The Age of Glass

[foolish_icarus]

No hurry.
Though I am intrigued what 'landfill treasures' you will decide you have discovered.

**Basic NPC stats added.
I think that makes the update done!

[Cyclotron]

I am a fan of shorter periods; I would lean towards 10 year updates, or failing that, 20 year ones.

[foolish_icarus]

10 year updates it is (special circumstances, such as war, may merit even shorter periods). I will make more frequent and shorter updates, and every couple 10-year periods I will write a longer, more EXPLOSIVE!* update.


*Note that explosivity may or may not come at any given time, regardless of the length of the update, or how long or short a time it has been since the most recent period of general explosiveness. Be on your guard (or not, if you like surprises).


Next update will come Wednesday!

[appleciders]

Orders for Shenandoah Confederation:

-Continue scavenging for useful scrap metal and any further utilities in the area, especially areas already revealed to contain scrap metal deposits. Pay particularly close attention to old texts, and send them to local universities for translation and study. Begin carefully and slowing reverse engineering my two special finds to learn how to recreate them and use them to the greatest effect.

-Use found scrap metal and new technologies to begin forging more and better weapons. I'd like to be able to expand my army next turn.

-Keep expanding universities, though this is no longer a large priority. Also keep expanding roads, paying particular attention to bridges, though this is also not a priority.

-Contact tribes moving in from the west, and encourage them to settle in the Appalachian Mountains to the west. Offer them membership in the Confederation, if they are willing to settle, participate in Congress, and enourage some of their young men to join the military.

-My two found objects:
1. Either a model Gutenberg press or similar small, moveable-type printing press. If this is not "everyday" enough, a functioning standard (non-electric) typewriter will suffice.

2. A small blast furnace, similar to what a farrier, small metalworking shop, or SCA hobbyist might use. I realize this may not be perfectly useable, but the concept involved is quite ready to be applied.

[foolish_icarus]

Interesting choices!

You get a manual typewriter (it doesn't have any ink tape or paper, but you'll be able to scrounge some up)

and a small charcoal powered blast furnace. It was broken, but you were able to fix it and it is now usuable if you have the proper materials to make it worthwhile. This is not a tremendous leap into new technology, but it does have some features that are more sophisticated than what was in wide use in your country, and studying it should in general prove instructive..

[appleciders]

I didn't expect much out of this typewriter in and of itself, but I hope to be able to derive a printing press from it. What materials would be nessecary to use the charcoal blast furnace, besides the obvious charcoal?

[foolish_icarus]

Raw metals of a certain purity. Now I've probably just necessitated for myself doing some heavy duty research on modern metallurgy
Much like the typewriter, you won't get a lot of direct use out of the furnace, as it's small and old, but the features you discover from it will improve your ability to work metals in general, because in your attempts to learn how to use it (it doesn't come with an instruction manual, after all) you've learned some things about the effects of various conditions on metals.
Unless I've misunderstood your intended use for it (please correct me if so) it has simply added to your repertoire of available knowledge about metallurgy, something that is particularly useful when many of the types of metal available to you (that is, steel, copper, brass, aluminum and all the other types in common modern usage) cannot be readily reforged without losing some of the properties that make them desirable.

Oh yeah, are you going to conduct any diplo with Macry? They've basically offered you a proto-alliance, and the language of the offer indicates a willingness to continue to improve diplomatic relations as time goes on and they become more certain of your trustworthiness.

[appleciders]

Shenandoah Confederation to the City of Macry
Greetings, brothers! We note your tenative offer of friendship with great interest, and would gladly enter into a non-agression pact with you, and would consider beginning the negotiations for an alliance.

[Cyclotron]

The Doverian Harmonium

The success of the Chessalian offensive has only multiplied the problems facing the Council. Faced with economic and social collapse from the exodus of unskilled labor to Doverian Chessalia and the undermining of the Societies through the activities of the Unclassed merchants, the Council has done little but argue over power and administrative duties. Frustrated and afraid of Orderine influence, the Council has passed the “Reclamation,” an act that reduces the status of the Unclassed to virtual serfs, and has ordered Jens Caster to be placed under arrest for “Subversion of Order,” a capital crime.

