set-up vineyards for the founder's lifetime.

>>5872341
+1
I’ll change to this. No taxes yet. Don’t want to box out smaller trading clans from the industry.

>>5872365

Supporting, this is my actual vote

We have a consensus then, winner is the following
>Give permission to all trading clans that want to make the grapes so they can do so. No monopolies. Give the farmer a (non-budget) amount of money as compensation for plans and publicly recommend him as an advisor on the wine trade to prospective trading clans looking into it.

Question is, do we want the extra annual fee for wine selling mentioned here >>5872365
If so, is this only applicable to the trading families (already established traders) or everyone? (including start-ups)
Also, is the fee just for the selling? Or production too?
Trading (1) You can leave this vague and open ended so it is easier to change later, or even just interpret it in your favour

I will start writing for the first part, and then include the last part if there is consensus on it when im done writing

>>5872423

I would say the fee is:

1) only on sales (we don’t want to disincentivize production)
2) only on the traders who are actually selling wine

Basically, we want to avoid our whole agriculture switching over to wine all at once, and instead encouraged limited production. Then we use that money to buy up regular crops for storage in granaries and warehouses. This is sort of what the US does to prop up crop prices, btw

>>5872423
1. Only on established trader families.
2. Only tax sales.
We wanna promote small businesses. If we don’t we risk having the trader families control the economy and if most of them decide to work together, that could be bad.
Also what the other guy said about limiting wine production.

>>5872423
>No Tax

One things traders hate more than anything- taxes. Let's not shake things up for now until we're more established have a more than a >basic idea of the internal political situation.

Marjun carefully considers the possibilities in his head. Skill Enterprising (1): He may not be the most versed in trading, but he knows from his experience that a general approval from a leader can have big effects on the wider populace mentality. Back it up with a formal permission to start one specific kind of business, in this case wine making, there is bound to be some aspiring entreprenours.
Marjun announces his decision, to some gasps and excitement from many. The traders seem like they are having a field day, anxiously waiting to leave and start raking in some money.
Before the council calls it a day, a document is drafted to make sure there is a plan, and that things dont get out of hand. Unfortunately, many representatives of the trader families leave early, leaving Marjun alone with some of the more dedicated councillors and the farmer. The fact the traders left early leaves a bad taste in Marjuns mouth. Unable to place what specifically is off, he continues making a draft with the others. Skill Driven (3) They spend many hours into the night working on this, while also dedicating the rest of the week to discuss possibilities and potential loopholes.

The key components of the draft are as follows:
>All those who wish it may start growing grapes, for the means of producing wine.
>For allocation of land and resources there will be no preferential treatment.
>No one person or group may monopolize the trade.
>There is a sales tax on wine. Production is not taxed.
>Only established trader families, at the writing of this document, pay this tax.
>The desire to switch their produce to grapes must first be announced to the council.
>Under the circumstances that the council believes too many are producing grapes, the process of allowing more persons or groups to produce grapes may be suspended.

The group looks it over once more, twice, before one of them decides to add one extra point:

>If allocated land is in the hilly terrain, there will be no land rent for the vineyard during the lifetime of the establisher.
He argues that if someone is willing to establish and develope difficult terrain, then there should be some reward to it.

Looks good. Or does it? This draft was made without much trader family influence. They will have to accept it if Marjun so chooses, but he has a hard time knowing for sure if that is the right call regardless.

Will there be any more alterations to the document? (If so, what needs to change?)

>>5872453
Looks good. Ideally we would have a meeting with all the families to get their opinion but if even one family doesn’t show (likely) then it would be favoritism. This is the best we can do.

>>5872453
>Approve

Why not. Seems fair when it's all written out.

>>5872453
>Sign it
>>Add a caveat that once profit reaches a certain threshold the tax applies to non trade families

Just a little caveat to avoid future headaches

Im going to sleep now, and I will probably be busy tomorrow.
I will see you all in a couple days

Vote stays open, feel free to discuss/alter/plan and etc. I will close vote when I am no longer busy

>>5872462

Support, important to build in some contingencies

>>5872453
>No one person or group may monopolize the trade.
>Only established trader families, at the writing of this document, pay this tax.
I feel like this is a mistake. Keep in mind, we're in some variant of a cast/class based society and the merchant class is the one that should be getting the preferential treatment, at least when it comes to trade. Yes, there is a noble class, but we're essentially a merchant republic. My proposal is that the merchant/trader families should pay less tax than the farmers (a small margin, 1/10th for the non merchants, 1/12th for the merchants), as by doing this, we're essentially granting a far in the future monopoly to the merchants while also benefitting from increased money and development. The merchants are happy because preferential treatment and they are more willing to invest more money into this (which is important as they have a lot more money than the farmers), as it will cost them less. We could also elevate the local farmer to a merchant if his project ends up being successful.
>The desire to switch their produce to grapes must first be announced to the council.
>If allocated land is in the hilly terrain, there will be no land rent for the vineyard during the lifetime of the establisher.
I feel like vineyards should only be allowed on hilly or unused terrain suitable for them. Yeah, money is fine and good and all, but food sufficiency is better. If anything, I feel like we should build them on the hills to the south east and east, close to the Redwoods (from which we could also start buying timber and making bows, crossbows and ships from, tying them closer to us and the broader empire, providing a boon for the empire and all in all, making ourselves more important).
>Under the circumstances that the council believes too many are producing grapes, the process of allowing more persons or groups to produce grapes may be suspended.
Also, I believe this is a bad clause, as vineyards take a lot of work and a lot of time to prepare, so adding a clause that is essentially casting doubt on the longevity of the whole operation strikes me as a bad choice.

>>5872718
Now that I think of it, my version of this would be:
>All those free people who wish it may start growing grapes, for the means of producing wine.
>Any and all who wish to purchase city owned land in the southeastern and eastern hills are free to do so at a consistent rate. (Make us some money)
>Production of wine is not taxed.
>Noble, merchant and trader families will pay 1/12th tax on sale, farmers, peasants and such will pay 1/10th sale tax.
>No fertile land currently producing grain or other plants meant for eating by humans or animals may be switched to producing grapes.

>>5872722
>+1 Sounds most excellent.

>>5872722
-1
Don’t like the idea of merchants paying less.

Whelp, my plans for tonight got cancelled, I might be able to get a session in today after all

So far it seems we agree on keeping it as is, plus what >>5872462 said
>Add a caveat that once profit reaches a certain threshold the tax applies to non trade families

There is also some interest in letting the trader families pay less tax as a boon, written by >>5872722
This means that while already established traders do pay more tax as of now, the council is willing to possibly change this in the future

I will eat dinner in maybe an hour, when I return I will end the vote and start writing.
So until then, vote stays open. Feel free to discuss/alter/add/remove anything until then.

>>5872897
Im neutral towards the first proposition but I vote against the second one. The offer to put the grape farms on hilly terrain and leave the current farms as is I agree with but I don’t think the trading families should pay less.

There is now an agreement. What started as a proposal from a local farmer turned into a larger citywide investment initiative. With some rules and guidelines decided upon, the council is hopeful this leads to more exports, and thus more city budget.

The final draft is as follows:
>All those who wish it may start growing grapes, for the means of producing wine.
>For allocation of land and resources there will be no preferential treatment.
>No one person or group may monopolize the trade.
>There is a sales tax on wine. Production is not taxed.
>Only established trader families, at the writing of this document, pay this tax.
>Once profit reaches a certain threshold the tax also applies to non trade families
>The desire to switch their produce to grapes must first be announced to the council.
>Under the circumstances that the council believes too many are producing grapes, the process of allowing more persons or groups to produce grapes may be suspended.
>If allocated land is in the hilly terrain, there will be no land rent for the vineyard during the lifetime of the establisher.

The draft is made into the Grape and Wine statute. Word spreads quickly, and many try to get a hold of unoccupied land. There is a general optimism around it, and since it is a time of prosperity, those who invest do not fear big losses if things dont turn out well.

Satisfied with the hard work, Marjun takes it easy a couple of days. Skill Drive (3): The workaholic that he is, he cant help himself from talking with citizens and try to gauge the general feel the populace have about his work. Many people seem to be more interested in finer wines, trying to learn all there is to wine making and correct storage.

Marjun is hit by a stray thought: Why does he not take the chance now, and get himself a vineyard? He has the capital, and if he bring some familymembers along he could very well be on his way to make himself a decent chunk of money. He believes such a business would profit the common Ejudic as well, so it would be a win for everyone.
There could be political ramifications within the council however. In the future it could be argued Marjun used his political powers to enrich himself. Many within the council already do enrich themselves this way, but the fact still remains.

Does Marjun decide to get himself into the wine business? If so, where? (You may mark it on the map, within the city borders)

(Note: Marjun has four (4) personal budget. He can afford to enter the wine business, but the total cost will depend on several factors)

Took a bit longer than anticipated, watched a movie with the family

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>>5873074
I say we get in the wine business and put it along the location in picrel. How much would that cost us?

