The Spring of 500
The Spring of 500 proved to fairly dull for the common man - a welcome change and relief from the tumult of 499. Nothing was particularly out of the ordinary - the spring weather was showers mixed with sun that came neither too early nor too late. The cessation of fighting was also generally welcomed.
The greatest event of international moment was the signing of a treaty between Hendal, Dalmira, and Meddeland, forming a "Holy Alliance" between the three powers. Though the treaty made vague mention of horsemen in the north, these horsemen had not as-yet been much of a threat... leaving Ardans in little doubt of who the treaty was aimed at.
Hendal
King Hugh of Hendal wasted no time appointing a new royal council in the Spring of 500. The shake-up included a new Treasurer, Chancellor, chief Constable, Marshal, high Admiral, and Steward of the realm. These new appointments send tremors through the bureaucracy, where lesser officials are replaced by their superiors. In many cases, these replacements are beneficiaries of patronage or nepotism, leading many to wonder if a "spoils system" might be developing within the bureaucracy.
The King also signed the agreement of the Holy Alliance, which came as a shock to much of the populace. Though no one dared question the King's authority in signing the treaty, an alliance with Dalmira was a dramatic shift in policy - many still remembered the hard-fought West Marches war. Similarly, few regarded Ardans or the northern horsemen as much of a threat. Still, the King's word was law. Hugh - in an empty, deadpan voice - ordered the executions of several courtiers who ventured to disagree with him on the point. After that, he was told by an envoy (with a nervous, forced grin) that the treaty was being very well received by the populace and his wisdom in affixing his seal to it was met with much rejoicing in streets.
With his council appointed, King Hugh's did not have devote much more personal attention to the goings-on of the nation and spent much of his time "relaxing" in the palace.
The new Lord Treasurer, Laurens Jansingh, attempted to form a new Hendal bank. He failed utterly at this - though the bank was funded expensively by the crown, it had no other depositors or loan applications by the end of the season. The Hendal elite was simply too wary of the crown's tendency to seize wealth (and was too used to banking in Meddeland), to accept a domestic bank, even though it would have been infinitely more convenient. Meddish banking, therefore, continued to dominate even in distant Hendal.
Jansingh then undertook to create a new information network in Burnhem. He established this network with some difficulty. Coin was applied liberally to grease the right palms. It was unclear how effective it might be in the future.
Lastly, Jansingh endeavored to set up a bureaucracy to tally and survey goods being charged a sound toll, to better understand the nature of the trade passing through the straits and into the Kitrine Sea. This proved to be fairly easy to do, as much of this bureaucracy was already in place, though with his attention so divided it took Jansingh most of the season to complete the task and had yet to report any results.
Anders Wyngarden, the former governor of South Hendal, was called away to become Lord Chancellor. This nearly caused a riot in Etela, so beloved was he by the people, though he reassured them that he would still be with them in spirit.
Wyngarden, upon his arrival in the capital, began to take a census. This was a simple affair, as he only needed to count the people and assess trade (with other more complicated questions being left out of the census). He was generally successful in this, with the census being executed quickly and coming in slightly under budget. However, the estimation of the value of all trade in Hendal was still somewhat vague.
Wyngarden also began to adjust the port fees and other taxes, with the aim of lowering them somewhat. No one was exactly sure what the point of this was, but the port fees were lowered. The sound toll remained untouched.
Lastly, Wyngarden sent out to establish a messenger corps. He found enthusiastic runners and riders to carry the mail. Some mail-related stables were built, some roads renovated for the purpose of delivery, horses bought, etc. and though the mail service did not have much volume to begin with, it did succeed in improving communication across the Kingdom. Unfortunately, not all the news it brought was good, as word began to seep in from North Hendal of barbarian horsemen.
Fortunately, Baldwin Montague, the new Lord Marshal, had arrived in North Hendal to take charge of the army there. Though the men were initially a bit restless, as he was an unknown quantity and rumored to be of low former standing, his personality soon won them over. He gathered the entire northern army, some 10,000 men, together near the city of Sanapiro and drilled them relentlessly. By the end of the season, the army was noticiably more disciplined and prepared for battle - and that was saying something, given that the Hendal army was already one of the most formidable in the known world.
The North Hendal army would also have an unremarkable skirmish with a small force of barbarian horsemen. The inveterate Hendalese crossbowmen would send the barbarians scampering for safety, tails between their legs, and a hearty chuckle was had by most of the army.
