Bay 12 Games Forum

As an added bonus:


Size of font determines how influential the culture is; how much neighbours are modeling themselves after that culture and how far it spreads (even beyond borders or lingers in previously owned areas).

As you can see, Damdamians are pretty homogenous, so are Parsians and Gubtans. Dahnians are influencing Hellistes and even your borderlands, while Kiwis still proudly wear their traditions and ways of life on their sleeves even if the tiny Eldrican peoples grew to be their overlords. Tirines on other hand are very mixed-in; Kiwi are their 'natural' culture but many nomads live amongst them and they took on various topics related to horses. Tavlak is Tavlak because no one dares to imprint anything on Tavlak, it's safer that way.

As for Methiant, you guys are very culturally fragmented and weak; peoples take ideas from outside rather than making their own, its been generations since conquests of Ceodwell and Felonsein but their cultural bonds are still strong and even the long defunct Tven has its cultural styles alive in northern Methiant. Heck, you can't even make Evalians abandon their Lametanian heritage and become Methiantese proper.

While others are advancing in architecture and arts and literature, your subjects are still most illiterate, are copying old art masters and most of big books is scribbled by guys living in temples or libraries. I guess that's the price one has to pay for being military giant with all progress being done in direction of gunpowder and gunpowder alone

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MILITARY EDICTS:

Matters of military hierarchy, philosophy of war and development of military tech.

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BUREAUCRATIC EDICTS:

Matters of administration and government.

Issue the Bill of Rights:
A standarized code of basic laws of the common peoples. Even if peasants will have nothing else left, they will always have their basic freedoms, helping ease their minds in times of emergency - and perhaps allow the spirit of liberty and humanism to blossom (for good or worse).

Establish Passage Tax: (once in effect: 1142 - 1169 AD)
All those travelers, adventurers, merchants and others are moving through the country for free! Let's establish a tax for those entering and leaving our country - this will earn us nice profits each year, although it might slow down immigration and convince some merchants to seek passage through elsewhere.

CULTURAL EDICTS:

Matters of religion, culture and art.

Establish Calendar of Festivities:
Rather than throw a festival every few years to celebrate a bontiful harvest, let's instead establish a cyclic and stable calendar of state-sponsored festivities for the whole year. This will cause a drain on the Treasury, but hey - people love festivals!

Endorse State Patronage of Arts:
To help develop the nation culturally, set aside certain amount of budget money to sponsor sculptors, poets, musicians and painters. It will be a constant drain on the Treasury, but think of how prestigious your nation will become, what with those masterpieces of art popping left and right!

Establish Royal School of Cartography:
People come from near and far, yet we know little of the places they visit, the royal scribes clinging to rumors, hearsays and random tales of strangers. A proper society of cartographers and scholars at the House of Learning could help expand our knowledge about the region, and the continent - who knows, maybe entire world in the far future!

Proclaim Religious Equality: (once in effect: 1135 - 1172 AD)
Travelers, merchants, immigrants; they all bring new beliefs and philosophies into the country. Rather than fight those foreign influences, it might be best to allow all peoples free worship on equal level no matter the size and beliefs of the congregation, to help all different worshippers achieve a certain degree to harmony and peace.
ENFORCED REVOCATION: Prevents this Edict from being choosen again for at least 10 years after revocation.

Establish Religion Tax: (once in effect: 1154 - 1172 AD)
Various congregations are given away territories and various tax exemptions for those. With erosion of religious influences upon the state, its prime opportunity to dip our hand into prime source of income that is donations and tithes gathered by those numerous cults present in the empire. It will surely not please them, and, by extension, your subjects.
ENFORCED REVOCATION: Prevents this Edict from being choosen again for at least 10 years after revocation.

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REVOKE EDICT: Revokes a previously implemented edict, either to cut spending, appease some disgruntled subjects, or both. On the other hand, it might tick off some other peoples, potentially causing a deadly cascade of discontent.

Late Spring, 1135 AD: Established the Fireblood Court:
Creation of a specialized military branch devoted purely to development of Fireblood arms to ensure they are aplenty and of best designs around. This will allow to centralize the production, research and budgeting of Fireblood weaponry rather than having some errant alchemists and engineers running around, trying to make things happen.

End of Year 1139 AD: Established Recruitment Offices:
Mandatory training for youths is a good thing, but after bloodier-than-usual wars, there might be shortage of men to replenish the ranks. If we were to expand on the royal bureaucracy to include offices for traveling civilian recruiters and offer citizenship grants for mercenaries and travelers looking for a new home, our Army could refill its ranks much faster.

End of Year 1140 AD: Established The Council of Statesmen:
Creation of a small council of governmental officials who will be tasked with helping the government run smoother alongside traditional advisors, and, of course, the monarch himself. This will help strengthen the Imperial Authority, even in dire times, and help pass edicts quicker, although giving even more political power away from the throne than in the past might become a source of troubles one day.

