Eli's silence tells Joey that he has had to put up with this sort of thing the entire time.  He reaches to comfort the poor boy.

"Thanks for being so eager, Shelly.  Yes we should, Tread.  It would be a good idea to lighten Eli's load as much as we can while we're here.  He deserves a break."

  "It would be nice to spend at least some time here not involved with 'fat man starts riots' details.  Even if that is still work."  If the wildlife starts attacking them in the middle of the desk job portion of running the kingdom though, he's OUTAHERE.

Eli is relieved at the fact Grigori chose life. He smiles when Joey hugs him and looks up at the bunch. "Thanks."

When the group gets to doing their duties as leaders of the kingdom, Eli sticks with them as much as possible, mostly sleeping with Tread, but sometimes having some kind of pajama party with the group, so they can just have fun together.

Shelly is more than happy to partake in such things and is usually the life of such.

Joey smiles at the Eli cuddles.

Joey glances at Scott and smirks.  "That would sound strange out of context.  I never imagined this was the life of a national leader." 

"Dealing with the occasional rabble rouser isn't that unusual," Addleworth says, "What is exceptional is leaders who personally deal with such let alone the dangers of the wild frontier.  But the results are very impressive.  Your kingdom is growing several times faster that is traditionally expected.  Though I suppose your explosive growth should be attributed to other factors such as the threat of a civil war in Brevoy."

"I wonder if the other groups are doing this well."

"News is sparce from those regions but from what I've read, They're at least off to a decent start."

He's more than happy to pajama party with Eli and Shelly, sings songs for them, and tells fables and such.

  "How often does political slander involve charm magic anyways, considering your past experience in this line of work Addleworth?"  Scott will not be surprised to learn that this place has it the absolute worst of problems short of dealing with an actual war (which may happen anyways).

  Scott isn't sure how normal the whole pajama party thing is, but hey it beats sleeping in the zen rock garden.

At one of the times the group is all together, Tread summons everyone in the ruling body and says, "You know... that attack was as subtle as a stampede. But I can only imagine it is only a matter of time before we get more physical attacks, like an army. Or if our enemy wants to remain anonymous, a hired band of bandits sent to just cause havoc. Sure, we would be able to stomp such bandits, but the damage would already be done. We need preventative measures. I'm thinking we focus on kingdom defense before we go back out. One tactic I was considering is training all our military forces in archery. If a gate's scout sees something coming that can't be handled by normal gate guard, he can ring a bell to summon dozens who will pepper the enemy with arrows before they can get within range. I would even go as far as to say we should have martial training available to ALL our people until we at least have walls put up around the kingdom. Then, whoever attacks, our people can keep their distance and fire arrows."

Eli says, "Can't make it mandatory for civilians, or fewer will attend such training. I propose making such a training program a competition. Archery competitions tend to draw even the least interested to pick up and dust off their bows."

Shelly says, "....while archery is not something I'm terribly familiar with, the concept of mandatory making things less desirable than a competition is a familiar thing. What do you think, Addleworth?"

"Don't know specifics," Addleworth answers Scott, "But besides the more common practices of wearing magic items that boost one's charisma, I imagine using spellcasters is also quite common.  Why not use every tool at one's disposal to frustrate one's enemy?"

He nods at Shelly, looking impressed.   "An excellent idea.  It would be risky for a kingdom who's people are on the verge of rebellion or civil war.  But yours being a stable frontier nation, it should work out well as a supplement to your primary defense strategy.  Just know that a militia is no substitute for a disciplined, and unfortunately costly, military.  They work fine as a support force but historically fall apart if called upon as the primary defense against an organized enemy."

"I agree it is time to focus on bolstering our defenses," Joey says with a nod to Tread, "I've been giving some serious thought to devoting the next several months of my time to strengthening the kingdom.  Perhaps even sending a substitute healer with you on your next adventure if need be."

  Their budding kingdom at least had the advantage of counter-intuitive metagame logic bolstering it's growth (Well, it was either that or even more disasters than usual).

  "Though I suppose this all depends on how many of the citizens know the first thing about archery."  Have you seen the average stats of the nameless populace?  Yeesh.

Eli says, "That's why I mentioned a training program. Those who do know can train those who don't. The selling point being that we will have competitions to make people interested in the training."

Shelly says, "We'll have to make sure there's a minor fee for the training. Otherwise, people will assume the training isn't worth their time. Put a price tag on something, and all the sudden, it's higher quality somehow." Ironic that a price tag causes people to come in more droves than if it were free. "Plus, that will help pay for the time of whoever is training."

Tread says, "We can all give the wilderness a rest so we can focus on defense." she then looks around at her allies and gives an endearing smile to each of them. "And focus on each other."

Eli smiles, looking quite excited that his friends might be staying.

Joey reaches to pet smiley Eli with a big smile of his own.

