Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
Which time? there were at least 2 incidences that I remember.
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
I'm torn on this. ICly, I think it'd make most sense to say no. Men were not meant to live forever in this fallen world. It would be unimaginably devastating if she were to outlive Jeremy and her grandchildren, or live long enough to see Griffin be destroyed or turn into something unrecognizably different. If she wants to rest, let her rest.
OOCly, having her become an immortal and observe how Griffin changes over time would be very, very interesting.
[X] Send the letter, you love her as well and have lost enough family already
OOCly, having her become an immortal and observe how Griffin changes over time would be very, very interesting.
[X] Send the letter, you love her as well and have lost enough family already
Turn 88 - Break The Silence
Turn 88 - Break the Silence
A few weeks later you receive a very unwelcome, but sadly not unexpected, HPG message. Your mother is dead, peacefully in her sleep according to the message. The Crimson Storm is in mourning. When the announcement is made, the entire Empire goes into mourning for the first Empress, Jacqueline the Just.
Her body will be returned to Griffin’s Roost in several months due to the distances involved. Planning has already begun for the solemn funeral services to be held in Griffsport.
You receive messages of condolences from the NRI and the NRR, and somewhat surprisingly a very kind message from Kilburrough with little of the somewhat blue-orange approach to things that you’ve become accustomed to.
But then comes another HPG message, this time from the NRI. A massive battle had taken place in Oculus Venetus. 8 Black Steel battleships, divided between McKenna and Farragut types, along with over twenty other warships, dozens of their deadly drone dropships and over two thousand of their utterly lethal drone ASFs.
Your forces had ‘won’, in the sense that Oculus Venetus was secured, all enemy ships accounted for as destroyed, and the threat of this particular force ended. But only three of your warships, none of the NRI ships, and none of the NRR aerowings had survived the battle, and the three surviving ships of your task force were all badly crippled wrecks. A few dozen dropships had managed to survive as well, mostly Canopus class parasite battleships that were almost as badly mauled as the surviving Exeter and two Wichitas.
Your hands are shaking as you get to the confirmed casualty list. Your vision is swimming a bit and your breathing is harsh in your ears. And the first name listed… Fleet Admiral Thanh Griffith.
Everything goes black.
-----
You are Major Erin Jacqueline Griffith, battalion commander in the 3rd Regimental Combat Team, 1st Brigade Combat Team. You are the Great Granddaughter of Jacqueline Griffin, the granddaughter of Jeremy Griffin. And now your grandfather is laying in a coma following a nearly fatal heart attack, your grandmother is an utter wreck, and under the laws of the Empire you are now Empress.
You’d really rather go back to planning your wedding and running your battalion. You’d long known, intellectually, that this day would eventually come. You’d studied hard in university to give yourself a solid grounding in political theory, economics, history and psychology. You’d had a relatively uneventful, if solid, career in the Army. You’d spent days on end learning from your grandfather.
You still have butterflies swirling about your stomach. You are pretty sure that you’ve not actually tasted anything that you’ve eaten ever since that awful moment when your comms officer had delivered the message flimsy directing you to report to the Palace. You know you’ve slept since hearing the news. Your grandfather, the titan who’d seemed so invincible your entire life, looked small in the medical bed, surrounded by life support equipment that beeped and whirred and made noises you scarcely understood. The doctor’s were surprised that he’d lived long enough to be hooked up in the first place, and have not been able to give any ETA on him recovering, if he recovers at all.
Now you are standing, in full Imperial regalia, and by God does the cloak feel heavy on your shoulders, the robes itch, the crown feels like it simultaneously wants to slip off your head, possibly taking your neck with it. And your nose itches. You’d worn this pair of court shoes before and they’d been perfectly comfortable, now they seem to be pinching your toes and digging into your ankles. By god, even your underwear is itching. And the people of the Empire are watching, as the coronation ceremony drags on. At times it feels like you are having an out of body experience, watching somebody else who just happens to look like you being crowned as Empress.
What is this scepter made of, solid osmium? No, it’s obviously heavier than that, maybe that neutronium stuff from the comic books. You are somewhat surprised that you are able to hold it rock steady as the ceremony drones on. Who designed these ‘regal robes’ anyways, and did they have any appreciation for the fact that Griffsport is semi-tropical and it gets hot? Even in a completely climate-controlled palace? Why can’t you wear your piloting armor underneath it, just for the support?
Now is the time you’d been dreading. Like your grandfather before you, you’ll need to make a formal Address From The Throne to the Empire. An address that will set the tone of your rule, for good or for ill. Armies of advisors had labored over this speech, the most important one you’d yet given in your life.
You’d really rather have worked up to this in another, say, forty years. But you are the one in the hot seat. And you are rather grimly certain that the reason for the heavy robes and cloaks and Imperial accouterments isn’t to show respect or dignity, but rather to make it impossible for the poor idiots wearing them to run away.
What tone will your first speech take?
You have to give some thought as to your advisors, obviously you’ll need to promote somebody to run the Imperial Griffon Navy due to the death of Auntie Thanh, but many of your grandfather’s advisors had been his personal friends and comrades, men and women that you haven’t really had the opportunity to bond with on a personal level.
Do you keep them on or replace them with new candidates?
You are confronted with an early crisis as well. The Duc de Picardie has imposed highly protectionist tariffs on your mercantile trade with his Duchy. The Bourbon crown has informed your ambassador that while he personally disapproves of such, that it is within the authority of the Duc to impose such and that while he will attempt to convince his feudal subordinate to back down he cannot simply order such. Ships in the markings of Picardie are harassing your shipping, on the grounds of ‘safety inspections’ and ‘customs enforcement’, in some cases ranging outside the borders of the Duchy itself to do so. While the other feudal lords of the Bourbons do intervene when such happens in their respective space, it is having a negative effect on trade.
