Munster Mines

Running the numbers for Munster’s mines, I used your highest level goldmine to determine what the corresponding cost of iron/stone should be for you guys. As the chart below shows that gives you the ridiculous base value of Iron @ 20.35 and Stone @ 14.65 assuming at 15.00 you want each mine worker to net you 10.00, obviously that diminishes the higher you push wages



That’s really bad . . . so basically right now your mines are in such terrible shape and running so inefficiently that if you export below the above prices, you’re losing a lot of net worth (even if you get a temporary boost to the cash debt). Given that, I’d put selling stone/iron on hold and use it to upgrade your mines to optimal levels. For example I’ll do an example with the Imleach Goldmine at level 10 (optimal goldmine level).



Because you’re making more gold, it covers more of the production cost of stone/iron so you can drop its base county value to Iron @ 17.30 and Stone @ 12.45. At those prices you can export a lot easier and make some real profit off both your mines and trade.

Now that includes maintenance, which you lucky bastards don’t have . Without maintenance your goldmines are pure cash, and you don’t need a county base value for stone/iron. It doesn’t matter what you sell it for, because even if you sell it for 1.00 it’s still profit, since you don’t have to consider its value for maintenance. That gives you a lot of financial leeway in trade, you can undercut pretty much anyone you like and still it’s all pure profit.

Really, the optimal level for all your mines is 17, since that gives you the highest production output. Normally there would be diminishing returns curve associated with the mines, but you don’t have to worry about that. However, it’s probably not fiscally responsible to upgrade them that high, you can make more money off selling stone/iron at lesser levels.

As a whole your mines system looks something like this:



You can pretty much just put income from the stone/iron mines at 0.00 because you don’t immediately get cash from that. So daily, with your attendance you’re losing 122.20 (which can later be recouped by selling stone/iron) but for now you want results and people to see immediately the debt reduction. Where you run into issues is when stone/iron mine attendance drastically increases and goldmine attendance stays stagnant. For example say you had max workers in every mine except the goldmines . . .



Under that you would lose 2,342.20 daily on the mines. At your current outputs you’d have to at least sell your stone/iron at the wages your paying out for those mines, as that’s really your only expense. So sell iron/stone for at least 15.05 and you’re making profit off those mines. But as it is your attendance isn’t that high, so you have leeway to sell for lower if you wish . . . something like this would be optimal with your attendance:



So valuing resources in your situation (picked the completely arbitrary number of 500.00 for what you want to make from your mines collectively on a daily basis), Iron @ 12.25 and Stone @ 8.82 would be good prices to start with. (just for the record I always make stone 72% the cost of iron, just found that to be standard throughout RK). But you can play around with that, for instance you could make Iron @ 10.50 and Stone @ 10.00. That actually gives you a lot of negotiating power. I can pass this chart around to anyone. Really you just have to pick what you’d like to make daily off your mine system and play around with the stone/iron value until it’s at a number you feel comfortable with.

In the end, no maintenance really helps. It gives you the ability to basically set your own price on stone/iron, whereas in Galloway we CANNOT sell Iron for less then 17.30 and Stone for less then 12.45 because of our maintenance costs. So figuring out our mines system is a little more work intensive just to stay afloat, where you guys have it good in the grand scheme of things .

But if you want my advice, here is what I would do . . .

PL Stone – Leave open at max attendance, leave wage at 15.00, upgrade to level 11
Cork/LM Gold – Leave open at max attendance, lower the wage to 15.00, upgrade to level 10
Imleach/AC Iron – Lower to 35 workers, leave wage at 15.00, upgrade to level 10 and heavily encourage people from Imleach to work the goldmine instead.
Ros Stone – Leave open at max attendance, leave wage at 15.00, upgrade to level 11
Imleach/LM Iron – Close completely
Imleach Gold – Leave open at max attendance, lower the wage to 16.00, upgrade to level 10