>>5873074

>Yes, Marjun gets into the wine business

This is an easy win, people. I’ll leave it to someone else to select the site, but we should pick a site that elevated, dry, and good for growing grapes, so maybe by the northern hills closest to the mountains?

>>5873074
>Do not get into the wine business

Nah, we're a nice motivated guy. We don't do corruption.

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>>5873076
>>5873074
Actually, there’s 2 locations I wouldn’t mind from an economic standpoint. I think either of these 2 hills would be good as the western one is close to the sea and bordering the large grasslands. If we end up expanding that direction the farm would be surrounded by people eventually. The other one is closer to Redwood so there would be plenty of business going through there as well.
>>5873077
I think we should consider how much traffic would be passing through there.
>>5873083
I see it as honest business. The wine farm reform is public knowledge and we’re using our own money to buy land.

>>5873074
>Start a high quality cheese business

Eh, going into a soon to be crowded field is going to occupy too much time. If there seems to be a demand for high class wine that needs to be filled let’s just go into a related industry that will also benefit.

The winers are going to need charcuterie boards and moldy cheese to be really high class, and we have more plausible deniability about corruption since we’re not going to directly into the wine business we just endorsed. Build the cheese mill on hilly terrain where the land is cheapest idc which hill.

If anyone asks we just really like cheese.

>>5873086
It's still a conflict of interest and a pretty bad look even if it's honest. We were pretty crucial in drafting the wine farm bill and even if it's innocuous it looks like corruption just from our involvement.

I could the see the trading families pointing to them being taxed and not independent businesses and then point straight at us for it being why the clause is there.

They can say we wanted to not be taxed so we left a loophole that looks like it's for small businesses, but was actually meant to save us money. It's bullshit, but it's an example of how it can be spun.

>>5873094
If the cost of land is cheap enough, we could end up doing both actually.
>>5873097
Damn, you’re right. Perhaps the cheese farm might be a better alternative.

>>5873094
+1

This is probably better than the wine business desu. It'll still probably lead to some grumbling eventually, but in the short term it'll be too overshadowed by the hype about wine for anyone to make a serious fuss about corruption. While in comparison the mayor starting a wine business in the midst of hype would be hot gossip.

>>5873097

Couldn’t disagree more, anon - our participation in a public effort at the same time as everyone else isn’t corruption. If anything, it’s proof that Trenfall is serious about investing in viticulture and signals that we’re risking personal wealth in the process

>>5873104
>>5873097
Could we not buy land for a cheese farm and claim we’re supporting the wine industry we’re propping up that way whilst also having plausible deniability if corruption accusations come our way?

>>5873113
Yeah that's why I'm supporting the cheese farm. It's still going to be conflict of interest eventually but it's a little less transparent

>>5873074
>Get into the Glassblowing Business.

In this way, we prosper from winemaking from all interested parties but remain neutral and perhaps even gain some measure of control over an important part of the winemaking process(if exerting our influence becomes a neccessity). Fragile glass sucks to transport-much less once to fill and then back while full- so why not make it here?

>>5873131
Depending on how much it costs, we could build both that and the cheese farm. Probably won’t be 2 personal budget per farm though.

>>5873074
Make it mandatory for women to wear blue on the first day of each week.

>>5873076
Currently the land on the hills only has the downpayment price of purchasing the land. Afterwards, as has been agreed upon:
>If allocated land is in the hilly terrain, there will be no land rent for the vineyard during the lifetime of the establisher.
This clause was added since the hills are considered more difficult to cultivate. Marjun has not surveyed these hills himself, but he guesses the clause was added so the hills would not be overshadowed by the nearby grasslands, and to also enable more land to actually be developed

On the matter of a cheese business this is also fine and allowed. Be mindfull however that what was recently passed was worded in a way that applies strictly to grapes and wine. It is still possible to buy land and develope it, but it is unlikely Marjun can get the same benefits as if it was a wine business.
Marjun could try talking the council into making an exception, but it would likely be easier to rewrite the statute to include cheese, or to even make a new bill.
It would also be possible to do both, allowing you to argue that it is in fact a wine business. Then again, there may be some who oppose it within the council.

Then again, starting a cheese business and just not get any benefits would be easier. This could be more costly.

As for pricing, buying enough land to both grow grapes and produce wine, would be around two (2) budget. The northwestern hills and its surrounding grasslands is an exception, since some fear future wars and conflicts could happen here. Land here would total one (1) budget.
For the necessary infrastructure you would need one (1) budget for cultivating the land, and one (1) budget for equipment and buildings needed for winemaking.
It would be possible to construct a home as well, a humble home for one (1) budget, or a bigger house for two (2) budget.
There would also be a land tax (not the sales tax) which could make a dent in Marjuns yearly personal budget (if made on the hill, and it is indeed a wine business, Marjun is exempt for life). This tax may fluctuate depending on a variety of factors

Keep in mind, this is all an estimate. The actual end price may change.

>>5873147
*It would also be possible to do both cheese and wine

>>5873147
Still partial to cheese. I assumed it would be more costly and prone to regulation when I supported it, but since it should still get a residual boost from an increase in wine sales as a related luxury good it should still be profitable. Even if it doesn't have the specific law benefits.

How much would a cheese business in the northwestern hills cost? I'd assume around 4 personal budget.

>>5873147
So if I understand our law correctly, any farm can be exempt as long as it’s on the hills and produces wine? Regardless of if it produces other products as well?

>>5873147
Does hilly terrain affect cheese? It’s not really a farm so it shouldn’t right?

>>5873147

Again, I do think starting up a vineyard in the northwest is smart business.

We can diversify into cheeses and glassmaking once we start producing Trenfallian nectar, lads, let’s not overcomplicate things

>>5873157
The way it is worded, if there is production of grapes and/or wine, on the hills, it is thus exempt. As it is worded, yes. If this is intended however is not likely
This could be opening a can of worms. How much grapes/wine must one produce to qualify for these benefits, etc.
Councillors might not be too pleased if Marjun takes advantage of this opportunity to produce something *not* wine related, while claiming wine benefits.

>>5873160
Marjun has not surveyed the hills himself, but cheese as a byproduct from cows is likely not affected by the terrain. There is grass on the hills, so the cows can eat and produce milk without issue.

>>5873153
Marjun would need fences to keep the cows from escaping his land, and the needed infrastructure to turn the milk into cheese, as well as a means of aging it (if desired).
Land prices are the same as previously listed here >>5873147, while the cows would cost two (2) budget. Equipment would cost one (1) budget. This is an estimate, and is subject to change.

>>5873182
So 4 budget and taxes for the cost. I think we could shave a budget off without personal skills so optimistically 3 budget and taxes . I’d say worth it to avoid the political headache of getting to wine or using the wine law.

>>5873147
I vote for just simply building a wine farm. I’m sure we could beat any corruption allegations. Land on the northwestern hills & a small home would work. We can diversify into the cheese & glass industries later before any of the traders get the idea.

>>5873188
*With our

>>5873179
What would complicate things most is dealing with political fallout. Cheese avoids that.

>>5873188

Anon, literally everyone is about to get into the wine business, we’re not going to ruffle anyone’s feathers here

>>5873191
Yes we are because we’re the mayor . We’re the reason everyone is getting in the wine business. You also think people getting in the business aren’t going to look at their competitors including the mayor?

>>5873193

Anon, we’re the mayor of a merchant city, not the Pope. You’re significantly overestimating the political risks of doing what every major trading family and nobleman is doing.

I invite you to reconsider your stance - there’s nothing wrong with using the small business program that we co-wrote with the other important people (who are also using it!)

>>5873208
We were specifically elected because of our neutrality and disconnection from the major trading families. We’re meant to be the clean, safe choice. Immediately starting off our term with this is a bad idea. I’m a cheesefag till the end.

Can we just roll at this point? I don't think anyone's budging unless there a tiebreaker vote soon, anons are just going in circles now.

If I counted correctly, there is currently

A consensus on the northwestern hills.
Two votes for wine
Two votes for cheese (+ one wine voter being partial to cheese)

We could discuss these issues with some other councillors, or even call the entire council to set more guidelines and caveats.
Lets do a vote for this first:

Will we discuss the problems that may arise from our business venture?

>Yes, consult some councillors, maybe they have some advice
>Yes, call in the council. These issues must be dealt with swiftly
>No, lets just get on with it, time is money

(If we decide to do this, I will note all votes and have them carry over until after we are done convening with the council. (Anons who change their mind will have their first vote altered to match the new one))
(If no wins this vote and there is still a tie for production, I will decide the outcome by dice)

Im going to bed. I will try to do a session tomorrow.
Until then the vote is open, for both the question in this post and the one here >>5873074

>>5873074
>Does Marjun decide to get himself into the wine business? If so, where?

Yes. I leave location to the decision of others.

>>5873274
Consult some councilors because why wouldn’t we need more opinions? That won’t make this even more complicated, I’m sure.

