Varietree

Varietree

Year 128

A year of relative peace, though publicly, we are still at war. Its kind of like the whole South-North Korea situation. No one wants to back off and sue for peace, and yet the temples need time to rebuild their military force.

Nearby, none of the neighbouring ports wanted to host the crusading armies, lest a similar incident unfolded. Fear crept into the hearts of many kingdoms, that suddenly a giant tree appeared in the middle of a faraway city, and overwhelmed a tide of beetles and spiders.

The Giant Attendant Trees, they towered in the six cities, as symbols of the Crusades foolishness. The Giant Attendant Trees were so large that they could be seen from the boats and ships far from shore.

But our own informants indicated that the temples are mustering another force.

Why?

In the meantime, the victory has made the Freshlands Federal Authority extremely busy, they spent a lot of time reallocating people and implementing a tonne of new rules. A lot of the prisoners of war were made to do hard labor, or farm work, but some were released to those kingdoms that surrendered.

A long set of agreements and treaties, to 'secure' the shifting allegiances of the kingdoms and nations sandwiched between the Freshlands and the Six Ports. I did not care very much for the regular prisoners, so I was happy to let them go. These were mostly low ranking soldiers mostly under level 30, their threat level was not that significant anyway.

The loyalties of many conscripted soldiers are suspect anyway. Most of them just obey their Kings and Rulers, and may not truly believe in the cause.

A heretic god? What does it have to do with me? Its a common expression amongst the soldiers. Im here because the King sent me.

Quite a fair bit dont even know what they are fighting, they only know they have been instructed to invade the Freshlands.

I suppose its rather difficult to ensure the correct messages are transmitted to the 500,000 to 1,000,000 soldiers caught in the conflict. Especially in a world where messages frequently still travel by mouth. [Messages] and magical spells remain a luxury of the elite class.

What does it feel like, you know... to cause the death of so many. Strangely, it was a prayer from a random citizen of the Freshlands. He made the prayer some time after the armies surrendered. Do gods treat us mortals as just play things?

I think so. The gods certainly do. And I see why. If the gods can disassociate the person from the body, that means to them, each living person is nothing more than a gamer holding an avatar, and when they die, its just game over for that avatar. Its like humans with our games. Many certainly think it is weird to care when our avatars die. Most just sigh, and just start a new game, with a new avatar.

But for those living in the moment, they dont know that, and even if they know, they dont feel that connection to those future new lives. Each life and death is not connected to the next reincarnation.

Maybe... Maybe Im also starting to think that way. I should not. Its a flaw.

-

The war council met daily. There were always new things to discuss. Kingdom A switched sides. Kingdom B switched sides. Kingdom C demands for so-and-so. Kingdom D goes this and that. After a while, its like little notifications in my in-game menu that Ive gradually gotten better at ignoring.

Especially if it doesnt require my action. Its like some corporate paper pushers who receive hundreds to thousands of emails a day, mostly cc-ed. That corporate drone would click on the email, read the first few sentences, notices that he didnt need to do anything, and click delete, or archive.

Trevor, can you notify me if any of these daily meetings have something material?

Certainly, master. Trevor answered. You may want to direct your focus on the beetle and spider research. We are making progress, but we do require your decision on the numerical allocation of beetle-types.

Horns. Update. I mentally called out.

MASTER! Horns shouted with gusto. I wonder how he does it. We have successfully unlocked Bomber-Beetles. We can further advance this into Explosive Beetles, and also upgrade its range and damage. Each will require 1 to 2 years, and additional resources.

Trevor interrupted. Which will not be a problem. We have secured means of collecting the necessary resources from our vassals. We can afford to undertake all of the research. Its a matter of allocation that required Masters attention.

Yes yes. Trevors right, Master. But I must talk about beetles. We also have made progress on Flying Beetles and also improved our existing beetles jumping strength. Our assassin beetles are able to leap twice as far, and our tunneler beetles can last twice as long!

Well, thats great. Reality is, all these upgrades do add to utility, even if its combat strength is mostly unchanged.

Wait. Why do I need to decide on allocation?

The process of transforming a beetle from one variant to another is a long process, and the subsidiary trees need about two to three months to shift from one form to another.

Ah. 90% regular beetles. I have no intention of alerting our opponents to our unique beetle variants. For the remaining 10%, can I ask for them to be split equally to all different types?

Horns intervened. Master... we also have Hybrid Beetles! Based on your advances in demonic-hybrid botany, we are also able to see some potential in demonic corruption-tolerant beetles. Do you want us to research those, even if they are ineffective against humans?

Uh. Why not, but no allocation of beetles to them?

Jasmine also commented. Master, there may be significant value in small beetles that can operate as stealth units.

Thats what assassins are for?

Assassin beetles are still quite large, at the moment.

Time, trade and communication. Juras recommendation, using his perspective as a [Warlord]. I think its a [Diplomat] aspect thats merged into it. Time, really. Time will heal the wound, and we would have to encourage a constant flow of people to and fro those countries.

Kavio agreed, of course. I agree, those are commonly understood principles for long term integration, but we still have to deal with the short term bumps. It remains that each kingdom has a cultural difference, and they want to maintain their pride. They have defected, but they do not want to be seen as subservient, even if they are, in substance, forced to be. Its a difficult balancing act.