The Imleach/LM Iron mine is just taking workers away from the goldmine and the iron mine it shares with AC. Lowering the Imleach/AC Iron mine to 35 workers will make sure that more people from Imleach take goldmine jobs, and make sure you stay on top of people from Imleach not to take the Iron mine jobs, leave them for the people from AC. Also lower the wages in Cork/LM goldmine to 15.00, they don’t really need the incentive to work there as there is no other mine in those towns. Now you won't get as much Iron as you're used to, but it should be enough to cover whatever the Mayors need with a little for export still. Stone is going to be your big cash export and you should be making tons of that. Even when/if you have to pay maintenance again you can adjust some of the mine attendance accordingly.

The moral of the story is you can’t do it on your own though, your citizens need to pitch in. There needs to be good communication between CC and the Mayors and the Mayors need to push their citizens to work in the appropriate mines. Just posting on the forums isn’t enough to get people where you want them. Use your county calendar in the spokesperson’s office to make county announcements about the mines, have the Mayors send messages as frequently as possible to their citizens about mines attendance and what the county needs. Most people are decent and will help out, you just have to make sure it’s loud and clear what you need them to do and what mines you need them working. Bad Mayors can really kill a county by not following through with this.

It’s the few of us in this game that do most of the work. I don’t know how many times I’ve personally mailed every citizen in Galloway appealing for help with the debt. But it does help and it also encourages activity when Councilors go out of their way like that to mail people individually. It’s a one two punch though, optimizing your mines and good communication with the citizens once you have them optimized. Hopefully the results show in the debt eventually and everyone in Munster can have a picture perfect moment of harmony where you’re all working together and accomplishing something . . . . if only . Oh yeah . . . and sorry for preaching, I’m a dork and get worked up over this stuff, good luck guys .

Padraig_mackenzie wrote:

Cost to produce both iron and stone is based on math involving those mines in isolation. (Value of excess ore produced by one worker - value of maintenance ores for one worker - wage for worker = 0..... this equation and a couple variations of it produce a narrow range for stone and iron pricing. Keep in mind that stone and iron values are not rigid when maintenance costs are considered-- they are fluid and dependent on each other.)

I wouldn't look at each mine individually. Like you said they are interdependent. If you look at each mine individually and set your prices based off that it's not going to reflect what it actually costs you as a county for stone/iron. For example, In Galloway just looking purely at the iron mine, we could sell iron for 16.95 and cover the cost of that mine. However we still lose money on the entire mines system so we actually need to sell it for 17.30 in the grand scheme of things. Not all mines are made equal and looking at just one is dangerous. Some mines have historical low attendance, some have high attendance, some produce cash instantly and others can take a month or more for the income to show. In the meantime the debt suffers. People want results and you have to set it up that you're battled the debt weekly, even if your plans are longer term then that.

Padraig_mackenzie wrote:

Gold wages would stay at 17 in both gold mines, and iron and stone wages would be dropped to 15. This would be an effort to drive people to the gold mines specifically for faster, easier debt reduction. After all, mining for gold doesn't require trade to throw some cash at our debt. I will be running more math as time permits to see how ore sales compare with gold mining for profitability, assuming our mines attendance sees some change based on wage changes.

This is something we've recently been discussing in Galloway. We've had the goldmine wage here at 17.00 for a long time and really the attendance boost hasn't shown. The difference in 1 or 2 pounds wage is proven to be not effective in luring people to the mines. In towns where there are two mines, maybe list the one you think is more important for 16.00 just to indicate that's where the help is needed. Your town with the one goldmine though, leave it at 15.00, doubt people are going to stop working it, they still need jobs. Doubt people are also really going to leave the town over such a small drop in the wages either. If people complain, losing out of 2.00 daily isn't a big deal and you can throw some rhetoric at them about "duty to county" . Make it clear to your citizens that the ball is in their court. They can blame CC all they want, but in the end it takes some sacrifices on their part as well. In Galloway we're going to be cutting down all our mines back down to a 15.00 wage, it's proven not to work as an incentive and it's just wasting your county money.

