Warsinger

by James Osiris Baldwin

  I was reminded of the draft letter that had changed my life for the weird. The idea of trying to read anything right now made me nauseous, so I folded it into my Inventory and focused on the herald. “Thanks for coming all this way. What’s the message?”

  The Herald drew her heels together with a small click. Her eyes focused on a point past my head, and she began to recite.

  “Hector, congratulations on your victory. Now that you have your charter, be sure to consolidate and personalize your province as you see fit, within the limits set out by law. There have been two significant developments in the conflict with Ilia. Firstly, my spies report that Baldr Hyland is amassing an army in the capital of Liren and plans to mobilize against one of several potential targets. Secondly, Rutha of Vasteau has awoken from her coma and has important information for us. She is to give a formal testimony in Parliament. Representatives from each White Sail Alliance nation will also be there to hear her speech. I require that you attend the Royal Courts at the Orlihatz on the day Boseg Hava 5th, at midday.”

  Rutha? My heart skipped, then sunk as my 24th quest alert of the day appeared.

  [New Main Quest: The Gathering Storm.]

  I swiped it away without listening to it. “Today’s date is Boseg Hava 1st, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Istvan gave a curt nod.

  “Thanks,” I said. I looked back to the Herald. “Do you need a room? We don’t have much to offer here, but you’re welcome to a bed and whatever food we have.”

  The Herald bowed again. “Thank you, Your Grace, but I must beg pardon and refuse your hospitality. His Majesty requested I return to Taltos as soon as you have finished preparing your return message.”

  I thought about asking her if I could stay on the airship for a while. Given the state of the castle, the cruiser probably had better food and beds than we did. I rubbed my face. “You can memorize and play back anything I need to say to him, right?”

  “Yes, Your Grace.” She bowed a second time.

  I heaved a deep sigh. “Alright… ‘Ignas, thanks for letting me know. I’m glad to hear Rutha is awake. Me, Karalti, and Suri will be there on the 5th come hell or high water’. End message. Please make it like… more formal and polite than that.”

  The messenger nodded. She almost seemed disappointed it was so short. “Is that all, Your Grace?”

  “Yeah, thanks. Give him my regards, as well.”

  She bowed a second time and departed without a word.

  “She’s good at her job. She even sounded like Ignas.” I plopped back into my throne, but couldn’t sit still. I restlessly got back to my feet and started pacing. “What’s happening twenty-seven days from today?”

  “Next month is Szuret Hava, the month of the harvest,” Istvan replied, watching me solemnly. “Myszno harvests one month after the other provinces, due to our unusual climate. The middle of the month is the point of no return for our crops. If we don’t have enough people able to harvest them, our prospects for the coming year are grim. Racsa barely has enough food for the next thirty days. The rest of the province is at capacity, but without the southern harvest, that will decline sharply over the next year. By the next winter in 1659, we will be at approximately 25% of the food required to sustain Myszno without outside aid.”

  “Fucking great.” I scowled at the faded green and silver banners hanging from the ceiling. I liked green places - forests, fields, gardens - but I hated it as, like… a color. “I don't know what to do, man. Suri is stuck in Al-Asad, and now Ignas wants to see me. Let’s say it takes four days to track Suri, then another two to visit Taltos and teleport back. That leaves us twenty-one days to handle twenty-four quests, plus the non-Myszno related ones I still have to do. We’d have to complete one quest per day, every day, along with any other ‘evolving’ questlines that stem from them. How the hell am I supposed to do this? I’m not fucking Santa Claus, and Karalti isn’t a flying reindeer.”

  Istvan gave a testy little sigh. “My lord, you don't do them yourself.”

  I stopped rubbing my eyes to glare at him.

  “You delegate,” he said. “You are no longer an adventurer ranging across the land, picking up bounties and camping in hostels. You are a landed Lord with a castle and personnel at your disposal. No single man or woman can single-handedly fix the realm, Dragozin.”

