>>43853805
I think we got a good idea of what grandpa is like, and the lack of participation and leadership he shows when it comes to running the city.

Maybe Alard's father instead? Responsibility for trying to keep the city running seems to have fallen to him, and he seems to be more responsible.

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>>43853849
I dont have any funny scenes in mind for him. Following him around would be more like reading a kafkian novel, you know? the amount of work that guy does... actually, I think that would be somehow fun in its own right... alright that gave me some ideas on how to do it if you guys want to go with that, so:

>Watch grandpa wander around like a drunk leviathan, unknowingly throwing his weight around and helping everyone in the most hamfisted way possible.
>Watch uncle Wolfric as he goes through a regular work day.
>Lets go the dungeon
>Other

Also, i've been trying to re-write the magic system for the game, so I made this chart... jesus fuck this was so much easier to do just a year ago when my eyes were better. Seriously, this took me all day yesterday. Kind of pisses me off.

I was also reading on ancient chinese elements and their relationships, but whoever translated that did a piss-poor job of it. I mean, look at this, what the fuck does overacts mean? I asked the chemical engineer friend that inspired me to create this quest and he has no fucking clue either, even though he's a bigger nerd than I am and could go into rants in latin and talk about conceptual magic systems of the west.

And the elements "insult" the elements that are strong against them... wtf, really

http://www.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/chinese_medicine_five_elements.jpg

I really have no idea what overacts means

>>43853956
>Watch uncle Wolfric as he goes through a regular work day.
>Other
What was the name of the retired demi-god who became the family steward? What about him writing up a list of duties, responsibilities, and generally what Wolfric gets done and how much more work the steward still has to do, so that Eldric (who he doesn't want to see abandoning his responsibilities like Cedric) sees what he needs to be thinking about, and not just filling his manors with cute maids.

>>43853956
as a side note, i may have mentioned that I know a liiiiiittle bit of chinese, and i get the impression that earth is "enduring" or "supporting" but somehow it was translated as "crossing". What the fuck does crossing mean? I think the original word is crossing, but you have to consider the context when translating and not be too literal. In this sense, it was meant to be "something that goes under all things from one side to the other" and it got translated as "crossing" trying to be literal, but it clearly was meant to be "supporting" or "enduring under great weights"... this is the kind of crap that made me learn english because I didn't trust other people's translations

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I remember the head maid is Euphryte, but i dont remember the name of the head butler off the top of my head, would need to check the archives

Anyway lets wait for another vote for a bit

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>>43854064

Ah, I feel I should throw in there this bit. Rather than elements per se, the classical chinese "elemental table" actually refers to states of matter, best explained as follows:

Metal: metallic / crystalline solid with strong chemical bonds & radiation-conductive vacuum-like inter-atomic voids
Water: ionic/solvent liquid phase
Wood: complex organised living composite material with enzyme catalysis
Fire: energised gas-plasma
Earth: disorganised semi-living composite solid material with microbial culture

Is why I replaced the "wood" word normally used in most (shitty) translations, with a tree, which is more faithful to the intent than the literal meaning. But as it turns out, in the original, they meant tree all along as in "living thing that grows" so our menagerie would fit under "wood" (tree really) as far as spell types go, while our summoning of magical constructs would be more "fire"

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>>43854133
Uhmm I guess noone else is coming today? should we stop for today or do you want to do the uncle wolfric thing? since its just you, we can do something else if you want.

>>43854480
We might as well go through Uncle Wolfric and the Majordomo's stuff today. It'll help flesh things out and it's not like we're going to be making a lot of important decisions.

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>>43854546
Alright, then, typing

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(btw, im gonna go with the fire -> earth -> metal -> water -> tree -> fire calendar, even though the actual traditional chinese calandar is more like fire -> 1st earth (just a few days) -> metal -> 2nd earth (just a few days) -> water -> earth (just a few days) -> tree -> earth (just a few days) -> fire, alright? going "3rd month of earth" as heading for a date could be a little confusing. If there's such thing as a traditional chinese calendar purist, sorry about it.

Also, its just awesome to have an age of metal every year.

