Empirarte

((Sorry about not attending, I just can't tell if I can't make these kind of things. I'll post another app since I suspect I've been removed.)) ((MC Name: Empirarte)) ((How long have you been on the server?: A month)) ((Do you enjoy RP, if so, why?: Yes, it's a good time as I like getting into immersive stories and characters.)) Your Name: Balator How skilled are you with the pick? Rather skilled as I've been working her for some time. Have you mined in any other prominent mines? Have you been part of another mining guild or group?: Nope, I've been waiting for this guild to get going with a new mine since I moved here. Do you have any family in the guild who you can use as reference?: No, but Darius knows me already. Do you intend to follow the guild rules and provide a reasonable amount of ore each week? Of course, I have done so in the past. Other Information: You should know me well enough to be a good judge of whether to let me back in or not. ((Sorry about being unavailable for the meeting, I still want to work for the guild though.)) Once I can start workin' in the mines, I'll get started on buildin' the guild.

I believe that both of these guilds are legitimate competition, each 'aving a larger control in their own cities. They should be free to compete in the other one's city but it would probably be a bit 'ard to successfully do so. The thing 'ere is that this guild is behaving rather disrespectfully to Lord Darius and in so doin' is insultin' our guild in Kal'Dwain. They seem to want to forego any cordial relations, which is why they lost the smithin' guild's support. I think it would be in your best interest for stability if you tried to befriend rather than intimidate Lord Darius as his aid could prove useful in the future. 'owever this is just my advice and by no means do I imply that you 'ave to be doin' as I say, you'll probably learn best from your own mistakes. Best of luck to your operations 'ere in Khaz, too bad you 'ad to be unfriendly when Lord Darius was treatin' you so civilly.

((I've just gotten back from vacation and I think I'll be able to make the meeting.))

((Any predictions as to when we will be doing this. I haven't been on much partially because I'm waiting for us to get the new HQ going.))

What the... ?

So from what I understand, the people ov'r in Khaz are expectin' all guilds to have their headquarters there. But from what the Mining Guild seems to be sayin' we're buildin' our own Headquarters a short ways outside of Kal'Dwain. Are we still doin' the latter?

*Balator seeing the replies adds a reply note at the end.* I thank you for again for taking the time to read my rather lengthy article of sorts and then responding with appropriate critique. Once again I don't expect my ideas to be implemented but I do want you to consider them as an option since we are in a state of transition. So it seems that Khaz will become the new capital as nearly everyone said, but would that then entail that Kal'Dwain be abandoned or would it still function normally and we would have dual cities much like before. I have also just returned on a long trip to find the city which was supposedly west of Karik but I did not find it when I hit the desert and turned around. I would ask that Khaz would send out directions to Kal'Dwain so that we can establish a road between our cities should Dwain be maintained. I understand your reasoning responding to my systems but I think you may have misunderstood what I meant by city plots. These would not be spread out, they would rather be condensed much like you were trying to do. It's essentially a tower of plots with multiples levels going up and down with each "floor" containing different things like the residential district, quarry, farm, etc. But it's probably too late to implement it now, just wanted to suggest it to see what people thought. The main purpose I had in writing this paper was to advocate centralization of labor and government which is what Khaz is doing, so I am content so far from what I hear but I still would like to see how things progress over the next few days.

I have hope this will succeed with all the thoughtful preparation and planning you've put into this. Around how long will it take to open the new mine though?

((Well until I can find it I can only imagine how good it looks. Congratulations for making such progress,))

