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[Chiefwaffles]

"The Royal Family is dead; their armies crippled; their treasury empty; their will to fight gone."
That was the gist of the message you got yesterday. For some, it's a horrifying omen of things to come. For some, it's a depressing sign of an era past. For some, it's an amazing symbol of victory. For you, it's an opportunity.

Your farmer parents have, since your birth, drilled in you a great ambition. Five years ago, when the then-Administrator was, 'displaced', your reputation and status as a Citizen got you selected as the Administrator of the City of Discovery. It wasn't much, considering that the "City" is actually a village of about 400 people, but it was your village. Now your ambition is paying off yet again. With the Great Empire gone, chaos is about to erupt. While the Revolution may have cut the head off of the Empire of Kayth, it's still disjointed and scattered; unable to cement control over the remains of the Empire.

You're going to use this for your own benefit. With a population of anti-Empire farmers and miners, you're about to officially declare the City of Discovery an independent entity. This brings new opportunities and possibilities, but also danger. Even independent, you're still at threat from the Revolution. The raiders and bandits roaming the lands will no doubt be looking for a juicy target, either. Even other nations will no doubt eventually start picking through the remains, looking for land to take. The remnants of the Great Empire of Kayth will also be looking to re-establish their dominion. And you also have to consider the most important threat - the other independent cities now looking to expand their domain.
But here you are, Administrator. Head of a village. Leader of 400 men and women loyal to you. Presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. How could you ever pass this down?


The days after the news came were relatively smooth. You haven't announced your decision yet, and people are already starting to get worried. Even regardless of whether or not you're officially independent yet, you still have to worry about staying afloat. For the 30 years of its existence, the City has always primarily relied on importing food, due to its lack of any large farms. The only source of food available to the populace of the city comes from the relatively few personally-owned vegetable plots scattered across the town. And even then, the villagers own this food, not you. Without any further action, people are going to start to starve fairly soon.
You also have to worry about governance. With the old government gone, you now have complete freedom in how you govern the city. Unfortunately, the villagers have picked up on this. Combined with your inaction on the matter, the citizens use this to do whatever they wish. Crime is rampant. You're even not receiving any taxes. Previously, tax collectors from the Empire would collect all taxes, and you would get funding straight from the Empire. With the Empire gone, you no longer have any income.
Furthermore, the chaos surrounding the collapse is bound to leave you with very little to none caravans or trading these upcoming months. Any trading would have to be done by you.

You take note of some other things of importance that you currently know. The information you currently have is limited. Anything more has to be found out manually.
The majority of the city is populated by miners. Specifically, miners of the Artifact Mine - the reason for the founding of the City, the Artifact Mine is a mine where artifacts - strange small artificial spheres with a natural mana resonance - are found.. The rest of the populace fills other roles needed for the continued operations of a village.

You've also never really been fond of the name of the City. "The City of Discovery." Yeesh. What's with the Empire's naming schemes, anyways?
The City of Discovery
Population - 400 people.
Government Buildings
Small Barracks
Administrative Center
Ruined Walls
Notable Points of Interest
Artifact Mine

Spoiler: GM Notes (click to show/hide)

This is a fantasy (as in, magic) SG. In case you didn't know - everyone posts suggestions for what the single 'player' - the Administrator, shall do.

[crazyabe]

PTW

[Ghazkull]

1.Do a survey of the jobless and homeless, the young and hopeful and finally of any and all mercenary and ex-soldier types. Take the most promising of those and establish them as a militia.

2.Bring law and order by kneecaping, fining and confiscating your way through the town.

3.Hire those less promising for physical duties as taxmen.

4. Establish a Tax on Property and Trade with those artifacts.

5. Figure out our surroundings and the Price for fixing the damn wall.

[Lermfish]

PTW for now.