By the way, traditionally the age of metal means harvest season. You know, scythes and farming tools all over the fields

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUiOylPbfV0

***

Year 17 A.P. 13th of Ascending Metal
Right as the sun begins rising over the horizon

The wide office is still covered in the gloom of night, with the golden rays of the sun bouncing against the thick curtains by the window, causing a faint glow to expand over the walls from the windows.

The man is tall, his back straight. He walks in, his steps sounding loud in the smooth stone floor as he heads towards the windows and pulls the curtains apart, allowing the light to flood the room all at once.

He is in his early 30s, with a carefully trimmed short beard on his chin and wearing a spotlessly clean custom suit in black and blue.

The office is quite big, and as he looks inside, he can't help a mental sigh at the many shelves full of urgent matters that he didn't had the time for the previous day.

His desk is a little towards the east, and the walls are lined up with large glass windows that can be opened to let fresh air and light inside. The glass is covered with barely noticeable reinforcement glyphs and anti-scrying runes. The walls are actually thick and solid.

He reaches for the nearest scroll in the shelf, and sits down to work.

1/?

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>>43855009


The nobles are raising a petition for a exclusion zone around the inner city rings so that guards will prevent the access of the common folks to the richer sectors of the city.

Essentially, they want to keep out the poorer citizens under the excuse of increasing the security on their homes, selfishly claiming the main market and central plaza as their exclusive property, again.

'The main market... these morons... have they ever gone there themselves?' -he couldn't help but think that most likely, they have never gone there themselves, and instead their servants go purchase any goods needed in their masters' manors.

But, the main market is also the drop point for all the off-shore imports, as well as the main supply depot for all the smaller markets that dot the city. If the common folk can't go there to resupply their shops and stores, it will immediate cause a supply problem across town, and then lead to a public health problem when medicine becomes several times more expensive in all city rings other than the oldest ones.

The man frowns, and lets out another mental sigh. Thinking that he needs a tactful way to say 'no, are you retarded?' to the nobles.

'Let's say that the extra cost of diverting city guards towards the old ring gates would cause a raise in property taxes. They sure love asking for stuff, but hate paying taxes.' -is what he comes up with.

Of course, he writes it down with different words on his reply letter.

'These guys, are they really that snobbish? no... wait, this could be about something else, so let's keep an eye on it.'

He attaches another note to the scroll, and moves it to the currently empty shelf, then grabs another from the "incoming" racks and sits down again.

"In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the protectorate's funding..."

Is the 17th anniversary of anything a specially noteworthy time? maybe if it was the 20th...

2/?

>>43855197
The common folk want a strong monarchy/dictatorship with the head of the Lightbringer family as absolute despot.

Can old arguments of republicanism and democracy really apply when the people desire to give up their right to a representative form of government, and what would take it's place can be counted on to be selfless and just?

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>>43855197

They want to annex the lands to the east of the city to the Silverspire forest.

Really now?

Using such a lame excuse, they want to declare war on the nomad tribes? are these people right on the head? why do they even want that land anyway, did a fungeon full of gold-shitting mobs open up in the region?

Rejected. If they want to celebrate, we'll raise their taxes during the incoming age of water, and we can throw some fireworks and maybe a parade...

Wait, is this about looking for more land, or just messing with us to try and point to our pacifism as weakness?

...added a note to that and placed it on the solved shelf.

3/?

Sorry guys a friend came in and we were talking for a while

>>43855663
Seems that we need to keep a stronger, firmer, more pointed grasp on the nobles of Eopolis.

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>>43855663

It is about then that his aide comes in carrying more scrolls.

"Good morning sir"
"Good morning. Are there any actually urgent matters today?"
"Everything is urgent according to the nobles, sir"
"Of course it is"

'Increasing the sewage tunnels... that seems like a good idea. The city is always grpwng so... '

Of course, ever since the new policy his nephew suggested, he doesn't has actual power to approve or deny, but the council still abuses the 'right to be consulted' asking about pretty much everything, hoping that having the 'Lightbringer Seal of Approval' will make anything easily accepted by the city's people, which only makes the man's work that much more.

Well, just as he sends the scrolls off, more come in. Always twice as much as goes out, it seems.

The council wants to raise taxes f during next year's age of water to help raise funds for road upkeep between the city and Opal, the dwarven capital.