>>5873274
>Yes, consult some councillors, maybe they have some advice

>>5873274

>No, lets just get on with it, time is money

Let’s move on and select a hillside for our grapes, etc etc

>>5873274
>>No, lets just get on with it, time is money
>>I vote for Cheese. Neutrality is important. I feel we may have mucked this up a little already with our lack of Diplomacy(meh) butcompounding it by getting straight into the wine business is too much social risk.

>>5873274
>>No, lets just get on with it, time is money
>>I vote for Cheese. Neutrality is important. I feel we may have mucked this up a little already with our lack of Diplomacy(meh) butcompounding it by getting straight into the wine business is too much social risk.
>>>Build a small house as well.

We can rent the house until we’re in da green.

>>5873357
Actually scratch da house on second thought

Anons no, please. This is not how you do buisness. Do barell making and press making.
The people who make money in a gold rush are the ones who sell shovels.
Fuck the cheese farm, who gives a fuck about it and definetly fuck the wine making, we just let every toothless peasant living in the slums compete in that market.

Also, QM, tell me more about the salt trade. It is crucial information. If there isn't an salt trade with the mountain tribes, we are missing out on so much money it's not even funny.

>>5873380
Backing this anon - we need to get involved in the supply chain, but not in the primary end.

Owning a farm is notoriously hard due to the fickle nature of weather / crops.

Whereas barrels have multiple uses (including in the wine industry)

We should examine the current players in the supply chain and look to undermine them with new requirements in relation to ‘health standards’

You have an extremely valid point, but the cheese thing is a compromise.

>>5873301
Switching from this.
>>5873380
>To Barrels.
You convinced me. A Cooper is a great business to get into. Its thw most innocent, neutral thing imaginable.

>>5873602
+1 SUPPORT

Cooper is the name, and barrels are the game.

Also Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you are safe and well, wherever you may be.

>>5873380

Okay in the interest of comity, I will switch to barrels as well

I’m backing barrels too. Whatever keeps us moving forward atp.

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18 KB JPG

I'm thinking with psyche being a stat maybe some sort of asylum might be a good idea long term too, but let's leave that for later.

Still partial to cheese but fine with barrel making. It'll probably make more short-term with the wine bubble, but I don't see it being a profitable export like high-class cheese woul be.

>>5873699
I actually disagree with this idea. Barrels are a expensive and (as close to as possible within the era) complex piece of industrial equipment and have unlimited export potential (even more so because we are close to mountains and the coastline, so we have basically infinite potential to barrel and salt both meat and fish), are a complex item that requires a workshop with specialized tools, equipment and skills.
Cheesemaking has been (and in some places still is) a family scale profession used to preserve milk so it doesn't spoil. Yeah, it's tasty, but food export, especially in the medieval times, tends to be local.

>>5873711
The land use dispute in the Redwood could be a boon too. I expect more cheaper timber coming out of there

>>5873716

Good point, anon - we’ll set up our barrel business now and then make sure we get cheap lumber next

So the vote is now in favour of barrel making, totaling six votes
To make barrels, there is a need for wood. Most of the territory Trenfel covers is grasslands, with very little trees.
Just outside the border there is both forrest and the redwoods. Since the city is a tradehub, there are ample opportunities for importing wood too.

>Spot one:
North western border site, with woods right outside the city border. There is likely no problems with chopping wood here, as the woods are not claimed by any faction.
The land is cheaper here (one (1) budget), and the city is not too far off. Some fear that if there is any war or conflict in the future, it is likely that these areas could become dangerous.

>Spot two:
Eastern border location with the only woods withing the city borders. Since this is within the borders, it would be well within Marjuns right to use the wood here for any purpose.
This area is furthest away from both the city proper, and the most common land traderoutes.

>Spot three:
South eastern area close to the Redwoods. Right over the border the redwoods are dense with crimson oak we could buy from the freemen.
Close to a land traderoute, making transportation in and out of the city easier. Lots of empty land (currently).

>Spot four:
Southern coastal spot. Very close to city proper, city border, and the redwoods.
Coast would make it easier to transport wares by boat, with a land traderoute giving extra options of trading over land. Not very spacious, but there should be enough to conduct business regardless

Up until recently the freemen of the Redwoods have been very strict with their buying and selling of wood, as they deem their woods culturally important. Recently however there have been rumors that some freemen are abandoning some of their ideals, now willing to sell land and lumber.

Choose one of the four (or do a write in, but please mark it on the map)

>>5873411
I will tell more about the salt later, but right now I feel I need to get this vote over with first. A business dependent on wood, having difficulties in getting said wood could be a problem

>>5873751
>Spot one:
We should incest in more military next yearly cycle to protect our barrels

>>5873751
>Spot one:

Good thing we built that watchtower in the Northwestern hills. Makes this choice much more attractive. Redwoods are attractive too, but if we go there we'll definitely go into the red, and the red wood trees have their own political implications.

I'll take the discount over everything.

>>5873751
Let's go by elimination.
Option one goes off immediately because businesses burned to the ground don't make us any money.
Option two goes off because we shouldn't be exploiting our own limited natural resources.
Which leaves option 3 and 4. I would prefer option 4, but I would cast my vote in with 3 aswell if it would be the deciding vote.

>>5873751
how much would the barrel business cost to start?

>>5873751
>Spot one:

We’ve just invested in our military, so should be fine

Even the operation is burnt down in a war, we can make it so the city loans out cheap money to ‘war-impacted businesses’ - which we would be

>>5873751
Spot 1.
>>5873652
This is me btw.

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363 KB PNG

>>5873751
>Spot one:
North western border site, with woods right outside the city border. There is likely no problems with chopping wood here, as the woods are not claimed by any faction.
The land is cheaper here (one (1) budget), and the city is not too far off. Some fear that if there is any war or conflict in the future, it is likely that these areas could become dangerous.

Spot 1. We will eventually have to expand into the forest to fully secure our borders from invasion via hilly regions(see my thick black expanded border long term goal in the image. The hilly regions will be full of untaxed vineyards. Location, location, location. We'll be right there. More reward is likely to be had by pursuing the crimson oak of the freemen but its not worth the reward. The freemen selling crimson oak are breaking with tradition and that won't last nor is it worth angering established freemen powers and nobles by inserting ourselves into the conflict any more than we need to.
Spot 2 is further from the hills and will likely get some freemen action but who knows if it will last. The safest choice.
Spot 3 is going all in on sticking our nose in the freemen business, not worth without high Diplomacy or Espionage.
Spot 4 would work if we were poaching the wood and has good real estate value, rogue's choice.

>>5873751

>Spot one:
North western border site, with woods right outside the city border. There is likely no problems with chopping wood here, as the woods are not claimed by any faction.
The land is cheaper here (one (1) budget), and the city is not too far off. Some fear that if there is any war or conflict in the future, it is likely that these areas could become dangerous.

We could always just abandon the site if it gets dangerous

Im finishing up some christmas related stuff now, and will do a session after.
So far there seems to be a consensus on spot number one. I will leave the vote open, but I doubt there will be that significant change in opinion by the time I start writing
For now, here is some info

Salt is produced in large quantities further south within the empire. This trade good is distributed into the empire by land, as such there is no large quantities sent our way for us to earn money on. We do trade some salt bought from the south to some of our northern neighbours along the mountainrange. If any factions located even further north outside the empire were in need of salt, then Trenfel would be a perfect hub for bringing this good furhter up. At the moment, they have little interest in empire salt. Perhaps they have their own salt source?
Trenfel itself uses salt primarily to salt fish and to make a popular traditional Ejudic holiday meal: Stick salt lamb.
The lamb meat is served still attached to the bone, having been slowboiled over more than an entire day, with an assortment of mashed vegetables. The preparations are long: the lamb must be slaughtered, salted, and left to hang for more than an entire month before you can start the actual slow cooking. The bone in this dish is called the "stick".

>>5873771
Marjun needs land, infrastructure and wood for the business to work. It is estimated that construction of needed infrastructure is one (1) budget, while the land is one (1) budget. Since the wood is readily available just over the border, this wont cost anything. Manual labour would be done by Marjuns family, as this is the normal way for this kind of business to be handled. Naturally Marjun and his family would need a home, either a humble one costing one (1) budget, or a bigger house for two (2) budget.

>>5873840
Oh then can I add to my vote? Might as build a big house, this is the senpai after all. We can afford it now since barrel making is cheaper.
>Build a bigger house

>>5873840
Where is Marjun and his family living now?

>>5873751
>Spot 2

>>5873751
>spot 4

And big house

Marjun decides it best to avoid the wine production itself, and rather take a role that is sure to make money from the industry taking off. He aquires the needed land, and arranges for the construction of a building for storing wood and to do the cooping process.