Prince Henry, the King's youngest son, was named Lord Admiral. No one dared tell King Hugh that this might be a bad idea as Henry had hardly ever even seen a warship - but the King's word was law. Henry spend his time learning about the navy. He discovered that the Hendal navy had some 10,000 sailors and 300 warships, including about 30 ocean-going large ships of sail and the rest smaller ships ships confined to the coast, river, and Kitrine Sea. He also read some books about ships and did learn a little about them - though many doubted if this was any substitute for experience.
Rhett, the Lord Steward, spent much of his time teaching people to say "Hendal Ascendant!" when they spotted a Hendalian official or saw the flag. He did not meet with much success in this, though some people around the palace did start saying this whenever they saw one particular official - him.
The Lord Steward also took it upon himself to distribute maps showing the whole continent as Hendal. This venture proved expensive for the scribing and creation of the maps and also mostly failed since most people were illiterate and could not read Hendal's glorious name splashed proudly across the maps. Those who could read were confused rather than inspired - hadn't the King just signed an alliance with both Dalmira and Meddeland?
Rhett had an additional problem when it was discovered that he had been spreading pamphlets through Sanapiro praising himself. Though the pamphlets were anonymous, with messages like, "Praise Rhett!" on them, they were not hard to trace back to the source, and copies were conveyed back to the capital ironically by the newly created messenger service. The crown was said to not be very pleased.
The Iron Hands began a recruitment drive which turned out to be wildly successful as lots of eager young men joined their organization in search of adventure. The company had grown to about 1,400 strong by year's end, and there was no shortage of work to keep them in coin and bread.
Dalmira
Dalmira was a flurry of activity as the new dukes settled into their realms. Good news was had early in the season, when the King's constables captured a band of notorious criminals who had been robbing common folk across the highlands. This did much to improve public confidence in the King and the general order of law.
Prince Vytautas Krasnickas set out to make a series of new roads to connect Erdheim to its neighbors and domestic villages. Not much work was done on them, as spring rains turned the local ground to mud and workers did not accomplish much. Some coin was also lost in the attempt. He proved much more successful in building a series outposts along the Rortzen border. Though most were rudimentary wooden watchtowers, they did provide a good view of the Ardans area.
Dal'Athgar an Odal'in Uthbar, the the commoner who had been given the duchies of Gottor and Tydreach, endeavored to improve the farming practices of his peasants. Though he did not know much about farming, he was nevertheless very successful in this - it turned out he was able to introduce a variety of needful tools, like metal-hitched plows, to the population. The advancements did not even cost him any money. Still, it was doubtful if this would reduce the number of people in agriculture - after all, a serf was still a serf at the end of the day.
Uthbar was also wildly successful in getting the local blacksmiths to begin manufacturing armor and weapons. They understood that this would necessary if the Ardans heretics attacked. Ingeniously, Uthbar did not even ultimately need to purchase the weapons for his own armories, as he convinced local nobles to buy them to stock their own armories. Uthbar's great success in his first few months as a Duke did much to assuage the doubts of the local nobility, who had chafed at the idea of a man of impure, common blood ruling over them. He was also getting along well with the local blacksmiths, who soon found themselves with no shortage of work.
Henry Stolgen, Duke of Stolgen and Arevmarch, spent much of his time in his new duchy, prospecting in the Destus Gorges. His
charismatic personality allowed him to easily convince a number of people knowledgeable in mining to serve as his advisors as they prospected. After several months of searching, they locate several iron veins in the Destus Gorges, though these veins had yet to be exploited.
Ethan of Riosh lowered the port fees in Igskada, hoping that it would encourage trade and ultimately pay back even more more. Even Ethan was a bit doubtful about this plan - while the lowered fees did seem to encourage trade somewhat, Igskada was the only major port for hundreds of kilometers, and income from port fees stayed about the same.
His Majesty King Magnus Landau did not spend the season idle. He, like his fellow kings, signed the agreement of the Holy Alliance. It was received very badly in Dalmira, particularly among the nobility, who were used to thinking of Hendal and Meddeland as enemies rather than allies. Some even still wished to rekindle the West Marches War of their fathers, which had ended in a bloody stalemate 40 years ago.
The King also tried to construct a new road system - like his northern neighbor, this plan disappointingly failed, as the spring rains brought mudslides that prevented any real work from being done, though a few small stretches of road were started.
Magnus Landau was also unsuccessful in locating new veins of metal for his laborers to work. However, the iron mines, which had been shuttered for the winter after a combination of snow, mining accidents, and administrative disorder had closed them. The re-opened mines and renewed trade in iron provided a much needed source of revenue from the crown.