"All good ideas.  And considering Erastil is the god of the hunt who's holy symbol is the bow, we could ask Jhod to pitch in.  I'm sure he'll be thrilled at the idea of a nation of archers."

Joey smiles eagerly at Tread.

"Always a pleasure to focus on friends.  Did you have something specific in mind?  Because I do.  Namely I wanted to talk to the about Eli spending so much time away from us.  I'm considering talking to Jhod about taking my place as team healer during the wilderness excursions."

  Meanwhile in the wilderness, animals are getting frustrated at no random encounters triggering.  They only needed one more adventuring party to level up!

  At Joey's suggestion, he says "While I wouldn't mind not leaving Eli all alone to deal with the city himself, I wonder if Jhod could handle going out with us."  Look, Eli's got wizard spells.  That qualifies him more than the average 'I charge you gold for cure disease' NPC.

Eli points out, "The Leventons have been caring for me whenever you guys head out. I know Jhod is a healer, Joey, but he would die much quicker than you out there. And you're just as much a healer as Jhod is. I believe in you bunch to be tough tnough to stay alive. I don't like that you get hurt, and I realize now that is what was too hard for me to watch when I was out with you all. But I am willing to give it another shot if it means spending time with you guys once the defenses are built."

Shelly says, "I'm all for discussing togetherness. I <squeak>love</squeak> you guys!"

Tread nods. "Jhod isn't built for the adventuring life. But as far as Eli going with? Well... let's see how the defenses look when we're done with them. But I'm thinking ONE of us needs to stay behind if Eli tags along. Too many rulers away from the kingdom could be bad..."

"Love you too, Shelly," Joey answers the otter with an endearing smile.

"If not Jhod, then I suppose I could put a word in with both churches to ask for an experienced combat healer to fill in for me.  But in any case, this kingdom is only getting bigger and requires more and more attention...  Leaving less and less time for good quality togetherness."

"If I may suggest," Addleworth interjects, "The hiring of secretaries and other support staff is a time honored technique for reducing work load, and as a nation prospers so also does its capacity for supporting the staff needed to run it smoothly.  At present the combined salaries for each of you to have a full time assistant would be negligible within the budget."

"What about hiring adventurers to deal with the frontier exploration so we can devote ourselves to statesmanship?"

"You could give that a try, but I have my doubts that you will be able to find adventurers that will meet your requirements.  Many adventuring groups would likely have killed the grigs you befriended, for example."

Joey sighs.  "You're probably right."

  Bloodsword B McBloodhammer wonders why nobody is hiring him, he polished his shoulder skulls and everything!

  "I somehow suspect a smooth bureaucratic process will be as much, or more hard than outsourcing exploration."

Shelly says, "Scott has a point. Would we find secretaries who meet our requirements?"

Eli says, "Maybe not, but the difference is that out in the field, killing in self-defense is fine even by our standards. Here, though, the law arrests people and leaves killing to a very last resort."

Tread says, "And we will have enough of our people here to make sure whatever secretaries we hire will stick to our standards. Here in the city, we can look over the shoulders of who we hire while the rest of us go out into the field. Out there, though, we have nobody to watch over the shoulder of hired adventurers. And if we went to watch them ourselves, that would defeat the purpose of hiring them."

Shelly says, "Still, my question stands."

Addleworth shrugs.  "I suppose that is up to you.  I would think that fewer secretaries are the kind to kill fairies on sight than adventurers, but I cannot say for certain since none of the secretaries I've known have had the opportunity to kill a grig that I'm aware of."

"Guess time will tell, then," Joey says, "Let's hire some, give them a fake opportunity to be evil, and rewared or fire them depending on how they do on the test."

  These pixies are just RUINING my paperwork! What's the Damage dice on a memo spike?

  "Uh, setting people up with false circumstances and then calling it a 'test' seems kind of roundabout, and would make us look like assholes if they were not more gullible than we'd like to hire."

  Okay, we're leaving you alone with the kingdom treasury.  Have fun!  Also the lock is broken.  OH MY GODS WHY WOULD YOU STEAL FIVE DOLLARS SILVER.

Shelly says, "Real life brings tests. Which is why people earn trust and ranks. It's been quite some time now since the kingdom was set up. I'm sure Svetlana has found good people who deserve positions of authority by now."

Eli shrugs and looks at Addelworth, "Isn't it a rule that no matter what you do as a ruler, you look like a jerk?"

Tread says, "Even if so, what we decide has an impact on how much and how often people think that."

Shelly adds, "Not to mention how well we stand up to false rumors like the kind Grigori was slinging."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:12, Tue 23 Sept 2014.

Addleworth nods to Eli and the girls.  "There is a reason for the expression 'You can't please all the people all the time.'  Scott is right about those potential drawbacks of such an approach.  Also, most new hires are on guard against getting caught doing something questionable.  There are simpler ways to guard against errant underlings.  A rank system for one, as Shelly pointed out..."

He outlines a few other basics.

