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Post by Lorelei on May 23, 2021 2:51:43 GMT
"I was two or three years old, not yet weaned, when the forces of Amber marched on the Courts of Chaos. Corwin had returned with automatic weapons just in time to watch Eric die from over-use of the jewel in Amber's defense, and Oberon had not yet repaired the Pattern... I have never calculated the temporal difference."
Brian's last comment actually managed to get a smile out of Lorelei. "Thank you..." .
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Post by Brian on May 23, 2021 2:55:31 GMT
" I was two or three years old, not yet weaned, when when the forces of Amber marched on the Courts of Chaos. Corwin had returned with automatic weapons just in time to watch Eric die from over-use of the jewel in Amber's defense, and Oberon had not yet repaired the Pattern... I have never calculated the temporal difference." Brian's last comment actually managed to get a smile out of Lorelei. " Thank you..." . He laughs softly "If the second and third hand tales are what they tell me they are I am like 10 or so years older then you." He grins a bit. "Of course thats is probably plus or minus 25 years...so you might be a little older."
"Your mother though was reasonable without telling me if she saw the problems at hand. You want to take your food to go and we can hit the woods?"
"And I cheated my way into the basement. A third party teleported me and some one I was fighting basement adjacent. I fought him towards the chamber.....something was going on. Security wasn't there.....not like they should have been. And I burst into the pattern room with the False Good of Ayalos. The agent that teleported me there told me something which resonated with something my wife told me. It helped to see my opponent get evaporated by it."
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Post by Lorelei on May 23, 2021 3:06:52 GMT
Lorelei has the staff cut her long sandwich in thirds and wrap it in paper for easy travel...
"Obviously, the False God was not family..." She doesn't feel the need to say the rest of that thought. .
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Post by Brian on May 23, 2021 3:16:40 GMT
Lorelei has the staff cut her long sandwich in thirds and wrap it in paper for easy travel... . He leads Lor off to a grove of Apple Trees with a bottle of Applejack Whiskey to share between them and an Apple Brandy to take back for Shelly. Brian opens with the basic and boring debrief about Ayalos. You get the impression he is being both honest and ambiguous. The Ambiguity being he's gotten the kingdom to some degree of recovery from the previous regime but he's not sure where its true potential fully is. Also even allies lie about these things to some degree. He gives you some production figures on ‘Matters of export’ He starts off with mining. He quotes different ranges of production figures. ~Historical~ though he says the histories are shoddy and either broadly under or over estimated. ~During the reign of the church of the false god~ Which he indicates some of those records are more trustworthy than others and those during his reign so far. Of the three official figures you can see a median range of production.Brian is clearly giving you truthful information but doing so in an ambiguous way. He knows the numbers best from his own time but in some of the numbers you get a clear sense he might suspect some of the subordinate nobles may be under or over reporting their numbers. There are extensive regions of mining. Iron as well as steel production. Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, and Zinc.Also Tin.He mentions the Silversmiths are quite good. Gold artisans are respectable. He says amongst the nobles Bronzework is actually prized but the talent to do the really good stuff has been lost during the rise of the False God and his church. He also mentions Limestone, coal, diamonds, Tsavorite ( a green gemstone...he says its very rare on some worlds. He mentions he went to one where it was actually more expensive then Diamonds. But on Ayalos the stuff is very common but still appreciated for its beauty.), opals, they also (to Brian's knowledge) have Titanium but not the mining to exploit it properly. At the moment his merchants mostly sell raw materials. Artisans and craftsmen of Ayalos are still caught in their culture of Xenophobia and distrust of outsiders. “Mythologically there were several waves of invasions. Eventually as time went on the invaders became one people. But the distrust of outsiders of each of the groups sort of blended to those not of the Ayalosian stock. The principle port city is the most cosmopolitan and in ancient days folks from earth ended up there fairly regular.” Principle crops that they have in any numbers that would be exportable. are Wheat, Barley, Honey, Apples, Potatoes, Sugar Beets, Oats, Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. They hunt Elk and Deers. Seasons depending sometimes there is enough meat and hides to be exported from that. Seals have recently begun being hunted by some of the northernmost clans. “Selkies.” He says “The legends of the Selkies were a lot stronger in the cultural taboo in the days before the church of the false god.” Their principal woods that would be of quality to export is Oak. Most homes are heated by Peat. While they could be heated by coal peat is so plentiful and cheap it's most commonly used for home energy. The Ayalosian Military comes up and he speaks of it in three terms. The Standing Army is new. 3/5ths of it he drew from veterans from other aspects of the native Ayalosian military culture. If military adventurism is necessary as he thinks it might be he is of two minds about them. They could use the experience of going into the field and fighting. But politically their staying and defending the home fires would strengthen their political standing amongst the people. He has 9,000 Soldiers in the regular army. But they have sufficient infrastructure; he could ramp that up to 15,000 if the need would come.
He formed the standing army so the nobles didn't need to make a standing army and so the ages of feuds amongst them could get papered over.He's focused on restoring the old legal codes. "You know....Maybe my dear Annie sent me on this to give me a break from that sort of thing."
