The Free County of Talqamar

Picture your ideal home, the town and country around your home, the people and the way they live.

Are you picturing an idyllic landscape, a place of peace and pastoral beauty? Sunday picnics, afternoon rainstorms, and just another weekday explosion?

A place where people are free to explore the arts and sciences, with no pesky laws penalizing an innocent tinkering experiment gone awry? A place where no one will call your breeding experiments a "crime against nature and the gods" or laugh at your dream of creating a mechanical dragon and burning down the moon?

Then the Free County of Talqamar is for you!

(Note: Name is a placeholder for now, and may change with the outcome of domain selection)

Focus:

Nestled on the coast of the Free Kingdom, the Free County of Talqamar is a place of exploration, dedicated to research and the arts. County policies will always favor invention, research, exploration, and pushing the boundaries of Mann’s knowledge. Within the duchy and the kingdom, the Count is committed to being a voice of reason, a voice of violence as a last resort, and a voice for knowledge.

All seekers of truth, scientific or artistic, are invited to make their home in Talqamar. If your Path to Truth is fraught with frequent explosions or conflagrations, this is welcomed, even encouraged, but we do ask that you make this known in advance so your residence can be zoned appropriately. Ideally, just a typical blast radius away from the local fire brigade.

The Count

Count Quintero was born into an adventuring family, and made his life upon the sea. Having sailed uncharted seas and returned with sea stories aplenty, he started to look to new horizons. A lucky round of cards later, and he found himself newly titled in a far away land and the path was clear. Settling down in his new home, he thinks back on the friends (and treasures) lost at sea and has committed to improving the science of navigation, for the safety of sailors and commerce everywhere. To that end, he established and works tirelessly at the Observatory, situated on the outskirts of Talqamar.

The Observatory is dedicated to “perfecting the art of navigation” in Elyria. The Observatory will house facilities dedicated to researching the tools and methods necessary to conduct more rapid and accurate surveys, to produce more accurate charts, for more accurate navigation, and, as a necessary support activity, tools and methods for more accurate observations of the stars and planets. The Observatory will also teach students of these trades, and sponsor dedicated researchers as resources allow.

Q&A:

Q: What sets you apart from other counties?

A: Sailing the seas of Elyria, I’ve seen a lot of the realms of the world, from counties to duchies to kingdoms. About 80% of them speak of “playing your way” and “personal freedom,” but within their policies are tight controls, central planning, and top heavy edicts.

Talqamar is different. Born from the freedom of the sea knows you can't wrestle chaos into submission, only harness it. When sailing the seas, the mighty waves and winds may seem chaotic, but with a sturdy keel and smartly set sails, all it takes is a gentle touch on the tiller to harness that power towards your goal. Talqamar recognizes this, and governs accordingly, using the lightest touch necessary to sail the ship of state through the powerful chaos of individual freedom within the economy.

Q: What sort of research will you be focusing on?

A: There are two answers here, personally and county-wide. Personally, I will be focused on navigationally-related research. Tinkering, astronomy, cartography and navigation to improve the whole field of navigation activities. County-wide, policies will favor research in general, with generous incentives for schools of all types.

Q: How do you expect to survive in a violent world if you aren’t a PvP focused county?

A: There are plenty of combat oriented players, many of whom will be sworn to the Duke that Talqamar pays taxes to. Talqamar will have its own guards as well. Plus, if your realm is known for frequent unexpected explosions...what makes you think we can’t generate such blasts at will?

Q: Why need support for a county when the threshold is so low?

A: Ideally, Talqamar will be a coastal county, and to get such real estate will require a decent ranking in the Influence list among the free counties and any paid counties who opt to move into the free kingdom later. In Discord, Caspian said they would likely do something to award influence based on tokens to the winners. The more support we get, the more likely we are to be where we want to be.

All support is greatly appreciated. Kingdom Tokens can be sent to Quintero.