  “We don't have anyone to delegate to. Suri and Rin aren’t here. Vash is injured and his HP hasn’t budged a point from 50% in two days. Racsa’s army is still marching across the Endlar, and it’ll be two weeks before troops arrive. We have a hundred and fifty soldiers, two airships, one of the quests was issued BY Lord Zediwitz, because he’s too exhausted to do it himself…”

  “Check the Combat Management System and see who we do have, then.”

  I sullenly opened the menu and scanned the contents. “I guess we have the Royal Engineers to take on the infrastructure quests. There’s some Vets that have been elevated to Hero status? I didn’t see that. Who the hell is Timofey Lostra?”

  “Commander Lostra assumed command of the Royal Navy ships when Admiral Gehlan was killed in action, which you would have known if you’d been paying attention to your alerts,” Istvan replied sourly. “And you said it yourself: we have a hundred and fifty soldiers and two airships, engineers, even a few mages. Our veterans are tired, yes, but the man or woman who successfully completes one of these quests for you will look forward to coin, perhaps even elevation to knighthood. A knighthood means that any of these common-born soldiers could own property, their own armor, cattle. Pay in peerage, and you will have volunteers throwing themselves at your feet. And for the larger quests, like routing those bandits out of Vyeshniki, we have Taethawn’s mercenaries for that. Meewfolk make some of the hardiest soldiers known to Archemi, and they’re well suited to that alpine desert climate.”

  “I guess. As long as they’re fresh enough to ride all the way to Assfuck-Nowhere, Vlachia, and then fight a bunch of bandits.” I gestured vaguely in the direction of the doors at the end of the Great Hall.

  “Honestly, Dragozin. You’re not stupid,” he said. “Stop and think about what you said for a moment.”

  I grimaced, and thought. Well, tried to. My brain was basically a cardboard box full of gerbils on crack. “I dunno. What else are we going to do? Stick them on airships?”

  “That is exactly what you should do. It’s a one-day flight from Karhad to Vyeshniki in good weather. And in the meantime, you can check the health of Taethawn’s units in your Kingdom Management System, or the Combat Management System. We haven’t released them from service, so the information should still be there.” He gave me an exasperated look. “Why haven’t you learned to use these tools?”

  “Between almost being turned into a vampire and losing my girlfriend, I’ve had other things on my mind. I could definitely be coping better.”

  He shrugged. “Then forfeit your claim to someone who can cope and return to Taltos. Let the Volod appoint another Voivode.”

  I turned on him sharply. “What the hell did you just say to me?”

  “The truth.” He fixed me with a defiant expression. “What was it you said to me when I was moping in the War Room at Fort Korona, drinking myself into an early grave?”

  I sighed. “I told you to harden the fuck up.”

  He gave me a stiff, sardonic bow. “Then with all due respect, Your Grace...”

  “Right, fine, I get it.” I reached up to pull the crown off, turning it in my hands as I resumed pacing. “I’m going to become the best fucking Voivode you’ve ever had now, just to spite you. I just… I can’t stop thinking about Suri, man. What if they’re hurting her? Torturing her?”

  “You know as well as I do that agonizing over her pain will not relieve it,” he said, more gently. “Trust in her, Hector. She knew what she was risking when she joined the fight against Ashur, and you are making excuses when you could be coming up with solutions to speed your way to Dakhdir. But first, you have to know how to rule this
place. You need to put your house in order.”

  “Ugh.” I opened up the Kingdom Management System and drew a deep, calming breath when two holographic displays opened up, one next to the other. The screen on the right was titled 'Kingdom Quests', and contained the list of quests I'd received in my first court session. It was similar to my normal Quests menu, but this menu was somewhat more technical. By hovering over a quest, I discovered that Istvan was right: I could, in fact, assign them to other people. There was also a tagging system, which allowed me to sort them into categories, and a feature that allowed me to remotely track the progress of any quest I had outsourced to NPCs or other players. I could pay them through this portal, and I could also create and assign new quests of my own.

