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>Kill the cubs. It's the merciful thing to do.

[1/2]

"Prospects of these screaming babes look bleak. It is either a swift death now or an excruciating one later."
"They could be raised in captivity until they're adults until they're large enough to kill for a feast or their pelts."
"True, but life in Captivity, a decade or so eating and shitting in a cage until you finally are killed or worse, made to fight for the amusement of bloodthirsty peasants? I'll send them to their mother and that will be that."
Lord Medger nods
"As you will."
"Right, give it here."
You hold the cub by the throat firmly before thrusting your hunting knife to it's heart without hesitation. It struggles in pain and gives a few last panicked screams before finally going silent.
"Next one."
You repeat the deed and wipe your knife and hands off the blood before returning the blade to it's sheathe.
"Nasty bit of business."
He pats you on the shoulder.
"All we can do now is not waste anything."
You nod
"Quite so. Let's haul the critters back so we can butcher them. I take it you've done this before?"
"Yes, many times."
"Then might I ask you and your men to instruct us in the process?"
"It would be my honor Lord Tallon. Would you in turn mind returning the favor in kind?"
"Depends what the favor is."
"I'd like to try and take down a bear as you did."
"Very well, I did bring an extra musket so I'll instruct you same as with Ser Roderik Cassel. It will be fast to learn, but as with any other weapon, mastery will take it's own time."

The Men carried the mother bear on pair of branches as you returned to the small campsite by the riverside. Protected by palisades, it was a small dugout with space for a campfire and barely enough space for you and your men unlike the main hunting camp which you set out from.

"Good catch milords! The Pelt is in pristine condition."
"We'll have Lord Tallon to thank for this kill. He took it down cleanly without a fight."
"Excellent work! We'll get to skinning and dismantling your prize immediately."
"Good, make sure to ready the fire for the heart and some fat to cook it in. It's tradition here in the North that the hunter that kills a bear eats its heart and sharing it is an act of bonding among hunters."
"I am most certainly not going to say no for a hearty meal after that much walking."
"There will be plenty for us to eat tonight. The Hunter's privilege is to feast on the parts which would never make it to the castle without spoiling."

>Looks like Lucan isn't a great hunter
>13
>8

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[2/2]

"Milords, we've found some other bear tracks whilst you were gone. Fresh ones."
Medger nods
"Could be the She-bear's mate. Fortune is with us. Seems like were not relocating so soon after all."
"Perhaps you shall get a chance to bag a bear of your own."
"Mayhaps, but it is too late to go for another hunt today. The Wolves own the night here and I'd rather not be caught out of the camp when it's dark."
"Fair point. Besides, if luck truly is with us, it might show up for food and water during the day anyhow."


Come evening, with the animal butchered and the bear sizzling in it's own fat, time came to split the heart.

>How do you wanna share the hearts?
>[Share hearts of the cubs Y/N]

>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]
>[Only share with those who took part in the actual hunt for the animal.]
>[Take a bite of each heart and pass it along until it is consumed]
>[Write-in]

>>3057565
>Not raising bear cavalry

God damn it anons, this is why I can't miss anything.

>>3057569
>Thinking this will end in anything besides a painful and possibly lethal mauling.
This is why you need to miss things.

>>3057567
>[Share hearts of the cubs Y/N]
Y, if its a thing thats done and *honorübrü*

>>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]
Seems reasonable. Bond with Medger and with our lads, assuming Lucan hasnt gotten killed in the woods.

>>3057567
>[Share hearts of the cubs Y/N]
Y

>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]
Our men are already fairly loyal, might as well focus on getting on well with a powerful northern lord.

>>3057567
>[Share hearts of the cubs]
>Y
>>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]

>>3057567
>[Share hearts of the cubs Y/N]
Y.
>How do you wanna share the hearts?
Diced it and stir fry it with seasonings and wine
he kinda missed chinese takeouts

>>3057617
>>[Only share with those who took part in the actual hunt for the animal.]

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>>3057567
>>[Share hearts of the cubs]
>>Y
>>>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]

>>3057569
Bear cavalry sound like a lot of training, bonding and research.

And at least a proper structure for train them and their knights, when we understand how to do it.

And probably a lot of good rolls too.
That means having domesticated war bears (that don t have problems with guns/explosions, like the horses of our outriders) that obey the orders of their knights ( at least 3 generations of domestication first).
Too many problems.

Also I was wondering if we could discuss the training of our infantry / line-musket soldiers. I remember us discussing which school of infantry combat we were going to follow:

>French school.
Deploys 4 ranks deep and fires by rank in salvo, advancing and firing with the intention to charge with the bayonet once the enemy is reeling from close fire. Combined focus on fire and melee. Offensive in nature. Mainly used by France.

>Anglo-Dutch school.
Deploys 3 ranks deep and fires by platoon in smaller salvos, intending to disrupt the enemy march and close by subjecting him to continuous disciplined fire. Focus on fire. Defensive in nature. Used by England/Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Brandenburg along with some of the low (northern) German states.

>Austrian school.
Basically the French school, but without the intent to go to melee. 4 ranks deep, fire by rank and fire and defensive focus. Developed to combat the melee-happy Ottomans by devastating fire. Used by Austria and the various central European and high (southern/central) German states

>Russian school.
Austrian school, but even more defensive. Russians deployed from 4 up to 6 ranks deep, had a small unit of pikemen to ward off cavalry and focused on fire to combat melee-happy Swedes and Ottomans. Fire by rank and defensive. Whenever possible, the Russians would construct earthworks to increase their defensive potential.

Developed due to many of the higher officers and even many of the soldiers in Peter's early armies were German mercenaries, bringing the Austrian school, and the need to keep the newly raised Russian armies together as well as fighting the Ottomans and the Swedes, who would come to them every time.

>Swedish school.
Influenced by the French school, but much more offensive. Deploys 4 ranks deep, but 1/3 of the battalion is pikemen - not to ward off cavalry, but to charge with longer weapons, making the enemy unable to respond. Fires two salvos by double rank (ie all muskets in the battalion) before charging. Reloading in the face of the enemy is strictly forbidden.


Yet discussion basically stalled out because of a lack of interest and a general assessment that moving to line infantry might not be effective given it is designed for fighting other line infantry / gunpowder troops as well as a lack of numbers making complex tactics somewhat pointless to train given we'd almost certainly be able to direct the troops ourselves.

However at this point, I think we can all agree we are potentially going to grow beyond the means of direct management (assuming we invest in military at any point in this lifetime) and standardising / actually devising our training would probably be smart. There also exists the possibility of developing our own school of firearms doctrine but that would be difficult to achieve and would require lots of discussion to develop it.

>>3057643
We basically go Russian only more defensive. Keep in mind unlike the folks that devised these tactics, we have the option of making barbed wire and rapid-fire weapons. Add in some explosives and we can construct a deadly little fort near anywhere and hold out against far superior forces while shelling from artillery range. Due to our limited numbers there is no point in not picking gunpowder over pikes. Pikes we can substitute with bayonetts and sidearm pistols and armor.

Basically, go defensive and powder heavy until we can into tanks and dune buggies.

>>3057643
A modify russian school could do for now, since we need to count in a lot of medieval weapons in the battles. (probably the ones of our allies or ... future vassals ?)
>>3057653


pikes could be still useful, if there are battles in the near decades the rifles of our soldiers (and of our north allies) aren t going to shoot that fast. Same for mortars and cannons.


we could use mercs in the rare case we have too much infatry&cavalry to deal with, use them as pikemen and heavy infantry, so we can avoid to lose the gunners and keep shooting.
(still some battles could be done by let enter the great south armys in natural north traps rich of our explosives and bad terrain)


----

when we have the steam power we really need to make that fishing fleet and icebreakers. Not just for make more money but to give it at a special reasonable price to our native pop, so they don t see any problems in having more kids since there will be always a lot of fish and sea food to buy.
that in the future means more soldiers and taxes. Maybe even a loyal population ?

obsiouvly we will need to expand the town in to a city for that.

>>3057680
*infantry

>>3057680
See, at our scale right now, if we ever come up against an army of comparable size - lets say up to a thousand - we can, with proper prep, defeat them handily. Same size forces have no chance.
If we ever face off against a force substantially larger than ourselves we will not be alone and can thus offload the pike duty on our allies who have far more and far better trained meele infantry.

Until we get to the thousands of troops we are far better off making specialized gunpowder units - Outriders, artillery, plate mail blunderbuss shock troops, snipers etc. So instead of mass, we have variability and options. Enemy advancing on us? Slow down with artillery and snipe commanders. Enemy in the forest with us? send in the shock troops and everybody else whips out their sidearm pistols. Too many of them? Hole up in a makeshift fort and snipe/artillery them from inside, ride out at night to throw grenades in their supplies and position snipers for assassination etc.

>>3057702
good.

>>3057653
>We basically go Russian only more defensive.
Could work.

>Keep in mind unlike the folks that devised these tactics, we have the option of making barbed wire and rapid-fire weapons.
Rapid fire weapons are kinda iffy. We can manage volley or puckle guns which are both somewhat expensive, if useful, methods of achieving a higher rate of fire. Personally I prefer volley guns, easier to manufacture and can be made by a musket factory with a few simple modifications.

As to barbed wire, entirely correct but we can also have other things like caltrops, extremely primitive landmines (more accurately powder charges and either chemical or mechanical detonators, might even mange to get mustard gas or something working if we're feeling stupid / insane) and so on.

>Add in some explosives and we can construct a deadly little fort near anywhere and hold out against far superior forces while shelling from artillery range.
Correct, not to mention that we can almost certainly construct flame thrower carts or back mounted assemblies to prevent people wanting to close range with us: fire, even non-wildfire, is still a terrifying threat. Plus it'll be good to be prepared for fighting the Wights by having flame-troops.

>Due to our limited numbers there is no point in not picking gunpowder over pikes. Pikes we can substitute with bayonets and sidearm pistols and armour.
I'd point out the main benefit of Pikes is being able to keep the enemy far enough away that they don't crowd the gunmen and prevent safe volley firing into the melee. If we're using bayonets, we risk hitting our own men if we provide ranged support but we should still equip our troops with them.

>>3057680
>A modify Russian school could do for now, since we need to count in a lot of medieval weapons in the battles. (probably the ones of our allies or ... future vassals ?)
>we could use mercs in the rare case we have too much infatry&cavalry to deal with, use them as pikemen and heavy infantry, so we can avoid to lose the gunners and keep shooting.
The early colonial / East India company methods might be useful then. Given their nature as mercenaries who assisted various Indian nations, they often had to assist traditional units. We could also look into adapting the methods used by the US against natives as well as the methods of engagement during the French-British war in the region, where the natives were commonly used as meat-shields / allies.

From these, we can almost certainly draw some lessons on how to engage motivated and trained forces adapted to their home-ground as well as integrating low-tech formations.

>obviously we will need to expand the town in to a city for that.
Certainly

>>3057702
Pretty much aye. Honestly, with every minor level of technological advancement we manage to achieve what we become capable of safely and reliably fielding will only get more and more ridiculous.

God help Westeros if we ever get any sorts of proper funding.

>>3057569
Bear cavalry, without magical bs of any kind, would require a level of domestication, training, and breeding of specific traits impossible to achieve within our lifetime. That's just talking making them not incredibly dangerous around humans, let alone making them into mounts, which is a whole other level of difficult in animal breeding. It just isn't done, and for good reason. If we could dominate the bears in some way, or live longer than generations of bears, than it's a big maybe but that would require some form of magical means or skill way beyond us right now.

