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In Progress [LP] Lord Captain, you've served your time in Hell! Codex plays Lords of Infinity, a text RPG of Politics and Warfare

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
30,180
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I'm inclined towards getting our fief in order.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,478
4) I can do more good at home than in the city.

We need to strengthen our own estate first before diving headlong into national politics.
 

Optimist

Savant
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
453
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
4. I'm not sure if this world is ready for murderous dum-dums with all the charisma of the next guy in line to go into politics.
 

Kalarion

Serial Ratist
Patron
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Messages
1,008
Location
San Antonio, TX
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong BattleTech Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
4) I can do more good at home than in the city.

Matters of high state are for Lords with their estates in order to attend to. If the King or Duke Cunaris need us, they will call - and we will most certainly answer. Until then, our greatest contribution to the health and stability of the realm is ensuring that our piece of it is productive, thriving, and content with its rulers - something we certainly haven't the knowledge or personal appeal to do in absentia.

Besides, I want cute trad waifu
love.png
 

Non-Edgy Gamer

Grand Dragon
Patron
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 6, 2020
Messages
17,656
Strap Yourselves In
Hmm. We seem ill suited for politics. We'd likely end up a pawn for one side or another. Might be interesting, but I kinda like these country lord updates too.

4)
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
1,832
you guys can stop pretending you are voting 4 for literally any other reason than the inevitable breeding sequence, its okay.

early updoot, methinks, but I will wait some hours longer.

i want to try to do something real special but it will require some planning and reading ahead and figuring shit out
 
Last edited:

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
"Under normal circumstances, a bank maintains the power to refuse loans or demand immediate repayment at their own discretion," Saundersley continues. "However, they would only make such a decision in regards to a Gentleman of the Blood in case of the direst exigency."

"So let me see if I have you correct," you reply, putting it all together. "If a bank will neither refuse me a loan nor demand repayment, would that not mean I would effectively have access to a line of infinite credit?"
One simple trick for infinite money glitch??
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
1,832
[I planned to write a short interlude at some point, but I think its best that it does not delay the pace of the LP - that's the old "spreading yourself too thin and procrastinating on everything" mistake.]

I can do more good at home than in the city.

It's tempting to go into the city, to have your voice heard in the Cortes and to steer the course of the realm, but how much of a voice would you really have? As a Lord of the Cortes, you are only one voice among six hundred, and as a poor baron with a meagre estate, you would not particularly be a voice which others would consider worth listening to.

No, if you are to do any good, it will be here on your estate, where your actions might directly benefit those who live under your protection. Aetoria will tick on without the presence of a single minor lord, but if things truly go to the bad in the days ahead, Ezinbrooke will need its baron.

You fold up your copy of the Gazette and set it down firmly upon the table. Such matters ought not to concern you now.

No, your place is here.

---


CHAPTER II
Wherein the LORD OF THE CORTES reckons
with one of the many AFTER-EFFECTS of the
WAR IN ANTAR.
---

In the end, your decision carries with it almost a sense of anticlimax. Of course you were going to stay home after so many years away. What else were you going to do? For all the titles, powers, and dignities of your rank, you're still a simple country baron. The realm may be in need of men to guide it now, but you have already done your work. You spent much of the best part of your life in service to Crown and Kingdom at war. Now it is time for other men to take up the task at peace. Your first responsibilities now are to your family, your tenants, and to your estate.

Your father sat in the Cortes maybe three times in his entire life. Why should you be any different?

Life goes on, the days pass, the rents are collected, and the planting season continues, as it did in your absence.

Spring, 614 OIE

With the arrival of spring, many groups of Antari refugees take to the countryside in search of work. Many find themselves met with hostility by distrustful locals, who fear that their lords may evict them from their plots to replace them with the Antari.

Faced with worsening brigandage in the country, increasing poverty and unrest in the cities, and widespread political opposition to his plans for reforming the army, the King calls his Cortes to draft the year's budget and hopefully strike a compromise with the Duke of Wulfram's increasingly powerful faction.