Considering that the Duc de Picardie was also the only one of the three great magnates of the Bourbons to not send any condolences on your great-grandmother’s death, nor your grandfather falling into a coma, you are rather… vexed with him.
Unfortunately a military response is almost completely out of the picture, the Bourbons would be obligated to oppose you on such and you really can’t afford to get into a squabble like this while the Black Steel threat remains.
QM Note - consider carefully, these actions will help set the tone for how Erin behaves as Empress in the future.
Despite everything the Olympics go on. Despite being in mourning, both for your great-grandmother but also to a lesser degree for your grandfather as he remains in the coma, you make a point of attending, allowing yourself to be seen standing tall in the Imperial box at the various events.
It’s rather hard to keep a smile on your face, though. In the Wrestling events, Team Griffon barely manages a silver medal in the Men’s event, although touchingly the Bourbon team, made up mostly of New Normandy and New Parisian athletes, make a point of saluting you prior to the matches, earning loud roars of approval from the crowd even as they dominate the event. The women barely beat out the Rasalhaguians for a bronze medal, though.
In men’s fencing, Team Griffon fails to make the podium following a rather disappointing bronze medal match against the Bourbons, although again to your, and the crowds, appreciation the Bourbon teams acts with great class throughout. Indeed, your ire and that of the crowds is mostly directed at the idiotic referees, and even the competitors seem to be in agreement on that score, as in a move that draws even more roars of approval the Bourbon fencers initially refuse to accept the medal on the grounds that Team Griffon should have won it if it weren’t for incompetent officiating. You make a point of going down to the floor and personally awarding them their medals, giving a short impromptu speech praising the merits of sportsmanship which is quite well received by all.
The Griffon ladies manage a disappointing bronze, and much of the goodwill generated by the New Normandie and New Paris athletes who made up the wrestling and men’s fencing teams is lost as the New Picardie athletes who dominated the matches prove just as arrogant and insulting as can be. They never quite break any actual rules, but they do utterly piss off the crowds, then demand that the officials remove those who react negatively to their behavior.
The archery competitions yield yet more disappointment for Team Griffon, with the best they manage being a bronze in the men’s event. Thankfully the Bourbon teams in these events, even though there are plenty of athletes from New Picardy among them, seem far less inclined to being utter jackasses.
Then comes the brightest, if you pardon the word, events of the competition. The naked volleyball matches. Much to your incredible amusement, all of the Bourbon competitors are from New Picardy, and all of them had evidently felt that the word ‘naked’ in the event description was merely an inside joke. Upon realizing that yes, indeed they would be required to compete in the buff, they howled in protest, insisting that this was utterly barbaric, especially for people of rank. You rather sweetly inform the protesting coaches that your little sister was on Team Griffon, and if it’s good enough for royalty, then the mere scions of barons and counts could ‘fully demonstrate the effects of good breeding’ on the sand.
In the end the Bourbons are utterly crushed, and Team Griffon wins both events in a truly dominating fashion. Neither the NRR nor NRI teams have any mercy either on the Bourbons, and the medal celebrations show just how close the three polities are, both politically and socially.
A few weeks later you receive a very unwelcome, but sadly not unexpected, HPG message. Your mother is dead, peacefully in her sleep according to the message. The Crimson Storm is in mourning. When the announcement is made, the entire Empire goes into mourning for the first Empress, Jacqueline the Just.
Her body will be returned to Griffin’s Roost in several months due to the distances involved. Planning has already begun for the solemn funeral services to be held in Griffsport.
You receive messages of condolences from the NRI and the NRR, and somewhat surprisingly a very kind message from Kilburrough with little of the somewhat blue-orange approach to things that you’ve become accustomed to.
But then comes another HPG message, this time from the NRI. A massive battle had taken place in Oculus Venetus. 8 Black Steel battleships, divided between McKenna and Farragut types, along with over twenty other warships, dozens of their deadly drone dropships and over two thousand of their utterly lethal drone ASFs.
Your forces had ‘won’, in the sense that Oculus Venetus was secured, all enemy ships accounted for as destroyed, and the threat of this particular force ended. But only three of your warships, none of the NRI ships, and none of the NRR aerowings had survived the battle, and the three surviving ships of your task force were all badly crippled wrecks. A few dozen dropships had managed to survive as well, mostly Canopus class parasite battleships that were almost as badly mauled as the surviving Exeter and two Wichitas.
Your hands are shaking as you get to the confirmed casualty list. Your vision is swimming a bit and your breathing is harsh in your ears. And the first name listed… Fleet Admiral Thanh Griffith.
Everything goes black.
-----
You are Major Erin Jacqueline Griffith, battalion commander in the 3rd Regimental Combat Team, 1st Brigade Combat Team. You are the Great Granddaughter of Jacqueline Griffin, the granddaughter of Jeremy Griffin. And now your grandfather is laying in a coma following a nearly fatal heart attack, your grandmother is an utter wreck, and under the laws of the Empire you are now Empress.
You’d really rather go back to planning your wedding and running your battalion. You’d long known, intellectually, that this day would eventually come. You’d studied hard in university to give yourself a solid grounding in political theory, economics, history and psychology. You’d had a relatively uneventful, if solid, career in the Army. You’d spent days on end learning from your grandfather.
You still have butterflies swirling about your stomach. You are pretty sure that you’ve not actually tasted anything that you’ve eaten ever since that awful moment when your comms officer had delivered the message flimsy directing you to report to the Palace. You know you’ve slept since hearing the news. Your grandfather, the titan who’d seemed so invincible your entire life, looked small in the medical bed, surrounded by life support equipment that beeped and whirred and made noises you scarcely understood. The doctor’s were surprised that he’d lived long enough to be hooked up in the first place, and have not been able to give any ETA on him recovering, if he recovers at all.