  The screen on the left had four tabs: Overview, Infrastructure, Logistics, and Governance. Overview was the default tab, giving me a zoomable map of Myszno, a short bullet-point list of its essential demographics, its economic health, and important upcoming dates. Months in Archemi were only 27 days long, and the harvest began on Szuret Hava 1.

  As if sensing my confusion, my HUD piped up.

  [Would you like a guided tour of the Kingdom Management System?]

  “Yes, please. All of the guiding, all of the tour.” I scanned the Infrastructure page, trying to make sense of it.

  “The Kingdom Management System - or KMS for short - is a flexible scaling content management platform to help you manage your new territory.” My narrator, who I’d named Navigail, sounded as perky as ever. “While it may seem complicated at first glance, the system gives you vast control over how your territory is run, from managing small villages through to entire nations. I can run you through this tour manually, or I can upload the information via GNOSIS. Which would you prefer?”

  “Yes, please, for the love of all that is holy, upload the information.”

  There was a pause.

  “I'm sorry, but due to Archemi being in Beta, the GNOSIS information upload for this tutorial requires Admin approval,” Navigail chirped. “I’ll notify you when the first available Admin is online.”

  I groaned. “All the Admins are dead, Navigail. Don’t worry about it.”

  “No problem! I’ll let our support team know,” Navigail replied. “I've detected that you’ve already grasped the Kingdom Quest Interface, so let's start with the second module: Your Infrastructure tab.”

  “Nothing gets me harder than infrastructure,” I muttered. Istvan, who was leaning against a pillar while he waited, shot me a quizzical look.

  The narrator was oblivious. “The Infrastructure menu is, in some ways, the most important part of your KMS. Every habitable building rests on a foundation, and your infrastructure is the foundation of your kingdom. By mastering this menu, you can create or reshape the environment where your citizens to live, work, play and rest. Infrastructure is also important for the economy, and also for maintaining good standards of health and security.”

  “The Infrastructure menu, like all of the Kingdom Management menus and the Mass Combat System, can be scaled up and down. You can micro-manage individual units, or manage large-scale projects by opening this menu and searching for the kind of project you wish to assess or complete. Let's start with your castle as an example. Think or say: 'Kalla Sahasi.'“

  “Kalla Sahasi,” I thought back.

  A map of the castle appeared to one side, with a list of the castle's features on the other. There were about twenty items, listed in alphabetical order.

  ● Apiary (0% N/A)

  ● Bakery (80%; N/A)

  ● Barracks (50%; Captain Parvas)

  ● Stables (32%, Ivan Mattias (squire))

  ● Donjon (25%, N/A)

  ● ...

  If the structure didn't exist, the name was grayed out. If it did exist, then it had a percentage score next to it. The names were the NPCs appointed to manage each of the castle’s important functional buildings, like the Barracks and Stables. Out of about fifteen different stations, only three of them had occupants. I could guess the rest had been killed.

  Navigail seemed to pick up on my train of thought as I worked it out. “You are correct! The names in that menu show which stations you can appoint NPCs or Players to. The percentage next to your structures shows you their integrity, which affects the operational capacity of those buildings. For example, the bakery of Kalla Sahasi is currently operating at 80% functionality. Select it to identify what needs to be repaired.”

  “Bakery,” I thought.

  The menu blinked out, and the map zoomed into the Bakery unit, bringing it into focus. It was at the back of the Kitchens, which were part of the building complex to the left of the Great Hall.

  “When you look at the map of a single structure, you can identify what needs to be repaired,” Navigail said cheerfully. “Damaged structures are highlighted in red. This room has damaged outer walls. Focus on a damaged structure to call up the repair pane.”

  The room was built against the rammed earth ramparts that used to surround Kalla Sahasi, and it had taken a pounding on that one side. There was one collapsed wall in the back, highlighted with red lines. I focused on it, and a small popup appeared.

  [Stone Wall: Repair Cost - 100g or 1 Build Point]

  “If you opt to have this wall repaired, the KMS will either provide you with a laundry list to accomplish the repair, or send an alert to your Steward, who will arrange for the repair themselves,” Navigail said. “Now, zoom out back to the castle view, and think 'damaged structures'.”