Winter, 613 OIE
Destitute veterans and war refugees from the War in Antar become common sights on the streets of Tierran towns and cities, joining those impoverished and rendered homeless by the Crown's high taxes. Shunned by many communities, thousands freeze or starve to death through the winter. In desperation, some turn to theft or brigandage to survive.

In Tannersburg and in Aetoria, the Duke of Wulfram organises a relief programme to bring food and warm clothing to the worst affected. Despite the best of intentions, it seemingly does little to alleviate the problem.

Autumn, 613 OIE

The draft peace treaty is quickly ratified by the Cortes. The League Congress similarly agrees to the draft after a "mere" nine weeks of deliberation. The war between Tierra and Antar is finally over.

With the end of the war, the Royal Tierran Army is drawn down from wartime strength. The Houseguard regiments are disbanded into their component forces, and the permanent regiments are placed on a peacetime footing, leaving tens of thousands of officers and men without work, or on half-pay.

Displaced by the terms of the peace settlement and the vagaries of Antari politics, hundreds of thousands of Antari serfs leave (or are removed from) their homes. Many head for Tierra in hopes of rebuilding their lives.

Summer, 613 OIE

The news that the Crown's war taxes will be retained for at least another year triggers widespread demonstrations and disorder in major cities throughout the Unified Kingdom.

For his crucial role in winning the pivotal Second Battle of Kharangia, Sir Louis-Auguste d'al Palliser is awarded a victory title by the King. He is now Viscount Palliser of Kharangia.

The Tierran delegation to Antar, headed by the ailing Earl of Leoniscourt, reports that a peace agreement with terms generally in Tierra's favour has been drafted. Copies are sent to the Tierran Cortes and the Antari League Congress for ratification.

Spring, 613 OIE

Under Takaran mediation, peace negotiations betwixt the Unified Kingdom of Tierra and the League of Antar continue. A draft treaty begins to take shape.

Confident that an official end to the war is soon to be at hand, Grenadier Square begins the return of the King's Army's regiments from Antar.

Sporadic publick demonstrations against the Crown's war taxation continues in Aetoria and Tannersburg.

---

Indeed, it is not until two weeks later that the routine of the estate is broken up by the arrival of a second courier. For this time, the Intendancy man brings with him more than just back issues of the Gazette, but mail as well.

First, there is a much-abused missive, folded as precisely as if by a machine. Its thin material is smudged with soot, ink, and some strange stain which smells faintly of ammonia. The envelope bears no sender's address, but it doesn't need one, for the emblem of Garing, Gutierrez, and Truscott stamped on its face is all the identification you might need.

There is also a small profusion of notices from your associates, official correspondence from Aetoria and Fernandescourt. Most importantly of all, there are updates from your bankers in Aetoria, at last giving you the accurate accounting of your financial situation that you shall need if you intend to do any meaningful improvement of your estate.

But that can wait. You have personal letters to go through first…

[Only one, actually - again, could have been more or less depending on our contacts and connections and so on.]

Open the message from Garing.

To be truthful, a great part of you had lost any hope of ever hearing from Edmund Garing again. It has been five years since the man talked you into making an investment in his concept for a new musket. He was all enthusiasm then, chattering on about how such a weapon might revolutionise warfare entirely. Yet you've heard little of his success or failure since.

So naturally, it is with trepidation and no small amount of anticipation that you open the letter and read its contents:

Lord Ezinbrooke,

I must apologise, my lord, for not having written sooner. The demands on my time are great. In between my work in advancing the project which you have so graciously invested in and my regular duties as a partner in Garing, Gutierrez, and Truscott, I have little time to maintain any sort of correspondence.

However, you will be happy to know that matters progress most satisfactorily. With the aid of the funds invested by yourself and other investors, I have been able to establish a small workshop for the construction and testing of experimental firearms. It was my hope that these forays would yield some manner of design worthy of further development.

We have begun testing several prototypes already, though none seem entirely suitable for further iteration…


A great deal of technical jargon follows, none of it comprehensible.