This was the final straw. The Orderines left the Council, enraged, refusing even to vote on the Reclamation. Jens Caster, backed by the full might of the Orderines and Sailors and with the financial backing of the Unclassed merchants of Chessalia, has crossed the Chessa Bay and crushed the Lantern-Bearers, the honor guard of the Council Chambers. With the Chambers surrounded by Orderine guards, the Council members have been forced to acknowledge Jens as “Harmonarch,” Protector of Order throughout the Harmonium. Harmonarch Jens has ordered the leaders of the two Expansionist factions (Julan Weaver and Tamas Potter) arrested and expelled from the Council, to be executed for Subversion of Order, the crime they attempted to charge him with. He has made a declaration for all Doverians and Chessalians.

My people,

Long did our ancestors fight against the forces of chaos and destruction. Through their sacrifice and heroism, they defeated the mad cults and vicious warbands that held the free people of Doveria in thrall to their slavering violence. They were true champions of order – but we, their successors, have failed them.

The once glorious council has faltered and fallen; the Councilors have long since abandoned Order for power, bickering amongst themselves and imperiling the Harmonium for their personal gain. My people, we have worked too hard to see our sweat and blood wasted by greed and foolishness. On this day, with the Orderines that have guarded our land and people for generations, I have humbled these traitors to Order and demonstrated what the righteous can do against the wicked and corrupt.

We live in a world filled with Chaos, ready to ensnare the unwary. We will never be free from the need to be watchful, to be ready for aggression. But I know that we must also have hope – for we are an Enlightened people, gifted with the knowledge of the one righteous way, the one way that will lead humanity from slavery to dignity. From this day forward, let us never again fight each other, and let us not level accusations and lies against our brethren. Together, united, we shall restore Harmony to Doveria, Chessalia, and beyond – the Council restored to Order, with my hands guiding our nation to glory. Set aside your factionalism and hatreds, and join the new Societies – the Societies that, under my care, shall blossom into beacons of Order for all humanity. Join me and thrive, my people.

Harmonarch Jens has announced the cancellation of the Reclamation, and has promised the Unclassed new rights and legal standing. He has announced the formation of a new Fourth-Class Society, the Merchants, to which all merchants and moneychangers shall belong. He has declared that henceforth Chessalia shall be brought under the Society system, and has dispatched Teachers to Chessalia to organize the population under Society law.

The Harmonarch has announced the aggressive expansion of the Orderines to deal with new threats. This is to be accompanied by comprehensive training and manufacture of new weapons, to expand the Society to twice its previous size (over time) while keeping its standards of training and equipment as high as they ever were.

In secret, the Harmonarch has responded to the request from Far Doveria with limited assistance. He has announced publicly that refugees from Far Doveria shall be welcome in the Harmonium, and has privately contracted the Merchants and Sailors to smuggle supplies and large amounts of armaments (especially Chessalian crossbows) to the Far Doverians. The developing Doverian intelligence service, a division of the Keepers, has been relocated from Chessalia to Far Doveria, to assist the locals with intelligence and commence covert operations against the Mastayvians (including sabotage, assassination, and other shenanigans). Some Orderines have been sent to Far Doveria to act as advisors and trainers to the Far Doverians, though the vast majority of Doverian soldiers remain in either Doveria or Chessalia (dealing with whatever remnants of resistance remain).

The office of Harmonarch has been given control over the Orderines and Sailors, as well as veto power over the Council. The Harmonarch is to be succeeded not by his children, but by a Scion, an unrelated person from another Society that has been chosen by the Harmonarch at an early age to be trained in the administration of the Harmonium and educated in all fields deemed necessary for a leader.

Jens has chosen as his Scion a young woman named Shea Carpenter. Within a few years, she is to be assigned as the administrator of the capital city of Chessa until her succession as Harmonarch. This is a relatively strange occurrence in Doveria; though the sexes are treated equally in most Society law (Orderines, for instance, are a Society with males and females and families like any other; the women tend to fill more support roles, but are sometimes in combat), there have never been female Councillors or other leaders before.


