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Lmao who cares about non alcoholic beverages anyway
-
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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
- Thread starter Lithium Flower
- Start date
Orbit
Scholar
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- 108
1) "I mean to feed and shelter all who need it, at my own expense."
I assume this choice is about how many additional surviving tenants we want and how much we are willing to invest. So long-term benefits vs. short-term costs.
Edit: Also, since we're the resident jew now, it's time to start the population replacement.
I assume this choice is about how many additional surviving tenants we want and how much we are willing to invest. So long-term benefits vs. short-term costs.
Edit: Also, since we're the resident jew now, it's time to start the population replacement.
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2) "I can offer food and shelter, but only for those who need it most."
This was tough, not least because the solution I would have put forth on my own is a little too convoluted for this type of game
.
Our first responsibility is always to our own people. Any charity is a result of strength, and that - especially economic strength - is in direly short supply. How can we offer aid and succor to others when we're straining to even properly house our own people?
And yet...
This was tough, not least because the solution I would have put forth on my own is a little too convoluted for this type of game
.Our first responsibility is always to our own people. Any charity is a result of strength, and that - especially economic strength - is in direly short supply. How can we offer aid and succor to others when we're straining to even properly house our own people?
And yet...
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
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- 1,832
Ok so we got a tricky thingy on our lapper-toppers:
3 votes for 1, 3 votes for 2 (if I interpret Eryfkrad's vote as being for 2 and 3,) 3 votes for 3 (assuming same interpretation of Eryfkrad's vote and interpreting Storyfag's post as a vote for 3 even though there is a bit of ambiguity in that.)
In the future, I am going to ask you guys to explicitly indicate whether or not you are voting for something or merely inquiring about a choice. In addition, please limit yourself to up to 2 ranked choices (ie "2>3" but not "2 and 3." )
This time I ended up rolling to resolve a 3-way tie, with 3. "I will provide food and shelter—to those who pay for it." being the result. Throwing update up in a bit.
3 votes for 1, 3 votes for 2 (if I interpret Eryfkrad's vote as being for 2 and 3,) 3 votes for 3 (assuming same interpretation of Eryfkrad's vote and interpreting Storyfag's post as a vote for 3 even though there is a bit of ambiguity in that.)
In the future, I am going to ask you guys to explicitly indicate whether or not you are voting for something or merely inquiring about a choice. In addition, please limit yourself to up to 2 ranked choices (ie "2>3" but not "2 and 3." )
This time I ended up rolling to resolve a 3-way tie, with 3. "I will provide food and shelter—to those who pay for it." being the result. Throwing update up in a bit.
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,832
"I will provide food and shelter—to those who pay for it."
"Pay?" Tomasz protests. "No pay, no coin have!"
"And I will not either, if I offer aid to any who ask for it," you firmly reply. "My decision is final."
Saundersley nods, though his expression remains grim. "It is a harsh compromise, my lord," he admits, "but we live in harsh times. You cannot be faulted it."
Your tenants, however, seem to have other ideas. They respond to your ruling with naught but looks of quiet anger, directed both at the Antari and at you. Some of them begin muttering amongst themselves again. It is clear that at least some among their number have decided that taking in even a single Antari refugee would be one too many, no matter who pays for their food and shelter.
The ragged group of former serfs makes their way back out of the village. Their progress is slow, dejected, their shoulders slumped under the burden they carry back to their fellows: that survival shall only come to those who might afford it.
---
They start coming in over the afternoon. Tomasz is among them. With him are three small children, one still a babe in arms. None of them bear a family resemblance.
Many of the other groups seem of a similar sort. One or two adults and a host of children behind them, some of them looking very little like their supposed parents. They carry only the ragged clothes on their back and a few pathetic bundles of worldly possessions. More than a few can only be carried by their fellows, their bodies trembling with coughing fits. Others are all but covered in bites, sores, and infected wounds.
Behind them travels a small cloud of insects, nesting in their ragged clothes, in their filthy hair, and in their scanty packs.
Your tenants watch them come. As each new bedraggled group of refugees arrives, you can see their mood grow uglier. Their hostility is all but open now, and it isn't just directed at the newcomers. It's you they blame for bringing these people into their community, and if things go poorly, it is you who they will blame for that, as well.
