Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[LordBucket]

Guys, we're a landed noble, not an adventurer. Fighting is for peasants and mercencaries. It's beneath us.

I therefore propose we specialize either in Mysticism or Illusion. Mysticism because mark and recall. Teleportation is crazy useful. Also soul trap which allows us to capture souls to power enchanted items.

Alternately, Illusion gives us all the mind control powers. Far more useful than burning and healing people.


As for companion, take The Enchanter. Not only does that mesh well with having soul trap from Mysticism, he's a member of the Telvanni noble house. That totally suits our background better than the other two. We need someone to commiserate with about all the dirty peasants. Plus, GM specified enchanters are going to be rare, which gives us a big advantage.

[Araph]

Fighting is for peasants and mercencaries. It's beneath us.

Not only does that mesh well with having soul trap from Mysticism

Yes, we can trap the souls of all the monsters we'll fight.

Also, does this game use Morrowind Mysticism? Or Oblivion Mysticism? Mark and Recall might not work.

[micelus]

Arkwick. Of course. The rest of the documents seem to state the possessions of the new fief as well as retainers going along with it. Arkwick, it seems, is a small territory of around 1000 residents. It is a hilly land with poor soil, with the few farms being reliant on the services of an Alteration mage to even cope. While goods from other areas can be imported, the documents state that the mage was cheaper than 'dealing with bloody Lielle'.  The local economy is reliant on the local Iron Mine and has been for centuries. After centuries of exploitation, it is seemingly still filled with vast quantities of ore.  You have stored this away for later use.

After days of travel by carriage, you and your Altmer companion, who you learn is named Soril, have finally reached Arkwick. The people seem to have been told of your coming; they line the dirt road leading to your manor, several offering up a fruit towards you. As you reach the manor, you are soon greeted by an elderly Breton flanked by two Orc bodyguards. They bow, with the orcs offering up their axes towards you. The elder speaks.

"my lord, I see you have finally arrived. Your people have been anxious to meet you ever since your dear uncle's passing. A sad thing it was, but he was quite old...But I forget to introduce myself: I am Brethyn Jorwatch, your uncle's Overseer. He left me in charge of the daily routines of the fief, including our finances, construction and any other issues that come by. I'm sure you have many questions my lord, but first, come in. You best ask in the comfort of your own home."

The insides of Hawkcroft Manor are homely if not up to par to your tastes. A good stone house, the Manor has a single floor and eight rooms. A cellar and stable is also included.

"Before you ask any questions sir, there are a few issues I ought tell you about."

[4]Your overlord, Count Owyn Lacroux, has requested you to personally swear fealty to him as well as speak of your late uncle.
[6]A band of knights calling themselves the Order of the Lamp have settled in the village, commandeering the Eights' shrine as their base. While supposedly pious soldiers, they have refused to allow our local priest to perform his duties.
[4] Nightly noises have been heard at an old abandoned tower at the southern border of your fief.

[3 Actions may be taken per season, of which there are 4 per year.]

Spoiler:  Arkwick (click to show/hide)

Hawkcroft Manor: your late uncle's home, Hawkcroft Manor resides on a hill overlooking Arkwick Village. A 2-meter stone wall offers it some protection towards outside attacks. It is sturdy if somewhat dilapidated.
Iron Mine: the main source of Arkwick's exports, it has employed the people of Arkwick for centuries.
Small Farms x15: several small farms throughout Arkwick's hinterlands help feed the village, although imports from surrounding fiefs are often needed due to Arkwick's poor soil.
Arkwick Village: The centre of the fiefdom, the village maintains a small shrine to the 8 Divines, a communal plaza and a town hall. All other structures are either homes or small shops.  (~600 pop.)

Spoiler: Finances (click to show/hide)

Gold: 1100
Income: 110/season(base income is 100/season)

Expenses
Tax: -10%/year (normal tax rate is 20%)
Alteration Services: -30/season

Net Yearly Income: 175

Spoiler: Personnel (click to show/hide)

Altmer Trader (Soril): -50% tax. +10% income.
Loyal Overseer (Brethyn Jorwatch): +1 to speechcraft rolls against serfs and servants you employ.
x2 Bodyguards: -1 to all stealth combat rolls toward you if either are present.