For housing, Marjun decides it would be best to have (choose one):
>1: A modest house. Not that spacious, but enough room for the entire family and one guest. (Costs one budget)
>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)
>3: Write in

Leaving his family to take care of construction, Marjun decides to check up on the guard tower before returning to his work.
The tower seems to be on schedule, and well on its way for completion!
With that taken care of, he returns to the city.
And oh boy, there is quite the wine rush. People talk about wine openly in the same way they talk about the upcoming holidays and its food. Public interest is at an all time high, and it seems to only be increasing. It is sure to become interesting when things have properly settled and production starts for real.

Back in session with the council, the days pass with little happening. Surprising, given the wine rush, Marjun felt sure there would be a lot of unforeseen things propping up rather fast. Maybe there will be some given some more time. Skill espionage 0: It is a bit unnerving that the trader families are so calm about the whole situation too. Marjun would have assumed there would be some protests in regards to them getting taxed more that the common man. Oh well, he has not even worked in the council for even a year yet, maybe this is just how they are.

1/2

Some months pass, and the wine business seems to be doing good. Almost none of the wine sold has gotten that much aging yet, so the council estimates the economy might be booming after some more time.
One day the council gets visitors from the redwoods. A couple freemen representing the Redwood Commons are asking if the council can confirm our promise to follow the Redwood Commons Contract. As Marjun has been informed about, there are some freemen offering to sell land and oak to empire cities and provinces. These representatives have been sent to each of their neighbours to confirm their promise, by offering a signature.
Problem is, that is not something the council, nor any other city or province can do. This is an agreement made with the emperor, and thus one the empire must confirm. Trenfel, like every other city and territory, is supposed to follow the contract because the empire said so.
The noble supervisor that is usually relaxed and never interrupts, is now seemingly livid. By even suggesting that the council should confirm our position, he argues that the Redwood Commons are saying the city of Trenfel is entirely in charge of itself, in other words independant. If these freemen are going around to other places too, then someone might actually think the *are* independant, or at the very least *should* be.
The council is all over the place. A large majority thinks signing anything would be detrimental to our relation with the emperor, and could pose severe risk to our current freedoms. But there are those who believe signing is only formal, and to assure the freemen that the city wont break the contract. They also argue, that by *not* signing, there are risks of the freemen no longer protecting our land traderoutes guaranteed under the same contract, or worse things, like reprisals.

External Affairs total skill: 1 Diplomacy + 0 Espionage + 1 Trade = 2.
Marjun is a dedicated worker. With hard work and keeping at it, he has gotten far in life. But right this moment, there are crucial skills he is lacking to figure out how to manouver this problem. The noise is getting loud, Marjun cant hear himself think. The only solution he can see, is to sign, or not to sign. He makes a note for himself to improve upon a skill in the near future to become more prepared for moments like these.

But right here, right now, among the bickering council, a decision must be made.
And its all on Marjuns shoulders (choose one)

>A: Sign it
>B: Dont sign it

>>5873851
Him and his family are currently living in the city proper. When the new house is completed it is expected that the majority will move over to the new property, with a family member remaining with a house to start a new family.

2/2

Im going to bed for now, hopefully I can do a session tomorrow too

And also, I hope you all had a good christmas everyone :)

>>5873905
>1: A modest house. Not that spacious, but enough room for the entire family and one guest. (Costs one budget)
Saves budget and would give off the image of us being just like the common folk.
>>5873907
Aight yall who do we fear more? The emperor or the freemen?

>>5873907
>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)

>B: Dont sign it

This is above our payroll. If the Freemen take action against us that isn't our problem, that is the empires and the nobles problem and our noble supervisor better go to bat for us in getting aid should they attack or not hold up their bargain. We're a city of the empire so we should have the protections of our lieges.

>>5873905
>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)

>A: Sign it
Lovely redwood timber for our barrels

>>5873908
>>5873907
Don’t sign it.

>>5873905
>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)
We can afford it. Also, I found this video on how wine barrels are made:
https://youtu.be/aCrkmyQtQIMsi=Z177w3wre1BSh1Bd

>>5873907
>B: Dont sign it
You could argue that any contract we make is void if it’s not allowed under the jurisdiction of the emperor.

>>5873907
>>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)

>>Don't sign it.
Glad that noble is here to make his voice heard, we should thank him afterwards.

>>5873907
This is actually great news that the freemen are doing this. If they are intentionally trying to mess with the empire then that means war with the freemen. They'll get wiped out and we can move in on their forests... assuming we back the empire. And we located our stuff as far from the Freemen as possible near the new watchtower. Perfect. We just need to keep these guys from moving into the smaller mountains to the North and setting up so they can raid us.

>>5873905
>1: A modest house. Not that spacious, but enough room for the entire family and one guest. (Costs one budget)


>>5873907
>A: Sign it

>>5873919

Supporting.

I think you’re interpreting this correctly, anon - we should ally with the emperor and seek war with the freemen

>>5873905
>2: A bigger house. Good space, possible to have more specialized rooms for different work and hobbies. (Costs two budget)

>Don’t sign it

The Emperor is our liege lord and can snuff out our freedoms in an instant. Let’s not pass him off over something so trivial

The freemen sigh, give each other a look, then promptly leave the council. The noble walks up to Marjun and gives him a firm handshake. The noble will soon leave the city to talk with the emperor. He feels there will be a major incident going down in the empire, and he needs to prepare and coordinate a response with the other imperial subjects. The noble promises Marjun that not signing was a good decision, which the emperor will be informed about.

With that, the council enters a period of time without nobility supervision. Marjun is surprised how fast certain branches of the council start discussing and propose things that are very much against the empires interests, the most extreme being to outright declare independance. The council at large is against this idea, as this would bring instability and hurt trade with the empire.

Interestingly enough, the part of council that Marjun spent many nights and days with to form the Grape and Wine drafts, are very pro-empire. Following the draft, many of these councillors have started to see themselves as the council core, which they regard Marjun as a part of. They feel the trader families are only trying to enrich themselves, and are only in the council to lobby for their respective businesses.

With some of the early incomes from the wine business is starting to trickle in, a proposal is put forward to give the council a holiday bonus, as reward for the shrewd lawmaking.

Does the council take out a holiday bonus? (choose one)
>A: Yes, it is well deserved. Marjun gets two (2) budget
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)
>C: Write in

The market has seen an influx of crimson oak, which no doubt must have been imported from the redwoods. There have been construction of somesmall but sturdy fishing boats, and some carpenters have started fashioning furniture from the imported wood.

There are councillors who advocate that we start ramping up our imports of this crimson oak. Construction materials are in demand to make more housing and sea vessels, so it is argued prices would go down with more readily available materials. (One councilor makes a remark that the wood would make excellent caskets for wine. Skill espionage zero (0): Marjun feels this migh comment is adressed to him.) If there is hostilities in the future, the wood could be useful for defensive purposes as well.
The core councillors believe we should, for the moment, ban all imports from the redwoods. There are conflicts brewing, and it should be avoided to get involved for as long as possible. The Redwood Commons dont want their wood sold like this, and the empire could suspect we secretely signed anything.
A couple councillors believe keeping the imports small scale would be a good middle ground. As long as the city itself never trades it, while letting the civilian sector use it for their needs, then the council has deniability.

What stance should we take?
>Write in

Oh, and
>Bigger house won the vote. Marjun currently has zero (0) personal budget.

>>5874239

>Keep the imports small scale
and mix it with
>C: immediately invest it into a project - have the city start looking for experienced bow and crossbow makers, and if the money isn't enough, go around asking prominent, likeminded and wealthy individuals to invest into this (we'll pay them back later/for the wellbeing of our city)

Reasoning is multi-faceted:
We don't offend the redwooders and we employ their wood for a noble cause, for what is there that is more noble than warfare (but we also benefit from the current situation).
We strengthen ourselves, as bows and crossbows are very useful in warfare, battles, skirmishes and sieges.
We enrich ourselves, good weaponry is always a expensive item.

>>5874239
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)
>A couple councillors believe keeping the imports small scale would be a good middle ground. As long as the city itself never trades it, while letting the civilian sector use it for their needs, then the council has deniability.

>>5874239

>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)

Better to show the city that we’re serious about reinvesting. Plus the city actually needs the money.

>take middle stance on redwood

I mean, preferably we’d buy smaller amounts of wood through middlemen, under a different name, and therefore we never make a direct transaction with the Redwood people. Sort of like how Russian gas is “banned” in Europe, but plenty of merchant ships just buy Russian crude and relabel it as something else for sale.

We’re pro-empire, sure, but let’s not forget the Empire is a big place and probably small amounts of deal making won’t be discovered

>>5874239
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)
The big house is already a little conspicuous wealth wise. We'll get blamed for diverting resources from defense when the killing starts. I like the crossbows idea, give everyone a fighting chance.

>Ban just the imports of crimson oak. Other bans might hurt Agreement-loyalist freemen.

The Empire loves us.
The people love us.
The Merchants seethe.

How do we solve the Merchant problem?