King Magnus' newly appointed High Councillor, Armand, begins looking into the administration of the army in the holds of reducing costs. He only manages to cut costs a little - everything, at least for the moment, seems to be in order. Armand also dispatches his own surveyors to search for minerals - they are more successful in this than the King's, uncovering a new iron vein. However, it will require workers to exploit it - the existing iron veins have more or less consumed the existing workforce.
Maximillian Wiegraf, Duke of Victorsburg and Foldgart, began a program of land re-allocation in Viktorsburg, hoping to attract farmers by offering them new tracts - or essentially more - land. He proved to be fairly successful in this, with a few thousand new farmers arriving to take up the offer. Some coin, however, had to be spent on re-writing the copyhold agreements and related expenses.
He had mixed success with building new mills, grainaries, and common buildings to increase crop yields. Some such structures were built, but their impact remained to be seen.
Lastly, Maximillian inquired into the past of the wizard being kept in his cells. He discovered that the man was, unsurprisingly, imprisoned on accusations of sorcery. When asked, the man also quickly proved himself to be a magician of some competence - he claimed to an illusionist, who had made his way through petty entertainment. However, he had no gold to give the church - leaving Maximillian wondering what should be done about him.
Perhaps inspired by the King of Dalmira's crackdown, Sofia begins a crackdown on crime in Victorsland. This crackdown is generally successful and popular amongst the people. Unfortunately, this crackdown consumes much of her time and she is not able to focus so much on combat training.
In Weldheim, Prince Augustyn Landau attempted to convince burghers to move to Weldheim. Unfortunately, a highly publicized and destructive fire in Weldheim coincided with this campaign and it was utterly unsuccesful. If anything, some burghers had left the city. Augustyn had more success trying to divine the use of the statuette. He determined it had something to do with the possibility of dragon attacks and that the item was meant to be a charm against them - though how it worked, he could not say. The investigation cost him some small amount of coin, as he had to purchase a rare set of books.
Meddeland
With the ascension of Maximillian Briarling to the Meddish throne - and the end of the main line of Brier kings in favor of their Briarling cousins - came a new administrations and new policies. The new King would sign the new treaty of Holy Alliance. It was, as elsewhere, not received well domestically, with much of the populace doubting that Dalmira would actually intervene to protect Meddeland from Ardans, and few relishing the obligation to march to war to defend Dalmira from Ardans or Hendal from some northern horsemen.
Alfons Windfell, the Lord High Treasurer, was given the job of appealing to the Great Council for funds, which were of course necessary for any project the crown might wish to undertake. The Council was reluctant to grant money that might be used to renew the war with Ardans, as they had granted thousands of ducats to Maximillian's predecessor with little to show for it but defeats and devestation. The Great Council ultimately granted the King 240 ducats to last until the end of the year - which was a lot less than the crown had been hoping for, and also not nearly the long-term agreement Windfell had wanted.
Windfell also began to explore the possibility of auctioning off the King's salt monopoly (with the King's blessing, of course), and proved to be much more successful in this. He cleverly played off potential bidders amongst wealthy salt merchants and concerns, and ultimately received an astounding top bid of 2200 ducats for the salt monopoly (whereas most people had thought it worth, at most, half as much), so long as it would be ceded in perpetuity. The King had yet to accept this highly generous offer. It was a large sum, to be sure, but without the salt monopoly the King would be even more dependent on the Great Council for revenue.
Sane Thunderfalcon, the Lord Justicar, would begin a recruiting drive for the army, with the promise of generous rewards for any who took up the cause of fighting the Ardans. This proved to be a reasonably successful campaign, despite popular lethargy for the war. About 5,000 new recruits enlisted. The flip side was, of course, that these new soldiers had to be paid, and money was spent on the recruiting campaign.
The Lord Justicar also declared that he would assemble an "Orshaftsbook," meant to be a survey of the nation's valuable goods and production. The necessary surveys were easily completed, but the information - distributed across many thousands of documents - had yet to be compiled into the book form that the Justicar had desired.
Leopold Zweigler - a former
duelist of some renown was initially named Lord Marshal (the Duke of Vantage would later take up the role). He would take command of the Meddish army, camped not far from the east bank of the Bar River. Over the course of the season, Zweigler's army would almost double in size to 25,000, though many of the new arrivals were raw recruits. This was owing to an order from the King that all soldiers in the Kingdom should join the army - they did this, though many were concerned that the redeployment would leave the nation without adequate police forces and garrisons in its great cities.