End of Year 1146 AD: Established Diplomatic Corps:
Creation of a small but highly professional cabinet of diplomats and ambassadors that would visit neighbouring countries on regular basis to strengthen ties with nearby rulers and their nobles, and maybe even develop favorable treaties with them.

Summer 1152 AD: Issued the Codex of Training Regimen:
A set of efficient (and slightly draconian) requirements and practices of training to ensure that the Army gets only the best recruits of them all. This will make the Army much better in combat, although there might be a problem to fill yearly recruitment quotas sometimes.

End of Year 1153 AD: Established the Shadowranks:
Politics often involve underhanded tactics. A castle full of commoner staff and visiting foreigners just asks for a disaster to occur. Let's have the military form a professional division of most loyal of soldiers, who would protect the Emperor, his family and important state officials, during the day, night, war, peace, revelries of festivals and monotony of daily life.

End of Year 1156 AD: Expanded Primogeniture Law:
A string of bad luck can render a monarch without a male heir or cause succession debates. Rather than risk some unpleasant consequences of such a situation, it might be better to allow a skilled female to ascend to the throne, especially if she is as good at matters of the governance as any other ruler.

End of Year 1158 AD: Enacted Settlement Policy:
Guarantee that those willing to settle in previously undeveloped lands or territories yet unclaimed by any nation will be given a certain amount of money to help further their effort. However, this might cause a severe drain on the Treasury, especially during times of sudden, mass migrations to the countryside.

End of Year 1159 AD: Introduced Elective Succession Laws:
Sometimes a firstborn might be below average in terms of his skills to rule the nation, but there might be no other alternatives left, even amongst females. Elective Succession will allow the monarch to select the most skilled to inherit the throne, even a distant (or foreign!) relative of the successor, although this might cause problems with less gifted yet highly ambitious relatives of the next ruler, as well as local nobility.

Late Autumn, 1160 AD: Proclaimed Dissolution of Cloisters:
There are some faiths that are living and dwelling in estates and keeps that once belonged to the Crown, hoarding wealth within! We should force them out, restoring the important buildings to our governance as well as profiting from the stored treasures. Obviously, the worshippers of the faiths in question will be angry about this.

End of Year 1164 AD: Established The Royal House of Learning:
Scholars scribbling down books in secluded libraries and scriptories should be a thing of the past! Let's instead establish a centre of learning, where those of intellect can exchange ideas and educate those willing to learn. It will help the nation develop technologically, although maintenance of this beacon of enlightenment will obviously require yearly costs.

End of Year 1166 AD: Adopted Fireblood Infantry Tactics:
Fireblood weapons are currently slow to load and rather inaccurate, but even one in dozen of shots is bound to hit someone. Some believe that infantry should be given hand-held Fireblood weapons, which would be fired en masse against the enemy before melee combat, while horsemen equipped with melee weapons attack the flanks in glorious charges or mows down those who were lucky to survive the rain of hot iron.

End of Year 1167 AD: Established Imperial Trade Commission:
To ensure stricter and better control of trade in the Empire and through its borders, an imperial guild of trade and commerce should be created. Its officials will keep an ever-vigilant eye on market trends, supply and demand, as well as establish and maintain favorable tariffs and taxes on goods, and help our merchants gain upper hand over foreigners. Hopefully, they will avoid price gouging, corruption, favoritism and other nasty things.

The diplomat rejoices, the Commissioner scoffs - but there will be some priviledges for merchants from Rucus after all.


Silver and gold bullion is brought to the Treasury, as well as gemstones.

1

Glasswork failed to bring any profits.


The High Commissioner of Trade has arrived to speak with you.

"My lady Empress, we have devised a new taxation scheme for market workers and traders from abroad. By using this scheme, we will be able to gain profits from merely having our markets open for foreigners. Unfortunately, this will require revocation of priviledges to Rucus, as well as turning deaf ear to any new complaints that might come."

A) Cutthroat trade politics? And I get money? Sure thing!
B) No, we can't profit on the expense of others!

Crocodile - 42
Seal - 24
Axolotl Salamander - 17
Rhino - 20
Ostrich - 10
Ankylosaurus - 25
Sauropod - 16
Tortoise - 26

You decide to accept the beautiful winged horse of destruction.

"Now, the demands I have for your wealth." Sirthara claps her hands and a scroll appears in your Treasurer's hands. After reading it, he wheezes and almost faints. The Advisor takes the scroll, reads it, and quickly moves to you, leaning down to whisper.

"My lady Empress, the money she demands will deprive us of wealth except for the paltry profits we have obtained from crafts sold this half-year! Tis a robbery, and she's a thief!"

"I'm not deaf you know, have some respect for my profession." The Sorceress rubs some pink stick against her lips while looking into a round disc of silver or something like that.

A) Refuse the deal.
B) Accept the demand.
C) Haggle for a lower price.