Now you are standing, in full Imperial regalia, and by God does the cloak feel heavy on your shoulders, the robes itch, the crown feels like it simultaneously wants to slip off your head, possibly taking your neck with it. And your nose itches. You’d worn this pair of court shoes before and they’d been perfectly comfortable, now they seem to be pinching your toes and digging into your ankles. By god, even your underwear is itching. And the people of the Empire are watching, as the coronation ceremony drags on. At times it feels like you are having an out of body experience, watching somebody else who just happens to look like you being crowned as Empress.
What is this scepter made of, solid osmium? No, it’s obviously heavier than that, maybe that neutronium stuff from the comic books. You are somewhat surprised that you are able to hold it rock steady as the ceremony drones on. Who designed these ‘regal robes’ anyways, and did they have any appreciation for the fact that Griffsport is semi-tropical and it gets hot? Even in a completely climate-controlled palace? Why can’t you wear your piloting armor underneath it, just for the support?
Now is the time you’d been dreading. Like your grandfather before you, you’ll need to make a formal Address From The Throne to the Empire. An address that will set the tone of your rule, for good or for ill. Armies of advisors had labored over this speech, the most important one you’d yet given in your life.
You’d really rather have worked up to this in another, say, forty years. But you are the one in the hot seat. And you are rather grimly certain that the reason for the heavy robes and cloaks and Imperial accouterments isn’t to show respect or dignity, but rather to make it impossible for the poor idiots wearing them to run away.
What tone will your first speech take?
| [] | Tone |
| [] | Martial - The Empire is at War |
| [] | Inspiring - War or Peace, it is the Empress’s job to lead |
| [] | Collegial - All Imperial Citizens are in this together |
You have to give some thought as to your advisors, obviously you’ll need to promote somebody to run the Imperial Griffon Navy due to the death of Auntie Thanh, but many of your grandfather’s advisors had been his personal friends and comrades, men and women that you haven’t really had the opportunity to bond with on a personal level.
Do you keep them on or replace them with new candidates?
| [] | Action | Reasoning | Results |
| [] | Keep them on indefinitely | They have served well and will provide you with solid advice as you start your reign |
|
| [] | Replace them all immediately | They may have served well, but they aren’t your people. The youngest of them is old enough to be your mother! |
|
| [] | Replace them over time | During the transition it is vital to have stability, but once you have your feet underneath you you can revisit this |
|
You are confronted with an early crisis as well. The Duc de Picardie has imposed highly protectionist tariffs on your mercantile trade with his Duchy. The Bourbon crown has informed your ambassador that while he personally disapproves of such, that it is within the authority of the Duc to impose such and that while he will attempt to convince his feudal subordinate to back down he cannot simply order such. Ships in the markings of Picardie are harassing your shipping, on the grounds of ‘safety inspections’ and ‘customs enforcement’, in some cases ranging outside the borders of the Duchy itself to do so. While the other feudal lords of the Bourbons do intervene when such happens in their respective space, it is having a negative effect on trade.
Considering that the Duc de Picardie was also the only one of the three great magnates of the Bourbons to not send any condolences on your great-grandmother’s death, nor your grandfather falling into a coma, you are rather… vexed with him.
Unfortunately a military response is almost completely out of the picture, the Bourbons would be obligated to oppose you on such and you really can’t afford to get into a squabble like this while the Black Steel threat remains.
| [] | Action | Arguments pro and con | Effects |
| [] | Impose trade sanctions on Picardie | Pro - Directed sanctions against the Duchy will not be seen by the Bourbons themselves as an act of aggression requiring them to intervene, making this the most effective way to directly strike at the arrogant asses. Con - Will reduce the income generated from trade with the Bourbons as a whole and potentially lead to additional escalations from the Duc |
|
| [] | Let it go | Pro - Trade is the lifeblood of Empire, and all these tariffs are doing is choking off trade to the Duchy on their own, with no need for you to intervene. Your merchants are already gravitating naturally towards other markets, after all. Con - doing nothing sticks in the craw sideways, it is allowing the Empire to be seen as weak, thus potentially inviting future escalations from an already aggressive and unfriendly group |
|
Despite everything the Olympics go on. Despite being in mourning, both for your great-grandmother but also to a lesser degree for your grandfather as he remains in the coma, you make a point of attending, allowing yourself to be seen standing tall in the Imperial box at the various events.
It’s rather hard to keep a smile on your face, though. In the Wrestling events, Team Griffon barely manages a silver medal in the Men’s event, although touchingly the Bourbon team, made up mostly of New Normandy and New Parisian athletes, make a point of saluting you prior to the matches, earning loud roars of approval from the crowd even as they dominate the event. The women barely beat out the Rasalhaguians for a bronze medal, though.
In men’s fencing, Team Griffon fails to make the podium following a rather disappointing bronze medal match against the Bourbons, although again to your, and the crowds, appreciation the Bourbon teams acts with great class throughout. Indeed, your ire and that of the crowds is mostly directed at the idiotic referees, and even the competitors seem to be in agreement on that score, as in a move that draws even more roars of approval the Bourbon fencers initially refuse to accept the medal on the grounds that Team Griffon should have won it if it weren’t for incompetent officiating. You make a point of going down to the floor and personally awarding them their medals, giving a short impromptu speech praising the merits of sportsmanship which is quite well received by all.
The Griffon ladies manage a disappointing bronze, and much of the goodwill generated by the New Normandie and New Paris athletes who made up the wrestling and men’s fencing teams is lost as the New Picardie athletes who dominated the matches prove just as arrogant and insulting as can be. They never quite break any actual rules, but they do utterly piss off the crowds, then demand that the officials remove those who react negatively to their behavior.
The archery competitions yield yet more disappointment for Team Griffon, with the best they manage being a bronze in the men’s event. Thankfully the Bourbon teams in these events, even though there are plenty of athletes from New Picardy among them, seem far less inclined to being utter jackasses.
