Quest A Tale of Extreme Focus, A CKII Quest set in ???
- Thread starter Arlos
- Start date
Turn 5 results
Arlos
Sad Monarchist
It is now the year 1906, and you, Filip Kowalski, have had a hectic two years, you’ve pushed yourself as you never had before, both physically and mentally, you’ve lived on a nearly twenty hours a day seven days a week schedule, with almost no break, all in order to accomplish the tasks set before you, some people call you mad for it but you simply say that they’re not dedicated enough, what is point of doing something if you do not throw yourselves wholeheartedly into it? You’ve always been like that to an extent, experience merely taught you how to do it more efficiently.
And the results speak for themselves, as you’ve proven by single-handedly raising your family out of poverty thanks to your study on industrial work and economic theory, becoming a best-seller author worldwide and being recognized for your intellectual prowess in certain circles of society, this feat has opened many doors previously closed to you, with some among the Vienna upper class are speaking of granting you a noble title befitting your fame and accomplishment in raising the prestige of the Monarchy.
It has been a good year for your brother too, he not only entered the Therasianum, but thrived in it, easily keeping up with the top scorer and integrating into the bourgeois and noble crowd, no doubt helped a bit by your newfound fame, he’s also had a late growth spurt, managing to reach a respectable 170cm in his last years of growths, he’s apparently been courting a young woman too, a German from a small landholder family originating from the outskirt of Vienna;
Unfortunately, not all was well this year, your father problems with the Marxist erupted, when three of them tried caught him alone in a corner of the factory, they…well, they tried to kill him for being a “class traitor”, the ensuing struggle was not pretty from what you heard, by the time the others worker broke up the fight two of the men were pretty badly wounded, with one, losing an eye and the others having a broken leg, your father himself suffered from a broken arm, the Gendarmerie got involved and several arrests were made, all in all quite a mess. Though thankfully, your father will heal.
Your brother contacted you about moving your parents to Vienna, now that you have the money, anxious about the escalating violence they are facing back home.
You are quite inclined to listen to him, even if you would rather put the Marxist in front of a firing squad and be done with it.
Further from home, but no less important is the death of the Archduke Otto of Austria, the hedonistic Prince of the Ruling Hapsburg House and second in line for the throne died of syphilis.
Now, this wouldn’t be such a problem usually but as it happens the current Heir, Franz Ferdinand, has terrible relationship with the ruling emperor due to his morganatic marriage and saw his children all but disinherited as a result.
This means that Karl von Hapsburg, from a minor branch of the Hapsburg family and son of the Archduke Otto is now barely two death away from the throne, and he had no education or preparation for it…
Gain trait Proponent of industry +2 Stewardship + 1 Learning.
Gain trait Pious+2 Piety Bonus to interaction with certain characters.
Gain Basic Czech Language knowledge.
Gain Hatred of Marxism+1 Martial +1 Personal Combat -2 Diplomacy against Marxist.
7 actions + 2 locked.
Martial: You’ve been working yourself hard, learning Czech and Hungarian to lead troops, looking into logistic and artillery calculation as well as supply consumption, tactic, strategy, combat. On top of all that, you’ve been working your body overtime to push yourselves to the top of what you physique would allow.
However, you’ve been noting a few strange incongruities between the tactic and strategy you’ve been taught and the personal experience you’ve had with military equipment.
[X] Train your body – Your body is a gift from god, you are tall and your natural strength extraordinary, but you are nothing if not a perfectionist, and you believe you can do much better if you train yourself
Time: 2 Turns
DC: ?? Cost: 30 Krones Upkeep: +10 Krones Reward: Possible Traits.
Roll: 61+25= 86
Roll for body Trait: 95+30=125 (QM note: As usual basically)
After 4 years of hard training and diet, you have finally reached what you believe to be the peak of what your physiology can do, your body is as hard a steel, you hardly get tired when running and can bend steel with your hand, it has come to a point where you can handily beat a whole platoon of your fellow trainee on your own in barehanded combat making you perhaps one of the strongest person in the world, of course there is drawback to this great strength, now some whispers behind your back, glancing at you fearfully when they think you are not looking, about the unnaturalness of your strength...
Results: Gain trait Body of Steel +6 Personal Combat -1 Diplomacy +10 to Health/Fertility Rolls +10 to physical training rolls for soldiers under your command.
[X] Theresia military academy curriculum— For 3 years, you shall be trained in all matter of land warfare and soldiery, before graduating a with the grade of leutnant.
Time: 2 Turns
DC: Auto success/ 10 / 30/ 100 Cost: 500 Krones Reward: Possible traits, commission in the K.u.K.
You work like clockwork, dominating everything from strategical and tactical simulation to physical conditioning and bayonet combat, by your third years you have completely surpassed anyone in logistics including the most qualified instructor and stand at the absolute top in terms of grade in the history of the academy, officially becoming the best officer to ever graduate from it.