[TinFoilTopHat]

Change the name to something less awful, like New Mecca.
also check If we have any [insert currency here]

[Chiefwaffles]

Change the name to something less awful, like New Mecca.
also check If we have any [insert currency here]

You consider a change of the City's name to something better, but no suitable names come to mind offhand. After this catastrophic naming failure, you walk over to the treasury room inside the Administrative Center. It's a sad sight. You've always protested at the little amount of funds attributed to the City, and funding was supposed to come tomorrow. You have 100 Silver Korth coins in the treasury.
100 Silver Korth coins, while still a relatively large amount of money for any single villager, are a very little amount for a city. Korth is measured in three denominations - Gold, Silver, and Copper. Frequently, the value of any given amount of money is measured in just "Korth" - the equivalent amount of any given set of coins in Copper Korth. So you have 10,000 Korth with your 100 Silver coins.

While your current balance sheets are very outdated, you can easily 'calculate' your current upkeeps. Right now, your only staff (thanks to the recent chaos) are your three Administrative Guards - responsible for keeping you and the Administrative Center safe. Together, they all take 3,000 Korth per month in wages. The only other expense are your living costs: 1,000 Korth/Month.

1.Do a survey of the jobless and homeless, the young and hopeful and finally of any and all mercenary and ex-soldier types. Take the most promising of those and establish them as a militia.

2.Bring law and order by kneecaping, fining and confiscating your way through the town.

3.Hire those less promising for physical duties as taxmen.

4. Establish a Tax on Property and Trade with those artifacts.

5. Figure out our surroundings and the Price for fixing the damn wall.

While these are all good plans to move forward on, you have to be more specific when coming up with ideas. How are you conducting the survey? Are you going around and knocking on each door yourself? Who will you kneecap, and what for? How much will you fine and confiscate, who, and for what public reasons? How many do you hire as a militia, and how much do you pay them? How many and what wages for the taxmen? What should the taxes be exactly? And how do you appraise the wall?
You really have to get your hands dirty if you want to power through this chaos.


You still haven't announced your independence yet.
The City of Discovery
Population - 400 people.
Staff
- 3 Administrative Guard
Treasury
Current Holdings - 10,000 Korth (in: 100 Silver Korth Coins)
Expenses - 4,000 Korth/Month
Wages
- 3,000 Korth/Month: Administrative Guard Wages (3x1000kr)
Personal
- 1,000 Korth/Month: Personal Living Costs (1x1000kr)
Government Buildings
Small Barracks
Administrative Center
Ruined Walls
Notable Points of Interest
Artifact Mine

Spoiler: Minor GM Note (click to show/hide)

I am so sorry for my made-up names. And the economics.

[StrawBarrel]

Make sure we think of all of our staff and allies. Do we have workers on par with us or not employed in a way to be considered staff? Do we have any friends in or outside of the village? Who are the important people of our village?

[Funk]

How many and what wages for the taxmen? 
We need 4 taxmen and they can hire there own helpers.
Tax men bid in cash for the right to a geographical area that there to allowed collect tax's in.
In return they get to keep 25% of all they collect in the area, this should inspire them.

What should the taxes be exactly?

Alcohol, drugs and fuel, 5% of value in cash or 10% of actual items.
Weapons, armour and ammo, 10% of value in cash or 15% of actual items.
Cattle and live stock, 5% of value in cash or 1/16th of actual items.
Grain and bread, 1% of value in cash or 1% of actual items.
Artifacts 2% of value in cash or 5% of actual items.
Postal traffic ,1 Korth per letter.
Hat tax, 1 Korth per hat.

All of the above tax's are at the gate/mine

Hearth or fireplace 5 Korth each per year.

[crazyabe]

How many and what wages for the taxmen? 
We need 4 taxmen and they can hire there own helpers.
Tax men bid in cash for the right to a geographical area that there to allowed collect tax's in.
In return they get to keep 25% of all they collect in the area, this should inspire them.

What should the taxes be exactly?

Alcohol, drugs and fuel, 5% of value in cash or 10% of actual items.
Weapons, armour and ammo, 10% of value in cash or 15% of actual items.
Cattle and live stock, 5% of value in cash or 1/16th of actual items.
Grain and bread, 1% of value in cash or 1% of actual items.
Artifacts 2% of value in cash or 5% of actual items.
Postal traffic ,1 Korth per letter.
Hat tax, 1 Korth per hat.

