Round 2 Events
The last two months have been something of a mixed bag, and in more ways than one. The 2 destroyers you wanted are approved to have come through the gate in the 2 months, but won't exist IC until we get the details worked out.
Despite continuing trade with Addacia, a small group of the slavers you have been trading with by this point have become a bit too wary of you and your people over time. Tales of the devastation of the capital of the Qalyxhian Elves has by this point well spread to them, and your attempts to build up rapidly have not gone unnoticed. Thus a few have begun to hike prices for less slaves (if not stop trading with you) due to these things and other unsavory rumors. At the moment your trade of slaves has been reduced to about 75% of what it once was. The short-wave radio you gave Addacia was also accidentally dropped in the water and lost in the depths amidst all of this by a frightened flunkie.
Likewise, your hauls of fish are distinctly below average. Not enough for your people to starve, but you are notably tighter on how much you can viably trade with Addacia at this point in time.
Your harvest of tropical crops has not exactly gone ‘as planned’, as a minor plague seems to have begun to sweep over the edible plantlife in the area you live in. Strange, black, almost goopy-looking fungal material can be found growing on the plants and decaying the edible fruits and plants locally. It is a rather localized thing at least, and as other nearby locals assure it will only last for a minor time period...though they warn you to not try to eat the fungus either.
Seems it comes out and grows in great bursts every so many years, messing up a local area but eventually going away naturally. This means fishing is the more viable food-gathering option, and trading for food from other land areas is feasible, but anything you ‘might’ attempt to harvest from the land at this time will not be seen as acceptable in New World Markets due to the risk the fungus on it poses.
Whilst work on constructing bases of operations both major and minor have laid their foundations and begun to build up somewhat, though are a good ways from complete, which is a good start to expanding operations at least.
Yet your attempts to bulldoze the jungles to get more farmland have ground down to a temporary halt as issues from these operations are brought up. Dangerous animals, stirred up by your work, have begun to steal food from your people in the night. They avoid the fungus-infected local fruits and such, however, and more so like to slither and mull and sneak about your docks at night to try to get into food containers for something to find anything they can eat. Some try to rest in the nooks and crannies of wherever you might be storing food. Some are poisonous, others venomous, and most are overall a bit too dangerous and hungry to just shoo away like a harmless pest. It is a problem you now face, and if allowed to continue could potentially spread to the population if these creatures are not handled well.
However, you have also managed to announce to the rest of the nations here from Earth that you basically are guaranteeing Addacia against other Earth-sider nations and any of their negative actions against Addacia. However you also notice Addacia seems to be preparing for...something? Either way they seem to be making naval preparations and reinforcements that aren’t entirely settling or unsettling either direction. More of their ships sails on patrol and more of their troops patrols the shores for sure. Their trade with you remains in place overall, but how will you handle this?
Yet on the other hand the nation of Rumayana has, as of late, sent a diplomatic envoy to discuss potential relations with you!
Your efforts to establish a military base away from your ‘city’ in order to store vehicles, house soldiers, and contain military supplies has gone splendidly well! In record time you have managed to build up most of a facility and get many supplies and personnel and the like put there. Whilst not fully-fleshed out, the basic structure and security measures ensure it is a fortified position at the very least. A nice local advantage.
Further, a merchant from Astrya has come to your people to try to make a bargain. He comes with an offer to sell some seemingly live fish from a few water-filled wagons he carries! The name it has locally is “Kireetak”, a very gamey and salty/mineral-y fish due to being a bottom-feeder in the shallows of the saltwater ocean ‘peninsula’ of water that juts into the lower Astryan lands. Apparently some local from that particular area of coast, such as the merchant’s family, have farmed and fed this type of fish on food scraps and such to fatten them up as reliable water-dwelling livestock. If you bought these, then over time you’d surely be able to supplant some land farming with this and better make use of the ocean space around much of your border.
