Panic!
No, I suppose we should go have a conversation with the traders, get some hearsay and conjectures to work with. Ask them about their horses and how they manage to run their track haulers given the limited resources of the day.
I say we make the diplomat wait. Not too long to be an insult, mind you, but long enough that we appear important and sought after. Take our time chatting with the merchants first. Maybe 45 minutes.
This, and can we get a list of buildings inside the town? As well as defenses? I know 10ebbor10 has it in his posts but it owuld be convient to keep a list in every post, so we can update it as we go along and add more buildings.
((Sure, I'd meant to go into a bit more detail and inventory spoiler the more important stuff last night but that post was getting pretty long and my vision started to get a little blurry by the end of it. If you ever want more detail, background or clarifications on something, just ask. And feel free to let me know if I'm doing something annoying, I can't make improvements otherwise.))
Before heading down from the control tower to talk with the newly arrived merchants you decide to take stock of Sala-Zione's defenses. The town sits right on the coast and is contained within two circles of stone held together with Old Alloy rods. The smaller of these is actually in the sea, a bowl that ensures that the intake tunnel isn't clogged with sand or flotsam and jetsam. It would make an ideal fortified port if it weren't for the wreck of a huge Builder ship lodged in the seagate. Well, the sea gate and part of the wall. It doesn't interfere with the intake of water, but some of its defenses are still active and your people fear to go near it, claiming through myths and legends that a maddened machine spirit still lives within its metal shell. The words "HMS Olympia" can be made out in the High Speech running along the section of hull that clears the waves. This means that while Sala-Zione is relatively safe form attack from the sea, but both local fishermen and visiting traders have to land their boats on the beach, which has caused problems in the past.
The larger of the circular walls contains the town itself. It is two meters tall and sheer on the outside. There is walkway with a parapet running along the top and every hundred meters there is a watchtower. There is only one gate, a huge ugly thing of welded scrap metal that swings open along a rail when pulled by two oxen. Like a knife to the head, it's crude but effective. The wall itself is in good repair, expect for those places where it has been destroyed and rebuilt with local materials. There are eleven of these and every time you see them you curse inwardly, wishing you held the secret of poring stone like water.
The town itself is made up of two different types of buildings. There are those which are of the people, from which you rule. These are the Main Building, in which all the machinery to make water from the poison water of the sea is housed as well as a small machine shop capable of basic repairs and the construction of relatively complex machines. Underneath that, in tunnels reckoned to be the safest place in the whole town, sits the Control Room. From here, one with the knowing of it can bend the Builder's Sun to their will. Ah, the Builder's Sun itself, the Artificial Sunfire, the very heart of the Termionia! Without it, your people would be no better than savages, eating raw meat and living in trees. It sits under the Control room and most citizens have only seen it the once, on their eighteenth name days. The last building is the Control Tower, freestanding and aloof from the others. It is from here that you rule, as befits a Tyrant, one who derives his power from the consent of the people. All about these buildings are the signs of the Old People's craft. Lights burn without fire and doors open when the words of power are spoken. Well, some of them do. A few will no longer acknowledge the words and some cannot be closed. In the depths, many of the lights no longer shine and some evidence of corrosion in the connections is present.
The buildings of owned by the townspeople vary greatly, although almost all combine living-space and work-space. The wealthiest live in houses formed from the Old Materials, chunks of pored stone cut and shaped to fit, Alloy supports and composite tile roofs. They are brightly lit with smokeless fire and from many can be heard the hum of machinery. Things get worse as you go down the social spectrum. True, the cockle picker and beach scavengers may live in driftwood huts, but they are warm, well fed and most importantly have access to clean water, as do all citizens. Since fresh water is so abundant, there are little gardens and fields almost everywhere within the walls, especially on roofs and balconies. These provide fruits and vegetables to supplement the sea's bounty, the other main source of food. However, food is not exactly in overabundance, being one of your three primary imports, right after spare parts and Old Materials. There are a variety of small industries, as befitting a town of this size. The most important of these are the Tinkerers, men and women who aspire to the Engineership of old. These have flourished under your rule, but all lack the complex tools to do more than fix and improvise. There is a large solar furnace, operated by the de Fiero family, an old power within the town. They have fallen on hard times recently. Once they were able to smelt the Old Alloys, but after the fighting during your violent overthrow of Overseer Jorgal the last of their booster dishes was destroyed, leaving them with only the power to summon heat enough to melt the lesser metals; iron, copper and gold.
Contemplating these things that you know as you know yourself, you head to the trading plaza for a bit of a chat with the newly arrived merchants. You meet their leader, a grizzled Moor from the Burnt Coast. He accepts your compliments as to the fine quality of his animals and grows excited when you mention the possibility of a Hrus without horns. He seems to think that this is a polite gauging of his business interests and he tells you that the Beast Masters of the Burnt Coast will pay weight-for-weight in Alloy for unmodified base stock. You turn the conversation to his vehicles and he tells you that he originally acquired them from the Mechanarati of the Water City, about 200 leagues north. The price they charged was exorbitant, especially for such simple machines, but they were reliable and seldom broke down in a way that couldn't be fixed on the road. He explains that they use a combination of Conducting Alloy and Insulating Alloy to make a furnace that's very efficient at turning heat into movement. The rest is just a steel chassis and basic clockwork. He also tells you that he is nearing the end of his trading run South, he'll be heading to Rome before Crossing the Alps once more to return to his warehouses in Nurnberg. He has encountered no more trouble than usual, but he did lose a fine stallion and its rider to a huge mountain lion that stood over six feet tall. He proudly shows you its skin and suggests that you purchase it for your throneroom. He only wants 100l of pure water and 300 rounds for a Kalash Rifle for it. He tells you that he has heard that the political situation has shifted in Rome once again, but that he doesn't know any details.
What do you do?
Spoliered Quick reference stuffz:
Alcide Brunelleschi: Family Armor, Laser Rifle, Hover Scout Trike
Sala-Zione:
Population:998
Major Official Buildings: The Main Building (water desalinization and machine shop), the Control Room (computers that control important stuff), The Reactor (a Sony AFIC MK23.a45 civilian Light Industrial Fusion Reactor), the Control Tower (once a large coms relay unrelated to the plant but within its walls, now missing its dish and the seat of your government.
Citizen Owned: A variety of houses, from rich to poor. Many small industries. A dozen tinkerers workshops, A large Solar Forge operating bellow capacity.
Health: No diseases of note, an immunity to genetic plagues.
Defenses: Large Circular Pored Stone Wall, in reasonable Repair. 31 dedicated Militia with Old Composite Armor and Laser Rifles. 2 Rocket launchers with 4 HE and 5 incendiary rockets remaining.
Food Supplies: Adequate. A sudden shortage could cause problems.
Author
Topic: You are a Lord of the Wastes (Read 26126 times)