In recognition to your achievement, they had you skip the grade of leutnant and go straight to the one of Oberleutnant, immediately giving you command over a platoon of KuK soldiers.
Roll: 78+35=113 Crit!
Results: Commissioned at the ranks of Oberleutnant, Record Holder in from the Theresa military school +300 Fame Austria-Hungary.
[X] Look deeper—The Austro-Hungarian military doctrine is something rather common in Europe, it calls for constant aggression, with the belief that morale and spirit is the key to overrun any defense and winning battles, equipment being a somewhat secondary concerns, and while you somewhat agree with them about the importance of such, you’re nursing some doubt; those tactics were created when rifle had a fire rate several times smaller and less accurate than what is currently in circulation, and that’s without going into the advent of maschinengewehr, since you’ll be taking you’re commission within a year, it might be wise to ponder on those matter.
Time: 2 Turns
DC: 40 Cost: None Reward: Better idea of the Austro-Hungarian war readiness and modern military realities.
Already you find several discrepancies in the tactic of and strategy employed, the rate of fire of modern weapons would make a straight charge an utter massacre, and the amounts of reservists all but make a single decisive battle impossible, you also question the strain that both a large numbers of conscripts and the increased rate of fire would put on the economy.
More specifically to the Empire, talking to your military friends, you've found out a disturbing amount of suicide amongst lower ranked officers, and a somewhat skewed military budget between the national armies and the kaiserlich und königlich with the common army finding itself somewhat anemic.
Your finding already make you a bit jittery, but you feel there is more to find below the surface.
1 Turn remaining
Diplomacy: Networking is an important part of life, and the higher you wish to go the more important those connection you made are, you never know when one of them might come in handy after all, you’re currently a person of some renown, and this open up possibility for you.
[X] Spend time with your friends in the intelligentsia—You’ve made a numbers of friends in your little club of mathematicians, and even though you may be leaving after graduation to your posting, keeping those relation alive is always a plus since you enjoy spending time with them and talking about mathematics.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: 15 Cost: None Reward: Keeping contact with your friends.
88+10=98
You spend a lot of time with your friends in your little mathematics club before leaving for your assigned post, just sitting down and discussing subjects of mutual interests while nursing a drink, when you left, they all went to say their goodbye to you and you kept contacts with them with letters, you are confident you could call on them to help if needed and they would answer positively.
Results: +50 fame Austria-Hungary, a rather close groups of friends in the intelligentsia.
Stewardship: You’re a pioneer in economics and industrialization, with few peers, already, some are claiming your work is groundbreaking, the next step of an industrial society, it is a bit strange to you, as you never focused on it overly much, merely trying to do your job in the best way possible.
Nevertheless, your success has given you a large amount of money, opening to you new option to make even more money.
[X] Spending money—You are now rich, and as such you have many more option on what to do with your money, from investing in company and real estate to buying a house for your family or giving money to charities.
-[X] Investment in Railway service. Investing in Railways is expensive, a single Kilometers of railways cost around 60 000 Krones, the industry is heavily nationalized, with around 80% of railways belonging to the crown, and the Emperor always welcome investor, most of Cisleithania is already served by a very developed railways with Vienna as its heart, but there is still potential for development, as the northern part of the country, Galicia, is greatly lacking in railways, unfortunately, building railways is time consuming, and you need enough investments to actually link destinations before you profit. Low Risk. High Reward. Money and time sink.
--[X] Moderate investment 600 000 Krones (10 Km)
Roll:44+5=49
Your investment in railways services goes reasonably well, your money went towards expanding Cislethania already expensive rail network toward Galicia, your home, while this mean you invested in the Imperial family owned railways and as result didn't get as much dividend as hoped, it still gave you a solid financial blanket, after all it's not like the k.k Staatsbahnen is going anywhere anytime soon right?
Results: 600 000 Krones worth of investment in state owned railways, 24 000 Krones per turn.
-[X] Invest in Heavy industry. Mining, metallurgy, automobile, chemicals, machine manufacturing. It requires a large amount of capital in order to be profitable, but it give a lot of physical capital and is appreciated by high society enough to give some political leverage. It is also less susceptible to the whim of the market then light industry. Average risk. High reward.
--[X] Moderate investment 450 000 Krones
Roll:20+5=25
You got fleeced, well at least you think you did, looking for something to invest in, you found a company called Vítkovice Mining and Iron, based in Bohemia and owned by the Rotschild bank, they managed to make you invest in one of their steel mill, to increase production to meet the ever growing internal need of the empire they said, they put it in such a way so as to stroke the inner loyalist in you, as a result your investments was... rather subpar, at least for you, apparently the Rotschild bank owned other companies that made good use of the cheaper steel.
Oh well, can't always win them all.
Results: 450 000 Krones worth of investments in a Steel mill, 8000 Krones per turn.
-[X] Buy a Family house in Vienna. Now that you are rich, you could buy a House in Vienna, that would save your family some money on rent and give you hard saving in the form of a house. While you won’t benefit from it personally because of military life, it would help protect your parents and give you brother a respectable house to show to others.
