[The county crest has been designed, but I am currently working on finding someone more with better artistic skills than I have to create for me.]

Hello everyone. I am Mnoric and I wanted to do something a little different with my county recruitment post for the county of Caldazar which will be located in the Duchy of Acrium. Most county recruitment posts tell you a lot about the county, but don’t say much about the count. It doesn’t matter if you like the goals of the county if you don’t like the management style of the count. I want to start off my recruitment post with a little about me and my philosophy. After that, I will go into the goals of the county – goals which are specific and are designed to help the citizens of the county, the duchy, and the kingdom.

First, this is a game, so I want everyone in my county to have fun. I can’t guarantee that they will have fun (that Is largely up to them), but I believe in letting people play their way and not setting unnecessary restrictions. I have seen too many games where one griefer can ruin the fun for dozens of people, so I do discourage any type of game play that is specifically designed to have fun at the expense of making other people not enjoy the game. Note here that I am specifically talking about griefing, and not legitimate gameplay. If you want to play a bandit who prays on travelers, then it is up to the travelers to be able to defend themselves (or at least show proof it was you who attacked them). Just understand that you are choosing a risky lifestyle and don't be surprised or upset if the law or a merchant's guard makes you pay the price for it. That leads me to my next topic.

Safety. I am a US Army veteran, and I remember when I became an NCO and was told that an NCO’s number 1 job is to take care of his soldiers. I believe that one of the primary jobs of a count is to ensure the safety of his citizens. My plan is to hire people (NPCs or PCs) to patrol common trade routes. I have other plans as well, but I know better than to advertise all my plans on a public forum. Obviously, I can’t protect everyone all the time, and no one can protect someone who does something stupid or suicidal, but I want my citizens to trust that they are generally safe unless they intentionally engage in risky activity (like being a bandit as mentioned before).

Finally, I want to ensure that I set the stage for people to prosper. Notice that I didn’t say I want to ensure that people DO prosper. That is up to them. I firmly believe that success takes work, and if you want to have fun or become a successful merchant, blacksmith, or whatever, it is up to me to provide an environment where that can happen, but it is up to you to make it happen.

Obviously, the services I plan to provide will not be free for me, so there will be a tax structure, but it will not be punitive, and all the money collected from taxes will be used to support the county and the duchy.

When it comes to military, I agree with the words of Theodore Roosevelt: “It is best if possible, not to hit at all, but if you must hit, hit hard.” I have no desire or intention to engage in an offensive war (unless of course the king or duke initiates it), but if I must go to war (offensive or defensive), I don’t believe it should be half-hearted. In the somewhat more violent words of Machiavelli, “If you must injure a man, the injury should be so severe that you need never fear his retribution.”

Now that I’ve gone over my philosophy, I’ll talk a little about Caldazar.

The entire duchy places a high priority on naval research and exploration. Caldazar will do research, but it will be focused primarily on naval research. We will focus on naval production and exploration as well as coastal defense. Depending upon the county’s location, it may be beneficial to have merchant ships, and possibly even a merchant marine.

The other area of focus will be producing and providing arms and equipment for the duchy military. If enough people are interested in research, we may also encourage research into technologies for producing weapons or advanced mining techniques.

Obviously, anyone who wants to do research can research anything they want; the things the county will focus on are merely things that the county will primarily encourage and support.

If you aren’t interested in any of the things I mentioned above, it doesn’t mean you have no place here. The county still needs people to take care of the day to day needs of the citizens. My wife, for example, wants to play a tavern keeper. I have a friend who wants to be a traveling merchant. The wife of my first mayor wants to be a farmer. All these jobs help Caldazar, whether by feeding the citizens, providing them with goods they would otherwise not be able to acquire, or in any number of other ways. When I am not performing management functions, I am leaning towards animal husbandry and architecture.

My county seat will be Caern. There you have it. If you are interested in a county with specific goals and an amazing duke, and you like to make things better for yourself and the other members of your county, come check our our discord.