>>5874239
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)
>A couple councillors believe keeping the imports small scale would be a good middle ground. As long as the city itself never trades it, while letting the civilian sector use it for their needs, then the council has deniability.
>No crossbows

I think the crossbows are more than one budget. Just wait till we get till it’s time for a project next year with next years revenues for a military project. Trying to stretch one budget will just make it a shitshow of a project. And if we take investments that’ll be a massive shitshow in waiting, they’ll be asking for favors and while holding the debt over our heads

>>5874239
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)
>A couple councillors believe keeping the imports small scale would be a good middle ground. As long as the city itself never trades it, while letting the civilian sector use it for their needs, then the council has deniability.

>>5874239
>B: No, the state needs it. City budget increases by one (1)

>A couple councillors believe keeping the imports small scale would be a good middle ground.

How much does our personal wealth replenish annually QM?

It is decided that there will be no interfering with the civilian imports as of now. Most are fine with this, unlike the decision to not take out a bonus. Many were interested in replenishing their coffers after investing in the wine business. It is mostly grumbling from a select few, but there is put forward some suggestions as what to do with the extra money.

There is a suggestion to re-hire the workers from the watchtower, and have them work on another project next year. They are almost finished, and they are likely to be done within the year. Rumor is that the worker group has plans to travel further north to look for work, paying them now would prevent this.

From the council core it is preferred if we extend our administration, by looking for more staff. Advisors, diplomats, traders, master craftsmen, etc. By using the leftover budget, we could entice some to come work for the council. With conflict on the horizon, extra management is sure to be helpful.

A representative of one trader family thinks this money could help pay for the common mans holiday expenses. Paying for quantities of stick salt lamb and wine, would ensure that every Trenfel family has a good holiday. This would stimulate our market, while also give the council a popularity boost. The representative argues this popularity could be crucial, should we have to make any difficult decisions down the line

Or, the cash could be saved until next year. This budget could be important if something unexpected happens.

How do we spend this extra budget?
>Write in

>>5874267
Annual salary for being First Citizen is around one third the value of the annual city budget. It has been common to give out bonuses to the council every now and then, but this depends a lot on who is currently in the council. During this first year, Marjun has only ever had this proposed to him once. This bonus is based upon how big the state aparatus is. Right now, a bonus is converted at a ratio of one (1) state budget to two (2) personal budget.
Marjun and his family had worked up some funds ready for when he first took office.

>>5874282
Extend our admin.

>>5874282
What' the state of our defenses?

>>5874282
>Pay for holiday expenses

The traders are pissed at us so let’s just give in to their suggestion. It’s still a good one anyways even if I’d prefer to expand the administration. We really can’t afford any plotting against us when our espionage stat is as shit as it is.

>>5874290
I forgot the traders were mad so I second this instead.

>>5874282
>Pay for holiday expenses

>>5874290

Supporting, this would compete our first set of efforts and ensure that we have popular support

>>5874289
Our defence has had some neglect, since it has been a time of prosperity. The northern tribes and petty kings have not caused any trouble in a while, and our land traderoutes have protection provided by the freemen of the Redwoods. Security concerns are on the rise, and the city does not have that great of a military. The empire provides some military, but the provided military has been on the decline since there were little conflict here.

Regardless, we have a tiny army provided by the empire, and a small militia. This militia is severely undertrained, and has for a long time functioned more like a combined police and firebrigade.

We do have a brand new (almost finished) watchtower made from stone. Placed on top of a hill on our northwestern border, we should be able to spot trouble from this direction and along the coast.

>>5874282
>Save it. In times of uncertainty we need to be able to act.

We already met the merchants half-way on trade.

>>5874308

To this anon’s point, we should focus on security for our next major moves.

Increase the size of army and militia both to better man our new watchtower, etc etc

>>5874315
Drawing people into the militia, training the militia better, and finally equipping them better for martial and fire fighting purposes.

What doyou think?

>>5874342

Support, I like the cut of your jib, anon.

We could consider creating a “first citizen’s brigade” as a standalone military force but that might be too controversial. Probably better to professionalize the militia and have them double as firefighters in peacetime as you suggest

I really think we should see the options we have for military after discussing it with Councillors instead of doing a write-in right now. Professionalizing the militia is all well and good, but we probably need a lot help and funding to that.

>>5874350
Something to accomplish across 2-3 years ut once its done, its a solid investment.

>>5874353
Yeah, but let's get a meeting with advisors to ask about military instead of doing it as a write-in in a vote about spending 1(!) budget.

I agree our next project should be military again but let's see what they present first before deciding right now.

>>5874308
Our noble goy better come help us

Next post tomorrow hopefully, got some business to take care of
Vote is open until then

>>5874345
>>5874354

To clarify, I’m voting to pay for holiday expenses in the short term but I generally agree with improving our military over the long run

>>5874354
I agree. That post was more of a brainstorming session than anything.

I was thunkin that we could use cavalry as a patrol and escort group more than a militia. The freemen seem like they would mainly be raiders pouring out the forest to interrupt trade more than a conventional army. Sponsor some ranches first then purchase horses at a discounted rate for the city to start a light cavalry squad

>>5874442
Interesting thoughts. I'd figure the abandoning tradition faction of Freemen would get expelled and end up in the smaller mountains to our North but if they end up getting popular then I;d expect more coastal raids.

>>5874342

I like this, but it can be amended:
>pay for the holiday expenses of citizens who serve in the city militia

This should only use 0.5 of a budget, will still boost local economic activity and will incentivise military service.

The locals won’t see war on the horizon after all

>>5874459
I'll switch from >>5874310 saving it
to backing this. Kinda frees up money for our militia to prepare without beng an overtly aggressive signal. Might as well spend the whole 1 point though and really treat them.

>>5874459
-1

Overcomplicating too much. Help the people don’t segment unnecessarily. Our militia is too tiny for it to boost economy.

>>5874459
+1
Use it as a mixture of a recruitment drive and popular festival.
Like, any man who can show up with weapons and perform drills will get drinks and food for free.

Merry Christmas City-Management quest

>>5874282
>Pay for holiday expenses

Whoops forgor to vote

Counting votes and preparing some food. Writing soon ish

>Pay for holiday expenses, with an extra little bonus for the militia

The budget is spent on the citizens of the city, with an extra bottle of wine for the militia and the military. The general public has not yet felt any effects of the brewing instability within the empire, as such most citizens decide to spend their leftover money on other wares and services within the city. Money flow is good during the holiday, and most of the council takes the last few weeks of the year off.

Marjun and his family enjoy the time off. The house was completed first so everyone could move in, and the cooping business is ready to start up early next year.

Some family members ask if he would like to join chopping some wood and plan for the final constructions.
Marjun would like to sift through some literature from the new bookcase. It has a whole bunch of different literature, both fiction and factual texts. He could probably find a book about most any topic here.
Like the workaholic that he is, Marjun is also tempted to get back to work early to make preparations for the coming year.
Considering the mental note he made to himself some time ago, Marjun could also look at ways to improve a skill of his.

What does Marjun do during the holidays?
>Write in


(You may do a write-in that deviates from some of the suggestions above. If so, specify)

>>5875796
>Some family members ask if he would like to join chopping some wood and plan for the final constructions.

With our personal skills, especially our drive, I smell a discount of personal budget if we help out in the construction.

>>5875796
>Considering the mental note he made to himself some time ago, Marjun could also look at ways to improve a skill of his.
Our espionage skill is horrendously low.

>>5875801

Supporting skill development, we need to shore up our weaknesses

Also a heads up: I will not be able to make another update until the 30th at the earliest, as I am celebrating with my grandma and cousins

Until I return, the vote remains open

>>5875796
>Marjun practices Wrestling. He may not be cunning so he'll just have to be ready for when someone makes their move on him.

>>5875801
Supporting this

>>5875796
>Develop Espionage

Caught up.

>Develop Diplomacy

I don’t see the point of developing skills we have 0 points in. Going more specialized is better when we have skills checks, I doubt we’re going to pass much with 1 point in espionage. Let’s go for 2 diplomacy to get ready for asking stuff from mr. daddy emperor

>>5875796
>>5875843
Changing from this to
>develop espionage
Marjun reads The Prince while squinting real hard and going, "I don't really get it but but OK."

I am back, I will eat dinner with my family in a couple hours and then I will write

Happy new year!

>>5879236
Cool. Happy new year.

In bed at night, Marjun contemplates his first year as First Citizen. There have been instances where what people say and what people do are very different. There have been proposed changes and suggestions providing radically different outcomes than intended.
A feeling deep inside tells him there is a chance this might not be unintended.
After some nights spent pondering, he decides to go to the city to procure books that might help him. When Marjun arrives at the bookstore, he discovers he is not alone in his task of aquiring books, as he has to stand in line outside before he can enter. He stands outside for some time, while slowly but surely getting closer and closer to enter.