>>3057567
>>[Share hearts of the cubs Y/N]
Yes
>>[Split the heart(s) in half with Lord Medger and share your half with your men.]

>>3057712
The reasoning behind wire is not to kill but to seriously slow down or risk maiming. Talked with QM about this and we actually arent too far from rapid fire, especially if we can get industry going. Caps will be a problem for a while but even they arent too big of a deal in the long run.

As to flamethrowers, I would support fully except for the simple issue of Ned being our lord. He probably doesnt take kindly to such weapons. This doesnt mean we couldnt make them, just that we cant liberally field them. Also look at the reactions of soldiers in WW1 when the flamy-bois came out. Utter panic. I imagine it would be even worse if you knew you couldnt get in range before he does.

>>3057741
I suppose. We can always keep them hidden until such a time as they are needed and truly needed.

>>3057741
>>3057757


we can use them in dire situations or against enemys that are not human. Ned shouldn t be against that

>>3057758
To be fair, there are few enemies that we are going to be facing that aren't human while Ned is alive depending on how things go.

>>3057761
Eh, if someone is at our gates then giving them a hot spray is not that outlandish. Same thing is done with pitch and oil and piss, we would just do it better.

Going on the offensive with this under Ned? Probably a shit idea.

>>3057643
>>3057653
>>3057680
If we rifle the guns of our dudes we can throw the schools away as we will have the range and accuracy to do skirmish/hunter style fire that is effective.

Even in the 15th/16th century, hunters rifles were far more accurate and with better range than a soldiers musket.

The musket however was far cheaper, and the investment for a full army, guns, training,etc for a skirmish/hunter rifle army compared to a musket army was not something economical. Specialists and such sure, but not a full army especially as a large cavalry charge would fuck up your rifle army far harder if they deployed as skirmishers to avoid volley fire and artillery.

>>3057851
>Probably a shit idea.
To be fair, it's not my worst idea. In fact I considered asking why we didn't develop horse or chariot mounted flame throwers that could be sent charging through the enemy lines or running along their length spewing flame over them.

>>>3057869
>Even in the 15th/16th century, hunters rifles were far more accurate and with better range than a soldiers musket.
At a cost of being heavier, less reliable, more expensive and slower to reload. We can equip an elite unit of rifles but I am not supporting a full army of rifles until we have single-shot percussion cap guns as then we'd have little reason not to in order to maximise their benefit.

If you can make percussion caps, you can almost instantly jump to revolvers after a bit of dicking with the alloys, though mass producing center-fire cartridges will likely be beyond you for a while now.

Getting to Colt 1911 tier is probably the top tier of what one can really achieve without smokeless powder, though those would require quite an impressive workshop to make.

>>3057869
Until we get some good fire rite guns going I would rather focus on defense. As to cav, Outriders can not only shoot but seriously spook normal cav. Another great boon for us.

>>3057900
Its an unwieldy weapon but the reason its shit on offense is the social stigma attached. Especially considering what Aerys did.

>>3057904
Probably not go into handguns except our own arms. But caps would allow copious amounts of gatling and repeater rifles.

>>3057904
>If you can make percussion caps, you can almost instantly jump to revolvers after a bit of dicking with the alloys,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9HQccpILU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS9uGktUCrY

I tried to find a video of some gun-kata with revolvers but honestly there's a surprising lack of it. Hopefully these two videos can convince you why we need to duelwield revolvers when we get the chance. Preferably in as big a calibre as we can handle, I want these things to kill bears and dragons if we unload into them.

>>3057910
True but we could make it far safer and better. Though the stigma is never going to go away. Just like gas weapons in real life.

>>3057923
Nah, flamethrowers have a stigma, gas weapons are just dumb.

>>3057927
Gas weapons are insanely effective against an unprepared enemy and a morale breaker even against those that are prepared given they require constant vigilance to avoid dying.

I'll admit, gas weapons can be extremely unreliable but that is only if one uses them to preface a offensive. If you merely use them in an attempt to kill the enemy or to distract them, they provide a useful and cheap way to deny the enemy access to a region or to minimise their utility from holding it.

Plus, there are a fair few gas weapons which are damn devious: one of the ones in WW 1 would soak into fabric and the slowly release over time if the fabric warmed above a certain point. That being roughly the temperature of their underground dwellings, where the enclosed location made even the relatively small amount of gas deadly if it is not noticed soon.

>>3057938
Link to that gas? Sounds pretty nifty.

But aside that, the only use for them I see is using on castle courtyards, since the gas would remain inside. Otherwise they dont use trenches and wind wold just as likely blow it towards our own emplacements. Not to mention the colossal stigma attached as soon as they find out just exactly why their men choked to death with their skin melting off.

>>3057956
>Link to that gas? Sounds pretty nifty.
Christ if I can remember which gas it was, I remember it from a documentary because it always struck me as a terrible way to die.

>But aside that, the only use for them I see is using on castle courtyards, since the gas would remain inside. Otherwise they dont use trenches and wind wold just as likely blow it towards our own emplacements.
Somewhat true. Fact is we could deploy it using light mortars directly into a castle and thus basically eliminate the entire benefit of a castle without even risking our soldiers all that much. Plus we get to take the castle in perfect condition making it hard for whomever tries to take it from us. Although we'd kill everything inside and it'd take a fair amount of time to dissipate.

>Not to mention the colossal stigma attached as soon as they find out just exactly why their men choked to death with their skin melting off.
Oh hell yeah, I mean some of the stories about what it does to people are god damn horrifying. An account from a British nurse treating soldiers with mustard agent burns during World War I commented: "They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with a tent of propped-up sheets. Gas burns must be agonising because usually the other cases do not complain, even with the worst wounds, but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out."

To be fair, we don't even need gas mortars. It's enough to simply have barrels of it and wait for a good wind to release it. Imagine doing that outside an army encampment- absolute slaughter, just need 20 good men.

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On a complete side note it turns out that Airis looks a lot like Bella from the Twilight movies. Just happened to notice while browsing imgur.

>>3057904
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimfire_ammunition

>>3058989
I don't think that's going to be much more easier than centerfire in the end. Where are we going to get a factory to produce those things?
Not like uniformly made brass casings and percussion caps appear from thin air.

>>3058989
Rimfire sounds like when you have spicy food & then eat ass.

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> Split from the middle and both share with their own men
> Same deal with the Cubs

You take the hearts and split them in half, both of you then cutting them down to smaller pieces for your men.

"The Slayer has the honor of First bite."
You chew down your slice of heart, still moist and steaming from the animal's own fats.
"There's an old superstition among the woodsmen that eating the Bear's heart grants you it's courage, fortitude and strength. You'd have to eat it while it's raw though and finish before the heart beats its last."
Medger says before putting a piece of the heart into his mouth
"Sounds to me like someone came up with the tale in order to trick someone else to get the choice parts."

As you and your men feasted on the entrails of the great beast, you chatted, drank, laughed and played with the Cerwyn men. As evening started to come close, Lord Medger started telling you about the North and the Northmen.

"The Ways of the North, the Old Ways, they are to give due respect to the Nature as we are part of it and inevitably, all our souls will return to the soil. There are no songs of worship, no holy texts, no priests and no official rites when it comes to Old Gods.

If you wish to make friends in the North, you must be aware of our ways in here. Each of us is our own man, though that seems to be very much the case with you as well. Only thing that remains the same amongst the Lords and people of the North are the sacred laws of hospitality. Everything else varies from house to house."

"Seems fairly straightforward to me."

"Now that I've told you about us, perhaps you should tell us about you and your ways."

> [Neutral Planet] "Oh yeah, err... my official stance is pretty much whatever the Septons say. Yessir, totally."
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."
> [Alex Jones] "I'm a Pioneer. I'm an Explorer. I'm a Human and I'm Coming."
> [Laissez Faire] "I think the greatest gift a Lord can give to his subjects is the assurance that he will not bother them unduly."

> [Something else] "Write-in"

Also

[b]Is there something you'd like to talk with Lord Cerwyn specifically?
>Nah, conclude the hunt
>Nah, but I'd like to hunt some more
>Ye (what?)

>>3059152
Would like to go Tesla but that's pretty much guaranteed to make a bad impression given what Cerwyn's just said.

>[Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in.

Although not really sure how much of the "galaxy" they're aware of in Westeros. Maybe a slight change to something like:
>"The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of all we survey, on Planetos and perhaps beyond."

>>3059156
Also
>Nah, conclude the hunt

>>3059152
>> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

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>>3059152
>> [Alex Jones] "I'm a Pioneer. I'm an Explorer. I'm a Human and I'm Coming."
1776 WILL OCCUR AGAIN IF WE DO NOT REARM OURSELVES. WE WILL ALL BEAR ARMS! THE GUN PROTECTS OUR FREEDOM, HOORAH!

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
We are, after all, bending Westeros to suit our whims. This will especially come into play once we start up industry. Full J. P..

>Tell me about the major lords of the North. I know *of* them yet I would like to know what their contemporaries think of them.

>>3059152
>> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

>>3059152
>>Nah, conclude the hunt

>>3059152
[Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

_In darkness, I shall be light
In times of doubt, I shall keep faith
In throes of rage, I shall hone my craft
In vengeance, I shall have no mercy
In the midst of battle, I shall have no fear
In the face of death, I shall have no remorse..._

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>>3059169
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.


Do not waste your tears. I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

>>3059178
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSR9W8g6ak8&feature=related

>>3059183
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJNz2QgSNsk&list=WL&index=30&t=54s

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
> [Laissez Faire] "I think the greatest gift a Lord can give to his subjects is the assurance that he will not bother them unduly."

>>3059152
>[Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
I've always been a bit of tesla fan

>>3059152
> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."
>Nah, conclude the hunt

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>>3059215
>>3059219
>>3059168

> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
> [Laissez Faire] "I think the greatest gift a Lord can give to his subjects is the assurance that he will not bother them unduly."

Going full 40k is a bit silly

>>3059244
they are allmost the same
they want human dominace of the elements

>>3059152
>> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

Drop the hint that there are intelligent things that aren’t Humans, let’s see how he react.

>>3059253
"This man is crazy in the head"

>>3059255
Yea probably.
Also, he probably doesn't know what a galaxy is.

Its honestly impressive this quest has gotten to 20, I thought it was going to die in the womb like many others.

>>3059152
> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

>>3059152
>> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."
>Ye (what?)
See if we can mark him down for some gunpowder orders.

Perhaps Sigmar cult would be more accepted in those part? Meh, wathever.

>>3059372
sigmar/adam chosen of the 7 hero of the long night

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."

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>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
> [Alex Jones] "I'm a Pioneer. I'm an Explorer. I'm a Human and I'm Coming."

>>3059152
> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
While I like a good 40k reference as much as the next imperial citizen, this one fits the best because people will remember that we are technically a maester and we won't sound like an autistic crazy person when we talk about SCIENCE. IIRC decided we should quit doing that (too much) because we need friends to survive and achieve our goals.

I wanna try to make The Generator from frostpunk...

>>3059540
Inefficient as shit though. Better off making many smaller engines so we can both save on resources and tailor the engines to the needs. Also, piping the steam for hundreds of meters either means we lose pressure at the end or have to deal with excess pressure at the start. Either way, bad times.