Zweigler began to drill these troops, mostly in standard formations and maneuevers to accommodate the new recruits. The Meddish army, disheartened by defeat and the loss of their previous commander, would not take take this practice to heart, but Zweigler nevertheless saw it through.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only there. Late in the season, the army of Ardans would arrive, exhausted from a successful forced march that had taken them to all five of Ardans' great cities. The Ardans army would camp on the opposite bank of the Bar River, with the two armies ultimately basing themselves so close to each other that they were within sight of one another. Tensions ran high, as the enemy powers had technically never signed any kind of a peace treaty. The Ardans army and the Meddish army began to patrol the west and east banks of the river, respectively. The situation was untenable and bound to explode into violence - and it did. One foggy morning, a Meddish patrol with a panicky commander was convinced that the Ardans were about to attack him and ordered his archers to fire on the Ardans (which they did). Several Ardans were killed or wounded in the volley; the Ardans army quickly advanced to the bank of the river and launched a reprisal attack with their few archers before pulling back to their attack.
The incident was disheartening for the Meddish army, who did not seem eager to re-engage the Ardans. However, it luckily did not turn into outright warfare as neither army crossed the river in the aftermath of the skirmish.
Ishwari Yohae Kishburne sets on a trek westward through North Meddeland, burning down buildings as he goes and generally causing chaos - with no army to stop him, the task seems easy. However, one night, after he has laid down to rest, he is attacked by a stranger dressed as a monk. Kishburne is moderately wounded in the assault but fights off the attacker, who disappears into the night.
Ardans
In Ardans, the economic, rather than the military situation would concern the nation. Henrik dan Vant, the Marcher, a
duelist of some reknown but also known as somewhat
irreverant initially planned to conduct a census - the need for which was almost universally agreed upon. However, realizing that he would first require census-takers, Vant offered double-salaries to any would be willing to work as census takers, tax collectors, or the like. (This was assumed to mean double the Meddish salary of 40 centimes a year). He found a number of enthusiatic takers, with thousands of bureaucrats joining the ranks by the season's end and preparing for the census, but his order to "collect taxes" was not executed, as no one had any idea what these taxes might be.
The other oligarchs - who had yet style themselves generals, but nevertheless were acting as such - did much to clarify the tax regimen. Reynald dan Haaken, known "the Vandal," to the men, raised the soldier's salaries from 1 argen a year to 160 centimes. The raise was well-received, though everyone who could count was quite sure it was not "double," as the Vandal was once heard to claim. His promises of loot also mostly fell on deaf ears, as most of the troops he addressed were stationed locally and there was therefore only place this "loot" could from - Ardans. His speeches were not helped by the fact that he kept forgetting what he meant say half-way through.
The Vandal would also set up a toll in the critical passes and valleys around Moraille, with the army setting up checkpoints in the passes and exacting payment from travellers. Haaken was very successful in collecting this toll. Good sums were collected, and with the Vandal threatening death for corruption, little seemed to be lost to corruption. However, Haaken was not known as the Vandal for nothing, and his sometimes arbitrary and heavy-handed methodology in collecting the toll would lead to the unfortunate nasty rumors that the army were acting like common bandits, robbing convoys. It did nothing to endear the new government to the local population. Additionally, it seemed unlikely that the toll would continue to be collected if Haaken were reassigned (or at least, not with the same vigor), as it had hardly been levied as a conventional tax in any sense.
Michel Szabolcsi would be tasked with the bulk of conventional national tax collection. He would first levy a tax of ten centimes per head in every city - this would prove virtually impossible without a census. Though Szabolcsi did contrive to collect some fees, these were grudgingly given by the populace to whom - after all - ten centimes might be ten percent of their income. It was about the same as city taxes elsewhere, though, so they could hardly complain too much.
His efforts to produce a mining tax would be much more successful. Szabolcsi would assemble a force of newly recruited bureaucrats who - rather than sitting on their hands - were instructed to survey mining companies, quarries, and guilds, and levy an estimated 10% tax on their proceeds.
Szabolcsi's plan to create trading houses to oversee commerce was also executed well enough as could be expected, and most agreed that they would probably prove a boon to trade in general. The trading houses began hearing the concerns of the merchants among their other functions. Ironically one of the first complaints heard in the chamber was about Haaken the Vandal and his tax on trade near Moraille.
