Run By: Kukla (Credit: Sessus Ormi)

Synopsis: A little domain maintenance by a stressed-out money god.

 

Kukla walks out of a long dark tunnel that shimmers away to nothingness a moment later.

Kukla has arrived.

You say, "It's Awareness + Wits with 2 auto-successes due to my compassion."

Kukla hopes we get a peanut gallery.

Wages of Sin walks out of a long dark tunnel that shimmers away to nothingness a moment later.

Wages of Sin has arrived.

Kukla says, "Okay, what's your domain again? Coinage and other fiat currency?"

Ragara Ayesha walks out of a long dark tunnel that shimmers away to nothingness a moment later.

Ragara Ayesha has arrived.

Twin Fox walks out of a long dark tunnel that shimmers away to nothingness a moment later.

Twin Fox has arrived.

-= OOC =- Twin Fox tackles.

-= OOC =- Wages of Sin throws peanuts at people

You say, "The economy in general - coins, money, the state of trade"

You say, "I'm higher up than a straight coin god would be (at E5 - coin god would be more localized than I am). Also, I've decided - sheerly for my own amusement - that Dad didn't retire."

You say, "He imploded. :P Fucking Solars!"

Ryudori is heavily overworking Ryudori ICly to get across the point that he might be next.

Kukla nodnods.

Kukla says, "Well, I can tell you this:"

Silver Knight walks out of a long dark tunnel that shimmers away to nothingness a moment later.

Silver Knight has arrived.

Kukla says, "After shadowed fortune skullfucked the guild, things have gone pretty steeply downhill since."

You say, "I am also wearing him. Because it's funny to me if I have a ring that is also my father."

You say, "Yeah, I gathered."

Kukla says, "The collaboration of Orduin of the Tools, Ragara Ayesha, Silver Knight, and other luminaries did a lot to arrest the fall."

-= OOC =- Silver Knight did something useful, what?

You say, "Nice of them. ;)"

Kukla says, "Weren't you involved in that?"

Kukla says, "The economy is still pretty bad off, though:"

Kukla says, "Shipping is down, and that cuts down on the ability of people to exploit comparative advantage."

Kukla says, "If you can't ship the necessities in from outside, then it doesn't matter that you can make more money selling luxuries, you /need/ the necessities."

Kukla says, "So you make em' yourself."

You say, "Right. It builds self-reliance. Which in turn creates self-sustained states."

Kukla says, "In some cases, Solars and Terrestrials have deployed powerful bureaucracy charms to ensure continued supply."

You say, "Which is horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE for the general economy."

Kukla says, "Self-reliance, bu- What you said."

Ragara Ayesha says, "The Civil War is probably ruining things quickly. The main nations of the Threshold (except in the East) with few exceptions are all satrapies, and they are warring. It is a Wold War!"

You say, "Because they never need to trade ever."

Kukla says, "Oh, right."

Kukla says, "Yeah, the Civil War is pretty much sucking money out of the world as hard as it can."

You say, "The Civil War is actually probably both good and bad."

You say, "War is great for business."

You say, "On the other hand, it's expensive."

Kukla says, "Eve"No, it's not good for business."

Kukla says, "Because dynasts don't /pay/, they just /take/."

You say, "Well. I'm lookin gat it from a...ohhhh"

Ragara Ayesha says, "It is good for business... for those not fighting!"

Kukla says, "And if you give em' lip they /end/ you because they have a massive force advantage."

Ragara Ayesha says, "But most nations are fighting."

You say, "See I was looking at it from a real-world perspective. Not from a Dynast one."

Kukla says, "That's what I'm here to remind you of."

Kukla says, "Don't think of it like taxing colonies."

You say, "And yes, yes they do, and I need to stay out of that and work with what I can."

Ryudori nods.

Kukla says, "Think of it like pillaging the New World."

You say, "Yeah. It's one-sided. Entirely."

You say, "And will end in disaster no matter what happens."

