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 Star Dynasties is a strategy game published in 2021 by Iceberg Interactive, charting the struggles for power amongst the scattered colonies of humanity following 'the Collapse', a disastrous breakdown of civilisation following the accidental destruction of Earth. Although clearly taking many influences from the Crusader Kings series, Star Dynasties has a number of unique ideas, particularly in how emotions, honor, reputation, and justice are handled in the game. In my opinion, this game- developed by a very small design studio called Pawley Games, headed by Glen Pawley- is a very solid and very enjoyable platform for political intigue and empire-building amongst the stars. I am using the Bloodlines DLC, as well as the 'official' Reading Ruler mod by Glen Pawley, and the two mods I have authored, The Weight of Duty and Plastic Riches, both of which I developed while consulting directly with Glen Pawley to ensure compliance with setting lore. At the height of the post-Collapse dark age, the Goodman Kingdom is overthrown and the Weiss Guild founded, and House Weiss is left to attempt to arrest the slide of their region into collapse... Spoiler Policy There are many strange and wondrous events in the galaxy, and much dark history. General discussion of gameplay mechanics, 'public knowledge' setting information, and speculation is very welcome. Spoilers on events we have not seen is not. Participation Policy I am actively soliciting readers to take the roles of major members (particularly council members) within House Weiss, who can offer their counsel, request information and reports suitable to their station, and propose courses of action and projects they wish to pursue if they are council members. Readers who have not claimed a major House member can still request roles as members of minor noble Houses on Vega or as members of House staff or other representatives of the commoner population of Vega. Tip Jar I have a tip jar, if you wish to support me in my writing, at Patreon. Official Recognition From Pawley Games https://twitter.com/StarDynasties/status/1534811373489860613 Updates Early 2500- Down With the King! Early 2502- Rocky Beginnings Early 2504- A Good Man Early 2506- Glimmers of a New Prosperity Early 2508- A Bitter Rivalry Early 2510- The Fall of the Wang Collective Early 2512- The Birth of the Weiss League Early 2514- Two Houses As One Early 2516- The Eden Ship Early 2518- Lamb's Labors Lost Early 2520- The End of Bella Garcia Early 2522- The Rise and Fall of the Floyd Collective Early 2524- The Final Fate of the Patton Quadrant Early 2526- Fit to Print Early 2528- The Fall of Homam Early 2530- An Error of Judgement Early 2532- The Foresight of Doctor K Early 2534- Side Effects May Include Sweating, Chills, Muscle Aches, and Homicidal Insanity Supplemental Updates and Lore Early 2500- Selected Reactions to the Revolt in Vega Early 2500- What Goes Into Designing a New House Early 2502- The Modern Way of War Early 2504- Diet and Intoxication in the Colonies Early 2506- The Wars of the Stars: A Defiant Hope- Part 1 November 2509- Fire Support November 2509- Fire Support 2 (courtesy of Groetgaffel) Early 2510- Bloodlines Upgrade Paths Early 2514- Social Classes of the Colonies Early 2520- Leagues of the Known Colonies Early 2520- Artificial Intelligence Early 2522- Witchcraft and the Work of the Devil Early 2524- The Collapse Early 2524- Entertainment and Recreation Amongst the Commons December 2525- The Festival Early 2528- The Death of Homam Early 2528- The Opportunity Early 2532- The Tale of King-Heir Stella Early 2532- House Weiss Genealogy Early 2532- "That's Where Liberty Comes From" (courtesy of General Revil) Early 2532- Orion Industries and NovaCorp Early 2534- Noble Education Topics Early 2534- Coriolis Sickness nweismuller fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Down With the King! For over three hundred years, chaos has gripped the colonies, and much that humanity once enjoyed was lost. The details of how Earth was destroyed remain unclear to this day, but the outcome cannot be denied- humanity was brought to the very brink of extinction, with colonies struggling against the encroaching failure of systems as the trade networks that were once the lifeblood of the colonies were lost. A brief and glorious empire forged by House Khalil maintained order during its short flowering, but as the great warships once used to project power failed and as the strains of maintaining long-range communications became more and more apparent, this empire fell, and House Khalil was lost to history. Now, in 2500, with the colonies devastated by constant violence and with the understanding of much of the technology once used by humanity lost, humanity is, perhaps, at its lowest ebb since the days of the Collapse itself.   As with all the other dozens of colonies of humanity, the colony at Vega consists of sealed habitats and installations in a system devoid of any life outside the sealed colonial environments, although Vega is unusual in that the bulk of its estimated 150,000 population dwell in installations in the extensive asteroid belt of Vega. The Vega colony, once a major regional headquarters for Orion Industries, is relatively prosperous by modern standards, although, as elsewhere, much of the infrastructure of the colony no longer functions. As with other colonies, Vega is largely self-sufficient, with small workshops for needed industries, its own hydroponics, a simple space port that handles traffic for military vessels and civilian shipping and painfully slowly manages repairs and construction of new ships, and mining for common ores and for 'viridium', the term now applied to several rare and precious metals (particularly vanadium and iridium) needed for high-performance alloys for use in ship engines, high-strength structural elements, and armor alloys, now the basis of the monetary system used by the nobility and the traders, House staff, and skilled artisans that make up the upper ranks of the commoner class. The semi-free serf class that forms the bulk of the population may well never see viridium money, dealing instead in local House scrip exchanged for water, for food, for rent, and for other necessities from the holdings controlled by the nobility, and exchanged for simple services and barters amongst the serfs themselves. Poverty, debt, and lack of access to money that can be spent in any other colony holds the serfs in place. In addition to the common necessities needed to keep a colony functional at all, Vega retains access to a major hydroponic farming facility which provides for a fairly comfortable margin of food surplus, a network of offices linked to a large bank of computing equipment which has proved an effective headquarters for House administrative and logistical staff, and a major station in close orbit of Vega itself with extensive solar collectors powering a hydrocarbons refinery used to create fuel for chemical power generators elsewhere in the colony, allowing for an unusually stable supply of energy in the Vega colony. Each colony in the game has a number of installations present, which may either be functional or non-functional. The technology to create new installations and new colonies no longer exists, but non-functional installations in a colony may be repaired with sufficient resources, and colonies abandoned during the game due to systems failure may be restored and repopulated. Each installation provides benefits to the colony's baron and may possibly provide effects in a radius. Amongst the most important benefit of installations is Wealth, which provides an income for the colony's baron and determines the base size of military forces which can be supported at that colony.  Another thing that has distinguished Vega is its unusual profusion of local Houses. As the old political structures from before the Collapse were swept away, those who could muster strength to hold control of facilities and resources formed the seed of the new nobility, with small holdings by minor Houses dominated by a single baron over each colony. Up until mere weeks ago, Vega supported no fewer than eight Houses, the ruling House Goodman which had forged the realm of the Goodman Kingdom out of surrounding colonies and seven minor Houses which controlled their own patchwork of holdings within the colony. This changed with the disastrous reign of Emmanuel Goodman, the last head of the Goodman Kingdom. Sadistic, inconstant, irrational, given to hunting serfs in the colony slums and to nerve whipping nobles on a seeming whim, Emmanuel served as the catalyst to join all the minor Houses of Vega in consensus- his rule could no longer stand. Alice Weiss, head of House Weiss, spearheaded the revolution with her husband, Harold, serving as its primary military leader. When the blood was wiped from the floors and walls and the bullet holes began to be painted over, much of House Goodman was dead and the remainder had fled as far from Vega as their resources could take them, but Alice Weiss had taken critical wounds, dying shortly thereafter. Her last act was to proclaim the realm to now be the 'Weiss Guild' and to urge the barons of the other colonies of the Goodman Kingdom to follow her daughter Jane. For now, the Weiss Guild has held together under its new ruler, although many openly doubt the legitimacy of the rule of these upstart usurpers. House Weiss is considered an upstart ruler of its faction and an upstart ruler of its colony as of game start, having no claim to the rule of either. As an upstart factional leader, betrayal by our vassal barons is considered less dishonorable, as is action taken against us by rulers of other factions. As an upstart baron of our own colony, we get a significant increase to how quickly unrest builds up in our home colony, with unrest accumulating to 100 leading to an internal revolt in the colony which must be put down if our rule is to survive. Claims may be 'credible' (weak) or 'rightful' (strong), with only a rightful claim to rule of our home colony entirely eliminating unrest increases for a poor claim. If we manage to survive long enough, we'll gain a credible claim to being the baron of Vega in 20 years and a credible claim to the throne of the Weiss Guild in 25 years, with each turn in-game being half a year. Although we have no claim to rule of the Weiss Guild, the Weiss Guild itself has a rightful claim to be the master of all its systems but one. If the Weiss Guild has no claim to rule over a given baron, that further increases local unrest building up and further reduces the hit to reputation for betrayal by that baron or action by other factions to pull that colony from us.   