Game 1 Recap - Leader perspective
The day after my coronation, when I held court for the first time, three parties waited to entreat me to support their cause. My first choice as a ruler, and I was nervous. The Builder's Guild offered me an alliance, first pick of their best workers for any job. I was hesitant to commit to one of the professional guilds, as I will likely require all of their services at some point or another. My advisers, including Grandma Marjorie wanted to create a bureaucratic system to maximize logistical efficiency within the province. Lastly, the Masons advised strengthening the walls of our port against attacks from hostile powers. Perhaps I am still inexperienced, but Grandma's suggestion seemed the best course of action. Though the peace is tenuous, it holds still, and I do not want to be the one who hastens it's end by casting aspersions upon other provinces. A truly virtuous nation should have no need of physical defenses.
The office we set up is known as the Ventney Shipping Company, and works closely with my captains to ensure a proper use befalls any goods obtained from our voyages. For this decision, they call me 'The Efficient.' I only hope I can live up to the title.
The other royals who also came of age recently include Bjork the second, known as 'The Mariner' for her hands on approach to her nation's navy, Andri Andriovich, who has yet to make a name for himself and Marisa Corvelli, calling herself 'The Glorious,' that proud and haughty upstart. Just because the previous ruler of Restonia managed to claim credit for the discovery of two of the newly discovered islands, she thinks she's next in line to be Emperor! I'll show her what ruling is really about.
As I came of age near the end of the harvest, we gathered the country's revenue to our treasury and began planning a budget for the coming year. Grandma Marjorie advocated a rather aggressive use of the funds, for expeditions to the Barrenwood Isle, where she has been nursing a good relation with the natives. Her advice seems sound, so I followed it with no compunction, and together we sailed out on the sea.
The experience was like no other I'd ever had. Of course I had been trained to sail as ship from a young age, along with courtly manners and the art of intrigue, but that had only been along the coast, or in the harbor. This was truly breaking free of all bonds, sailing till my shining home had receded from site and until a sorry excuse for land rose upon the horizon. This small mass of land was what everyone was excited about! I was skeptical at first, but as I watched Grandma haggle with the natives, and drink their rough spirits, smoke their fine spice, I began to see that there was more to the island than merely it's appearances. I heard rumors of locations inland that hid ancient sites, and remembered a scene from my recurring dream, where in a large cave in a rocky bay, disaster struck a crew. I must have fainted, for when I came to, I was back upon the ship, and Marjorie had a wet cloth to my forehead. She said it must have been the spice, which I was not terribly accustomed to, as it was a rare find back in the homeland.
We had obtained twice as much lumber as we had expected to, and several pounds of spice as well! Despite the success of our mission, I realized that to have both myself and Grandma on an expedition was too risky for our nation, and decreed she remain at court to ensure things ran smoothly in my absence. My health remained a concern on the voyage home, and only as we pulled up to the docks did I feel fully recovered.
What a joy it was to walk upon land again. To see the smiling faces of the townsfolk, and hear the fishermen hawking their day's catch. (Though I had grown tired of the smell of brine.) We swiftly headed towards the VSC warehouse with our goods, only to run into an impeccably dressed, devilishly handsome man, who curiously enough was missing a finger from his left hand.
He introduced himself as Randy Four-finger, and begged an immediate audience with myself. Marjorie was dead-set against it, offended by his impertinence. I could see, however, that he was not ordinary man, from his dress and his manners, and granted him leave to speak. What he told me was wondrous to hear, so much so that at first I thought him a charlatan. He spoke of a process by which he could change the lumber in our hold to a substance as hard as iron! He called this process 'Transmutation', and claimed to have mastered the art of Alchemy. He offered his services in exchange for a position at my court, and after conferring with the dock master, who verified Randy's reputation, I accepted. Marjorie was suspicious, and never let the two of us alone together, fearing ill intent on the part of the gentleman, but I quickly learned, to my dismay, that despite his fine features, he had but one passion, that of his alchemy.
He worked with such singular focus that within a month, a tower had been constructed watching the harbor, with a cannon mounted on top. The other provinces had moved quickly to gather their own resources, and I could not afford to allow them to take ours. Despite my earlier naivete, I had learned on our short voyage that the world was a dangerous place, and caution was never misplaced.
Now that we had secured our gains, I tasked the VSC with determining the most efficient method to utilize them. I discovered however, that though the officials were very efficient in the transport and care of important substances, they were very poor decision makers. I grew so fed up with their dithering and feuding among themselves that I began to study architecture myself. Ere long, word reached me of a capable Master Carpenter. One who went by the name Colin Brown. He had just arrived in our province, traveling overland from Bjorkport, where his services were unwanted. I sent a missive, summoning him to a private audience, and spoke to the old man of my studies. While conferring, he agreed to tutor me in exchange for the chance to achieve a lifelong dream he had harbored. He wished to build a tower, at the top of which resided a powerful looking glass that he called a 'Telescope.' This device would render us able to study the stars in great detail, and surely assist in our oceanic navigation. I found the deal quite to my liking, and directed Marjorie to grant the man an official title as Court Architect. In exchange for this boon, Colin agreed to direct work upgrading 'The Shining Inspiration,' our far-sailing Carrack. He outfitted it with sconces to burn spice for the crew's inspiration, to improve the visual and auditory senses, and soothe the nerves.