Albrecht wrote:

1. Do we concentrate on gold mining

or

2. Do we concentrate on resource production

From what I've read it seems like the whole plan is based off getting immediate results. So option 1 is a no brainer. Like I said though, 17.00 isn't enough incentive. you're going to have to cut down the workers in your Imleach/AC Iron mine and close the other Iron mine completely. Sometimes you have to be a little mean and forcefully shove people around. Good communication helps too, especially by the Mayors. If you have a Mayor in Imleach that isn't responsive or isn't willing to put a ton of effort into this, I would almost suggest removing them from office. Make sure the Iron jobs are going to people in AC too. Even with conservatively 10 workers daily in the Imleach/AC Iron mine you get 10*1.52= 10.52 iron daily, which is enough to cover Mayor's iron needs, more if you upgrade that Iron mine. Focus on exporting Stone right now and save whatever Iron reserves you have for the random downgrades.

Padraig_mackenzie wrote:

Here's the thing-- I'm not sure wage tweaking will have a substantial impact on mines attendance. I'm also concerned about what our attendance numbers will look like once the armies disband-- I know they'll be different, but it's hard to say exactly how. I'm not sure how reliably I can produce math for mines projections right now for these reasons-- I can try to guess at possible fluctuations in mines attendance, but that's all it's going to be, guess work. Nonetheless, I'll have a go at running the numbers.

Well is there any historic data on this? It would be easier if you knew the mines attendance before you were deep into war. I know it's not always possible but either the MS or Sheriff should be reporting them daily. I wouldn't have been able to do nearly the amount of work and calculations I've done for Galloway if it wasn't for the fact that we've had really good people keeping records at those positions in the past. If you can get historical numbers. I can whip up more financial projections for you guys based on "normal" attendance.

Aria wrote:

I suppose where we are headed then is towards a need to have a detailed understanding of our current cash flow. Do we breakeven daily, weekly etc? If not why not because that is what we need to achieve first. Secondly having understood our position in detail we can then make a better judgement as to how to improve it.

Bingo! It's a pain in the ass and you almost need a complete tool and geek like me that enjoys constantly running numbers. This game sucks, there's no way around it. I went to college for finance and economics and work in the financial sector and even I have problems keeping a county on tract. It is a ridiculously complicated system for a simple game and it's the poor Councilors that have to put the time in. Like I said though, for some sick reason I enjoy doing stuff like this. If you can get me good figures on stuff, I don't mind helping out. I know I'm not from your county, but the fate of English speaking RK is intertwined. Today it's closing a few towns, in the future it might be Galloway on the chopping block. If all the counties don't get on track financially and get to a point where there is a economy (at the town and county level) for our citizens we're bound to lose more players.

Here's the end of term report with financials, I put together for Galloway, just to give you an example of some of the reporting that's useful to keep track of. Those don't even go into the detail behind the math of it all, but they are pretty easy for me to whip up if you ever need some or just want to use them as templates.

https://lancedunbararchive.forumotion.com/guides-f9/munster-mines-t57.htm#340

Kaireth wrote:

Something else we will have to account for, even though it will be hard to pin down, is that with trade there is greatly increased risk. Especially during export, when dealing with outside captains and ships we not only run the risk of unknown delays, but also people that decide simply not to return the gold. Sure we can go after them eventually, but that does nothing for our bottom line in the immediate present.

That is tricky, I know Galloway is going to be sponsoring some citizens (myself included ) to study navigation and also buy ships of our own. While private companies are great, there is that risk. In this game there is little margin for economic error as you stated. Getting a good base of people you trust and loyal to Munster to act as sea traders is a must. While you probably don't want to send off some of your best and most trustworthy councilors on trade expeditions, it's definitely worth it in terms of reduced risk.