The next few days pass in a state of constant activity, in helping the new arrivals get settled into their homes, and in tending for the worst afflicted.
It is perhaps this last task which is the most taxing, for not all of those who arrive prove strong enough to recover from their long ordeal. There are three deaths in the first night, all of them children. Six more follow over the next few days, one little girl from eating more than her wasted belly could accept, her guts bursting from sudden plenty after months of starvation.
Pyres are duly made for them; at least that is a practise familiar to both your peoples. The families of the dead gather in miserable clumps around them as they burn to ash, still too exhausted to weep.
You cannot help but feel for them, and you take comfort in the fact that thanks to you, they shall not have to burn a child ever again.
---
Things seem to improve over the course of the next week. Steady diet and reliable shelter seem to do wonders for the Antari. The deaths stop, and as the days pass, you can see once-gaunt bodies again begin to bear flesh.
Even your tenants seem to be making an effort not to cause trouble with the new arrivals, their sense of pity likely overriding their sense of suspicion. After a few days, mutual avoidance even begins to give way to a few tentative attempts at communication, albeit ones much restricted by the newcomers' rudimentary grasp of Tierran. Most of it, you admit, is governed by necessity: refugees bartering away their last personal effects for food or other necessities, but it is progress nonetheless.
Matters seem to settle into a pattern as things quiet down and your tenants begin to grow accustomed to their new neighbours. For a while, you even dare to consider the crisis past, and Saundersley's warnings mere hyperbole.
It is not much later that you're proven wrong.
---
"I was approached by a group of Antari this morning," Saundersley reports to you, not a week later. "They were quite distraught."
Your brow furrows. "Has another died?" you ask, your voice tinged with worry. "I must arrange for the construction of a fresh funeral pyre, at once."
Your solicitor shakes his head. "I fear it is nothing so simply resolved as that, my lord," he replies resignedly. "They came to me because they have finally noticed that there is no statue of the Mother of Ascension in the village shrine. It seems that they consider themselves greatly in need of their own place of worship."
Oh, that is a problem.
The Antari worship the Saints, just as you do. However, where you and almost all Tierrans were brought up in the Mersdonian Rite, the Antari adhere to their own version of the faith. In their 'Ascensionist' Rite, the Saintly Martyrs are not elevated by the force of their own deeds and the vigils of their followers. Instead, they are chosen for Sainthood by the Mother of Ascension, a figure with no equivalent in your own version of Saints-Worship.
In short, the new arrivals to your fief follow a religion which is just familiar enough for any good, Saints-revering Tierran to recognise as utterly heretical.
"I could order a second shrine built," you muse. "Pay for the work and materials myself, if necessary."
Saundersley shakes his head. "I would advise against it, my lord," he replies grimly. "The Antari will no doubt be grateful, but I fear your tenants will see the situation quite differently, They will see you as bending over backwards to champion the followers of a foreign heresy. They would certainly disapprove."
Your solicitor has a point. You will win no friends among your long-time tenants by accommodating the new arrivals and their faith. But if you are to deny the Antari even the ability to worship the Saints in the manner which they're accustomed to, what possible impetus would they have to accommodate themselves in return? If the Antari refugees are to become a permanent part of your fief's population, then you shall have to make allowances for them.
It will almost certainly raise the ire of your tenants, but perhaps that is a sacrifice you must be willing to make.
1) "I shall allocate the funds to build a new shrine."
2) "I shall give the Antari a space to worship, but I'll not build them a shrine."
3) "The Antari shall have to make do without."
[Strangely, no updates for our Barony stats yet to reflect the Antari integration, but I assume that they will update next season.]
[Also - fucking hell that was grim.]
"Pay?" Tomasz protests. "No pay, no coin have!"
"And I will not either, if I offer aid to any who ask for it," you firmly reply. "My decision is final."
Saundersley nods, though his expression remains grim. "It is a harsh compromise, my lord," he admits, "but we live in harsh times. You cannot be faulted it."
Your tenants, however, seem to have other ideas. They respond to your ruling with naught but looks of quiet anger, directed both at the Antari and at you. Some of them begin muttering amongst themselves again. It is clear that at least some among their number have decided that taking in even a single Antari refugee would be one too many, no matter who pays for their food and shelter.
The ragged group of former serfs makes their way back out of the village. Their progress is slow, dejected, their shoulders slumped under the burden they carry back to their fellows: that survival shall only come to those who might afford it.