Harmonarch Jens of the Doverian Harmonium to the Tyrant of Filodelia
It has not escaped my notice that the Society of Merchants within the Harmonium has been doing a great deal of business with your citizens. In the name of promoting Order and good relations, I propose that we adopt some form of common weights and measures to facilitate business between our peoples. I am also obliged by the Council to remind you and your citizens that all goods passing through Doveria are subject to standards and regulations of quality and origin pursuant to Society law.

Harmonarch Jens of the Doverian Harmonium to the King of Mastay
It causes us much grief to see the plight of the people of Far Doveria. We ask, in the name of Order and harmonious peace, that you withdraw your citizens from Far Doveria. I am sure a more equitable arrangement between you and all Doverians can be reached.

[foolish_icarus]

Ah! Ze Update!
Update 3: 301-310 ACC Part 1 of 2

The Text is here in its entirety, map is uploaded (no major changes). I'd like to do the next update on Sunday, but I'm flexible.

-----------------
The leadership of Shenandoah and Macry have become friendly, signing treaties of cooperation, a particularly useful and promising endeavor considering the threats these two states face as well as the fact that they now share a border.

Tribes from the west are scrambling eastwards! The communications tell of turmoil and tyranny that is pushing them away from their homelands...and right up to the borders of Shenandoah and Macry.
Some few have been co opted into these two states, others have signed formal treaties as mini nations declaring their peaceful intent to settle or otherwise move through the lands outside the borders. Most swarm back and forth, searching for respite from the elements and their enemies, many of whom, also displaced, have migrated with them. Some have settled and prepare to wage their feuds from fortresses and squalid encampments.
Some of the bolder, more warlike newcomer tribes have attempted to break across the borders of Macry and Shenandoah, seeking the more orderly, prosperous lands they hear lie just beyond the hills...

Thus the western hinterlands of these two states are threatened, and their militaries are hard pressed to hold out against the numerous western arrivals, who have little in the way of material possessions who do have varied military capabilities. Still, most of the western tribes have not attacked the two states...yet. But if they sense weakness and strike, nothing could hold back the sheer numbers of these peoples from pouring across the entirety of the realms of Shenandoah and Macry....and even beyond.

----------
The peoples of Far Doveria are no more. Scattered remnants took refuge in Doveria, and some fled to even farther lands, but the majority are dead or enslaved, and none live free in Far Doveria. Doveria's diplomacy was ignored, and their covert operations were apparently inadequate. Mastay has finished the collection they set out to do, thinking it would be an easy and lucrative task, at great expense to themselves, their captives, and their neighbors.

For a storm of circumstances has come together to blight the Northeast. It started with food and water shortages. Far Doveria devastated; Mastay (a traditionally large food producer based largely upon their slave labor) exhausted by its war and unable to recuperate due to the cutting off of their western slave trade by the horde sitting around Macry's borders; Shenandoah and Macry's outlying farmlands threatened by the hordlings and their own efforts devoted to fighting, the sheer number of refugees moving around occupying land and taking up organizational resources; all quickly led to a dangerous crisis.
Poverty and filth spread disease, which due to quick thinking and harsh measures where prevented from getting much into the populated areas, but the threat of illness has stifled trade and travel.

The triple Survpacist states have prevented the crisis from becoming a full blown nation-shattering disaster by exporting (at irritatingly-high-but-still-lower-than-they-probably-could-get-away-with-charging prices) their meager food surpluses to the north.

All of the north, including Doveria and its recent 'reorganization' (some spiteful and unenlightened critics might call it a coup) have felt the destabilization from these effects. The significant slowdown in trade, at least, has made it easier for Filodelia and Doveria to standardize their measures and enforce the adoption of the standardization. Little else in the last 10 years can be said to have been good on a national or regional scale.

On an individual level life continues with its high points and low points, of course. The surreal, emotional artwork of Shenandoah, and the dark, pessimistic literature of Filodelia, for example, has gotten much more interesting of late, and like as not will some day be hailed as a great representation of the period's culture.

Some men and women have managed to make exciting adventuresome lives out of these troublesome circumstances, and a great many continue to live more or less as people have always lived, grinding through the days and the years with elbows askew and brows furled in disapproving resignation. Even now the entirety of the north hesitates on thin, creaking ice, unsure of whether to gently tiptoe off the thawing spiderwebs of clear white danger or sprint away in the hope of making it to shore.

