I'm not including the elections as an action this year. Suffice it to
say that the Zelkori raid into Vizinia drives a number of Vizinian
nobles in Parliment into the arms of the War Party. While the
Constitutional Monarchists maintain control of their coalition, the War
Party gains influence within the coalition.
Action 1: War Drums, Part 1: Wooden Ships and Iron Men
Weight: Single, Strategic
Description: Sedonia flexes its military muscles. The VIII, IX, and X
Legions are activated and Parliment passes an emergency appropriations
bill authorizing a massive expansion of both army and navy. 10 more
Legions are to be raised, about 75,000 men, while the Imperial Navy's
authorized strength of 42 ships and 10,800 men is tripled to 126 ships
and 32,400 men. While the soldiers can be raised relatively quickly,
training the troops and building the ships will take time. Every
shipyard in Sedonia is to be converted to military production.
Sedonia has four naval shipyards in Thalsedon, Inibar, Gomel, and Vizur,
and ten more major civilian yards. The military yards have 16 building
slips suitable for major warships between them, and the civilian yards
have another 26 slips, a total of 42 slips. Each ship takes about four
to six months to build, allowing the fleet expansion to be completed in
about two years, given the need to replace losses from the battle off
Zelkor Harbor. Adding in training time, it will take at least three
years to complete the expansion, but individual ships will be ready sooner.
As the ships are built and crewed, they will join the main fleet based
out of Thalsedon.
Difficulty: Normal
Subparts:
+ Supply construction materials
+ Construct ships
+ Recruit sailors
+ Train sailors
Fudge Points: Up to 2 fudge points gained from Part IV of A Sudden Death
in Thalsedon.
Action 2: War Drums, Part 2: I Want *YOU* For The Imperial Legions
Weight: Single, Strategic
Description: Reserve Legions VIII, IX, and X are activated and sent to
the siege lines around Zelkor immediately. Meanwhile, massive
recruitment of troops to fill out ten more legions begins. The
recruiters hit the usual sources of recruits hard: younger sons who know
they won't inherit their fathers' farms; the urban poor; Selarian youths
in search of glory; and Casovians who simply want to get away from sheep
and blood feuds.
As the legions complete their training, they are to be marched to Zelkor
to join the siege. Due to time pressure, the legions raised under the
bill will receive accellerated/abbreviated training
Difficulty: Normal
Subparts:
+ Activate & deploy Legions VIII, IX, and X
+ Recruit legionaries for Legions XI through XX
+ Equip legionaries
+ Deploy new legions to Zelkor
Fudge Points: 4
Action 3: The Siege of Zelkor
Weight: Single
Description: The Legions besieging Zelkor extend their siege works.
Besieger and besieged are, for the moment, closely matched enough that
the Sedonian General believes that an assault is not worth the risk.
Unfortunately, the naval defeat means that Zelkor City can resupply by
sea--although given the numbers of troops and (probable) refugees in the
city, food rations are probably a little tight.
The Sedonian General decides to bombard Zelkor. Since the Sedonians did
occupy Zelkor for a time in the recent pasts, maps are available--15+
years old, but quite accurate. The 12 trebuchets are divided into three
groups based on targeting: the Harbor district, the Prince's Palace, and
the part of the city that during the earlier Sedonian occupation held
granaries. For ammunition, the Sedonians use large stones and occasional
burning haybales. The intent is to try to destroy or damage the Prince's
Palace and the Granaries, while rendering the harbor too dangerous for
shipping through fire and falling rocks.
Meanwhile, the 40 onagers and 240 ballistae with the army attack the
siege engines mounted on Zelkor's walls and the men trying to man them
to suppress counterbattery fire.
The idea is not so much to pound the city into submission as it is to
soften it up.
Difficulty: Normal
Subparts:
+ Damage/destroy granaries
+ Damage/destroy Prince's Palace
+ Render harbor unusable
+ Suppress Zelkori counterfire
Fudge Points: 2
Action 4: Through a Glass, Clearly
Weight: Single, Strategic
Description: Having assembled a supply of spectacles for correcting
myopia, Ion and Master Varrozh begin trying to sell them. There is a
market for them--the hard part is finding merchants to sell them in
other cities.
Meanwhile, in his spare time, Ion continues experimenting with combining
concave & convex lenses. He's particularly interested in magnifying
close objects which are very small, and magnifying objects at long
distances.
Diffculty: Normal
Subparts:
+ Maintaining production of lenses
+ Finding merchants/traders to sell the new spectacles in other cities
+ Experimenting with magnifying the very small
+ Experimenting with magnifying the very distant
Action 5: Persons of Interest
Weight: Single, Extra
Description: As a result of the events being described in the ongoing
serial, A Sudden Death in Thalsedon, the Ministry of Special Projects
becomes aware that there is something terribly wrong with the Kaeiran
merchant House of Von Kiviri. The Ministry orders its agents around the
MidSea to investigate and compile dossiers on the leadership of the
house and forward them to HQ for evaluation. The agents are to gather
public information and gossip along with personal impressions, but they
are not to let their targets know of their scrutiny, nor are they to dig
too deeply . . . yet.
The agents in Burcancy, Kaeir, Jabau, Corryn, Rimrivertown, and Videss
are instructed to pay especially close attention to the branches of
House Von Kiviri there, looking not just at the Von Kiviri personnel,
but at movements of Von Kiviri cargoes.
Difficulty: Normal, but -1 for extra action.
Subparts:
+ Maintain cover
+ Gather information
+ Analyze information
+ Luck factor
Andrew
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