---
They start coming in over the afternoon. Tomasz is among them. With him are three small children, one still a babe in arms. None of them bear a family resemblance.
Many of the other groups seem of a similar sort. One or two adults and a host of children behind them, some of them looking very little like their supposed parents. They carry only the ragged clothes on their back and a few pathetic bundles of worldly possessions. More than a few can only be carried by their fellows, their bodies trembling with coughing fits. Others are all but covered in bites, sores, and infected wounds.
Behind them travels a small cloud of insects, nesting in their ragged clothes, in their filthy hair, and in their scanty packs.
Your tenants watch them come. As each new bedraggled group of refugees arrives, you can see their mood grow uglier. Their hostility is all but open now, and it isn't just directed at the newcomers. It's you they blame for bringing these people into their community, and if things go poorly, it is you who they will blame for that, as well.
The next few days pass in a state of constant activity, in helping the new arrivals get settled into their homes, and in tending for the worst afflicted.
It is perhaps this last task which is the most taxing, for not all of those who arrive prove strong enough to recover from their long ordeal. There are three deaths in the first night, all of them children. Six more follow over the next few days, one little girl from eating more than her wasted belly could accept, her guts bursting from sudden plenty after months of starvation.
Pyres are duly made for them; at least that is a practise familiar to both your peoples. The families of the dead gather in miserable clumps around them as they burn to ash, still too exhausted to weep.
You cannot help but feel for them, and you take comfort in the fact that thanks to you, they shall not have to burn a child ever again.
---
Things seem to improve over the course of the next week. Steady diet and reliable shelter seem to do wonders for the Antari. The deaths stop, and as the days pass, you can see once-gaunt bodies again begin to bear flesh.
Even your tenants seem to be making an effort not to cause trouble with the new arrivals, their sense of pity likely overriding their sense of suspicion. After a few days, mutual avoidance even begins to give way to a few tentative attempts at communication, albeit ones much restricted by the newcomers' rudimentary grasp of Tierran. Most of it, you admit, is governed by necessity: refugees bartering away their last personal effects for food or other necessities, but it is progress nonetheless.
Matters seem to settle into a pattern as things quiet down and your tenants begin to grow accustomed to their new neighbours. For a while, you even dare to consider the crisis past, and Saundersley's warnings mere hyperbole.
It is not much later that you're proven wrong.
---
"I was approached by a group of Antari this morning," Saundersley reports to you, not a week later. "They were quite distraught."
Your brow furrows. "Has another died?" you ask, your voice tinged with worry. "I must arrange for the construction of a fresh funeral pyre, at once."
Your solicitor shakes his head. "I fear it is nothing so simply resolved as that, my lord," he replies resignedly. "They came to me because they have finally noticed that there is no statue of the Mother of Ascension in the village shrine. It seems that they consider themselves greatly in need of their own place of worship."
Oh, that is a problem.
The Antari worship the Saints, just as you do. However, where you and almost all Tierrans were brought up in the Mersdonian Rite, the Antari adhere to their own version of the faith. In their 'Ascensionist' Rite, the Saintly Martyrs are not elevated by the force of their own deeds and the vigils of their followers. Instead, they are chosen for Sainthood by the Mother of Ascension, a figure with no equivalent in your own version of Saints-Worship.
In short, the new arrivals to your fief follow a religion which is just familiar enough for any good, Saints-revering Tierran to recognise as utterly heretical.
"I could order a second shrine built," you muse. "Pay for the work and materials myself, if necessary."
Saundersley shakes his head. "I would advise against it, my lord," he replies grimly. "The Antari will no doubt be grateful, but I fear your tenants will see the situation quite differently, They will see you as bending over backwards to champion the followers of a foreign heresy. They would certainly disapprove."
Your solicitor has a point. You will win no friends among your long-time tenants by accommodating the new arrivals and their faith. But if you are to deny the Antari even the ability to worship the Saints in the manner which they're accustomed to, what possible impetus would they have to accommodate themselves in return? If the Antari refugees are to become a permanent part of your fief's population, then you shall have to make allowances for them.
It will almost certainly raise the ire of your tenants, but perhaps that is a sacrifice you must be willing to make.
1) "I shall allocate the funds to build a new shrine."