All of the above tax's are at the gate/mine

Hearth or fireplace 5 Korth each per year.

Do to Phrasing some of those sound like...

Alcohol, drugs and fuel, 5% of value in cash or 10% of actual items.

1/10 of the Bottle or bag goes to you.

Weapons, armour and ammo, 10% of value in cash or 15% of actual items.

-tax men cut 15% off every weapon not owned by the Military.

Cattle and live stock, 5% of value in cash or 1/16th of actual items.

-1/16 of every animal is Cut off.

Grain and bread, 1% of value in cash or 1% of actual items.

-you receive 1/100 of every piece of bread made, or the inedible part of a stalk of Grain.

Artifacts 2% of value in cash or 5% of actual items.

-Artifacts get cut up into 20 pieces and you get 1 section of each one mined.

[Funk]

We get less than that, only 75% of the taxed amount and hope fully we get entire items or cash.
Remember that the tax collectors pay us for the privilege of collecting.

Do to Phrasing some of those sound like...

-----------Revised tax's------------------

How many and what wages for the taxmen?
We need 4 taxmen and they can hire there own helpers.
Tax men bid in cash for the right to a geographical area that there to allowed collect tax's in.
In return they get to keep 25% of all they collect in the area, this should inspire them.

More tax men can be hired latter for each area i.e. collecting tolls or mine taxs.
Tax men are responsible for maintaining the walls and toll gates

What should the taxes be exactly?

Tax's are ideally in cash at a % of the item value, traders unable to pay are liable to items seized.

Alcohol, drugs and fuel, 5% of value in cash or seize 7% of the actual items rounding up to the nearest pint.
Weapons, armour and ammo, 10% of value in cash or seize 15% of the items rounding up.
Cattle and live stock, 5% of value in cash or seize 7% of the items rounding up.
Grain and bread, 1% of value in cash or seize 1% of the items rounding up to the nearest pound.
Artifacts 2% of value in cash or seize 5% of the items rounding up.

Postal traffic ,1 Korth per letter.
Hat tax, 1 Korth per hat.

Gate tolls:
Horses, donkeys and mules 1 Korth
Carts 5 Korth

All of the above tax's are at the gate/mine/bakery

Hearth or fireplace tax 50 Korth each per year.
Wall tax 10 Korth each man per year.
Guest charge 1 Korth for each man per night when inside the walls and not paying Hearth tax.

[Lidku]

+1 to all the posts dealing with the economy, but what the Militaristic matters of the Village? I am sure this Mining Colony should have had a Garrison force:

Have the remaining loyal Garrison Men from the barracks begin instilling reorder amongst the villagers. After that, we should take stock of all our Armaments for security of the Village. Then we must declare ourselves Supreme Commander Fuhrer of this new great sovereign Nation, uplifting our people into a great ambition for a new Imperium.

[Ghazkull]

okay...that is not good.

1. Send out one of the Guards to serve as temporary towncrier...if one is there use him instead.

2. Job Offer for City Guard: 1.000 Korth/Month- take only trained ex-military and mercenary types for now. We don't have training facilities nor the stuff to train people.

3. Fines and Punishment:

Theft, Smuggling (aka trading of wares without paying tax), Tax Evasion, Burglary, Robbery, Corruption (i'm looking at you taxmen), All crimes with Economic Damage:
-Punishment: Return of Wares/Money to the Rightful Owner, Fine in the amount of worth of the stolen Item.
-If unable to pay fine: Forced Service in the Artifact Mines most dangerous parts until fine has been paid off
-Repeated Offenders: Cutting One Ear off (Second Offense)

Assault, Attempted Murder, Grievous Bodily Harm, All Crimes with Physical Damage involved:
-Punishment: Forced Service in the Artifact Mines most dangerous parts for a set period of 3 years.
-Repeated Offenders: Additional Service in the Mines at lengthened periods (so four, five, six and more years for each extra offense)

Murder, Arson(the bane of any medieval town), Sexual Assaults, crimes of similiar magnitude:
-Punishment: Public Execution by being Skinned Alive, afterwards public display of the Body for three months

That better?