Then comes the brightest, if you pardon the word, events of the competition. The naked volleyball matches. Much to your incredible amusement, all of the Bourbon competitors are from New Picardy, and all of them had evidently felt that the word ‘naked’ in the event description was merely an inside joke. Upon realizing that yes, indeed they would be required to compete in the buff, they howled in protest, insisting that this was utterly barbaric, especially for people of rank. You rather sweetly inform the protesting coaches that your little sister was on Team Griffon, and if it’s good enough for royalty, then the mere scions of barons and counts could ‘fully demonstrate the effects of good breeding’ on the sand.
In the end the Bourbons are utterly crushed, and Team Griffon wins both events in a truly dominating fashion. Neither the NRR nor NRI teams have any mercy either on the Bourbons, and the medal celebrations show just how close the three polities are, both politically and socially.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
ouch just ouch.
On another note given the NRI's fleet needing better quality (and quite frankly replacement hulls after what they just lost)and thus needing the tech to do it can we start the debate on whether or not we ought to offer them and the NRR the option to buy our darts and daggers?
On another note given the NRI's fleet needing better quality (and quite frankly replacement hulls after what they just lost)and thus needing the tech to do it can we start the debate on whether or not we ought to offer them and the NRR the option to buy our darts and daggers?
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Martial - The Empire is at War
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
I am going with Martial for now but if someone makes a convincing argument for one of the other two than I don't mind switching to that vote. We need to keep our current advisors since they are good at their jobs and they will let us know when it is time to replace them. Imposing the trade sanctions is the best option since the other one has the Empire looking weak and I don't want that.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
I am going with Martial for now but if someone makes a convincing argument for one of the other two than I don't mind switching to that vote. We need to keep our current advisors since they are good at their jobs and they will let us know when it is time to replace them. Imposing the trade sanctions is the best option since the other one has the Empire looking weak and I don't want that.
AlphaOmega
Well-known member
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
I only have a vague idea about what the speech options will do so I will refrain from voting on them.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
I only have a vague idea about what the speech options will do so I will refrain from voting on them.
Both. The first time we executed a shitload of important people while in the second utterly humiliated them and executed a few too. In both instances their status as nobles meant absolutely nothing since in the Empire titles are just titles with no real power attached to them IIRC. I imagine it was/will be a rather big culture shock for the Bourbons.
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
Looks like we need to ramp up naval expansion so we can afford to send an expeditionary force out hunting for the Black Steel and afford to lose those fleets in the inevietable bloodbaths.
RIP sis.
oh crap did we have a stroke? Did we die? (Hm... coma... wonder if dad will ever wake up. Won't bet on it). Bad time for grandaughter to have to step up to the plate.
[X] Martial - The Empire is at War
ICly, I don't get the impression that Erin is charismatic like Jeremy or Jacqueline were. "We're all in this together" wouldn't really work either. Martial is the only sensible one, and also appropriate at the moment.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
Wholesale replacement at this time would be disasterous. We need all of the help we can get. These people have worked with dad for years and know how the empire works and what needs to be done and how best to do it. They're not going to bail on us now.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
RIP sis.
oh crap did we have a stroke? Did we die? (Hm... coma... wonder if dad will ever wake up. Won't bet on it). Bad time for grandaughter to have to step up to the plate.
[X] Martial - The Empire is at War
ICly, I don't get the impression that Erin is charismatic like Jeremy or Jacqueline were. "We're all in this together" wouldn't really work either. Martial is the only sensible one, and also appropriate at the moment.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
Wholesale replacement at this time would be disasterous. We need all of the help we can get. These people have worked with dad for years and know how the empire works and what needs to be done and how best to do it. They're not going to bail on us now.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
[X] Inspiring - War or Peace, it is the Empress’s job to lead
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
And the succession for the Griffon Empire continues to be one of bloodshed and death. The one who winds up on the throne has more to do with who survives rather than who was immediately next in line.
Funny how family politics and assassination is not a cause of death in the royal family, yet being in line for succession is still statistically one of the most lethal professions in the Empire.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
And the succession for the Griffon Empire continues to be one of bloodshed and death. The one who winds up on the throne has more to do with who survives rather than who was immediately next in line.
Funny how family politics and assassination is not a cause of death in the royal family, yet being in line for succession is still statistically one of the most lethal professions in the Empire.
Last edited:
Joyousmadman
Well-known member
[X] Martial - The Empire is at War
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
[X] Inspiring - War or Peace, it is the Empress’s job to lead
[X] Replace them over time
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
1. We are at war, but we aim for peace. Even if we have to create the biggest damn stick to gain peace.
- let's not travel down the path of War to achieve our aims even if we want revenge. (Frankly, the War led speach just doesn't feel IC)
2. My understanding is that we don't have to replace anyone with this decision, but we're open to find someone that fits better with our leadership style and goals.
3. I'm even OK with NOT TRADING with Picardie at all if the tariffs are that harmful. In fact, we can even broach favored trading status with the individual Bourbans to show how much better it can be when you cooperate with Griffin. Maybe deliver that speech with a GriffKitty stare of disapproval.
[X] Replace them over time
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
1. We are at war, but we aim for peace. Even if we have to create the biggest damn stick to gain peace.
- let's not travel down the path of War to achieve our aims even if we want revenge. (Frankly, the War led speach just doesn't feel IC)
2. My understanding is that we don't have to replace anyone with this decision, but we're open to find someone that fits better with our leadership style and goals.
3. I'm even OK with NOT TRADING with Picardie at all if the tariffs are that harmful. In fact, we can even broach favored trading status with the individual Bourbans to show how much better it can be when you cooperate with Griffin. Maybe deliver that speech with a GriffKitty stare of disapproval.
Erin has trained extensively for command. She is a genius. And she's currently a Battalion CO. Nothing about that says she's an incapable leader. I think you're selling her short.
