Aspiring Emperor Quest Empire Pastebin #2

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Aspiring Emperor Quest Empire Pastebin
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This pastebin will contain information about the empire under the player's control. Descriptions of the main castle, finances, military etc are all to be found here. Note that information on the provinces and regions in the empire are contained in the general pastebin or the region info bin.

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OTHER EDITIONS
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This is the Thread XXIII edition of the empire pastebin of AEQ.

A master pastebin with links to all editions for all bins is below.

http://pastebin.com/6Su7M3fh

NB: All content added since the most recent edition has a #NEW# tag above it. Use Ctrl+F to find new content this way.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Empire Structure
1.1. Harrowmont
1.2. Archduchy of Vitria
1.3. The Remainder
2. Harrowmont (Fortress)
3. Cabinet
4. Military
4.1. Current Military
4.2. Military Ranks
4.3. Military Descriptions
5. Mages
5.1. Mage Towers and Mage Numbers
5.2. Notable Specialists
5.2.1. Specialist Breakdowns
5.2.2. Specialist Descriptions
5.3. Magic Research
6. Finances
7. Foundry and Magitech
7.1. Foundries
7.2. Magitech Research

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1. EMPIRE STRUCTURE
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This section details the management structure of the various parts of your empire (that might be something to name).

///1.1. Harrowmont

Provinces: Harrowmont
Capital: Harrowmont
Population: 200,000
Role: Empire-wide Seat of Power
Manager: Imperator Talon York
Additional Notes on Management: Directly controlled and ruled by the Imperator.

Additional Notes in General:
Taxation and laws are currently the same as in the Archduchy of Vitria. Control is higher due to state ownership of agricultural land.

///1.2. Archduchy of Vitria
Provinces: Vitria, Vale, Port Temby, Craol
Capital: Vitria
Population: 1,940,000
Role: Economy and Trade
Manager: Archduchess Sarah Hawkins
Additional Notes on Management: Ruled by a ruling council of four houses plus a small council that sits immediately under the archduchess.
>Ruling House: Hawkins (Archduchess Sarah Hawkens)
>Great Houses: Tabeth, Argyle, Rorek
>Ruling Cabinet: Sarah (archduchess), Aaron (chancellor), Argyle and Rorek, members of the Archduchess' Council, additional members appointed by the legislature, but assigned portfolios by Aaron and Sarah (and yes, there is a post or two specifically for people they don’t want)
>Legislative branch: Unicameral legislature drawn from multiple sources with varying representation. House Hawkens has the most delegates, followed closely by Tabeth (Aaron has speakership of the legislature incidentally) with Argyle and Rorek in distant third. Other members of parliament include: Mages and Knightly orders, the two most powerful groups outside the four, the merchant guilds and other prominent “commoners”, a few for the more common commoners and the lesser houses.
>Archduchess' Council: Aaron, Grandmaster Lucas, Grand Magister Spoker

Additional Notes in General:
Nobles are currently unhappy due to the introduction of state ownership of agricultural land, lowering Order. Control is higher due to state ownership plus direct taxation and management by the Archduchess. Currently the administrative centre of the empire.

///1.3. The Remainder
Provinces: Olmm, Mier
Capital: N/A
Population: 1,000,000
Role: N/A
Manager: Archduchy of Vitria
Additional Notes on Management:
Managed by the Archduchy of Vitria currently.

Additional Notes in General:
Taxation and laws are currently the same as in the Archduchy of Vitria. Control is higher due to state ownership of agricultural land.

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2. HARROWMONT
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NB: This section will change over time as the PC changes the fortress.

Description: A large fortress built forty years ago during the heyday of Darlesia. It was initially built to maintain the eastern front of the nation, but the border expanded faster than expected and the castle was abandoned shortly before it was completely finished. A noble from Vitria decided to claim the fortress for himself with the near complete collapse of Darlesia and his excavation team have reportedly discovered a Source. Whether the noble knows exactly what he found is unknown, but whoever takes control of it will have the only functional Source in existence. The fortress itself is large, containing an outer wall, inner wall and a keep. It backs into a cliff side, making it easily defensible once it is repaired.

Very rough map, the boxes are gatehouses: http://imgur.com/47q9Vha

OUTSIDE THE WALLS – this is immediate surroundings of the outer wall of the fortress, up to the cliffs. It is currently overgrown.

