Lithium Flower
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2016
- Messages
- 1,832
"A man has been assaulted, and the perpetrator must pay compensation."
A few in the crowd shake their heads in dismay, but others nod in agreement. As for the perpetrator himself, he can only goggle open-mouthed in shock.
You turn to Saundersley. "What would be the appropriate fine for a situation like this?"
Your solicitor frowns as he leans in, examining the victim's injuries. "No broken limbs," he observes. "No loss of sight or hearing or speech…I would believe four and six to be a fair indemnity, my lord."
Now it is the turn of the boy's assailant to go wide-eyed with fear. For a man of your station, four crown and six dams is a pittance, the sort of money you could lose over a single round of Tassenswerd. For a family of tenant farmers, it could be the better part of a year's income.
"Please, milord!" he suddenly protests. "I—"
"Actions have consequences," you reply, with as much kindness as you can muster. "It is a lesson best learned young. Be thankful that you have paid the tuition in money, and not your life or reputation."
You turn to the crowd. "That goes for all of you," you add in a tone which doesn't invite further argument. "Further such incidents shall not be tolerated." You let out a sigh, feeling far more weary than you have any right to be. "This matter is settled. I'll not hear any more of it."
---
The square quiets down quickly, but it doesn't revive again. The joyous atmosphere of just a few minutes before seems as distant as a childhood memory. There's only an air of ominous tension where there had once been laughter and music, smothering all present like a black fog so thick that even the ruddy glow of the lanterns cannot dispel it.
A brave few make feeble attempts to reignite the festivities. But the naked, bitter violence which marred this evening has stained it beyond salvaging. The music dies out, the vain attempts at conversation fall silent. Your tenants return to their homes, silent and sullen, taking the last vestiges of the harvest feast with them, leaving only forlorn lengths of orange cloth, empty tables, and dimming lanterns behind.
It seems nobody is in much of a mood to celebrate anything anymore. Thankfully, no more incidents follow the one which marred the High Harvest festival. With the first frosts of winter just a few weeks away, your tenants are far too busy getting in the last of the harvest to cause any new trouble. Things almost return to a state of what might be called normalcy. The days grow shorter and colder. A courier from the city arrives with mail and the summer's back copies of the Gazette.
It doesn't make for encouraging reading.
There are high tensions in the Cortes. There is turmoil in the country, as well: the woods are overrun with roadsmen, and the roads themselves are choked with refugees, both from Antar and from villages and towns which can no longer support them.
It seems the realm has had its fair share of crises whilst you were busy dealing with your own. You can only thank the Saints that so few of them have affected you in your remote seat thus far.
Soon, distant events are driven from your mind by a more pressing concern. With the harvest over, rents are now due, and you're once again set to the task of administering your estate.
---
By your reckoning, your fief has attracted 1 new rent-paying household over the past six months. Unfortunately, you have also lost 5 households, who have chosen to leave your fief out of dissatisfaction with your policies and decisions. Furthermore, your fief has also lost 3 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. Your tenants are reporting great satisfaction with the state of their newly repaired cottages, enough perhaps to compensate them for the great discomfort they had to endure throughout the summer as your workmen reinforced cracked walls, rebuilt draughty chimneys, and replaced rotting beams.
---
With the latest reports taken into account, your current financial situation is as follows:
Bi-Annual Revenues
Rents: 276 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): -156 Crown
New Loans: 0 Crown
Current Wealth: 1279 Crown
Projected Wealth Next Half-Year: 1123
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.]
A few in the crowd shake their heads in dismay, but others nod in agreement. As for the perpetrator himself, he can only goggle open-mouthed in shock.
You turn to Saundersley. "What would be the appropriate fine for a situation like this?"
Your solicitor frowns as he leans in, examining the victim's injuries. "No broken limbs," he observes. "No loss of sight or hearing or speech…I would believe four and six to be a fair indemnity, my lord."
Now it is the turn of the boy's assailant to go wide-eyed with fear. For a man of your station, four crown and six dams is a pittance, the sort of money you could lose over a single round of Tassenswerd. For a family of tenant farmers, it could be the better part of a year's income.
"Please, milord!" he suddenly protests. "I—"
"Actions have consequences," you reply, with as much kindness as you can muster. "It is a lesson best learned young. Be thankful that you have paid the tuition in money, and not your life or reputation."
You turn to the crowd. "That goes for all of you," you add in a tone which doesn't invite further argument. "Further such incidents shall not be tolerated." You let out a sigh, feeling far more weary than you have any right to be. "This matter is settled. I'll not hear any more of it."
---
The square quiets down quickly, but it doesn't revive again. The joyous atmosphere of just a few minutes before seems as distant as a childhood memory. There's only an air of ominous tension where there had once been laughter and music, smothering all present like a black fog so thick that even the ruddy glow of the lanterns cannot dispel it.
A brave few make feeble attempts to reignite the festivities. But the naked, bitter violence which marred this evening has stained it beyond salvaging. The music dies out, the vain attempts at conversation fall silent. Your tenants return to their homes, silent and sullen, taking the last vestiges of the harvest feast with them, leaving only forlorn lengths of orange cloth, empty tables, and dimming lanterns behind.
It seems nobody is in much of a mood to celebrate anything anymore. Thankfully, no more incidents follow the one which marred the High Harvest festival. With the first frosts of winter just a few weeks away, your tenants are far too busy getting in the last of the harvest to cause any new trouble. Things almost return to a state of what might be called normalcy. The days grow shorter and colder. A courier from the city arrives with mail and the summer's back copies of the Gazette.
It doesn't make for encouraging reading.
There are high tensions in the Cortes. There is turmoil in the country, as well: the woods are overrun with roadsmen, and the roads themselves are choked with refugees, both from Antar and from villages and towns which can no longer support them.
It seems the realm has had its fair share of crises whilst you were busy dealing with your own. You can only thank the Saints that so few of them have affected you in your remote seat thus far.
Soon, distant events are driven from your mind by a more pressing concern. With the harvest over, rents are now due, and you're once again set to the task of administering your estate.
---
By your reckoning, your fief has attracted 1 new rent-paying household over the past six months. Unfortunately, you have also lost 5 households, who have chosen to leave your fief out of dissatisfaction with your policies and decisions. Furthermore, your fief has also lost 3 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. Your tenants are reporting great satisfaction with the state of their newly repaired cottages, enough perhaps to compensate them for the great discomfort they had to endure throughout the summer as your workmen reinforced cracked walls, rebuilt draughty chimneys, and replaced rotting beams.
---
With the latest reports taken into account, your current financial situation is as follows:
Bi-Annual Revenues
Rents: 276 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): -156 Crown
New Loans: 0 Crown
Current Wealth: 1279 Crown
Projected Wealth Next Half-Year: 1123
Ezinbrooke, a barony within the Duchy of Cunaris, possessed of 138 rent-paying households.
Respectability: 31%
Prosperity: 35%
Contentment: 45%
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 but of excellent condition, having recently been repaired and refurbished. A number of fields lie adjacent to the village, but much arable land is wasted for want of proper clearance.
Respectability: 31%
Prosperity: 35%
Contentment: 45%
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 but of excellent condition, having recently been repaired and refurbished. A number of fields lie adjacent to the village, but much arable land is wasted for want of proper clearance.
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 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.
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-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.
---
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?
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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.
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.
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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…
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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?
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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.
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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.