I continued my tutelage under Colin, learning of particular methods for joining beams and distributing loads evenly, and began to take an interest in the stars. Colin revealed himself to harbor superstitions, and explained how to read the cosmos to see events yet to pass. Though I found it nonsense at first, it proved correct in a fashion, though not as exact as desired. After some time had passed, I realized I had neglected the finances of our nation, and was forced to take a collection to properly outfit our ships for a seaward journey once again. We saw them off with much fanfare and exhilaration in our hearts, though neither I nor Marjorie would accompany them this time. I was too busy with my duties as ruler, and Marjorie had come down with a long-lasting sickness. Not even the best of doctor's could cure it. They merely recommended time and care.
As such, I had placed a distant cousin, one Captain Sorensen, in charge of 'The Shining Inspiration' to act in my stead, with responsibility and honorable conduct. Unfortunately, he lost his way upon the righteous path, although it was with good intentions, as is so often the case. I learned a lesson that day, that family does not make fortune. Captain Sorensen, upon arriving at Barrenwood Isle found a dirty faced young man upon the beach, having been stranded by the crew of another province's ship. Pip Snowder is an excitable young man, with a perpetually soot-stained face and obsessed with the working of ships of war. In gratitude for his rescue, he informed my delegate captain of a source of lumber on the island, and led him to it during the night. The lumber was easily harvested, but near the end of their work, a group of natives set upon our men with spears and axes, jabbering about a sacred grove being desecrated. Pip had neglected to mention that this lumber was accounted for already. Several natives died during the altercation, leaving a black mark upon our relations with the island. This weighs heavy upon my heart, for I wish no harm upon rival provinces, and even less so on those unable to defend themselves. I resolved to make the trip myself when next we visited, and to endeavor to make amends for our transgression.
The lumber was brought to our land, and the incident to my attention, leading to the decommissioning of Sorensen, now a lower-level clerk in the VSC, a safer location for one without the judgment to identify poor decisions. However, now that the lumber was ours, I saw no reason not to use it. I had developed plans, under Colin's Tutelage for an open air marketplace, with gates and tents for the weather. It was my first project, and I oversaw the construction personally. I tore more court dresses than I can count before adopting the slacks that were common among the workers. Wealth should never be wasted. I feel I have become closer to my people, less of a monarch and more of a beloved ruler. When the market opened, word had spread of the beauty of the design and the rarity and fine nature of the goods for sale inside. One rather besotted bard sang a song in my honor (perhaps hoping for my honor as well) announcing that the "Land Has Awoken!" In the midst of the celebration, my foreman approached me and begged my time. Having worked side by side with him for weeks, I followed without question.
He told me of his dreams, dreams of dark ships sailing for our harbor, with evil upon their minds. And as he pointed to the horizon, I saw, in my mind's eye, another vision from my own dream, of the dead ships that sail beyond sight, searching and waiting like sharks to a frenzy at the slightest sign of weakness. I did not return to the celebration, for my mind was occupied with weightier matters. I began to see how we could construct our defensive towers in better locations, with more refined cannons, to better protect our harbor. I was late to bed that night, ink staining my hands, and a pile of crumpled paper besides my desk.
And then, winter came again. One full year since my coronation had passed. I looked back upon what we had accomplished with joy in my heart. Grandma Marjorie had recovered from her sickness in the later days of the harvest, Randy had approached me regarding some further experiments he wished to perform, along with a veritable book of details, and Colin was itching to build once more, he said he could feel it in his finger bones.
With the taxes from the harvest, Colin hand-picked a team to work on 'The Shining Inspiration', reinforcing the hull for even the worst elements. He also fixed a leak on 'The Reicewind,' which had prevented it from even patrolling our coastal waters. So prepared, I set forth with the fleet again, bound for the Isle de Bjork. One of the deckhands was manning the rigging, and we sailed almost twice as fast. His name was Tanto, and the captain couldn't praise him highly enough. I took the man into my service, to serve as an Admiral upon our ships, though he seemed uncomfortable with the responsibility. He led us to a field of spice on the Isle, and revealed that it was where he had been born. I directed the captain to reward the men, but it seems they were not the most diligent of crew, for they took off during the night. To my shock and dismay, my own grandmother led them. She was later seen in Restonia, leading me to believe some sort of espionage or intrigue was to blame.
Not to be put off by the loss of a crew that held no loyalty in their hearts, the captain told me of a cove they had scouted on the leeward side of the island that was treacherous to access, but showed signs of development. I directed him to take us there post-haste. I could smell the glory upon the air. We nearly ran aground on some shallow rocks, but our luck held, and we made it through the channel, to find more natives, slightly more reticent, but offering linen of fine make in trade for other goods. There were several trails, one less worn, but clearly built by fine masons that led away from this cove. When asked about the stone pathway, the natives turned mute, and merely looked at us with wide eyes. Not to be put off by superstition, I directed the crew of the Reicewind to investigate and report back afterward.
We found the last member of the crew a week later, hugging a pine tree in the wilds of the island and whispering of Arados, of the doom that lurks beneath the waves. His whispers were the same as the others we'd found, and struck an uneasy tone in my stomach, but with naught to prove such ramblings were anything but, I put them out of the question, and took us all home. The men were never the same again, and I heard whispers of Arados spread wide in the coming months. All who heard the name knew who had discovered such a terrible secret, if it were even truth at all, and though it brought ill omens, it became a tool I could use when necessary to convince the reticent to adopt my plans.
With such ill tidings, and the discovery of some extensive damage having occurred to the hulls of our ships, we brought them up on land for re-caulking and repairs, it will be another year before anyone from Ventney sails beyond sight of Seacall Bay, but when we do, we will go better prepared, better armed, and with an eye to the dangers we now know lurk unseen. Now, I must excuse myself, for I have tea with Randy to attend, and he has some rather interesting theories about how one might make lead into gold.