--[X] Budget 200,000
Roll: 99+5=104 crit!
You found a rather nice 2 storey manor on the outskirt of Vienna, apparently the house of a defunct noble family whose last heir died of Typhoïd last year, you not only managed to get it at the price of 150 000 Krone, but managed to keep the 4 staffers that came with it for a mere 25 000 Krone, a steal really.
The place had a rather large and well maintained garden as well, so that's a plus.
Results: A Good manor in the outskirt of Vienna.
-[X] Give money to charities.
--[X] Church. They take care of the poor, and the destitute.
---[X] 70,000
--[X] Red cross. The red cross primary role is to take care of military wounded from all countries.
---[X] 70,000
Giving money to charities has earned quite a bit of praise, real or not, especially as people rarely donate as much as you do at once, both the church, on behalf of the destitute, and military personnel are grateful for your donation.
Results: Improve reputation amongst Pious people, soldiers, and philantropists.
[X] Funding your brother—Being a politician and being a civil servant in the empire are quite similar things, and they both cost money, now that you have that money you could fund your brothers study and career, to help him advance in the ranks, you are sure he would be grateful.
Time: 1 Turns
DC: 20 Cost: 8000 Krones Reward: Bonus to your brother rolls.
Roll:29+5=34
You give enough money to your brother that he manage to make friend with several rather highly placed people in the administration, at last in comparison to you or him, he doesn't tell you much, but he seems to have been steadily advancing the social ranks and making good use of everything at his disposal, including his relationship with you.
You can only hope he succeed at his ambition, whatever they may now be.
Results:Your brother keep making his own way.
[X] Buy books on economic theory—Your study on work methods has piqued you opened your horizons, and you now find yourself with a growing interest on the subject of economy and its mechanics, unfortunately, nobody around you really understand how it works, so you can only turn to the source of all knowledge; books.
Time: 2 Turns
DC: 15/40/70/100 Cost: 160 Reward: Knowledge on economy, possible traits, more options.
You buy quite a few books on the subject of economy, by sheer experience of working on things so closely tied to it you already developed quite a bit of knowledge and notions regarding it, but the books you read and your personal experience both approach economy from different angle, while you came to know economy from your works on numbers and efficiency, with everything else arising from there, reading people like Max weber, who focused more on the socio-economic side gave you a fresh perspective on things.
1 Turn remaining
Learning: The end of your Academy years is near and despite your military focus in life, the time you’ve spent with your mathematicians friends somehow allowed you to reach a level in mathematics that most graduate cannot dream off, it also greatly helped you in regard to Artillery calculations.
[X] Finish Learning Czech – You’ve managed to learn the basic of Czech in your turn at the academy, but you were never one to leave things unfinished, and you still have time to finish learning the languages before you graduate.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: 30/50/100 Cost: None Reward: Varying degree of mastery of the Czech languages
Roll: 30+5=35
You make progress on learning Czech, even though you seems to have some trouble with learning the languages, between your work a home and in class, you barely manage to master it.
Results: Perfect Mastery of Czech languages.
Piety: You find that the church is a comforting place for you, it give you a bit peace in your demanding life and speaking to your local priest allow you to lay down the burdens you chose to carry for a time, he was particularly helpful in convincing not to kill the people that attempted murder on your father.
[X] Attend church—Your parents still want you to attend church every Sunday, but you are now alone in Vienna, so it is your choice whether you wish to attend service or not.
Time: 1 turn
DC: 35 Cost: None Reward: Possible traits, contact with local communities, lowered stress.
Roll: 55+5=60
You keep your faith despite moving around, finding a church to pray in every part of the Empire, this is giving you a reputation as a Pious man, now that some people are watching you.
Results: +50 Fame in Austria-Hungary, Reputation as a Pious man.
Current Money: 153 294 Krone
Income:+200 Krone +400 Krone military salary +41 000 Krone from books sales
Expense:-110 Krone cost of living -160 Krone -8000 Krone -1 480 000 Krone.
QM:I am going to need 2d100 and 1d7, for your posting.
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Arlos
Sad Monarchist
No, I am open to proposal if you have anything that fit.
Otherwise I’ll get around to it eventually now that your character is in his « final form » so to speak.
tri2
Well-known member
was thinking of a picture of fredrick from warhammer dynamic alcoholism except in modern military dress, but cannot find one. need to find a military man with a full beard
do we even have a beard? or is it a mustache?
Last edited:
tri2
Well-known member
Arlos
Sad Monarchist
You are dark haired and blue eyed, with a beard and a mustache, I’ll leave the style up in the hair for now.was thinking of a picture of fredrick from warhammer dynamic alcoholism except in modern military dress, but cannot find one. need to find a military man with a full beard
do we even have a beard? or is it a mustache?
Also, that first picture is the Tsar.
ouf, so 3 interlude for you guys.
You guys are so lucky
A 7 put your first posting in Transylvania.