2) "I shall give the Antari a space to worship, but I'll not build them a shrine."
3) "The Antari shall have to make do without."
As of the Summer of the 614 of the Old Imperial Era:
Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga, Baron Ezinbrooke
Captain, Royal Dragoons (half-pay)
Age: 26
Current Funds: 1485 Crown
Debts: 10860 Crown
Bi-Annual Income (Personal): 135 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Expenses: 350 Crown
Bi-Annual Interest Payments: 217 Crown
Total Net Income (Next Six Months): -142 Crown
Soldiering: 72%
Charisma: 43%
Intellect: 9%
Reputation: 41%
Health: 62%
Idealism: 60% ; Cynicism: 40%
Ruthlessness: 32% ; Mercy: 68%
You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear Bane-hardened armour and wield a Bane-runed sword.
Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga, Baron Ezinbrooke
Captain, Royal Dragoons (half-pay)
Age: 26
Current Funds: 1485 Crown
Debts: 10860 Crown
Bi-Annual Income (Personal): 135 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Expenses: 350 Crown
Bi-Annual Interest Payments: 217 Crown
Total Net Income (Next Six Months): -142 Crown
Soldiering: 72%
Charisma: 43%
Intellect: 9%
Reputation: 41%
Health: 62%
Idealism: 60% ; Cynicism: 40%
Ruthlessness: 32% ; Mercy: 68%
You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear Bane-hardened armour and wield a Bane-runed sword.
Friends and Associates
Javier Campos: Colour Sergeant, the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 583 OIE)
Victor d'al Reyes: Eldest son of Baron Reyes. Major, the 8th Regiment of Foot. Formerly Commander, the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. ~Lost arm at Blogia~
(Born: 583 OIE)
James d'al Sandoral: Captain (half-pay), the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 592 OIE)
Efraim Saundersley: Solicitor-on-Retainer to the House of Ortiga.
(Born 570 OIE)
Octave d'al Touravon: Baron Touravon, Father of Alisanne d'al Touravon.
(Born 556 OIE)
Enemies
Hiir Cassius vam Holt: Takaran Ambassador to Tierra. Eldest son to Richsgraav vam Holt.
(Born 527 OIE)
Eleanora d'al Welles: Countess Welles. Proponent of Military Reform. Friend to Isobel, the Princess-Royal. ~Died at Blogia~
(Born 587 OIE)
Javier Campos: Colour Sergeant, the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 583 OIE)
Victor d'al Reyes: Eldest son of Baron Reyes. Major, the 8th Regiment of Foot. Formerly Commander, the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. ~Lost arm at Blogia~
(Born: 583 OIE)
James d'al Sandoral: Captain (half-pay), the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 592 OIE)
Efraim Saundersley: Solicitor-on-Retainer to the House of Ortiga.
(Born 570 OIE)
Octave d'al Touravon: Baron Touravon, Father of Alisanne d'al Touravon.
(Born 556 OIE)
Enemies
Hiir Cassius vam Holt: Takaran Ambassador to Tierra. Eldest son to Richsgraav vam Holt.
(Born 527 OIE)
Eleanora d'al Welles: Countess Welles. Proponent of Military Reform. Friend to Isobel, the Princess-Royal. ~Died at Blogia~
(Born 587 OIE)
[Strangely, no updates for our Barony stats yet to reflect the Antari integration, but I assume that they will update next season.]
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.
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues
Rents: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Expenditures
Estate Wages: 150 Crown
Food and Necessities: 75 Crown
Luxuries and Allowances: 75 Crown
Groundskeeping and Maintenance: 50 Crown
Other Expenses: 0 Crown
Total Balance: -60 Crown
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.
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues
Rents: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Expenditures
Estate Wages: 150 Crown
Food and Necessities: 75 Crown
Luxuries and Allowances: 75 Crown
Groundskeeping and Maintenance: 50 Crown
Other Expenses: 0 Crown
Total Balance: -60 Crown
[Also - fucking hell that was grim.]
Last edited:
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Irrelevant, let them handle it themselves, I say. 2
Lithium Flower
Arcane
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- Nov 29, 2016
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ACCORDING TO MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE GAME'S SCRIPT WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE CORRECT, fiddy dollars initially. However, I don't know whether there are upkeep costs down the line.