The Weiss Guild rules over the colonies of Kapteyn's Star, Kajam, Beta Eridani, and Miaplacidus as well as Vega itself. All of these save Kajam were members of the Goodman Kingdom since its founding, while the petty independent colony of Kajam was forced to submit by Emmanuel Goodman shortly before he was overthrown and lacks any real history of rule from Vega. As far as history records, no colony was ever founded at the star Lalande 21185, which serves as a lonely and uninhabited waypoint between Vega, Beta Eridani, and Miaplacidus. Kajam, Beta Eridani, and Miaplacidus enjoy relatively rich deposits of radioactives which provide cheaper fuel for fission reactors in their colony, providing relatively abundant energy. Kapteyn's Star and Kajam support more extensive chemical industries than other colonies, while Beta Eridani supports extensive hydroponic farms which help provide greater food yields like those at Vega. Starlanes which permit faster-than-light travel between stars with the proper drive systems connect the Weiss Guild directly to the McCoy Dominion, a small realm of three colonies, the Garrett Confederation, a relatively strong collection of six colonies, and the nine systems of the Patton League, Yardly Patton of the Patton Quadrant serving as archon to the league and master of the realm of the Wang Collective. Diplomatic relations with the Weiss Guild's immediate neighbors are, as of the moment, relatively stable, but the situation could change rapidly. It is perhaps fortunate that uncolonised systems provide something of a natural buffer on all three of the Weiss Guild's borders. House Weiss has some awareness of some colonies and realms beyond its immediate neighbors, but it is certain that there are realms House Weiss has never even heard of. Systems are connected by starlanes, with power projection from a colony falling off for every lane jump beyond its own colony. The military forces of the modern era are made of small craft initially intended for local defense and patrol forces, and the logistics of sending forces beyond their star are demanding and complicated. There are many uncolonised stars on the map that cannot be colonised and serve only as empty buffers that increase the distance between colonies. Colonies may have special traits marked on the map- Vega, built in an asteroid belt, increases military losses for all sides involved in combat there, while Beta Eridani, Kajam, and Miaplacidus are 'mineral rich', a description that Glenn agrees has become less appropriate since the introduction of the installation system in the game which models particular rich mining resources as actual installations in a colony. We discussed the possibility of 'radioactives rich' as a possible renaming and reflavoring of the system trait, which he appears to be considering for a future update. Factions are collections of colonies ruled by a 'duke'- although perhaps the ruler titles might be more various than that- while a league may be formed by one faction becoming the master of one or more other factions, with that faction's ruler becoming an 'archon'. Vassal factions within a league are displayed striped in their own color and the color of their master faction, and are contained within the border of their master. With how starlanes are arranged, we can currently potentially interact with/send forces to Nusakan in the Garrett Confederation, Beta Librae and Albali (the capital colony) in the McCoy Dominion, and Ross 128 and Haldus (the capital colony) in the Wang Collective. Although there is no colony between our holdings and Alsiaukat, it's too many jumps away to project power to at *all*, and the uninhabited buffer stars on all our borders will make military action more complicated for attackers in either direction. On the bottom bar, we can see our current treasury, our vassal limit, and the remaining action points we have- most activities we can start doing require some of the ruler's time and attention. We currently have 38 viridium in our treasury, although not all of this is necessarily viridium money at any given point in time- many taxes are paid in kind, and treasury also represents stocks of spare food, supplies, basic ores, et cetera. We currently have four vassals, and can manage up to six given our current income, Administration score, Technology score, and presence or absence of special bonuses. We have 2 remaining action points after setting up our starting council, enough to take one more action on this first turn. Starting action points per turn will vary from 8 to 16, centering on 12, depending on how happy our ruler was last turn. Happiness makes you more energetic with more action points, improves your general reputation as you're more pleasant to be around, increases the rate at which you gain skills, and makes characters other than the ruler more effective in their assignments, given their greater energy and motivation. Unhappiness does the opposite.  According to House legend, House Weiss is descended from some of the executives stationed in Orion Industries' regional headquarters on Vega, who maintained a strong position in the colony following the Collapse but were in no position to claim actual rule of the colony compared to the warlords with a stronger background in the exercise of force- legend holds House Goodman descended from officers of the Interstellar Authority which enforced the law of the League of Starfaring Nations across the colonies. Regardless of the truth of these legends, House Weiss has certainly maintained a strong focus on teaching the fundamentals of financial management and accurate bookkeeping, and has reasonably strong ties with the independent traders who maintain the trickle of intercolonial trade that yet endures. Between Director-General Jane Weiss and her siblings she has on her council, House Weiss maintains relatively strong teams to handle affairs of administration, production, and logistics in Vega and across the Guild, as well as a fairly effective medical, scientific, and technical staff. Her father Harold's abilities are more or less single-handedly responsible for competent management of the fleets and military peacekeepers used to keep crime and dissent under control. Diplomatic and security staff, unfortunately, are in a far more dubious state at the moment. The bulk of House Weiss's income comes from Vega itself, although it collects a small portion of the revenues of the barons of the four other colonies of the Guild for its own use, in the form of viridium, food, chemicals, ores, and other supplies. Each House maintains ratings in five skills, giving different benefits to the House for its rating, which is derived from the abilities of the House's ruler and its council member for that position. Administration, symbolised by a yellow file folder, increases the income of your home colony and increases the value of taxes collected by half the amount it boosts home colony income (this is a direct bonus to the value you collect, which does not increase the amount your barons pay from their own accounts), as well as allowing one extra vassal to be effectively managed for every full 50 points of House rating in Administration. You only ever truly directly rule one single colony- every other colony in your faction is ruled by a baron who counts as a vassal, or is a member of a vassal faction whose duke is one of your vassals. Military, symbolised by three red ships, significantly increases the strength of your own colony's forces beyond the baseline set by how much of a force can be permitted by its Wealth, and provides a bonus to overall strength of fleets led by your House to reflect tactics, leadership, and so on. Diplomacy, symbolised by green clasped hands, increases the public reputation of the all members of the House- the greatest amount for the House head, followed by a smaller boost for 'important' House members, and a yet smaller boost for other House members. Security, symbolised by purple handcuffs, sets the base chance of discovering secrets present in the colony and reduces the effect of hostile covert actions. Finally, Technology, symbolised by a blue Star Wars-esque healing tank, sets the chance of House members falling ill, recovering from illness, or having bad childbirths, affects how quickly House members gain skill points by performing assignments or by serving as ruler, sets the base rate at which 'Expedition Points' are gained (more on these in a later update), and allows effective management of an extra vassal for every full 75 points of House rating in Technology (reflecting effective use and maintenance of FTL message drones to keep effective interstellar communications working). On an individual, rather than on a House, these skills influence how effective that individual is in performing assignments associated with that skill, and how much they contribute to the House rating as a council member or as ruler. House Weiss has the 'Bean Counters' special trait, giving a 20% bonus to earned income due to very careful financial management. This is a powerful (and expensive!) trait that can be chosen during setup customisation.  Alice Weiss was a brilliant woman deeply immersed in the house culture of House Weiss, and her children exemplify both her strengths and her flaws, none more so than her eldest child and the new Sovereign Director-General of the Guild, Jane Weiss. At the young age of 25, Jane is already a competent adminstrator of colonial functions, logistics, and finances, and has a remarkably solid foundation in what remains of knowledge of the sciences, although she is at best incompetent at diplomacy and subterfuge. Keenly intelligent and possessed of a strong moral sense of justice, she would be more admired for her qualities if not for the fact that she is also painfully retiring and introverted, and- when she does engage with others socially- appears to be more interested in scientific, administrative, and historical minutia than anything most others would consider even remotely interesting, leaving her shy and awkward in her role as ruler despite her intelligence and strong sense of duty. Her complete lack of interest in men was noted by her mother as she grew, and Alice arranged a marriage for her that she believed that Jane could possibly be happy with, counting on Jane's younger siblings to produce heirs to the House. Jane has since fallen in love with her wife, and has begun to make halting efforts to win her wife's heart. Jane has four personality traits- Intelligent, Honorable, Reserved, and Dull. Intelligent, shown by a blue-green brain, improves all skills of the character by 5 from their base value, with skills bounded from 0 to 99. Intelligent, like most 'positive' traits, increases the opinion of characters sharing the trait by 14, the opinion of most characters by 7, and reducing the opinion of characters with the opposing trait (Stupid, in this case) by 14. Honorable (represented by a blue-green medal) is a positive trait opposed by Rulebreaker; it increases Diplomacy by 20 but reduces Security by 20, and makes the character have a stronger emotional reaction to moral and immoral acts, as well as encouraging AI characters to be less likely to perform immoral acts. Reserved (represented by a red tent), like most negative traits, improves the opinion of others sharing the trait by 14 and reduces the opinion of others with the opposed trait by 14, just like most positive traits- but characters with neither trait instead have their opinion *reduced* by 7. Reserved also reduces Diplomacy by 20, improves Technology by 20, and reduces the emotional impact of contact with others or lack thereof, given the shy and retiring nature it provides. Dull (represented by some poor red figure being put to sleep by listening to a Dull person talk) is part of a unique pair of positive and negative traits, which don't influence opinion of those with the same or opposing trait but have a particularly strong (+ or -14) reputational impact on most characters. Dull characters are boring nerds, and particularly hard for most others to endure listening to. Dull provides a +10 to Administration and Technology, but a -10 to Diplomacy. Jane also happens to be gay, and will only ever be attracted to female characters. Same-sex marriages can be made in game if at least one member of the marriage is gay or bisexual.  Jane's wife, Mariko, is the young sister of Lady Belicia Fardell, head of Vega's minor House Fardell. Mariko, by nature sweet-tempered, gentle, and loyal, was well-suited for an education as a diplomat, and has been appointed since her marriage into House Weiss as a member of its council and the head of House Weiss's diplomatic team. Although Mariko was at least willing to marry a woman, she found the earlier years of the marriage tedious at best, although her gratitude for appointment to the council has begun to soften her attitude towards her wife. Sometimes Mariko despairs of most of her new family having any concept of diplomatic behavior, although she hopes to be able to begin to salvage their reputation to what extent she may. Mariko is Kind (represented by a blue-green angelic figure) a positive trait opposed to Cruel which gives a +10 to Diplomacy, but a -10 to Military and Security. Kind characters are more happy about those they like being happy, more unhappy about those they like being unhappy, less happy about those they like being unhappy, and less unhappy about those they like being happy. They're also less likely, as the AI, to take actions that cause pain to other individuals. She is also Loyal (represented by a blue-green dog head), a positive trait opposed by Fickle. It gives a +10 to Diplomacy, and has similar effects to Kind on the emotional reaction of the character to characters they like, while having no effect on their reaction to characters they dislike. It also makes the character less likely to rebel, and more likely to help their friends. She is bisexual, and can be attracted to either male or female characters. The assignments associated with Diplomacy are Acquire Claim, which (at a cost of 15 viridium) allows us to create a credible claim for the Weiss guild to rule over a colony it has no claim on, Frame Someone, which (at a cost of 15 viridium) attempts to falsely implicate somebody in an injustice to ruin their reputation, Improve Relations, which improves the opinion of another character towards us over time, and Spread Dissent, which (at a cost of 30 viridium) attempts to create a spike of unrest on a colony to encourage revolts. Only non-ruler characters take assignments (the ruler has 'running the faction' as their full-time job), and, although any character can take any assignment, those with a high skill in the associated assignment will handle the assignment much better and/or faster. Characters also improve skills in the assignments they're assigned, which makes it a good idea to have council members do assignments associated with their position, so they'll improve in their abilities as a council member.  