Below them lay the crystal chamber, filled with a heavy bustle of activity as people registered at the City Crystal and read out the constitution before being sworn in as citizens of the new republic.
As for the people in the room, Devin and Gavin were excitedly jumping up and down over the transparent ground. Only Rüdiger and Marquardt had avoided standing on the stones as well. All the other consuls—and Liora—were standing in the perceived safety of the opaque stone.
He had chosen the stone not because the material—some sort of digital projection medium or diamondoid composite—seemed fragile, but because of the company he would be keeping for standing on it.
Rüdiger cleared his throat and made a theatrical gesture.
“My honored consuls.”
He looked lost for words for a moment and inclined his head slightly.
“And other people of utility I highly appreciate. You may or may not be wondering why I have called you to this meeting today.”
Because you are very fond of meetings and self-aggrandizing speeches, Adarin murmured silently.
Rüdiger’s eyes met his and seemed to bore into him.
“It may not be for the reasons you are thinking about.”
Adarin chuckled inwardly. This man is getting entirely too good at reading my M.O.—at anticipating my thoughts. He ran several counter–info-weapon protocols. I don’t think he has any kind of access; he’s just good with people. Fuck. Well, I am a pretty simple, just a cynical bastard.
Rüdiger made another broad gesture.
“I spent the night tinkering with the system crystal. They allow certain information to be spread out. Behold.”
He made a sweeping gesture, and a breakdown of the population in various metrics appeared in the air above him.
Population Overview — Portguard Province (Winter, Year 1)
Total Population: 261,713
Class
- Mage (1,909 | 0.73%)
- Official (360 | 0.14%)
- Mundane Military (9,672 | 3.70%)
- Citizen (3,772 | 1.44%)
- Resident (155,824 | 59.54%)
- Slave (73,170 | 27.96%)
- Undesirable (17,006 | 6.50%)
Region
- Government Portguard (6,511 | 2.49%)
- Civil Portguard (29,855 | 11.41%)
- Port Portguard (26,280 | 10.04%)
- Coast Portguard (93,850 | 35.86%)
- Hills Portguard (21,609 | 8.26%)
- Upriver Portguard (36,486 | 13.94%)
- Downriver Portguard (47,122 | 18.01%)
Background
- Order (15,713 | 6.00%)
- Settler (0 | 0.00%)
- Native (172,064 | 65.75%)
- Orc (11,862 | 4.53%)
- Goblin (4,144 | 1.58%)
- Half-Orc (57,930 | 22.13%)
Status
- Destitute (66,356 | 25.35%)
- Subsistence (130,820 | 49.99%)
- Peasant (32,476 | 12.41%)
- Worker (17,289 | 6.61%)
- Craftsman (10,155 | 3.88%)
- Master (1,836 | 0.70%)
- Academic (2,781 | 1.06%)
Adarin quickly read it over and noted several things. Well… 75% of the population being at subsistence or destitute level, given the state of this land, is unsurprising. The orc and goblin percentage—that has to be because of the ghouls. I’d love to see how many he actually got with that little purge. Surprising how many half-orcs survived—I thought they were targeted by the spell. And nearly a third of the population as slaves… must be the hinterland.
Rüdiger again seemed to read his mind.
“You may be wondering about the half-orcish population.”
After looking between Count Marquardt and Duchess Viola, he continued, “Certain mistakes came to light. I believe that the half-bloods were decimated, but anyone of less than half-orc blood was probably not targeted by the ghouls. Thirty years is a lot of time for a lot of mixing to occur, right Count Marquardt?”
Marquardt sneered loudly at the term, and he and Duchess Viola von Werfurt exchanged burning glares.
“Well, beyond that, it is a population breakdown. As much fun as economists like me have with such things, I shall not bore you further with it. Much more interesting—especially for you, Adarin—should be this.”
New numbers appeared. Adarin gave an appreciative whistle as he read the data. About a hundred thousand military assets, most of them undead, most of them zombies.