…however, it is our hope that continued experimentation may offer a definitive solution to the problem.

Should things continue to progress at the current pace, we may see a model fit for production trials within four or five years. If Grenadier Square sees fit to adopt the resulting weapon for general issue, I have every confidence that you shall see your investment repaid before long.

I remain, your most obedient servant,
Edmund Garing


So the project is moving forward after all, an encouraging sign. However, that final sentence isn't quite as encouraging as Garing no doubt intended it to be. Given the current circumstances, you rather doubt that Grenadier Square would be willing to spend a fortune on a new and untested weapon when it must fight the Cortes for every last penny.

You file the letter away with a sigh. Were you in Aetoria, you would have perhaps been able to be of some use in convincing the Cortes to raise the necessary funds, but you are far from the Cortes chamber now, too far to make your voice heard.

What now?

I am finished with personal correspondence for now.

With your personal business dealt with, you go on to your other responsibilities: particularly, the management of your estate.

---

[Another regular occurrence: a barony status update that reflects its changes, both the ones that come as a direct result of your actions and those that occur due ((semi-?)randomized?) events.]

By your reckoning, your fief has lost 5 households, who have left in search of better opportunities elsewhere.

In addition, Your fief's relatively low rents allow your tenants some measure of surplus coin, which invariably offers some small increase to prosperity and contentment. The roads have at last been restored to a serviceable state, with the majority of the most grievous holes filled and worst sections much improved. Though there will still be times when the weather may render such passages impassable, normal travel through your fief should no longer seem like a form of torture, something which will no doubt benefit trade and the nerves of your tenants equally.

---

[Also, a side-tangent, but - fuck you dad uh I mean Storyfag. I am the one running this show, okay? If I decide that the tradwife is more important than the excel spreadsheet portion of the game, I might very well focus on that. Such is my power. I can make an entire update dedicated to a single line of in-game text and subsequently three paragraphs of my tilde-flanked bullshit. I am the big dick person here and I can do whatever I want. If everyone stops voting I will just stop taking my anti-psychotics and let the voices in my head entertain me. You want your management sim? Fuck you, can't tell me what to do, I-

Oh, shit.]

With the latest reports taken into account, your current financial situation is as follows:

Bi-Annual Revenues
Rents:
290 Crown
Personal Income: 135 Crown

Bi-Annual Expenditures
Estate Wages:
150 Crown
Food and Necessities: 75 Crown
Luxuries and Allowances: 75 Crown
Groundskeeping and Maintenance: 50 Crown
Interest Payments: 217 Crown
Special Expenses: 0 Crown

Total Net Income (Next Six Months): -142 Crown

New Loans: 0 Crown

Current Wealth: 1735 Crown
Projected Wealth Next Half-Year: 1593

Ezinbrooke, a barony within the Duchy of Cunaris, possessed of 145 rent-paying households.

Respectability: 28%

Prosperity: 34%

Contentment: 55%

Manor...

…Being a country house of middling size in very poor condition. encompassed by a low stone fence in a state of much disrepair. Outbuildings include stables, coach house, and guard house, all in exceptionally poor condition.

Interior consists of eighteen rooms, including six bedrooms, a kitchen, a library, a small ballroom, a dovecote and a gun room.

Estate and Grounds...

…Being a barony of middling size, composed of a manor house, market village, and surrounding fields and hinterlands. It is located a week's ride west from the city of Fernandescourt, a journey rendered easier by the fine state of local roads.

The village of Ezinbrooke is a small hamlet, possessed of a traveller's inn, a publick house, a somewhat worn shrine to the major Saints, and an open market square. The surrounding cottages are few in number and in very poor condition, having been in a state of disrepair for some time. A number of fields lie adjacent to the village, but much arable land is wasted for want of proper clearance.

[No, the only master here is the game. I am but a pawn, same as the rest of you. Which means that dreadful time has come again, the damned recurrence that feels me with animal fear.... the need to solve basic tasks and simple algebra.]

What do you wish to do?