OUTER WALL – this is the outer wall of the fortress, which stretches downhill into the fields before returning to the cliff side. It has been completely rebuilt. With assistance from your barrier mages, the walls and barriers are sturdier than they were previously and won't collapse over a relatively short-time. It is 10m wide and 30m high, with a sturdy foundation and imposing battlements. The barriers on it merely protect from high speed magical and physical impacts, not from general physical intrusion (e.g. siege ladders).
+ Outer courtyard, lower area – the outer courtyard stretches between the two main gatehouses and is separated into lower and upper areas by some manmade platforms.
+ Outer courtyard, upper area – the upper area consists consists of a mix of the space on top of the platforms and the natural incline.
+ Merchant area – separated from the courtyard by a short wall, there is an area of housing and structures that contains a number of shopfronts, stalls and plazas for merchants. It also contains a number of sturdier buildings for administrative activities. It has its own small gatehouse in the outer wall, large enough to fit most wagons. It also connects to the noble manors on the other side of the inner wall.
+ Residential area – a tall stone wall with no battlements or rampart access separates the courtyard from the main residential area in the fortress. Fully half the outer area of the fortress is dedicated to this area. This area is connected to both courtyards - the south side contains the gatehouse through the inner wall. Gareth and Bartom have recently reconstructed the housing, roads and other infrastructure of the area and they estimate it can house 6000 people comfortably (if a little cramped - houses are built high).

INNER WALL – this is the inner wall of the fortress, protecting an inner courtyard and the keep. The wall has been completely rebuilt and, like the outer wall, is sturdier than before. The barriers of this wall, unlike the outer wall, will try to prevent all physical intrusion as high as 50m above it and connects with a similar barrier underneath the entire fortress. As such, mages must man the gates at all time to allow anybody through.
+ Inner courtyard – The inner courtyard surrounds the keep, which is itself built into the cliff side. The entire courtyard is paved with flagstones, which are overgrown with moss and weeds, and many are missing making for a treacherous battlefield.
+ Noble manors – the fortress has a dedicated area for three small manors, all of which are in ruin.

KEEP – Harrowmont’s keep is a large, multi-level castle with many rooms and supply stores. The keep interior has been restored to a structurally safe state, but the outside is still in need of repair. The keep itself extends into the cliff.
+ Lower floors – The lower floors include audience chambers, guard rooms and supply rooms for the most part. It is the working area of the keep. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
+ Upper floors – the upper floors are where all the bedrooms and private hearing rooms are. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
+ Mage tower - An extension from the existing mage workshop space in the keep has recently been completed, resulting a decently sized tower. You estimate that the tower (including the former workshop area) can hold roughly 50 mages. Gnome and Bartom left some room for further extension, too, though it will be more time-consuming than the extension was due to the addition of structural supports and a need to construct new barriers/wards rather than just extend the old ones.
+ Underground – vaults and supply stores lie under the keep. Not all of these areas are structurally sound. Bartom is currently working to fix any problems and build some additional extensions.
+ Source vault – The lowest floor that was recently excavated is a sturdy vault that contains the Source. The Source itself is a large prismatic stone inside a large room on this floor - there is an illusion over the Source to prevent people from seeing its natural form and freaking out.

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3. CABINET
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This keeps track of the current members of your cabinet, to simplify matters. The NPCs listed below will be present at war, economics and strategy meetings if they are with you and it is relevant that they are present. They will offer advice and your decisions will affect their respect for you more directly. You can add and remove cabinet members as you wish, but you may lose respect depending on the individual and your reasons (e.g. you might remove a captain with no issues once you have three generals, but removing your arms master might be troublesome).

See the NPC list for more details on each NPC.

EXECUTIVE
Imperator Talon York (PC)
Neir Gendarme
Undine
Gnome

MAGES
Archmagister Maloric Reegan
Magister Saril

MILITARY & LOGISTICS
General Arail Malaine
Arms Master Cormann
General Parras

ADMINISTRATION
Archduchess Sarah Hawkins
Marcus the Merchant

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4. MILITARY
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#NEW# Updated the military. Significant changes.

///4.1. Current Military

TOTAL FORCE = 5,886 soldiers
Overall Military Presence = High
Overall Military Experience = Moderate

315 Flying Mage-Knights
>85 Veteran
>150 Regular
>80 Green
140 Heavy Mage-Knights
>40 Regular
>100 Green
1508 Medium Mage-Knights
>658 Veteran
>450 Regular
>400 Green
250 Arcane Archers
>250 Veteran
1345 Archers
>25 Veteran
>1320 Regular
550 Heavy Men-at-arms
>300 Regular
>250 Green
1705 Men-at-arms
>575 Veteran
>1130 Regular
73 Battlemages
>50 Veteran
>23 Regular
Satisfactory support and logistics corps

///4.2. Military Ranks

SOLDIER UNITS
Conscripts - Untrained and inexperienced, conscripts and levies are both less effective and have weak morale.
Green - Trained but inexperienced, green soldiers have lower morale and are less intimidating.
Regulars - Soldiers that perform to expected standards of their unit.
Veterans - Veterans are highly experienced and possess high morale and are effective at intimidation.
Elites - The best of the best, elite soldiers fight with high effectiveness and with very high morale.