Galloway County Council End of Term Report - (July-August 1458)

End of Term Financial Report for Galloway

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Net worth dropped from (£170,274.68 ) at the start of the term, to (£186,314.97). That is a net loss of £16,040.29 . . . there are several factors that effected Net Worth. At the beginning of this term, County Council voted to allow all soldiers that had received swords and shields from the county, could keep them without having to pay the county back for them. As a sign of goodwill and thanks from County Council. That probably cost us around £2,000.00 in inventory.

There were also two upgrades done to the Girvan goldmine, as a condition of the contract signed with Ayr County. There was also one upgrade done to our iron mine, when it downgraded. In total the repairs/upgrades came to roughly £17,000.00 worth of stone/iron taken out of inventory.

Prestige maintenance contributes to loss in net worth as well. In total to maintain 5* prestige we pay £2,000.00 in stone every 10 days. So for an entire term that's £12,000.00 worth of goods taken out of net worth.

Also there was the £20,000.00 stone/iron trade we did with Sajanzv. That is around £15,000.00 worth of stone/iron that came off our inventory and as of yet, the proceeds from that have not been turning into additional goods or put towards the debt.



Cash Debt dropped from (£269,851.78 ) at the start of the term to (£288,689.72). That is a net loss of £18,837.94. To further the point that poor mine attendance is mostly the problem, I went through and got the income from goldmines verses wages the county pays out (thanks for reporting regularly Alistair )



As you can see, we lost £28,018.78 because our total mines wages exceed the revenue generated from the goldmine. It is imperative to get people in Drummore if we every want to combat this debt. That is what County Council has to try to overcome each term, before we even start talking about reducing the debt. Now the mines do give us raw resources, which effect net worth, but not cash debt. We did the big deal with Sajanzv to get £20,000.00, however that hasn't been put into the debt or other tangible goods as of yet, it's still sitting in a grant.

Additional expenses effecting the county were £12,745.40 in corruption this term and in excess of £2,000.00 spent on the hiring of marshals. Also hiring point makers effects the debt, at the county level we hire on average 7-9 people a week. I'll be conservative and say we've spent £1,680.00 on point-makers this term.

So take the sum of all expenses

£28,018.78 - lost on mines
£12,745.40 - corruption
£2,000.00 - marshal hiring
£1,680.00 - point makers

Total Expenses - £44,444.18 (really random number )

That is what the county has to come up with, before we even turn a profit in a given 2 month period. I'm proud that given all those expenses cash debt only went down £18,837.94.

Even with cash debt growing because of mine attendance we are still able to function as a county, breeding animals, and our County Council inventory has grown over the last couple months.



Mine attendance was exceedingly poor this term. Some of that is because of people away defending in Dumfries, but there were two days where only four people worked the goldmine. There were nine days where attendance was under ten citizens. I'm not even sure what all the people in Drummore are doing, I know there's got to be at least 30-40 active people there even without visitors. This is gloomy and needs to be changed, recent mine attendance has been better and picking up. I hope the trend continues.

Summary of Issues Discussed by County Council This Term

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Continuing NNGO Prestige - Vote Passed 7 Aye, 4 Nay, 1 Abstain

Don't want to open all wounds on this topic, but this was first order of business in CC this term. It took a week of discussion, and one inconclusive vote till we could get a majority on this vote. Regardless of what happened before I, we realized that to remove the prestige from NNGO this far into the war, would do more harm them good. The English did, and still do have armies within one days march of Dumfries.

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War Criminals (Public/Galloway Inn) - In two votes decided to keep them in Galloway and kill-list them until there are no more English armies in Carlisle. Charges will be dropped on all soldiers except Helius and AISafe.