>>3059542
Yeah, but it’s cool as shit.

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lets build the neuschwanstein castle ( insp for the disney castle ) so that we can say that our castle is the most breath taking of westeros

>>3059574
Sure, why not, that seems like a fun idea :)
Let’s try our hand at designing this stuff ourselves.

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>>3059574
Oh, you think so small....
https://youtu.be/Hegoy0fuH2w

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."

>>3059152
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."

And
>Nah, conclude the hunt

>>3059152
Either of these, maybe both but I'd tone down the Imperial side of things a little.
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."
> [Imperial Cult] "The Twin headed Aquila in my Heraldry symbolizes the dream of Mankind's prosperous future and dominance of the Galaxy. I guess that's what I believe in."

>Ye (what?)
If we can put him down for an order of gunpowder and guns or compasses. Also can we continue hunting bears, it's fun, prestigious and useful.

>>3059253
>>3059255
>>3059258
Honestly it might not surprise him that much, I mean they are mentioned in the lore and it mostly depends how far you stretch the definition of human. I mean you could argue the Children of the forest, fish-people (all the different ones there are) and the giants are all non-humans. Plus there are dragons and shadow creatures as well as the people of Basedthoros who can't interbreed with "regular" humans that all show signs of understanding humans instinctively or being of equivalent intelligence.

>>3059574
Honestly not that aesthetically pleasing to me. I'd prefer a double layer star fort (offset from each-other by 36 degrees) with martello tower bastions at the points. Then we can have unfortified inner structures and focus on quality of life over defensive ability.

>>3059784
Shit forgot it auto-changes s-o-y to based. That's kinda funny.

>>3059784
Why not triple layer? on an Island.

>>3059152
> [Alex Jones] "I'm a Pioneer. I'm an Explorer. I'm a Human and I'm Coming."
> [Tesla] "What guides me is the desire to harness all natural forces in service of mankind."

I'M SETTING ELECTRICAL FIRES EVERY WHERE

Rolled 6, 5, 5, 5, 1, 3, 6, 4, 6, 6, 3, 2, 2, 5, 6, 6, 4, 5, 2, 1, 6, 2, 6, 4, 1 = 102 (25d6)

>[Imperial Cult]
>>3059156
>>3059159
>>3059168
>>3059169
>>3059171
>>3059221
>>3059253
>>3059282
>>3059320
>>3059784

>[Tesla]
>>3060539
>>3059784
>>3059760
>>3059708
>>3059537
>>3059405
>>3059467
>>3059244
>>3059219
>>3059215
>>3059168

10 vs 11 Tesla wins.
Pretty close race tho

Also seems like you want to conclude the hunt and get a feeler of whether or not he's interested in becoming a client.
Give me 6x 3d6 to see if you bag any more bears during the remainder of the hunt.

Rolled 3, 6, 6, 2, 5 = 22 (5d6)

Holy shit, Medger is a really good at this.

Rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10 (3d6)

>>3060582

Rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10 (3d6)

>>3060582

Rolled 1, 1, 6 = 8 (3d6)

>>3060582
Here goes nuthin!

Rolled 6, 1, 6 = 13 (3d6)

>>3060514
Very few natural islands large enough for even a double layer and an artifical one would be too expensive. As to the layers, if they've gotten past the first two then I doubt that a third is going to stop them given how strong of a defence that is.

>>3060582
Can we hunt bears year round or are there restrictions on when it can be done? Cause I could see this being a hobby.

>>3060599
I mean you can go and hunt bears in the Wolfswood any time the Starks say it's ok to do so and considering that there's more of them there than they'd like, I'm sure they'd welcome anyone who wishes to do so for now.

Rolled 1, 6, 6 = 13 (3d6)

>>3060582

>>3060595
>>3060599
>>3060617
What the hell are these Schizo Dice?!?!?!

>>3060604
Well that's good. It'll be a nice way to relax and a good source of bear-based gifts. Now all we need is a travel desk so we can work on our designs and we can spend weeks away from our lands shooting bears and designing tech.

>>3060619
Dunno. We are getting abnormally extreme results but that is probably just the small dice size.

>>3060621
You've got a council that more or less allows you to go full Robert at this point. All you just need to do now is pay your debts and you could completely retire.

Also I do need that one more roll

Rolled 6, 3, 1 = 10 (3d6)

more dice for the dice god

>>3060625
True but where's the fun in that? Lord knows we've got to take a guiding hand sometimes, especially as our economy grows and we develop our lands to new heights.

Plus, if we're seen being so hands off it could send the wrong message to other lords / the smallfolk. If nothing else I'd still want to see how the people are doing and shit.

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>[Tesla]
>Gunpowder
>Conclude the hunt

[1/3]

"Me? Well, I'm not that complicated of a man, though my beliefs are drastically different from the Old Ways of the North and especially of the Gods of the Children. In fact, you could even say that they're almost the exact opposite. You see, what guides me is the desire to harness all the natural forces in service of mankind. The Mastery of Human mind over the material world."
He lifts his eyebrow as he swallows down a piece of liver.
"I think you southrons might underestimate exactly how powerful nature is if you think man can tame it, even if your guns can down a bear so easily"
"Oh, you misunderstand me. This is not a belief of the South or a teaching of any Gods I know of. It is merely my own personal creed, my belief, my goal and my desire to see the oceans and the winds, the air and the soil, fire and ice as well as the sun, lightning and the storms all should be made bend to the will of man and I believe that man will eventually accomplish this, standing as King of all Creation."
He throws a few more bits of fat into the pot as the fire crackles.
"Pride comes before fall. Lord Tallon. The Valyrians flaunted their sorcerous power arrogantly and it destroyed them. Old or New, you'd best be careful not to invite the ire of the gods with such speech."
"I've never broken any laws of nature Lord Cerwyn nor do I seek to replicate the distasteful methods of Old Valyria. I merely believe that once man completely understands nature, he will be able to master it."
"And what makes you think that man could even understand nature to such an extent?"
"Well, I can't personally claim to understand everything about nature but... -hmm... Yes, I think I've said too much for now. Best not anger the gods and all that with blasphemous words. Forget I said anything Lord Medger."
He looks at you quietly for a while whilst chewing on his piece of bear.

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[2/3]
"Oh right! I probably should ask you whether you wanna be one of my clients."
"Clients?"
"You know, for the guns, powder and all that stuff."
"We'll see how the hunt goes first shall we? Tools of Pyromancers have bit of a reputation..."
"I can assure you that unless you do something crazy, such as using a triple powder load with 4 balls in the musket or something, there shouldn't be any problems. Although if you want a gun that can handle that, I suppose I could be convinced to take in a special custom order."
"Rather confident about these aren't you?"
"Of course. I built them with sturdiness in mind. Got even these blades you can attach to the end of them so you can use it as a makeshift spear. Of course it doubles as a club too if you don't have time for that."
"Impressive as they are, what I really like about them is the stock and the safe trigger system. Could you make such contraption thing work in a Crossbow?"
"Well, I suppose I could. Why? You think that'd sell?"
"From my perspective most Lords would rather be able to produce the ammunition themselves and I take it you're not willing to sell the recipe."
"Not anytime soon at least."
"Indeed, so whilst many a Lord might certainly be interested in keeping some around to put down rogue knights or large game, they'd likely remain weapons for the elite, whilst if you sold trigger mechanisms and stocks for crossbows, it should a simple matter to refit the spring to it's new body."
"I will certainly consider that. It's not a bad idea."

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[3/3]

6 days of hunting, 6 days of merciless bear slaughter
>Medger's rolls: 21, 22, 16, 15, 18, 21 (Bear a day keeps the doctor away)
>Your rolls: 10, 10, 8, 13, 13, 10 (You're barely keeping up with this absolute madlad as he depopulates the landscape)

"There's some more tracks here."
"Medger, ease up with the killing, we've taken like what? 17 bears by now, most of them children? There's not enough room in the wagon for any more we kill and we're running low on salt."
"We could put pull them behind our horses on stretchers."
"Yea we could, but enough's enough. We've plenty of meat for the whole castle as it is."
"I'll be honest, I was hoping to hit 20."
"Medger we do need to start heading to the main camp or we'll be left behind. We've moved quite far from where we initially started as you kept finding more and more bears to hunt."
"Fine, fine, let's go."
"So, I take it you enjoyed hunting with guns?"
"Oh yes. Normally it takes several days for us to find and kill a bear and normally it's considered rather risky to approach a den. Being able to do so freely is quite a change of pace."
"I take it that means I can expect you to make a purchase soon?"
"You most certainly can Lord Tallon. I shall definitely be in contact with you in the future."

Your group was the last to arrive to the main camp, but as you did, the frankly stupid amount of salted meat did most certainly turn some heads. 10 juveniles and 7 adults in a week of hunting. Impressive result by any man's standards.

As you approach on horseback, Lord Eddard Stark comes to greet you.
"Looks like Fortune was with you Lords Tallon and Cerwyn."
"I think it was more credit to Lord Medger's stupendous hunting skills than good fortune. Every day he seemed to track down new animals for us to shoot."
"As good a year as it was, if it were not for your weapons Lord Tallon, we'd have taken considerably longer with each prey."
"I think no further scrutiny is need on who won this year."
"Wait, this was a contest?"
"Not formally, though it's still considered tradition that a Master of Hunt be chosen from the group which brought the greatest haul."

>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
>Try to convince him that you're worthy of the honor
>Just shut up and let him decide himself
>Write-in

also

>Anything you wish to do in Winterfell before returning back home?

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
It's useless being able to kill the bears if we can't find them and lord knows he just kept finding them.

>Anything you wish to do in Winterfell before returning back home?
I imagine there is probably a skilled leather / fur workers around here. See what we can do with the bear skins we got. Speaking of which, how many and what did we get?

>>3060653
>>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

>>3060653
all this hunting for bears reminds me of an old quest.
Re-monster EX quest.Spiderbutt.Spider dice.
Eat all the bears.
Lyra Niallasdottir of Firescarn, Thunderbreaker and Bane of Scales, Bone Crusher, Destroyer of Magic, Slayer of Beasts, Master of the Forge, Shaper of Earth, Weilder of Lighting and Caller of fire. Rebuilder of the Lost, Restorer of the Ancient, Spearwielder, Dungeonbreaker and Friend of Oakring.
Queen of the forest, Unifier of the tribes, Alpha of wolves, friend of harpies, protector of moths, Cousin to the Forestwalker, Adventurer among humans, Host and Guide of half-elves, ruler of all monsters of the great forest and Giant Spider.

>>3060653
I think we're very much at risk of being seen as an arrogant outsider by the North - by Stark especially. Interactions like this where we have little to lose but a symbolic title are perhaps the time to appear honourable in front of the Northerners, to improve our reputation and maybe afford us some leeway to be ruthlessly pragmatic when it really counts. Besides, it looks like Cerwyn was actually the better hunter, we just had the better weapon.

>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

>>3060659
Exactly, getting on Cerwyn's good side as a customer is nice too. Plus being seen as a humble if ambitious man is always good.

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
He earned it, it's bad form to claim victory for oneself and he will probably tell all his buddies how awesome our guns are.
>Anything you wish to do in Winterfell before returning back home?
Have all the bears we got into nice cozy rugs and the first one into a cool warm coat.

