I'd appreciate it if future suggestions are highlighted
in bold. It was a bit difficult differentiating between discussion and actual suggestions for the upcoming update. Also, I'd once more like to emphasize being specific in suggestions. Things like "get weapons" aren't useful. Instead they shouold be like "go to X and contact Y and buy Z of _____ Weapons with a budget of ____", or "Go send X to buy Y weapons with a budget of Z."
Also, this turn takes place a week
after the last update. I think I already said this, but expect most updates to be month-long, and for the actions to be played out
during that month (so a turn represents a month of time, not a month after.)
Also, sorry, but I'm not going to simulate specific crimes. That's a bit too much for me.
Warfare in Kayth is conducted through a large variety of weapons. While swords and melee weapons dominate the field, combat mages are also a frequent site. Every self-respecting entity has a firearm regiment, but the prohibitive costs of the blackpowder used for ammo means that firearms aren't the most common site in battles, and the majority of fighting is still done at close range.
Artillery is the same. While many of the larger nations and cities own artillery, it's only used in desperate situations due to the extreme cost for every shot fired. Supposedly, the Mages' Guild occasionally experiments with magic-aided firearms and artillery, but thanks to a lack of any cheap small magical item that survives numerous shots to "power" the artillery, the experiments never work out.
But you're sure that there's bound to be some artillery and a decent amount of firearms on the black market. Just not at any price you can afford right now.
Year 0 Post-Collapse, February, Week 2. (1 Week since announcement)
Lord Marshall of DiscoveryIt's been one week since you announced your new status as Lord Marshall of Discovery. You also made it clear that the name's still subject to changes, as you've always found yourself very liable to change your mind later on.
Inquiries to former traders about where artifacts used to go yield an easy result. Since Discovery's the only source of Artifacts, they're in demand just about everywhere. But generally speaking, the larger the mage presence in a city, the higher the demand would be.
Sadly there are no apparent people wanting Artifacts in Discovery right now, so you're unable to offload them on anyone.
Reserving Artifacts for research is easy. The Mine is public property, so it's essentially owned by you, meaning that you can easily take a portion of anything mined there, even without enforcement.
You have two main options here. You can take a portion of things from the mine, which is a fickle concept, with people dodging their forced contributions, you not being able to control the artifacts, and more. Or you can basically fund the mine from the government, and pay miners a fee for each Artifact they discover.
The mine doesn't produce that many artifacts at the moment (it's rather small), but they're individually expensive. You estimate that you can easily set the funding of the mine to
4,000 Korth/Month without any need for enforcement (other than a single paid person to manage the operation. Their salary would not be included in the mine's funding.), and public approval. You can change the funding, but you may have to change some other things to to keep the mine operational.
Next you start to organize the taxes. Hiring the tax collectors was easy, due to how lucrative it would be. You receive
four bids of 5,000 Korth each. These people essentially drained out their life savings for this opportunity. Tax income has already been collected, netting
9,375 Korth. Unfortunately, the relatively small middle class is complaining as they're apparently the most affected by the flat taxes. (as the rich can easily afford them, and the poor have had most flat taxes excused for them due to being completely unable to afford the taxes.) No actual public outrage yet, though.
Four Tax Collectors hired, 29,375 Korth received. Taxes will yield 9,375 Korth per month.
The criminal code doesn't go as well, though. The Garrison left a while ago after it was forcibly called on the Empire to fight some Revolutionaries, and never returned. Your only military are your three guards. With no one to enforce the law, you also receive no income from the law. But this changes easily.
You received
20 viable applicants from your recruitment drive,
and hire 5, setting them to work throughout the city and enforcing the peace with the few weapons you have left. They're all fairly trained, but are also rusty with their limited experience.
5 Meager City Guard hired for 1,000 Kr/Month each.Speaking of weapons, that's not a good situation right now. At the barracks where your new City Guard is based, you have a small amount of basic swords. That's all. Cobwebs are scattered across the places where the armor should be. As of now, you only have some iron swords. There's also the small internal "barracks" at the Administrative Center, but that's just a small room that your 3 Administrative Guard are based out of. Speaking of which, they have steel gear, but no extras.
An Administrative Guard is sent out to serve as a town crier. They're not really having much of an impact right now, and won't unless they're told to do something specific.
You sent out an Administrative Guard to check the status of the personal livestock. Looks like there aren't actually that many livestock, as most of the people didn't feel it was unnecessary. Overall, the Administrative Guard send sees 5 cows - 4 Female, 1 Male, and 3 pigs - 2 Male and 1 Female.
You consider doing more about the food situation, but some plans are only half-formed, and others you find yourself disagreeing with. Disagreeing with yourself. Somehow.
Before the end of the week, you take note of important people. Since the collapse, you've been doing everything (with the help of your Administrative Guards) in the Administrative Center yourself. Though it's easier with no one to report to. You don't employ anyone else at the moment, other than the people hired this week. You never really made any connections outside of the City, thanks to the City's small status. Your only real connection outside of the city was to your sister in the Capital, but you haven't heard from them since a couple weeks before the collapse.
There aren't that many important people in Discovery. You can name Justok Smith offhand. A wealthy merchant who ran several caravans before the collapse, and currently runs numerous businesses inside discovery. You've recently heard of Bateiok Labumat, a wizard traveling through Discovery who was essentially 'trapped' after the collapse, and finally, Thomik Lans. A former Empire General. He doesn't seem to do much, and you're not even sure if he's important, but that's an impressive title.
This was an eventful week, but people are still about to starve, and the crime situation has only lightened up a small amount.
Before going to sleep at the end of the week, you notice that you're overpaying the City Guard quite a bit. The Administrative Guard is like a small royal guard - elite soldiers that are well-paid. You could get away with paying the Guard much less.
Also, you're actually bordering a river, surrounded by mostly grassland and a nearby forest. The Artifact Mine is within the town itself - near the center, in fact. Due to the nature of the Artifacts, they aren't mined in the same way as regular minerals. Though miners have reported seeing iron. Of course, that could be a misconception and they can easily be wrong.
The City of DiscoveryPopulation - 400 people.
Staff- 2 Administrative Guard [Based out of Administrative Center]
- 1 Town Crier (Administrative Guard)
- 5 City Guard [Based out of Discovery Barracks]
- 4 Tax Collectors (indirect control)
TreasuryCurrent Holdings - 39,375 Korth
Income - 9,375 Korth/Month
Taxes
Discovery - 9,375 Korth/Month
Expenses - 9,000 Korth/Month
Wages- 3,000 Korth/Month: Administrative Guard Wages (3x1000kr)
- 5,000 Korth/Month: City Guard Wages (5x1000kr)
Personal- 1,000 Korth/Month: Personal Living Costs (1x1000kr)
Government BuildingsSmall BarracksAdministrative CenterRuined WallsNotable Points of InterestArtifact MineMy made-up names are a crime against nature. Lemme know if I forgot something important.