Kukla says, "Well, except where it isn't."

Kukla says, "It's usually one-sided, but some places have their own empowered local defenders."

Kukla says, "However, you're only the god of the economy in the East, I believe...?"

You say, "Pretty much"

You say, "I haven't defined out any of my coworkers"

Kukla says, "I believe you report to a higher deity, who we should probably work out some details on."

You say, "But I figure we all have the pretty much the same issues"

Ragara Ayesha says, "I imagine things might be fine economically speaking for... Gem? Lookshy? Maybe Sijan? They can trade stuff the warriors need. Maybe Paragon too, Paragon is only a satrapy in name :)"

Kukla says, "And you get together to bitch."

Ryudori figured it was more four or five gods on the same level all looking to be promoted ot that empty slot.

Ryudori wanted a healthy bit of backstabbing possible, because that's Heaven.

Kukla says, "Paragon has an Eclipse."

Kukla says, "They are fine."

-= OOC =- Silver Knight says, "Massive salt and water production from the Cerulean Spire."

Kukla chuckles.

Ryudori likes challenges. Wouldn't be playing a god of the single most skullfucked domain ever if he didn't.

You say, "What is with me and skullfucking these days? I blame Gohan."

You say, "Anyway."

You say, "I'll work out my competitors/coworkers and see how ruthlessly bastardish I can make them, but it clearly needs to be a good offset to Ryu and his temperate philosophy of self-control. What else do I need to know, and what places are MOST damaged?"

Kukla says, "Most damaged..."

Kukla thinks.

Kukla says, "I /would/ have said Great Forks, since their entire economy is based on export."

Silver Knight says, "Nexus?"

Kukla says, "ButPhilokrates aggressively warded them using bureaumancy."

Silver Knight says, "I mean, that was the center of Guild power."

Kukla says, "Nexus is probably in poorer shape than usual."

You say, "So I'll need to have a talk with Emissary at some point and see if he won't give me permission to do a bit of fiddling locally."

Kukla says, "However, I imagine the Emissary is busily warding them up and augmenting their import network."

Silver Knight says, "Small communities that export a lot would also be in pretty shabby shape."

Wages of Sin says, "Well I imagine the theater and the money it took to build it helped quite a bit"

Kukla says, "Right."

Kukla says, "Syme gave me a whole talk on this..."

Wages of Sin says, "In NExus"

Ryudori nods and will offer his help to the Emissary when he has a free moment.

Kukla says, "...A lot of Farmers, basically, have no motivation to produce food for export any more."

Kukla says, "So they underproduce."

Kukla says, "Because it's not worth the effort, and it's always wise to leave food fallow."

Kukla says, "In the long run, this leads to some famine."

Wages of Sin says, "Talk to Scip, hes trying to fix Nexus but doesnt have the buero fu to really do it"

Kukla says, "Something like that. I need to talk to him again."

Kukla says, "Syme's an economist."

You say, "I figured that's what would happen, yeah - they need to use less land."

Kukla says, "If you look on the old forums, there should be a thread started by him in the OOC Discussion forum about general economic topics."

You say, "LAG. >.<"

Wages of Sin has left.

You say, "I'll take a look. Let's move to the next issue: which cities are causing the most trouble?"

Kukla hrmg.

Kukla says, "That is a /hard/ question. Give me some time to consider it."

Kukla says, "Logically, the hardest hit would be those that depended on the trade network to exist properly at all."

You say, "Not hardest hit - causing trouble."

Kukla says, "...Elaborate?"

You say, "Which ones are trying to exert their force and take over other cities, which ones are taking advantage of the collapse of the Guild to run around unchecked, which ones are manipulating the economy's damage to their own ends"

Ragara Ayesha will work in Great Forks.

Silver Knight hmms.

Kukla says, "Oh!"

Kukla says, "Jeez."

Kukla says, "Hmm."

