Total War: Broken City, Book 2

[Nyrt]

ESGE

council

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in this case let be to be the first to request a building permit. I wish to comission and construct a center for the fine arts adjacent to the opera house, where this city's artists could proudly display and sell their works to interested collectors.

[ForzaFiori]

Ram Revolution (D ESP 9)

Council:

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Are you sure the building won't blow up? Apparently Lord Wallen feels that that is the most important question to ask when being asked to do anything, even when it seems completely impossible, such as now, or when the gears offered their magic wires. I can't imagine what it's like in his house, there must be bombs everywhere for him to be so cautious.

RSA (PM)

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My entire army and espionage is going to the battle against the merchants. Could the Fist and Gear protect the Network, while the Wren and I try to quickly put the merchants guild out of the picture?

[Eldan]

RSA (PM)

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"Well, we really want the Pyramid on that attack. But we can certainly take over the defence, yes."

[HerbieRAI]

Church of Neposh

To Tregon Orks and Bloodhaven (DESP 8)

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If the Orks can give us some support, we will bring in 4 MIL and 4 MAG for securing Upside Circle and the standing stone. We will then build a small mission post there, and the Orks can take over the logging in the area.

What are the Ork's religious beliefs? We want to make sure they will not have a problem with the churches influence close by.

[ForzaFiori]

Ram Revolution (D ESP 9)

RSA (PM)

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Excellent. If the blackfists can help protect the gears, that can leave their pyramid, the Wren's forces, and the Revolutionary army to march into the Guild territory - The entire army going through Stockyards Deep and into Traveller's Quarter would probably be the best plan now that a part of our forces are staying behind for defense. We could push on to the Caravanserai as well, should the first two neighborhoods go well.

House Wallen

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Will you sending debaters to the Cafe this month?

[Imperial Psycho]

Order of the Wren

RSA [PM]

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If we must protect the Celestial Network, I suggest it be done with espionage, not soldiers. I expect any attack would come by saboteurs, not soldiers as well, and it is a risk to weaken our attack, for if we do not deal a hard enough blow to Mercantile Guild, we will leave ourselves open to counter attack.

[ForzaFiori]

RSA (PM)

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The blackfists were not going to contribute to the attack to begin with, were they? I thought they were going to keep the sausage guild off of our backs while we deal with their allies. If they can contribute some espionage -assuming they have some to spare after inciting the riots - along with the gears, that would be enough to protect the network, while freeing up all our military forces for the attack.

[Thelonius]

Church of Neposh, Militia of Order & Justice, ESBA [7]

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I have reason to believe that a follower of a dangerous Ice Elf God is present in the city. The reputation of his religion is such, that I fear for safety of the good people of Sav Altulus. I have called upon Blackspell Watch to investigate the matter and would like to request your assistance as well.

ESBA is a well known force of law and justice in the city, so if you could provide support to the Watch’s search through your field offices, it would be most useful.

Neposh is known to deal with evil gods and perhaps the target of the criminal would be something in the Old City, where the old secrets of the Sav Altulus are. If you could support this investigation, that would be most helpful.

[If you would allow and support Blackspell Watch search through the Old City]

[puppyavenger]

RSA

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To answer the Ram's question in a forum where only people who I want to know can read it, Van Ryan was perhaps being somewhat..hyperbolic in describing the worst case scenario. To be honest, unless they'd been torn down or damaged beforehand, the lightning rods and spires of Factories South would attract most of the lightning anyway. And if they don't, then there will simply be a massive electrical storm no longer constrained by our technologies. So..don't live in tall buildings, make sure you're roofs aren't made of metal and hope it doesn't rain?

Now, I can assure you that as far as actual military threats to the Network go we are fairly safe. Even with the [5 Mil] and [3 Mag] we would be committing, we still a commander from the city of bells and [7 Mil] remaining, largely for some important training but they can easily jump to defend the Network if it's attacked. It's sabotage and subterfuge we would be more worried about.

[Nyrt]

ESGE

Council

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Hah!
As a matter of fact, I can. The design has been approved by our safety inspectors and has been deemed: "What this thing? Are you kidding? You couldn't get much more stable."

I appreciate the sentiment, however ridiculous, in establishing a precedent of such paranoia and petty squabbling in our council; a good way of guaranteeing it will not be permanent.

Now, surely you could not object to the rebuilding of Dogma? With the Opera house's profits, I hope to continue to improve the culture and structure of the city while funding the reconstruction of Dogma.

[Ragnar Lodbroke]

To the Gears Chosen [Public notice]
“Given the danger that your installations represent to the City; I ask you personally, and I also dare to ask you in the name of the Council from which I’m a member, to release any information that might make people more secure or help us prepare; should troubles arise, your equipment fail, and the city be in mortal peril.