[Lidku]

okay...that is not good.

1. Send out one of the Guards to serve as temporary towncrier...if one is there use him instead.

2. Job Offer for City Guard: 1.000 Korth/Month- take only trained ex-military and mercenary types for now. We don't have training facilities nor the stuff to train people.

3. Fines and Punishment:

Theft, Smuggling (aka trading of wares without paying tax), Tax Evasion, Burglary, Robbery, Corruption (i'm looking at you taxmen), All crimes with Economic Damage:
-Punishment: Return of Wares/Money to the Rightful Owner, Fine in the amount of worth of the stolen Item.
-If unable to pay fine: Forced Service in the Artifact Mines most dangerous parts until fine has been paid off
-Repeated Offenders: Cutting One Ear off (Second Offense)

Assault, Attempted Murder, Grievous Bodily Harm, All Crimes with Physical Damage involved:
-Punishment: Forced Service in the Artifact Mines most dangerous parts for a set period of 3 years.
-Repeated Offenders: Additional Service in the Mines at lengthened periods (so four, five, six and more years for each extra offense)

Murder, Arson(the bane of any medieval town), Sexual Assaults, crimes of similiar magnitude:
-Punishment: Public Execution by being Skinned Alive, afterwards public display of the Body for three months

That better?

+1 Indeed, but we must enunicate our sole position as the Fuhrer of this National-Capitalist society. If we do not insinuate our new seat of power, our people will doubt our grit and determination to lead, that is the only way.

 We should also find away to export the Artifact Mana Orbs to independent traders around the Village or Foreign. We also could reserve another amount for research, trying to unveil the secrets they hold to advance our glorious new Sovereign State.

I vote we name our Country; Orbtensia, signalling the sole existence for the establishment of this Village admidst the Pre-Kaythian Empirical state. To mine out the mighty Artifact Orbs. We should devise a certain Crest for out Nation's flag as well and credo of allegiance to it.

We also neglected to address the looming Famine; With no adequate flow of food imports, that we were so dependant upon beforehand, our people will surely starve.

I propose that we fabricate a Public Work campaign effort to properly establish set farming plots to ensure food is secure for the 400 population. If not, we could easily conscript/hire Hunters and Scouts to assume food procurement operations. Maybe we could initiate skirmish assaults against some Bandit camps preemptively, I am sure we may as well be on their target list.

Added: Our administration should have tight cooperation with the Metallurgy and Mining Industry. This is for ensuring resources are kept well to be put into Armaments, since the anarchy outside our realm will surely reach our doorstep.

Who knows? Refugees, Bandits, Kaythian Remnant Forces, Roving Band of horrors, Enterprising Warlock/Warlord and his clan, Megabeasts, Looters trying to have a lucky grab, Murderers and deranged Lunatics Kaythian Convicts liberating themselves amidst the chaos. The entitled Rebels may also attempt to allocate a FOB here, arrogance knowing no bounds. We must be prepared.

[Nunzillor]

Skinned alive?  I understand that the idea is to impose order, but I feel that being too extreme will alienate the population.  -1 to that, if possible, but I support a more humane form of public execution.

[Ghazkull]

hmm you are right Nunzillor:

Change that then to:
Lifelong Service in the Artifact Mines...that should do the trick. brings in more cash too.

-1 to Orbtensia
-1 to declaring us Führer...
-1 to farm plots

For now we are the leader of a village, we shouldn't get delusions of grandeur. Besides Führer is the most fucking stupid title there ever was. The only reason nobody in germany complained back then was because none dared say anything by that point.(/offtopic)
Regarding the Food Situation, Foreign Trade is our current only option apart from maybe animal husbandry and we have currently no money for either. Once Cash comes in i support animal husbandry over farming, we are in the mountains after all we can't feed our populace off of farming.