Pretty straight forward and it was a two part vote. In the first part we voted to kill list all English citizens " put all English Soldiers in Galloway on Kill-lists until there are no English Armies within one day of Dumfries". This has since been dropped, now that NNGO no longer has banners in Carlisle. The second part of the vote was about allowing English soldiers to leave via ships in Whithorn or Ayr, we voted to "keep the English in Galloway until the English Armies are gone from Carlisle". In addition we decided to drop all charges against English soldiers, except Helius and AISafe.

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Rebuilding Kirk (Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Passed 11 Aye, 0 Nay, 1 Did not Vote

The following aid package was given to Kirkcudbright on behalf of County Council:

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1. 400.00 tax credit to Kirkcudbright for the money AISafe stole
2. Help coordinate so that Blacksmiths/Bakers in town can get county work
3. Help buy stat-food for those who were injured and killed

As a sub-vote we also passed the following compensation for those who DTP'd in Dumfries:

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1. Raise the stone mine wage to 17.00
2. Let all soldiers that were lent swords/shield keep them
3. Hire max Marshals in town and start a rotation to make money

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Emergency Voting Procedures (Public) - Passed 8 Aye, 4 Nay, 0 Abstain

The following amendment was added to the emergency voting laws of Galloway:

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iv)Emergency Votes
-a) Emergency votes shall only be used for time sensitive issues which require immediate action; where a delay in voting could cause upset to the safety, security, or functioning of the county
-b) The Count or Lord Protector can call an emergency vote
-c) Emergency votes will last no longer than 24/48 hours or until a simple majority vote is received with either the Count of Lord Protector having voted as well.(i.e. 6Aye, 1 Nay/Abstain)
-d) The Count, Lord Protector, or Spokesperson will notify all members of Council to inform them of the Emergency Vote.

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Standardizing Reporting (Public) - Vote Passed 11 Aye, 1 Nay, 0 Abstain

This was an initiative to encourage more regular reporting from County Council members by writing into law that it was a requirement of their office. For each position a simple line was added in the lawbooks, like the following example:

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ii) The Sheriff will publicize a weekly report of the County statistics in the halls of government.

This simple sentence actually makes it a requirement that Council Members report at least once a week and this term councilors have been exceedingly good about submitting reports.

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[OOC]MSN use & CC (Private) - Discussion Tabled

This is a completely OOC topic, but it has been an issue with past CC's so the discussion was justified. There was concern that MSN use would keep those members of CC that didn't use it or were in a radically different timezone would be left out of the majority of discussions. In the end though we couldn't come up with an effective solution (you can't force people to not use something like MSN). We discussed each CC member taking an oath and/or every conversation be posted within the CC chambers, that's not realistic though and the mere mention of MSN is a forum violation so you couldn't even write up an official law or oath about it . . . sorry critters . The issue we saw with such things was that the forums are slow, especially when we were at war, we needed to have faster discussion and decisions to be made quicker then what formal discussions on the forum allow. In the end we couldn't come up with a good compromise, but I think this CC has been one of the best at not using MSN, I know personally people have started talking to me about ideas on there and I've said "go post it, then I'll worry about it". The discussion in the end was tabled, but it's definitely something I would ask next CC term to consider. [/OOC]

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Military Council (Private) - Discussion Tabled

This was an initiative to give every Duke/Duchess a standing military council, and would be able to make military decisions (also born out of the current war where being slow on military matters is a disadvantage). This body was set up to include:

The Present Duke/Duchess
The Present Captain
The Present Constable
Any Generals holding CC banners
Juliusoctavius
Dariangreen
Wolffe
Hypno

The last four were my personal choices as Duke, but they were changeable with each new Duke/Duchess that came into office. We wanted a body that could make military decisions no more then an hour after reset because it takes time to mail everyone that needs to defend, join an army, so on, before they take a job for the day. Since not all CC are around at reset, this military council would make decisions. In the end, it came down to the fear that a small group would control military operations (and fears of abusing that power) and that too many people were left out of the decision making process. The discussion was tabled as no clear consensus could be reached to take to vote.