Also another Civ 6 expansion has been announced. This one seemingly dealing with climate change / natural disasters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NChGloy1Cxw

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

>>3060653
>Just shut up and let him decide
Unless we’re asked of course, then concede to mighty Nimrod over there

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

>>3060653
>Just shut up and let him decide himself
let him be the judge,we just came here for loans and new clients
>Anything you wish to do in Winterfell before returning back home?
get skins turn into coats and mittens with teeth,claws and quartz as decorative buttons
also shop around in town for local goods
and 'trash' items(things no-one but us can see uses for)

>>3060653
>Just shut up and let him decide

Ned is the boss

>>3060653
>>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
"While it is true my weapons work to enhance any warrior, it is the man that wields it that needs to be skilled. Lord Cerwyn is that most skilled of hunters."

>also
Have someone deal with our pelts so they are presentable (have a wedding gift done, maybe a bear coat? boots?), also ask Luwyn about whether we/he could have a crier spread the word we are looking for upstanding men in our demense. Work aplenty etc. Basically start trading Wealth for Pop mechanics wise.

>>3060714
Oh, and ask Ned if we could have some more land near us pretty please and what it would cost us (add to gunpowder shipments ideally).

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
>I brought the guns, he brought the skill.
Give Cerwyn a gun as a gift and it pretty much solidifies him as Master of the Hunt.
It would take a lot more time for us to learn said necessary skills.

>>3060716
I doubt Ned can give us land. We're a vassal of the Manderly's who are in turn a vassal of the Starks. Technically we can be considered outside of his direct control. Also we just got 5000 GD off the lad, let him rest.

>>3060752
>Give Cerwyn a gun as a gift and it pretty much solidifies him as Master of the Hunt.
He's going to order one, don't. Given he'd probably want a really nice one we can get a good commission on it.

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

>>3060770
Negative. We are the direct vassal of Stark. And its not free land (pay for it with powder) however it is worthless to him.

>>3060651
>"Indeed, so whilst many a Lord might certainly be interested in keeping some around to put down rogue knights or large game, they'd likely remain weapons for the elite, whilst if you sold trigger mechanisms and stocks for crossbows, it should a simple matter to refit the spring to it's new body."
That's... actually a great idea.

See, back in medieval times crossbow makers don't actually make the parts, the work they do is all about final assembly and tuning. A carpenter makes the stock, a stringer makes the string (which is really just a type of rope), a smith makes the trigger and bow and a fletcher makes the bolts. (this is actually where a lot of modern surnames come from) The crossbow maker has no idea how to make any of those things, and none of the tradesmen know how to assemble crossbow. If we set up a production line (like a stamping press?) for musket triggers it would be a simple matter to change some parts around so they work for crossbows instead. We could then sell the triggers and stocks ready made and let people make their own bows, or recycle existing ones.

Our musket tech outranges crossbows easily so I don't think we have anything to worry about. And it's not like the north isn't full of crossbows already, giving them a better trigger pull would just make them more accurate. The potential market is there.

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
Dayum, that's a lot of bears.

Should we have bearskin hats for our grenadiers? The north has no shortage of them and they actually serve the practical purpose of keeping your head warm.

>>3060821
Yeah sorry, my mistake.

>>3060825
True but it does also create competition against our guns. Still I'd suppose that if we are truly pushed for money it would work.

>>3060864
>Should we have bearskin hats for our grenadiers?
To be honest it somewhat seems we should have bearskins for all our troops if we're going to be hunting them so reliably. Especially given how few troops we're going to be raising.

>>3060653
this
>>3060668

>>3060870
Send an apology note to Bear Island for the wholesale slaughter

>>3060972
Nah, clearly we send them a tiny ornament of a bear made from bear bones attached to a tiny steam engine / wind up motor.

It's legs move as it "runs" from a tiny tin Tallon (tm) that shoots a gun, killing it.

>>3060870
All the leather aren't yours and there's like 100 men in Reachman garrison.

If we're talking about the bearskin caps worn by napoleonic troops, those would use up a fair bit of furs if you actually used genuine bearskins for it.
Obviously not enough for a hundrend men.

>>3060998
I'd remind you OP I'm the guy who thinks we should just remain here and continue hunting bears rather than living at our castle. At least for a month or two.

Also, the Reachman garrison unit is 100 men? That's far bigger than I was expecting but I suppose it makes sense.

>>3060825
>>3060870
Also we could invent the goats foot for crossbows.
Makes loading them faster and its new tech.
Nice two part sale.

>>3061104
Yeah but it's all just competition for our guns especially since they make the crossbow better. I'd prefer to focus on getting guns into the armouries of lords and into the hands of hunters.

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
No ulterior motives behind my vote, I genuinely think the man earned it. Fucker was tracking bears like it was nothing and knocking them down like it was nothing. He's got my respect.

>>3061121
Oh aye, that doesn't mean you can't acknowledge the benefits of it though.

>>3061115
Sure but it still makes us money either way, and as long as we keep improving our crafting skills and equipment, guns will gain the edge back eventually. Besides, it's the powder sales that matter and with the clear interest in cannons as ship and siege weaponry, our powder industry will still be moving strong. If personal firearms are treated as a weapon of the elite and pushed to the side for a while than so be it, personally I'm content as long as the powder is still selling.

>>3061127
Fair enough. Though for powder to really sell we'll need to produce cannons or provide some sort of service blasting obstacles during land clearances or in mines.

Cannons will take time and resources we might not be able to spare. Blasting could be done far easier by teaching some people how to do it and using them as a workforce that other lords or merchants can rent.

>>3061132
I wonder if renting out cannons is a possibility. Probably not but worth a quick thought. Obviously we make the first few for ourself before we start selling them. Meanwhile we put that loan to work to kick mass production of black powder into high gear. Get the crown and our lord their promised powder as soon as we can to better imporove our standing. We show we're serious and capable on delivering what we claim, and it further improves relations with stark and stannis, which in turn makes future deals and loans made later on easier to get.

>>3061145
>I wonder if renting out cannons is a possibility.
It is a decent idea but it comes with the problem of needing to be able to move them very fast to whomever is currently renting them. Therefore, they'd need to be light or pulled by a good team of horses as well as well guarded against ambush.

>>3061132
I think fireworks could really take off in the free cities, especially braavos for the Uncloaking of Uthero.
The free cities do seem to enjoy the dramatic.
Plus we could work with that Qarth merchant we sailed with to sell them even farther abroad,

>>3061155
>I think fireworks could really take off in the free cities, especially braavos for the Uncloaking of Uthero.
Yeah, to be fair the free cities would also be interested in compasses (easier navigation for their trade fleets, new quicker routes) and firearms(no entrenched noble class of warriors, significant merc forces, frequent wars). Main problem is that we risk drawing the wrath of their enemies and getting a hit put out on us.

>Plus we could work with that Qarth merchant we sailed with to sell them even farther abroad,
Oh aye, we could almost certainly contact some people from our time as a merchant guard and see if any of them would like to get guns or fireworks to sell / use.

Speaking of making money, do you think we should get some Naath silkworms to start our own trade of it?

>>3061174
Our lands are probably a bit too far north to easily keep such creatures. Better to focus on wool and flax.

Especially if we want to produce uniforms or armour for our troops.

>>3061174
If we're talking about markets besides gunpowder and weaponry. Compasses would be a great idea to sell to through the Mandalays' port city. Definitely a useful item with a niche, but strong customer base. Spirits are also a small side business we'd have a much easier time setting up this time around. We could set one up relatively quickly in our lands and spread them around. Give a few out to our lord, the crown, and neighbors/fellow lords we've made relations with as gifts, then start selling it. We could even sell distilleries to interested lords later on since keeping a strict monopoly on that isn't nearly as important as black powder.

>>3061104
>>3061115
Yeah, exporting crossbow triggers would at least raise funds we can use to sink back into powder production. We have a lot of ideas for products but most of them would require additional infrastructure whereas a trigger is just a series of mechanical parts we could mass produce.

>>3061164
>>3061201
Compasses is definitely the best option to start a business with Wyman. He owns a port that sees traffic from pretty much the entire world. There shouldn't be any problems with assassins if we put the word out that anyone can buy them (but only from White Harbour). They also don't do much to change the power dynamic, at most they would stop a warship or troopship from getting lost, but they still have to fight a battle when they get there.

>>3061229
I agree with everything you've said. Honestly if we're going to get additional land as promised by Wyman in return for providing him with a unique trade good, although he might want more than just one if we aren't offering guns, we can potentially sustain a few industries in the extra space he'd provide us.

>>3061240
That's a pretty big if. He asked for us to be his vassal in exchange for those lands after all.

>>3061847
Yeah that's a bit much, though I'm totally fine with selling a product exclusively through White Harbour as long as it's not everything we make. Guns and powder are off the table but compasses, distillation and such are fair game. He has all of the trading connections you could possibly need. If we do enough business we could probably convince him to give us that land in return for opening more product lines to funnel through his port.

>>3060653
>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you
It's obviously Ned's choice in the end but we really have to give Cerwyn credit for being the bearminator.

>>3061847
Actually no, all he asked was that we left all sale of guns to him. There was no mention of vassalage in the entire thing when I checked.

>>3061900
>"What I am offering you is to become your patron Lord Arthur. If you swear fealty to me and become my vassal, I will not only defend you military, but I will provide you all the funds your house needs to set up the gun and powder production. I'll even throw in the bit of coastline that used to belong to the Fullaxe along with the fishing hamlet that's on it."

>>3061906
God dammit, my reading comprehension must really be fucked. I could've sworn it made no mention of funds or vassalage, only of land and control over gun sales.

Ok anons, lets set things straight a bit here.

1) Manderly wanted the exclusive sales right for guns. That means we would essentially become the production department to his sales. We would also move from Ned to him.
2) In return, he would pay for all setup expenses (with gun production, looking at around 80 Wealth or more) and give us 2 more tiles of land (plains + coast with hamlet)
3) This would have meant we would not have needed to invest in any trade infrastructure for ourselves, meaning if we had a Port up thats it. As it currently is we will be building both a Port and a Marketplace to allow goods to move freely in our realm and to attract merchants and travellers (and their tax money).
4) While the deal is certainly a good one, we decided we would go at it alone (meaning slower start but more resources down the line).
5) Going to Manderly half-cocked with compasses and moderately harder booze than what they offer across the sea/down south will make nowhere near the splash the new Port selling guns and powder will. Fact is, unless we offer something equally as amazing he wont bite.

What I dont get is why you anons want so desparately to appease him? He wont give us the same deal for compasses or booze and we can repay the loan in around 3 years (done the math, assuming we can produce at a decent speed - not at full capacity mind you). We can buy lands the old fashioned way as well.

Why do you want Manderly?

Taking a day off from updating today, covfefe.

>>3062098
*Sips Covfefe

>>3061957
>Why do you want Manderly?
I really wanted the land but that was before I thought we'd become a god damn vassal of the man. I no longer have any interest in the deal.

To be honest, we need more land. I don't want to give up something as important as he wants but we do need more land to build factories and mines given we will quickly fill our current holdings. Therefore we must either develop additional holding space, something unmentioned in what PDFs I have, or get new lands. Only ways I can think of doing this are marriage, conquest and trades. Marriage is something we're avoiding, conquest is highly unusable without massive risk and trade will generally always be one-sided against us. I mean the only alternative I can think of involves setting up our businesses in the lands of other lords which carries massive risks in war and in peace.