Jane's father, Harold Weiss, the military hero of the revolution and the last member of a distant branch family to House Weiss, is perhaps the most respected member of the House. If not as clever and subtle as his wife or most of his children, he has a well-known sense of honor and justice and a fierce bravery that ensured he led his forces from the front as they stormed House Goodman's complex within the colony. He is staunchly committed to ensuring the safety of the Weiss Guild and the safety of his children, meeting threats head-on as admiral of House Weiss's fleets and general commander of its peacekeepers. Harold is Brave (represented by a blue-green clenched fist), a positive trait opposed to Cowardly which grants +20 Military, +10 Security, reduces the emotional impact of threatening events, and increases the AI's willingness to take choices that lead to conflict. He's also Honorable, which we've already discussed. With no icon representing his orientation, Harold is heterosexual, and will only be attracted to characters of the opposite sex. The assignments associated with Military are Hide Fleet Movements, which makes it less likely that calling forces from a colony will tip off the target so they can begin mustering reinforcements, Improve Defenses, which increases fleet strength for battles on a colony we control, Plan Attack, which slowly increases our fleet strength for battles on a colony we do not yet control, and Quell Unrest, which costs one viridium per turn but which sharply decreases unrest on a colony we control, based on the military skill of the character on assignment, as well as helping the ruler of that colony like us more for the help.  Harold and Alice's second child, Thomas, is, like his older sister, a skilled administrator, and has been raised to the position as executive director of House Weiss's administrative staff. Like his father and older sister, he has an iron-hard moral core, and, like his older sister, is both painfully tedious to most people and sharply intelligent. He is somewhat less shy and retiring, and so is at least mildly more socially adept than Jane. As House Weiss's line of succession passes to its oldest child and Jane remains childless, he is next in line of succession, with his two tiny daughters, Rebecca (age 2) and Emily (age 1) following after him. Thomas is Intelligent, Honorable, and Dull, all of which we've seen before. The assignments associated with Administration are Assist Tax Collection, which provides a bonus to the tax revenue we gain from a vassal with no penalty to that vassal's own income, Rebuild Colony, which (at a cost of 240 viridium and eight action points to start the assignment, rather than the usual two) allows a colony on our borders abandoned due to damage during the course of the game to be rebuilt and resettled as part of our faction, with only its Main Settlement installation functional to start, Rebuild Fleet, which increases the rate at which military ships are rebuilt at a colony up to the support limit of the colony, and Repair Installation (at a variable viridium cost defined by the installation) which makes a non-functional installation at a colony functional so it can grant its benefits and slightly reduce unrest generation on the colony due to more living space and more opportunities for advancement in the jobs associated with the installation.  Thomas' wife, Oriole, is the younger sister of Sir Javen Nichols, head of the minor House Nichols in Vega. On top of her training in security and espionage, her courage and thirst for challenge has led her to occasionally participate in the power bout, a popular and dangerous sport involving hand to hand combat between contestants in armored exoskeletons, attempting to disable each other's armor rather than cause permanent injury or death. It is a time-honored distraction from the difficult and squalid lives of the serfs. As commissioner of House Weiss's security teams, Oriole is responsible for the personal safety of House members, investigation of criminal matters that are not immediately resolvable by military peacekeepers, and cultivation of information sources within and without the colony, both to stay abreast of the general situation and- hopefully- to ferret out secrets that might be of advantage. Oriole is Brave, we already know this one. The assignments associated with Security are Assassination, which (at a cost of 15 viridium) attempts to kill a character (an aside on Assassination and how assignments work, by the way- all assignments are reduced somewhat in effectiveness if the character running the assignment can't travel to the colony the assignment is targeted on- and council members and the ruler are not able to travel from our home colony- but Assassination in particular is rendered completely ineffective if the character isn't physically present. It's assumed that working remotely on an assignment, you're working through reports and orders to the team of assistants you'd have with you doing the assignment in any event.), Cover Up Secret, which (at a cost of 30 viridium), tries to make the secrets created by various actions more difficult to discover (for assignments, framing characters, spreading dissent, and assassination all create damaging secrets), Provide Personal Protection, which reduces the effect of assassination attempts against a character over and above the penalty to these attempts provided by House Security rating, and Run Spy Network, which (at a cost of 15 viridium) helps discover secrets present in a particular colony, makes it more likely you'll detect fleet movements at that colony, and may provide exploitable opportunities for skullduggery on the colony. On our home colony, it reduces the effectiveness of other spy networks and can occasionally let us disrupt hostile operations, while on other colonies it can let us order reports on the colony which let us gather more information on what the House there is up to, what their treasury is like, and what exactly is there and going on.  The next Weiss sibling, Jessica Roach, although shy and retiring and having inherited her mother's intellect, is by far the least boring of the siblings, which made her a relatively attractive prospect for the younger son of Baron Xenon Roach from the distant colony of Atlas. She has moved to this distant colony, in a region of space that the rest of House Weiss has only the vaguest of concepts of. The marriage into a baronial family provides a small degree of prestige for the House, but the strengthened relations with such a distant colony are of minimal political use.  The youngest Weiss sibling, Prudence, is the least intelligent, but nonetheless her detail-oriented and inward-turned personality has allowed her to excel in the sciences. Lacking the awareness that Thomas' and Jane's intellect provide or the admiration afforded to their senses of justice, Prudence is generally disliked by most other than her immediate family, although she is a capable advisor to Jane in the sciences and a capable head of House Weiss's scientific and technical staff. She has one child, Malachi, a son of age 1, although she and her son fall after Thomas and his daughters in the order of succession. Prudence is Dull and Reserved, which means her general reputation is pretty terrible. The assignments associated with Technology are Monitor Vassals, which a single character per faction can do at any given time, improving its vassal limit by 1 to 3, Provide Medical Attention, which increases the chance of recovery from illness, reduces the chance to fall ill, and increases the odds of conceiving and successful birth for female subjects, Shift Fleet Composition, which retools the balance of a colony's fleet between bombers, interceptors, and frigates, and Train House Member, which helps a character improve one of their five primary skills.  Prudence's husband, Romeo, is one of the younger brothers of Lady Devon Kelley, head of the minor House Kelley in the Vega colony. He has displayed an unusually keen mind, although his reputation has been marred by his greedy and grasping nature. Although he manages to get along with most of the Weiss siblings, he can barely stand his wife, who he finds lacks the insight to make her boring ramblings worth listening to. He generally works in Thomas' administrative division of the House staff, helping to direct staff of a less exalted lineage. Romeo is Intelligent and Greedy. Greedy (represented by a red grasping hand) is a negative trait opposed by Satisfied, which grants a +10 to Administration and a -10 to Diplomacy, and makes the AI more interested in increasing its wealth and territory. The Weiss Guild is the newest of the realms of the post-Collapse world, untested and perhaps ready to stumble over its own inexperience. Nonetheless its central leadership is filled with a stern determination to see the Guild endure, and prosper beyond its current humble conditions. All adult members of House Weiss other than Jane Weiss herself are available for claiming; on claiming a character, feel free to request specific information on some topic or a personalised briefing suited to your role in the House. Suggestions from House members on policy and projects will be accepted. Let's see if we can't survive and thrive in the colonies, starting from what may be the point of their lowest ebb. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Apr 3, 2022 |
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Mar 21, 2022 04:14
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It's good to finally be back to writing, and to share a game I have sunk an embarrassing number of hours into. If anything is unclear to anybody, please just ask. And, again, I strongly encourage people to get involved and claim House members. Jessica Roach is probably less viable, since she's no longer part of House Weiss and is very far from where our action will be.
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Mar 21, 2022 11:27
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Just realised I totally forgot to comment on House Weiss's 'Bean Counters' trait in the update; I've added a line in the update. For those of you who've already read it, Bean Counters is a powerful and expensive special trait which can be purchased for a House during start of game customisation; it adds a 20% bonus to earned income due to very careful financial management.
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Mar 21, 2022 13:00
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Theantero posted:Oh, this seems neat. Won't be claiming any characters just yet since I have no clue how to actually play this game, but I'll be following with keen interest. I will reply with my usual, 'game knowledge not strictly required, especially if you take up a council character I'll do my best to get you up to speed on relevant considerations for your position'.
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Mar 21, 2022 18:11
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Veloxyll posted:So this is like Crusader Kings in space? Yes it is. And thanks for the catch, now fixed.
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Mar 22, 2022 00:51
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All right, Oriole officially claimed by Vee. I've passed a Security briefing on with information relevant to her department's operations.
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Mar 22, 2022 05:22
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Harold claimed; Military briefing provided.