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Back Taxes/Tax Issues (Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Passed 8 Aye, 2 Nay, 1 Abstain

County Council passed the following initiative regarding taxes, in light of all the turmoil of the war:

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1. There will be a county-wide tax break from June 1- July 15. Those that paid taxes during the time period of June 1- July 15 will have that money applied to future tax payments.

2. People from other towns in Galloway that are in Dumfries DTPing will not be counted towards a town's taxes owed

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Proxy Voting(Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Failed 3 Aye, 7 Nay, 1 Abstain

The Proxy Voting Initiative, which went to vote:

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Voting by proxy is the process of one councilor voting for them self and a second, should the second be unable to vote within the allotted time frame.

A councilor(Host) MUST Publicly inform council in the Private chambers whom s/he has designated to vote for them.
The Designee(Proxy) MUST Publicly acknowledge the added responsibility. This is permanent, unless the Host Publicly informed the Council otherwise.
During Voting, Proxy Votes are not counted until the poll is locked and closed. The Proxy Must state their own vote and the Vote of their Host Separately. They do not need to be the same vote.
Proxy Votes are considered Null and Void and recorded as not voted if :
Emergency vote is completed in less than 8 hours.
Standard vote is completed in less than one-and-a-half resets.

The Duke and Lord Protector cannot vote or be voted by Proxy. The Ducal and Lord Protector acknowledgment cannot be voted by Proxy.
No councilor can be required to assign a proxy. This is a voluntary method. No councilor may be proxy to more than one councilor.
The Host acknowledges that the Proxy has full authority to vote in his place, and acknowledges that the Proxy may not always vote in the way the Host would.

This failed for a variety of reasons. First it was feared that this might encourage councilors to be lazy and further hinder the activeness of sitting councilors. If you don't have the time to vote, you shouldn't be a councilor.

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Review of the Galloway Embassy (Public/Galloway Inn) - Discussion Tabled

In the course of reviewing the Embassy we found no problems with the charter as written. There was a vote of no-confidence called for in Chancellor Alanna_kyles. The vote failed to pass and according to public and private discussion the current Chancellor is fulfilling all duties to our expectations. We have helped draw more attention to the Galloway Embassy and made several calls for Ambassadors this term. I will post which treaties were adopted later in this report.

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Galloway Fleet/Valuations of Ships (Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Passed 10 Aye, 0 Nay, 0 Abstain

We decided to adopt a unified system of ship valuation so that all county owned ports in Galloway can sell a unified product. The valuations will be posted in the Economic Chambers and in the General Public Area of the Council Chambers. The valuations for buying ships from County Council is as follows:

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Barge

1150p if they just want to buy a boat (1150p boat)
1130p if they provide their own wood to be used at 4p
1100p if they provide their own sail to be used at 125p
1070p if they provide their own wood @4p and Sail @ 125p

Failed Hulk

3275p if they just want to buy a boat
3150p if they provide their own wood to be used at 4p
2775p if they provide their own mast prior to construction
2200p if they provide their own sail prior to construction
1700p if they provide their own mast and sail prior to construction
1550p if they provide all the materials prior to construction

With an optional 50p Discount for any option for paying in full in advance.

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Rewriting Voting Procedures (Public) - Vote Passed 9 Aye, 1 Nay, 0 Abstain

This was actually one of the bigger issues we dealt with this term. The original voting laws were very poorly written. Issues such as quorum for votes, the function of "abstain", and Duke deciding tie breakers. In the end after several small votes and countless revisions we overhauled the entire voting section and expanded it greatly. The adopted voting procudures are as follows:

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B. Voting in the County Council.

