Part 2: 1400-The First Year of Her Reign

The First Year of Her Reign



Upon taking up the crown, her Majesty Queen Dagmaer took the time to listen to the needs and desires of her people, weighing them in her mind before deciding that most urgent of all the issues before Goldwash was to ensure the security and abundance of its food supplies. She invested some of the royal treasury into the construction of granaries and windmills, helping to ensure that farm produce was efficiently processed and stored. By Fourthmonth of 1400, much of the construction was complete, the more abundant supplies of food helping to support more burghers and tradesmen in the central town.





The Queen was not idle in her studies while the people labored. Reviewing her books and experimenting with magic allowed her to unravel how to call upon the power of the Righteous Queen to protect people from evil magic and monsters. Before Her perfect justice, even the worst creatures of darkness would hesitate.

We can see on the left that, when checking spells through our Apprentice, that spells we can eventually research but have not yet learned are displayed in a cryptic runic font.



In Ninthmonth, Queen Dagmaer commissioned Vigny Rolfsdottir, a notable huntress, to raise up nine other hunters as an elite unit of scouts and soldiers for the defense of the town. These cunning and woodwise warriors may make all the difference for the town's safety, but their wages for service are not cheap.

You get the chance to rename heroes when you hire them, so I rename her to Vigny.

Heroes, unlike regular military units, only have a single figure, which can make them vulnerable to being outnumbered while they are still low in experience. Their potential for growth in power, however, is far beyond regular military units. Melee, Ranged, and Defense stats each represent 1d10 thrown by a figure when attacking or defending, with a 1-3 causing (or negating) one Hit of damage (although range to target can reduce the chance of a hit per die on ranged attacks). Each point of Resistance provides a 10% chance to resist the more subtle forms of magical attack, with a 10 Resistance providing complete immunity to unpenalised Resistance checks. Hits indicate how much damage a figure can take before dying.

Vigny's special abilities are Blademaster, Charmed, and Pathfinder. Blademaster gives her a natural +1 'to hit' per two levels she gains; this increases the chance of a 'hit' from 1-3 on 1d10 to 1-4 with +1, 1-5 with +2, and so on. Charmed makes it so she never fails Resistance rolls. Pathfinder, finally, makes it so that she and units grouped with her only use half a movement point in travelling over any crossable terrain in overland travel, which makes it so she can cover a great deal of ground very quickly.








Meanwhile, the volunteers swordsdwarves that defended Goldwash set to scouting far north and south of the town, finding, over the course of the year, many crumbled ruins that marked a bygone era, haunted by fearsome and terrible creatures. Wisely, they skirted clear of danger when they found it, simply marking the places of peril on their maps for report to the town.






Not all the sites of interest the scouts found were haunted by peril, however. A cave far to the south held the bones of some enormous beast, long-dead, and several books and scrolls with scraps of forgotten lore that Queen Dagmaer was able to put to use in her research, letting her call upon the Righteous Queen to weaken creatures of darkness in battle. Meanwhile, far to the north, in a searing wasteland, scouts found a tiny area settled by more dwarves, with its own central town of Stonegate clinging to the coast by the desert. Compared to Goldwash, Stonegate is a small and impoverished town, barely hanging on in hostile conditions.

Ruins can possess great treasures, if cleared of the monsters guarding them. You can also occasionally find 'neutral' towns, belonging to no player; neutral towns may periodically send out raiding parties. Stonegate has no defenders, and is entirely open to us.



South of Goldwash, a rich and fertile river valley runs through forests and grasslands from wellsprings at the base of Whiteshoulders, a mountain rich with quartz and gold. There is more rich hunting in the forests, and a strange forest grove bursting with life and vitality has just been found by scouts.

We can just see Goldenheart and the game that Goldwash has available to it on the northern edges of this map.



North of Goldwash, the land grows hotter and harsher, forests and plains eventually subsiding into searing desert. The foothills of a small mountain range, the Gray Mountains, contain rich deposits of iron ore, while strange plants grow in a sodden bog.

Iron ore provides a 10% discount to unit production costs, and nightshade, found in swamps, can be processed by priests or scholars to help protect a nearby town from hostile magic. We can just see Silverpeak at the southern edge of this map.




Over the course of the year the burghers and shops of Goldwash have prospered. A market square provides a gathering place for the people to buy or sell, while permanent shops of merchants and artisans have expanded. With more burghers and tradesmen in the town, the work of industry proceeds more quickly, with the various people pursuing their trades.

With the granary, we now only need one farmer to provide the food we need at Goldwash, so we now have one farmer and three workers. The marketplace increases Goldwash's total revenues to 22 gold, with 4 gold spent upkeeping the Builders' Hall, Smithy, Granary, and Marketplace. Population growth has grown from +60 per turn to +70 per turn, because of the Granary. Although the Granary says it increases population growth by +20, dwarves have a population growth rate penalty, reducing the impact.

The first year of the reign of Queen Dagmaer draws to a close. With hope, Goldwash may continue to prosper next year and each year thereafter.