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Mar 22, 2022 17:16
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Selected Reactions to the Revolt in Vega from a message from Coordinator Walt Wang of the Wang Collective to Yardley Patton, archon of the Patton League and duke of the Patton Quadrant posted:My archon, I know it is early yet to judge, but I feel nonetheless that these new developments within the Goodman Kingdom may be a threat. The rightful king of House Goodman overthrown with bloody slaughter, a new power consolidating, new banners hung across the kingdom. The thought of rightful lords being cast down sends chills down my spine. And who knows to what lengths these upstarts will reach now they have a taste of power? I urge that you take more concern for the border at Ross 128- should these scoundrels take action I have little doubt but that they will do so there. I also once again commend to your attention the matter of... Walt Wang is Individualistic (a neutral trait opposed by Tribal, making him less family-oriented than usual but having no skill effects and no opinion effects on those neither Tribal nor Individualistic), Cowardly (a negative trait opposed by Brave, which gives -20 Military, -20 Security, +10 Administration, and +10 Technology, which has predictable effects on emotions from conflict and threats and makes his AI more conflict-averse), and Fickle (a negative trait opposed by Loyal, which gives -10 Diplomacy, reduces the emotional impact of the happiness or unhappiness of characters the Fickle character likes on the Fickle character, and which makes the AI more likely to rebel and less likely to help friends).  Baron Mckale Ritter of Beta Eridani, in council session of House Ritter posted:If nothing else, maybe this new 'Guild' won't raise the taxes as high as they used to be. And wouldn't that be a treat? Mckale Ritter is Forgiving (a positive trait opposed by Vengeful, which grants +10 Diplomacy, reduces the emotional impact of the happiness and unhappiness of characters the Forgiving character dislikes on the Forgiving character, and makes them less likely to take aggressive actions against enemies) and Greedy.  song heard in Vega slums posted:King Manny raised his voice to shout- At the current rate of unrest gain, assuming nothing changes, we have over 23 years until we have to resist a revolt in Vega. Improving Vega's economy and living space by repairing installations will slow down the rate at which unrest increases, as will improving our ruler's reputation. We can also undo accumulated unrest when necessary via using Quell Unrest to crack down on crime and dissent. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 07:36 on Mar 24, 2022 |
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Mar 22, 2022 19:50
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Here's another point for audience input- I'm taking 'duke' as common but not universal as the actual title used for a factional ruler. For instance, I've presented the title used for the lord of the Wang Collective as 'Coordinator'. What do people think the title for the ruler of the Weiss Guild should be? If we change it, I'll edit initial posts to be consistent with the change. Two candidates that come immediately to mind are 'Duke' (as per standard) and 'Director-General', but I'll certainly accept other suggestions for consideration.
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Mar 22, 2022 20:21
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I'm away from my save game and waiting for some more people anyhow, giving a decent time for people to sign up and for those who sign up to be able to advance proposals and arguments, but while I'm here, I might as well talk a little about... What Goes Into Designing A New House When starting a game, you choose a difficulty level- Easy, Medium, Hard, Challenge, or Custom. The only thing difficulty level (other than Custom) determines is how many customisation points you get for your House and for your starting ruler, with Easy giving you 10 points for each, Medium giving 5 points for each, Hard giving 0 points for each, Challenge giving -5 points for each, and Custom allowing an unlimited number of whatever perks you want for the House and ruler, and giving you 100 more 'family customisation points'. House Weiss is built on a Medium difficulty. You must also select a succession law, with options being oldest child, oldest son, oldest daughter, youngest child, youngest son, youngest daughter, oldest sibling, oldest brother, oldest sister, closest relative, closest male relative, and closest female relative. House Weiss went with the bog-standard 'oldest child' law. House customisation points can be spent on various things that affect the House itself or your home system, as well as being able to be used to influence how many family customisation points you get. Amongst the things House customisation can choose at this stage are 'poor infrastructure' or 'great infrastructure', with 'poor infrastructure' starting you with two fewer total installations and one fewer repaired installations to start in your home colony, and with great infrastructure giving you two extra total and one extra repaired installation in the colony. You can pay points to guarantee that a particular installation (chosen from a limited list populated by a number of the more powerful and expensive installations in the game) is one of the installations in your home system. You can get various system specials, like asteroids or mineral rich, or get various advantages or disadvantages that apply to the House itself rather than the home system. Finally, you, by default, start with 90 family customisation points, used to create your starting family members- you can gain up to five House customisation points by reducing this total, at a cost of 5 family customisation points per House customisation point, or spend up to five House customisation points on family customisation points, at the same rate of exchange. As such, starting family customisation points can range from 65 to 115. House Weiss spent its five starting House customisation points as follows: Great infrastructure (2) Home system guaranteed installation- corporate tower (2) Home system- asteroid belt (-1) (Having an asteroid belt that increases losses in combat is considered a disadvantage- amongst other things, it makes dealing with rebellions in-game harder on your military forces.) Upstart duke (-2) (This guarantees having neither a claim on your faction nor a claim on your home colony to start, and definitely can reduce stability until you've survived long enough for claims to form.) 85 family customisation points (-1) House- Bean Counters (5) (This is one of several very expensive House abilities, all of which are major advantages but which hammer your budget.) Then, you customise your ruler themselves. On top of choosing your sex, orientation, name, and customising your appearance, you also must choose between starting as young (age 25) or middle-aged (age 45), select your primary area of training, choose personality traits, and determine whether your character is relatively weak, average, or relatively strong in skills outside their primary area of training, gaining four points back for being relatively weak and spending four points for being relatively strong. You may select up to four personality traits, and blood-related kin will need to spend fewer points to get matching traits and more points to get opposed traits while you're customising your family. It costs no more to make your character young than middle-aged, but middle-aged characters will start with higher overall skills. Based on how point costs go in this, it's not uncommon to end up with one leftover point depending on how you build your character, with not much to do but suck it up. Jane Weiss is a young ruler primarily trained in Administration, with her five ruler customisation points spent as follows: Intelligent (8) Honorable (7) Reserved (-7) Dull (-7) Good skills outside of specialty (4) Remaining family members are designed using simple tools to define parent, child, and marriage relationships, with age freely able to be designated within what would be possible (a parent, for instance, cannot possibly be less than 16 years older than any of their children, amongst other limits), and with point costs for traits adjusted from the costs for rulers (most negative traits now cost points, as the general reputation of random members of your House is significantly less important from your perspective, while many of these negative traits still give useful skills). Very young children can potentially cost 0 points, which another player proved was abusable, but although I have a couple 0-point children... I'm not doing 'over twenty children born to the same parent in the same year'. It also costs points to ensure relations by marriage are to higher-ranking and more valuable partners- there are several good reasons why you might want to be related to an archon. House Weiss, by getting almost all its marriages to members of minor Houses, the lowest-ranking possible marriage relations, only ended up spending five of its eighty-five customisation points on its one marriage of much value, instead focusing on loading its members up with (mostly) valuable personality traits. I ensured that there was at least one House member viable for every council position, and doubled up on good Administration members other than the ruler, to further emphasise administrative gameplay (which is the style I tend to prefer). Glossing over the exact breakdown of costs, I spent my 85 points as follows- 26 on Harold, 9 on Mariko, 15 on Thomas, 8 on Oriole, 11 on Prudence, 8 on Romeo, and 4 on Jessica, leaving 4 more points to be spent on young children, which I used to make Rebecca, Jessica, and Malachi. There's a higher base cost to recruit new blood relatives than spouses, thus the higher costs on all the siblings. Hopefully that's of at least some interest to everybody. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Aug 17, 2023 |
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Mar 23, 2022 05:51
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EclecticTastes posted:This seems pretty interesting. I'd be down to fill Thomas' shoes, and keep our infrastructure healthy and make sure whatever ill-advised wars we get into don't bankrupt us. All right, I've got you signed up; I'll get you an initial briefing once I'm back with my save.
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Mar 23, 2022 11:12
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dervinosdoom posted:Is Romeo up for grabs? I'll fill that handsome mustache's shoes Sure is. I assume you'll want the Administration briefing?
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Mar 23, 2022 18:00
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Administration briefings sent off via forum private message to Thomas and Romeo. I'll still accept proposals to claim Mariko and Prudence, but opening Council discussions now and will briefly handle Mariko and Prudence if nobody claims them.Director-General Jane Weiss, in session of the council of House Weiss posted:It's a shame Mother didn't live to see this, but I hope we can live up to what she would have expected of us. We have an opportunity and a duty to make something new here, and hold to higher standards than the old king ever did. I trust everybody has had time to familiarise themselves with their departments by now? I'd like to hear your reads on our position now, and your counsel on how I should guide the Guild going forward. We have a great deal to rebuild ahead of us. I hope we can ensure our House and the Guild ever prosper.
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Mar 24, 2022 07:28
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Incidentally, this is very different from my usual fare, but I'd like to cross-promote General Revil's The Spirit Engine 2 LP. It's a game I love being LPed by somebody who's a personal friend of mine, with me serving as co-host on the videos. Check it out, or not, but maybe some of you might be interested.
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Mar 24, 2022 07:47
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SlightlyMad posted:I've played this game a bit and can confirm it is fun. I am not any good at it though. Coordinator Walt Wang claimed! Just feel to toss in comments occasionally, and if you have questions from the Coordinator's perspective, I can provide information on his home colony, his vassals, his opinion of other characters, whatever. As long as I can actually see it in-game. 
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Mar 24, 2022 09:07
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That's great, EclecticTastes, you've got specific proposals on things relevant to your position, which definitely make sense.
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Mar 24, 2022 09:23
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Mercifully for Romeo, this just means he'll be getting letters and recordings, since message drones are far from a real-time connection. So he and his team of people from the Administration department will end up on Kajam, sounds fair.
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Mar 24, 2022 15:05
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Director-General Jane Weiss posted:Having reviewed our figures for the treasury and our level of income, I believe that I shall have have to concur with Executive Director Thomas and declare that restoration of facilities that directly aid our revenues must take priority for Administration, and, as such, we shall have to delay on putting the Interstellar Authority outpost into operation until such time as our financial situation is more secure. That said and with my deep respect to the Admiral my father, I formally approve his assignment of an appropriate staff and force of peacekeepers to Beta Eridani. Ensure that peace and order prevail under the auspices of House Weiss. I trust and expect that Angelo Beck and House Beck shall extend your staff every courtesy. I also expect that your staff shall travel with a contingent from the Administration team to be overseen by remote report by the Executive Director intended to coordinate with the taxing authorities of House Beck; I anticipate that this shall partially compensate for the two thousand marks per Terra annum that shall be provided as your operating budget. Director-Consort Mariko, your opinion on the request by the Admiral my father regarding Beta Librae? Director-Consort Mariko Weiss posted:Ah, yes, Director-General. A case could certainly be made there, although from my perspective I believe I'd rather focus first on ensuring we have established a case for our rule of Kajam, given how recently the system has been brought under Vega's rule. That would almost certainly help calm some of the tensions there on Kajam down. I could certainly follow that up by laying the case for our rule of Beta Librae- it's straightforward enough. It would likely take me a few years to finish up the first assignment anyhow. Director-General Jane Weiss posted:With the understanding that such diplomatic operations may run to fifteen thousand marks on each system, that would cost us fifteen thousand immediately and, if followed up immediately, fifteen thousand after the initial case is completed. Executive Director Thomas? Your opinion on whether we should lay aside that much budget for Diplomacy at this point in time? Do any of the rest of the council have opinions on the relative merits of Kajam or Beta Librae as a system for Director-Consort Mariko and Diplomacy to focus operations on first? nweismuller fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Mar 25, 2022 |
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Mar 25, 2022 02:10
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Technology Director Prudence Weiss posted:Leaving aside the routine matters, ahem, of continuing education and the medical team, I have one primary concern at this time. I believe that we may potentially find some interesting opportunities via our scientists, some of which may require us to have funds in reserve to properly exploit them. These may be infrequent, but keeping savings for these opportunities would certainly be a blessing to our scientists. Otherwise, barring any contrary instructions, I'll be working with Jane to ensure she gets the materials she wants to study.