[foolish_icarus]

Stats for Uuuuupdate

As of 310 ACC (update 3)


Doverian Harmonium
Cyclotron
Civil Modernity: 845
Military Modernity: 650
Technological Capacity: 1015
Espionage: 1 (2)
Army: 1 (2)
Navy: 1 (1)
Population: .7 [million]
Economic Vigor: 2
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 4
Notes—
{The Harmonium is a strictly ordered community, structured into various caste “societies” (one for each principal trade or occupation) that, theoretically, know their place and exceed in that one area. Formed as a response only a generation ago to brutal strife between tribes and bands of violent cultists, the Harmonium has recently come under the rule of the Harmonarch, the military-political head of the state, who has implemented changes that may end up going very deep. The Harmonarch's policies have seen the increased equalization (that is, moreso than before but still a long way off) yet also improvements in organization and efficiency of the caste Societies. Is it a worthy trade off that these things have come at the expense of increased political tensions?...}


Shenandoah Confederation
Appleciders
Civil Modernity: 665
Military Modernity: 675
Technological Capacity: 1235
Espionage: 1 (1)
Army: 1 (2)
Navy: 0 (1)
Population: .8 [million]
Economic Vigor: 3
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 4
Notes—
{Located in what remains of the Shenandoah Valley, the Shenandoah Confederation remains a largely agrarian society. A tight-knit union of communities does cause some political infighting, but such infighting is a small price for the close contact between communities, which has saved the Confederation several times, both from outside assault and famine. The central government is small and wields little actual power; it serves mainly as a forum for the leaders of individual communties to exchange information and coordinate large projects. Shenandoah has for generations been expanding its borders and populations by taking outsider tribes into its Confederation, for the most part successfully.}


Society of Holy Diviners
General Ludd
Civil Modernity: 600
Military Modernity: 400
Technological Capacity: 1305
Espionage: 1 (1)
Army: 1 (1) [city militias]
Navy: 0 (1)
Population: .4 [million]
Economic Vigor: 4
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 6
Notes—
{It may be hard to define the society as a nation, as it is only a small collection of decentralized and mercantile communities. There is no enforced hierarchy within the society, but still, nothing is done without first consulting a diviner. The people believe that the diviners are capable of seeing everything that every has been, is, and will be, and are thus given the greatest amount of respect. The diviners have a hierarchy amongst themselves however, starting with neophytes all the way up the the high council, which is made up of representives of each community.}


NPCs...estimates only!

Macry
Civil Modernity: 600
Military Modernity: 860
Technological Capacity: 905
Army: 2
Navy: 0
Population: .9 [million]
Economic Vigor: 4
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 5
Notes—
{}


Mastay
Civil Modernity: 925
Military Modernity: 890
Technological Capacity: 1005
Army: 2
Navy: 2
Population: 1.3 [million]
Economic Vigor: 4
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 2
Notes—
{}


Filodelia
Civil Modernity: 715
Military Modernity: 770
Technological Capacity: 835
Army: 1
Navy: 1
Population: .4 [million]
Economic Vigor: 3
Median Living Standards: 3
Contentedness: 5
Notes—
{}


East Ilk
Civil Modernity: 785
Military Modernity: 655
Technological Capacity: 905
Army: 1
Navy: 2
Population: .8 [million]
Economic Vigor: 5
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 7
Notes—
{}


West Ilk
Civil Modernity: 755
Military Modernity: 690
Technological Capacity: 890
Army: 1
Navy: 2
Population: .6 [million]
Economic Vigor: 4
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 6
Notes—
{}


Risen
Civil Modernity: 795
Military Modernity: 650
Technological Capacity: 840
Army: 1
Navy: 1
Population: .6 [million]
Economic Vigor: 5
Median Living Standards: 4
Contentedness: 6
Notes—
{}


Silverdy
Civil Modernity: 555
Military Modernity: 740
Technological Capacity: 780
Army: 2
Navy: 0
Population: .9 [million]
Economic Vigor: 4
Median Living Standards: 5
Contentedness: 5
Notes—
{}


post away, merry gentlemen.

If I didn't comment on portions of your orders it's because things went more or less according to plan with regard to that specific subject.