Spoiler: Beren Hawkcroft (click to show/hide)

Race: Breton
Former Profession: Mage
Skill- Competent: Conjuration
Skill- Familiar: Restoration, Alteration
Skill- Dabbling: Illusion, Alchemy

Skill Levels:

Mastery: You are counted as one of the world's foremost users of this skill.
Expert: You have effectively mastered this skill.
Competent: The skill has become well engrained into your person.
Familiar: You have learnt from your mistakes and as a result, failures are far less common.
Dabbling: Some practice made into the skill. Failures common.
Dunce: Utterly unversed or incompetent. Failures are very common.

Rarities:
x5 Soul Gems (Empty)
x1 Mage's Staff: a mundane staff, this Mage's Staff could be easily imbued with souls, allowing it to cast spells.

Fighting is for peasants and mercencaries. It's beneath us.

Not only does that mesh well with having soul trap from Mysticism

Yes, we can trap the souls of all the monsters we'll fight.

Also, does this game use Morrowind Mysticism? Or Oblivion Mysticism? Mark and Recall might not work.

Morrowind. All spells in all games are possible. Note however that Levitation is still illegal in Empire territories.

[Weirdsound]

-Ask Brethyn Jorwatch what he knows of our overlord. If he is known to be the patient and understanding sort, we can write him a letter expressing our loyalty, and promising to visit him at some point, but requesting some time to get settled into our new home before traveling again to do so.

-Arrange to have a dinner with the leader(s) of the Order of the Lamp and the local priest. Lets see if we can get to the bottom of this mess.

-Arrange a meeting with the local farmers and their alteration mage friend; Lets see if we can do anything about increasing the fief's food yeild Better idea: Hit the fields for a bit. We can train our alteration magic, get to know our citizens, talk to them about our humble begining and extablish a reputation as a noble who does more than just sit in his manor all day, and perhaps even have a small effect on the food supply or alteration costs for the season.

[LordBucket]

Player discussion:

I think our first priority is gathering information. I'd rather not make any oaths of fealty until I know what we're getting into. We don't want to start our career by choosing to join the wrong side in a war that nobody thought to mention was going on, for example. Also, we've apparently inherited the land, so it's not like the Count is granting us a fief, and we're already paying the guy 10% of our income in taxes. It's unclear how we would benefit from swearing fealty to him.

I propose that we make a general policy of being kind to our peasants and treating them well.

I propose that becoming personally a powerful Mage Lord be given higher priority than being "successful administrator." Yes, let's be rich and influential. But I want to be able to deal with stuff personally too.



Suggestions

Spoiler: old, already answered (click to show/hide)

Gather information
In particular I want to know:
 * The political situation in the area. Who are the local powers, and how do they relate to us and each other?
 * What's the story with the Count, and how does he fit into all this?
 * More detail on the actual production and manpower requirements of our facilities. We apparently have 15 farms that are very low quality. Would it be more efficient to move farmers into the iron mine and simply buy food? we have 15 farms feeding 1000 people, with imports "often" required. Ok, so that means that sometimes we don't need imports, so overall we're kind of close to being self sufficient? So could we, say...add one or two farms, or just personally spend a couple hours a week using Alteration magic to improve efficiency, and have that be enough to put us consistently and safely into self-sufficiency? We need more information to be able to make decisions like these.
 * Talk to these Lamp people and find out what their story is
 * Demographics of our residents. Race, legal status, general skillset, etc. Are we sitting on 500 orc slaves we have to feed and keep from escaping? Free men who feed themselves? Personal retainers we have to pay?
 * Who are our trade partners? Where are we getting our food from?
 * What are our forces? Do we have men at arms? Or is it just Beren and his two body guards defending a Barony consisting of 1000 people?
 * What's the general disposition of our people? Are they happy? Starving? Fearful? Was our uncle cruel? What do they want?

Spoiler: old, redacted (click to show/hide)

Take steps to begin training troops / secure our southern border
Motivations explained in detail in a later post. The county to our south seems unstable. We're poorly defended. And Count Lecroix is unlikely to object to his source of iron becoming better defended.

Establish a relationship with the Knights of the Lamp
They're apparently an order devoted to protecting the Imperial Mage Guild. We're a mage. There's a shortage of mages in this are. Let's recruit them, open up a local Mage Guild chapter with us in charge. That benefits us, it benefits the locals, and it adds a huge layer of don't mess with us because who wants to antagonize the Mage Guild?