OFFICER RANKS
Lord General – commands generals
General – commands a battlefront
LT General  – commands a legion
Captain – commands a company
LT – 2IC to a Captain, commands half a company (platoon)
Sergeant – Commands a squad
Corporal – 2IC to sergeant, commands half a squad (fire-team?)
Man at Arms

UNIT/ARMY STRUCTURES
Squads of 10, companies of 100, legions of 1000. Specialist units like heavy and flying mage knights might have 5 person squadrons.

WEAPONS DEV BOARD
Council designed to coordinate military related research. Comprised of mages and soldiers representing each type of unit we field (MK, AA, Heavy MK, Flying MK).

///4.3. Military Descriptions

FLYING MAGE-KNIGHTS (FMK)

Flying mage knights are a specialist unit of mage-knights. They are suited to scouting and harassment, and the expense of their equipment means the wearers are typically highly skilled. They typically wear a suit of magical plate with special gauntlets and carry a small weapon. The plate has a flying enchantment on it, with all the requisite control abilities for the wearer (i.e. so they can actually control the thing), and also carries mass-lightening charms - there are usually no other enchantments on the plate due to complexity of the flying enchantment. The gauntlets however, are loaded with spells. The Darlesian spell armament are binding and explosive spells - the knights can swap between the two with a delay of 15-20 seconds and a small expenditure of their current charges (which recover reasonably quickly). The binding spells are suited to restraining movement of enemy elites but the explosive spells are mostly about a lot of damage, despite being slower to cast. Their weapon typically carries a standard magical bolt enchantment, with relatively few charges, and a cutting enchancement.

HEAVY MAGE-KNIGHTS (HMK)

Heavy mage-knights are a recent attempt by the RSK to make anti-mage units. The magical plate is not only made thick and bulky but is loaded with a large amount of enchantments (typically defensive, strength and barriers, with only enough speed and mass-reduction to make the armor usable). Earlier, machined plate could never stand against mages - now heavy mage-knights can wear this (expensive) machined plate and withstand powerful spells and empowered blows. With that said, the focus on defensive enchantment means the wearers move slowly and exhaust themselves quickly. Units of heavy mage-knights are best used as strikeforce units to break combat magister formations or elite shock troops.

MEDIUM MAGE-KNIGHTS (MMK)

The core of any modern army, it is said that every mage-knight is worth five regular soldiers. As it is, they cost a lot more than five soldiers but as morale breaks faster than bodies they make up for it. The equipment of most mage-knights is a suit of magical plate, an enchanted weapon and a shield. The weapon typically has the ability to fire magical bolts and has a large number of charges with a short recharge time. The shield is typically all metal with a mass-lightening charm and some better shields may have limited-charge momentum-nullification barriers (to be used against powerful blows). The plate itself has passive strength, speed and defensive enchantments for the wearer, and typically one other enchantment - Darlesia favoured silence charms whereas Vitria preferred more speed enchantment.

LIGHT MAGE-KNIGHTS (LMK)

Note: You do not currently have any of these in your army and have not encountered any.

When magical plate first started being machined fifty years ago (for the first time since the Golden Age) all plate would fit into the category of light. Now though, the equipment of the light mage-knight is aimed more at making them devastatingly powerful glass cannons. Their plate is loaded with speed enchantments and their weapons with cutting enchantments - the idea is that they close with an enemy unit, deal a lot of damage with their armor-piercing weapons, and then retreat. If caught in a dedicated melee, LMKs will collapse very quickly.

ARCANE ARCHERS

Seeing the uses of enchanted equipment for mage-knights, you decided to start giving it to your archers. Mage-knights have ranged ability, but it is close range and of limited usefulness - by giving your skilled archers heavily enchanted bows and armor to enhance their ability to penetrate enemy armor and strike accurately at a great distance you have added a powerful force to your army. All archers also have a full supply of enchanted arrows that enable penetration of heavier armor. As arcane archers are new, there are bound to be ways to further improve them and to better use magic with archery.