Also, on a related but somewhat separate point. I considered the fact that our family has their own lands that are fairly significant in size and came to a conclusion. We should send them the technical documentation for the creation of a distillery when we finish designing that so they can turn their agricultural output into cheap, good quality alcohol. That way we benefit our family (and can ask for more aid), prove yet another invention of ours and set up the distillation process in a region where grain should be cheaper. We might also wish to consider, once we've payed our loan to Ned back, discussing the establishment of another such distillery in the north as a joint-ownership project between us and Ned.

Also, regarding our family, we should see if they can send us more men or soldiers in return for gold, firearms or gunpowder. Fact is their holdings are in a region which has a surplus of manpower compared to our own and they might be able or willing to send yet more aid in return for something relatively minor. Plus, equipping our own family's forces with muskets would ensure three things: 1, a fairly sizeable market that we can trust not to be brought against us in combat; 2, a competent force of soldiers further south who should come to our aid in future wars if we forewarn them; 3, that in those future wars they'd be capable of competently defending themselves against any threat that might assail them. Especially if we give them even a single cannon, hell it'd make them a powerful (influential more accurately) force in the south if they were one of the few houses we sell a cannon to anytime soon.

>>3062326
The nifty thing is that, mechanically, we can exchange any resource for another 2:1 (IIRC, might be 3:1). meaning we can both "buy-in" Pop and Land. Fluff-wise it would be buying land and paying for new houses and whatever.

Sounds good, although I dont know why we should do it jointly with Ned if we can just sell distilleries and make booze for our own use. Not like we will have a great surplus of food for a booze industry anyway. And the "joint" part could be us selling them the distillery.

Keep in mind the family is ultimately a vassal of the Reach. Come war, do you think they will just stand by (and get fucked due to treason) or go to war? Better not give them powder so they ideally stay far away from us on the field (since we are backing Mannis and all).

>>3062361
>The nifty thing is that, mechanically, we can exchange any resource for another 2:1 (IIRC, might be 3:1). meaning we can both "buy-in" Pop and Land. Fluff-wise it would be buying land and paying for new houses and whatever.
I know, I'm just of the idea that if we can figure out ways to do it "in character" rather than just in-system that OP might be generous. No reason to believe that but it's just something I'm used to.

>Sounds good, although I dont know why we should do it jointly with Ned if we can just sell distilleries and make booze for our own use.
Because Ned is a good business partner with lots of capital and land.

>Not like we will have a great surplus of food for a booze industry anyway.
Yeah, that is why I think giving it to our family would probably work out better.

>And the "joint" part could be us selling them the distillery.
True but the main point of the joint part is we get some income from it without having to use our own land which we need for more important industries like steam engines, guns and cannons.

>Keep in mind the family is ultimately a vassal of the Reach. Come war, do you think they will just stand by (and get fucked due to treason) or go to war?
I'd hope that by giving them the guns and cannon that they'd be able to resist any siege for long enough that we can come relieve them with Stannis's help and that they are close enough to us that they'd not willingly march against their son. Which I think we could find out, given our brother believes in our visions / knowledge of the future. If we tell him the truth and explain what we want, we can find where our family, or at least he, stands.

>Better not give them powder so they ideally stay far away from us on the field (since we are backing Mannis and all).
I suppose. If we can't trust them then we must but if we can then I'd hope to gather their support: consider they willingly sent us a force of 100 men without question as a gift, imagine just how many men they must command to be readily able to spare them. If they all had guns and powder to defend a castle, it'd take a hell of a siege to break the place.

>>3061957
>>3062326
I think we're reading that conversation in different ways.

">Is it about Guns?"
>"In a way. I recognize them as something that White Harbor has been lacking for quite some time and I don't mean them as mere impliments of violence."
>"Every great City in the known world has its own signature products which mark it from the rest. White Harbor however, mainly ships raw materials."
It's not that he wants guns specifically, it's more that he want something unique White Harbour can sell. He asked for guns because that's the only thing he knows we can make. He wants us to be a vassal in return because he's offering land, funding AND military protection, this isn't just a simple startup loan. Obviously we don't want to become a vassal and or give up exclusive rights to gunpowder. But there's no reason why we can't make a regular old business deal with Manderly to sell a unique product exclusively through White Harbour. And we should throw him a bone like that because he is our most powerful neighbour and owns a major port city. We can't just remain an autistic hermit lord forever, we need friends and connections to get anything done.

>Going to Manderly half-cocked with compasses and moderately harder booze than what they offer across the sea/down south will make nowhere near the splash the new Port selling guns and powder will. Fact is, unless we offer something equally as amazing he wont bite.
You have no idea how amazing a compass is to people living in an age without electricity. Yeah gunpowder is fun and useful and deadly, but in terms of practical value to your average medieval person it's like comparing a hand grenade to a smartphone with GPS.

Every ship captain in the world will want one, you can navigate by the sun and stars but the moment night falls or some storm clouds roll in you are blind and potentially a dead man if you make a wrong move or can't find your way home. Miners underground would want one, maesters and astronomers would want one, hunters in the woods would want one. Hell even eastern merchant princes would want one gold plated just to show how wealthy and cool they are. The potential market for compasses is world wide and if we offered an exclusive like that to Manderly he would utterly insane to turn it down, and unlike with gunpowder we don't have to worry about who gets their hands on our products.

>>3062372
As much as I agree with you anon, there is a single counterpoint to that.

All shipping routes in Westeros rely on coastal routes to prevent them getting lost as easily. This is why the Stepstones are such a good place for pirates.

>>3062369
Talked to QM about the very same issue. He said its not a real problem. Besides, not like there arent enough small lords with lack of coin or people in WH who want a better future, especially if we offer to pay part of it etc.

See, what I mean is it would be better for us to sell the promise of booze rather than booze itself, since we can make a lot more money in the short run (decade, lets say). Looking at our timetable, quick profit right now is pretty great, especially with all the whack industry we are planning and the general lack of food to make booze out of.

As to the family, giving them non-combat tech for favours is a very neat idea.

>>3062372
As >>3062374 already said, the compass is not *that* fantastic, especially with the Narrow Sea being the main tradeway and there not actually being any big waterways besides that.

As to Manderly, you are overestimating his want. He wanted a BIG thing to make a name. Compasses and Booze are pocket change compared to the pixie dust that blows apart mountains a days ride south. As to just buying land from him in return for some piece of tech? Sure, assuming its a good deal.

>>3062374
And with compasses, they don't need to rely on coastal routes. Every captain's going to jump at the chance to buy the ability to bypass the pirate-infested Stepstones.

>>3062382
>Talked to QM about the very same issue. He said its not a real problem. Besides, not like there arent enough small lords with lack of coin or people in WH who want a better future, especially if we offer to pay part of it etc.
Aye fair enough.

>See, what I mean is it would be better for us to sell the promise of booze rather than booze itself, since we can make a lot more money in the short run (decade, lets say). Looking at our timetable, quick profit right now is pretty great, especially with all the whack industry we are planning and the general lack of food to make booze out of.
Oh yeah that's entirely fair. Honestly in that regard we should milk it for all it's worth and see if every lord in Westeros wouldn't like a nice source of fire-water. Hell we can even sell the design to the Citadel too for scientific purposes.

>As to the family, giving them non-combat tech for favours is a very neat idea.
Thanks, it made sense to me given they have land and wealth yet are just close enough (in terms of connections rather than distance) that we can trust them to not fuck us over. Plus, it's a noble thing to take care of your family so it'll reflect well on us. Not to mention building up their trust / respect for us will be useful in coming years if we need to convince them to switch sides or to reveal their lord's plans.

>>3062386
Once the object is proven, I'd suppose so but first you need to convince highly superstitious captains that the compass works safely and reliably. I'd also point out that even then some would probably rather stick to known, safe, routes than the open seas. Still, it might work. Worth seeing what Manderly would give us for the opportunity at least since it doesn't matter to us if it sells, so long as he pays.

>>3062386
The compass gives you direction, not location. I think you are overstating its effect here. In addition to the aforementioned sticking to tried and true ways I doubt we will profit from this too much. Likewise, doubt Manderly will be interested. Not saying we shouldnt sell it but it wont be some miracle that Manderly will throw cash at.

>>3062404
>The compass gives you direction, not location. I think you are overstating its effect here.
It's really easy to dismiss the compass from a modern perspective, but you have to remember that these people have literally nothing. In order to go anywhere you need to have your bearings. Imagine that you're swimming blindfolded. You might know where you start from, but you don't know what direction you're swimming in, you can't notice that you're slowly curving to the left and there's a current that's pushing you west. This is what sailing is like when you don't have a compass and why ship captains in this world always stick by the coast, the land is their point of reference because they don't have anything else to work with.

Having a compass is a quantum leap in navigation because it allows you to go *directly* from one point to another by providing a constant bearing. Any old captain can find Essos just by sailing towards the rising sun, or following the stepstones. But how many captains can sail in a direct line from White Harbour to Braavos in a fifth of the time? Wyman would understand the implications of this and if nothing else he could use them for his own trading fleet and make bank on quick trading runs to Essos.

ASOIAF is basically GRR Martin's fantasy funland, but you could also call it "medieval history without china" because they didn't have compasses, gunpowder, or a printing press until we came along. We might as well complete the set.

>>3062490
>ASOIAF is basically GRR Martin's fantasy funland, but you could also call it "medieval history without china" because they didn't have compasses, gunpowder, or a printing press until we came along. We might as well complete the set.
I've already said my piece on the rest of your post but I feel I must correct you and say that there is a China equivalent in Planetos.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Yi_Ti

They are really, really far away. Like the other side of Essos from us and beyond a large, almost impassable, mountain range if I'm reading this right.

>>3062497
Ah that's right. I read the world of ice and fire book a long time ago but I forgot about Yi Ti, it's basically tropical fantasy china. It's rather far away, on the "best guess" map someone put together on the wiki as to get there from westeros it's roughly 4800 miles in a straight line. That's like flying from New York to Greece, or from Egypt to Hong Kong. That is pretty much the edge of the earth for Westerosi and would definitely fall under the "here be dragons" portion of the map, except we know all the dragons are dead. About the only known thing further away is Asshai where Melisandre comes from.

Also it really bothers me how square the world map is when you see everything together. The only things that escape the right angle treatment are the bits that were obviously tacked on later like the Summer Islands.

>>3062520
>Ah that's right. I read the world of ice and fire book a long time ago but I forgot about Yi Ti, it's basically tropical fantasy china. It's rather far away, on the "best guess" map someone put together on the wiki as to get there from westeros it's roughly 4800 miles in a straight line. That's like flying from New York to Greece, or from Egypt to Hong Kong.
Yep. Far as fuck.

>That is pretty much the edge of the earth for Westerosi and would definitely fall under the "here be dragons" portion of the map, except we know all the dragons are dead.
For now.

>About the only known thing further away is Asshai where Melisandre comes from.
Also the city of Stygai, one of the two places that I think we couldn't handle with 2000 good men with bolt action rifles, maxim guns and a dozen howitzers.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Stygai

>Also it really bothers me how square the world map is when you see everything together. The only things that escape the right angle treatment are the bits that were obviously tacked on later like the Summer Islands.
Eh, it makes sense when you consider that S-o-ythoros is unexplored and everything farther east of the Yi Ti is a land of darkness, evil, magic, blood and dark evil blood magic. Then you remember that the poles actually exist in Westeros and repeated attempts to navigate them have failed (probably giving the Others a bunch of Wights in the process but still).