Joey shrugs.  "Whatever works."

  "Just like all the other realities of ruling settling in, it's becoming clear that 'make it up as you go, but act like you know better anyways' is a widely practiced situation."

Shelly giggles and answers Scott, "If a ruling body ever admits they were wrong about something, the people lose faith in them.... deja'vu. I feel we've exchanged these words before."

Eli says, "Seems odd to have to make it up so much when hundreds of kings have gone before us with tried-and-true methods."

Tread says, "But of those hundreds, only a handful at best have met the kinds of standards we are setting. We aren't willing to do some of the ruthless or downright immoral things that most kings do to settle problems."

Addleworth chuckles.  "Quite right.  Just bear in mind that no matter how mighty the king, good or evil, certain things will always weaken the kingdom.  Such as what Shelly just pointed out."

"I'm of the opinion that it is because of the virtues we put forward that our kingdom is prospering, not in spite of them," Joey asserts.

"One virtue in particular," Addleworth apparently agrees, "So far you have respected Brevoy's boundaries.  They are watching closely for if you do not.  Claim but one square foot of their land and no doubt they will declare war in a heartbeat."

"That...'s hardly a virtue.  Even an evil person wouldn't be that stupid."

"You might be surprised."

Joey looks skeptical.

  "I expect that to not turn up as a problem, until Brevoy starts declaring our own expansion efforts were theirs the whole time.  Fortunately, as they are likely too lazy to do so until we have made the outermost lands hospitable we may have some time before that happens."

  After a moment, he adds, "I suppose we should hope our works make attacking us require a PR campaign to convince their people it is a good idea to die in foreign lands they should be proud of, if they do not simple relying on conscription to accomplish it."

Eli says, "Don't forget Brevoy is still in a cold war. One move to conquer us, and Brevoy's enemies will take it as a threat to them, simply because expansionism is seen as a threat to everyone around the expansionist."

Shelly glances at Eli. "For someone who doesn't like violence, you sure know your stuff about war politics."

Eli says, "Not like it hasn't been the news for the past several years. But yeah... because I dislike violence, I take great interest in anything that could avoid it. Such as stalemates, political agreements, and what toes to avoid stepping on. In this case, don't step on your neighbor's toes by expanding. In fact, it is why we are not considered officially of Brevoy, just allies of Brevoy."

Shelly says, "In short, we don't have anything to worry about for now. When Brevoy starts gearing up for war, we can worry. But at that conjuncture, unless Brevoy has done something horribly evil, I doubt we would refuse a military alliance with Brevoy."

Tread says, "Along Joey's sentiments, I can only hope that prosperity or not, we serve as a good example to our neighbors that being benevolent is a valid leadership method."

"It will most likely be the Surtova family that will make such a claim on your lands," Addleworth agrees with Scott, "When they do, they will do doubt claim that because the land grant you received did no bear the royal seal that it is not valid and will therefor claim that your hold upon the land is unlawful.

"But to remove you from office now will mean that they will have to also take upon themselves the responsibility of defending these people - something they are not willing to expend their already strained time and resources on - for failure to do so will be a public relations disaster that could very well spell the end of their tenuous claim to the throne of Brevoy.  Not to mention that your benefactors - The Swordlords of Restov - wisely arranged that yours is an independent nation.  As Eli pointed out, any overt actions against you by the Surtovas will open them up to allegations of expansionism, giving the Swordlords more diplomatic capitol to make alliances with other nations against the Surtovas.

"The balance will likely be maintained so long as you do not officially declare a military alliance with Restov - something they hope you will do after Noleski makes his move.  Before then, the Surtovas may attempt to diplomatically persuade you to join them, hire secret agents to frame the Swordlords for some disaster that may befall your people, or, and in my opinion what they'll consider the least risky choice, wait until the wilderness claims your lives, destroys your nation, and makes the Swordlords look foolish for trying to civilize an un-tamable tract of land that thousands of years of history have been unable to conquer for very long."

"Cheery," Joey grumbles.

"I was speaking from Noleski's perspective.  I myself expect you all to succeed in taming this land for at least a generation or two.  Long enough to decide the future of Brevoy."

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence.  But is it true that we're here illegally?"

"That's a gray area of law that is debatable.  Considering that the Surtovas have essentially usurped a vacant throne against the wishes of the nation, it could be argued anything they put the royal seal on is null and void anyway.  On the other hand, when a king and his family vanish, is it really illegal for someone to step up and assume control in their absence?  So if it is illegal for you to be here, then it is equally illegal for the Surtovas to be doing what they are doing.  Historically, many new settlements have no choice but to establish themselves in the absence of a legal authority to do so, so the true legality of your claim is not really that much of a concern if it could be established at all.  Enemies will find an excuse to oppose you, legitimate or not.  But as Scott pointed out, the more legitimate you all appear, the more illegitimate your enemies will appear when they oppose you."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Thu 02 Oct 2014.