Jarow
Well-known member
[X] Inspiring - War or Peace, it is the Empress’s job to lead
I'm not quite willing to go for martial, but don't personally want to choose collegial.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
I have no problems with our current set of advisors and see no need to replace them.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
If they don't want to be friends, having them be even more not friends isn't going to hurt us much.
Ouch, double loss of imperial rulers in short succession (and Thanh
). On the plus side, our current ruler is both in a better situation and better trained than the first.
I'm not quite willing to go for martial, but don't personally want to choose collegial.
[X] Keep them on indefinitely
I have no problems with our current set of advisors and see no need to replace them.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
If they don't want to be friends, having them be even more not friends isn't going to hurt us much.
Ouch, double loss of imperial rulers in short succession (and Thanh
). On the plus side, our current ruler is both in a better situation and better trained than the first.[X] Inspiring - War or Peace, it is the Empress’s job to lead
[X] Replace them over time
While there's nothing *wrong* with our current advisors from a meta standpoint, they are very much *grandfather's* advisors. The generation gap alone is. . . weird, and a new ruler kinda does need to have her own administration.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
[X] Replace them over time
While there's nothing *wrong* with our current advisors from a meta standpoint, they are very much *grandfather's* advisors. The generation gap alone is. . . weird, and a new ruler kinda does need to have her own administration.
[X] Impose trade sanctions on Picardie
Turn 88 - Painful to Me
Turn 88 - Painful to Me
You have a rather grim duty to perform, as your great-grandmother’s body has arrived along with a large honor guard from the Crimson Storm. The escort is a bit unsettling at first, but you soon relax around them, they seem to consider you to be an honorary family member of theirs. It’s a bit creepy that they show it by offering you extensive cybernetic upgrades, but that seems to be their way of showing affection. After all, to them you are ‘squishy’ and ‘easy to hurt’, which worries them because they hate losing those they love to silly things like disease, bullets, or old age. You do discover that they have dialed back the level of their cyberization massively, at least until they are ‘old’ by their society's lights, at which time they receive the full package, hopefully after having and raising multiple children.
Sadly the funeral will serve multiple purposes. Firstly, for your great-grandmother as originally planned, secondly for your grandfather, as the doctor’s had disconnected life support after verifying a complete lack of brain activity and scans showed that he was, to all intents and purposes, already dead, and finally for your great-aunt Thanh and all of those lost in the Battle of Oculus Venetus.
Surviving ships have managed to limp into repair docks, and salvage crews have been spending the last few months combing the wreckage. Sadly none of the salvage from the Black Steel consists of anything you don’t already have beyond badly mangled bits of electronics that are utterly indecipherable but which are so badly damaged as to be completely useless.
You do have to pick a new CO for the IGN. You have five candidates to review.
Admiral Kenneth Jackson is the current second-in-command of the Navy, with a solid combat background including service in the Battle of Okusawa. He has a reputation of being a methodical planner with an excellent eye towards logistics, and for the last five years he’s been serving as Thanh’s principal deputy. His file does note that he is not an exceptional strategist or tactician, his strengths lie in more administrative duties despite his sterling combat record.
Admiral Vanessa Jones is the current CO of Naval Training Command, overseeing the training of new crews and officers, with a sideline in naval doctrine development and study. She is an academic officer, with relatively limited combat experience since she reached Captain’s rank. She is by far the oldest of the candidates, and would likely only serve for a few years before retiring.
Admiral Joshua Castro is the current chief of procurement for the IGN, having been recently promoted to the position following his excellent performance shepherding the Exeter project through to completion. Despite his ‘shore side’ accomplishments he is also a veteran combat officer, having served as the first CO of HMS Wichita prior to being promoted to oversee the Exeter project, where he commanded the ship, then still on her shakedown cruise, to victory over a Black Steel ship that well outmassed her.
Admiral Rachel Hebert is currently in command of Fortress Command, overseeing the extensive network of orbital and jump point defensive stations throughout the Empire. She is young for her rank, with an extensive reputation as go-getter with a peerless record in combat, including as the XO of HMS Wichita during her storied first action. Your fiance actually served under her command at one point and strongly recommends her, although he does caution you that she has absolutely no tolerance for bullshit whatsoever and will likely clash hard with General Jenkins.
Admiral Frederick Fisher is a bit of a dark horse candidate for the position. He is disliked by most of the Navy establishment as a harsh critic of what he terms ‘complacency’ and ‘lack of vision’, with a record of writing biting reviews in professional journals tearing into his colleagues for various ‘sins’, mostly ‘slavishly copying the Star League’ design practices rather than boldly experimenting to find what truly is the best paradigm for naval operations. If it weren’t for the fact that your grandfather had protected his career he’d have been beached a long time ago, although you do not know why grandfather did that.
There are only four events for the Olympics taking place in this period, mostly due to the Motorsports events being pushed back to closer to the end of the competition.
In Men’s Soccer, the Rasalhaguians continue to show their utter dominance of the pitch, scoring more goals in just the gold medal game than the other three teams combined for in all matches. Granted, the NRI and Team Griffon manage to score at least once against them, but the Bourbons fail to manage even that. The matches overall are quite friendly, despite the dominance, with the four teams joining together for a post-competition celebration that, unfortunately, led to all team members spending the night in jail after their party got just a wee bit out of hand.
The women’s soccer match is equally friendly, with the Bourbons managing to take the Gold in a penalty kick shootout with the Rasalhaguians, while Team Griffon has to settle for Bronze. The women’s team’s celebrations sort of collided with the men’s team’s celebrations, and as a result, well, the jails are rather full of footballers.
The baseball tournament is hard fought and amazingly close, with every single game going into extra innings and plenty of examples of superb sportsmanship and athleticism from every participating athlete. The Rasalhaguians take Gold, the Bourbons Silver, and Team Griffon Bronze, but every single game could have gone the opposite way.