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Mar 25, 2022 11:11
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Director-General Jane Weiss posted:Having considered all that his been brought up in this council, I rule that at this time that Director-Consort Mariko oversee an effort to cement our hold on Kajam, focusing on helping maintain relations with one of our neighbors thereafter, and delay preparation for war. We can reassess this after we have put more of the colony at Vega back into operation. Thank you, everybody. I expect good work from all of you.
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Mar 26, 2022 06:10
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  Jane Weiss sits behind her council table early in 2502, the council of House Weiss arrayed about her, and turns to discuss this opportunity with her family. "Sixty thousand marks is a steep price, but a vault full of information from the Galileo Institute? That would be a worthy prize indeed if we could get our hands on it. What say the rest of you?" Unfortunately, I can't save with this event up, but I'll wait as long as I can stand to have the game running in the background until I get some responses. We don't have access to the option to torture information out of our vassal, as Jane is Honorable, but we can attempt to haggle him down (at some risk), pay the full amount, or send him on his way. We should also consider whether we wish to keep the vault as a strategic secret, or attempt to recoup some of the cost by selling access to it. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Mar 26, 2022 |
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Mar 26, 2022 06:32
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habituallyred posted:I would sign up as the estranged sibling but I have no PMs. About that... [redacted] nweismuller fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Mar 26, 2022 |
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Mar 26, 2022 07:03
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You need to set your preferences to allow you to receive private messages for that to help, however. I can give you a basic report on what we currently know about House Roach if you enable private messages, but unfortunately our information is incomplete.
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Mar 26, 2022 08:13
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I've sent you what I have about Atlas and House... Vargas..? Unfortunately, that information is incomplete at best.
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Mar 26, 2022 10:10
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Technology Director Prudence Weiss posted:I don't think we should take any chances on being deprived of access to the secrets of the Galileo Institute. We should pay whatever he asks. If it makes Thomas happier, we can of course make this public and sell access to it. Besides, having other scientists in to cross-check data might ensure we learn more about the ancients' understanding of technology. Director-Consort Mariko Weiss posted:This is a secret that absolutely could strengthen the Weiss Guild and our House, and I think holding onto the secret is the wise course. On the other hand, trying to get a better price, given how tight resources are, would seem appropriate.
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Mar 26, 2022 12:51
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The purchase goes forward for full price... I am taking some time here to organise screenshots and write the main update. Following that, I'll provide reports for Administration, Military, and Security as I work them up. Mariko Weiss and Prudence Weiss remain unclaimed, for whomever wishes to take them.
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Mar 26, 2022 13:42
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Rocky Beginnings As Director-General Jane Weiss settled into her new rule of the Weiss Guild, it rapidly became apparent that her awkward but sincere efforts to connect with her wife Mariko had borne fruit, with the two of them being a couple sincerely in love. Unfortunately, the bulk of the news of the Weiss Guild's first year was not nearly so good.  About half a Terran year (the Terran year remaining the standard unit of intercolonial timekeeping, despite the loss of Earth itself) after Jane's rise to the throne, Duchess Ruana Garrett of the Garrett Coalition declared war upon the Weiss Guild, citing the distant relationship between House Clay, the baronial house of Nusakan, and House Goodman as justification, and stating her intent to install Baron Neely Clay as king of the Goodman Kingdom. Given that the only justification for House Weiss's rule of the Weiss Guild was the fact that they had seized it by main force, this was generally considered valid justification amongst the nobility of the colonies for the prosecution of a war. Mercifully, the difficulty of managing military logistics through the uncolonised system of K Coronae Borealis between Nusakan and Kajam meant that the advantage would be firmly on the defender's side on any attack between the Garrett Coalition and the Weiss Guild, leaving the war a 'paper war' with no fighting until the current day. The white scales beneath Ruana Garrett's portrait indicate that factors counterbalance what would otherwise be a dishonorable course of action (declaring war), making it so it has no impact on her honor and reputation. The downward-pointing red arrows beneath Jane Weiss's portrait indicate a negative emotional reaction to this event. Given the number of downward arrows, a strongly negative reaction.    Even as the war began, it became clear that security on members of House Weiss and their communications was shockingly porous, confirmed by Commissioner Oriole Weiss hiring a penetration team to test House Weiss's defenses. The penetration team, which had no difficulty making their way into the House's storerooms to seize the data set as their objective, provided an extensive list of vulnerabilities they had noted in their planning. Although Oriole attempted to plug the vulnerabilities, and made some way in shoring up the defenses against intrusion, it was clear that House Weiss would still be vulnerable to determined enemies bent on espionage and mayhem. All five skills have a 'crisis' that can trigger if the House rating in the skill is weak. Failure to address the crisis can have very bad results; addressing it properly will have neutral results (save for the money and time addressing the crisis) or add a bonus to the House for addressing the crisis perfectly. We got the neutral outcome here. Good enough. It's unfortunate for our budget at this point, but failing to address this is not a prudent course of action. At all.  2500 also saw a marriage proposal tendered by Sir Sutton Oneal of House Oneal, one of the minor Houses of Vega. Sir Sutton proposed that his sister, Jade Oneal, would marry Harold Weiss, joining House Weiss. Harold's reaction to the proposal was icy- he had no intent of marrying 'the dishonorable sister of a dishonorable lord'. The Director-General, seeing her father's reaction, responded to Sir Sutton Oneal with a polite refusal. Jade Oneal is Humble (signified by the olded hands) and a Rulebreaker (signified by the broken shield). Humble is a positive trait opposed by Proud, which grants a +10 to Diplomacy, reduces the impact of changes in status on the Humble character's emotions, and makes the AI more likely to accept reductions in status. Rulebreaker is a negative trait opposed by Honorable, which grants a +20 to Security, a -20 to Diplomacy, and renders the character less concerned by moral violations and more likely to engage in immoral behavior to achieve their ends. When people are mysteriously murdered, there's frequently a Rulebreaker behind it.   Not all the news from the later portion of 2500 was unpleasant, at least- the Director-General was able to recover an ancient 'productivity tool' program from the databanks of Vega's data center, which she spent many nights contentedly studying, tracking expenditures, shuttle schedules, and flows of materials within Vega in minute detail. With a firmer grasp on operations, she was able to tighten several schedules, cutting out waste. Only a Dull character would think that a productivity tool is 'just their thing' and happily throw themselves into it. Spending a smaller amount of time experimenting with the tool may lead to nothing, and may end up leaving you Dull as a side-effect.    2501 brought a series of crises across the Weiss Guild, ones far more immediate than the largely meaningless war with the Garrett Coalition. A meteorite impact with the colony at Kajam led to a hull breach amidst the chemical factories, resulting in dozens of deaths and widespread anxiety even as Baron Angelo Beck scrambled to repair the breach and put the chemical factories back into operation. Romeo Weiss, who by this point was resident at Kajam with a team of auditors monitoring the taxation provided by House Beck to House Weiss, was briefly shaken by the news but fortunately well clear of any real danger, as were the diplomats reporting to Mariko Weiss working to advance their case for the Weiss Guild's rule of Kajam. Meanwhile, crop failures in the hydroponics at Miaplacidus led to widespread hunger and many deaths, while House Martin preserved itself by hoarding food stores for its own use. This led to widespread anger amongst the commoners of Miaplacidus, who blamed House Martin for the deaths they had suffered, while on Vega a series of protests against the 'illegitimate' rule of House Weiss forced plans to deploy peacekeepers to Beta Eridani to be scrubbed in favor of maintaining order on Vega itself, under Harold Weiss's direct supervision, ensuring the corridors and plazas were kept clear and that any acts of violence by protesters were ruthlessly quashed. Colonies with fewer than four functional installations are vulnerable to food shortages. Miaplacidus got off relatively easily from this one.  Tensions had been escalating within the council of House Weiss as well, with Thomas Weiss demanding reports and obedience from the remainder of the Council as heir to the position of Director-General. Director-General Jane Weiss supported these privileges, making it clear that the rest of the council would need to develop the habit of obedience to one who might one day reign. The 'ribbon' symbol Thomas gets indicates 'respect', an improvement in general reputation reflective of strength, prestige, or achievement (as opposed to 'honor', which improves general reputation due to exemplary moral behavior).   Late in 2501, the first new member of House Weiss since Jane rose to the throne was born- Alice Weiss, a daughter of Thomas and Oriole named after her grandmother. Although this was, in many ways, a happy occasion, it was marred by the fact that Thomas and Oriole had never requested permission from Jane for a third child, making this a crime against their House. Jane, although disappointed by this breach of honor, nonetheless had no desire to pursue punishment for an unpermitted birth. The red daggers beneath Oriole's and Thomas' portraits indicate a 'crime', a dishonorable act with a victim who has the right to retaliate- in this case, Jane Weiss, as head of their House. This reduces their general reputation and can mitigate or eliminate the dishonor of actions taken in retaliation. The first child of any couple is automatically permitted, but any further children require the permission of the head of the House, who needs to consider how many people the House can support. Allowing a House to grow too big for its income is considered dishonorable, as you put a strain on the colony's resources.  