In such a world where the West ends in an unexplored / seemingly endless ocean, the south is a mix of open ocean and a unexplored continent, the north is frozen to shit and to the east is a mix of mountains, death and nothingness, it makes sense your map is kinda square.

If you were to educate Wyman Manderly on the means of making compasses, he wouldn't necessarily give you his lands for free, but it's still enough of a favor to get him to agree to sell those lands to you at a reasonably low price since while Compasses are grest and all, there's relatively few ships in Westeros designed for High Seas travel and he'd need to make the navigational charts for his routes as accurate maps do not really exist.

The reason why he was willing to throw so much money and lands at you was exactly because of the oath of fealty. You'd essentially be part of the Domain of White Harbor, a bannerman to the Manderlys if you accepted, so investing on you would in that case be more or less same as investing on White Harbor as you and your children would be bound to his family.

If you remain free however, any trade deals you make with him can pretty much be broken by you or your heirs at their leisure, especially if you marry to someone dangerous enough to be able to resist Manderlys.

>>3062772
Honestly that's a fairly good thing still. I mean given what your describing doesn't prevent us selling compasses (much) later, it would certainly be a thing worth considering given the additional land and thus taxes / people would greatly aid our efforts. Obviously we'll need to see what his offer works out to be but still, worth a shot.

Also OP, would making a Camera Obscura be of any use to us? How about an actual photographic camera?

I mean obviously it'd be cool but would it be a particularly good investment of time / money.

>>3062879
Photographs would probably be pretty big market amongst the nobles since they do pay a lot of money to leave portraits of themselves to future generations.

>>3062987
True but the problem is the method.

Early photographic technology essentially, from what I can find, all rely on silver salts. As these react with light and turn black / darker enabling the creation of a photo-reactive film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype

The above link is to the first commercially used and successful photography method. Assuming we want to do this, we need access to shit like mercury vapours, silver salts that are sufficiently reactive (that'll be fun to produce) plated onto a backing material (usually copper) and chemicals to remove the actual light sensitivity from it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calotype

Alternatively we use this above process which has the benefit of being far quicker for the photographed individual and being able to produce copies of the image (Sell photos of the king? Photos of beautiful castles? Anything can be produced repeatedly) but it comes at the cost of needing more exotic materials and being a slightly lower quality image but seeing as we lack competition, that shouldn't be an issue.

>>3063022
Probably not worth the payoff then. We're not that good of an alchemist.

>>3063059
Actually we're fairly decent. We've got a pair of links in it as well as a Maester's set of alchemist instruments. Add in our knowledge of the scientific method, metallurgy and all that good shit and this is a fairly reasonable project.

>>3063062
Not sure if a Maester's Medieval Alchemy education is enough to actually pull off something that's from age of enlightenment.

We are by no means a master in the subject by their standard.

>>3063075
I suppose but we do have the next few years off to just learn, design, test and train.

>>3063076
time that would be better spent on getting the gunpowder industry running, some weapons refined, the whole steam power thing, and perhaps getting some serious training for the next life in.
Imho, we do not have the time for it.

>>3063098
Precisely.
Also, we could go for a Gramophone, which should be far easier than photography as it's basically needle scratchings on hardened wax.

>>3063098
>>3063076
Focus on getting steam power going and utilizing it to machine as many things as possible (production lines for arms and armour, food, tools etc.). While I approve of training, our focus should be on getting good at making steam engines and everything related since we have been given the rare opportunity to be a Lord, rather than start as a pauper. Besides, its not like making steam engines or revolvers isnt a skill.

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>Tell him Lord Cerwyn deserves the title over you

[1/2]

"If it's all the same to you Lord Stark, I'd like to concede in favor of Lord Cerwyn. He's the one who found all the bears. All I did was supply him the equipment and one does not credit the smith for the deeds of the Hunter."
"I think that settles that then. Congratulations Lord Medger, you are this year's Master of Hunt. You've the seat of honor at my table and the deed shall be put in record by my chroniclers."
"Thank you Lord Stark. I'll strive to be worthy the honor."
He says, bowing down.

"Ser Helman Tallhart. Will you pass the pin to Lord Cerwyn Medger?"
A Clearly sour looking Huntsman takes a bronze pin shaped like bow and arrow and affixex it to Lord Medger's coat for all to see.
"Hope you enjoy your new title Master of Hunt. Shame you needed a Southron's sorceries to achieve it though."
"Says the man who bears that title of a Ser. Your Knighthood comes from the south as well lest you've forgotten."
"Enough. Sorcery or no, Lord Medger bested you this year. We ride for Winterfell."

At Winterfell, there was a feast of bear meat upon your return. In this feast however, you weren't a wallflower. Lord Cerwyn introduced you to many people during the feast and you got to explain several times that "No, it's not sorcery, it's just a clever trick. Explosive powder in a tube just flings things in said tube pretty hard. I'm not a magic man." the core concept itself was simple enough for them to understand, even though they had little experience with the phenomenon itself.

The Powder itself however still was treated with certain degree of wariness and mystery as the whole thing wouldn't work without it. The Fact that Lucan had told them that snorting the stuff between training has made them stronger, faster and as well as giving them a better eyesight hasn't actually helped. Going to have to talk to him about that later.
Of course you stated that you can't really recommend doing it as the effects are most likely due to receiving proper training and dieting for the first time in his life, not due to snorting the black powder.

When the month was done, you ended up setting sail home with several pelts and enough jerky to last you the journey back.

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[2/2]

Meanwhile back at Tallon's court.

Seneschal Manrel was going through the accounts for Lord Tallon's most recent investment
"A Refining operation to extract brimstone from fool's gold and the poor quality iron in here. Something tells me that our Lord isn't exactly planning on exporting matches."

Ser Bodrin perks up from the corner.
"It's not your place pry into your Lord's doings Maester, tread carefully."
"While I do commend your loyalty to our master Ser Bodrin, your hostility is misplaced. I understand Lord Tallon has ordered utmost caution when it comes to protecting the trade secrets of his domain, but I hope you'd eventually come to see things from my perspective."

Maester Tobias speaks out
"We both know the Conclave doesn't always play fair Maester Manrel. Ser Bodrin is merely being cautious until your loyalties are proven."

"Unwarranted and divisive caution. If I were to get caught spying on our Lord and giving away his secrets to the Conclave, what good would it serve me? Even if I wasn't caught in such a foolish endeavor, I'd still be stuck here in the North. I'm the same as you Maester Tobias, neither of us would be here if it was our first choice, but we must make do with what we have."

"I've my doubts on the matter Maester Manrel."

"Doubt my motives all you like stargazer, but it doesn't change the fact that the prosperity of Lord Tallon and his domains is a far less riskier and far more rewarding course than the alternative you fear for. If you must cast doubt on someone-"

There's a knock on the council

"Honored Maesters and Sers, a courier ship from White Harbor has arrived bearing a missive with the seal of the King's Master of Ships."

"Well Tobias, Lord Tallon left you in charge of overseeing the Council. Will you open it or will you await our liege to return?"

>[Break the seal] "We were left in charge and this could have effect on our Lord's domains. The Crown bears too much weight to ignore."
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."

>>3063098
I'd argue you are overestimating how long this stuff will take. Plus we need mercury fulminate for percussion caps so we'll be doing chemistry work anyhow, chances are we can slip it in there.

>>3063114
Could also use a wax recording tube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph_cylinder

They were developed earlier and it's easier to produce the cylinders than a genuine disk.

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."
You won't tempt me with the mystery box OP.

>>3063117
>Focus on getting steam power going and utilizing it to machine as many things as possible (production lines for arms and armour, food, tools etc.). While I approve of training, our focus should be on getting good at making steam engines and everything related since we have been given the rare opportunity to be a Lord, rather than start as a pauper. Besides, its not like making steam engines or revolvers isnt a skill.
I agree. Once we've got some industry set up, we'll have enough wealth and fame to call in the best trainers in their various fields which should help maximise the gains we make.

>>3063275
>[Break the seal] "We were left in charge and this could have effect on our Lord's domains. The Crown bears too much weight to ignore."

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."

>>3063275
>[Break the seal] "We were left in charge and this could have effect on our Lord's domains. The Crown bears too much weight to ignore."


We have an army of maesters for a reason

Only downside of dipping too hard to tech is that if you spawn as poorfag with no status it's useless because you can't acquire the tools or the money to replicate it.

>>3063292
It is a serious issue. Though I'd say that given our previous combat skill, we can always become a thief / criminal / merc to earn enough money to start our own works.

>>3063275
>[Break the seal] "We were left in charge and this could have effect on our Lord's domains. The Crown bears too much weight to ignore."
Inb4 Civil War

>>3063275
>>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."

Anons please. The reason we got Toby is to keep our shit out of the hands of anyone who isnt us. Now you are voting to open one of the few important letters we will recieve this year in front of the very same people we are trying to keep this info from? Come on.

And even IF its a time-sensitive issue, it is only a month, we have the fastest ship in the world and the letter probably took over a month to get to us. This is not the time or the place or the letter to open without us. Why bother keeping secrets at all then??

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."

I agree with this anon >>3063321
We're dealing with time-scales on a not! medieval level: It will be fully expected that we'll take months to reply to such a message. Best not risk opening it in front of potentially prying eyes.

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."

trust no one, not even your lackeys

>>3063280
>>3063288
>>3063321
>>3063331
>>3063332

Yeah seat on possible valuable information for a whole month doing fuck all.

The fact that Toby breaks seal doesn't mean he will share info.

>>3063384
And what the hell is he gonna do anyway? The ship is with us, any dealings are with us and the land itself is so shit nobody wants to stay. Face it, we gain nothing and risk a lot by opening it now. And, as i said, even if its time sensitive, the timetable is so big anyway it doesnt matter if we spend a month away.

>>3063386
>And what the hell is he gonna do anyway?
Idk. Something? And something is much better than nothing at least in my book.
What do we risk really? What information could it contain that it would be dangerous to share?
Also we gain maester that isn't a pussy and is ready to make decisions and take actions.
What? Each time we get a letter and we aren't home we expect him to wait for us to open it?

>>3063407
You mean the information where the Conclave would learn who we are doing business with and to what degree? The business where they learn just who holds what stake in our enterprise? Yeah, what could go wrong.

Toby is there to do exactly what he needs to. Make sure our demense is running and no Maesters fuck about too much. He is, in fact, not there to be our second in command. And although he is expected to solve petty issues inside the realm, a letter from KL is hardly a petty issue not worth our time.

Exactly.

>>3063386
Also more importantly this decision is made by Tobias. If OP wrote what kind of instruction you left Tobias regarding mail
My vote would be something like "Open mundane ones, important ones left for me to handle".

But this decision is left to Tobias, at looking at his character in my opinion this one better matching him even if it's questionable for us.

>>3063413
>What could go wrong.

What could go wrong?
But unironically.

Just some quick thoughts.

>>3063407
>Idk. Something? And something is much better than nothing at least in my book.
I think his point is that our Maesters can't really do much of anything until we return. As we're the only one technically invested with the power, and currently in possession of, the ship we plan on selling. Not to mention we plan on talking with Stannis about investment and shit and will therefore potentially want to mention that in our response. Far better to await our return so we can dictate our response more accurately.

>What do we risk really? What information could it contain that it would be dangerous to share?
Dunno. It's a mystery box. Don't like mystery boxes.