[Cyclotron]

The Doverian Harmonium

Though not all are pleased with the new regime, the Harmonarch’s monopoly on armed force, firm hold on the Council, and broad support from the Unclassed have kept rebellious elements from surfacing. Though the Society elites call it “the dictatorship of the beggars” (referring to the Unclassed) in private company, few wish to question the Harmonarch’s authority in public.

Harmonarch Jens, seeing evidence of dissent at home and rampant destruction abroad, became increasingly paranoid during the last year of his reign. After reconstituting the Lantern-Bearers as a kind of Harmonarchial “secret police,” Jens initiated a wide crackdown on suspected dissenters within the state. He became obsessed with the idea that his enemies were trying to murder him, and had several well known Society members executed for suspected crimes against Order. Just as this campaign began to incur the wrath of the people, however, Jens died suddenly for no apparent reason. Some suspect poison, but who can be sure…

At less than 30 years of age, his Scion quickly took over the reigns of power and was pronounced Harmonarch Shea by the Harmonious Council. In an attempt to manage public resentment of her office and the previous repression, she has dissolved the Lantern-Bearers and announced the end of such policies of fear, styling herself as the liberator of the people from Jens’s would-be reign of terror (though most are still keenly aware of the negative consequences of being too disrespectful). The Harmonarch has announced a series of new measures, designed to safeguard Doveria’s prosperity in these harsh times.

• The Council has passed the Human Property Edict, which bans slavery in all territories controlled by the Harmonium. Any slave entering Harmonium territory automatically becomes free.
• The Harmonarch has begun a comprehensive navy construction project, providing prizes to those who design faster, lighter ships. She has declared that the navy is to go forth to the north and south, to chart new lands and open new markets for Doverian goods. The navy will take colonists with them from various Societies, to found colonies along the coast of far Doveria.
• To discourage trade rivals, the Harmonium has instituted a tax on all merchant shipping within its borders. Merchants may purchase documentation with either a blue or red seal; foreigners are given red seals, while ships of Doveria or Filodelia are given blue seals (a much lower tax rate). Merchants found without seals will be forced to buy them; merchants who do business without the proper paperwork will have their cargo seized by the state.
• The Society of Casters will undergo expansion to better use the resources of the Chessa Bay (fish, oysters, eel, crab, and so forth), and perhaps make more available to export to struggling countries that will pay a premium for food supplies.
• Having a historical interest herself, the Harmonarch has commanded the land of Doveria to be searched – and dug up, if necessary – to find any trace of the mythical lost city of Dover, fabled to be the center all human culture and achievement.
• The Orderines shall, in conjunction with Doveria's spies and scouts, resume steady expansion westward deeper into Chessalia. This will be done by diplomacy and assimilation if possible, and force of arms if needed.

[foolish_icarus]

find any trace of the mythical lost city of Dover, fabled to be the center all human culture and achievement.

I suppose I'll update the maps and stats now.

THE STATS! THEY ARE UPDATED!

[foolish_icarus]

You can also, if you wish, list what your divisions of soldiers/ navy fleets are composed of. Typically a fleet or a division will have a single focus, like a spear cavalry division or a musket infantry division or a longship fleet and all the attendant support and logistics personal and scouts and command structure et al. are assumed to be along with them. Because you have only a few small ragtag divisions at this point, however, you can mix complements, e.g. First Division is composed of 2/6 crossbowmen, 1/6 heavy spear and shield infantry, 1/6 light shortspear infantry, and 2/6 light assorted melee infantry.

Now I guess I'll mosey on over to HRE thread to give orders sometime today...

[Cyclotron]

Harmonium Navy
- Chessa Fleet: Mostly large, shallow-water attack and transport ships, suitable for coastal defense and river combat.
- Scouting Fleet: Under construction, smaller, deep-keeled ships for sea exploration, maintaining armament but not as much as the Chessa fleet.

Harmonium Army
All units are Orderine Units, composed in the following manner:
1/6 Scouts, young men and women carrying javelins, crossbows, other skirmish weapons and little armor
2/6 Order Brethren, soldiers in their "prime" with shields, light armor, and hand weapons (swords, maces, and so on)
3/6 Order Foot, armored heavy spearmen (veterans and experienced soldiers) with large shields