Following the birth of Alice, Director-Consort Mariko Weiss approached Director-General Jane Weiss, suggesting that public charity work by Thomas following his unpermitted birth could help rehabilitate his reputation. Jane vetoed this idea, pointing out that Thomas' weak diplomatic skills were more likely to create an incident following extensive public contact than burnish his image.  The year also saw the birth of a new league, as Director-General Pillan Gillmore of the Gillmore Guild succeeded in inducing the McCoy Dominion and the Nicholson Systems to accept his leadership as archon of the new Gillmore League. With the colony at Algorab now within the McCoy Dominion and with the support of the Gillmore League as a whole likely assured, the previous opportunity the Weiss Guild may have had to bring Beta Librae under its sway was lost.   Early in 2502, Baron Brinley Hayes of Kapteyn's Star made his way to Vega with a startling proposal. He claimed that following an attack by pirates, he was forced to divert into an unknown system, where he found a data vault maintained by the Galileo Institute, a pre-Collapse association of scientists dedicated to developing and teaching the technologies necessary for space travel and exploration. For the hefty sum of sixty thousand marks of viridium, he was willing to share the location of this vault and allow House Weiss to exploit its secrets. Following bitter debate within House Weiss's council, Director-General Jane Weiss eventually accepted the baron's proposal, learning that the vault was located in Lalande 21185. This is our first Expedition event, which is the closest thing Star Dynasties has to a 'technological research' mechanic. Based on the Technology score of your House, you accumulate Expedition points every turn, reflecting your House's members and scientific staff keeping an eye out for unusual opportunities. When enough accumulate, an Expedition event fires, giving you an opportunity related to lost technologies or scientific oddities. Most Expeditions have potentially significant rewards, although some also have distinct drawbacks. A few Expeditions have up-front costs if you want to exploit them, of which this particular one is one of the steepest.      Following the coordinates programmed into the hologram projector Brinley Hayes had recovered from the vault, Director-General Jane Weiss and members of her technology team under Technology Director Prudence Weiss arrived at the data vault, a bunker dug into an isolated moon. According to the hologram presented, the Galileo Institute had created this vault to store the scientific, cultural, and historical knowledge of humanity as a safeguard against widespread civilisational disaster. By the time it was finally unearthed, these centuries later, many of the servers had long since failed, leaving only fragments of knowledge, doubtless insufficient to what the Galileo Institute had initially intended. These fragments, however, were still more than sufficient to provide an organisational and technological edge to House Weiss- improved methods of encryption, some subtle but effective alterations in ship design, managerial methods of old Earth, and scraps of scientific and technical data of all kinds were amongst the data recovered. Maintaining these secrets immediately became a major priority of House Weiss. This has created a secret, currently at Medium discovery chance- every turn there's an 8% chance somebody discovers the secret. Even if somebody discovers the secret, not all is yet lost, if they choose not to reveal it publicly. If this secret is revealed publicly, however, our valuable strategic secrets bonus will be lost. Covering up the secret is almost certainly a high priority now.   While returning from the data vault along with her brother Thomas and her sister Prudence, the shuttle carrying Jane Weiss suffered an engine failure. Fortunately, Thomas and Prudence working together were able to restore the shuttle's engines to operation, losing minimal time on their return to Vega. The Weiss Guild, Early 2502    With greater experience by the members of House Weiss, the secrets of the Galileo Institute data vault, and a stronger sense of cohesion within the House, every department of the Weiss Guild is now operating more smoothly. The strategic secrets from the vault remain secret for now, but without efforts to maintain their secrecy, this advantage will doubtless eventually be lost. Security and diplomacy remain relative weaknesses, but are nonetheless more effective than two years ago.  Director-General Jane Weiss, on top of her duties as ruler of the Guild, has been spending much of her time studying reference materials on mathematics, management, and engineering, and has learned much from the Galileo Institute data vault. Already a capable administrator and technologist, her abilities have only increased.  Executive Director Thomas Weiss, on top of managing the general administrative operations of House Weiss, has been remotely managing a team overseeing tax collections on Beta Eridani. He and Oriole Weiss have fallen deeply in love with each other, and their time spent together has helped bolster both their spirits. His experience managing House Weiss's administrative operations have slowly been honing his skills.  Admiral Harold Weiss, father of the Weiss siblings, has, despite the ongoing 'war', focused his efforts thus far on maintaining order in Vega. His advancing years have been beginning to show, but he doubtless still has years of life ahead of him.  As Director-Consort Mariko Weiss has grown more fond of Jane, her life in House Weiss has grown happier. Her efforts have been focused on cementing a legal claim by the Weiss Guild on the rule of Kajam, a process that the Diplomacy department estimates may be completed by the end of 2503.  Despite any difficulties, the birth of their third daughter has been a happy occasion for Thomas and Oriole. Oriole has been coordinating tight protective details for the Director-General, while attempting to monitor security threats to the House overall. So far, it appears that any failures in Security have not yet been disastrous.  Technology Director Prudence Weiss, as well as directing the House's technical and medical teams, has been personally responsible for researching materials the Director-General can use to hone her abilities as an administrator. Although she has been separated from her husband for quite some time now, she appears untroubled by this fact, putting her focus on her work.  Romeo Weiss has been living and working in Kajam since late 2500. Where his wife is essentially uncaring about this, he is actively pleased that he no longer needs to live with her, and hopes to stay away from her as long as possible.  The Gilmore League has brought in the Herring Union, making it the largest political unit that House Weiss is aware of. In the Patton League, Coordinator Walt Wang has convinced the baron of Nashira to betray the Patton Quadrant and pledge his colony to the Wang Collective. The Weiss Guild remains an independent realm between two formidable leagues and another independent realm larger than it, but one sheltered by its natural astrography from immediate aggression. Although the first two years of the Weiss Guild have been difficult, nonetheless the Guild has found a powerful advantage in the old Galileo Institute data vault, while the growing skill and close coordination of the Director-General and the council have helped ensure that the Guild remains relatively strong.
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Mar 26, 2022 20:30
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Reports have been issued for Administration, Military, and Security; Mariko Weiss of Diplomacy and Prudence Weiss of Technology remain unclaimed. If anybody has further questions about anything in their report, feel free to ask me; it's likely I have access to the information you want somewhere.
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Mar 26, 2022 21:30
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Technology Director Prudence Weiss posted:I understand the need to prioritise facilities that can help generate revenue from Thomas' perspective, but I believe it would make Technology's job much easier if we could see our way to restoring the hospital here in Vega to operation once the immediate needs of revenue are dealt with. Thomas, when do you think you'd be able to fit the hospital into your plans? The better facilities would allow us to deliver better care to the whole House. And I suppose we'd have the capacity to better help with some issues with the serfs as well. Director-Consort Mariko Weiss posted:On that note, I think I'm going to request that Administration prioritise the hydroponics station over the old scrap reclamation facility. The station could effectively be a 'park' environment which would be a useful asset for my department's reception of visitors. Diplomacy has enough trouble maintaining the opinion of foreign rulers. I can at least report that our vassal barons all have good opinions of us, for which I'd like to thank the decision to keep the tax take low. I don't think we'd be as stable internally without that and I suggest we keep it up. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Mar 27, 2022 |
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Mar 27, 2022 04:21
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Director-General Jane Weiss posted:Dear Sister, Director-General Jane Weiss, in council posted:I think I'm going to have to disagree with my brother the Executive Director here, and say that I think we should focus on the old Orion Industries headquarters before the hospital. Yes, optimising our taxation regime will be a relatively minor thing as things stand, but the additional revenue we can expect from optimising Vega's own production is something I think we'd be imprudent to pass up. That said, following the restoration of the headquarters and setting up operations there, I'd certainly be willing to take the hospital here as our next priority, both for our own health and for the sake of our commoners. I don't think any of us is eager to see a Rattle Lung outbreak here on Vega. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Mar 27, 2022 |
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Mar 27, 2022 11:18
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 Yardley Patton, duke of the Patton Quadrant, archon of the Patton League, in council posted:That intolerable fool Wang has no idea what he's playing with. Undermining my authority with my own vassals! We'll need to move cautiously but he will regret what he's done. With how much he's let his own House grow, he's hardly won himself any friends, so I'm sure we'll have the chance soon enough. Yardley Patton is Tribal, Fickle, Vengeful, and Dull. We've already seen Fickle and Dull. Tribal (signified by a yellow cluster of three people) is a neutral trait opposed by Individualistic, which makes the character more family-oriented, and which only impacts the opinion of Tribal or Individualistic characters. Vengeful (signified by a red speech box full of cursing) is a negative trait opposed by Forgiving, which gives +10 Military and -10 Diplomacy, increases the emotional impact of the happiness or unhappiness of characters the Vengeful character dislikes, and makes the AI more likely to take aggressive action against enemies. We can't be guaranteed that Yardley Patton will act against Walt Wang, but given the strong dislike there and the high level of 'contact' between Yardley Patton and Walt Wang, it seems pretty likely that the 'good' archon will have his revenge, one way or another.