i) All votes will be held in the Private Forums
-a) Non-emergency votes will last a minimum of 3 days or until quorum is reached.
-b) All votes will be started by the Count/Countess or Lord/Lady Protector.
-c) Votes will be counted by a record vote of AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN. Votes that are ABSTAIN will count to the quorum but will not effect the AYE/NAY vote.
-d) The Count will not vote until the last day of the poll, in case the Count's vote is needed as a tiebreaker.
-d) A vote will be considered passed when a quorum is reached and the majority of votes is recorded for either AYE or NAY. If half or more of all votes cast are ABSTAIN, then the vote will be deemed inconclusive and returned to discussion.

ii)Emergency Votes
-a) Emergency votes shall only be used for time sensitive issues which require immediate action; where a delay in voting could cause upset to the safety, security, or functioning of the county
-b) The Count or Lord Protector can call an emergency vote
-c) Emergency votes will last no longer than 24/48 hours or until a simple majority vote is received with either the Count of Lord Protector having voted as well.(i.e. 6Aye, 1 Nay/Abstain)
-d) The Count, Lord Protector, or Spokesperson will notify all members of Council to inform them of the Emergency Vote.

iii) Quoroum
-a) Quorum is determined by half plus one of the amount of Councilors currently ALIVE in the Kingdom and serving on Council.
-b) If there are an ODD number of eligible votes at the start of the vote, a simple majority of the votes cast rules
-c) If there are an EVEN number of eligible votes at the start of the vote and the vote ends in a tie, the Count's vote is used as tiebreaker. The Count MAY NOT abstain.

iv) Reporting votes
- a) All votes are to be reported in Galloway Inn and include :
- The vote and result
- Councilor's Name
- Councilor's Vote

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Carlisle (Public/Galloway Inn) - Discussion Tabled

This issue came about when Carlisle had been annexed to Galloway. The discussion further picked up steam as there were talks that Cumberland might be one of the counties closed in England. Carlisle has a goldmine attached to it and it would be a nice alternative to the Drummore goldmine. It also is better situated (would give us a border town on the other side of Dumfries so our capital isn't at such high risk of attack) then Girvan. In the end it seemed that Cumberland would not be closed and the few citizens of Carlisle we contacted were very adamant against the idea and actually wouldn't even begin dialogue on such an idea. So in the end, the discussion was tabled.

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Mine Closures (Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Failed 1 Aye, 6 Nay, 4 Abstain

This was a proposed plan of closing mines on a rotating basis according to the program Twistedangel originally came up with. This was the proposal taken to vote:

Lance68har wrote:

I propose a three step plan.

Starting this coming Sunday we will close the Iron Mine and Drummore Goldmine every Monday for two weeks. We will cut down Stone Mine workers to 50 workers on Monday for two weeks.

After those two weeks we will start closing the Iron Mine and the Drummore Goldmine every Monday and Wednesday for two weeks. We will cud down the Stone mine workers to 50 workers on Monday and Wednesday for two weeks.

Finally we will close the Iron Mine and Drummore Goldmine every Monday, Wednesday and Friday indefinitely. We will cut down the Stone mine workers to 50 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday indefinitely.

(Can be amended if population thins in Dumfries)

This vote failed, along with the plan. The viable of closing the goldmine at all was questioned, despite terrible attendance it is still the main source of Galloway's revenue. Plus part of our earlier reimbursement package for those still defending in Dumfries was to have the stonemine open and paying a 17.00 wage, closing that would contradict earlier proposals. Once again it comes down to a trade off between ensuring our citizens have ample work and closing mines to lower the debt. In the end the cons outweighted the good in the program and it did not pass.

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Peace with England (Private) - Issue was turned over to the Galloway Embassy

This was a large issue that permeated most of the term. We actually were a day away from signing the following Non-Agression Pact. Just as I had sent it to HRH Ladyjennet, the next day NNGO and Fury disbanded their armies, making this Accord basically useless. I have since referred this issue to the Galloway Embassy for a more permanant peace treaty with England.

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Non-Aggression Accord between the Kingdom of England and the County of Galloway

Preamble

We, _________, Regent of England, and _________, Duke of Galloway, as the representatives of government for our respective territories are committed to a common vision of peaceful co-existence and non-aggression through the signing of this accord.