Recruit an apprentice
Somebody smart and loyal that we can teach magic to. They gain social status and a future, and we gain a competent minion, somebody to take the first bullet if assassins show up...and possibly eliminate that 30 gold/season expense we're paying for Alteration services

Personally train our magic skills
Not sure which school to focus on. Improving conjuration would be helpful, but it's our strongest school and we might see faster gains if something we're not as good at.Alteration is an obvious choice because of the farm situation, but it's not an otherwise hugely useful school and I think we don't want to spend our time working the fields. Illusion would be a decent choice, and we're not especially good at it so we'd probably see reasonably fast gains. Same for Restoration. I'd really like to learn Mysticism for teleportation and soul trap. Those are both extremely useful, but we apparently don't know much Mysticism at all, so it might difficult to start training.

I'll support any school training anyone wants so long as we're training something. But yeah, at some point we need to learn Mysticism.

Spoiler: old, was clarified (click to show/hide)

Related, can we get more information on our abilities? We're apparently a master of Conjuration. So...summon a Golden Saint whenever we want? Command Humanoid and Command Creature? If so, great. But I want to confirm that. Also, what about the other schools? We're a "former" mage, so presumably we know all the schools, right? Which spells? What about alchemy? Enchanting? If we're already a master of Conjuration, there's not much point continuing to train it, but we need to know where we stand in the other skills to decide what to train next.

[micelus]

Not going to make a full turn just yet since I don't have the time, but I'll answer some questions. Also, I've changed the skills section since Mastery would be OP. In exchange, I've given the character a few other skills to compensate. Sorry about that.

-Ask Brethyn Jorwatch what he knows of our overlord. If he is known to be the patient and understanding sort, we can write him a letter expressing our loyalty, and promising to visit him at some point, but requesting some time to get settled into our new home before traveling again to do so.

"I've never once spoken to the Count my lord. Your uncle always made sure he dealt with him personally. All I know about him is rumour and anything your uncle told me. He's said to be scheming against his neighbours and his duke, although those rumours have been around for decades. Your uncle always said the Count was a very demanding man, if understanding as well. Although I'm unaware of what he demanded considering our relatively low taxes even in times of war.  Also, he keeps a dark elf as a mistress. Same age as the old Count, apparently. You can never tell with these elves."

In particular I want to know:
 * The political situation in the area. Who are the local powers, and how do they relate to us and each other?
 * What's the story with the Count, and how does he fit into all this?
 * More detail on the actual production and manpower requirements of our facilities. We apparently have 15 farms that are very low quality. Would it be more efficient to move farmers into the iron mine and simply buy food? we have 15 farms feeding 1000 people, with imports "often" required. Ok, so that means that sometimes we don't need imports, so overall we're kind of close to being self sufficient? So could we, say...add one or two farms, or just personally spend a couple hours a week using Alteration magic to improve
 * Demographics of our residents. Race, legal status, general skillset, etc. Are we sitting on 500 orc slaves we have to feed and keep from escaping? Free men who feed themselves? Personal retainers we have to pay?
 * Who are our trade partners? Where are we getting our food from?
 * What are our forces? Do we have men at arms? Or is it just Beren and his two body guards defending a Barony consisting of 1000 people?
 * What's the general disposition of our people? Are they happy? Starving? Fearful? Was our uncle cruel? What do they want?

1/5: "My lord, we are on the western part of Count Lacroux's domain.  To our north are three much smaller estates controlled by Lethai, Joalhire and Aria Dalyion, all daughters of the Dalyion line. They are vassals of Lacroux. They hold joint control over an iron mine. Your uncle had no quarrel with the Dalyions. Our eastern border is ruled by Count Lacroux himself. It is where most of our iron ends up. The Alteration mage who comes every now and then also lives there. Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx, although the local orcs have made this difficult. Detwyx I hear is ruled more by the orcish warchief than by his own will. To our west are the fertile lands of Lielle Notharth, where we occasionally purchase food. She and your uncle were not on the best of terms, which is why it is so expensive for us to buy food from her farms."
2: "The Count controls a domain bordering the Reach in the east and is often busy dealing with the barbarian tribes. As such, he delegates mining and agricultural areas to his vassals, save several large farms within his core demesne. He himself is ruled by the Duke of Wrothgar...although he rarely interferes with his vassals save taxation and socialising. Count Lacroux is married to the second daughter of the Count of Dames some distance north and stands to inherit it. I unfortunately don't know any more than that, your grace."
3:"We could import more food my lord but the only close source of food is Baroness Lielle's lands...and she is asking for far too much. The Count's own lands are much like ours, save for a few farms which he uses to feed his own people. Count Detwyx's lands are...somewhat better than ours, however much of that is spent either appeasing the Orcs or feeding soldiers to fight the Reachmen. We could also build a few farms as you suggest, although they wouldn't be useful till next season. While normally One [Small Farm] would be able to feed 100 people, each can only feed 40 at the best of times due to our poor soil. You may try Altering the land if you wish, my lord."
4: "Most of Arkwick's inhabitants are freemen, however we maintain 200 or so serfs. Most inhabitants Bretons, of course, although other races are present. Most are either miners or farmers, although some more specialised workers inhabit your fief. I can conduct a proper survey if you wish, although it would take a season to ensure it's accuracy.
6: "While Durgok and Glesh are the fiefdom's only professional soldiers, we may conscript our adult population when needed. The Count, truth be told, provides most of our defences."
7:"The serfs are content to be serfs, the freemen freemen and artistans artistans. I made sure of that. Sometimes they go hungry because we can't get enough bread on the table, but we usually get something from Lielle's farms when that happens. As for your Uncle...well he usually did not pay much attention to the workings of the fief, just making sure it was still functioning. To be perfectly honest, he spent more time in the Count's retinue."