What can the citizens of the city do to protect their houses and their lives in that situation?

I'd like you not to answer that "it will never happen!". As divine as your gods are, you are humans, and humans are not allmighty.

Madame Beteoui”

To the Council

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“Dear Constantine: Asking if a building is dangerous (And explosive buildings tend to be) is a good, logical first step.
And the Gear’s Network, by using magical means to produce energy, was capable of great danger, (And a greater one than we thought, as we just found out in a rather pacific manner, given the circumstances).

I Apologize for my reaction. The level of danger that the Gear’s devices has impressed me deeply, and I overreacted.

You must have been surprised as well, since I don’t believe you knew beforehand.


If a man makes a mistake and burns down his house, then it is a tragedy. But if we make a mistake… The town burns down… We can’t be allowed to make this kinds of mistakes.

While this doesn't excuse my last letter, I hope it will help you understand my reaction.

I, for one, forgive you for confusing me with Lord Wallen.
Madame Beteoui”

To the Ram

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“Yes, they will be there. Will you be sending men? We felt a bit abandoned last month. We were having a healthy debate.”

To King James

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“James… You can’t possibly be serious. When, in the History of ever, has been a good idea to unite your enemies?!?!
You jest, surely. I can’t believe you actually think this.
If the Ram was to be our enemy; it was necessary to keep them separated from the other enemies.
As our ally and a Council member, he was quiet. Sure, he was a nuisance, but he didn’t start troubles.
Now it’s only a matter of time before we have a bloodshed.

By the way, the Ram has not suffered from this in any way, politically or otherwise. We? We have.
We have more to lose from a war against them than they. We are worst prepared; and worst of all, we are divided.

If you intended to bring war to them, why haven’t you contacted us with a plan, why are you not building a coalition, why are you allowing the Wardens to keep destroying and harassing traders when you have a real enemy for them?
And why, why did you forced the enemy into a coalition without preparing your allies first?

Please leave that idea about the wisdom of uniting the revolutionary elements of the city in a coalition idea between us. I fear that if it became public, people will start to argue that the one who needs the test on political knowledge is you.
I refrained of going further with the Constitutional project in the debates because you asked me to. It was foolish of me, but I did, in the hope of creating a compromise.

And you want me to calm the SGA. When has the SGA been anything but calmed and pacific? What do you want me to calm them for?
What do you expect me to say? “Sure, the Merchant’s Guild will be taken apart by the Wardens, but it’s all for the greater good?”?

I’ll tell you what I want, for a change. I want a solution. You say you are the King, start acting like one.”

To Whitecrane

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“It sounds terrible. Ask me for anything you want. In the meantime, I will stay away from the matter”

[razovor]

The Champions of Sovereignty:

To House Wallen: [PM]

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"Yes, Lord Wallen. A period of bloodshed, and then the anarchist threat to this city will be dealt with. I will mourn every death that occurs from this conflict, as they the result of my own failure as a king, to solve the cities disputes."

"But, due to my own failure, they are necessary deaths. I could not convince the Ram to stop their destructive madness. Yes, they could have been left alone, but what would that have achieved? More death."

"Yes, More death. Because inefficiency in the government is death. Everyday their are people in this nation that die because the government did not have the resources to save them. While the Ram Revolution exists, we must use the cities resources to combat their propaganda. Because of that, a beggar dies of starvation in the streets, a worker dies from an fever that could have been treated if doctors had better training, a soldier is slaughtered by bandits because of shoddy equipment."

"We could allow the Ram to thrive, and cause thousands of casualties over the course of the next century. Or we can eliminate them, at the cost of dozens."


"I have a plan, Lord Wallen. One I have been working on for many months. And it is so close to completion. But you keep stymieing it. You are causing more deaths than you understand."

"The problem is, I simply do not know if I trust you enough to tell you it. If you betrayed me you would destroy..."

King James pauses, unable to think of an appropriate phrase.

"You would destroy everything."

[ForzaFiori]

Ram Revolution (D ESP 9)

RSA (PM)

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how difficult are these lightning rods to make?

Also, once again I ask, can we use these meetings for more than just planning war? I have recently had reports from my police force that wanted criminals are escaping justice by hiding out in lands controlled by my neighbors. You 3 represent 75% of my neighbors. If we set up extradition treaties with each other, everyone would be better off.

I also would like to discuss the possibility of bringing a branch of that road the council helped pay for through our territories, eventually winding around the the underdocks. We could call it the Waterfront Way, or some other catchy name. If everyone contributed 1 or 2 WEL, it could be built quickly, going through the Harrowing Fields (Ram Revolution), Deadman Hill (Blackfists), Downline (Blackfists), All God's Hollow (Wren), Pits (Revolution), Factories South (Gears), Mednicant's Field (Gears) and then to the Underdocks (Blackfist/Gears), so everyone would benefit. This would obvious take place after our current plans, when we have spare resources.