[Copy-pasting previous voting instructions for reference;
Here is how I am going to ask you to vote:

Below are sections labeled I, II, and III. Each of the options in a given section is mutually exclusive with the options in the same section, at least for this management turn.

Therefore, please indicate one choice for each section, for a total of 3 choices. It would also be great if you were to copy-paste the phrasing of the choice itself. For a example, a full set of votes might look like this:

"I-100) I will pay off 100 crowns of debt.
II-5) I must try to renegotiate the interest on my loans.
III-3e) A new market hall might bring in new business."

I will count votes for each set of choices, never for each individual choice. Therefore, I encourage the more dedicated of you to submit a set of choices and explain your rationale, so that the rest can simply piggy-back on whatever set they think is best.

FINALLY, all of the actions will be performed in the same order as the section number.]

SECTION I: PAYING OFF DEBT

[Please submit your vote for this section in the following format:

I-x) I will pay off x crowns of debt, beyond my interest payment.

where x is the amount of debt you wish to pay off this management turn.

For example...

...if you wish to pay off no debt beyond my interest payment, please write I-0;

...if you wish to pay off 500 debt beyond my interest payment, please write I-500;

...if you wish to pay off 1337 debt beyond my interest payment, please write I-1337.

And so on.]

SECTION II: LOANS AND INTEREST

[Funds secured through these options will not become immediatelly until after this management turn, as it will take some time for your request to be mailed and considered.]

II-1) No changes

II-2) I mean to ask for a modest loan; 1000 crown, perhaps?

II-3) I am in need of a sizeable loan, 2500 crown or so.

II-4) I shall require a great deal of money; 5000 crown, at least.

II-5) I must try to renegotiate the interest on my loans.

---

SECTION III: CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION

[If you wish to build nothing, vote for the option directly below:]

III-1) No changes

[Otherwise, please peruse the catalogues below, and vote for ONE option from among those present across all categories.

The first two catalogues include upgrade options that expend the required wealth immediatelly and are built relatively quickly.

The last catalogue, concerning major projects, does not require expending any wealth at once - instead, its construction will have to be continously funded later down the line.]

You spend some time in assessing the current status of your ancestral home. Marshalling reports, cost estimates, and your own observations, you narrow your options down to those immediately feasible.

You shall have to choose carefully, for any physical labour involved will have to be done by the men of your fief, and only so many will be able to spare the time away from their fields. If you mean to commit to a project, then you shall not have the workmen to spare on a second until the first is complete.

---

III-2a) The house must be repaired, extensively.

Though your manor's foundations remain more or less sound, the same cannot be said about most of its structure, much abused after generations of neglect. Between the broken windows, rotting floorboards, and serious draughts, a third of the house might well be uninhabitable, if not outright on the verge of collapse. Passers-by need only look at the weathered and dilapidated exterior to gain some appreciation of how badly your family has fallen on hard times. If nothing else, you would certainly need to shore up the house before planning any additions or further renovations. You estimate the cost to be around five hundred crown.

---

III-2b) The perimeter wall is in much need of repair.

At the moment, the stone wall around your manor is more tumbledown ruin than effective perimeter. Not only does it serve as a horrendous eyesore, it also allows admittance to any intruder who may wish to do you or your household harm. For perhaps two hundred and fifty crown, you could have the wall fully repaired and restored to a condition where it might serve as something more than a pile of stones.

---

III-2c) The outbuildings are in dreadful condition and ought to be repaired.

The state of your stables and coach-house were atrocious even before you left for war. Now, however, you have the means to do something about it. For five hundred crown or so, you could fully repair both buildings, rendering them once again proof against the elements. No doubt, such a measure would much improve the appearance of your estate, not to mention the living conditions of your horses.

You consider your options regarding the state of your fief and its village. After some thought, you narrow down your possible options.

You shall have to choose any prospective project with care. Any hard labour a project might involve will have to be done by the men of your fief, and only so many will be able to spare the time away from their fields. If you mean to commit to a project, then you shall not have the workmen to spare on a second until the first is complete.