The softball tournament, on the other hand, is marred by a cheating scandal, as the aristos of the Bourbons, once more primarily from New Picardy, are caught outright cheating with implanted buzzers used to signal signs, corked bats, and concealed ‘sticky stuff’ dispensers. The level of cheating is such that the team is completely disqualified from the tournament and barred from the stadium. In the end the Romans manage to defeat Team Griffon in the 23rd inning after a truly epic marathon game.
And now it is what your grandfather sarcastically called his favorite time of year. You are not looking forward to it, being Empress is hard enough without endless budget meetings, but the business of Empire is no respecter of your wishes. At least you’ll be able to look forward to your wedding next month.
General Jenkins is looking more serious than you’ve ever seen him before, with lines of grief in his expression that look quite out of place on the man you’d always thought of as the consummate ‘competent clown’. “Your Majesty. With the recent losses we find ourselves with a shortage of heavy units, but on the plus side all of our current designs operated within the expectations that we had for them in the recent battle.” He takes a breath, and from the times you’d sat in with your grandfather you know he’d normally be making a wisecrack right about now, but instead he simply nods to General Bradley.
“Your Majesty, the Army was not involved in the recent battle. We do evaluate that we will require more endo-steel, ferro-fibrous, and double heat sink production for the future, but that is a near universal requirement. For procurement we intend to focus on lighter units, apart from a single new Assault Division.” She brings up the chart on the screen.
Elizabeth is up next. “Your Majesty, we have at least two new colonization projects that are worth pursuing. GX-G24, the world that suffered that massive impact and has the massive storms, has been dubbed Awha, or ‘Storm’ in Maori, by the survey crew. The planet is quite mineral rich and a colony there would be very productive. In the long term we’d want DoME to address the storm issue, but that isn’t critical. The agricultural world we found has been dubbed Bauernparadies by the survey crew, or Farmer’s Paradise in German. Much like New Eden the world would be a superb source of high quality food for our more crowded Core systems. Thankfully the system wouldn’t require any terraforming whatsoever. In both cases, we would need Political and Judicial teams to handle their end of things,” she smiles over at the other two advisors who nod back, “and additionally in Bauernparadies’ case we would need our political teams to also lay the groundwork for declaring it an Imperial breadbasket.”
She shuffles her notes. “Thanks to the growth in the Empire we believe that it should be possible to recruit a twelfth DoME team to augment the eleven we currently have. In addition we do recommend further increases in the Civil Service. I know it is becoming exceptionally expensive, but the efficiency arguments still hold strong. In addition we recommend boosting the budget for Imperial Parks & Recreation, as we continue to live under the specter of war morale will be of increasing importance, best that we keep on top of things in that regard.”
“We have a single available DoME team right now, we have several options for it but thanks to the critical need for additional warship slips we recommend building a Medium Shipyard in the Dragon’s Eye system.”
She then brings up a display of investment, focus, and economic growth projects that Interior is recommending.
Lien is up next. “Your Majesty, as Elizabeth informed you, if we do decide to colonize the new systems we have political teams ready to assist in organizing and implementing new system governments in either or both. In addition, we are quite ready and able to facilitate the expansion of DoME or the Civil Service. That being said, you will need to address Parliament in the near future, there are no indications of any issues in that regard, your grandfather’s supporters have all pledged their support to you, and nothing I have seen shows there to be anything of concern.”
“Your Majesty, I have seven R&D teams ready and eager to start work,” Grace begins almost before she reaches the podium. “And I have plenty of projects that we recommend we pursue. As Admiral Jackson indicated, we have a number of projects directly in support of the Navy that we would like to pursue, plus several more broad ranging ones.”
She switches on the display. “First, for the military, on top of researching even larger warships, we also would like to initiate a comprehensive study of the performance of our existing designs, with a focus on further improving our design philosophies for the future. We have reason to believe that our current design paradigms may not be fully ideal, as we are effectively building our warships much like the Star League did, as massive jump capable dropships with even bigger guns, rather than taking a clean sheet approach. I have some very eager researchers who’d like to see about changing that. In addition, thanks to our friends in the Crimson Storm, we have design notes on extremely compact 3cm pulse lasers that would also apply to our laser anti-missile system. We strongly recommend pursuing this research.”
She checks her notes. “Finally, we recommend basic research into improved materials and power generation, as well as either dual-purpose capital lasers for the military or, if the budget allows, improved terraforming equipment for DoME.”
General Messerschmidt looks… reduced, much like General Jenkins, your Intelligence chief was extremely close to your grandfather and is obviously still mourning him. “Your Majesty, we have little to report beyond initial infiltration into the New Bourbons and ongoing success in our counterintelligence efforts.” He grimaces. “Normally I’d bring up some of the latest shenanigans from the NRI concerning… well, you know. But I guess I can say that his death hasn’t slowed them down any so far. I’ll let you know if they do anything amusing, I guess.”
Martina is last. “Your Majesty, in addition to providing support for establishing legal and justice systems in any new colonies we may establish, it is time for our regular review and streamlining of the Imperial legal and regulatory codes. With your permission we’d like to do a more in depth effort this year, in hopes of extending the amount of time until we need to do this again by a few more years.”
You have a rather grim duty to perform, as your great-grandmother’s body has arrived along with a large honor guard from the Crimson Storm. The escort is a bit unsettling at first, but you soon relax around them, they seem to consider you to be an honorary family member of theirs. It’s a bit creepy that they show it by offering you extensive cybernetic upgrades, but that seems to be their way of showing affection. After all, to them you are ‘squishy’ and ‘easy to hurt’, which worries them because they hate losing those they love to silly things like disease, bullets, or old age. You do discover that they have dialed back the level of their cyberization massively, at least until they are ‘old’ by their society's lights, at which time they receive the full package, hopefully after having and raising multiple children.
Sadly the funeral will serve multiple purposes. Firstly, for your great-grandmother as originally planned, secondly for your grandfather, as the doctor’s had disconnected life support after verifying a complete lack of brain activity and scans showed that he was, to all intents and purposes, already dead, and finally for your great-aunt Thanh and all of those lost in the Battle of Oculus Venetus.