[Ragnar Lodbroke]

To the champions of sovereignity [PM]

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Ser Wallenstein entered the room and greted the King.

"Your Majesty, Lord Wallen received your last message and was relieved. Sadly, his compromises at the University have stopped him from coming. He has sent me instead, and I swear on my honour as a Paladin not to reveal anything we speak here to anyone save Lord Wallen himself.

I know the Party well, and I know Lord Wallen as if he was my son."

"You said you had a plan. I am here to listen to it, and to provide the help you need."

[Copper8642]

The Heladuit Court

D. Esp: 4

SGA [PM]:

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Javier takes only a few seconds to formulate his opinion once presented the facts and suggestions by the other Guild heads. Standing up, he speaks,

"It is my opinion that items 1 and 3 on your list of goals be the more important ones. The Wardens are actively bearing down on us. The Merchant's Guild is actively being beaten into submission . The Network is only a passive threat that may go off, but it is not targeting us by any means. It is more important that we remove anything actively detrimental to the Guild's existence before we take action against merely possible threats.

Continuing with those ideas in mind, I can assure that the Heladuit's military forces shall be free to assist in whatever way they are needed, but they are not a large force. My magically inclined brothers and sisters are in the midst of research, but can be called upon to enchant our soldiers if need be. The Court is, for the most part, currently free to do what it wishes with its resources, and most of them are at your disposal. Markus, the scion of my house, is an adept commander and skilled warrior, and..."

Javier realizes that many of the rational, intelligent minds of the room would view Markus's romanticized view of warfare with a sort of disdain, and chose his next words carefully,

"... he would... most likely agree to take part in any action we decide to take, with no hesitation."

To The Orcs of Tregon:

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I would not be averse to a nice meal. I only ask what you mean by my "personal" family. The Heladuit Court is my family. You wish to meet my direct progenitors and siblings? I apologize that that may be difficult to arrange, but if you don't mind, I may invite my cousin Meredia. She has a head for these social events that I never will.

-Javier Heladuit

Markus Heladuit on the Celestial Network:

"It seems to me that the argument here is whether heat and light is worth the possibility of the odd disease here or there. Can you afford to hire servants to pitch your stockpiles of enchanted bird down into your fireplaces to keep your abode well lit and warm? If you cannot, this system may be an alternative for you. I don't know what I would choose between going cold and possibly getting cancer, but I don't have to make that choice. I can afford the fireplaces, enchanted tinder, and prerequisite chimney sweeps. If you do find yourself needing to make that choice, it is my opinion that you be allowed to make it, rather than be forced into the "go cold" option."

Markus put down his pen, and leaned back into his enormous throne of a chair. Looking over his shoulder, he snapped a finger, and the servants quickly threw another bale of bird down into the fire.

Markus loved being rich.

[razovor]

The Champions of Sovereignty:

To House Wallen [PM]

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James runs his hand through his hair, visibly sweating, his face contorted with fear. His usual regal poise is gone, his hands shaking slightly.

His voice is broken, and wavers; more resembling that of a boy than a King.

"I... don't know... if I can...Lord Wallen does not share my morals...if he disagrees...if he turns against me.... It would be more than the loss of an ...ally....friend... he could turn the city against me...."

Breathing deeply, James rests his face in his hands, and is silent.

[ragingrage]

The Silversmith's Guild

SGA

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We would be interested in option 3, with hesitant support for option 1. We would propose delaying any efforts in regards to option 2 until later, as the Wardens are the more pressing threat.
Though we would not be able to contribute many soldiers ourselves, we have a large amount of wealth that could be used to help the Guild.

[Ragnar Lodbroke]

To the Champions of sovereignity [PM]

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"Your Majesty; there comes a time in the life of every man, when we must choose wether to place our trust or not in others.

True; we may have disagreements. But the question is wether we view the city as the same.

Lord Wallen and the Party feel disheartened, because they feel they have been left out, and disagree in certain decissions that were taken lately.

The words he has spoken, and the ideology the Party shows every day is genuine.
If you believe we can't create a better city together, then we do not belong together, and I will leave this room in good peace, with a promise to stay out of the way.

If, on the other hand, you feel we may create a better tomorrow together, then I urge you to speak up.
If it's a plan to stop those darn bandits, it can't be that bad!"

[puppyavenger]

To RSA

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Simplicity itself really. Well, we're rather monopolizing copper imports for ourselves at the moment, but once the new mines are operational the price of copper should go down somewhat and then it could be done easily. Just take a long, thin rod of copper or something equally conductive, and put it somewhere high.