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Mar 27, 2022 12:55
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The Modern Way of War Once, before the Collapse, the League of Spacefaring Nations is said to have fielded great warships bristling with weapons, capable of extended operations across multiple stars. For as long as it could maintain such ships, House Khalil could maintain an empire that spanned the breadth of the colonies. Today, our resources are rather more modest, with the ships used for military purposes all having been designs intended for local defense and patrol- bombers, interceptors, and frigates. There is significant variance in the specifics of armament and design- and, in fact, even at a single colony standardisation of designs can be unreliable at best- but certain things can be said of each broad class of ship. All are reliant on fleet tenders, transports converted from civilian designs with basic crew amenities such as bunks, a galley, and a head, carrying heavy fuel tanks with refueling linkages that can allow ships in a fleet to match vector for refueling and docking to allow exhausted crew to recover. This makes for extremely difficult logistics when fleets are operating any significant distance from their home base. All similarly mount the drive arrays needed to shift into the star lanes linking the stars at the edge of a system, although travelling far enough to enter the star lanes can be a matter of many weeks. Bombers are, today, most usually two-seat designs with piloting controls able to be routed to either seat, allowing piloting to be handled in shifts while travelling to battle. In battle, one crewman generally serves as the pilot while the other serves as the weapons officer for the bomber. Bombers are layered with viridium-impregnated armor plates shielding their front, sacrificing maneuverability and the capability to handle rapid course changes in favor of mounting extensive racks of guided missile munitions and decoys intended to baffle the usual missile guidance systems. Given their poor maneuverability, bombers normally dispense with any form of gun-based armament, instead launching missiles at long range. Some tacticians prefer so-called 'blitz' tactics with bombers, bringing bombers in to slightly closer ranges and coordinating missile launches in an effort to overwhelm countermissile defenses. Interceptors, like bombers, are generally two-seat designs in the modern day, with similar shift-based piloting out of combat. In combat, the most typical division of duties has one crewman as pilot and gunner while the other serves as an electronics and sensors officer. Interceptors generally have light armoring covering most potential angles of attack, and use widely-spaced wings to allow rapid rotational maneuvers and change of vector. Interceptors may or may not have a light guided missile armament, will almost certainly mount missile countermeasures, and invariably mount fixed gun armament, relying either on automatic ballistic cannon or (more rarely) chemical lasers. Relying on maneuverability and a relatively small sensor profile to help shield them from missile fire, interceptors attack at relatively close range. Frigates are the largest of the vessels used in modern warfare, with crews occasionally reaching over fifteen members. Heavily armor-plated and mounting multiple weapons mounts, a single frigate is a formidable war machine, but presents the largest sensor profile of any of the ships used in modern warfare, rendering them more difficult to divert guided missile fire from. Frigates are large enough to maintain limited crew amenities, making them slightly less reliant on fleet tenders to keep their crews in fighting shape, but are just as reliant on tenders for fuel replenishment. Frigates combine long-range firepower provided by some mixture of guided missiles and chemical lasers with intense short-range firepower provided by a primary weapons turret, generally a heavy chemical-propelled ballistic cannon. Some better-armed examples maintain primary railgun armament that can be brutally effective at close range. The multiple weapons mounts under independent command leave frigates with few 'blind spots' for weapons fire, unlike bombers, and the heavy armor on frigates renders them resistant to lighter weapons fire. A concentrated push in battle to place frigates in range of their primary weapons mounts can be costly to the frigates, but devastating to opposing forces. Once attacking warships have secured the space around a colony, they can allow for safe landings for transports full of peacekeepers and can support the ground assault with precision strikes where concentrations of defenders within a colony are. This may lead to the need to repair colonial structures, but generally does not go so far as to render a colony unrecoverable by modern repairs. As of early 2502, Vega supports four squadrons each of bombers and interceptors, three full-strength squadrons of four and one understrength squadron of three for each. It also supports five frigates. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Mar 28, 2022 |
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Mar 27, 2022 20:46
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While I'm waiting to make sure Vee has time to chime in as Oriole, does anybody have any questions about the situation or setting? I'll give a couple more days, but I don't want people to think this is forgotten. Also, I'll accept suggestions for unique alternatives to 'duke' as a title for some of the factions out there we've seen on the map. For reference, known factions and established titles for their rulers: The Goodman Kingdom (defunct)- King/Queen The Weiss Guild- Director-General The Wang Collective- Coordinator The Patton Quadrant- Duke/Duchess The Garrett Confederation- Duke/Duchess The McCoy Dominion- Duke/Duchess The Gilmore Guild- Director-General The Lamb Clan- King/Queen The Herring Union- Governor-General The Nicholson Systems- (no title defined) The Pruitt Systems- (no title defined) The Lindsey Coalition- (no title defined) nweismuller fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Apr 3, 2022 |
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Mar 28, 2022 20:53
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EclecticTastes posted:Shepherd. groans That was terrible, hahaha. E: Oh, that's interesting. Of the factions we actually have enough information on to see the inheritance law, four of the seven (Weiss Guild, Garrett Confederation, Gilmore Guild, Wang Collective) have 'oldest child' inheritance. No shockers there. The Patton Quadrant has 'oldest son' inheritance, on the other hand, slightly unusual but still similar to the standard 'oldest child'. The McCoy Dominion and the Herring Union have stranger inheritance laws, though. The McCoy Dominion has 'oldest sibling' inheritance, and the Herring Union has 'youngest daughter' inheritance. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Mar 28, 2022 |
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Mar 28, 2022 21:45
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dervinosdoom posted:Is there anything like republics in game? All rulers are feudal, distinguished by their particular inheritance laws, the personality of their rulers, the installations on their capital, and possible special traits for their House as accumulated over time. The particular historical quirks of the various feudal titles out there might vary- for instance, I'm taking both the 'Guilds' we're aware of as being named such because they make some historical claim to inheritance of old corporate property claims, thus also the traditional 'Director-General' title for factions styled as 'Guilds'. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Mar 28, 2022 |
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Mar 28, 2022 23:45
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The Herring Union's leader is titled 'Governor-General', an artifact of the purported source of the right to rule of House Herring. According to House Herring's own legends, they are a direct continuation of the original civil government of the Decrux colony. Whether this is true or not, House Herring has indeed verifiably ruled Decrux for at least a century. On the coronation of each new Governor-General, it is traditional for every adult citizen of Decrux to pledge their loyalty by the means of of depositing a slip of paper pre-printed with the name of the new Governor-General in a central collection box, which then has the paper slips weighed and the number of slips turned in calculated.
nweismuller fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Mar 29, 2022 |
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Mar 29, 2022 00:49
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Director-General Jane Weiss posted:I shall be certain to have you get Security on ensuring information control on the data vault and key information from the vault as soon as we have the resources. I believe, at this point, our basic course of action is clear. I'm looking forward to more good work from all of you from here on out.
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Mar 29, 2022 01:01
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habituallyred posted:Who keeps track of and disseminates "honorable" and "dishonorable" actions? I am going to broadly attribute that to religious institutions in historical feudalism. Over the course of the centuries. honor codes that help ensure social stability have evolved in the colonies- the 24th Century was a savage and brutal era in which unrelenting violence was commonplace, and many of the colonies came to the brink of destruction as a side-effect of this. In our more civilised era, we understand that colonies cannot stand without a foundation of honor and justice. Not that all of us so willingly abide by the laws and traditions of honor, but, nonetheless- the facts are there. This is simple history. Our pastors and preachers, of course, certainly help teach the importance of these honor codes... and there are very few indeed even amongst the highest of nobility who do not believe that God is there and has opinions on our conduct. But, to simply recognise when you hear that a baron has left his people to starve, when a raid has been launched, when a war has been declared without due and honorable cause that crimes have been committed that the victims are within their rights to seek satisfaction for? One hardly needs a religious authority to tell them that. (TL;dr: Religion forms a role in teaching people honor and morality, but the honor codes have historical roots and modern nobles are fully capable of judging honor themselves after hearing something that happened.)
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Mar 29, 2022 12:25
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A Good Man For all that Yardley Patton was the archon of the long-established Patton League and a ruler of considerable power, this did not shield him or his colony from the consequences of poverty and mismanagement. Famine broke out on the Patton home colony of Rotanev late in 2502, with Yardley Patton promptly responding by seizing control of Rotanev's foodstuffs to ensure that House Patton would ride out the starvation unscathed. Deaths amongst the commoners on Rotanev were widespread, and resentment against Yardley Patton began to grow in the colony.  Near the beginning of 2503, a routine state visit by Baron Merlin Gates of Beta Librae to the court of the neighboring realm of the Weiss Guild on Vega proved to be a lucky diplomatic break when Executive Director Thomas Weiss was able to befriend the visiting baron, who was impressed by the Director-Heir's keen insight and depth of historical and administrative knowledge. Although this led to little concrete benefit yet, the good feeling between Beta Librae and the Weiss Guild just might prove to be of advantage in the future. Although little-marked by most on Vega, a detonation of improperly stored munitions in the military hangars on Beta Eridani in early 2503 was still a key piece of news in that colony. The damage to the hangers and to the ships there was extensive.  While the later part of 2502 and the early part of 2503 were relatively uneventful for House Weiss, the latter half of 2503 more than made up for this. Perhaps the best news of the latter half of 2503 was the birth of Prudence Weiss's second child, conceived during a brief return visit by Romeo Weiss to Vega- a son named Allen, named after a distant ancestor of Romeo's reputed in family legend to have been a brilliant duellist in an interceptor.   Almost immediately after Allen's birth, Baron Angelo Beck of Kajam approached the Director-General with a proposal. His third child, Ova, had just reached the age of 6, and was ready to begin the process of education that would eventually bring her to her age of majority. He requested that Jane Weiss do him the honor of taking on the responsibility of Ova's education, raising the girl to adulthood. Jane, eager to strengthen relations with her vassals and knowing the prestige that being chosen for such a responsibility granted, willingly accepted. Once a child reached age 6, they can be assigned a guardian, who can influence their personality and who will help the child gain skills faster. Rulers can become guardians of members of their own house or children of foreign rulers, while council members are eligible to become guardians of members of their own House. Each character may have only one ward at a time. A council member being assigned as guardian of an important house member, or a ruler becoming guardian of a foreign ruler's child, is prestigious and boosts the general reputation of the character taking on the duty.   