  When I did that, the blue map nearly turned scarlet. Practically every part of Kalla Sahasi had taken damage during the Demon's takeover. The worse the damage, the more intense the red highlight was. The Gatehouse, Curtain Wall, Great Hall, and Inner Keep were the most significantly damaged. I was able to get a summary total of how much it would cost to repair the entire castle.

  Kalla Sahasi

  Building Type: Castle (Hill Castle)

  Integrity: 5000/100,000

  Damaged Components: 78%

  Cost to Repair: 20,000g OR 2000 Build Points

  “Two thousand Build Points?” I whispered. “Fuck me. I only got sixty for the huge quest I did for the Volod.”

  My HUD chimed, and then the cost flared with a soft blue glow.

  “Build Points are special points gained during the completion of Kingdom Quests, which are used to offset the monetary cost of repairing or commissioning structures,” Navigail said. “A completed quest generally rewards between 10 and 50 Build Points - BP for short. One Build Point is equivalent to 100 units of the highest currency in your nation, and represents the paid manpower you are able to command to complete a project. The more BP you use, the lower your monetary cost will be. For example: You have 20,000g worth of repairs or replacements to make on Kalla Sahasi. You could pay for that with money or BP, or both. If you were to invest 1000BP, the currency cost would drop to 10,000 olbia.”

  “Uhhh.” One thousand BP was still a long way away. “Great. How can I reduce expenses?”

  “There are several ways to reduce the cost of developing and maintaining infrastructure,” Navigail replied. “Time, Skills, and Renown all play a role. At full price, your castle repairs would normally take fifteen days to complete. However, you can double or triple the maximum construction time up to save money and build points. If you doubled the repair time to thirty days, you would save one quarter of your expenses. If you extended it to forty-five days, you would save one half, taking your project down to 5000 olbia and 500BP. If you have more money than BP, you can balance the right quantity of each for a given project.”

  I nodded, listening along. “You trade time for money.”

  “Correct. High Leadership and Renown automatically grants you savings on your construction projects. Every five levels in the Leadership skill reduces your cost by 1%. At max level, you could have a 30% reduction in expenses.”

  I checked my Leadership skill. I was at Leadership 9: just below the threshold for m
y next reduction in expenses. “And Renown?”

  “Your Renown reflects how your citizens feel about your leadership, and whether or not they will volunteer unpaid or minimally paid labor to help with raising infrastructure. Each volunteer you recruit to a project represents 0.5BP, or 50 olbia. Recruiting volunteers takes time (1 day per 100 volunteers) and comes with some special conditions.”

  “Firstly, volunteers must be able-bodied adults. They are recruited per-project. Volunteers work at half the speed of a professional team of craftsmen, potentially doubling your construction time. Volunteers take a 30-day fatigue penalty after the completion of a project, and cannot be re-recruited during this time. If you have multiple projects, you must balance your recruitment needs against your population. Your Governance menu will show you how many potential volunteers you have available.”

  “If you are building your reputation on Infamy instead of Renown, you can instead conscript citizens to build infrastructure. However, you must increase your security forces to be proportionate to the number of people you conscript, or else you will face escalating civil unrest.”

  “Right,” I said. “How many volunteers can I have?”

  “Your Renown tier determines how many volunteers you can recruit. You can see the recruitment limit (and your Renown tier) at any time in the Infrastructure menu by querying 'View Renown'.”

  “Huh.” I tried it out. Sure enough, the breakout box appeared:

  Renown (Dragozin Hector)

  ● National - Vlachia: 1587 (Tier 4)

  ● Province - Myszno: 1087 (Tier 4)

  ● Duchy - Racsa: 1087 (Tier 4)

  ● County - Karhad 1587 (Tier 4)

  ● City - Karhad 1587 (Tier 4)

  ● Special: Myszno Defense Force – 2273 (Tier 4)