Regarding extradition, we'd be happy to. In fact, as long as you don't interfere with our affairs or projects feel free to chase after anyone fleeing into our territory. Similarly, you've been offering petty thieves a pardon for joining your forces? We'd be happy to turn any we capture over to you. In return we simply ask for any condemned prisoners to be turned over to our custody for execution. We need unskilled labour for working on the Networks more esoteric permutations after all, and it is not a task that any free man would ever consent to, nor any imprisoned one without a death wish really. We could arrange for appropriate burials the most easily anyway.

Regarding the road, we would have to discuss it with with the Temples of the Fields, but otherwise we would be extremely interested. On a similar note, a a long term project we are hoping to work with the Technists one is a electrical tram system to carry the masses through the city, as the Sausage guild's Metro is obviously not going to be an option for the lower city in the future.

[Eldan]

RSA

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The Littlefinger and Index have already told me that many of our people think that we are focusing too much on the war and not enough on helping the people. After this battle is concluded, we should try and find some time for that. Start a few big projects.

[Grimsage Matt]

SGA[PM]

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Half of our Guards [2 MIL] and all our Code Corps [4 ESP] will go to protect the wardens. Our Current WEL is going to the Construction of a Sky Dreadnought, but that will take a while. We're also working on improving our steambikes and steam wagons, and we think we might have a new weapon soon. Can't make any promises, as we also have to inspect the celestial network.

[ForzaFiori]

RSA (PM)

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Excellent. I'm glad that we can work together for more than mutual protection.

Council:

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I would like to thank Madame Beteoui for her apology, and agree that we must be more careful in the future. Hence the adoption of the building permits. How exactly should we designate what requires a permit, by the way? Huts and hovels are built in Runner's City each day - requiring a permit for them would be next to impossible to enforce. We need a cut off point.

[puppyavenger]

RSA

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So, trams? And as we were discussing before, any [Esp] that could be dedicate to protecting the Network form attack would be appreciated.

On another note, we have the feint into Little Zachnar planned and can get Bloodhaven condemned by all the conventional temples of the city as soon as the suit is made against the Peacocks.

Technists

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Greetings, in addition to working on stopping whatever emissions from the Network terrify the Good Doctor so much, would you be willing to work on something more..productive? To be specific we are thinking of electric trams throughout the Smokeyards, since it's the only district likely to be fully wired in the near future.

[Grimsage Matt]

To the Gears Chosen

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Currently, all our Research time is alloted to either figuring out the networks problem, or a special request we're working on from a old freind of the guilds. We'll start working on it next month.

[puppyavenger]

RSA

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Incidentally, would the deal regarding how to deal with the condemned to the rest of you as well? we really do need all the unskilled labour we can get.

Technists

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Ah, some sort of airship then? Very well, we'll do some theoretical work this month and we can start the real project next month.

Wardens

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From our internal reports we think the Copper would serve us quite well. As payment we\ll be happy to give a large chunk of the Network's current profits [1 p. Wel]

[oblivion6]

Mercantile's Guild

SGA[PM]

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All my forces will be ready to defend myself and I will have the Carriage Houses ready to provide transportation to Lord Wallen and any other soldiers who need it. I suppose I better start considering troop-placements...

Silversmiths
Any aid you can spare is greatly appreciated, but dont bankrupt yourselves on our account. As of right now I would suggest hiring some Laheim mercenaries to help defend me and call it good. They are [4 WEL] for [1 MIL] but are well worth the cost. Depending on how much wealth you actually are willing to give just hire 1-2 MIL.

OOC: Dont bother negotiating through thread. Just mark it in EoT that you are hiring them to help me and they should show up.

To Council(Orc issue)

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So does anyone here object to my proposal of having the Orcs of Tregon patrolling the trade-routes for 1-2 months before granting citizenship? They could use my forts out there as staging areas for said patrols.

[ForzaFiori]

RSA (PM)

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So wait, your going to faint into Zachnar, and we're planting false info of an attack directly on the Sausage guild? Well, I suppose if I have trouble keeping up with our plan, our enemies have no chance.

As to the trams, we would be interested, once you have the technology. Provided it isn't powered by another creation that may or may not level the city. Defending you on that nearly cost me a couple of allies.

[puppyavenger]

RSA

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No, don't worry, the Network is truly a font of wounders, it can power such a system just as well.

The problem is I'm really sure how an attack on the sausage Guild is plausible, except by the Wardens? None of us really have easy access to Gilded.

[ForzaFiori]

RSA (PM)

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True... I could say the wardens are going to attack the sausage guild, while we deal with Vassari. Both of them will be busy protecting themselves while we finish the merchants off.

[puppyavenger]

RSA

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Excellent. So, who was going to bring a suit against Bloodhaven again? I've got the Temples on side (about 5-7 Mil IIRC) to attack Elfwatch and Painted court whenever we want to as well.