(Conjuration Competence: you can summon a frost atronach with some effort. You can command creatures/humanoids for a short time, depending on duration and what is being controlled.))

[LordBucket]

(@micelus : I've updated my suggestions based on the new information)



So if I understand this arrangement correctly, Count Lecroix controls a small county containing 6 estates. His, Notharth, those of three minor vassals all belonging to the same family, and ours, which somehow our uncle managed to come to own personally.

To our west are the fertile lands of Lielle Notharth

Is Baroness Notharth a vassal or a free Lord? It seems to be implied that she's a free Lord like we are, but I'd like to be sure.

Our eastern border is ruled by Count Lacroux himself. It is where most of our iron ends up

The Count controls a domain bordering the Reach in the east and is often busy dealing with the barbarian tribes

So there are only two iron mines in Lecroix county. One is being operated by the Dalyion family. The other other on privately owned land, ours, and the Count is stuck buying it in order to equip his soldiers. And from the sound of it, not only is half the iron in his county privately owned, so (probably) is the fertile land belonging to Baroness Notharth that's supplying food to the people in control of at least half his iron, and probably also supplying food to the other half of his iron supply north of us.

Count Lecroix is in a relatively bad situation.

Count Lacroux is married to the second daughter of the Count of Dames some distance north and stands to inherit it

...but apparently, for all of Lecroix's bad situation at present, he's married up, and stands to eventually absorb an entire second county through inheritance. Meaning it's in his best interest to not make waves, and to simply maintain the status quo until then. Interesting.

Baroness Lielle

...wait. If local law allows women to hold rank and own land, then why would Count Lecroix inherit Dames county just because he's married Princess Dames? Wouldn't she inherit it? Or is Baroness Notharth a widow, and only retains ownership so long as she doesn't remarry?

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx

So we're on the southern edge of Lacroix county, adjacent to Detwx county.

"The Count controls a domain bordering the Reach in the east and is often busy dealing with the barbarian tribes.

Count Detwyx's lands are...somewhat better than ours, however much of that is spent either appeasing the Orcs or feeding soldiers to fight the Reachmen.

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx, although the local orcs have made this difficult. Detwyx I hear is ruled more by the orcish warchief than by his own will.

...whoa. That's...bad. So, the barbarian-controlled Reach is on the eastern border of both Lecroix and Detwyx counties, and Detwyx county not only has to deal with the barbarians, they're also dealing with internal issues with orcs and basically bribing the local warchief into not taking control

...and that is immediately on our southern border and we have only two soldiers...who are orcs...and our "protection" comes from a guy who has barbarians to his east and the same unstable orc situation to his south that we do.

This is altogether kind of a bad situation.


I think we need to talk to Count Lecroix, but I'm opposed to becoming his vassal. He desperately needs us because we're supplying him with half his iron, and given his situation it would probably be unwise for him to try to take it by force. He's presently engaged in skirmishes with Barbarians on his eastern front, which is the opposite side of his estate as ours. And simultaneously has to be worried about the unstable situation on his southern border. If he were to pull his forces away to secure our mine, that means that his forces are on the opposite side of where they need to be protect him from barbarian incursions. And even though we apparently have no military to speak of, it's reasonable to suggest that taking our mine would result in a temporary halt of half his iron imports, which he needs, due to the fact that the people working the mine would probably end up being conscripted by us and a lot of them would die. Meaning he'd need to take the mine, secure the area, then bring in his own serfs, get the mine operating again and reestablish the supply chain...all while simultaneously hoping that the eastern barbarians and southern orcs ignore him.

