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[micelus]

Later after the courtyard encounter...

"Lady duAveguine, do you care for some wine?" Alexei was the first to speak as they entered the room of royal chancery. He poured some for himself, and sat down behind a table. "You don't mind if we talk honestly about trade and the capital's supplies? Tell me, what is the state of your granaries, and what do you foresee for the next few years to happen. If kingdom is to grow, we must have a good economic policy, and I know you are keen on that."

Gather information about the kingdom - settle into the royal chancery and get records of the state of the realm (finances, property, ownership, etc).

((Assuming I can just make stuff up, if not, please correct me Ghaz))

Avaris took the wine offered and examined it closely; a fine enough drink, she believed. The climate here was far too northerly to support any decent crop of grape, so trying even common wine was a luxury enough. She sipped the wine. It was exquisitely foreign.

"Well Alexei, considering it is spring ((I am assuming its spring anyway)), our granaries are not exactly burgeoning with grain. We do have a few weeks worth, yes, but nothing too grand. But if we were to speak about if the capitol has enough food, then yes. According to company forecasts, our current contracts should see regular grain shipments throughout the year, with little difference to last year's average."

She took another sip. "As for the kingdom, well, it should be as it always is, unless some plague or blight comes along. Although if I am to be honest, we should never expect a great surplus in our grain supplies considering our land's fertility. I mean, there are methods to improve our gains, but the ones I have speculated on would involve...risks and unpopularity, and a new king must be popular to his people..."

[Kansa]

Lacie gave a small nod,
"I'll see to it.", as the king walked away she turned to the jail cells, looking at the poor souls inside. Eventually she let out a sigh and strode away, she had work to be getting on with. She made her way out of the dungeon, taking a seemingly random path until she reached a door. She knocked in a pattern too precise to be random, the door swung open and she stepped inside.

She was greeted by one of her contacts, a spy in her employ. She gave a nod towards her and gave the room a quick search. When it turned up nothing she spoke,
"Got some work for you. Need some prisoner's executions dates moved up, get in touch with our contacts in the guards. Make sure it isn't too obvious." she listed off the prisoner's in question. "Report back to me when it's done.", the spy nodded and hurried off.

Lacie slumped down in a chair in the room and took a moment to relax. It had been a long day.

[Atian the Elephantman God]

Kerion finally arrives with a servant closely behind him carrying 2 bottles of Gynfer Wine, he looks at one of the guards.
"Where is the King?"
"He is in his private study sir."

"Tell the King, Duke Kerion of Gynfer wishes to speak to him!"
The guard goes to inform the King.

[Ardas]

"So... in few words, we aren't going anywhere and we shouldn't expect anything great." Alexei mused. " The only way out, the way I see it, is beyond our borders. Be it by trade or by sword, we won't secure prosperity with current stagnant ways of living."

[micelus]

She simply nodded. "Precisely.Now, only if we had more fertile land. Perhaps, lands not particularly under royal law but will follow royal law in the future after some...important adjustments have been made. Land allocation, for one."

[Ardas]

"Land allocation? Do you expect to be ennobled or is this something more radical?"

[micelus]

She scoffed. "I? Nobility? I'll not even draw a sword for it. The way our land works is that we have plots owned by the free people. We have the nobles, who hire out their land to tenants or have it farmed by their own serfs, or peasants who own their own land. Honestly, this is inefficient. Each man farms what he wants to sustain his own needs and desires. The noble takes a tithe of the farms he controls, and allows his workers to take the rest. That these plots of land are small is another point of concern. What I propose is simple. We amalgate the smaller properties and place magistrates specifically in-charge to oversee production of crops or whatever have you. Think about it my dear treasurer. A noble needs to sustain his way of living, his own training, and perhaps a retinue. A paid state magistrate is purely a bureaucrat  who's own progress and success is based off how well they manage their assigned farm. As such, what I am suggesting, is that we create a high-efficiency crop growing region."

[Ardas]

"Hah, and deprive everyone of their rents?" Alexei raised an eyebrow. "It makes more sense for nobles to enlarge their own estates, hire overseers and get the tenants to pay for their tenure on the remaining land with free labour instead of farming their own plots. All you have to do is tie the peasants to the land, prevent them from scattering off to another borough to ask for tenancy from another." He seemed immersed in thought for a moment. "We could also force the freemen to accept status of tenant farmers and consolidate their plots under local lords, that would enrich everyone."

[micelus]

"I am not speaking of the kingdom's current holdings. But now that you bring that topic up..."