But at this moment, Marjun notices something. Two people talking somewhere behind him, words conveying meaning that Marjun hoped he would never have to hear. One of the prominent trader families are currently talking with the freemen, and they seek to establish an alliance of sorts. There are words of exchanging money and services.
As Marjun attempts to listen in more closely, it is his turn to enter. To avoid unwanted attention, he decides it best to just enter, buy the books, and discretely leave. Skill Espionage 0: Hopefully he did not stand out.

Marjun has problems enjoying his holiday properly, and uses most of his time introspecting and reading his books. His family wishes he spent more time with them, but they seem to understand Marjuns position as First Citizen.

Espionage skill: zero (0) -> one (1)

1/2

With the holidays over, it is time to return to office. Marjun arrives early, so he can start work immidiately. Some others from the council core are there too, and they are currently busy discussing this years budget and other current news.

Year one of Marjuns term as First Citizen is over. Two more years until next election.

Budget:
State budget: 0 -> 6
Personal budget: 0 -> 2
Some of the councillors expect there to be some extra money for the state later into the year, as most of the vineyards have had the time to set up properly by now. They predict many bottles of wine is to be sold, driving exports up.

News:
The watchtower is complete! During the construction of the watchtower, there has been a rise in housing up to, and around the tower. This area can now be called a part of the city proper.
Certain petty kingdoms from the north west seem to have solved some of their internal and external problems. Their traders seem interested in our growing wine production, and are eager to buy from us.
The noble has not yet returned. It is expected to be several more sessions with "wild" suggestions being put forward.
The civilian sector is steadily increasing its use of crimson oak. There are fears this usage could increase in the coming months by too large of a margin. The council has not imported anything, but with larger quantities of crimson oak coming in, plausible deniability could become harder to prove.


How would Marjun like to allocate budget for this year? (You do not have to spend the entire budget now)

>1: Write in

With the conversation Marjun overheard during the holidays fresh in his mind, a course of action must be taken.
There are several trader families in council, and, as far as Marjun knows, one of them is making shady deals with the freemen. He heard there will be an exchange of money and services. Would freezing staff payment stop the family from doing their deals? Marjun is still new to these lines of thinking, but this problem must be solved somehow.

How does Marjun attempt to solve this issue? (It is valid to not do anything, if desired)

>A: Write in

2/2

>>5879433

City budget
>Spend three wealth and increase the size and training of the city’s military

>Hire a spy amongst the freemen and try to collect proof of wrongdoing by the trading families

We can penalize the conspirators with a hefty financial penalty and use the money for the city.

Personal budget:

Start assembling a personal bodyguard of warriors (10 total?) and spend a point of wealth in doing so.

>>5879433
>How would Marjun like to allocate budget for this year? (You do not have to spend the entire budget now)
Spend 3 budget on building that library we could’ve built earlier. We can spend the other 3 on improving our military, like I’m sure most people would agree on doing.
>How does Marjun attempt to solve this issue? (It is valid to not do anything, if desired)
What the other guy said. Hire a spy to collect proof of wrongdoing.

>>5879433
>Spend 3 Budget on militia
>Spend 1 or 2 Budget to hire a mercenary military advisor to train the militia
Throwing money only does so much we need a man than can train discipline.

>Let a rival trading family know of our suspicions. They’ll do the work for us.

>>5879444
>>5879433
How much would hiring a spy cost if we used our personal budget?
>>5879471
Telling a rival trade family could be risky. I’ve no doubt they would try to find dirt on them, but after that trading family is taken care of now they know they can try the same shit all over again.

>>5879433
>Spend 3 Budget on militia

>Spend 1 or 2 Budget to hire a mercenary military advisor to train the militia

>Let a rival trading family know of our suspicions. They’ll do the work for us.

Hiring a spy is too much of a headache. Do we even know any freemen? Let alone one we can trust? Telling a rival trading family isn’t a perfect idea but it seems less likely to blow up in our faces in the short term. We can assemble a police or spy network later to deal with stuff like this.

>>5879488
We could do both, in case one of the plans fails. Simply telling the rival family is completely free and hiring a single spy shouldn’t be more than 2 personal budget.

>>5879433 #
Budget
>City budget
Spend 3 budget drawing people into the militia, training the militia better, and finally equipping them better for martial and fire fighting purposes.

> Personal Budget
Spend 1 budget on Family Security. Who knows what the Merchants might try.
Spend 1 budget on a Noble Advisor. Perhaps not of noble blood but someone loyal to the Emperor and knowledgeable.

Crimson Oak
>Ban all imports of Crimson Oak. Its what we should have done in the first place, we got a little benefit out of it but its now more trouble than its worth. We can declare ignorance of these imports no longer.

>>5879433
>State budget:
> Spend 3 budget on building the library.
> Spend 2 budget on expanding the town hall. We can build more floors in the city centre that we can sell for private enterprise for a profit, with the same workforce that we used for the construction of the watchtower.

I will do another session tomorrow hopefully. Vote is open until I return

>>5879479
Marjun is still very new to this, and has no idea how much hiring a spy would cost. He cant even make a proper estimate
He could ask a councillor or two, but that could make them suspect something
Alternatively, he could try to find a spy, and ask their price

>>5879572

>Alternatively, he could try to find a spy, and ask their price.

I mean, this is a solved problem if we approach a normal freemen and just bribe them to tell us everything they hear. The freemen wouldn’t know what the asking price for spying would be either. We really just need contracts, books, ledgers proving that one of the trading families is cheating.

>>5879578
+1. It’s corrupt but I don’t see any way to deal with this that ain’t.

>>5879578
How is a regular random Freemen going to have contract, books, and ledgers lmao? Espionage isn't our thing yet, we're just going to end up embarrassing ourselves and causing a scandal.

A normal freemen is just going to take the money and tell on us, and not have any good info because he would be completely unrelated to the parties doing the deal. Marjun isn't a spymaster this is never going to work.

>>5879586
>>5879578
Ah, damn. Guess I didn’t process the “normal” part of that post. -1. I still think hiring the right freeman from the inside is a good idea, though.

>>5879564
Didn’t the workforce we use fuck off since we didn’t use the budget to keep ‘em around?

>>5879586
>>5879590

Im not suggesting we hire a literal random freemen, lol. Surely there must be a master guildsmen who have working knowledge of the trading families and their local projects. We would have this person keep tabs on the families.

Once we know which trading families are cheating, we can hire an actual thief/burglar/spy to get the evidence from the cheater’s mansion.

This is not complicated stuff and Marjun now has Espionage 1, so this should be easily doable

>>5879586
I must agree that Marjun is no Spymaster. Surely there are some official Diplomatic channels with the Freemen we can call upon who would want a peaceable solution and now we are canny enough to read between the lines and use that as a starting point to find more in-depth info on the Freeman factions and domestic situation.

>>5879642
Poor Marjun all he wants to do is run the city well, but these trading families are being mean :(

>>5879665
They are super greedy for Crimson Oak and ready to start a Freemen civil war+stir shit with the Empire over it and we tried to placate them but apparently they took that as a sign of weakness.

So we got some factions on the board here

Emperor - runs shit, wants our obedience and for us not to stir up trouble
Nobles- don't run things but can snitch on us to the Emperor, want our loyalty to the Empire and preferential treatment.
Merchants - runs quality control for trade(important enough that we can't just kill them off and try to replace them since they are all about connections and leverage) and probably the banking too(DON'T GET IN DEBT) if they are like historical non tradesmen guild merchants. They want opportunities and preferential treatment but are greedy and can't be placated. Any deal we cut with them therefore has to be of the "you get this benefit as long as you stay in line and I hold the key to stopping the benefit" type. Currently they want Crimson Oak.

A solution has therefore presented itself to me that requires some minor corruption. I don't don't if Marjun is Tony Soprano enough to pull this off yet, though. Maybe next year.
Step 1: Ban the import of but not trade in Crimson Oak.
Step 2: Cut a backroom deal with the Merchants that Militia patrol routes for enforcing the import ban will be provided to the Merchants through one of our family members we trust, We get a taste of the profits from the smuggling(say20% of the net profits which we can drop as low as 10% to make them feel smart). We make sure they know that if we even THINK they aren't giving us our 20%, the deal is off(ergo, they must stay in line without losing face).
Step 3: We don't actually have the intel to know if we're getting our proper cut so we simply cut off the supply with our big ol' militia if they step out of line
Step 4: Figure out additional deals like this we can do so we have them thoroughly under our control.

>>5879704
Addendum.

If the Emperor gets pissed that smuggling is supporting the Heretic Freemen Faction to move on the Traditionalist Freemen Faction, we can crack down any time we like and the Merchants can't do shit or they get revealed as the whiny babies we needed to do these deals with to be kept in line. As far as our cut goes? It looks suspicious to the Merchants to do this deal if there is no personal benefit. A neccessary evil.

>>5879704
>>5879717

This is a bretty gud plan, especially if we keep grinding espionage to stay on top of this stuff

>>5879704
Marjun would 100% fail unless we had like 4 espionage it’s not a short term plan for sure.

>>5879799
It seems like something we could pull off with 2 Espionage, maybe 3. We can ban import of Crimson Oak, and should, right away.

