The State of the Barony

Michael sat down with multiple scrolls and missives before him, as well as ledgers and his own journal. He picked up the quill, a new one with runes to keep it in ink without it running constantly.

"I suppose I have been remiss with the events of late in preparing a report for the King on the barony and other projects he has granted me in good faith. Given the very personal nature of these events, my daughter's attack and subsequent long recovery, I have no doubt he is willing to be patient. However Diana is now awake and recovering so I feel I has best use this journal to reflect on what I will report to the King in my final draft. I... admit, I am not ready to fully expound upon my feelings about Diana's attack and near death. I need time to digest, and work will give me that opportunity."

Michael closed his eyes, almost giving in to tears at the thought of what had befallen his daughter. The temptation was stronger than ever to take a few matters into his own hands and make the monster that did this understand true suffering, perhaps for longer than any thought possible. Pushing it aside with difficulty, he picked up his quill again.

" The Barony is doing splendidly in short. When I arrived in this land... a little over a year ago now I think... it had been reportedly troubled by drought, and then flooding creating a subsequent famine. I had tried to help then magically, but I was unknown and initially turned down by the man who had brought the situation to everyone's attention. Fortunately the two Duchesses, the Prince, and many other nobles banded together quickly to forestall true disaster and make some new docks. Given that seed to work with, and modifying what is grown there and how, I have been able to improve the production of grain and vegetables by over thirty percent. This should increase again next year, perhaps as much as a forty five percent growth. The farmers are learning to not just grow their foods in the three field system I suggested but also to use the method I learned from the sailors from distant Wu, and planting the plants in careful rows and spacings. I have been working on storage silos in each town with protection against vermin and rot. "

Michael rolled up that report, a look of deep satisfaction on his face. He knew the changed would help, and it would be some time between that and imports that anyone would ever speak of people risking hunger in that land again.

"Much to my surprise, the King's road is finished. I am speechless, having expected such an ambitious project to take decades. I wonder if he used some sort of magics in it's productions and if I would be able to copy them for my own construction projects...for I have many such going on right now. The docks are finished, Aly's initial five ships are finished. Yet so many more projects remain. Roads are in production to link all the towns as they develop, and the central town is also still being raised. My own new home, on the southern border is complete however, lacking only full furnishing and staffing. Meren and I wished to wait until Diana was in full health before moving in formally, though we hope to beat the winter. "

Michael rolled up that scroll on construction and set it aside. He really needed name for the town. Perhaps he would make a contest of it.

"There has been a rather significant drop in banditry with the dispatching of the raiding clan within my borders, yet I cannot imagine they were the whole of my issues. I will have to remain vigilant.. perhaps the dragons would be willing... the stronger and more formidable ones... to go on patrols irregularity in return for gold for their hordes. It is worth approaching them on. I don't believe I'll ever be immune to criminal acts of course but I must mitigate them."

He considered the last major point, frowning a little as he ran the thought around.

"Of course.. there are still the mystic issues to considers. No one has broken the pact the yew dryad has made and I do not think they will. Happily superstition and growing up with faekind and spirits in the world have given most people a healthy respect for such laws and the woodmen seem content with the pact.. Indeed, one was saved when a fox lead a local midwife and healer to a woodsman who by accident had deeply cut his leg. If that had not happened surely he would have died before he could gain help. Thankfully not all supernatural threats are true... a worry a few weeks ago of an undead creature stalking the night and stealing the health of people turned out to be a rash of illness in a town that coincided with the death and burial of a heartless and cruel old carpenter that the other citizens felt too vile to stay dead. Of course, the most persistent and least known of all threats are the ancient elven artifacts that have been seen with a thankful rarity. The monoliths have been shunned since the near death of the young lad last winter, and no other examples have been unearthed yet. I pray that is remains so."

Michael was content with where things had been going with the barony but there was so much more to do.

"The next step will be the continuing construction of branches of the Bank, already in production in most of my cities. Indeed, in Morcantville I am already hearing that the woman who will be minding the bank there is to be wed and have her honeymoon before the branch opens, to our esteemed mayor Tannoc. How splendid for them." Michael smiled, recalling how much those two had fought when he had visited the land with Meren... of course, they themselves had not even wed by then. How things come full circle. "I also have hired a number of tutors to dissemble through the Barony after the harvest feasts, so that they may bring education to those who do not have the means or time to go to university. I hope this curtails illiteracy, and allows more people to live up to their fullest potential. Literacy and mathematics will be the chief target. "

Michael nodded as he looked it over... he would copy it out to a report to the King so he knows how his land is being stewarded, but he was sure the King would be pleased. For now he would rest and spend time with the children before dinner.

