You tell the machine that you would be happy to trade with the House of Technocratia. It repeats that a caravan will be dispatched upon its return to Rome. It adds the disclaimer that it will be carrying an assortment of the goods that the Technocratia offer for trade and be capable of carrying away 100,000 L of Pure Water. This is roughly double what you currently have in your tanks, but a 3% or 4% increase in power output could easily allow you to make up the difference.
You send a messenger to the trading plaza, informing Suliman bin Qutira that you will be happy to trade for the Composite rods and the three crates of electrical parts. 1000 L of pure water, 30 wind up torches and 2 barrels of nails are brought from the town stores.
After the Technocratian diplomat leaves, you call a council of all those who work with technology within the town. One by one they file into your throne room, which was once the gyro-chamber when the Control Tower still sent message to the heavens. First comes Luchia de Fiero, head of the Clan, along with two of her sons. Her hair might be grey but there is no dullness in her mind, and you remember that she has survived the reigns of two much more evil men than you. Next come the Tinkerers, dressed in an eclectic assortment. Some have clearly come directly from their workshops, their leather aprons and insulated gloves still about them. Others have taken the time to don flowing robes and tie bright lenses into their hair. Since more than a few have brought their favored apprentices, the room is starting to get a bit full. Last to arrive is old Dmitri the Grey. The locals say that there was a time when he dandled little Luchia de Fiero on his knee, but surely no man could be
that old. He does seem to know more stories and legends than anyone you've ever met, but the same could be said for most greybeards. He takes up his accustomed place in the shadows of a gear assembly.
You lay out a bold new agenda before you. Since you came to power three years ago, you have done little but repair the worst of the injustices caused by Overseer Jorgal's reign. While the deeper scars will take perhaps generations to heal, the petty corruption, terror and waste have been driven from Sala-Zione. There is a great cheer at this point and you see a smile pass across Dmitri's ancient face. You call for quite before continuing. This time of reconciliation and healing is done. Now is the time to stop looking to old injuries and to move into the future! The glory of the Termionia will be as in the days of old! Once again there is a great cheer. To this purpose you outline a new series of reforms.
First, the bitter. All exports of Builder parts, Machines and Materials shall be forbidden except through the state. On the spur of the moment you decide to exempt family heirlooms, knowing that people would be unlikely to part with them anyway. There is some angry hubbub until you reassure everyone that exports of small technological items, torches, nuts and bolts and the like, is still perfectly acceptable and government approved.
Then to the sweet. You outline a series of bold new projects. First, the Solar Forge must repaired. Luchia seems visibly pleased about this. She has been quietly nagging you about this for the past three years after all, as much as her standing as perhaps the fourth or fifth most powerful person in the town will allow. Next, a real solution to the crudely repaired breaches in the ringwall must be devised. Finally, some sort of floating dock facility must be constructed. You remind everyone that only last year, as he landed his catch by night after coming though a heavy storm, Bruno Seaecle was torn to pieces and devoured by a pack of zoanthropes and his young daughter so ruined that she cast herself into a furnace fire.
On that cheery note, you move on to the point of industrial organization. While there are many fine and learned persons in the town, knowledgeable in the arts of the electron and of metal, their efforts are split in many different directions. You raise the general idea of a large, cooperative workspace, and hint that the state might provide some larger machine tools and a suitable sight if agreement might be found. You suggest two major projects that would be of interest. The first would be to copy the recently arrived steam/furnace engines with lesser metals, since these are available in abundance. The second would be to find a way to improve the fecundity of the town's gardens and fruit trees. For inspiration you point to an ancient tapestry depicting Babylon Tower 79, its thousand gardens bedecked with gaudy diamond domes.
There is a great shouting and calling for food and drink as the gathered multitude discuss all that you have laid out. In the end they conclude the following:
1.They accept the export ban, but with some grumbling. Expect to have Tinkerer's coming to whine at you a little every now and then about why a particular piece of theirs should be exempt.
2. The Solar Forge. It seems that the general consensus is that building new boosters after the old design, which was basically a 1/4 scale copy of the main emitter, will be impossible. The town simply lacks the correct equipment to produce the necessary extremely accurately polished reflectors of such great size. You know from your studies that these were likely to have been made by highly specialized equipment even in the days of the Makers. They propose a solution whereby several hundred much smaller boosters are made and aligned with the main dish. This would be much more complex and costly than if you simply had spares of the original boosters, as each one will need a sensor, an actuator, a reflector and a control unit. It will also have to be connected to the main dish control computer and new software written, as the Solar Furnace wasn't designed to be used with lots of small boosters. This could be done and only depelte stocks of basic scrap metal and electrical parts by a third, but it would take a lot of effort.
3. For repairing the ringwall, they suggest building a series of watchtowers from Alloy in the gaps to replace the stone blocks. True, this would be a great expense, but it would definitely stop them being weakpoints. This might consume up to half of all stocks of Alloy.
4. Supplies of wood other that driftwood are not especially abundant in the local area, so a wooden floating dock isn't that practical. However, steel barrels could be easily constructed as two of the Tinkerers are proud owners of huge sheet cutters. This, combined with a few chains and some deck plates could make a serviceable dock. This wouldn't use up more than ten percent of whats available.
5. 5 of the tinkerers agree to work together in a communal workspace. They will work on the two projects you have suggested and start as soon as a sight is chosen (they just need to bicker for a little while about who's going to move where).
What do you do?
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) currently at 33.78% of fuel capacity and generating 9.46% of potential full capacity, 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.
State Stores: 12 Kalash Rifles in a poor state of repair, 3000 rounds of ammunition. 37 Arbalests in good repair with 20 pig iron bolts each. A large pile of assorted Alloy, a small pile of composite plates. A good stock of basic spare parts and scrap metal, a small stock of essential advanced parts and 53,768.67 L of pure water.
40 Composite rods, three crates of electrical parts. Some assorted trade goods (nails, bolts, torches etc).
Health: No diseases of note, an immunity to genetic plagues.
Defenses: Large Circular Pored Stone Wall, in reasonable Repair. 11 breaches filled with crude stone blocks. 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.
If you notice stuff that should be here but isn't, please tell me. Likewise with any suggestions I may have missed. Oh, and damn that's a long post.
Author
Topic: You are a Lord of the Wastes (Read 26135 times)