Stop doing that. I was explicitly asking a question, and not voting.
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Don't look now but Lithium Flower spilled some milk again.
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
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- 1,832
Hopefully you can understand how I could fairly interpret your statement of "ideally we should do x. Does option n do that?" as an implicit vote for n in the event that my response is "yeah, probably?" Because had I ruled "Storyfag didn't make an explicit vote so fuck him I guess," you could have also fairly said, "hang on, my preference for x was clear, and you said that n probably corresponded to that, how is that in itself not a vote." So while I agree that my interpretation was based on conjecture, and that's not fair either, please make things easier for me by being even more explicit, for instance by mentioning "I am not voting yet." or by omitting the first part of the statement that implies possible intent to vote on that option; Set boundaries; Advocate for yourself; Life, laugh, love; I feel suffocated by this relationship.
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That was my intent.
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,832
Yeah, you are like every controlling and emotionally abusive person I ever had in my life and I refused to be gaslit like this okay
Unfortunately, I think rolling things back will be a bad idea because I am pretty sure there is a random roll involved in one of the previous choices (the poacher event,) so we will just play the hand we are dealt. I will say its ultimately my fault for not setting a bit more rigorous expectations for what I consider to be votes, given that I did that in Guns, but I don't think my interpretation of your post was unreasonable in itself. I guess you guys got the benefits of both choices two updates ago and are getting something you didn't mean to vote majority for this time, so that hopefully balances itself out.
Unfortunately, I think rolling things back will be a bad idea because I am pretty sure there is a random roll involved in one of the previous choices (the poacher event,) so we will just play the hand we are dealt. I will say its ultimately my fault for not setting a bit more rigorous expectations for what I consider to be votes, given that I did that in Guns, but I don't think my interpretation of your post was unreasonable in itself. I guess you guys got the benefits of both choices two updates ago and are getting something you didn't mean to vote majority for this time, so that hopefully balances itself out.
2
3 > 2) "The Antari shall have to make do without."
A shrine? To worship a known heresy?! No. The Antari are all but begging for a (justified) revolt, whether they know it or not. The meanness of our previous charity should have given them to understand just what the strict limits of Tierran tolerance (and prosperity) are.
Absolutely not.
If it looks like 3 is going to lose I will (grudgingly) flop to 2. Anything but inviting open heresy on a land already on the thinnest of edges.
A shrine? To worship a known heresy?! No. The Antari are all but begging for a (justified) revolt, whether they know it or not. The meanness of our previous charity should have given them to understand just what the strict limits of Tierran tolerance (and prosperity) are.
Absolutely not.
If it looks like 3 is going to lose I will (grudgingly) flop to 2. Anything but inviting open heresy on a land already on the thinnest of edges.
Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,832
"I shall allocate the funds to build a new shrine."
Saundersley shoots you a disapproving look but voices no protest. You are Baron Ezinbrooke, and he is too much the faithful, baneless servant to contest your orders. Though he has made his opposition to the project clear, he still dutifully makes the arrangements to purchase materials for a second shrine with his customary efficiency and dispatch.
Your tenants are another matter entirely. When you send out the call for workers to construct the new shrine, it is answered with only a hostile silence. Some look pointedly in the direction of the village's old shrine, still dilapidated after decades of neglect, their meaning clear. In the end, it is the Antari themselves who must do the job, bending their still-gaunt bodies to their labours with a determined fervour.
The edifice they construct is not a grand one. In fact, it's little more than a small shack made of field stone and timber. Yet the Antari furnish it with a care which wouldn't be out of place among the Seekers of the most magnificent big-city shrine. Within a few days, the interior is crammed with rough-hewn wooden figurines of the Saints. A few days more, and they're joined by the largest carving of all, a painstakingly made wooden sculpture of the Mother of Ascension, her wings and arms wide in welcome.
She's a rough work by any standard, a carving of unfinished and unpainted wood, her form wrought with more patience than skill. Yet to see the Antari prostrate themselves before her with joyous tears in their eyes, you would think she was a masterpiece made of the most precious stones.
Perhaps to them, she is.
---
The next day, she's gone, found hacked to pieces by an assailant's axe and strewn like rubbish around the market square.
Your tenants all swear that they'd seen and heard nothing. You know they're all lying.