You say, "Cities with dominant trade networks who are abusing them are as big a threat as a city that doesn't because if the city collapses, the infrastructure takes a hit again. My goal is to get the East to be self-reliant and not have one person or small group of people in charge."

say Because we saw what happened there.

You say, "Because we saw what happened there."

Ragara Ayesha says, "Cities causing trouble: *points to Chronopolis*"

Kukla says, "Great Forks too, definitely, then."

You say, "I already talked to Viper about it."

Kukla says, "Nexus... Sijan..."

Kukla says, "...Jeez, pretty much every major economic center."

You say, "Bastards xD"

Kukla says, "They're all using this to expand their own power in to the monopoly once held by the Guild."

Silver Knight points to Saltwater Vale as well. "Though it's not active dominance, it's just how powerful a combination of an airship network + salt production can be, I imagine."

Ragara Ayesha says, "Merchants are a greedy, egoistic lot :)"

You say, "So my options come down to taking the hand of a smaller nation and empowering it to be a pseudo-economical sword"

Ragara Ayesha says, "Except me, I am ascetic and constructive -_-"

You say, "Or trying to curb the nature of merchants as it stands."

You say, "And the local city gods."

You say, "I could also force a recession on one of these cities and subject it to its neighbors' predations, but that is both out of character for me and will not be received well in Heaven or Earth."

You say, "I don't want to make enemies, I want to make friends so we can all work together because I am a goddamn idealist"

You say, "(Except those other bastards in my bureau)"

You say, "(God I hate them!)"

Silver Knight says, "You could also try to influence the powerful merchant concerns."

Silver Knight says, "A new trade network would benefit them all."

You say, "I've been toying with using my cult to influence the mortal side of economy."

Kukla says, "I'm not really clear on what alternative you're trying to create here."

You say, "What I'm trying to do is avoid one nation with complete and total economic power while at the same time setting up some form of infrastructure."

You say, "Right now, this economy is in horrible flux - coin is valued and devalued, people don't have a static or even unilaterally accepted coinage, and big cities are wielding their relative power to push around smaller ones and attempt takeovers because of lack of regulation and neutrality."

Silver Knight says, "I know I'm bias, but... airship infrastructure! :D"

You say, "There is no stock market right now."

You say, "The stock market has been ripped out from under us."

Kukla says, "I don't think there ever was."

You say, "It's a metaphor."

Twin Fox says, "What's a meta for?"

You say, "The Guild wasn't literally a stock market, but it was a neutral economic power, was my point."

Kukla says, "Yes, but, I mean - what alternative are you trying to create?"

Kukla /stares/ at Ryudori.

Kukla says, "What?"

Kukla says, "Neutral?"

Kukla says, "Are you /high/?"

Kukla says, "On the /crack/ that they violently forced in to every market they entered?"

You say, "No. Neutral as in non-city."

You say, "To my knowledge."

You say, "I have never heard too much about the guild in general, in my defense"

Silver Knight says, "They weren't neutral in that regard. They were essentially Nexus-centric."

You say, "People tend to skim over it or start discussing how it was Mortal and thus easily blown out of the water and so on"

You say, "Okay, see, I wasn't aware of that."

Kukla says, "I should get you a copy of Manacle and Coin."

You say, "What I would -like- to set up is some form of neutral economic center - honestly the idea of some form of stock market (invest in a farmer, get some return) is not a horrible one in my mind, but needs more definition than that. I would also like to try to avoid the cities in poverty being ripe for predation by the richer cities."

Kukla says, "Well, you could start levying blessings on the poor and curses on the rich."

You say, "I wasn't coming into this with solutions, I was coming into this looking for problems so I could brainstorm them. :3"

Kukla says, "It'll take a lot of energy and committed essence, but it's a valid solution."

Ragara Ayesha says, "The Guild was horrendously predatory. It ruined entire nations with drugs or embargos when it fit the merchant princes interests."

Kukla says, "Assuming none of those cities are championed by Exalted who intend to beat hell out of you."