As long as we keep supplying him with iron, it's in his best interest to leave us alone. He has too much to lose.

The Count, truth be told, provides most of our defences."

That seems a little weird, since we're on a county border, and that border is with land that seems relatively unstable. And we provide Lecroix with half his iron. He must be freaking out that we're so poorly protected. That's probably good. It means if we start training troops, it actually strengthens his position. So long as we stay friendly and make sure he gets his iron, he benefits from us becoming stronger probably more than he has to worry about us being a threat to him. He's a buffer between us and the barbarians. If we invaded his land, we'd be trading a friendly eastern border for an unfriendly one.

So for the moment at least, he can't touch us and we can't touch him. But it's to both our benefit for us to become militarily stronger.

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx, although the local orcs have made this difficult. Detwyx I hear is ruled more by the orcish warchief than by his own will.

So until we showed up, the barony of the southern border of Lexcroix county was owned by a guy (our uncle) who apparently thought it was a good idea to have only two professional soldiers on his property despite being right next to a volatile area

We could also build a few farms as you suggest, although they wouldn't be useful till next season. While normally One [Small Farm] would be able to feed 100 people, each can only feed 40 at the best of times due to our poor soil. You may try Altering the land if you wish, my lord."

we maintain 200 or so serfs

We have 15. 15 * 40 = 600. even at half production that's comfortably enough to feed our serfs and still have some left over for market.

"The serfs are content to be serfs, the freemen freemen and artistans artistans. I made sure of that. Sometimes they go hungry because we can't get enough bread on the table, but we usually get something from Lielle's farms when that happens.

Well, feeding the freemen isn't our responsibility. Sure, it makes sense to sell our excess production to them and to import the shortfall we can't produce ourselves to sell to them as well. We don't want them starving. But there's no reason for that to be a losing proposition for us.

"Most of Arkwick's inhabitants are freemen, however we maintain 200 or so serfs.

How much of our money comes from selling iron to Count Lecroix, and how much comes from commerce with our local free population?

It would probably benefit us to encourage some private mercantilism. Maybe Baroness Notharth doesn't particularly like us, but that's no reason for her to not sell to private merchants who happen to sell food to freemen living on our land. It would probably mean a small loss of income since we wouldn't be the ones selling that food, but it would make our situation generally more stable.

Count Lacroux is married to the second daughter of the Count of Dames some distance north and stands to inherit it.

What happened to the first daughter? Presumably she's dead if Dames County is going to the second daughter.

Also, is Dames County on the northern border of Lecroix county, or is it not? "Some distance" sort of implies the two counties are not adjacent. What lies between the two counties? Whomever owns that lans is going to be very concerned about Lecroix owning land on both his northern and southern borders.

It would presumably be in the best interest of that person for Count Lecroix and his wife to meet with an unfortunate end. Not only would their death save him from being sandwiched, it would very likely result in Dames County becoming up for grabs. And if we're friendly with that Count, and he's expanding north...it would be to both out benefit for us take the the estates belonging to the Dalyion family...resulting in us getting the other iron mine, and that unnamed Count gaining a friendly ally on his southern border.

We need to figure out who that is and become his best friend.


I think our priorities at present are:

1) Become entirely food self-sufficient.

Unfortunately, this may be difficult, as we're a mediocre Alteration mage and apparently the mage currently working our field is in the employ of Count Lecroix. We need to ween ourselves off of him. Given Lecroix's situation it's extremely likely that we're paying this guy to keep ourselves dependent on him.

2)Be best friends with whichever Count controls the county between Lecroix and Dames counties.

Ask Brethyn about him and send him a friendly letter of introduction

3)Secure our southern border

That situation is crazy. We're right next to a county that's in disputed control with an orc warchief apparently really in charge and the "officially" ruling Count (Detwyx) basically bribing them into not overtly taking control, all while they're simultanously dealing with Reachland barbarians on their eastern border.

I think we need to start equipping and training army. Fortunately, Count Lecroix benefits from us having a defensive army because it secures his iron supply. He's unlikely to object. But, we need to do it in away that doesn't reduce his iron imports from us. That's possibly not ideal, but it's workable.

[LordBucket]

I made a map based on what I think is going on:



How accurate is that?