Military Overview — Portguard Province (Winter, Year 1)
Military Total: 100,725
Living: 9,672
- Artillerists (823): Cannons (75) → 10 soldiers per cannon
- Musketeers (5,387)
- Logistics (1,553): Wagons (222) → 5 soldiers per wagon
- Mages (1,909):
- Crafters (672) – Inscribers & Alchemists
- Pre-Magister (611) → 10 base control capacity
- Post-Magister (61) → 100 base control capacity
- Diviners (393) – Divination & Illusion
- Pre-Magister (365) → 10 base control capacity
- Post-Magister (28) → 100 base control capacity
- Combat (263) – Evocation, Invocation, Conjuration, Abjuration
- Pre-Magister (210) → 10 base control capacity
- Post-Magister (53) → 100 base control capacity
- Healers (56) – Alteration
- Pre-Magister (47) → 10 base control capacity
- Post-Magister (9) → 100 base control capacity
- Necromancers (525) – Necromancy
- Pre-Magister (439) → 100 base control capacity
- Post-Magister (86) → 1,000 base control capacity
Undead: 91,053
- Puppeted Undead (27,200)
- Zombies (21,000) → Control Factor: 1
- Skeletons (3,000) → Control Factor: 0.1
- Hollow Ones (0) → Control Factor: 5
- Ghosts (400) → Control Factor: 0.3
- Specters (2,800) → Control Factor: 1
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
- Free Undead (70,053)
- Ghouls (70,000) – autonomous feral
- Pseudo-Liches (50) – autonomous servant
- Abominations (3) – autonomous servant
Control Capacity
- Total Control Capacity: 157,330
- Used Control Capacity: 24,220
Rüdiger pointed at the number. “The number of undead is sadly deceptive. Many of those zombies were raised using quick-and-dirty magic instead of proper rituals. We will lose their use within the coming months and slowly replace them with proper skeletons.”
He looked at Liora. “The production line for that has to be set up. Liora, I believe it is a project suitable to you, ja?”
She looked around like a deer in headlights.
Adarin reached out over the link. 'Just take a breath and nod. Do not say anything. Do not react.'
He felt a brief flicker of resistance, then she did exactly as told. Jacqueline and Francesco studied her for a second, but Rüdiger cleared his throat and moved on.
“The number of mages may not surprise you, given that we are in a secret order of mages. Sadly, our number of pseudo-liches has been cut down heavily during the battle, though. Well, they died for what they stood for.”
His voice rose, like the announcer in a circus.
“Those are good numbers. We can work with that. But we just conquered a city and only control a quarter of the population of this region that the City Crystal apparently grants us access to. We will need to consolidate.”
Rüdiger made another grand gesture, and the biggest, most elaborate sheet of data appeared in the air over him.
“I have been cooking tonight, used old paperwork, and figured out how the damn system crystal works.”
======Quarterly Economic Overview — Portguard Province (Winter, Year 1)======
=== Forestry ===
Logging — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Tools (—), Forest (0 km2), Overland Transportation (—)
Outputs: Lumber (—), Wood (—), Kindling (—)
Colliering — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Wood (—), Tools (—), River Transportation (—)
Outputs: Charcoal (—)
Labor Total (Forestry): 0 Living, 0 Undead
=== Mining ===
Clay Pit — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Tools (—), Clay Deposits (—), River Transportation (—)
Outputs: Clay (—)
Iron Bog — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Tools (—), Iron Deposits (—), River Transportation (—)
Outputs: Iron Ore (—)
Labor Total (Mining): 0 Living, 0 Undead
=== Industry ===
Demolition — Workers: 1,500 | Undead: 10,000
Inputs: Tools (40t), Overland Transportation (1,200u), Lumber (400t), Stone (400t), Wood (400t)
Outputs: —
Construction — Workers: 1,000 | Undead: 3,000
Inputs: Lumber (875t), Tools (17.5t), Stone (875t)
Outputs: Housing (2u), Fortifications (0.1u), Public Buildings (0.5u)
Carpentry — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Wood (—), Tools (—)
Outputs: Furniture (—)
Smelting — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Iron Ore (—), Charcoal (—), Clay (—)
Outputs: Bloom Iron (—)
Bloomsmithing — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Bloom Iron (—), Charcoal (—), Tools (—)
Outputs: Wrought Iron (—)
Pottery Making — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Clay (—), Charcoal (—), Tools (—)
Outputs: Pottery (—)
Blacksmithing — Workers: 0 | Undead: 0
Inputs: Wrought Iron (—), Charcoal (—), Tools (—)
Outputs: Tools (—)
Labor Total (Industry): 2,500 Living, 13,000 Undead
=== Magic ===
Zombies Making — Workers: 2,500 | Undead: 10,000
Inputs: Bodies (25,000u), Arcane Supplies (200t), Tools (10t)