But despite the friendliness of this merchant and his deal, the Kingdom of Astrya has blocked you from further land expansion. Any farther to the south and you would immediately barge outright into Astryan lands! Their people seem wary enough of you and other “Outlanders” thus far, given the stories and rumors about other Outlanders thus far, and an armed border has been formed with your people to maintain security. They don’t seem to be more than standard feudal-type troops, but they have begun to slowly build some kind of wooden-stake palisade and simply-made watch tower on the border to mark where their own territory begins. Some of your people find this...uncomfortable, and the warhawks of your government seemed to gain a little traction and increased ferocity from this. However, the Astryans do not seem to be preparing for any sort of offensive war at all...rather just building up a general manner of increased defenses as if they actually fear being attacked.
The Romulus has managed to, however, make contact with the Addacians and Astryans. The latter are willing to...begin talks of negotiation, but you can tell they are nervous about you regardless due to activities on your land border. You also find some loose unaffiliated groups and tribes and villages and towns and the like in the land between Rumayana (who has sent a diplomat to try to forge relations with you), Addacia, and the Nilberg Confederacy. Some along that line of coast are outright hostile to you, others are willing to do a rather small amount of trade to avoid getting the ‘look’ from their own neighbors, and a few simply handed over a small tribute of supplies for you to leave them in peace. You haven't seen deeper inland in that particular area, but at least you know what is there and have a better idea of how not everyone hates you at least.
Over the last two months, your people have found themselves sitting upon a future bountiful harvest indeed! Initial farmland distribution and sowing efforts have begun to show rather exceptional potential, proving that the grounds you are on are very fertile and cultivate-able indeed. However, unless a small bit was initially planted on first arrival it will take time for all the new land crops and farms to grow food in proper enough amounts. However, the promise of a superb later harvest this year seems very much certain at this point in time. All you have to do is wait for it. However, this has led in some part to some civilians scrambling to become farmers...and one or two areas of illegal planting that have been discovered outside of any designated places by overexcited people among other such little issues now trying to squirm out of the woodwork after the news of the fertility of the land got out. It isn’t too much problem with these small ones, but if left to their own devices it could spiral further perhaps. However, you also find a great abundance of edible fish living in great schools off of your shores to boot! What luck!
Likewise, one day you found that several great ships were sailing up to your ports! Upon them were not soldiers, however, but missionaries from the nearby Kyrosian Empire preaching about the “Great Will of Kyros” and trying to spread their religion to the people. They also brought several gifts for you people and government, including a bit of food and even several artistic items or fancy jars for storing things and ornate religious depictions otherwise. While their ships are reminiscent of iron/bronze age sailing vessels, and their art at least similar to such artifacts of Earth’s ancient history, it seems to be a friendly welcome nonetheless. A religious welcoming, but a warmer one! A few of these missionaries have even petitioned to stay among your people to help educate and teach more about the land you are on.
However, your presence has angered a rather large gathering of tribes just beyond your northern border. Where you live was once the sacred grounds of their also-tribal ancestors, and beyond that was seen as an area they could migrate to in times of famine or great danger. With some kind of local tribal war having seemingly occurred near them, your people settling in the lands they have has cut this confederation of tribes off from a safe haven. Whether you want to attempt diplomacy or not, they and your own population have begun to get very very heated on your borders and the issue is beginning to rapidly spiral. Some on either side have stolen food, burnt homes down, and even killed a few of each other in the process. None know who first incited the violence, however, but it isn’t looking good. Even a few living on your side of the border have also fallen suddenly and very strangely ill, and no medical means can seem to pin down or stop the cause beyond treating symptoms to some extent...there seems to be no scientific means to explain it really.
If war were to kick off, you would naturally have the superior weapons...but the number of these tribes confederated together just beyond your border is deep in at least the 10’s of thousands.
Your 1 whaling and 1 transport ship have arrived after these two months, and a canning facility has been just barely brought into a basic ‘operational’ capacity at the least...but that is perhaps the one good thing that has happened in these last two months.
Your attempts to improve existing facilities continue to just drag out longer than planned, remaining in-progress as a mixture of terrible weather, a misallocation of resources, unpredictable spots of terrain or wildlife, and other little troubles plague efforts like a disease. You can see hope in the distance for it to get better, but the start in these regards is still rough even if it WILL still be finished at some point in the future.