ARCHERS

The mainstay of long-range combat outside battle-mages, regular soldiers can be trained to use bows (longbows, crossbows etc are functionally similar for simplicity reasons). Although their arrows have great difficulty piercing magical plate, they still occasionally strike true and are great for weakening morale - and of course, they fell men-at-arms with little difficulty.

MEN-AT-ARMS

Up until fifty years ago, when machined plate returned to warfare, men-at-arms made up the vast bulk of any army. Professional soldiers supplied with mass-produced mundane equipment were the core of any army. Now, men-at-arms are still very common but are playing a back-up role to mage-knights. Mage-knights are responsible for winning battles by breaking through enemy formations or shattering morale but the men-at-arms are still responsible for holding the line otherwise.

BATTLEMAGES

Although magic is very common and most people can cast magic with lethal consequences being a battlemage is of considerable difficulty. It is not enough to simply be able to strike down a foe with magic at range - a battlemage must also be able to cast continuously at longbow range, be able to lay and trigger traps and be able to cast a variety of damaging spells. A failure of a battlemage unit to do any of the above leaves them very vulnerable to enemy soldiers or mages - as such, battlemages are much rarer than their ordinary mage cousins. There is a subtype of battlemage known as the combat magister that is used in a very different manner.

COMBAT MAGISTERS

If a battlemage is to a mage what a mage-knight is to a peasant, then combat magisters are the same again to their battlemage cousins. Exceedingly skilled and experienced warriors, combat magisters field in small tight-knit units and unless a wide-array of magical death to their foes. The Magi League uses them as surprise shock troops, hiding them in regular units only for them to suddenly charge out and obliterate the unit they are facing. A highly skilled magister can destroy a unit of mage-knights at range but a unit of elite combat magisters can shatter the entire core of an army in a few brief minutes. Luckily for the RSK, combat magisters are both rare and difficult to replace so every one they kill is a serious blow to the League.

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5. MAGES
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#NEW# Updated military mage numbers. Also added the Port Temby tower.

///5.1. Mage Towers and Mage Numbers

This section includes details on the number of towers under your control, the number of mages in your military and towers (the latter includes Maloric and Gareth) and a breakdown of the ranks of mages. Notable specialists are in a separate section below. Although your tower mages may assist your military, the latter is not true. Battlemages in your standing army are professional soldiers not scholars. Combat magisters are included under towers. See section of 4.1.3. of the lorebin for details on what each rank means.

NO. OF MAGE TOWERS IN PC TERRITORY: 5
TOTAL NO. OF MAGES IN MILITARY: 73
	Grand Magisters: 0
	Magisters: 0
	Journeymen: 15
	Adepts: 58
TOTAL NO. OF MAGES IN TOWERS: 489
	Grand Magisters: 1
	Magisters: 46 (including Gareth and Maloric)
	Journeymen: 196
	Adepts: 246

///5.2. Notable Specialists

This section contains a breakdown of the specialists in your towers loyal to you and descriptions of what each means. Mages with multiple specialities (like Maloric) are counted once for each speciality (so there is an element of double-counting). Mages must be at least Magister rank or have the skill of one to be considered a specialist. All-rounder magisters are excluded from this list (they contribute like lower-ranked mages, but better). Note that lower-ranked mages can still assist what specialists do. Military mages are excluded from this section.

/////5.2.1. Specialist Breakdowns

Enchanters: 4
Structural Mages: 4
Summoners: 1
Machinists: 1
Combat Magisters: 0
Channelers: 6
Transmuters: 0

/////5.2.2. Specialist Descriptions

ENCHANTER
Enchanters specialise in enchantment. They can add magical effects to weapons and items in general. Enchanters are both useful in terms of production as well as research. Production-wise they can produce weapons or goods of worth. When researching, they can give you new ideas for enchantment or possibly achieve things not believed possible earlier (or simply make them easier). Enchanters are vital to the creation of all magitech.

STRUCTURAL MAGE
Structural mages include barrier experts, permanent magical reinforcement of large physical objects (similar but different to enchantment), the creation of large physical objects with magic (like an earth elemental) and general magical wards (e.g. anti-teleportation wards). Production-wise they assist with civil and military works (city and fortress construction). Research-wise they can develop new barriers and wards and improve existing ones. Structural mages are vital to the creation of large pieces of magitech (including factories).

SUMMONERS
Summoners are mages who specialise in creating summons, patterns and/or constructs. They can be useful to create small armies in combat or to produce patterns/constructs to be used for civil or military jobs. Research-wise, all they can do is improve the former - though this could be very useful. Summoners would be useful if you attempted to design and make magitech that produces summons, patterns or constructs (this has not been done since the Golden Age).