Thick black lines are county borders. Stars are iron mines.

Lecroix County consists of:
 * Lecroix Estate (Count's private land, food stable)
 * Hawkcroft Estate (Free Lord: us, food deficit, one iron mine)
 * Notharth Estate (Free Lord Lielle Notharth, primary food supplier for the county, somewhat unfriendly to us)
 * The three Dalyion family fiefs (controlled by Lethai, Joalhire and Aria Dalyion, all daughters of the Dalyion line, Vassals of Count Lecroix, one shared iron mine among them)

Detwyx County
Unstable. Count Detwyx has a local orc warchief that he's bribing into not creating problems, and presumably has the same Reachland barbarian problem that Lecroix county has.

Orange Unnamed County
If Count Lecroix successfully inherits Dames county, these people get stuck sandwiched in the middle of Lecroix's lands. We need to be friends with these people so that when we kill Count Lecroix meets with an unfortunate accident, orange expands north into Dames County, and we expand into the Dalyion family estates.That gives us direct control of both iron mines. We probably lose some of Lecroix's estate to the barbarians before we get around to expanding east, but I'd call that acceptable losses. We end up with control of the majority of what is now Lecroix county, friendly allies to the north, unfriendly barbarians to our east, whatever is going on in the south by that time, and the primary food supply for our county on our west belonging to a free Lord who didn't like our uncle, but is probably smart enough to not get in our way.

[Araph]

Better idea: Hit the fields for a bit. We can train our alteration magic, get to know our citizens, talk to them about our humble begining and extablish a reputation as a noble who does more than just sit in his manor all day, and perhaps even have a small effect on the food supply or alteration costs for the season.

Sputter incoherently at the notion of sullying our hands with field work. Reject the absurdity on principal. (The meeting with the quarreling leaders is a good idea, though.)

I completely agree about opposing vassalship to Lecroix. We need to stay free to pursue our own nefarious ends. Therefore, I propose/support the following:

- Send a letter to Lecroix, graciously declining a personal meeting until our fief is secured and order is ensured.
- Begin preparing defenses without any mention or indication to the outside world. Commissioning (or rather, having our steward commission) arms and armor for stockpiling and send out surveyors to assess our land's defensibility.
- And most importantly, prepare a study or lab to continue our magical endeavors.

[High tyrol]

(@micelus : I've updated my suggestions based on the new information)



So if I understand this arrangement correctly, Count Lecroix controls a small county containing 6 estates. His, Notharth, those of three minor vassals all belonging to the same family, and ours, which somehow our uncle managed to come to own personally.

To our west are the fertile lands of Lielle Notharth

Is Baroness Notharth a vassal or a free Lord? It seems to be implied that she's a free Lord like we are, but I'd like to be sure.

Our eastern border is ruled by Count Lacroux himself. It is where most of our iron ends up

The Count controls a domain bordering the Reach in the east and is often busy dealing with the barbarian tribes

So there are only two iron mines in Lecroix county. One is being operated by the Dalyion family. The other other on privately owned land, ours, and the Count is stuck buying it in order to equip his soldiers. And from the sound of it, not only is half the iron in his county privately owned, so (probably) is the fertile land belonging to Baroness Notharth that's supplying food to the people in control of at least half his iron, and probably also supplying food to the other half of his iron supply north of us.

Count Lecroix is in a relatively bad situation.

Count Lacroux is married to the second daughter of the Count of Dames some distance north and stands to inherit it

...but apparently, for all of Lecroix's bad situation at present, he's married up, and stands to eventually absorb an entire second county through inheritance. Meaning it's in his best interest to not make waves, and to simply maintain the status quo until then. Interesting.

Baroness Lielle

...wait. If local law allows women to hold rank and own land, then why would Count Lecroix inherit Dames county just because he's married Princess Dames? Wouldn't she inherit it? Or is Baroness Notharth a widow, and only retains ownership so long as she doesn't remarry?

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx

So we're on the southern edge of Lacroix county, adjacent to Detwx county.

"The Count controls a domain bordering the Reach in the east and is often busy dealing with the barbarian tribes.

Count Detwyx's lands are...somewhat better than ours, however much of that is spent either appeasing the Orcs or feeding soldiers to fight the Reachmen.

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx, although the local orcs have made this difficult. Detwyx I hear is ruled more by the orcish warchief than by his own will.

