You decide to pray to the gods to heal your sick sister.
6
Miracle happens next morning! Your sister wakes up, the fever and other syndromes gone over the night.
Almost every of your courtiers thanks the Pantheon, who must've lend their collective ear to your prayers!
1214 AD, Winter
1
Gemstones and gold arrive in the Treasury; t'chai leaves failed to bring any profits whatsoever in the east!
1
The imperial Treasury has problems integrating the Vaults into the system, confounded both by some racial 'distaste' between dwarven Vaulters and Methiantese officials. These social unpleasantries will delay implementation of the Vault system by a whole year, at best.
1214 AD, Midwinter
Couriers from the north bring news; apparently, Sigurd of Helliste died of heart attack. The young Brynwald, his son (and your first cousin from Ciri's side) ascended the throne. He is a healthy lad of a posture of a bull, but, as rurmors go, he lacks any particular talent.
1214 AD, End of the Year
Like a storm in the summer, this year came and went. If only every year of your rule would be as quick and easy to get through!
The Advisor arrives and hands you the Scrolls of Kingdom Status. You examine them thoroughly.
You're pretty sure they've stitched another layer of vellum on top of the old one, and that mold is already chewing through at the corner. Eugh.
1, 4to6(1to3)
Happiness: 5
Population: 8
Economy:
0!Army: 8
Imp.Authority:
-1...Wait, the Treasury is empty?You put the scrolls down and stare at the Advisor with disbelief.
"Can you explain to me where did
all our money go to?"
"Investments, sire. The Army is taking a great bulk of money, and the iron mines providing cheap equipment only reduce maintenance by a certain amount. An amount equal to a half of what Army spends goes to Fireblood Court, and another such amount goes to pay wages of your hardworking, royal bureaucrats spread across our vast Empire. There's also yearly expenses on the festivities and the house of learning." You frown at this.
"And our income, again?"
"Gemstones and gold bullion are the only ones providing raw wealth to the Treasury. About the same, we gain from yearly taxation of population. But our Treasury depends mostly on profits from trading, which is finicky thing sometimes, like this year." You frown even harder, especially when you realize that this is not a problem of today, but of recent years. Once profitable trading routes and deals have petered out, and the closure of various mines during the Regency sure haven't helped. It might've passed by you unnoticed when the Treasury was keeping afloat, but now...
"Emperor," The Advisor speaks again, "Maybe a raise of taxes or cutting of our spending would be prudent?"
A) "Raise the taxes, I'm sure the peasants will understand."
B) "Cut the Army spending in a half, we're not at war anyway."
C) "No, these measures are not needed - not yet, at least."
D) "Higher taxes and some budget cuts is the way!"
"We could also try some more drastic measures..." The Advisor mentions few things you could consider.
A) "We will sell some of our artifacts for some quick cash."
B) "A loan from the dwarves sounds okay with me."
C) "Neither of these sound particularily good, sorry."
"The Authority of the throne is somewhat low, but maybe you want to issue an Edict?"
A) "Better not."
B) "Sure thing."