The Four Lands - The Colony

[Scotley]

[sblock=Alvar and Pandak]"We know what part of the world we are going to, don't we? If so, then it should be a realtively simple matter to discern what the climate will be like there, whether tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, or arctic, and a general idea of the amount of rainfall will be necessary, too. Then we can judge a fair approximation of the climate and that will put us well on our way to finding good plants for cultivation there. The next hurdle will be the soil. I know of no way to guess what the soil will be like until we get there, so we will need to bring a variety of plant species that can thrive in everything from very rich loam, to rocky earth, to sandy soil. As far as livestock goes, we need to be very careful with the species that we introduce into a new environment. It would be better if we could find some already domesticated local animals and raise them for our food. But that may be difficult at first. My recommendation for taking domestic animals would be for us to take goats. They can live in very rocky, mountainous areas where they should be less likelly to displace native animals. Plus, they will be very useful for us, providing not only good meat, but also milk and cheese. Another advantage of goats is that they are relatively small, at least compared to your average cow. So each individual goat will have a correspondingly smaller impact upon the enviromment. Those are my first thoughts, anyway, but I'll shut up now. I haven't spoken so much since I was well into my cups last Christmas!"[/sblock]

[sblock=Hennet and Pandak]OOC: You're right I shall question the DM as to what we know about the terrain and climate.

"I agree on the goats and you logic on soil types makes my initial supposition that we should aquire as many species of plant seeds as still valid. You're comment on mountains and goats has jogged my memory. We can expect pretty varied terrain. I think the river and swamp areas justify us bringing some commerical fishing gear. Perhaps we can pull some significant volume of fish from the river. Here in a sea side town such things should be available. I believe we were told we could hire ships of our own. Should we try to do this to increase our volume of men and supplies? Those raw materials are going to be heavy. We'll likely need some coal for the forge as well as it will take time to harvest and dry wood and even longer to make it into charcoal for the higher temperature work."

OOC: You guys can read my next post to the DM and his response even though I'm going to sblock it.[/sblock]

 

[Scotley]

[sblock=DM]How much do we know about the climate where we are going? Do I remember correctly that we can try and hire our own shipping? Do you want a list of what we plan to buy?[/sblock]

 

[J. Alexander]

Nightbreeze
[sblock]After a protacted negiotation you find Captain Nelcor, he has a small company of men (50) supported by a squad of combat engineers and one squad of scouts. He is willing to sign a 2 year contract for extended foreign service with an option to renew for three 1 year periods. His men are armed with short spears, short swords light crossbows and wear strudded leather. You will supply all replacement equipment either thru battel damage or normal wear and tear. His asking price is 10,000 silver per year with 10,000 being paid upfront by placing it on deposit with a bank to protect both parties. Do we have terms>?[/sblock]

 

[Leif]

[sblock=Alvar, Pandak, JA]OOC: Hennett would also like to be involved in the venture of another ship to make some pure profit on this voyage. But, my understanding is that Hennett is quite cash poor. Does he have sufficient cash to pull this off, or is low cost financing available?[/sblock]

 

[J. Alexander]

Shopping

For Alvar
[sblock]the climate is moderate to temperate.......yes i need a list of what you attend to buy so i can tell you how much of your silver i have looted ....yes you could buy a ship....[/sblock]

For Hennett
[sblock]Hennett should have some cash from the bank drafts for just meeting..and it is possible to get a loan[/sblock]

For Neurotic
[sblock]Can you create golems or contrsutcs...i dont know are you high enought level or are you willing to purchase the items to make it necessary?.....okay your sending letters let me see who responds[/sblock]

 

[Nightbreeze]

Nightbreeze
[sblock]After a protacted negiotation you find Captain Nelcor, he has a small company of men (50) supported by a squad of combat engineers and one squad of scouts. He is willing to sign a 2 year contract for extended foreign service with an option to renew for three 1 year periods. His men are armed with short spears, short swords light crossbows and wear strudded leather. You will supply all replacement equipment either thru battel damage or normal wear and tear. His asking price is 10,000 silver per year with 10,000 being paid upfront by placing it on deposit with a bank to protect both parties. Do we have terms>?[/sblock]

[sblock=JA] That is fine for me. I pay the 10.000 upfront and another 5000 as 50% of the first year. Furthermore, I explain them that the formal structure of the Nascent Company will become muddy, so for simplicity's sake, for now their contract is with me, Ederin Scatterlight. Do they know how to build catapults or any other siege engines? If not, I ask them to retrieve such people in 3 days, if possible


Furthermore, I will get to one of the biggest banks here around. If I recall correctly, Brightlaw is already informed about the colony. I will ask to speak with one of the higher chiefs to discuss the possibility to invest in the Nascent Company for Development. My pitch is:

We already know that in that continent there is a great amount of gold. However, we should not forget that the new colony will need great amounts of other metals, hard to travel by sea: iron, copper and so on. So, the first goal of the Nascent Company for Development is to find and jump-develop the mines needed for the company, as well as the other. Once there, I will explore the possibilities for further expansions, and will provide you and other potential investors with loads of information. Furthermore, I have some capabilities...to travel very fast. The archduke of Sunbridge is likely to invest, and in the future, particular power will be given to senior investors.[/sblock]

 

[Dracomeander]

Conrad will echo Pandak's suggestion of stocking up on raw materials. He also has a Forge and he has an Alchemy Lab among his traveling gear for conducting his normal trade. Between Pandak and Conrad, we should be able to create full scale Forges and mills for the colony provided we have the raw materials to work with. I know the colony will eventually produce its own raw materials, but we need to take the materials for the start up.

As for planning our constructions, Conrad is a Master Architect as I believe Ederin is as well. He will work with anyone who wants assistance in planning what building we will need to do.

For raw materials, Conrad will suggest iron and building timbers. We will have to make some structures out of green wood, but the important structures should use seasoned timbers for the main supports. They need to be as sound as possible to withstand whatever elements we encounter.

OOC: I am not able to look over things yet as I am still recovering programs and data from my Hard Drive loss. I will entrust Pandak to make most of the arrangements and calcualtions for the materials we will need to purchase.

 

[Leif]

For Hennett
[sblock]Hennett should have some cash from the bank drafts for just meeting..and it is possible to get a loan[/sblock]

If he has enough cash, then, Hennett will be sure to grab a few bottles of strong drink. "One never knows when we may find ourselves among the Heathen without civilized beverages!"

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

OOC: I am not able to look over things yet as I am still recovering programs and data from my Hard Drive loss. I will entrust Pandak to make most of the arrangements and calcualtions for the materials we will need to purchase.

OOC: That would work very well were Mowgli as gifted in the area of engineering and colony start-up (and history) as Pandak. I've got some fair to middling ideas for strategy, but unfortunately, I'll be relying on Pandak's knowledge skills and the GM's benevolence to get me through the tactics. We'll see how it turns out!

 

[J. Alexander]

Hennett
[sblock]He should have enougth cash off the top of my head i think the warants were made out for 2500 gold ie 250k silver....so what you wanna buy and how much[/sblock]

For Nightbreeze
[sblock]The Captain says he will see what he can find..his engineers know the basics of such but your talking about specialist.....he asks if you want any other type of troops. As to the bank......The Grand Duke knows of course...but has he shared that information....you may be running a risk there..........you of course could always see a banker and ask for a loan pledging a lot of your liquid assets as collaterail....you should be able to leverage 2 or even 3 to one that way providing you dont want it all up front......and are willing to pay a nice rate of interest.[/sblock]