"The first half of your idea is well enough...if you can find some way of enlarging each noble's estate within the kingdom. As for the latter. My dear treasurer, these are freemen! I'm all for taking their land, but putting them in proverbial chains is quite another. A peasant, for  all their lowliness, is still a being capable of resentment. One day, that might even lead to a revolt, and what of our grain production then? Even one bad year is enough to devastate the capitol."

[Ardas]

"A peasant's first and foremost duty is... to his family, not his lord." Alexei replied. "As long as they have roofs over their heads and enough to eat, none of them will raise their hands against our order if they will feel that it will threaten their livelihood. Tax them just enough to make them feel secure and in need of our guiding hand." He smirked. " The surplus grain can be shipped overseas at a good price, but I would look for other means of raising our production, we will need timber, pitch, cloth, iron..."

[micelus]

"Yes...and you cannot tax a man owned by another."

She nodded to the other methods of production, the good treasurer so handily mentioned.

"That, we can agree on. Our land is not a particularly rich one, but it is a land of sheep and strong people. Its my theory that the lack of good fertility in the realm must mean that there's some form of mineral wealth below us. Of course, I am not exactly a natural philosopher who would know this business..."

"But regardless, all I can frankly say is that our best 'trade good' is our people. If we do not use our people for the realm's own expansion, then perhaps they could be outfitted for foreign adventures. Mercenary work or well...aggressive acquisition of goods. Of course ,there's a careful balance between that, and retaliation..."

"But there are other matters we ought speak of before that. What do you think of our realm's neighbours? Do you think they would be of...help?"

[Ghazkull]

Arnmarch: Southern Wealth

As we follow the Argr west away from the Capital, through the bredbasket of the Kingdom that is known as Gynfer, the mighty river takes a turn southwards and, running parallel along the mountains, we come to another of its tributaries, the Arngar.

Were the two Rivers meet, we find the City of Risfurt. Owned by the Riskov dynasty since generations untold, Risfurt is the largest city in all of Argas. It is a prime center of trade, even more so than the Capital of Arg Cais as Wexford traders bring the goods they aquired from the Mountain Tribes down the Arngar and into Risfurt. And of course the riverine Trade of the Argr flows through here. Being a first stop for many a Midlander or Southerner it has grown relatively wealthy.

The Fortified Town of Wexford. Sitting in the Western Borderlands and straddling the Arngar, it is a bustling little border town. Trade with the Mountain Tribes is brisk and make a majority of the wealth in the town. Still it is no Risfurt and not even a Gynsr. Nonetheless Wexford enjoys relative prosperity even if the proximity to the tribes mean they are the first target in case of a raid.

[Ardas]

"They will be, one way or another. We do not need to concern ourselves with tribesmen or the like, they serve us better as trade connections than as anything else", he replied. Alexei took another sip of the wine. "Our future lies to the south. Always did. The High Kingdom of old shrunk and what we inhabit is but a mere shadow of what this kingomd used to be. Sure, there are pretenders down there as well, but we have to be wise in our choice of allies and enemies."

Alexiei rose from his seat and walked over to the window, looking out over the castle courtyard. "If this land truly bears anything under its surface, we have to find it before setting out. The prospectors have to be sent out far and wide, and our king has to be persuaded to issue mining and land privileges to the nobles to make them willing to invest in these things - tax exemptions for manufacture but the usual tariffs on entry to the ports. Volume of goods alone will be more than whatever land tax would be put on us."

He turned back to his interlocutor. "I think a diet of the nobles of the land in Risfurt would be an opportunity to propose these land reforms to the king, put the ideas together and get things moving."

[micelus]

The grain magnate simply nodded. "A good enough start, but of course, it is the mercanti who will ensure that any profit is made for the realm as a whole. If you will give me support in the young king's court, I believe you will find in myself, a willing aide to your current goals. My blood isn't noble, true, but that has its own uses. After all, many of your class still fail to see the beauty of trade, of ledgers and banks. My class on the other hand, have fully embraced them. I can have our realm's interest vouched for in the foreign ports and the like, I need only royal guarantee that my own agents be declared agents of the realm. A liability issue, you see."

[Ardas]

Alexei looked at the magnate with a glint in his eye. "What other uses could there be for your blood, pray tell?" He stroked his beard. "My class, as you put it, doesn't see the value of trade yet. But once we are enabled, there will be enough willing barons to make coin rather than wave the sword. I agree to your proposal, as long as you can support my reform - our classes will see eye to eye soon enough."
He set his goblet on the table
"I think we are done for the time being. Good day, my lady."