You say, "I don't penalize the rich. I'm not an evil god. I want everybody to be uplifted."

Kukla says, "Well, I don't mean curse them arbitrarily."

Kukla says, "You could curse their efforts to prey on the weak."

You say, "I want to talk to the various city-gods who are doing this and see if I can't talk them out of what they're doing."

Ryudori nods.

Ragara Ayesha says, "Manacle and Coin and Salt and Blood really drive the point about how nasty it was :/"

Kukla says, "They had some pretty nasty competition."

You say, "What happened to their competition?"

Kukla says, "It's not like they were the only bad folks around. They needed to be vicious to survive competing with supernatural-types."

You say, "Anyway. One thing I do want to find is which city is currently the poorest, the weakest, the worst-off."

Kukla says, "Define 'city'"

Kukla says, "Because there are a lot of, like, farming villages that have collapsed in to anarchy and just dissolved, or the like."

You say, "Town large enough to have a deity who would be defined as a city god by the bureaus."

Ragara Ayesha says, "House Cynis was part of the competition. But really, business ethics as non-existant in Creation as Human Rights :)"

Kukla says, "I assume there's a minimum qualification- Ah, that's a straightforward definition."

You say, "Town big enough that it has a still-existing infrastructure even if it's starting to collapse inwards."

You say, "Town of more than 100,000 people."

You say, "Take your pick."

Kukla horg.

Kukla looks at the map.

Ragara Ayesha says, "Thorns"

Silver Knight says, "Thorns is probably a good pick."

Kukla says, "Thorns works."

You say, "Isn't Thorns in Mask of Winter/now Walker's thrall?"

Kukla says, "Although the city god of thorns is, uh..."

Kukla says, "...New."

Kukla says, "No, it was liberated."

You say, "Okay."

You say, "Good, new city god is good."

You say, "Very good. Early riser in my corner, more likely to want to listen to me."

Ragara Ayesha says, "Did Ord clean up the shadowland?"

You say, "Perfect. Who's the biggest merchant influence int he town?"

Ragara Ayesha says, "And is Lookshy still occupying the city?"

You say, "Whether small group or just a generally influential merchant. Also, who is the poorest man in town?"

Twin Fox is probably.

Twin Fox is really bad at being a man.

Kukla says, "Ayesha: It was never resolved."

Kukla says, "Let me think for a minute."

You say, "Suretainly."

Kukla says, "I'm going to assume that it was not - however, the shadowland is rapidly shrinking."

Kukla says, "Ultimately, the world-healing geomancy of the task is difficult for him, since he has only Medicine 1."

Kukla says, "However, with Duality, he could brute-force it to an extent by redirecting dragon lines of Wood Essence in to the coastal zone."

Kukla says, "Some side effects might occur as a result, but it's the fastest way to shrink the shadowland available to him at the time."

Kukla says, "How long ago was that, again?"

Kukla says, "About a year?"

Kukla says, "ICly, I mean."

Kukla says, "Biggest merchant influence?"

Kukla says, "That would be the Pearl Alliance."

Kukla says, "The city was Immaculate before the coming of the Mask, and they're largely immaculate now, although less with the 'destroy all Anathema'."

Kukla says, "Now it's more 'politely rebuke all Anathema'."

Kukla says, "Anyway, the Pearl Alliance has moved back in, and - well, to say they control the city would be a gross exaggeration."

Kukla says, "There are, maybe, 6 Dynasts there."

Kukla says, "And they have to tread a bit lightly because there are like 1,500 war ghosts left in the city, loyal to the city."

Kukla says, "And maybe more, worse things in the catacombs."

Kukla says, "But hey!"

Kukla says, "They pay the tribute!"

Twin Fox perches atop Kukla.

Kukla says, "And they revere the Terrestrials!"

Ragara Ayesha says, "The queen of Thorns was re-throned, IIRC. But Lookshy had a garrison. Also, some Abyssal established a cult to Mask using social charms."