Outputs: Zombies (25,000u)
Skeleton Making — Workers: 500 | Undead: 2,000
Inputs: Bones (66.7t), Arcane Supplies (40t), Tools (2t)
Outputs: Skeletons (5,000u)
Labor Total (Magic): 3,000 Living, 12,000 Undead
=== Administration ===
Bureaucracy — Workers: 200 | Undead: 200
Inputs: Writing Supplies (4t)
Outputs: Administration (30,000u)
Rations Import — Workers: 80 | Undead: 400
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (1,000u), Trade Transportation (2,000u)
Outputs: Rations (4,000t)
Fodder Import — Workers: 5 | Undead: 25
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (1u), Trade Transportation (1u)
Outputs: Fodder (75t)
Textiles Import — Workers: 20 | Undead: 100
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (500u), Trade Transportation (500u)
Outputs: Textiles (500t)
Weapons Import — Workers: 50 | Undead: 250
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (1,100u), Trade Transportation (1,100u)
Outputs: Weapons (1,100u)
Arcane Supplies Import — Workers: 10 | Undead: 50
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (25u), Trade Transportation (2.5u)
Outputs: Arcane Supplies (250t)
Writing Supplies Import — Workers: 1 | Undead: 5
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (1u), Trade Transportation (0u)
Outputs: Writing Supplies (4t)
Bones Import — Workers: 5 | Undead: 25
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (10u), Trade Transportation (1u)
Outputs: Bones (75t)
Tools Import — Workers: 10 | Undead: 50
Inputs: Trade Contract (1u), Overland Transportation (1u), Trade Transportation (2u)
Outputs: Tools (150t)
Labor Total (Administration): 381 Living, 1,105 Undead
=== Transportation ===
Warship — Workers: 250 | Undead: 2,000
Inputs: Weapons (100t), Skeletons (2,000u), Trade Contract (1u)
Outputs: Naval Security (10u), Power Projection (100u)
Trade Vessel — Workers: 1,650 | Undead: 1,100
Inputs: Tools (55t), Textiles (110t), Trade Contract (1u)
Outputs: Trade Transportation (5,400t), Power Projection (55u)
River Barge — Workers: 36 | Undead: 45
Inputs: Tools (1.5t), Textiles (3t), Trade Contract (1u)
Outputs: River Transportation (3,000t)
Wagon — Workers: 108 | Undead: 144
Inputs: Tools (7t), Fodder (72t), Trade Contract (1u)
Outputs: Overland Transportation (5,750t)
Labor Total (Transportation): 2,044 Living, 3,289 Undead
=== Security ===
Policing — Workers: 160 | Undead: 800
Inputs: Weapons (7t), Rations (16t), Textiles (16t)
Outputs: Security (160,000u)
Military — Workers: 9,672 | Undead: 91,053
Inputs: Weapons (750t), Rations (1,000t), Textiles (1,500t)
Outputs: Fighting Power (9,672u), Power Projection (96.72u)
Labor Total (Security): 9,832 Living, 91,853 Undead
=== Grand Labor Summary ===
Total Living Workers: 15,713
Total Undead Workers: 117,958
People began reading it. Adarin scanned the sheet—a solid plan and overview breaking down resource extraction, available workers, imports, and the production targets and inputs Rüdiger had in mind.
Seems like tools are our biggest vulnerability. We need tools to produce almost everything, so setting up tool production is a wise first move.
Princess Jacqueline cleared her throat. “Honored Margrave, I believe there are some inconsistencies in those sheets.”
Rüdiger erupted. “Ja! Ja, there are. I tried figuring out how much everyone needs, but it turns out people don’t know what they actually need, because it apparently just happens that they find whatever they want if they want more of—if it is organized. This is a problem of central planning and centralized economies all over—”
And the rant continued for a long while.
The councilors were shell-shocked, whereas Adarin broke down laughing in his mind-space. Seems like he has a lot to get off his chest there.
After nearly three minutes of continuous ranting, a red-faced Rüdiger took a shuddering breath.
“Anyways—yes, the numbers for wagons and ships are inconsistent and complicated, as they fluctuate, and you need more wagons to move more wagons, because without draft animals a wagon is just cargo. But it is an overview, and we will publish it to the people so they can see the effect of their work and how they are contributing to our state now.”
Still chuckling, Adarin was only half-listening as Rüdiger shooed everyone away from the center of the room.
“Behold.”
He made another gesture, and suddenly the central circle of the ground became opaque, then turned into a projection roughly matching a two-hundred-kilometer radius of Portguard—the region and province they had conquered.
“I have some ideas,” he said, pointing to the economic sheet, “and would like your input—and your hard work—to make them reality.”
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