---

III-3a) The roads should be my top priority.


Your fief's roads have always been terrible, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be the one to see them repaired. It won't be an easy task; generations of neglect have left some tracts nearly impassable, but if you were to spend the two hundred and fifty or so crown you'd need to fill in the worst potholes and shore up the retaining walls in the most dire condition, then you would not only make it easier for travelling merchants to visit your fief, but make things easier for your own tenants, as well.


---

III-3b) Let's see about making my land more suitable for farming.

While most of your barony's available farmland is under cultivation, there are some plots which have fallen into disuse. Clearing such land would be a time-consuming and expensive task, five hundred crown at least for the tools and labour involved. Yet if it were done, you could increase the agricultural output of your tenants tremendously.

---

III-3c) I'll not have my tenants living in such dilapidated cottages.

Though your tenants have the right to live in your cottages, it is your responsibility to maintain them. Unfortunately, this is a task which has been performed indifferently at best over the past few decades. As a result, many of your tenants' dwellings are in a wretched state, their walls crumbling and their chimneys leaking. If you could perhaps commit two hundred and fifty crown or so to pay for repairs, the problem could be much improved.

---

III-3d) A school would be the wisest investment.

While you benefited from the services of expensive private tutors in your formative years, your tenants can afford no such luxury for their children. If you were to build a schoolhouse in the village, where such children might at the very least learn their letters and arithmetic, then you have no doubt that your standing with those childrens' parents would be much improved. Of course, neither books nor qualified instructors are particularly cheap, but the goodwill of your tenants may be worth the five hundred crown such an enterprise is likely to cost.

---

III-3e) A new market hall might bring in new business.

Like most, the village of Ezinbrooke is built around an open square, in which merchants and shopkeepers might do business. However, such a space offers little protection from the elements. If you were to build a covered market hall in the centre of the square, then more merchants would likely be encouraged to ply their wares in your fief, especially if it means they may do so in comfort on a hot, rainy, or windy day. If you can afford the twelve hundred and fifty crown such an edifice is likely to cost, it may be well worth the price.

---

III-3f) Let's see to refurbishing the village shrine.

The shrine at the centre of the village of Ezinbrooke was an impressive building once, the legacy of some long-ago ancestor who paid half a fortune for its construction. Now, however, it is quite literally falling apart. Its brazier is in wretched condition, the figurines of the saints are cracked and worn, and your tenants have learned to watch their heads around the crumbling masonry of the shrine's façade. To restore the whole building would incur a substantial cost—seven hundred and fifty crown, at least—but it would much increase the standing of your fief among anyone who sees it.

It's one thing to commit a few hundred crown and a season's labour to the improvement of a road or the expansion of your house. What you have in mind is something altogether more ambitious: a great undertaking which may well transform the shape of your entire fief and the lives of those who live within it for generations, if not centuries.

Such a project would be far from easy, of course. The material costs alone would be substantial, perhaps even overwhelming. The work of planning, organising, and finally realising such a feat would no doubt prove massively time-consuming, as well. And that's to say nothing about the way such an effort might build unrest amongst your tenants, who have more reason to resent the disruption to their lives which such a project might entail than to celebrate the potential for positive change which may not even manifest itself for years to come.

But you're committed to the idea. The costs may be great; but the potential benefits to the prosperity of your fief, the prominence of your family, and your personal fortune cannot be denied.

The only question that remains is which project, precisely, you mean to pursue.

---

After some thought, you manage to narrow your options down to four.

The most straightforward means of increasing the prominence of your fief would be to turn it into a local centre of commerce, and you suspect you already know how that might be achieved. The route of a major canal passes not two days' ride from your barony. If you were able to secure the funds and resources needed to extend that canal to your own lands, then you would not only allow your tenants to sell their produce further afield with much greater ease, but make your own barony the primary transshipment centre for the entire region, with the inhabitants of neighbouring villages being required to come to your fief and use your canal docks if they mean to compete with your tenants.