Kukla says, "So the Pearl Alliance handles a lot of the shipping and ocean trade."

You say, "Okay. And who's the poorest man in the city?"

Kukla says, "There are several hundred slaves tied for that, given that they own nothing whatsoever."

Ryudori hrms. "Okay."

Silver Knight says, "Which one has no family or loved ones?"

Kukla says, "If we extend poverty to 'illness and lack of personal quality', I can narrow it down."

Kukla says, "That doesn't narrow it down much, SK>"

You say, "No, I want someone who's a slave and poor by the devices of fate."

Silver Knight says, "Who is the man who has nothing left to lose then?"

You say, "Shush"

You say, "! :P"

Ryudori has qualifications he's looking for. "Who is the poorest man in the city, brought low by twists of fate, but still bright and (if it can be determined) noble, with bearings less of a slave and more of a man who has been taught the meaning of poverty after a life with his eyes closed?"

Kukla says, "There's a man who used to be a member of the royal court."

Kukla says, "He was enslaved and turned in to a labor-thrall by the necrosurgeons. His hands now end in iron hooks, and he has gone mute from the horror of his existence."

Kukla says, "None know his true nature, so he labors still."

You say, "Er...too far gone for my purposes, I need someone who still has, um"

You say, "Hands and voice."

Twin Fox has the same problem with her cat.

Ryudori hehes.

Silver Knight says, "Forge him new hands of gold and silver that he might value them again."

You say, "I can't forge shit, my craft is 0. :P"

Silver Knight says, "I could do it."

You say, "Are you in my corner?"

Silver Knight is in anyone's corner who wants to improve Creation.

You say, "Here's what I want - I want a man who will be capable of, with a small Divine Decree backing him, getting control of a substantial amount of Thorns' economy in order to establish a trade base not controlled by the Dynasts. At the same time, the Divine Decree must persist only while he keeps his prices fair - gouging, or cheating, or otherwise abusing this gift will instantly cancel out the Decree, and all the spirits I'll be commanding to help him will immediately stop."

You say, "I want to make Thorns my sword in the end."You say, "If not directly, then at least through this man."

Twin Fox can forge stuff! With her hammer she can make many flat versions of things.

Twin Fox demonstrates on her cat.

Kukla says, "Oh, sure, let's see."

You say, "I want Thorns' economy to persist once the Pearl Alliance has been beaten by the cathaks (sorry, I'm a Cathak, you knew it was coming :P), I want a mortal who can effectively rally the non-Pearl Merchants, I want a mortal who will be capable of making money."

Ragara Ayesha says, "That kind of intervention is dangerous in a pro-immaculate city. Probably very illegal."

Kukla says, "A man, enslaved by the Dynasts, sold in to the property of a labor rental company."

You say, "It isn't specifically illegal, no"

Kukla says, "And Ayesha has a good point."

You say, "Not by Immaculate tenants"

Kukla says, "Well, it'll piss off the Dynasts, which makes it functionally illegal."

Silver Knight says, "It's considered a violation of the Immaculate precepts, actually."

You say, "Is it?"

Ryudori hrms. "Fucking Immaculates."

Silver Knight says, "A god dealing with a mere mortal is a big no-no. The DBs are considered to be the ONLY go-betweens for mortals and gods."

You say, "...actually"

You say, "...is there an Outcaste who fits my profile?"

Silver Knight says, "There's a reason the Immaculate order goes around beating up gods who directly meddle with mortal communities."

You say, "Now that I think of this?"

You say, "In any city, any Outcaste, any Dragonblood lost egg who could conceivably become my weapon."

Twin Fox can helpfully make them flat, too.

Ryudori is thinking on broad terms here. Gods are challenging! ^.^

Kukla says, "In /any/ city?"

Kukla says, "Sure."

Kukla says, "Not in Thorns, though."