The Antari spend little time commiserating the loss. They're already carving a replacement. When they finish the new carving three days later, they install it in the same place as her predecessor, a quiet symbol of defiance.
This time, she stays standing.
---
Yet before long, you are beset by yet more complaints, this time from your tenants.
"It's the Antari that are the problem, beggin' yer pardon milord," says the leader of one group, bold enough to deliver their petition in person. "They've had a rough time of it, but that don't give 'em the right to thieve from good, honest folk or—"
"Theft is a serious accusation to make, Master Flores," Saundersley interjects, his tone quite firm. For all that he might dislike the Antari in your fief, it is reassuring to know that he dislikes the miscarriage of justice even more. "Do you have proof, sirrah?"
Flores nods, so vehemently that his jowls tremble. "That I do, Master Saundersley, that I do," he insists. "Just three days past, I saw one of them foreign bas—er, apologies milord—one of those foreign boys slit the purse right off Alf Marques' belt. He was in and gone before the poor feller even knew it was missing." He fixes your solicitor with a defiant look. "I swear by all the Saints sir, it is true."
Saundersley answers the farmer's insolence with a cool, appraising look. "And you are sure this thief was Antari?"
"Hair like dry straw, and pale as a Takaran," Flores replies, his face flushed with indignation and summer heat. "It couldn't be no one else, and it weren't the first time, either!"
"And it ain't just the boys, neither," adds another voice: Widow Caston, a stout pillar of a woman who has been grey-haired since before you were born. "You should see the girls, fluttering about the market square, pandering and waving and pushin' themselves at any poor feller who looks like he 'as some coin on 'im, offerin' to tumble into bed with 'im for a handful of pennies!" She shakes her head, her jaw jutting out like a warship's prow. "I understand things might be different in the city, but we're good upstanding folk here, and I say it's indecent! I ain't going to stand by and watch a pack of foreign slatterns tempt our sons and husbands into debauchery, and beggin' yer pardon milord, neither ought you!"
An angry murmur of agreement rises from the rest of the group of tenants. When Flores speaks up again, he seems to speak for all of them.
"I'll not begrudge you for taking pity on the poor folk, given the sad state they were in," he says, "but enough's enough! I don't think I'm a hateful man, milord. If the Antari wanted to just come here and live in peace, that'd be fine with me. But that don't mean I'm all right with them thievin' and whorin' and doin' whatever else kind of mischief they're up to!"
He looks up, his teeth grit in anger. "Something's got t'be done, milord. Something's got t'be done."
---
Insolent as they are, I fear they are right, my lord," Saundersley notes tautly as the two of you watch the delegation trudge back down the road to the village from your library window. "These are not the only petitions that I've received regarding the matter. I fear that these refugees may have already proven a malign influence on publick order, and may prove a detriment to the respectability of this house, should these incidents become wide knowledge."
You cannot, for the life of you, understand it.
Did you not rescue these people from an uncertain future? Did you not allow them shelter and safety, over the protests of your own tenants? Have you not done everything you could to ensure that they would have the means to provide for themselves and make new lives on your land? What sort of people are they, to repay your many kindnesses with such wretched, unreasonable behaviour?
Have you misjudged them so badly?
"I advise we act quickly, my lord," Saundersley continues, the worry plain on his face. "If we do not, then these incidents will only continue. It must be something drastic and overt, to make examples and to settle the anxieties of your tenants."
Your solicitor is right. This is a problem which cannot wait. You must see to a solution, now.
1) "Find the worst offenders and expel them."
2) "I will not tolerate a community of criminals in this barony: expel them all."
Saundersley shoots you a disapproving look but voices no protest. You are Baron Ezinbrooke, and he is too much the faithful, baneless servant to contest your orders. Though he has made his opposition to the project clear, he still dutifully makes the arrangements to purchase materials for a second shrine with his customary efficiency and dispatch.
Your tenants are another matter entirely. When you send out the call for workers to construct the new shrine, it is answered with only a hostile silence. Some look pointedly in the direction of the village's old shrine, still dilapidated after decades of neglect, their meaning clear. In the end, it is the Antari themselves who must do the job, bending their still-gaunt bodies to their labours with a determined fervour.