Surviving ships have managed to limp into repair docks, and salvage crews have been spending the last few months combing the wreckage. Sadly none of the salvage from the Black Steel consists of anything you don’t already have beyond badly mangled bits of electronics that are utterly indecipherable but which are so badly damaged as to be completely useless.
You do have to pick a new CO for the IGN. You have five candidates to review.
Admiral Kenneth Jackson is the current second-in-command of the Navy, with a solid combat background including service in the Battle of Okusawa. He has a reputation of being a methodical planner with an excellent eye towards logistics, and for the last five years he’s been serving as Thanh’s principal deputy. His file does note that he is not an exceptional strategist or tactician, his strengths lie in more administrative duties despite his sterling combat record.
Admiral Vanessa Jones is the current CO of Naval Training Command, overseeing the training of new crews and officers, with a sideline in naval doctrine development and study. She is an academic officer, with relatively limited combat experience since she reached Captain’s rank. She is by far the oldest of the candidates, and would likely only serve for a few years before retiring.
Admiral Joshua Castro is the current chief of procurement for the IGN, having been recently promoted to the position following his excellent performance shepherding the Exeter project through to completion. Despite his ‘shore side’ accomplishments he is also a veteran combat officer, having served as the first CO of HMS Wichita prior to being promoted to oversee the Exeter project, where he commanded the ship, then still on her shakedown cruise, to victory over a Black Steel ship that well outmassed her.
Admiral Rachel Hebert is currently in command of Fortress Command, overseeing the extensive network of orbital and jump point defensive stations throughout the Empire. She is young for her rank, with an extensive reputation as go-getter with a peerless record in combat, including as the XO of HMS Wichita during her storied first action. Your fiance actually served under her command at one point and strongly recommends her, although he does caution you that she has absolutely no tolerance for bullshit whatsoever and will likely clash hard with General Jenkins.
Admiral Frederick Fisher is a bit of a dark horse candidate for the position. He is disliked by most of the Navy establishment as a harsh critic of what he terms ‘complacency’ and ‘lack of vision’, with a record of writing biting reviews in professional journals tearing into his colleagues for various ‘sins’, mostly ‘slavishly copying the Star League’ design practices rather than boldly experimenting to find what truly is the best paradigm for naval operations. If it weren’t for the fact that your grandfather had protected his career he’d have been beached a long time ago, although you do not know why grandfather did that.
| [] | Kenneth Jackson |
| [] | Vanessa Jones |
| [] | Joshua Castro |
| [] | Rachel Hebert |
| [] | Frederick Fisher |
There are only four events for the Olympics taking place in this period, mostly due to the Motorsports events being pushed back to closer to the end of the competition.
In Men’s Soccer, the Rasalhaguians continue to show their utter dominance of the pitch, scoring more goals in just the gold medal game than the other three teams combined for in all matches. Granted, the NRI and Team Griffon manage to score at least once against them, but the Bourbons fail to manage even that. The matches overall are quite friendly, despite the dominance, with the four teams joining together for a post-competition celebration that, unfortunately, led to all team members spending the night in jail after their party got just a wee bit out of hand.
The women’s soccer match is equally friendly, with the Bourbons managing to take the Gold in a penalty kick shootout with the Rasalhaguians, while Team Griffon has to settle for Bronze. The women’s team’s celebrations sort of collided with the men’s team’s celebrations, and as a result, well, the jails are rather full of footballers.
The baseball tournament is hard fought and amazingly close, with every single game going into extra innings and plenty of examples of superb sportsmanship and athleticism from every participating athlete. The Rasalhaguians take Gold, the Bourbons Silver, and Team Griffon Bronze, but every single game could have gone the opposite way.
The softball tournament, on the other hand, is marred by a cheating scandal, as the aristos of the Bourbons, once more primarily from New Picardy, are caught outright cheating with implanted buzzers used to signal signs, corked bats, and concealed ‘sticky stuff’ dispensers. The level of cheating is such that the team is completely disqualified from the tournament and barred from the stadium. In the end the Romans manage to defeat Team Griffon in the 23rd inning after a truly epic marathon game.
And now it is what your grandfather sarcastically called his favorite time of year. You are not looking forward to it, being Empress is hard enough without endless budget meetings, but the business of Empire is no respecter of your wishes. At least you’ll be able to look forward to your wedding next month.
General Jenkins is looking more serious than you’ve ever seen him before, with lines of grief in his expression that look quite out of place on the man you’d always thought of as the consummate ‘competent clown’. “Your Majesty. With the recent losses we find ourselves with a shortage of heavy units, but on the plus side all of our current designs operated within the expectations that we had for them in the recent battle.” He takes a breath, and from the times you’d sat in with your grandfather you know he’d normally be making a wisecrack right about now, but instead he simply nods to General Bradley.
“Your Majesty, the Army was not involved in the recent battle. We do evaluate that we will require more endo-steel, ferro-fibrous, and double heat sink production for the future, but that is a near universal requirement. For procurement we intend to focus on lighter units, apart from a single new Assault Division.” She brings up the chart on the screen.