The Fiann are the sons and daughters of the aristocracy ( mostly sons) who are a landless warrior elite who are sworn to the people. Brian was one of them until becoming king. Their numbers are About 5,000. But those numbers decline whenever they go off and start a family and become landholders. During the war against the false God of Ayalos they numbered 15000. At the end of the war they numbered about 7000. He then mentions the Ayalosian military who can call anywhere between 5000 to as many as 50,000 forces to their side. But they are auxiliaries and reserve quality forces. They raised as many as 65,000 to his banner in the great war and he estimates he saw somewhere around 20,000 of those men being buried in the skirmishes of the war. And he put another 5000 on royal pension. He guesses if the nobility wasn't mad at him (or improvely motivated) they could at best do 10,000 now. They could maybe do 20,000 if they decides to flock to his banner. But he would rather that force be reserved for defense. Unlike the Fiann who are more cultured to wanting to defend and the army that might need to defend for political reasons….the forces of the lesser nobility of Ayalos would be best served making any invader pay in blood. The church of the False God however claimed they once raised a force in their earliest of days of 250,000. But Brian doubts it was more than 125,000. He estimates without serious pain he could call up 40,000-45,000 troops of various sorts. You also get a sense in his eyes he knows how much more he could press if he needed to get some pain for war going.
"So...If things get really bad....I get we are probably going to have to drag other people into this. Which would be a bit of a political fiasco but whats another one right?"
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Post by Lorelei on May 23, 2021 3:46:31 GMT
Lorelei commits the report to memory. "I doubt you would approve, but the stories say that father and Bleys acquired troops in Shadow... holy warriors as it were... in significant numbers..." .
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Post by Brian on May 23, 2021 3:51:47 GMT
Lorelei commits the report to memory. " I doubt you would approve, but the stories say that father and Bleys acquired troops in Shadow... holy warriors as it were... in significant numbers..." . "Well my dear Lady wife was and to some degree still is worshiped as a Goddess on Earth." I laugh a bit. "That was what drew her to me. I knew who she was. Though I think the real secrets she still keeps." I shake my head. " Still I'd rather start rallying allied shadows then having to do that. If I have my preference.But hell...I'd like my people to know a good decade without major losses from war. So I might swallow my pride on that if it needs be done."
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Post by Lorelei on May 23, 2021 4:49:10 GMT
She says, "I'm not advocating this, but I felt it necessary to make sure that you know it's possible."
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Post by Brian on May 23, 2021 12:22:42 GMT
" So anything else you feel like your mother might want to know?"
He laughed a bit " or anything else you might want to know."
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Post by Lorelei on May 23, 2021 13:01:29 GMT
"As a Queen and a woman there is always more that she wants to know...," Lorelei answers, "but frankly some things are really none of her business... and your wife might object. As for myself, I would like to know the answer to the brother/cousin question. There are places in Shadow that could answer that with a simple test..." .
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Post by Brian on May 23, 2021 17:33:41 GMT
" As a Queen and a woman there is always more that she wants to know...," Lorelei answers, " but frankly some things are really none of her business... and your wife might object. As for myself, I would like to know the answer to the brother/cousin question. There are places in Shadow that could answer that with a simple test..." . " or Uncle or Nephew." I laugh a little bit at the suggestion " It depends on how long our errand with Shelly goes. Though on earth it takes a little bit." He finishes the bottle. " Oh if we go on a state Visit to Rebma Annie would try to talk me into taking your mother to bed. She'd be amused by that notion." He grins. " And I'd figure out how to make her happy with a no."
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Post by Lorelei on May 24, 2021 4:30:47 GMT
Lorelei lifts an eyebrow at that. "Mother will do whatever she chooses to do... as she always has... 'No' might not be an option." ,
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Post by Brian on May 24, 2021 4:39:42 GMT
Lorelei lifts an eyebrow at that. " Mother will do whatever she chooses to do... as she always has... 'No' might not be an option." , Brian laughs a bit. "I know...that's why my wife would tell me to do it." There is a warm pleasant smile on his face.
He shakes his head "And as is our way she didn't have to keep being married to me but she did." He stands up and offers his hand to Lor. Lets get a little rest. Get off towards finding Dorian and finding tidings of Gerard. And finding any signs of our enemies along the way. Then....we can do a blood test and I can show you Earth."
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Post by Lorelei on May 24, 2021 6:15:24 GMT
Lorelei accepts the hand-up. "I take it we plan to sail in the morning? With all the centuries father spent there, I am curious to see Earth..."
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Post by Brian on May 24, 2021 9:14:01 GMT
Brian leads Lor back in and back to check on Shelly
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Post by Admin on May 25, 2021 1:51:56 GMT
Shelly is not at the inn. The master of the establishment says she took all her belongings and headed to the port.
If they follow her down to the docks, they find her on a chartered ship, staring at Brian and Lorelei with a glare colder than the glaciers of Deiga.
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