Shortly following the arrival of Ova at Vega, she was present in the council chamber of House Weiss listening to deliberations when metal fatigue in the structural supports for the chamber led to a collapse. As first responders from the House Weiss medical team arrived, Jane, badly injured from being trapped under rubble, ordered the responders to focus on assistance of those most badly hurt. As it proved, the most badly-injured person on the scene was Jane herself, who was rushed to medical treatment as quickly as possible, although her recovery proved to be quite slow following her injuries. Prudence promptly took personal charge of Jane's treatment, in the hopes of speeding the Director-General's return to health. With this event, Jane became Ill. Ill characters suffer a hefty 50% penalty to all skills, and have a chance of dying even if they're not normally old enough to die a natural death. Old characters are particularly vulnerable to death by illness. There's a small chance of naturally falling ill for each character each turn, dependent on the House technology rating, and a chance of recovering naturally from illness, likewise dependent on technology rating. A Medical Attention assignment can greatly boost the chance of an ill character recovering and reduce the chance of a well character falling ill. All things considered, I generally consider medical attention to aid recovery far more worthwhile than cutting an already slim chance of falling ill further.  The council meeting had been the very meeting where Director-Consort Mariko Weiss was to report that the efforts of her diplomats on Kajam had borne fruit. Although Orion Industries property claims no longer were legally enforceable and the right of House Weiss to inherit any claims Orion Industries once had was questionable, nonetheless research into old Orion Industries holdings helped provide some patina of legal respectability for House Weiss to establish a claim over Kajam. Combined with arguments about the benefits of mutual defense within the Guild, the justice and good rule that House Weiss promised, and several generous payments to members of minor Houses in Kajam, this was sufficient to help provide an air of legitimacy to Kajam's membership in the Guild and reduce resistance amongst the minor Houses and the commons to House Weiss's rule. Getting a weak claim on Kajam immediately reduces its unrest gain rate somewhat and helps make it more painful for its baron to betray us or for outside rulers to try to take it from us. Establishing claims on systems we don't have claims on is an important way to help ensure internal stability and to lay the groundwork for external expansion.  As Jane lay in her sickbed later in the year, her father, Harold, approached her with an opportunity. Charles Kelley, a minor noble Harold had known in his youth who had taken up the life of a mercenary was now seeking to retire, and hoped to take service with House Weiss. Harold knew Charles as a man of courage and resolution, but whispers had reached Jane that he was cruel and merciless, treating defeated enemies in an inhuman fashion. Harold was reluctant to believe these rumors, but Jane was unwilling to risk taking into service a man for whom such rumors had even a chance of being true.   Word reached House Weiss that Baroness Beatrice Travis of Ross 128 sought aid in defense of her colony from a raid coming from Hyadum. As House Weiss lacked any obligation to House Travis, and Jane Weiss considered the Baroness little more than scum, the Director-General chose not to commit the lives and ships of the Guild in a fight that was none of its concern. Baroness Beatrice Travis is both Cruel and a Rulebreaker, and she and Jane basically detest each other. Barons who hold no higher title may launch raids, attacks against neighboring colonies that, if successful, damage some installations there and provide a sum of money to the raider. Raids may take place even within the same faction, where they are very annoying. We could have honorably gotten involved on the defense here, but sticking our neck out for the Evil Baroness of Ross 128 doesn't exactly seem like there's any gain in it for us on any level.  Thomas and Oriole's young daughter Alice fell badly ill near the beginning of 2504. Although, with access to House Weiss's medical care, she might recover, nonetheless there was a risk the little girl would not survive.  Meanwhile, news drifted into the Weiss Guild out of the Garrett Confederation that unrest and dissent was surging on its capital colony of Gliese 687. Were nothing to be done, Duchess Ruana Garrett risked outright revolt on her colony within two years, which would doubtless draw off some of her military forces.   While the Director-General still lay in her sickbed, Prudence Weiss was approached by a medic who wished to offer his aid in Jane's treatment, claiming he had only recently returned to Vega after a long absence and wished to be of service to the new Director-General. With his assistance, Jane rapidly completed her recovery from the terrible injuries she had sustained, and Jane and Prudence approached the man asking who he was and whether he would be willing to consider permanent service with House Weiss.  "I will gladly serve, Director-General, and I am glad to see the colony of my childhood in kinder hands. As for my name... I am Ilario Goodman. But I pledge here by my honor that I will give you faithful and loyal service if you will but have me. I wish to return home, and I do not need my brother's throne. In fact, I am simply glad to see the throne now in hands that may use it well." Ilario Goodman- he was the younger brother of King Emmanuel! He had been exiled from Vega in 2496 after speaking against his brother's brutal actions, after which he had roamed the Goodman Kingdom, Patton League, and Garrett Conferation in search of any sources he could find on the medical knowledge of the ancients in order to aid him as he served as a medic to serf, to artisan, to merchant, and to minor noble alike. Even now he might have a claim to the throne if he would but assert it. Still, after his freely-offered aid to the family that had usurped his brother's power, Jane did not believe she could honorably refuse his further service. Really, of all the randomly-generated names, we had to get Goodman here? I genuinely burst out laughing when I saw his name. Ilario is Friendly (a positive trait opposed by Reserved), which adds +20 to Diplomacy and gives the character a stronger emotional impact from events having to do with social connection with others. He is also Honorable, Intelligent, Kind, Tribal, and Dull, all of which we have seen. He also has a special trait, 'Able Medic', signified by the medical cross symbol on his bar of traits. This grants him a special 20% bonus to effectiveness in Technology assignments  Director-General Jane Weiss asked that Diplomacy make overtures of peace to the Garrett Confederation, but, for now, Duchess Ruana Garrett seemed unwilling to accept such advances. Still, Diplomacy reported that the Duchess seemed to have little real animosity towards Jane Weiss or her House, and anticipated that perhaps relations could remain stable once hostilities petered out. The Weiss Guild, Early 2504  Although the Weiss Guild's effectiveness had suffered somewhat while Jane recovered from her injuries, with the Director-General now once again in good health and high spirits things have returned to normal. Life in the Guild has remained relatively peaceful for the past two years, marred only by continuing protests against House Weiss by a minority of rabble-rousers on Vega. Even now, repair work is under way on the hydroponics station in Vega, which has proven to also have several tanks for aquaculture which could be stocked from the relatively small fish farms currently operating on Vega. Most of House Weiss's operations now proceed with a smooth and efficient competence, and even Diplomacy and Security seem to be less overstretched by their duties than when House Weiss first rose to power.   As far as House Weiss is aware, there has been little change in the basic political outlines of the colonies over the past two years, although Coordinator Walt Wang has abdicated from his throne and left the Wang Collective in the hands of his daughter, Metea. Why he would step down from the throne remains a matter for speculation.  News has reached House Weiss that the colonies at Hyadum and Alhena are being wracked by the horrific respiratory disease known as Rattle Lung, a mutated variant of influenza that periodically erupts on the colonies. Although Rattle Lung outbreaks invariably burn themselves out over time, the suffering and death inflicted in the meantime is unimaginable, with colonies barely able to function while in the grips of the disease and infected people literally drowning in the fluid that collects in their lungs. While Hyadum is receiving medics and shipments of aid from elsewhere in the Lamb Clan, Alhena has been put under strict quarantine in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease off the colony. The despair on Alhena has led to near-anarchy in the colony, the Houses barricading themselves in their complexes while desperate serfs riot in the slums. -5 wealth will basically completely shut down any colony that doesn't have extra income-generating installations as long as the disease is running. Rattle Lung outbreaks are extremely bad news. Quarantines add an extra helping of 'massive unrest increase', while coordinating aid makes it likely the faction will soon be hit by other outbreaks.  Jane Weiss once again turns her formidable abilities to ensuring that the Weiss Guild is led as ably as it can be. Her studies have continued to hone her abilities as an administrator, while her general experience as ruler and the lessons she has taken from her council have slowly strengthened her abilities in other fields.   Executive Director and Director-Heir Thomas Weiss, already a skilled administrator, has by now firmly earned the respect of the House as a worthy heir to the Director-General's throne. Although it is hopefully many years until he must take the throne, nonetheless House Weiss stands certain he shall do his best to lead the Guild with dedication and honor when that time comes. He is currently overseeing the repairs to the hydroponics station and reserving seeds and fish with which to stock the agriculture and aquaculture in the station. He and Oriole remain a couple dedicated to one another, and take happiness from their time together. He has taken up the responsibility of educating his eldest daughter Rebecca, the next in line to the throne after himself.  Although Admiral Harold Weiss was disappointed that his daughter refused to take Charles Kelley's service, he remains a staunchly loving and loyal father. He has been remotely directing peacekeeping operations on Miaplacidus, which, although effective in staunching the disorder from the resentment from the famine that had struck there earlier, nonetheless have been hampered by the delay in orders and information imposed by his inability to take personal command of the efforts.  Director-Consort Mariko Weiss has, since the establishment of a firm claim on Kajam for the Guild, focused on directing efforts to keep diplomatic channels open with Duchess Ruana Garret of the Garrett Confederation despite the ongoing war. She has been steadily maturing as a diplomat, and remains deeply devoted to her wife Jane, another marriage, like Thomas and Oriole's, that has been continuing happily for both members of the marriage.  Commissioner Oriole Weiss has been working frantically to attempt to protect the secrets of the Galileo Institute datavault, a task which has apparently put her under no little stress. She and her husband are both deeply concerned about the fragile health of their youngest daughter, and hope to see her swiftly recover.  Since before the birth of her son Allen, Technology Director Prudence Weiss has begun to grow more and more attached to her husband, regretting that Romeo's duties keep him away from Vega the vast bulk of the time. She has been continuing to focus on acquiring materials for Jane Weiss to better instruct herself on mathematics and administration, as well as coordinating the operations of the scientific, engineering, and medical teams in service to House Weiss.  Romeo Weiss has remained in residence on Kajam with only occasional visits to Vega over the past two years, continuing to ensure the efficient operating of tax collection on that colony. The birth of a new child has at least temporarily softened his attitude towards his wife, although he very clearly does not care as deeply for her as she does for him. On his last visit to Vega, he has seemed somewhat distracted, his reports to Executive Director Thomas Weiss due to his duties in Administration not showing quite the attention to detail Thomas has come to expect.  By all indications, Ilario Goodman's service to House Weiss is genuine service, despite his claim on the throne. He is a skilled and dedicated medic and well-grounded in the sciences in general, and could greatly aid Technology in its operations. The past two years have seen House Weiss strengthen its position, and the unlikely return of a member of House Goodman who shows no indication of grasping for the throne his family lost. God willing, House Weiss will continue to thrive and to guide the Weiss Guild with wisdom and justice in the coming years. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Apr 10, 2022 |
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Mar 29, 2022 19:57
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