Alternatively, instead of making your village a centre of transport, you could just as likely render it a centre of production. A manufactory, appropriately equipped to turn locally produced raw materials into finished goods, could be precisely what your fief needs to elevate it to prominence. In addition, with so many Tierrans out of work, the prospect of employment in such an establishment would surely bring you a fresh influx of tenants—and a commensurate increase in income.

Of course, the problem with either of those two courses of action is that the costs of such an undertaking would be enormous, and that any benefit one might receive from them would surely be gradual in coming. It may take years before a canal or a factory might turn a profit, decades before they're able to make good on the vast fortune you would inevitably have to expend in their establishment.

You could certainly think of easier ways to make a profit quickly, and for less investment in time and money: your fief has a considerable amount of common land, broad expanses which aren't really being put to any organised, productive use. With permission from the Cortes, you could enclose it and use it to graze sheep or cattle, deriving substantial income from the proceeds. Of course, your tenants have long considered their access to common land as something of a right. They're unlikely to respond well to any news that you intend to enclose it.

Finally, there's the possibility of using the unique regional characteristics of your fief to some use. After all, Cunaris is well-regarded for its horses, if not necessarily famous for them. If you were to establish a stud farm, you would certainly have no trouble seeking out likely animals to populate it. With some luck, you might even be able to secure a contract to provide horses for your old regiment, especially if you introduce Thunderer's formidable Takaran bloodline into your prospective breeds. or any other which might be interested.

Ideally, had you the ability and the resources, you wouldn't have to choose at all, completing one project after the other. Alas, that is quite obviously not an option. Even one such undertaking will greatly tax the resources of your fief in its establishment and upkeep. It would be folly to embark upon a second.

Thus, you'll only be able to choose to embark upon one major project. It would be best to do so carefully…

---

III-4a) I think a canal would be the best option.

It would be easy to consider the extension of a canal not unduly different from the extension of a road, but after some thought, it becomes evident that such an assumption would be far from the truth.

While a road would only require a shallow bed to be dug and surfaced, a canal would have to be excavated to a substantial depth, to the point where many tonnes of earth would have to be moved simply to advance the whole of the route a dozen paces. That would only be the first of your concerns. Then there's the matter of lining the sides of the channel to prevent erosion, the installation of locks and weirs to control the water level, and the negotiation of the route with your neighbours—who may not necessarily approve of the idea of you digging a canal though their lands to benefit your own.

Even getting the necessary materials together would be a massive undertaking in itself: thousands of tonnes of timber and stone; implements of excavations large and small; hundreds of surveyors, diggers, and engineers. Actually finishing the project would require at least three or four years' worth of labour and thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of crown.

But surely, such an effort would be worth it. Right?

---

III-4b) I ought to consider building a manufactory more closely.

Regardless of the particulars, building a manufactory hall and its outbuildings would surely be a considerable endeavour. Its size alone would almost certainly make it the most expensive and expansive construction project which your fief has ever seen. Once complete, you suspect that it would dwarf even your own manor.

Yet the hall itself promises to be neither the most costly nor the most important part of the whole undertaking, for a factory without the actual mechanisms of production would be little more than an empty shell. It is the machinery which will be at the heart of the project, and it will be that machinery which will almost certainly take up the lion's share of the cost: once ordered, it shall have to be painstakingly assembled in some faraway workshop, only to be shipped in pieces to the building site. Only once it is once again assembled and workers are trained in its use can even the first manufactured product be turned out.

The whole process could take three or four years to complete. Its cost would almost certainly stretch into the tens of thousands of crown. Yet a successful manufactory will not only bring you immense profit, but provide your fief's tenants with a reliable source of work and income—and elevate its stature greatly.

---

III-4c) I would like to consider enclosing my fief's common lands more closely.

In truth, enclosing your fief's common lands would almost certainly be the potential major project requiring the least expenditure of time and resources. The work of enclosing the commons itself could only be a matter of surveying and fence-building—the work of a season or two, at most. The acquisition of the needed stock to populate your new enclosures would only take another season more. Likewise, it would only take a year or two and maybe two thousand crown worth of investment for the whole enterprise to begin turning a reliable profit. Indeed, in terms of cost and benefit, enclosure has much to recommend it.