Michael sat before his desk again, preparing a report about the recent events in his given lands, Flos de Terra. Would that it was better. "Winter having us in it's teeth and painfully so, I have decided to look at where I am with my Barony before I work on fixing it. This Winter has been harsh and hard on my people. Let us start with the upsides. Most of the initial harvest was placed in storage, with minor enchantments to kept out mildew and vermin. I thank the gods for that because a lot of them has been used recently. My family has moved into our new home fully and adore it, and it places us within my Barony should we be needed. Which I was so it's just as well. Lest people worry about Clef de Coers or our affairs in the city, I have developed a unique hybrid transportation system for the family. I cannot planeswalk others anymore as I once did, but combining my spark for that and the mists to create a system of metal rings among our holdings that allow any of my family to travel from home to home. Thusly we can easily handle things as they arise, and since it requires someone related to I or Meren to use it is highly safe.

As for the downsides I've alluded to in this report, winter has dealt me significant losses. Storms have come out of the Northeast with heavy ice and hail and high winds. Three of my cities on the coast, all of them part of the Solurian Naval Construction Hub, have been heavily damaged by the waves, ice, hail, wind, and snow. The Dock of Travek's Folly was totally destroyed when a heavy merchant's ship was taken off it's anchor and slammed into it with wave assistance. Many homes were frozen heavily and took damage, freezing temperatures prompting me to force limited excavations. In addition to the three cities, about five towns and nine villages were subject to the same conditions and fared far worse. Diana, Jack, and Morrigan were all tapped to help me and made me proud in the way they faced adversity to help as many as they could. Sadly, the bill was high. Hundreds of cases of frostbite leading to amputation lest they develop gangrene, one hundred and twenty six souls of all ages lost to cold, illness, and accident. About four dozen homes were damaged sufficiently that their owners cannot return to them, and another three dozen homes were damaged enough to need repairs before they are comfortable. As a result, some small scale raids and theft have been reported as people become desperate. I will need to ask Aly for more guards to be deployed, which will dampen the spirits of the people who tend to pride themselves of self-sufficiency and reliance. "

Michael sighed heavily. And for the now, he dare not take Diana back north, afraid the small form she was stuck in would cause her to freeze. Morrigan caught a wicked cold for her help and is still under house rest on Doctor Mother's orders. Thankfully the worst of the storms seemed to have abated. He tried to cheer himself up.

"So.. how to fix it? We will rebuild. Already I have stones being brought in from the mountains to build or repair homes, and wood will be coming in to repair the rest, the current wood supply being used for temporary shelters. The Dock will be rebuilt as soon as possible, but after the homes. We shall examine new styles of architecture to keep this from happening again with more stone at the base than wood.

As for Morale, I will ask Aly to assign as many guards as possible that have origins from my land. I have also placed a sizable bounty on a few savage and bloodthirsty raiders, and will make sure their executions are as public as possible. It's a bloody sort of morale boost but people must see those who prey upon them while they are injured in body and circumstance will be brought to law and pay for their deprivations. There is also a sort of community spirit where people have set aside feuds between towns and villages to band together which moves me deeply, and I hope will continue as we rebuild into spring.

Depending on the outcome of his intriguing experimentation I may see about setting in the King's underground cistern in towns where it is possible, emptying perhaps into the sea. I worry about such pooled water will freeze and damage the stone... but, we shall see.

I have noticed also as an outcome of this that there is more instances of religious shifting as people either cling to their faiths or bitterly declare their chosen god has abandoned them. So long as it does not turn into crimes of zealotry between factions, I am more than happy to leave THAT alone and let itself settle out. Faith is Diana's sphere, I have trouble reconciling my own some day.

My final thoughts is something to ask His Majesty. Some of the towns that had the highest fatality rates were because they were very small and I did not know of their locations or status. I have been everywhere, but some of these places are just devilishly well hidden. I also underestimated the amount of peoples in my barony. I suggest in the spring a new Census of the Kingdom, done by the Landholders of each Barony, we Lords and Ladies and our trusted people. This way we have a current count of the population, how it breaks down racially so we know what can be offered in manual and mystic aid. We also will have a better sense of how many towns exists in each. If His Majesty declines the idea having a sufficiently current one, I will do it for my own lands, as I'd like to restructure the lines of districts. "

Michael looked over the entry, hoping for a better update soon. He would take out some of the personal insights and send the rest to the King as a report.