Why are we planning the spymaster route anyways? So far we’ve aligned ourselves with the non-corrupt empire loyalists and that could be a path forward easier than complicated schemes. Maybe to even possible nobility.

I assume 2 skill is average to good. I’d assume 3 is bare minimum for a multi-part scheme. Trading families have been scheming far longer.

>>5879799
What's another way to control the Merchant's Guild if not by a combination of blackmail and bribery?
Straight bribery and compliance has not worked so far. Their greed renders them immune.
Blackmail? I mean I guess we can hire a Ray Donovan/ninja type to try and collect blackmail on the Merchants but using it to force compliance will surely piss them off.
Force? We gonna start an assassination war or just round them up and burn them at the stake? Who do we replace them with?

I'm open to ideas.

>>5879820
What if we established a City Bank to chisel in on the Merchant Guild's business. From there we just need to diversify local industry by investing in new local guilds to maintain quality control of essential goods and invest in establishing a government run Better Business Bureau to analyze and put government muscle behind complaints of inferior/tainted goods and the Merchants are pretty much out of a job. Minimal Espionage required but we will need to Legislate like crazy. Statesmanship 2 at least will be neccessary to delegate these tasks to more qualified individuals.

>>5879835
I like that idea better than the schemes too desu. Easier and we’ve already made progress with diversifying for small businesses with the wine tax.

Spy shit is fun and all but this character wasn’t really built for that lmao, we were elected because we’re a uncorrupt neutral party, and now our faction is basically empirefag bureaucrats. There’s a reason why we can’t just go ask for help in the council with spying right now and there’s because our allied would be appalled for the most part.

>>5879841
*that's because our allies
jesus

So if we go the beuracrat route then its a two part plan?

First, set up the city bank. This is easy and profitable once we hire an expert to oversee it. A bank is a bank is a bank. I think we can all agree to keep to a gold or silver standard and not do fiat currency shenanigans.

Second, set up the Better Business Bureau. We'll need another expert overseer here. Statesmanship 2 is a minimum here I think, just a lot of manpower being managed. We need to do some thinking on this one. How does this work? Like A-F rankings for merchants based on investigations into mass complaints? Update this info quarterly and charge for printed copy updated yearly? Do printing presses exist and do we have one? Eventual blocks on right to import for F class merchants(keep importing say stuff that is tainted and sickening people) or anyone we want to punish in particular.

Improving skills and hirelings to run the BBB without our direct guidance seems like a good long term goal but I'm sure other issues will pop up.

>>5879444
>+1
Supporting this option. We need a literate, educated populous to bring our city wealth and innovation.

>>5879890
Sounds good to me

>>5879433
Don't know what to think regarding the current discussions. Not yet at least. For now I'll vote to...

>Spend 3 state budget on improving the size and training of the city's militia
>Tell a rival trading family about what we overheard and ask them to keep us in the loop

I'm also vaguely agreeable to hiring some kind of advisor with either the state or personal budget.

>>5879433
>Spend 3 Budget on militia
>Spend 1 or 2 Budget to hire a mercenary military advisor to train the militia
>Let a rival trading family know of our suspicions. They’ll do the work for us.

>Make diplomatic overtures for a unofficial meeting to work things out with the freemen

Would much prefer to resolve diplomatically however I’ll vote for telling a family to prevent spy causing traders to be mean :(.

>>5879433
>Spend 3 State Budget on militia
>Spend 1 or 2 State Budget to hire a mercenary military advisor to train the militia

Before we go and tell rival trade families our suspicions. QM - can we please have a breakdown of who the major trading families are and our relationship with each of them?

So far the vote seems to be

>Spend three budget on military / militia
>Spend some budget for military advisors
and
>Inform another trading family

I can also see there is interest in solving the trader family problem beurocratically. Internal Affairs total skill: 1 Statemanship + 1 Enterprising + 1 Coordination = 3 Marjun estimates this would be costly, but doable. By hiring more advisors and staff, he could prepare the groundworks for an extensive project. Establishing the groundwork itself should not be too costly, but quality advisors and the infrastructure would be. If Marjun decides to take an active role in making sure the project succeeds, he is certain the results would be good

I will let the vote stay open until when I write tomorrow. Some extra information regarding the families could be important for this decision
As >>5880480 requested, there will be an infodump in a few minutes.


I am a bit tired, please excuse me if I misspell

Ejudic society revolves around family and familial ties. Families split when they grow too large, but they still stay closely knit. Most families collaborate on certain jobs or tasks, resulting in several families passing on generational knowledge and skills.
Some families has had more luck than others, managing to amass more wealth. These families have over time bought themselves more power and influence, ensuring their spot within government. Families that manage getting this influential can make the government pass policies these families can gain more from.

These families are collectively called trader families. Currently there are four prominent trader families, each with their own businesses and areas of interest.

The Kerenj family cares about agriculture and crops. They have lots of land where they grow both regular and cash crops. With the recent interest in wine, the Kerenj has converted much of their crops to grapes. They currently trade wine within the city and along the cities east along the mountain.

The Kejero family has ties within many other imperial cities. With an extensive family network, they have managed to secure better tradedeals with outside traders. The Kejero has started looking into trading by boat, as the rising security concerns might harm their land based trading.

The Danju family construct fishing vessels and boats. They provide large amounts of fish, but since the winetrade has been lucrative for many, the Danju has decided to make considerable investments in this business. They have long upheld a tradition of keeping reserves of money in case of dire times.

The Boruoa family deals in various local goods and foreign luxuries. Honey, ink, exotic wood and ivory are some of their current bestsellers. The Boruoa family is not natively Ejudic, but they have existed in Trenfel longer than any living citizen can remember. Aside from some eccentricities, they behave like most Ejudic.

1/2

Each of these larger families are in a sense rivals, as they all try to outcompete one another and get preferential treatment from the government.
There are other families with influence as well, but they are by no means as influential.
Most councillors are from one family or another, but this is unavoidable due to the way Ejudic society works. While a good chunk of the council has trader family representatives, the majority of councillors represent individual small families or businesses. Some of those present are just advisors or administrators.
When a family splits, the family usually ends up weakened, as those who split off might go off doing their own thing. They are still considered part of the larger family however, and is likely to help out when needed.

Marjun does not have any relations to any of these families outside of his work. He was elected for being neutral and not biased, so there are no personal problems present. Skill espionage 1: Marjun has a sneaking suspicion this is a nicer way of calling him easy to manipulate.

2/2

We got elected to be the fall guy. lol. lmao.
I trust none of these merchants, that being said they don't seem nearly as scarey or as powerful as real life merchant guilds(yay!). I think those comments were whispered to mess with us and we should ignore them. We should ban the import of crimson oak to choke off the income of the Heretic Freemen so we don't get blamed for enabling them.

>>5880718
Ok so we can solve it with our current skills nice. Let’s make that the next project after military. It’ll be hilarious when the downfall of the trader families is because they hired someone uncorrupt because they thought they could manipulate him

Marjun announces for the council that militarizing would be the most prudent course of action. Several trader family representatives voices concern. The Redwood Commons could see this as Trenfel no longer believing in their ability to keep the traderoutes safe, believing the freemen as useless. Some argue that assembling a military could cause concern for aggressive expansion.
None of these are the reasons Marjun wants a proper military, and disregards these concerns. The safety of the city and its inhabitants is of utmost importance. The forces provided by the empire are not large enough if conflict happens, and as such the city must act accordingly.

The most optimal way to execute these plans would be to have Marjun coordinate each piece of the whole closely and ensure they follow the planned standards. Skill Coordination 1: Marjun finds the sheer amount of different moving parts too much, and decides it better to delegate this further down to other councillors and advisors.
Skill Drive 3: Instead, he personally makes sure that any and all necessary paperwork is handled properly and swiftly. Requests for funds, changing certain laws, militia rights, conscription rules and more, are sorted and fixed to make a better military possible.
There is a concerning amount of papers sent to Marjun for signing, with weird clauses and odd loopholes. If not for Marjun being thorough, these could have been signed and have some unwanted consequences down the line.