Where the problem lies is in the fact that enclosing your fief's common lands will inevitably cause great damage to your relationship with your tenants. Though they do not put the land to any real organised use, it still possesses some utility as a source of edible herbs and other plants, a playground for children, and grazing land for the small number of animals which the tenants themselves possess. Every tenant has a different, minor use for the commons, but what they all agree upon is the fact that they have an ancient right to do so. Deny them that privilege, and you'll surely arouse some substantial discontent.

Of course, that may not necessarily be so great a deterrent. The mood of the mob is fickle and ever changeable. Perhaps the proceeds from enclosure will be well worth the condemnation of your inferiors—and if things get too bad, you could always find some other way to secure their goodwill.

Right?

---

III-4d) Horse-breeding sounds like an interesting prospect.

There's little doubt at all that vast fortunes might be made through the careful and conscientious breeding of horses. After all, there's no sort of industry, cultivation, or warfare which doesn't need such animals bred to the appropriate specifications. Men will pay great sums of money to purchase the results of the finest bloodlines, or even for the right simply to introduce those lines into the inhabitants of their own stables. Succeed in an endeavour like this, and the rewards would be quite substantial, indeed.

Yet you're also well aware that such an undertaking will only lead to ruin if set in motion with too much ignorance or too little caution. Horse-breeding is a careful art, one which offers few tolerances for failure. A single oversight may well lead to the ruin of a promising bloodline, or one extinguished altogether. It may take two or three years of painstaking work and thousands of crown to establish a stud. Should you wish to set up a whole bloodline as well, it may take two or three years more.

If you succeed, you'll create a source of income which may well provide for your house for generations to come. If you fail, all of your efforts will have been for nothing.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,478
I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.

II-1) No changes.

III-2a) The house must be repaired, extensively.

If we're going to maintain our reputation among the noble houses and impress Alisanne and her family, fixing our own home would be a good starting point. It would be an embarrassment to host any gatherings in its current state.
 

Kalarion

Serial Ratist
Patron
Joined
Jan 30, 2015
Messages
1,008
Location
San Antonio, TX
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong BattleTech Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.

II-1) No changes.

III-3c) I'll not have my tenants living in such dilapidated cottages.
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
PRAY.

I-0)
II-1)
III-3f)


Eeeesh. Kodexians, we got no more income whatsoever from the roads. We’re making less now since those five households that left took with them 2 crown per half-year, for each one of them. Now making -142 instead of -132.

Before we can justify patching the leaks in either our or our serf’s houses I think we need to staunch the bleeding. I think the best end to that is going to be the market hall. It’s the single biggest gun available in a range that’s still affordable, it should synergize with the roads we’ve already built since it mentions the merchants (now that they can get here, let’s give them somewhere to sit…). The only thing is that if we do build it while we can technically afford it out of our own coffers unless it outright turns us to positive income we wouldn’t be able to afford anything next turn. So, I would also propose that we take out a small loan. We’d still have some turns to float and do more improvements in that case and we’ll have gotten the most expensive reasonably achievable sure income booster out of the way. If we wait we’re going to likely have to take multiple or massive loans to do that and be cockblocked by time while we’re waiting without the biggest of the improvements working for us.

Therefore, I vote as follows:
I-0)
II-2)

III-3e)
 
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Optimist

Savant
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
453
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
Guys, let me appeal to you inner Jews.

Things are going to get worse before they get better. If we want to see our fief's fortunes change, we need to invest in it - and we need to invest good and hard up in this bitch.

Also, since we will likely want to avoid "dead" turns (times when we can't afford any upgrades), we will need to apply for additional loans in term previous to the one we'd end up with no cash.

Hence, my votes would be:

I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.
II-2) (edited)
III-3e) A new market hall might bring in new business.
 
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ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
30,180
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I'm not seeing the direct benefit to a marketplace unless we get a cut of the transactions done therein. What am I missing, other than the intellect required?
 