>Also we gain maester that isn't a pussy and is ready to make decisions and take actions.
Doesn't mean he should.

>What? Each time we get a letter and we aren't home we expect him to wait for us to open it?
I mean...yeah? It's private and shit. If it's a letter from Lord Stark asking if we can send him a kilo of powder or are attending a feast then he might be able to answer but we'd probably still want to do it ourselves.

>>3063413
>You mean the information where the Conclave would learn who we are doing business with and to what degree?
They'll quickly learn we sold our ship to the Master of ships. It ain't exactly going to be a secret for long when we start loading barrels of gunpowder onto trade ships for him and when the ship is seen in the Royal fleet.

>The business where they learn just who holds what stake in our enterprise? Yeah, what could go wrong.
Again, the above. They'll quickly figure that out.

>Toby is there to do exactly what he needs to. Make sure our demense is running and no Maesters fuck about too much. He is, in fact, not there to be our second in command. And although he is expected to solve petty issues inside the realm, a letter from KL is hardly a petty issue not worth our time.
This fairly accurately surmises my beliefs although I'd add the point that he is arguably not even allowed to represent us given just how important of a deal this is.

>>3063422
Problem is that you don't exactly know what is important and what is not without opening it.

I mean, people don't send that much mail.
If it's got a seal, it's likely reasonably important.
Then again, that's true for most written words in this era.

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."


I don t find any problems in waiting.
For return back home it will not take a lot.
Then for read it and maybe, maybe discuss it with the council we will need 1/2 days ?

So it was 2/3 weeks for arriving in Winterfell ?
Add those, the days for read it (maybe discussion with our small council) then the travel for a ship to return to the capital. ... and it should be reasonable.
No ?

>>3063513
That's only if you're actually leaving your dudes and the gold behind and moving back by your own, which thus far you don't really have any reason of doing because you're socializing and because it's an unnecessary risk.

Ultimately, Eddard Stark did ask them for a month and he's using them for a month. If he thinks the outriders are useful, he's obviously not going to send them away ahead of time, he's going to put them to work.
Not like the North is lacking in lands to patrol and you do get marauders and cattle thieves at isolated farmholds.
Even if it's just for a few weeks, having access to a unit of extra riders will make a lot of jobs for the bailiff.

You've been there for about 10 days now.
It will also take some time for him to actually prepare the money and a suitable escort for such a sizable fortune.

Basically the letter would be sitting around a month by the time you get around to reading it if I remember travel times correctly.

>>3063275
>>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return
Delivery times are long in this world, some weeks more or less won't kill anyone and I'd rather have us be in charge.

>>3063275
>>[Break the seal] "We were left in charge and this could have effect on our Lord's domains. The Crown bears too much weight to ignore."

>>3063275
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."
We're the lord here and we didn't give them permission to do so. Simple as that.

>>3063413
>You mean the information where the Conclave would learn who we are doing business with and to what degree? The business where they learn just who holds what stake in our enterprise? Yeah, what could go wrong.
Did you guys already forget the time we opened our mail in front of the council? That time we asked our maester when the powder mill would be ready so we can supply Stannis? They already know, these are the people we hired to run the mundane side of our business so we don't have to. If you're having second thoughts about running a maester council it is far, far too late.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Rolled 4, 1, 3, 2, 2 = 12 (5d6)

>>3065329
I'll be honest I have no idea what you want OP but this seems about right. No idea if the b2 should be applied to each d6 or collectively.

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>[Don't break the seal]

"The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return and then open it."
Maester Manrel smirks
"As you please, Maester Tobias. I shall be certain to mention your... diligence on my report. Regardless, back to the topic on the Brimstone, the work seems to be progressing relatively slowly."
>4 months of construction time
"Maesters Stuar, Preston and Derron are putting in the effort to try and get the peasants to live up to the task, but they're performing about as you'd expect from illiterate peasants. It'll in all likelihood take some months to get the Operation running on an acceptable capacity."
"We shall carry on until the task is completed."
"Quite so. Nevertheless, there's still matters of this month's finances."

>Another month, another time to choose.

>Roll for House Fortunes, for better or for worse (5d6b2)
>Get a +1 to Power, Defense, Lands, Wealth, Law, Population or Influence

Rolled 1, 5, 3, 6, 3 = 18 (5d6)

>>3065334

Rolled 1, 4, 3, 1, 6 = 15 (5d6)

>>3065334
As to the + 1, I've no idea what other anons want but wealth seems like the most logical investment for now. That or population so we can get to work reducing the population's penalty on our House fortune rolls.

>>3065334
>>Get a +1 to Law
Firstly, because we are close to getting the next tier in Law IIRC, which means less assholes on our lands.

Secondly, because with the bonuses to house fortune right now, we are playing russian roulette with 3 bullets. Keep in mind that although we can gain more than 1 point we can also lose more than 1 point.

5d6b2 means 7d6 with 2 lowest dice redacted.
Also, the rolls don't count until I actually call for them.

>>3065341
Our law is currently 12, the next tier is at 21. Our population however is 19 and the next tier is 20. Far better to invest this first point in population, surely?

>>3065344
Okay that makes sense in regards to the dice themselves but didn't you call for us to roll in your post?

>>3065334
+1 population

>>3065347
My mistake, Pop it is.
>>3065341

>>3065344
So if that's the case then >>3065338 for this roll we'd redact a 1 and a three, still leaving us with a 3, 5, and a 6?

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>>3065353
I present to you the table for results. As you can see, even at higher tiers its still pretty bad.

>>3065354
wow, yeah that's pretty shit.

>>3065356
As an aside, QM has confirmed that if we start sticking steam power to applicable holdings we can get more than 1 passive gain. Say we stick steam power and gunpowder to the mine (pumps/ventilation + explosive excavation) we could go +3 Wealth per turn from the mine. Add to that workshops etc. that provide their own bouses and we are looking at quite the income.

Just another reason to bumrush steam.

>>3065357
Those are some insane benefits. Especially given our mine is a basic one, mining a resource that isn't of particuarlly great value. If we got a more valuable mine, literally anything from iron to gems and gold to salt, then we'd get even larger benefits.

pop it into population

Looks like it's population then.
Seems that some of the plebs are coming back home after hearing that the new Lord apparently isn't a total douche.

No House Fortunes roll this month then.

>>3063293
>>3063292

That is why personal training and development is imho a superior investment.
Thus developing enough shit to get a filthy rich position that allows us to have the sheer money and position to have the spare time for the really expensive shit.
>[Do not break the seal] "The Lord's mail is something we shouldn't touch under any circumstances without special dispensation to do so. We shall wait for him to return."
And our resident maester is there as a good skeptical opinion on the very helpful help from the citadel.
Everything has a cost and a price.

Rolled 3, 1, 6, 6, 3, 2, 2 = 23 (7d6)

>>3065344

>>3065534
No stop he didn't call for it

>>3065429
>RANK UP
>LORD STATUS: NOT A TOTAL DOUCHE
We're movin' on up baby!

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[1/2]

It is the 1st month of 290 AC and you've finally made your way back home with your escort after procuring a passage from White Harbor with the War Galleys Lord Wyman generously loaned for a few days so you might get home.

After safely depositing the Stark Gold and Silver to the Treasury and sending off your escorts with fresh provisions, your presence was requested in the council chamber.

Your Seneschal Manrel speaks up
"First of all before I begin with the report of the events that took place in your absence, I'd like to welcome you back home my Lord."
"It's good to be back. I hope you've only good news for me."
"Firstly with the aid of your Barrister Preston and Magister Derron, Mayor Tarner has succesfully managed to convince many men who migrated during the fall of house Fullaxe to return home and seek employment within the many jobs spawned by your construction projects."
"That is good to hear, I suppose."
"Furthermore, the first of the mills seems to be in somewhat working order. Of course, we cannot fully utilize it whilst the construction work is going on with the next one as we must close off the stream's reservoir in order to allow the men to continue their labors."
"If I wanted to use the mill for a bit and hook up some existing mechanism to it, will that disrupt the work?"
"It is possible, the waterway is more or less complete, but I would recommend asking the foreman on the site whether or not it's prudent to do so."
"Very good then. How about the brimstone?"
"Maester Stuar has successfully managed to separate the brimstone from the fool's gold, but teaching the smallfolk has been a trying task. They've not been taught letters or numbers, which has caused some difficulty in the learning process and they are learning a whole new profession as well. Nevertheless, he estimates it should be done by the time your mills are operational my Lord."
"Very well then. Anything else to report?"
"There was a messenger in your absence, bearing the seal of office for the King's Master of Ships. Maester Tobias felt it prudent not to open it until you've returned, though if I may be so bold, I would advise my Lord to name a secretary to see to your mail, so that your council may function more efficiently in your absence."
You eye your Seneschal as Tobias hands you the missive with the seal still intact.
"And I take it you've a someone in mind?"
"Well, traditionally a Lord would place one's wife or other family members suitable to oversee such a task. I would recommend you to follow by their example if at all possible."
"Was that an implication that I should get married?"
"My Lord can take it as he likes. But as your Seneschal I must point out that marrying to the right family can bring great benefits to your new dynasty as well as bring some security to the smallfolk that succession is secure."
"Right. We can talk about that later, for now however, let's see this letter."
You crack the seal and roll open the parchment.

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[2/2]

"Oh fuck."
"Dire news my Lord?"
"You could say that. When did you say this letter came?"
"27 days ago my Lord"
"Fuuuuuck."
"What does it say?"
You throw the letter on the table for everyone to read.
"Stannis has set sail for the Bite and he's telling me to prepare his ship to best of my ability."
"It takes around a month to get to White Harbor from King's Landing. We should have time."
"That is if he didn't send the Raven while he was on the road. In short, he could be here any day now and we've not made any preparations."

Maester Manrel speaks up after finishing the letter.
"We've not much time to prepare a feast my Lord. This may cause some embarrassment to your house."
"What sort of repercussions would this have?"
"Well, you may be seen as a poor host. Whether Prince Stannis cares or not is one thing, but word will spread."
"I'm sure he won't, but the northerners will. The Whole concept of being a good guest and good host is one of the traditions they hold most sacred."
"Then, you will most certainly lose face my Lord, unless..."
"Unless, what?"
"Unless you don't host Prince Stannis in here at all. You could ask Lord Manderly for a favor and have him host Prince Stannis instead when he arrives. In all likelihood, his fleet would need to make a stop at White Harbor regardless. You could present a gift to him there to help keep appearances."

Maester Tobias speaks out
"My Lord, if we rush things and throw some gold around, we could maybe make it in time to produce a feast for him and his men."
Seneschal Manrel replies
"Maybe. That is if he doesn't arrive in tomorrow or the day after. The Long Night could possibly make it to White Harbor and back, getting us the necessary goods to prepare a feast in a short notice, but at the same time, Lord Manderly will likely be preparing a feast of his own. It will undoubtedly be costly."

>How do you seek to handle this situation?

>[Risk losing face]: We'll the Long Night immediately. 250 Gold Dragons should make sure things run smoothly.
>[Prepare a gift]: Send a Raven to Lord Manderly. I need a favor from him.
>[Write-in]: Something else?

>>3068022
>>[Write-in]: Something else?
What if we engineer the sequence of events so that we don't have to play the host in the first place? All that Stannis asked us to do in the letter is to prepare the ship, and he told us his destination as well. We skip the pleasantries and greet him on our - well, Stannis' - ship on the sea, the ship completely ready to join his fleet then and there.