I had to pause to unpack that. Essentially, for the Six Ports, the FFA formally annexed those ports as new territories of the FFA. But, for the kingdoms and nations in between, that formerly sided with the Temples, they surrendered or switched sides. So, their status is a lot more ambiguous as, although they are on our side, they are not my servants. As such, they have every right to resist my attempts to integrate them into the wider Freshlands community, as they feel as thats me attempting to encroach on their sovereignty.

Its like some countries trying to force its allies to learn its language. Sure, they are allies, but dont shove your culture down my throat. Even if these allies were formerly affiliated with my enemies.

Were talking about kingdoms. Nations. I could crush them. I could, if I need to. But it has not reached that point. In the jungle, a species would have to find a niche to survive, and an ecosystem needs each other. I would like to build an ecosystem where these nations can exist, in a framework.

Many resist the FFAs framework. One where I sit at the stop as the spiritual overlord of all the vassal states. A few, agreed. Mostly those nearer and weaker, they were willing to accept me, a strange, magical being, a monster, as their supreme overlord. Most want their own dignity. Might, makes right. The world has no overarching enforcer of laws, as much as the Gods pretends that they are.

Some of them still believe in their own strength. I ended the briefing, and with Jasmine, surveyed my lands.

The quality of the FFAs soldiers equipment is average. Not better than those of my opponents. I had thought Ive made arrangements for their equipment to be upgraded? And from my surveys, it seemed that, yes, there were higher quality items in the mix, but ultimately, there was a volume issue.

I wasnt aware we did not have skilled [blacksmiths]. I asked Kavio.

We do. But the quantity of high quality goods our masters can make is limited. Certainly not enough to arm 300,000 soldiers. And the quality of our metals have been inconsistent. But they are trying.

Why was I not made aware of this issue? There was an awkward silence.

Its an ongoing process of renewing our forces equipment. And theres also the issue of channeling the higher quality output to the Valthorns, who consume these higher quality equipment at a higher rate.

But Ive already given them my wooden-made weapons... I spent a little more time observing my Valthorns and noticed that they treat my wooden-made weapons with unnecessary respect, using them only on missions that Ive personally ordered. On their general duties theyve used regular steel weapons. Even though I told them to treat them as expendable, they certainly still used them very, very sparingly.

They mostly use them only against demons, due to their anti-demonic effects. Against regular monsters they would equip regular weapons. My spymaster updated.

Again... had I been so focused on the big picture stuff that I did not notice how things decayed? I think theres an expectation gap, in that when I give a command, I expect it to be carried out consistently and constantly. But what Im observing is that for the citizens of the Freshlands, they would forget the orders and commands I gave a few years ago, or theres a change of guard and the commands previously set out were not properly passed down.

Its not a surprise that the enthusiasm and obedience to orders and commands decayed. It would be strange if employees remembered everything their bosses said since many years ago. So for the general populace, this bureaucratic drift should have been expected. I recalled my own experiences working in that indie company, it was common to forget discussions and decisions that were made as we were busy with our own parts, especially if they seemed inconsequential at that time.

We never forget, master. Trevor said. Indeed, my artificial minds resemble AI more than actual people, and as such they remember my orders even from long ago. Things like overlays, constant expansion of forests. All made possible because my artificial minds almost never stop once an order is given.

But people do. It is perhaps also why they are able to change. Because when one is not shackled by their past decisions. I looked at the Freshlands as a whole, and wondered, do they need more change, or more order and tradition?

-

I checked my classes. I have [pirate] classes, probably from some of them who died. [Captain] and [Sailor] classes too. I could make upgraded versions of these classes, if I wanted to start a navy.

But... how do I control them?

Once they are on ships, out on the open waters, I can't monitor them at all. My trees do not have vision in the ocean. What if those with upgraded classes defect, with my ability to supervise so lacking?

"Trust, Aeon. Unfortunately that is the best we have."

I sighed. I have gotten quite used to being able to monitor those who serve me, at least directly or indirectly via my Artificial minds. Now this requires me to let go, I feel a little strange. Trust. Thats an extremely heavy word.

Its especially if the class Im creating is a [pirate]. [Pirates]... do they have strong respect for authority?

Pretty sure they do have some respect for authority, especially if they have good captains.

I merged the Pirate and Captain classes together and noticed that 5 of each, combined, turned into a [Pirate Captain] class. I could create a pirate captain, but would they be loyal? They wouldnt. The best I could do is to somehow align our interests. But sponsoring piracy against the temples is also not something the neighbours will desire.

Though I once vowed to avoid the game of politics, the fact that I have power and territory, and neighbours, make me a player in this game. Politics is unavoidable. I cannot avoid people forever, unless I do not care of the decisions other nations make and their consequences on me.

Where should I go with this?

I wanted a cultural victory. Which sectors need it the most? [Blacksmiths], and [Navy]? [Smugglers] to break the temple-navies blockade? [Master Farmers]? The Freshlands need to be strengthened and reinforced such that the overall quality of life and the quality of goods are higher than the rest. Better [adventurers], less monsters.

Whats the best way for me to distribute these upgraded classes among the population, such that they aid the Freshlands?

Based on our surveillance of the population?

Master, perhaps the Titans would be useful. I nodded. I wanted to know how my people tick. I may not predict what decisions they make once they are in the open waters, or outside my domain, but the best I can do is screen them, vet them and interview them properly.

I took one of the Titan Souls, and nodded. Commencing fusion of [Grand Mind Tree] and the [Titan Frame]. Upgrading and unlocking of [Tree-Over-Mind] will take a few months.