A few days before we reached Ozkaktun, we had to decide who would lead "The Perfect Construct", our trading expedition (We did not know the irony of our hubris at the time).
In the running was me and an obscure Jeweler. While I had a proud bloodline behind me to back me up, the Jeweler had connections with several succesful businessmen and is known for his work. In order to secure the leadership position (and thereby not suffer the consquences of having to work), we made a compromise, dividing control over the entire Expedition in half. I gained the nominal title of Manager, while the Jeweler, named Zorpius, get the important positions of Broker and Bookkeeper.
When we reached there, I laid out several of my plans to the workers and expected them to get to work. These plans were to solely the extent of "Build a fortress" or "Protect the city", with no other detail added. More...'concerte' "mandates" were seen as impractical, even foolhardy...but not before we actually tried them out to find out how silly they are.
One of these mandates was to create Stockpiles outside of the fortress (that was to be built eventually), keeping everything outside so that it would be easy to find them, rather than putting it inside of a Fortress. I was planning on keeping them outside constantly, using techinques in order to ensure they won't spoil.
In my more sober times, this was my dream project. By creating a stockpile outside that would not spoil, I would be able to increase productivity, because fortresses would no longer need to waste living spaces to hold stockpiles.
However, it turns out that the techinques...weren't actually 'real'. Things that looked very good on paper didn't translate into real-world problems. Constant sacrifices, and lookouts were impractical with the resources we got, and the drinking parties, while entertaining, did not materalize a fortress as I hoped. Quickly, the whole enterprise was deemed futile, and on a rainy night, I quietly abanonded the project.
In order to not court any more opposition, and not to be revealed as a fraud, I consulted the lone Miner named Flint, and grant him free reign to build the fortress.
This was the result. We finally begun digging, but there is still more to do...I ordered the building of strucutres, hopefully to complete them by the time caravans arrive with more supplies. Hopefully. I dismantled some of the wagon in order to produce some wood, and ordered my woodcutters to cut some of the wood in the area in order to help fund the rest.
Which led to the second Mandate. During my studies, I learnt about the need of proper wood in order to ensure the basic structure of the building. Improper wood can cause the entire Drawven society to collaspe, due to unhappiness caused by the wood, not pleasing the Gods, etc. There were many factions in the Leadership School that argued over what wood to use, which seems werid, considering that relatively few of us ever sought to ask the Elves (who knows this stuff more than anyone else) about wood.
I belonged to a Purist school of thought and therefore commanded everyone to use only Pine Wood.
Which was a problem. Pine Wood is very, very rare. But I didn't realize this until far too late. And even then, my fear still got the best of me, because I can recount many, many different drawf cities that collasped due to the non-use of Pine Wood.
So, instead of building, we sat around and partyed day in and day out. Most of us were idle, living off the foodstuff we had, while our lone woodcutter went out in search of pine wood. The only way to find out if a wood is "pine" is if you cut it down, so usually our devoted woodcutter would cut the wood, and bring it over to a certified "Pine Wood Expert" (me). If a wood is declared "pine", it is to be used, otherwise, if a wood is declared "non-pine", it would be thrown in the water to be destroyed, because, as a Purist, I did not want people accidently using the wrong type of wood, and causing massive problems.
Eventually, this got on everyone's nerve. Around this time, I think Zoripus begun plotting his military coup.
EDIT:
And our fearless leader, Ablel.
Author
Topic: Age of Heroes: Ospazosmlo (Read 2899 times)