The edifice they construct is not a grand one. In fact, it's little more than a small shack made of field stone and timber. Yet the Antari furnish it with a care which wouldn't be out of place among the Seekers of the most magnificent big-city shrine. Within a few days, the interior is crammed with rough-hewn wooden figurines of the Saints. A few days more, and they're joined by the largest carving of all, a painstakingly made wooden sculpture of the Mother of Ascension, her wings and arms wide in welcome.
She's a rough work by any standard, a carving of unfinished and unpainted wood, her form wrought with more patience than skill. Yet to see the Antari prostrate themselves before her with joyous tears in their eyes, you would think she was a masterpiece made of the most precious stones.
Perhaps to them, she is.
---
The next day, she's gone, found hacked to pieces by an assailant's axe and strewn like rubbish around the market square.
Your tenants all swear that they'd seen and heard nothing. You know they're all lying.
The Antari spend little time commiserating the loss. They're already carving a replacement. When they finish the new carving three days later, they install it in the same place as her predecessor, a quiet symbol of defiance.
This time, she stays standing.
---
Yet before long, you are beset by yet more complaints, this time from your tenants.
"It's the Antari that are the problem, beggin' yer pardon milord," says the leader of one group, bold enough to deliver their petition in person. "They've had a rough time of it, but that don't give 'em the right to thieve from good, honest folk or—"
"Theft is a serious accusation to make, Master Flores," Saundersley interjects, his tone quite firm. For all that he might dislike the Antari in your fief, it is reassuring to know that he dislikes the miscarriage of justice even more. "Do you have proof, sirrah?"
Flores nods, so vehemently that his jowls tremble. "That I do, Master Saundersley, that I do," he insists. "Just three days past, I saw one of them foreign bas—er, apologies milord—one of those foreign boys slit the purse right off Alf Marques' belt. He was in and gone before the poor feller even knew it was missing." He fixes your solicitor with a defiant look. "I swear by all the Saints sir, it is true."
Saundersley answers the farmer's insolence with a cool, appraising look. "And you are sure this thief was Antari?"
"Hair like dry straw, and pale as a Takaran," Flores replies, his face flushed with indignation and summer heat. "It couldn't be no one else, and it weren't the first time, either!"
"And it ain't just the boys, neither," adds another voice: Widow Caston, a stout pillar of a woman who has been grey-haired since before you were born. "You should see the girls, fluttering about the market square, pandering and waving and pushin' themselves at any poor feller who looks like he 'as some coin on 'im, offerin' to tumble into bed with 'im for a handful of pennies!" She shakes her head, her jaw jutting out like a warship's prow. "I understand things might be different in the city, but we're good upstanding folk here, and I say it's indecent! I ain't going to stand by and watch a pack of foreign slatterns tempt our sons and husbands into debauchery, and beggin' yer pardon milord, neither ought you!"
An angry murmur of agreement rises from the rest of the group of tenants. When Flores speaks up again, he seems to speak for all of them.
"I'll not begrudge you for taking pity on the poor folk, given the sad state they were in," he says, "but enough's enough! I don't think I'm a hateful man, milord. If the Antari wanted to just come here and live in peace, that'd be fine with me. But that don't mean I'm all right with them thievin' and whorin' and doin' whatever else kind of mischief they're up to!"
He looks up, his teeth grit in anger. "Something's got t'be done, milord. Something's got t'be done."
---
Insolent as they are, I fear they are right, my lord," Saundersley notes tautly as the two of you watch the delegation trudge back down the road to the village from your library window. "These are not the only petitions that I've received regarding the matter. I fear that these refugees may have already proven a malign influence on publick order, and may prove a detriment to the respectability of this house, should these incidents become wide knowledge."
You cannot, for the life of you, understand it.
Did you not rescue these people from an uncertain future? Did you not allow them shelter and safety, over the protests of your own tenants? Have you not done everything you could to ensure that they would have the means to provide for themselves and make new lives on your land? What sort of people are they, to repay your many kindnesses with such wretched, unreasonable behaviour?
Have you misjudged them so badly?
"I advise we act quickly, my lord," Saundersley continues, the worry plain on his face. "If we do not, then these incidents will only continue. It must be something drastic and overt, to make examples and to settle the anxieties of your tenants."
Your solicitor is right. This is a problem which cannot wait. You must see to a solution, now.
1) "Find the worst offenders and expel them."
2) "I will not tolerate a community of criminals in this barony: expel them all."