Kukla says, "They all got scooped up in to the Alliance."

You say, "Right."

Kukla does a quick random grid...

(Judge) Kukla rolls>

(Judge) Kukla rolls 1: [ 9 ]

        Resulting in 1 successes.

(Judge) Kukla rolls 1: [ 5 ]

        Resulting in a failure.

Ragara Ayesha says, "Thorns Dbs tended to get adopted by the Great Houses."

You say, "Pick me one in a less-Immaculate-heavy city if possible."

Kukla says, "Damn, way on the east end."

You say, "But I won't be picky."

You say, "It's a gamble even doing this.,"

You say, "More likely to get out of my hands than a mortal, too, but that's the risk you've got to take. @.@"

Ragara Ayesha says, "You are looking for an honest outcast DB that knows about trade. Those are... rare. Very :)"

Kukla says, "There's an outcaste martial artist and regular-artist in Marita."

You say, "Perfect."

Kukla says, "Makes a living selling his art, mostly.

Ryudori erases 'outcast' and 'everything after DB', leaves: 'honest DB is very rare', and agrees.

You say, "Excellent. How heavily faithful to the Immaculates is he?"

Ragara Ayesha hey, now :(

You say, "If at all?"

Kukla says, "He likes the idea that he's an immortal bodhissatva, but he's done enough bad stuff in his life to suspect that it's not wholly accurate."

Twin Fox has left.

Kukla says, "His name is Rogiriri, and his title is The Heron And Ten."

You say, "Is he receptive to the idea of aiding a god in bettering Creation?"

Kukla says, "You'll need to buy him as an ally for anything major, but yes he is."

Ryudori has EXP floating, yeah. :P

Kukla says, "You can use your Divine Decree to favor it."

You say, "Rock on."

You say, "My Divine Decree will be thus:"

You say, "For so long as Rogiriri, The Heron and Ten, is honest in his price and strives to better the world, let the little gods of coin and commodity, of gem and gleam, of money and barter, aid him in his goals and flow to him freely - but should he betray this goal, let them abandon him, let them never darken his door again, and may he never again hold more than what he needs to live as penance."

Ryudori leaves it just vague enough to probably be exploitable, but specific enough for it to take some work and determination.

Kukla says, "'aight, I think we're done here."

You say, "Indeed. I'll buy him as an ally."

You say, "What is he, dot one?"

Kukla nods.

Ryudori notes that just burned 40 Motes and 4 WP. :P

Kukla says, "And the motes are, I believe, committed indefinitely?"

You say, "No"

You say, "Divine Decree is a one-time expenditure"

You say, "It can be gotten around though (penalties or benefits)"

You say, "It's not literally a blessing, he doesn't receive any trait benefits"

You say, "Think of it as now I've given him the ability to favor resources"

You say, "He'll still have to work on his own to buy them"

You say, "I haven't done anything for him but make it easier for him to make money."

You say, "I've facilitated, but there's no direct, numerical benefit that he's receiving - dots of Resources aren't falling into his lap."

Kukla says, "He is going to go gamble his way to wealth for starters."

You say, "That's cool by me."

You say, "However he wants to make his money so long as he follows my decree. Gambling is good! It gets money out there!"

Ryudori is pro-gambling!

Kukla says, "In to him, at any rate."

Ryudori hehs. "Right. Anyway."

You say, "I know this will, eventually, come back to bite me."

You say, "But it wouldn't be any fun if it didn't! :P"

(Judge) Kukla rolls 1: [ 3 ]

        Resulting in a failure.

Ragara Ayesha says, "Well, he is no businessman, he needs to learn the trade and get a charm or two :)"

You say, "'course."

You say, "at the moment, I'm not looking for a perfect businessman."

You say, "I'd rather have an artist than a businessman because an artist will be more idealistic."

You say, "(In the long run, anyway)"

You say, "I want that idealism. Not the pure beauracratic power of most people."

You say, "Anyway. *boinks!*"