Blood and Mortar

[Tyr]

The Duchy was starting to take shape into an organized and functioning little pocket of society. They had supplies coming down from the forest and mountains to build what was necessary, materials coming in for working to generate tools, equipment, and money, and food was becoming plentiful. Life was looking up. So it was time for Tyr to finish the process and get things somewhat capped off. On the table for today was getting an a mill up and running, flour was hell to produce otherwise, some defenses started, and improving his Artificery. The thing worked, for the most part, but there was a bit more he could do.

The mill was first. This time he was mostly hands off. He wanted to get his people to build it for him so they might get a greater sense of pride from it. Teach people to be self-reliant and you'd be amazed how far they would go to take care of themselves. It just so happened what they'd be taking care of would benefit everyone. To that end he was finalizing some basic drawn plans, simple things burned into wooden slates so that they couldn't be erased. Paper would be wonderful but it was in short supply at the moment. Maybe he could find a way to make that...

But at the same time as he was drawing them Tyr was trying to instruct a few of the more masonically-inclined members of his Duchy in the ways of guiding construction along. Getting them to not screw up the actual veins of the windmill was key, along with the connection between the wheel and the grindstone. Also getting them to actually do this for themselves and not just because he wanted them to.

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Getting his people to build a mill.
Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledge (Leader I, Mas I, Dev I, Ind I - 20) = Threshold 70

(1/10 solo posts for January)

[Tyr]

With his people working on their first project, Tyr got to working on his own. With an economy up and running they would need a way to defend their possessions from anyone who wanted to raid the town. Guards were fantastic, but lose enough of them and you were right back where you started. Walls helped, especially with some archers to utilize them fully. Walling off the entire Duchy would be an overwhelming, and futile project. Without enough guards to watch the whole wall it could be scaled and thus rendered useless. A fortified area to retreat to would work so much better. Up and building a castle would take a while though. Better to have something quicker to build, and start long term projects from there.

A small fort and wall built of wood would suffice for now. It would still take some time, but it was a start. Make it into a sort of framework and it could be built upon in the future. Something he'd learned while being taught the basics of masonry: Wood works, stone stays. The plans were easy to draw up, he just needed more people to do it. This didn't take so much in the way of building skills so it was easier to task to less knowledgeable people. 'Dig a trench here, stick logs in it to build a wall.' That was easy enough, and would take the longest. When the actual building of the fort started he could get involved then.

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Starting a grod.
Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledge (Mas I, Lead I, Fort I - 15) = Threshold 65.
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100 Ritz deducted -Cheph

[Azuloth]

Gold Deducted: Chephros
Time to build: 2 in game months.

[Tyr]

The first group of engineers came back shortly after the second left. Something had gone wrong with the windmill. Apparently the veins turned but there was this massive grinding from the stone beneath, and not of the kind they were hoping for. It sounded like all of the weight was resting on the stone itself, and not on the supports designed to...where were the supports? Son of a-

Tyr dispatched people to get the mill halted immediately while he hastily touched up some plans. They'd have to carefully bring down the veins, get the main beam off the stone, get a support structure thrown on, then set it all back up in a hurry. With luck the grindstone wouldn't be horribly damaged by carrying the whole weight of everything, and it would be up and running at last. At worst the stone would just have to be replaced. Which would suck, but these things happen when you forget to make sure your most important part was probably held up.

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Leadership I, Masonry II, Developer I, Industry I to get his people to build a Mill based on his plans.
Stone doesn't have a difficulty so....simple like the rest of the base materials. 30 + 20 K + 25 Knowledges = 75 Threshold.
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Increased to Leadership II- +2 Stat Points -- MOD

Increased to Developer II- +2 Stat Points -- MOD

Gold deducted. -Cheph

[Tyr]

With the urgent concerns of his land taken care of Tyr focused more on his own goals. While the Artificery had everything it needed to house craftsmen there were steps he could take to make things that much easier to do. Use the river to power the bellows for instance. A proper stone furnace to heat things in, and a true oil trough for quenching. Gathering some stone from the left over building supplies the Duke started fashioning his own improved forge.

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(Short post is short)
Building a forge upgrade with 2 Granite.
Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledges (Mas II/Dev II/Ind I - 25) = Threshold 75.
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Success! Forge made!
(Solo 4/10 for January)

[Tyr]

With the forge successfully upgraded, Tyr gave the other side of his workshop some looking at. With Arthurius suddenly showing up at his shop it seemed more likely people might come by to actually do some alchemical work. Building on the setup Arthurius had started would definitely help keep that business alive, and would be useful once Tyr started getting into it himself. A solid stone table, sturdy supports for lab equipment, grinding tools, the whole works.

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Lab upgrade for the Fishery out of 1 sandstone and 3 walnut.
Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledges (Mas II/Dev II/Ind I =25) = Threshold 75.
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Success, lab upgrade complete.
(5/10 for January)

[Tyr]

With everything taken care of at home Tyr found himself dipping into his longer reaching plans. The Artificery would hopefully attract more craftsmen to the Duchy, making Mardok a hub of creation. It would boost the local economy, increase the local standard of living, and bring in more people. All they had to do was see that people were prosperous even under the harsh rules of the current government. Then came the second part of the plan. Safety. Having guards was one thing, but bandits existed everywhere, and Tyr had the distinct impression that if he ever wanted his people to truly be safe he would need to create an armed force to stand for his Duchy.

He would need to create an army.

Doing so would be a difficult task. Armaments, training, keeping order, the whole thing was an unknown beast to Tyr. He was no general, he was barely a soldier. But he could get things started early, with the goal of making life easier down the way. Stockpiled arms needed an army, garrisoned soldiers needed a barracks. If he got horses later they'd need a sizable stable, but that would come later. First the armory, because Tyr could use a place to store his crafted wares anyway. This would be something he oversaw personally by helping build the thing from the ground up. It needed to be something people couldn't easily break into, or destroy.

They started with the foundation, digging down to the hard clay beneath and laying a stone foundation. After giving it a while to settle, the construction began. Stone walls, thick timber supports everywhere, and only one door to the entire thing. Weapon and armor racks were brought in and the walls became covered with storage space. It was built solid, and it was built to house a massive force. Tyr had lofty plans, and why not lay the best groundwork you could?

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Building an armory from generic wood and stone. Working on Militarism I. Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledges (Mas II/Dev II/Fort I=25) = Threshold 75
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[Tyr]

With the armory standing it was time to move to part two. Having all of their gear stored in one place was great, but any future soldiers needed a place to stay themselves. A barracks tended to help with that one. Tyr had a fairly simple idea for one: a giant fortified room with plenty of bunked racks in it for the soldiers to get some sleep in, and cubbies lining the walls for their personal and professional possessions. It needed to be big though. Even if Tyr had no standing forces right now, he had grand plans and would rather they were all housed properly to begin with rather than him having to rush to build more places for them to sleep.

Take care of everything you can, and the rest will take care of itself.

The building started much in the same way as the armory had, digging out of the loose dirt and replacing it with a stone foundation. This time though the building was made of a lot more wood than stone. Trying to make a massive stone roof would be difficult without putting supports everywhere. It might not be as solid as the armory, but if they were under attack it wasn't likely the soldiers would all be asleep in their bunks, so the building shouldn't need to shelter them too much.

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Building a barracks from generic wood and stone. Working on Militarism I.
Simple (30) + K (20) + Knowledges (Mas II/Dev II/Fort I=25) = Threshold 75
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