However, one big problem has opened up right on your doorstep to boot. On your northernmost island, a strange rippling portal tore open in the air. It happened out of the blue and in the middle of the night, and out of it came streaming crimson red hellish-ooze and a stream of demons. In other words, that island is now the source of a small but very real demon incursion into the New World. That isn’t very good. The numbers of demons would come to overwhelm even your modern weapons as they died by the droves, but in the end the island would be unable to be held. A few hours later anyone left from that island, armed or otherwise, would soon come fleeing back to your main base of operations on ship and in a messy/wounded hurry. Any locals there and citizens left behind have been most likely slaughtered or worse by this point.
On the bright side, you will eventually finish improvement of the facilities, and your fishing capacity has been increased alongside transport capacity as of most recently. You seem to have some decent relations with the Dominion, but for the most part locals living on your islands have basically turned their attention wholly to the demon inclusion...and for a good reason. A few demons have begun to adapt to the water that you can see from long-distance observation, but not many. Yet if the portal on that island is not taken care of and these things and ooze keep streaming out things could become that much WORSE. It is a major problem even New World nations can’t abide, as it will become a threat to more and more as the incursion expands...albeit much more slowly than it ‘could’ have due to its size.
So in this silver lining you will find some temporary allies who would be more than happy to take on the demon inclusion to help stop it. The Gatekeepers have even already sent word that a ship will be coming within the month to provide bombardment support, and sent out a small bounty of 2 free medium-sized ocean-sailing troller fishing vessels each to all human nations that send support to this event. You simply have to hold on for dear life until reinforcements or non-enemies come to fight the incursion.
Whilst attempting to deal with the issues surrounding the King of Qalyxh and the elves, you have managed to send a diplomatic party to approach the humans now occupying the capital (will be posted in collab). However, back home there is a mixed bag of events that have been going down among your people.
Your people have managed to produce a minor food surplus, whether it was through fishing, farms have an abnormally higher output of crops, or even harvesting efforts in some areas going just a little beyond the normal. It isn’t much of a surplus at all, but it is one that at least actually somewhat helps much with the refugee situation and feeding your own people. The price of food has become lower in your lands somewhat for the moment being as well among merchants, which has further pushed just a small few farms out there to plant more crops slightly late or at the last second with hope for an even better harvest later on this year.
However, on the other hand some of the elven refugees have begun to create…’issues’ within Rumayana’s population. Whilst many have been trying to participate or work with things, some groups of others have begun to pop up with rage in their hearts. “Down with the humans” some cry, “We need to go to war against the barbarians!” cries others. It has created a moderate, but not major, bit of social unrest coursing among some populations of the immigrants. It isn’t a major movement, but the risk to your own people is apparent as the unrest of a number of immigrants rises and rises even now.
Your move to send merchants and diplomats and envoys to contact the Outlanders in the occupied Qalyxhian Elf capital of Ocia has been sent...but the result have yet to be seen and the fleet yet to come back (aka: ping me and we’ll do a collab of that event for this turn).
Likewise, your attempts to reinforce the coast by bolstering naval defenses and ports and making fortifications and towers and stockpiling food and other resources in limited ‘war’ preparations has been going along very well by this time. Being so large-scale the process isn’t yet totally complete, but it has definitely had some rather good effect and is very much visible by now. Some citizens have increased fears or reassurances based on what you are doing, and the issues with any slavers (see Spiff’s events at the top of this post) have come to your attention to boot.
This doesn’t help as you find yourself in a below average status in fishing and food harvest at this point in time...not enough to endanger the population in any notable way food-wise, but enough to make them even more wary and nervous alongside the war preparations and the Outlander rumors and the like. The price of food has also gone up some locally to boot. However, a few independent villages to your north have begun to open up more for trade and have an abundance of food. It won’t solve all of the below average harvesting/fishing results, but it will ease it a bit more moving into the future.