((The miner Balator, who being tutored by a scholarly man, has decided to write a suggestion for the Dwarven people and publish his paper.)) -Introduction -What the Government should Do -What the Guilds should Do -What the Workers should Do -A Last Suggestion Introduction The Dwarven people has fallen into hard times, as everyone knows. We have fallen from the glorious days of power in Aegis and in Asulon we are but a shadow of our former glory. The past few Elven weeks ring with the stagnant abandon and ruin our towns have come into. Karik was a skeleton with barely any activity in its tall and wide halls. The Dwarven Diaspora cut down its numbers and so without much resistance, a monster of terror was able to consume Karik with ease as our people fled in terror. Our people are spread out through all different cities and we are too few. We need to join together in one central city, wherever that be, I do not know and cannot advise, but it is necessary for us to improve our current population problem. I have been hearing the public discussion of a potential new smaller city, which is what we need. Kal'Dwain fulfills this description, I do not know about this Karik survivor colony as I have not yet been there yet. 1. What the Government should Do I urge us to give the monarchy and governing authorities more control so as to efficiently and effectively reorganize our socio-economic systems and cities. Under out current non-interventionist system, you see the government doing little to involve themselves in economic affairs which is necessary as our guild system is decaying. Now I am not calling for feudalism, despotism, slavery, or other economic system, but I am calling for reform. Long has the lowly dwarf sought opportunity, and often have his hopes been frustrated as our system is collapsing in upon itself and little aid can be given to those looking for a job unless they happen to run into the right person at the right time. We need stronger government control to raise the bar for our Dwarven industries. Not only would this make our guilds run much more efficiently, but they also would have less disagreements if a higher monitoring power were making sure they were working together smoothly. I am currently thinking of how the Mining and Smithing guild are at odds with each other as the Smithing Guild has nothing to do as miners just fix their own tools. The government should appoint an inspector who would examine each guild's work and headquarters to make sure they are doing their work at an adequate pace and also to make sure no workers are being treated poorly or overseers embezzling commodities. Next, the government would devise a system for which guilds would supply other guilds with needed resources like for example the mining guild giving ores to the smithing guild in exchange for tools. Lastly, the government would appoint the Guildmasters, not let the guild itself find someone to lead, although they could make their suggestions and make petitions. Usually when a guildmaster leaves or dies a state of anarchy in a sense ensues with general confusion as to who should lead, the government would have someone chosen if that did happen which would help to consolidate their control over the guild if some people challenge who is in charge. They should also give subsidies to the best performing guild who is working with the greatest efficiency, possibly minas per worker or something of that sort in order to create a field of competition which would fuel harder work. 2. What the Guilds should Do Hopefully with competent management, each guild can start accepting new members to work in their trade. Members should not be required to turn in a consistent quota of goods every Elven week as luck always has a hand in how good the profits of one year's farming or fishing turn out to be. And on the other hand, workers should not be taking all their harvest for themselves. This presents quite a dilemma, but I hope this solution may suffice. Farmers, miners, and lumberjacks would be given an adequately apportioned plot with which they can work either to raise crops, mine ores, or chop down trees. Guild overseers or masters would be able to see how much work an individual was doing and if they were using their land well, they would be granted more and given a higher rank in conjunction so that their time is put to good use reaping the land of its benefits rather than having to wait and sit around. Each worker would be given a chest of their own which they would put everything (or at least half of) what they have made. This then would be collected and recorded while keeping in mind how much each person is giving. If their chest is empty for three Elven weeks then it would probably be good to kick them out of the guild, if it's consistently full then maybe they deserve a higher rank. Once these resources are collected, they will then be given to merchants and guild-owned stores that would sell these wares throughout our cities and possibly throughout all of Asulon if production is good enough. If these shops remained well stocked with tools, food, and other commodities, then workers will not need to depend on only their guildmaster, steward, or lord for sustenance. They can just go buy it at the market. Now the merchant will decide for himself the prices of the things he is selling but if he is deemed irresponsible or insufficient for the job by an overseer he may be replaced if he is not making nearly enough money for what he is selling or if he is taking too much of his own share. The profits from the store would then be distributed each Elven week to the workers with different percentages based on how much work they did or their rank. Some would also be deducted for taxes and the merchant's personal profit. The guildmaster and his overseers however need to make sure people are not embezzling as that would break this system apart, however if figures and records are kept properly, it should be clear whether or not someone is being honest. 3. What the Workers should Do What the workers should do is work. Plain and simple. Hard work should be equated with wages and rewards, so each and every worker needs to do their best each week and so they will accordingly receive their fair share. If workers notice that their coworkers, overseers, or even possibly the inspector is not fulfilling their jobs and maybe even breaking their law, then it is their duty to report to the authority ruling over the violator. As for their individual chests, workers need not turn in everything they have, they could keep a tiny portion for their own use. But they should not be selling their goods to someone else if they are a part of the guild. 4. A Final Suggestion I sometimes feel that our cities are a little cluttered, so I thought of something that might be useful. We should build vertical plots. These plots are rectangular, possibly 50x40x10 and would be open land for someone's use. The government would decide how to organize these, and maybe to make it clear what I mean I'll make an example. A new city is expanding one plot downward and so to clear out the space they lease the new plot out to the mining guild who soon clears it out of everything and leaves it open. The government could then decide whether to convert this open plot into a commercial district, barracks, residential district, farm, or artificial forest for lumberjacks. Not only would it be very clear who owns what plot, it would be easy to map out with signs on a board at the entrance by labeling individual levels: ground level, level 1, etc. This would be efficient and help people find their way around. 5. In Summary and a Few Final Thoughts 1. Government appoints inspector for Guilds 2. Individual work plots for workers 3. Guild owned shops 4. Overseers to check honesty Now I know there are a few criticisms this idea will receive. You may say this completely deprives individual workers and crafts-dwarves of doing their trade by themselves and let me say this. It is nearly impossible for a working class dwarf to be a miner or farmer in a city, they have to own their own plot of land outside. If there were enough people to have a market of this type, then we probably could. But right now we hardly have enough work getting done and we need someone else organizing labor so that it can perform efficiently. In closing, I would like to thank you all for taking your time to read this, as I have written it with the best interests of the Dwarven people in mind. We may be in hard times, but we will rise invigorated if we reform our system.

Looks like Darius has got the job through popular opinion, I'm glad we're getting a new mine sooner or later.

((MC name)): Empirarte Name: Balator Clan (If you have one): - Subrace: Cave Dwarf Age: 169 Job: Miner Current Residence: Kal'Dwain

If I was more trusted and established, I would take on the role, but I'm sure someone with more prestige within our ranks will get the job as is normal in the world. Blast it, why did he have to leave us after so short an interval of leadin'?

I'm inside the gates at Hanseti what times will a representative be on? Also considering the length of the walk, can we get a supply depot or secondary headquarters closer to the Cloud Temple for those of us who live north or west?

I regret to inform you that with the appearence of monsters in the mines, I will be unable to continue working as I cannot stand fighting in any sense. If there is any non-combat work I can do please let me know. On second thought, I'll try to brave it, I found out my legs can carry me farther and faster than I thought they could.