"The meeting will come to order. The Inner Council is in session. This is the first meeting of 1444 of the First Regency Council." Dr. Arden Vellin looked at the men sitting around the table with him. "Present are Dr. Ardin Vellin, First Councillor and Chairman; Theran Rinn, Councillor for Foreign Affairs; Tomar Grade, Councillor for the Exchequer; Roald Kellner, Councillor for the Interior; General Worral Yann, Commander of the Legions; Admiral Jared Coll, Commander of the Fleet; Archprelate Thandra Ellas, Order of Lucia and Councillor for Justice; and Raden Ghere, Councillor for Special Projects." Vellin continued: "As this is the first meeting of the current session, we will dispense with reading the minutes and go straight to business. As the Council may recall, last year it was suggested that the problems we were experiencing with the metallurgy project might be due to divine interference. The State Church was asked to investigate, both at the project facilities here in Thalcedon, and at the mines in Kasovia. Archprelate Ellas has the investigators' reports." The cleric straightened in her chair. "The Church's investigators quickly determined that the ore shipments being delivered here were definitely cursed, which came as little surprise to us." She smiled wryly. "What *was* a surprise was that we found divine emanations from more than one god present in the ore. As a stop-gap measure, priests from the Order of Torronir were brought in to bless the project facilities and all arriving ore shipments. An expedition was then dispatched to the mines." Raden Ghere leaned forward. "Thandra, was the expedition able to determine if there had been a temple at the mine site before the Sinari War?" The Archprelate nodded. "Yes. The mine site had been consecrated to the Lord of the Earth, one of the Elder Gods. The temple was razed, but we couldn't tell if the Kasovians or the Sinari were responsible. However, the Kasovians were definitely responsible for the Demerhaze-cult symbols inscribed at the mouths of the mine shafts." Ghere grimaced. "That would go a long way towards explaining the two earthquakes which destroyed both of our attempts at building a pilot smelter . . . and it also explains why nothing else was damaged." "The expedition removed the symbols," said the Archprelate, "and that should have dispelled that malign influence of Demerhaze. Unfortunately, priests of the Lord of the Earth are hard to find, but we are looking. Still, Torronir's intercession should let the project proceed much more smoothly." "Well, I'm sure we're all glad to hear that," said Dr. Vellin, smiling. "Now, General Yann, your report." The general nodded, and said, "As you know, the Legions have suffered since the Sinari War. The war hurt us, badly, and when the late General Zenos rebelled and took half the Legions with him, that didn't help. With Zenos dead, a large part of his forces resisted to the end and had to be destroyed. Not counting untrained peasant levies pressed into service and since released, we're at slightly less than half our strength before the Sinari got religion. The loss of Vizinia hurts recruiting somewhat, but frankly, the big problem is that if we try to recruit up back to prewar strength from the rural areas where we've traditionally gotten most of the Legions, we'll start to cut too deeply into our farm labor force. I don't need to tell you the havoc food shortages cause." General Yann paused for a sip of water, then continued. "Frankly, the Legion structure needs reform. Our doctrine is old, our weapons and armor have been more or less the same for centuries, and we need to make changes. As far as arms and armor is concerned, the metallurgy project that Ghere is running will help, *if* you can make the production process practical. Our first priority, however, is restructuring the Legions we have, and beginning to recruit back up to strength at a sustainable rate. Best estimate, it'll take about five years to restructure the legions and recruit up to strength, if I can get the funds from Grade." The Exchequer Councillor chuckled. "You'll have the funds, Yann. Tax revenues are nearly back to pre-war levels, so even with the metallurgy project, we should be able to pay your bills." "Very good," said Dr. Vellin. "I believe Admiral Coll is next on the agenda." The admiral grimaced. "Considering that my fleet consists of five galleys and a handful of revenue cutters, the title of Admiral is a bit of a reach. From my point of view, we need to try to persuade Vizinia and Zelkor to join the United Provinces. Vizina has good timber for shipbuilding, and Zelkor's got some of the best shipyards on the MidSea, as well as a lot of ships that *used* to belong to us and were trapped there after the Sinari War. Given that we were forced to cede Talishara to Mir, we need Zelkor's port. Without it, rebuilding the navy will go much slower." "We will do what we can, Admiral Coll," replied Councillor Rinn, "But I can't promise miracles. The Vizinians may be easier to bring back to the fold than the Zelkori, but who knows? I will have instructions sent to our embassies." "Well, I think we've established our priorities for the coming year," said Dr. Vellin. "We'll have to put them before the full council, but approval shouldn't be a problem. Now, let's take a short break for refreshments." * * * * * Action 1: The Metallurgy Project Weight: Single, Strategic With the discovery and countering of the divine curse on the project, work should proceed much more smoothly this year. In fact, the end appears in sight: the new smelter's construction is going well, the small quantity of the new alloy already produced seems to be eveything that the alchemists predicted, and with a little luck, full production might be possible. Difficulty: Normal Fudge Points: 4 Action 2: Rebuild the Legions Weight: Single, Strategic(5yr plan) With the Civil War over, many of the peasants who were drafted into the legions were released. Now, the Legions, in order to maintain their professionalism, need to recruit back up to strength at a sustainable rate. Current legionaries will provide cadre for the new formations and recruits. The plan is to focus recruiting in the cities, but the whole of the republic will be drawn upon. Both the Sinari War and the Civil War showed that there were serious problems with the Legion's doctrine and organization. To remedy that, at the same time the Legions are recruiting, they will also reorganize to become more maneuverable. Depending on the metals project, changes may be made to equipment. Difficulty: Normal Factors: Labor is short in rural areas, but it's in surplus in the cities--legion life is hard, but it's much better than being part of Cedonia's urban poor. Cedonia has, for the moment, sworn off conquest; for the foreseeable future, the Legions' duties are going to be largely defensive. Action 3: Reunification Weight: Double As discussed by the Inner Council, instructions are dispatched to the Cedonian diplomatic missions in Vizinia and Zelkor to open negotiations in the matter of joining the United Provinces. Vizinia is valuble as a source of labor and resources, and Zelkor has the best anchorage and shipyards in the Southwest MidSea. Negotiations are likely to be tricky in both places; the Vizinians had favored General Zenos, and some of the Zelkori suspect that the Cedonians created the financial crisis that allowed Zelkor to be annexed to the Empire before the Sinari Invasion. Still, things are different in the United Provinces, and the UPC can offer military protection to Vizinia, and access to markets to the Zelkori. Difficulty: Normal Factors: Essentially, past history of the parties is tempered by the change in government in Cedonia and the things they can offer. Fudge Points: 3 Andrew __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