MACHINISTS
Machinists specialise in the creation and design of magitech. They possess varied magical skills, which otherwise makes them an all-rounder. They can help create magitech both large and small, but they will always need the assistance of other mages. They can be used to produce magitech small and large, and research new types of magitech.

COMBAT MAGISTERS
Devastating combatants - combat magisters can be a huge boon to your military and your garrisons. They cannot help with research or production, but instead they make the region/province they are in much more orderly and harder to assault and can be used to assist your military.

CHANNELERS
Channeler is a general term for mages who specialise in manipulating large amounts of magical energy for a variety of uses. Some, like Maloric, use this to disrupt other mages. Others, like Archmage Alyce, use it to create devastating artillery-like bombardment spells. Channeling is also useful for anything involving understanding and manipulating raw magical energy and is a deep theoretical topic. Channelers have broad production capabilties and research uses. They are useful, but typically not vital to, the production of almost all magitech - large magitech machines will benefit greatly from a skilled channeler.

TRANSMUTERS
Rare amongst mages, even rarer for one to be capable of doing more than creating a small glass a day, transmuters have the rare ability to directly shape magic (and the world). Transmutation is one step away from using astral power and is more similar to the powerful abilities of non-human sorcery such as that of devils, dragons and dwarves. A skilled transmuter can outperform every other specialist in their own field, but finding one capable of doing that more than once a day is nigh-impossible. Furthermore, their research pursuits are useless for anybody other than themselves.

///5.3. Magic Research

Currently some of the journeymen mages in Harrowmont are researching thralls without much success. They have two subjects.

Mal is, in between his many other projects, researching the magical crystals found near Undine's PoP. He hasn't had that much time to do this. If successful, they may be useful in powering magitech or mages.

There is a proposed idea of researching patterns or constructs, a field of magic not often studied. Mal would have to undertake this.

The towers in Vitria are likely undertaking a range of research, most of which probably isn't that useful to the empire at large but is good for the economy.

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6. FINANCES
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This section deals with the empire's finances, largely in the role of taxation. Taxes collected vary with the Control of a province, as well as if it is rebelling (and therepore not paying taxes).

///6.1. Agricultural Taxation

All agricultural land is effectively owned by the state/empire. This means the only payments farmers are required to make are an annual percentage of all crops harvested. Nobles that formerly owned agricultural land are paid an annuity in compensation, which are reflected in admin expenses.

Agricultural taxation is levied in the last two weeks of March each year.

Current Agricultural Tax Rate = 25%

///6.2. Tradeables Taxation

This covers taxation of goods, services and property. Currently, there are taxes on trade in common marketplaces, property taxes and import/export duties.

Current Property Tax Rate = Low

Tariffs are currently on all imported and export manufactured goods, though it is important to note this includes all alcohol. Merchants can also pay unfront for a five year license that applies a 5% reduction to all tariffs on a specific volume of goods.

Current Tariff Rate = 10%

///6.3. Financial Position Statement

FINANCIAL POSITION STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDING 30 JUNE, 1953 (NEXT YEAR)

(Current as of June 29th, 1952)

TBY = Currency unit

Current Treasury = 600TBY

Maximum Agricultural Tax = 1228TBY
Estimated Agricultural Tax = 761TBY
Maximum Tradeables Taxes (Property, Duties etc) = 270TBY (excludes preferred merchant license profits)
Estimated Tradeables Taxes = 182TBY (excludes preferred merchant license profits)

Military Expenses = 234TBY
Admin Expenses = 289TBY
Foundry Expenses = 100TBY

Projected Net Revenue = 341TBY
Projected EoY Treasury = 941TBY

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FOUNDRY AND MAGITECH
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///7.1. Foundries

VITRIAN FOUNDRY
Location: Vitria
Manager: Magister Alistair Farrell
Defences: Strong
Facilities: Testing and design area; three magitech factories; automated feeding, transport and assembly equipment
Production Capability: Heating units x1 (unchangeable); general manufactures x1; enchanted arrows x1

///7.2. Magitech Research

Current research project is in putting the enchanted bows of the arcane archers into mass production.

A proposed project is a small, portable sending device for use by officers incapable of sendings (e.g. Talon himself).

A proposed project is a magitech motorbike. This would be expensive and take a long time, as well as require incremental improvements and research. An alternative project is proposed using magic rather than magitech and involves using patterns or constructs (which may later require magitech for mass production).

A proposed project is to create medium mage-knight armour. Currently the empire possesses no template for one and would need to develop their own, but this step could be skipped if a template could be found or purchased (the latter being extremely unlikely).