Optimist

Savant
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
453
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I'm not seeing the direct benefit to a marketplace unless we get a cut of the transactions done therein. What am I missing, other than the intellect required?
We mostly want to encourage tenant families to stop leaving, and start settling - unless something is done we'll continue hemmoraging them on a monthly basis. No harm in starting with the pricier stuff, to quickly turn things around.

I do think the market does provide you with some additional taxation, but I'm not certain about that - my smartchad Casanova hero left for the capital ASAP, leaving the domain in capable hands of his Antari bro.

I'd be willing to flip my vote for some other option (school?), but we need to start building the village up quickly, to secure a source of funding.
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
Guys, let me appeal to you inner Jews.

Things are going to get worse before they get better. If we want to see our fief's fortunes change, we need to invest in it - and we need to invest good and hard up in this bitch.

Also, since we will likely want to avoid "dead" turns (times when we can't afford any upgrades), we will need to apply for additional loans in term previous to the one we'd end up with no cash.

Hence, my votes would be:

I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.
II-3) I am in need of a sizeable loan, 2500 crown or so.
III-3e) A new market hall might bring in new business.
The reason I went with modest instead of sizable loan was that they said it’s better for maintaining low interest rates to request multiple smaller loans as needed rather than a single larger one.

Currently we have 1735 wealth and lose 142 a turn. The market hall is 1250, so next turn if we get it we will be down to 343 before the loan comes in (assuming that happens next turn then 1000 brings us back to 1343.) A 1000 loan would also bring us 20 in interest costs and assuming the same rate of household loss (hopefully that is reduced but I don’t know by how much) it’d be another -10. So 1343 looking to lose -172 ignoring any market benefits. That gives us a couple turns to buy a 500 and a 250 improvement before we’d need to request another small loan (edit: to be perfectly clear, we’d need to request that loan alongside the second improvement provided my idea of loan timeline is correct.)

So long as a small loan can sustain us I rather that we take those instead of a bigger one so that we don’t get a big whammy from the usury sapping us.
 
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Optimist

Savant
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
453
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
Guys, let me appeal to you inner Jews.

Things are going to get worse before they get better. If we want to see our fief's fortunes change, we need to invest in it - and we need to invest good and hard up in this bitch.

Also, since we will likely want to avoid "dead" turns (times when we can't afford any upgrades), we will need to apply for additional loans in term previous to the one we'd end up with no cash.

Hence, my votes would be:

I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.
II-3) I am in need of a sizeable loan, 2500 crown or so.
III-3e) A new market hall might bring in new business.
The reason I went with modest instead of sizable loan was that they said it’s better for maintaining low interest rates to request multiple smaller loans as needed rather than a single larger one.

Currently we have 1735 wealth and lose 142 a turn. The market hall is 1250, so next turn if we get it we will be down to 343 before the loan comes in (assuming that happens next turn then 1000 brings us back to 1343.) A 1000 loan would also bring us 20 in interest costs and assuming the same rate of household loss (hopefully that is reduced but I don’t know by how much) it’d be another -10. So 1343 looking to lose -172 ignoring any market benefits. That gives us a couple turns to buy a 500 and a 250 improvement before we’d need to request another small loan (edit: to be perfectly clear, we’d need to request that loan alongside the second improvement provided my idea of loan timeline is correct.)

So long as a small loan can sustain us I rather that we take those instead of a bigger one so that we don’t get a big whammy from the usury sapping us.
OK, fair - let me flip my III-3 to III-2, then. Once the interest rates jump up, we should have enough to renegotiate the tems before taking out another loan.
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
BTW what happens if you run out of money? Debtor’s prison? Loansharks break your knees? Auction the estate or parts of it?
 

Orbit

Scholar
Joined
Jun 4, 2017
Messages
108
I-0) I will pay off no crowns of debt beyond my interest payment.

II-1) No changes.

III-3c) I'll not have my tenants living in such dilapidated cottages.
Gentrify Ezinbrooke and let the shekels flow.
 

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