Stannis doesn't exactly enjoy feasts and time-wasters like that, and we might even get a plus in his book for being "efficient".

>>3068022
Ask our council if this is feasible >3068035 otherwise ask Manderly for that favor

>>3068022
*rolls eyes* it is medieval times, those kind of things happen, communication isn’t good afterall.
And if the northerner aren’t happy I’d like to kindly remind them that we were with our liege lord, so they can go fuck themselves if they have something to say.

>[Risk losing face]: We'll the Long Night immediately. 250 Gold Dragons should make sure things run smoothly.

>>3068041
Basically this

>>3068022
>>[Risk losing face]: We'll the Long Night immediately. 250 Gold Dragons should make sure things run smoothly.

>>3068041
Well, it IS the Crown Prince that's coming around and he sorta did let you know he's coming beforehand.
The fact that nobody thought that of actually reading the letter sent by the Crown Prince in your court sort of leaves a pretty bad image of you, not just amongst the northerners, but amongst southrons too.

>>3068049
Not really? I mean it is scretching things pretty far. Especially since the letter is from the crown prince and master of ships, for all everyone know that letter could be for our eyes only.

>>3068050
Yep, also sending a visit letter so shortly before arriving himself is shit planning. Especially in not! medieval times.

This is quite a conundrum, if we can only get a lackluster feast ready why don't we try something like giving Stannis a tour of the powder mill?
Alternatively maybe give him some guns as a "sorry I'm a secretive fuck who doesn't trust a single person"
Did we ever actually put that tower cracking cannon on the Long Night?
Maybe we can pitch him on that.
The respect of others is nice but it's certainly not necessary, look at Baelish.
Alternatively why don't we organize a hunt with the guns as a prelude to feast and have whatever is killed served at the feast.
Just some ideas.

>>3068050
Receiving royalty is generally speaking considered a HUGE deal in terms of prestige. They don't visit just anyone and many Lords don't even know what they look like.

Needless to say, it would be a bit of a scandal even if Stannis himself didn't care as it would result into bad rumors about your court and your personality which in turn can negatively affect how other lords view you.

>>3068052
Month should be considered time enough, provided you actually read your mail. Not like Starks had much more time when they received Robert's message that he was coming.

>>3068022
>[Risk losing face]: We'll the Long Night immediately. 250 Gold Dragons should make sure things run smoothly.
>>3068052
We had whole month for planning.
How he supposed to know that we gonna be full on autistic and keep the letter closed for whole month?

>[Prepare a gift]: Send a Raven to Lord Manderly. I need a favor from him.
Favor is a must it seems.

>>3068022
>[Risk losing face]: We'll the Long Night immediately. 250 Gold Dragons should make sure things run smoothly.

>>3068065
That doesn't change the fact we didn't have anyone read it because we didn't want the potentially needed level of secrecy breached. Hindsight is 20/20 but this makes sense to me as a explanation.

Why is the Crown prince coming to a shitty little castle like ours? His reason is entirely legit, it's still strange that we'd be expected to put on a feast when our preparations will always be limited by the fact our staff is entirely new (have we even hired a proper kitchen staff?), our castle is somewhat wrecked and so on.

Fact is he's only asked us to make his ship ready, that is all. Let's get it ready and meet him in White harbour and thereby avoid the entire issue. He's not expressly asked us to host them nor to survey our lands, if we get his ship to him before he arrives then he'd have no reason to come.

>>3068060
Disregarding all that though I vote we [Prepare a gift] so we don't look like a buffoon in front of Stannis.

>>3068022
>[Write-in]: Something else?
Why don't we do all both? Stannis seems like a practical kind of guy and he only wants his ship prepared, it's the people around him who will look sideways if we don't keep up appearances. Especially other Northerners given the whole guest right hospitality thing. So first off we need to throw a feast of some kind, you don't receive royalty without one, it's just not done. However our fief is kind of dingy and depressing and even if we throw money around it's gonna be tight on such short notice. Plus we don't even have a proper dock to host a fleet.

If we get a favor from Wyman we could host the Prince in White Harbour instead and bring the Long Night to him along with a gift of some kind. If he then wants to visit our kingdom and tour the powder mill we can do that as well and have a more low-key visit away from the crowds. Stannis might even be a little grateful that we saved him from sitting through two feasts in a row.

For the gift we bring with us I'd suggest fireworks, something we can make on short notice. As a bonus they also have potential military applications. For Wyman's favour I dunno, compass tech is an option, we can think of something later. We can also chip in some money to fund the feast.

>>3068162
Everyone is expected to prepare a feast for the royalty if they come visiting, that's basic etiquette among the highborn.
If Eddard Stark came visiting, you'd also be expected to prepare a feast.
Now, you could try to intercept him and try to get him to NOT come to your Castle.

This is sort of where Wyman Manderly comes in.
If you can make the claim that "Oh, my castle is so shitty, it's not fit for receiving royalty, so we sorta arranged the reception at White Harbor with Manderlys." you can be excused even if he does in the end decide to show up at your castle and survey your lands.
Of course, you'd owe Manderly a favor for him covering your ass like that.

You could also try this without Manderly, but you will be in breach of etiquette if he does in the end feel like coming to your lands. Still, you could try to delay Stannis whilst he's in White Harbor and give your lads time to make preparations to buy stuff from the market for a modest feast.

>>3068369
>Everyone is expected to prepare a feast for the royalty if they come visiting, that's basic etiquette among the highborn.
>If Eddard Stark came visiting, you'd also be expected to prepare a feast.
This just sounds unnecessarily costly. God damn etiquette and it's hedonistic excesses.

>Of course, you'd owe Manderly a favor for him covering your ass like that.
Aye. Fair enough, it'd be a dick move to make him do it without something in return.

>Still, you could try to delay Stannis whilst he's in White Harbor and give your lads time to make preparations to buy stuff from the market for a modest feast.
...How likely could we get away with that?

>>3068395
>This just sounds unnecessarily costly. God damn etiquette and it's hedonistic excesses.
Yep, it's like in the beginning of the GoT story where The King travels all the way to Winterfell and his subjects have to foot the bill.

On a side note, now that we have figured out black powder rockets do you think we should branch off into rocket artillery and possible rocket torpedoes? Like that ancient torpedo thing they had on the mythbusters.

>>3068408
>Yep, it's like in the beginning of the GoT story where The King travels all the way to Winterfell and his subjects have to foot the bill.
Yeah, god damn nobles. Clearly we should get around this by never hosting parties, eating soldier / sailor fare and living a fairly spartan lifestyle of focused militant and scholarly living.

>On a side note, now that we have figured out black powder rockets do you think we should branch off into rocket artillery and possible rocket torpedoes? Like that ancient torpedo thing they had on the mythbusters.
Something along the lines of British Congreve or Mysorean rockets should be possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_rocket

To be honest though, I question if we'd see much interest compared to cannons but they do have benefits.

>>3068162
>this makes sense to me
See that's the point though, it makes sense to YOU, but in high social status where nobles are all about image they could care less about the reasoning. It has nothing to do with logic, this is how medieval society is. As far as they're concerned, we had royalty send us a notice in advance for their arrival, and did not properly prepare to recieve them, no if, ands, or buts.

>>3068452
See but that is the thing, all tradition and etiquette has a basis in reason: the reasoning for a massive feast is that it is suppose to impress your lord and show him or her you consider them visiting important / worth celebrating.

It's strange as hell to me though that the two levels of reception are: none and FEAST. I mean, surely we can just prepare a evening of entertainment for the two of us with a decent selection of foods to discuss business and life over. He makes no mention of bringing a large entourage and we lack any courtiers: so the mere concept of a feast is strange, it'd be like a all-you-can-eat buffet for half-a-dozen people.

Why don't we see if we can develop a Greek Fire or Napalm type substance when we get some spare time?
If only to show how worthless Wildfire is.
Obviously the uses are limited with gunpowder in our arsenal but it's a possible side project at least.

>>3068471
>See but that is the thing, all tradition and etiquette has a basis in reason
At first sure, and the hospitality aspect has pretty obvious reasoning, but that ignores the hundreds of years of tradition that generally push the tradition to be just as important, if not more than, the reason it's done, because that's the way it's been done for generations. Like I said, it's a matter of saving face, people will talk even if we have good reasoning behind it.

>>3068471
Also fair point.

>[Prepare a gift]: Send a Raven to Lord Manderly. I need a favor from him.

>>3068022
>[Prepare a gift]: Send a Raven to Lord Manderly. I need a favor from him.

>>3068487
We've already discussed flamethrowers and generally came to the conclusion that they'd be a good idea to develop and that the king would,probably have some interest but Stark might dislike us for developing yet another weapon of war, especially one so universally destructive, deadly and uncontrolled / risky in terms of unintended damage.

>>3068490
Yeah but this could also be a good point to show we don't care about tradition for the sake of tradition but rather act how we act because we think we should or because it is beneficial.

Fact is we're going to be breaking most societal standards going forward: we're going to be disregarding guilds every time we automate and improve an industry; we're going to be selling weapons that reduce knights into dead men reliably and easily; we're going to be raising lower class men and woman that show promise to positions of power.

>>3068022
>>[Prepare a gift]: Send a Raven to Lord Manderly. I need a favor from him.

>>3068573
We should build the Night's Watch flamethrowers as well as obsidian bullets or something.
I really want to avoid involving ourselves with magic shit in person.

>>3068680
>We should build the Night's Watch flamethrowers as well as obsidian bullets or something.
Oh yeah. We're going to be building a god damn armoury for the arrival of the Others. Obsidian shard hand-grenades, incendiary artillery shells, dragon's breath cannon shot, suicide vests (we must accept some losses will occur and denying them to the enemy is prudent.), land mines and so on.

>I really want to avoid involving ourselves with magic shit in person.
I know what you mean, it risks too much. Let's at least take comfort that if we're careful we'll never meet a magi or demon. Though to be fair, if we can "enhance" our soul with magic we should consider it.

>>3068721
We could also see if we could just generally improve their living standards and their marketing for them so more people join.
Oh also a shipment of compasses might be a nice thing to send the rangers.

>>3068573
The problem with being an autistic weirdo that gets results and gives no fucks is that only Stannis and maybe Robert would appreciate us in that way. We are still sworn to the Starks and we have to uphold their laws and traditions even if we came from the Reach originally. So it's fine if we act like this to people like Stannis in private, but we still have to maintain our image to everyone else. Otherwise we will eventually become that autistic hermit lord with vast amounts of economic and military power that no one fully trusts or understands.

>>3068721
Blunderbusses with obsidian shards would be very effective. No need to fashion them into blades or arrowheads first, you could just mine it in chunks and break it up as needed.

Just as an aside, muskets have enough Pen to not care about the Others and their magic steel freezing BS. Wights could become more of a problem but they just get Flammenwerfer'd. Also, those events are at least 10+ years away so no worry rn.

>>3068841
I'm just concerned that we're going to fuck up so massively somewhere we speed everything along by accident somehow.
I'd say it would be better to equip the Night's Watch with decent weaponry as soon as it's battle tested by more people, to help train them and to cut down on them dying to FUCKING wildlings.
Also equipping the rangers with compasses could really help their success rates as if they get totally lost they can just go south.
If we make the Wall a decent place they might not be so understaffed come the time shit hits the fan.