Javert Dupont would take command of the army of Ardans. Though many wondered why the Marcher himself would not command this force, no one could doubt Dupont's skill - he executed a forced march of almost 1,500 kilometers in a little over two months, something that many had though simply impossible to do. Doubtless the offer of a bonus to all those who completed the march was helpful. His march took him to every one of the nation's major cities and he ultimately mustered a force of 21,500 men who ultimately camped on the west bank of the Bar River, with Dupont declaring it the Bar River Army.
They would drill and patrol with gusto, though near the end of the month, an Ardans patrol would be attacked - quite unprovoked - by the Meddish army camped on the opposite side of the river. The Ardans army would launch a fierce rebuke against the Meddish before returning to the camp, furious, to contemplate their next moves.
Tavan Morin
The Dagch Morin would lead his people south into Hendal proper during the spring, generally making for the city of Sanapiro - this would become known as their destination because they did not know the way, and would often have to ask/coerce strangers for directions. The Tavan Morin were happy to see Hendal's greener pastures but would move slowly through the valleys and hills of North Hendal. Long lines of slow moving horses could been seen as the Tavan Morin's tribe went from place to place. Towns that were encountered were sacked with the Dagch Morin's encouragement - however, no valuable prisoners that might have been of interest to the Dagch Morin were taken. The trinkets, loot, and food captured would somewhat increase his prestige, but his warband would stay at about 1,000 riders, with many who wished to loot treasures from the villages simply going off on their own to do it.
Gonji Alakhai Torgehan, of the Tavan Morin, would ride south towards Sanapiro, sacking and looting villages as he went. His own warband would easily double from about 300 raiders to 600, and word of his notoriety spread quickly in Hendal. However, when he actually reached Sanapiro, he would come into disastrous contact with the Hendalese Northern Army - 10,000 strong and led by Baldwin Montague - while it was out on maneuvers. Torgehan would sound a general retreat rather than try to fight the overwhelmingly superior force, but it would prove harder than he expected - fifty of his riders were cut down by crossbow fire before he could escape. He hastily beat a long retreat back to the rest of the Tavan Morin. When he returned to camp, another fifty men had lost their appetite for raiding, and his warband was thus left at 500. Word of the defeat would also reach Rizzo "Agsaldai," and his raiders, who had been pillaging along the roads, and they too would halt their advance towards Sanapiro.
Of the Tavan Morin raiders, Ja'hani Chisan would earn the greatest reputation for brutality. He did not concern himself with prisoners, simply riding south along the coast and burning every village that he came across, chasing out the villagers and then hunting them down for some kind of cruel sport. This was vicious but proved time consuming, but some among the Tavan Morin though it fun. His warband had grown to 600 by the end of the season.
Doba Morin Kh'azaro Octarz would spend part of the season trying to tame and ride the Roc; eventually, the bird would allow him onto its back, though steering or telling it what to do remained problematic. Next, he would try to form a band of fast riders - he ultimately recruited about 500 willing to go on a raid with him - many were impressed that he had ridden the Roc. It brought the number of men under his banner to about 800. Unfortunately, this left little time for actual raiding.
Jo'chi Hasar would attempt to count the Tavan Morin. He would essentially fail in trying to convince others to help him - most would get bored and wander off - but through his positive attitude and hard work, he managed to estimate that there were at least a hundred thousand horses among the Tavan Morin - many, to be sure. However, most Tavan Morin were not interested in counting and his warband suffered for it; he had only about a hundred followers left by the end of the season.
The so-called "Onion Sage" travelled south to Northern Hendal. He made good progress on his walk and learned a little of the language but was generally not well received in the villages, where news of the barbarian horsemen from the north was fast spreading. He was forced to flee on more than one occasion.
Other
Superius Xavier VII decreed that Victorsburg was a holy city - this no one disputed. However, the surprise for everyone came next, when the Superius decreed that a new High Church would be constructed within the Aerean mountains. Many of the clerical orders were shocked. While there was scriptural precedent for the removal of the Superiacy from the High Church at Victorsburg - the site where Namid had dictated the Eternal Law down on man - this had not been done for 300 years. Nevertheless, scouts returned saying they thought they had found a suitable place in the mountains - technically in King Magnus' demesne, near the south face of the mountains. Whether or not the King would approve of the Superius trying to construct a new city in his territory remained to be seen.
Dwaler collects some valuable herbs and plants and sells them, raising about 5 ducats for himself.
((end of update. Next deadline will be in a week, ie: next Saturday.))
Hint: The more orders you submit, the less likely each one of them will be to succeed. The broader or more expansive the orders, the bigger the penalty.
))