As of the Summer of the 614 of the Old Imperial Era:
Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga, Baron Ezinbrooke
Captain, Royal Dragoons (half-pay)
Age: 26
Current Funds: 1435 Crown
Debts: 10860 Crown
Bi-Annual Income (Personal): 135 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Expenses: 350 Crown
Bi-Annual Interest Payments: 217 Crown
Total Net Income (Next Six Months): -142 Crown
Soldiering: 72%
Charisma: 43%
Intellect: 9%
Reputation: 41%
Health: 62%
Idealism: 60% ; Cynicism: 40%
Ruthlessness: 32% ; Mercy: 68%
You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear Bane-hardened armour and wield a Bane-runed sword.
Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga, Baron Ezinbrooke
Captain, Royal Dragoons (half-pay)
Age: 26
Current Funds: 1435 Crown
Debts: 10860 Crown
Bi-Annual Income (Personal): 135 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Estate Expenses: 350 Crown
Bi-Annual Interest Payments: 217 Crown
Total Net Income (Next Six Months): -142 Crown
Soldiering: 72%
Charisma: 43%
Intellect: 9%
Reputation: 41%
Health: 62%
Idealism: 60% ; Cynicism: 40%
Ruthlessness: 32% ; Mercy: 68%
You are a Knight of the Red, having the right to wear Bane-hardened armour and wield a Bane-runed sword.
Friends and Associates
Javier Campos: Colour Sergeant, the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 583 OIE)
Victor d'al Reyes: Eldest son of Baron Reyes. Major, the 8th Regiment of Foot. Formerly Commander, the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. ~Lost arm at Blogia~
(Born: 583 OIE)
James d'al Sandoral: Captain (half-pay), the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 592 OIE)
Efraim Saundersley: Solicitor-on-Retainer to the House of Ortiga.
(Born 570 OIE)
Octave d'al Touravon: Baron Touravon, Father of Alisanne d'al Touravon.
(Born 556 OIE)
Enemies
Hiir Cassius vam Holt: Takaran Ambassador to Tierra. Eldest son to Richsgraav vam Holt.
(Born 527 OIE)
Eleanora d'al Welles: Countess Welles. Proponent of Military Reform. Friend to Isobel, the Princess-Royal. ~Died at Blogia~
(Born 587 OIE)
Javier Campos: Colour Sergeant, the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 583 OIE)
Victor d'al Reyes: Eldest son of Baron Reyes. Major, the 8th Regiment of Foot. Formerly Commander, the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. ~Lost arm at Blogia~
(Born: 583 OIE)
James d'al Sandoral: Captain (half-pay), the Royal Dragoons.
(Born 592 OIE)
Efraim Saundersley: Solicitor-on-Retainer to the House of Ortiga.
(Born 570 OIE)
Octave d'al Touravon: Baron Touravon, Father of Alisanne d'al Touravon.
(Born 556 OIE)
Enemies
Hiir Cassius vam Holt: Takaran Ambassador to Tierra. Eldest son to Richsgraav vam Holt.
(Born 527 OIE)
Eleanora d'al Welles: Countess Welles. Proponent of Military Reform. Friend to Isobel, the Princess-Royal. ~Died at Blogia~
(Born 587 OIE)
Ezinbrooke, a barony within the Duchy of Cunaris, possessed of 145 rent-paying households.
Respectability: 28%
Prosperity: 34%
Contentment: 44%
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.
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues
Rents: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Expenditures
Estate Wages: 150 Crown
Food and Necessities: 75 Crown
Luxuries and Allowances: 75 Crown
Groundskeeping and Maintenance: 50 Crown
Other Expenses: 0 Crown
Total Balance: -60 Crown
Respectability: 28%
Prosperity: 34%
Contentment: 44%
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.
Bi-Annual Estate Revenues
Rents: 290 Crown
Bi-Annual Expenditures
Estate Wages: 150 Crown
Food and Necessities: 75 Crown
Luxuries and Allowances: 75 Crown
Groundskeeping and Maintenance: 50 Crown
Other Expenses: 0 Crown
Total Balance: -60 Crown
1) "Find the worst offenders and expel them."
It wouldn't do to expell them *all*. We hope they will settle and start paying rent.
It wouldn't do to expell them *all*. We hope they will settle and start paying rent.
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