...whoa. That's...bad. So, the barbarian-controlled Reach is on the eastern border of both Lecroix and Detwyx counties, and Detwyx county not only has to deal with the barbarians, they're also dealing with internal issues with orcs and basically bribing the local warchief into not taking control

...and that is immediately on our southern border and we have only two soldiers...who are orcs...and our "protection" comes from a guy who has barbarians to his east and the same unstable orc situation to his south that we do.

This is altogether kind of a bad situation.


I think we need to talk to Count Lecroix, but I'm opposed to becoming his vassal. He desperately needs us because we're supplying him with half his iron, and given his situation it would probably be unwise for him to try to take it by force. He's presently engaged in skirmishes with Barbarians on his eastern front, which is the opposite side of his estate as ours. And simultaneously has to be worried about the unstable situation on his southern border. If he were to pull his forces away to secure our mine, that means that his forces are on the opposite side of where they need to be protect him from barbarian incursions. And even though we apparently have no military to speak of, it's reasonable to suggest that taking our mine would result in a temporary halt of half his iron imports, which he needs, due to the fact that the people working the mine would probably end up being conscripted by us and a lot of them would die. Meaning he'd need to take the mine, secure the area, then bring in his own serfs, get the mine operating again and reestablish the supply chain...all while simultaneously hoping that the eastern barbarians and southern orcs ignore him.

As long as we keep supplying him with iron, it's in his best interest to leave us alone. He has too much to lose.

The Count, truth be told, provides most of our defences."

That seems a little weird, since we're on a county border, and that border is with land that seems relatively unstable. And we provide Lecroix with half his iron. He must be freaking out that we're so poorly protected. That's probably good. It means if we start training troops, it actually strengthens his position. So long as we stay friendly and make sure he gets his iron, he benefits from us becoming stronger probably more than he has to worry about us being a threat to him. He's a buffer between us and the barbarians. If we invaded his land, we'd be trading a friendly eastern border for an unfriendly one.

So for the moment at least, he can't touch us and we can't touch him. But it's to both our benefit for us to become militarily stronger.

Our southern border is nominally controlled by Count Pharon Detwyx, although the local orcs have made this difficult. Detwyx I hear is ruled more by the orcish warchief than by his own will.

So until we showed up, the barony of the southern border of Lexcroix county was owned by a guy (our uncle) who apparently thought it was a good idea to have only two professional soldiers on his property despite being right next to a volatile area

We could also build a few farms as you suggest, although they wouldn't be useful till next season. While normally One [Small Farm] would be able to feed 100 people, each can only feed 40 at the best of times due to our poor soil. You may try Altering the land if you wish, my lord."

we maintain 200 or so serfs

We have 15. 15 * 40 = 600. even at half production that's comfortably enough to feed our serfs and still have some left over for market.

"The serfs are content to be serfs, the freemen freemen and artistans artistans. I made sure of that. Sometimes they go hungry because we can't get enough bread on the table, but we usually get something from Lielle's farms when that happens.

Well, feeding the freemen isn't our responsibility. Sure, it makes sense to sell our excess production to them and to import the shortfall we can't produce ourselves to sell to them as well. We don't want them starving. But there's no reason for that to be a losing proposition for us.

"Most of Arkwick's inhabitants are freemen, however we maintain 200 or so serfs.

How much of our money comes from selling iron to Count Lecroix, and how much comes from commerce with our local free population?

It would probably benefit us to encourage some private mercantilism. Maybe Baroness Notharth doesn't particularly like us, but that's no reason for her to not sell to private merchants who happen to sell food to freemen living on our land. It would probably mean a small loss of income since we wouldn't be the ones selling that food, but it would make our situation generally more stable.

Count Lacroux is married to the second daughter of the Count of Dames some distance north and stands to inherit it.

What happened to the first daughter? Presumably she's dead if Dames County is going to the second daughter.

Also, is Dames County on the northern border of Lecroix county, or is it not? "Some distance" sort of implies the two counties are not adjacent. What lies between the two counties? Whomever owns that lans is going to be very concerned about Lecroix owning land on both his northern and southern borders.

It would presumably be in the best interest of that person for Count Lecroix and his wife to meet with an unfortunate end. Not only would their death save him from being sandwiched, it would very likely result in Dames County becoming up for grabs. And if we're friendly with that Count, and he's expanding north...it would be to both out benefit for us take the the estates belonging to the Dalyion family...resulting in us getting the other iron mine, and that unnamed Count gaining a friendly ally on his southern border.

We need to figure out who that is and become his best friend.