1/2

Some aspects have been left open, to let the council send in their written suggestions on how to solve particular issues.
The major one is who will serve in this new military?
Some of the following suggestions:
1: Convert the current militia into a proper salaried military. This process would be quick, as they have the most experience, and would need only a little training to be soldiers. Since they would now be soldiers, establishing a new firebrigade and police would be necessary, but this should come second to Trenfels safety from outside forces. Suggestion submitted by a core councillor.
2: Mass conscript into the militia. This militia will not be an active fighting force, but they are all provided weapons and bound by law to come fight when summoned upon. By letting the common man still do his normal work, production should not be severely harmed by this push for a greater military. Suggestion submitted by a Kerenj representative.
3: Draft the willing into a military. Those who want to serve the city, should be encuraged and allowed to do so. By giving them extensive military training and the best equipment, we would have a motivated and great fighting force. This way we are sure to create proper Ejudic heroes we can all be proud of. Suggestion submitted by a core councillor.
4: Recruit mercenaries. Already trained and with good leaders, a hired military is formidable on the battlefield. As long as they are paid and fed, they are bound to stay loyal to Trenfel and its wise First Citizen. The common man wont have to worry about war, and the economy can continue to prosper. Suggestion submitted by a Kejero representative.
5: Let the Danju family establish the military. With their connections and their wealth, the Danju would make sure a proper military is arranged. The only ask is that they are given the rank of local nobiliy, and are given certain privileges. They are willing to pay for most if not all expenses, meaning the council is refunded a hefty amount of the budget. Suggestion submitted by a Danju representative.
6: Hire foreign military advisors to assemble a military. No living person in this city has fought in any war or conflict, making them all unsuited to make a military, or even a proper militia. By hiring a professional advisor, we can have them do all necessary steps to make a military from the ground up. Suggestion submitted by a Boruoa representative

How will this new military/militia function?
>Write in

(You may do a mixture of several options, if desired)

2/2

>>5881470
>6

>>5881470
>3: Draft the willing into a military. Those who want to serve the city, should be encuraged and allowed to do so. By giving them extensive military training and the best equipment, we would have a motivated and great fighting force. This way we are sure to create proper Ejudic heroes we can all be proud of.

>>5881470
>Draft the willing into a military and hire foreign military advisors to assemble the military

A combo of 6 and 3

We absolutely need an advisor to get a proper military going, we can do a draft but they're not going to be very good if they don't have officers who know what they're doing.

We're a small city state so our army needs to small, but elite, or mercenaries. But I don't want to pay for their asses.

For clarification, the council is already looking into aquiring military advisors. Suggestion number 6 is aimed at letting the advisor make the decision of which way to make the best military

>>5881470
Ok I change my vote
>3: Draft the willing into a military. Those who want to serve the city, should be encuraged and allowed to do so. By giving them extensive military training and the best equipment, we would have a motivated and great fighting force. This way we are sure to create proper Ejudic heroes we can all be proud of.

>>5881470
>3
Thought about it and people would be pissed to let foreigners lead them

>>5881470
>3: Draft the willing into a military. Those who want to serve the city, should be encuraged and allowed to do so. By giving them extensive military training and the best equipment, we would have a motivated and great fighting force. This way we are sure to create proper Ejudic heroes we can all be proud of.

While foreign advisors are still a good idea, their tactics and procedures may not be appropriate for our threat matrix, or local climate and terrain.

>>5881470
>Option 3 sounds good.

Note to self: spend 1 resource at some point celebrating the Emperor and Empire.

>>5881470

3: Draft the willing into a military. Those who want to serve the city, should be encuraged and allowed to do so. By giving them extensive military training and the best equipment, we would have a motivated and great fighting force. This way we are sure to create proper Ejudic heroes we can all be proud of. Suggestion submitted by a core councillor.

Supporting this. Although again, we should emphasize the importance of a foreign military advisor (not in command!) who helps us train the troops to a high standard. It would be a good idea to ensure that a mix of people from all corners of Trenfell are in the military and the military itself is meritocratic. We don’t want any one noble family to dominate command positions.

Also, the oath of service should be to Trenfall itself and the rule of law - rather than to any one person. We shouldn’t let the military be used against us in a coup!

I wont be able to make an update today, hopefully I can do one tomorrow
Vote is open until I return

>>5881470
>Draft the willing into a military and hire foreign military advisors to assemble the military

Acquire motivated military with best advisors.

>Skill espionage 1: Marjun has a sneaking suspicion this is a nicer way of calling him easy to manipulate.

We are no one's pawn. Time to build a loyal army and become the IRS to put the fear of god in the trader families.

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Marjun decides that a dedicated quality military is the way to go. Since the city did not previously have any proper military, quality advisors have to be recruited from somewhere else.
Getting volunteer seems to be easy, as there is a sizeable amount of people signing up at the newly established recruitment center in the city. Most of them are young, and have a good physique from working at their farms. Drunks and unwanted riffraff do not get accepted, as a certain quality threshold must be upheld.
Many advisors come by Marjuns office during the following weeks, each of them swearing allegiance to Marjun and his council. Marjun reminds them all that their allegiance is to Trenfel and its laws first, to Marjun and the council second.
With the large pooling of military men joining the Trenfel administration, the council almost unanimously wants there to be a limit to how many of them are submitted into the council. They likely dont want their own influence to be weakened in favor of military, even less so a foreign one. Marjun is given the choice of which person he will allow into the council, that will take care of all military matters.

What qualities does the newly appointed advisor have?
(You have 14 points which you can put into any kind of skill. You may put a skill into the negatives to gain more points.)


A short explanation:
War
Aggression - Ferocity when advancing: Good when attacking and delivering the final blow
Patience - Waiting for your turn: Good when defending and letting the enemy wear themselves out
Tactics - Strategy in the field: Good when fighting stronger foes and crushing weaker ones
Drill - Training the men: Good when improving the fighting force and instill discipline

Peace
Builder - Construct a base: Good when establishing fortifications and crafting siege engines
Eloquence - Speaking well: Good when talking to bureaucrats and make speeches

Personal
Physique - Bodily capability: Good when fighting for life or death, and to survive harsh conditions
Psyche - Mental fortitude: Good when faced with stress and duress, and horrors of war
Mystery - ???: Good when it is as high as possible. (If this skill changes value, you will not be notified)

(If anything needs clarifications, feel free to ask)

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>>5882974
Something like this is my vote. We’re bringing in foreigners to train our troops first and foremost so Drill is the most important. I also don’t think we should invest into something that changes value, especially if we aren’t notified of its changes.

>>5882974

Aggression - 1
Patience - 1
Tactics - 1
Drill - 3

Peace
Builder - 1
Eloquence - 1

Personal
Physique - 1
Psyche - 2
Mystery - 3

—

I think it’s better to focus on Drill given that we’re building from scratch here. Also, Mystery is too juicy to pass up, I think

>>5882974

Aggression - 1
Patience - 2
Tactics - 2
Drill - 4

Builder - 2
Eloquence - 0

Physique - 1
Psyche - 2
Mystery - 0

>>5882982
+1

I wont be able to post during the weekend, I should be back by monday around this time ish

Note: Having a skill in the negatives might have adverse effects. Just a heads up

>>5882974
War
Aggression - 1
Patience - 1
Tactics - 1
Drill - 4

Peace
Builder - 0
Eloquence - 1

Personal
Physique - 1
Psyche - 2
Mystery - 3

Personally I think there's a chance Mystery is actually loyalty and not some spooky magic stat. If it is, then I definitely don't want it to be low. I think that because it can change, that makes it more likely to a be a loyalty stat. If it IS a magic stat, then I'd also want it to be high, as this advisor's purpose is to train and perhaps accompany the army, not be its leader. Supposing that it is the case that the mystery stat is a magic stat, then it works out perfectly, gaining us a spellcaster. We don't need the war stats to be out of this world, as the advisor isn't leading the army, only drilling it and advising us.

My rationale behind cutting the builder stat is that we can always hire a different advisor for engineering. Our army doesn't need to be the Romans either, not with what we know of our likely threats at the moment. Being good in the field and on what fortifications we have is good enough, we don't need them to act as a free labour force. I'm tempted to cut it entirely.

Though if no one votes for this plan, then I'll support >>5882990

>>5882974
>>5883119
I'm thinkin its loyalty. Your build is the closest to what I think is good so I'm gonna
>+1 to this

>>5883004
+1
I’ll switch to this one I guess having a negative stat is a bad idea. I would prefer to have a high builder stat, though. I want to fortify the hell out of the outskirts of the city where the mountain tribes are (especially near our barrel farm).

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>>5882982
>>5882974
Revising this after some thought. This is my new vote.

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When your Personal - Mystery score is -2.

War
Aggression - 1
Patience - 0
Tactics - 1
Drill - 3

Peace
Builder - 1
Eloquence - 1

Personal
Physique - 3
Psyche - 2
Mystery - 2

Let's call this option... David.

>>5883004
>+1

I wont be able to do a large post today, but I did go over the votes.
After looking over them, there is a consensus on high drill.
These are the skills for the new character:

War
Aggression - 1
Patience - 1
Tactics - 1
Drill - 3

Peace
Builder - 1
Eloquence - 1

Personal
Physique - 1
Psyche - 2
Mystery - 2

I have here allocated 13 of the 14 points.
one point left, vote for one of the following:

>Drill
>Mystery
>One in both (state which skill to remove one point from)
>Some other skill

Session tomorrow around at around this time or a bit earlier

>>5885765
Extra point goes to Tactics.

>>5885765
>Builder

>>5885765
>Drill

Though I'm fine with it going in mystery or tactics as well. Really anything since the skill selection is close to what I'd prefer anyways.

>>5885766

I’ll support for the interests of moving things along