"Do we need the international roads anymore? the rockitship fleet could make so much more money if the merchants used it alone instead of the roads. It would be much safer for them, as well, and you can't place a price tag on security, sir" -his Aide says while peeking at the document on the desk

>Those are good points
>...but not everyone wants to pay for a ticket or warehouse space.
>...and I don't want them saying Im killing this to favor my nephews' rockitship lines.

>>43856163
>...but not everyone wants to pay for a ticket or warehouse space.
>...and I don't want them saying Im killing this to favor my nephews' rockitship lines.
>The nomads still use the roads; until such time as we see massive nomad air fleet convoys, the roads should be maintained. And it's always good to maintain them as a contingency.

>>43856220
brb i may have to go out real soon. Checking

>>43856372
If Eldric wants to play on the world stage, he's going to need to set up a working bureaucracy that can handle issues for him, probably include magic AI constructs to handle surveillance and information processing.

Guys Guys Guys! i just came up with an idea for our next business venture!

Listen to this, Alcoholic health potions!
Think about it.

>>43856220

He writes his suggestion on a note, attaches it to the document and hand it over to his aide.

And on to the next few dozen ones...

Taxt exemption for merchants exporting things by rockitship, based on the cost of warehouse space onboard.... rejected. The safety of the trip more than makes up for it
Another taxt exemption attempt for city merchants... Still no
Trying to claim lands from the democratic faction... even though it would be convenient for us... no, there's no good reason for it
Trying to raise taxes on spices import... this would hurt the royalists... I really want to say yes, but we cant support targeted agresion like this

Why can't they worry about upgrading the city defenses now that they know there will be a [ERROR] invasion in two years?

They keep asking for petty tax exemptions and reductions, while trying to raise it for their rivals. Are taxes the only thing they can fling at eachother?

When the man was young, he thought about supporting his father's idea of letting the city rule itself, but seeing what they do when they have the chance, he sometimes feels like they couldn't run a children's sand box.

Why must he work so hard to keep them from fighting each other over money and petty disputes? are they stupid children running around with scissors?

If they keep stabbing each other like that, they'll end up taking the city down.

Sometimes, the man feels like smashing it down himself, just to deny them the satisfaction. But this is the city he wants to leave to his son and nephews, just not in this state.

He has to work hard to change it, so he can one day see those kids to the face when they are men, and tell them "here, its yours now."

1/?

>>43857246
So, dwarven health potions?

>>43857273
Wouldn't that just be Blessed Beer?
Do we want to create an Albion Wagon Bomb when we next go to Opal?
Would the Dwarves appreciate drinks like that?

>>43857273
Not just Health potions! think about it Wine that not only gets you drunk but relieves your aches! Vodka that lets you see in pitch blackness!
Would you honestly say that the dwarves are the first to think of this? We could sell it to everyone not just Dwarves

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>>43857459
>Vodka that lets you see in pitch blackness!
so you want russian armored bears who can see in the dark? are you sane? are you actually Putin?

>>43857259

**After a brief pause for breakfast**

"Where did this pile came from?"
"It got this high while you were resting, sir"
"That was breakfast, not rest."
"It was long enough, I am afraid."
"...alright"

Reparation of sewers on the outer rings of the city... approved
Reparation of streets ont he outer rings of the city ... approved
Reparation of piblic plazas on the outer rings of the city... why are they asking for every single thing? regular upkeep across the city should be... well, regular.

"Well, you'll see, sir..."

Diversion of funds from upkeep on the city outer rings sewers, roads and plazas towards beautifying the innermost ring squares and streets... denied

*sigh*

They also want to use the money to fund fortresses around the city and have major nobles in charge of keeping and staffing each of them.

That...

>No, im not going to let them have private soldiers. It took a lot of work to create a professional national army in the first place
>Could help if they start competing to have the better defenses. We are exoecting an invasion in two years
>Other

>>43857698
>No, im not going to let them have private soldiers. It took a lot of work to create a professional national army in the first place
The last thing we want is a Shadowrun situation.

>>43857874
well guys I need to run off now. Ill see you soon, god willing. I dont think ill archive this one since I really have to run, but if you archive it for me, i'd be grateful.

>>43858181
I'll get to it later.
Too bad we didn't finish Wolfric's day and get into the majordomo's.

We need to consider what we can do to create a post-scarcity society by using mana generators to create free food, clothes, and living spaces.