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Strategic Materials Production
- New Factories
- Endo-Steel - Okusawa
- Ferro-Fibrous - Okusawa
- Double Heat Sinks - Okusawa
- Expand Production
- Endo-Steel
- Ferro-Fibrous
- Double Heat Sinks
- New Factories
- New Factories
- New Logistics Factories
- 9 on New Port Royal
- 20 on New Pollux
- New Logistics Factories
- Strategic Materials Production
- Procurement
- Mechs
- Heavy/Assault
- 6 Assault Regiments
- 3 Standard Mech Regiments
- Light/Medium
- 12 Medium Scout Regiments
- 12 Medium Mech Regiments
- Heavy/Assault
- Conventional
- 12 Air Cavalry Regiments
- 24 Light Armored Regiments
- 12 Light Mechanized Regiments
- 18 Garrison Regiments
- Militia
- Add 15 Militia Rating
- Mechs
- Production
- Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
- New ASF Factories
- Okusawa
- New Pollux
- New Castor
- Chuma
- Edelsteine
- New Strategic Materials Factories
- Ferro-Aluminum - Edelsteine
- Expand Production
- Ferro-Aluminum
- New ASF Factories
- Procurement
- 30 Heavy Carrier Wings
- Production
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- New Production Facilities
- Small Warship Yards
- Calliope, New Port Royal
- Medium Warship Yards
- Griffon, New Capricorn, Nowa Warszawa
- Small Warship Yards
- Refit & Repair Facilities
- Upgrade all Refit & Repair Facilities
- New Production Facilities
- Procurement
- Regular Dropships
- 50 Bainbridge-class Parasite Destroyers
- 23 Long Beach-class Parasite Destroyers
- Large Dropships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 11 Canopus-class Parasite Battleships
- Jumpships
- 15 Windjammer jumpships
- Escorts
- 20 Fletcher Flight II Destroyers
- Small Warships
- 6 Wichita-class Heavy Cruisers
- Medium Warships
- EITHER
- 2 Exeter-class Heavy Cruisers
- OR
- 2 Kongo-class Battlecruisers
- OR
- 2 Furious-class Large Light Cruisers
- OR
- 1 Exeter AND 1 Kongo
- OR
- 1 Exeter AND 1 Furious
- OR
- 1 Kongo AND 1 Furious
- EITHER
- Miscellaneous
- 757 PPG-001
- Regular Dropships
- Production
Elizabeth is up next. “Your Majesty, we have at least two new colonization projects that are worth pursuing. GX-G24, the world that suffered that massive impact and has the massive storms, has been dubbed Awha, or ‘Storm’ in Maori, by the survey crew. The planet is quite mineral rich and a colony there would be very productive. In the long term we’d want DoME to address the storm issue, but that isn’t critical. The agricultural world we found has been dubbed Bauernparadies by the survey crew, or Farmer’s Paradise in German. Much like New Eden the world would be a superb source of high quality food for our more crowded Core systems. Thankfully the system wouldn’t require any terraforming whatsoever. In both cases, we would need Political and Judicial teams to handle their end of things,” she smiles over at the other two advisors who nod back, “and additionally in Bauernparadies’ case we would need our political teams to also lay the groundwork for declaring it an Imperial breadbasket.”
She shuffles her notes. “Thanks to the growth in the Empire we believe that it should be possible to recruit a twelfth DoME team to augment the eleven we currently have. In addition we do recommend further increases in the Civil Service. I know it is becoming exceptionally expensive, but the efficiency arguments still hold strong. In addition we recommend boosting the budget for Imperial Parks & Recreation, as we continue to live under the specter of war morale will be of increasing importance, best that we keep on top of things in that regard.”
“We have a single available DoME team right now, we have several options for it but thanks to the critical need for additional warship slips we recommend building a Medium Shipyard in the Dragon’s Eye system.”
She then brings up a display of investment, focus, and economic growth projects that Interior is recommending.
- Investment and Focus
- Economic Focus
- Core World
- New Port Royal
- Peripheral World
- New Pollux
- Core World
- Investment
- Edelsteine
- Major Economic Investment
- New Capricorn
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
- New Pollux
- New Castor
- Edelsteine
- Nya Kopenhamn
- Kainga
- Military Infrastructure expansion
- Chuma
- Bari
- Skala
- Pieklo
- Economic Focus
Lien is up next. “Your Majesty, as Elizabeth informed you, if we do decide to colonize the new systems we have political teams ready to assist in organizing and implementing new system governments in either or both. In addition, we are quite ready and able to facilitate the expansion of DoME or the Civil Service. That being said, you will need to address Parliament in the near future, there are no indications of any issues in that regard, your grandfather’s supporters have all pledged their support to you, and nothing I have seen shows there to be anything of concern.”
“Your Majesty, I have seven R&D teams ready and eager to start work,” Grace begins almost before she reaches the podium. “And I have plenty of projects that we recommend we pursue. As Admiral Jackson indicated, we have a number of projects directly in support of the Navy that we would like to pursue, plus several more broad ranging ones.”
She switches on the display. “First, for the military, on top of researching even larger warships, we also would like to initiate a comprehensive study of the performance of our existing designs, with a focus on further improving our design philosophies for the future. We have reason to believe that our current design paradigms may not be fully ideal, as we are effectively building our warships much like the Star League did, as massive jump capable dropships with even bigger guns, rather than taking a clean sheet approach. I have some very eager researchers who’d like to see about changing that. In addition, thanks to our friends in the Crimson Storm, we have design notes on extremely compact 3cm pulse lasers that would also apply to our laser anti-missile system. We strongly recommend pursuing this research.”
She checks her notes. “Finally, we recommend basic research into improved materials and power generation, as well as either dual-purpose capital lasers for the military or, if the budget allows, improved terraforming equipment for DoME.”
General Messerschmidt looks… reduced, much like General Jenkins, your Intelligence chief was extremely close to your grandfather and is obviously still mourning him. “Your Majesty, we have little to report beyond initial infiltration into the New Bourbons and ongoing success in our counterintelligence efforts.” He grimaces. “Normally I’d bring up some of the latest shenanigans from the NRI concerning… well, you know. But I guess I can say that his death hasn’t slowed them down any so far. I’ll let you know if they do anything amusing, I guess.”
Martina is last. “Your Majesty, in addition to providing support for establishing legal and justice systems in any new colonies we may establish, it is time for our regular review and streamlining of the Imperial legal and regulatory codes. With your permission we’d like to do a more in depth effort this year, in hopes of extending the amount of time until we need to do this again by a few more years.”