I think our priorities at present are:

1) Become entirely food self-sufficient.

Unfortunately, this may be difficult, as we're a mediocre Alteration mage and apparently the mage currently working our field is in the employ of Count Lecroix. We need to ween ourselves off of him. Given Lecroix's situation it's extremely likely that we're paying this guy to keep ourselves dependent on him.

2)Be best friends with whichever Count controls the county between Lecroix and Dames counties.

Ask Brethyn about him and send him a friendly letter of introduction

3)Secure our southern border

That situation is crazy. We're right next to a county that's in disputed control with an orc warchief apparently really in charge and the "officially" ruling Count (Detwyx) basically bribing them into not overtly taking control, all while they're simultanously dealing with Reachland barbarians on their eastern border.

I think we need to start equipping and training army. Fortunately, Count Lecroix benefits from us having a defensive army because it secures his iron supply. He's unlikely to object. But, we need to do it in away that doesn't reduce his iron imports from us. That's possibly not ideal, but it's workable.

(clap clap)1+ good job excellently written.

[Weirdsound]

Better idea: Hit the fields for a bit. We can train our alteration magic, get to know our citizens, talk to them about our humble begining and extablish a reputation as a noble who does more than just sit in his manor all day, and perhaps even have a small effect on the food supply or alteration costs for the season.

Sputter incoherently at the notion of sullying our hands with field work. Reject the absurdity on principal. (The meeting with the quarreling leaders is a good idea, though.)

I completely agree about opposing vassalship to Lecroix. We need to stay free to pursue our own nefarious ends. Therefore, I propose/support the following:

- Send a letter to Lecroix, graciously declining a personal meeting until our fief is secured and order is ensured.
- Begin preparing defenses without any mention or indication to the outside world. Commissioning (or rather, having our steward commission) arms and armor for stockpiling and send out surveyors to assess our land's defensibility.
- And most importantly, prepare a study or lab to continue our magical endeavors.

I'd hold off on military affairs until after we deal with these knights. There is a chance we could assimilate them into our regime, and use their expertise. Boom, ready made militia captains. I'd propose tapping into the budget to build them their own temple/mead hall/lodge/base of opperations, in exchange for their loyalty. Of course, I'd hold off on making that offer until after we find out how useful they might be.

We should also inquire as to the state of eligible young highborn women in the region. We should learn from our uncles mistakes and see to leaving a proper heir, and marrying into another family is a rather effective way of building an alliance.

[Araph]

*snip*

(clap clap)1+ good job excellently written.

LordBucket don't half-ass no Elder Scrolls stuff.

I'd hold off on military affairs until after we deal with these knights. There is a chance we could assimilate them into our regime, and use their expertise. Boom, ready made militia captains. I'd propose tapping into the budget to build them their own temple/mead hall/lodge/base of opperations, in exchange for their loyalty. Of course, I'd hold off on making that offer until after we find out how useful they might be.

Ooh, that's a good one. I retract my military vote and support this instead. First order of business, then: a congenial dinner with the knights, ideally making them an offer if they prove to be useful. We need to be careful to not give them too much power, though.

[LordBucket]

...oh, I just realized:

[6]A band of knights calling themselves the Order of the Lamp have settled in the village, commandeering the Eights'
shrine as their base. While supposedly pious soldiers, they have refused to allow our local priest to perform his duties.

Order of the Lamp. These people might be very friendly to us.

@micelus: What's our Mage Guild rank?

I would be completely ok with establishing a mage guild chapter here.

[Araph]

...oh, I just realized:

[6]A band of knights calling themselves the Order of the Lamp have settled in the village, commandeering the Eights'
shrine as their base. While supposedly pious soldiers, they have refused to allow our local priest to perform his duties.

Order of the Lamp. These people might be very friendly to us.

@micelus: What's our Mage Guild rank?

I would be completely ok with establishing a mage guild chapter here.

Well, isn't that interesting. If the Guild still exists in any sort of official capacity, we might be able to set up a teleportation destination linked to the other chapters. If this is after the White Gold Concordat, though, we have no guarantee that these really are part of the Order of the Lamp. Out in the hinterlands with no actual knights to call them out on it and an unconcerned lord not bothering to investigate, posing as members of a knightly order could be very convenient for bandits.

[Weirdsound]

Still, even if they are not, in fact, legit, they would likely rather be Knights in the service of a lord than bandits messing around on his land. Even if they are clearly faking their credentials, we should still play ball with them.