Article 1

With the signing of this Accord, we mutually agree that neither party shall commit aggressive actions towards the other as defined:

1) Neither party will act in a manner in which the intention is to destabilize or overthrow the lawful political or economic order of the other. Each party acknowledges and recognizes the sovereignty of the other and their right to self-governance without interference.

2) Neither party will knowingly participate in or sanction a course of action that will damage the other. For the purposes of this agreement, the three armies currently under NNGO control in Carlisle (Pimp Hand (NNGO I), NNGO III Kreigsgruppen, NNGO IV – Team Snooki) are excluded as they are not under the governance of Galloway.

3) In the event that a sanctioned force enters the partner's territory without authorization, the partner where the force originated has 24 hours to remove any sanctions and declare the force rogue. Failure to remove sanctions within 24 hours will be considered an act of aggression and nullify the contract.

4) According to the laws of the King of England, Long John Silver, and the Child King of Scotland, James V, prosecution of individuals in an army that do not command an army that enters the territory of the Accord partner is limited only to criminal acts. Prosecution will occur in the territory in which the acts occurred.

5) Each territory has the right to request passage for an armed force through the lands of the Accord partner. Armed forces must receive permission to enter prior to that force’s arrival and must respect the law codex of the territory they seek to enter. Each territory has the right deny requests for passage of an armed force through their territory and/or to request a detailed travel plan for the armed forces moving through their lands. It is considered an act of hostility to enter the Accord partner's territory without permission or to violate the travel plan.

Article II

1) Should disputes arise between the Accord partners of one kind or another, both parties mutually agree to make every attempt to settle these disputes or conflicts exclusively via friendly exchange or meeting, or, if necessary, through mutually agreed upon arbitration.

Article III

1) This Accord is binding upon both parties until canceled.

2) If a territory wishes to cancel this Accord, a mail from the Regent/Duke must be sent to the other territory’s representative as well as a formal declaration in the County Inn of Galloway/Regent’s Castle, as well as in the embassies of each territory. The accord will be considered canceled after 5 days.

3) A cancellation of this Accord should proceed as per the steps outlined in Article III, Section 2, otherwise, it may be construed as a hostile act.

4) Any aggressive acts towards the Accord partner territories by the other partner may lead to full retaliation.

5) Changes and additions to or cancellations of this Accord may be decided by mutual consent.


Signed by Our hands this __ day of ____, Anno Domini 1458


The Signatories:

HRH_______, Regent of England

His Grace, _______, Duke of Galloway

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War Laws (Carrigan's Law Revisions) (Public) - Discussion Tabled

This was a series of three law proposals by Carrigan. Proposed changes in green . . .

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C. Clan and Private Armies
i)All Clan or private armies must be sanctioned by the county council to operate inside the County.
ii)All commanders of sanctioned armies must follow the orders of the county Council or the Duke. Commanders failing to follow orders will be charged with Military Rebellion.
iii)No Sanctioned army will attack an army, town, county, or country of any town, county, or country that Galloway is not engaged in active hostilities with. Commanders of sanctioned armies that attack unauthorized targets will be charged with military rebellion.

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E. Traitorousness
i) Rebellion: An act of rebellion is defined as any action to attack the Town hall or the County Castle or the takeover of these institutions by force. A rebellion is a Felony
ii) Military Rebellion: An act of Military Rebellion is defined as: The failure of a military commander of any army representing the county of Galloway and under the command and control of the Duke/Duches or the County council to follow the lawful orders of the council or Duke/Duches, or attacking an Unauthorized target without orders. Military Rebellion is a Felony.
iii) Treason: An act of treason is defined as any attempt made by a citizen of Galloway against the institution of the County, or any divulging of political, economical or military information, with the intent to weaken the County of Galloway and its institutions as a result of loss of land, social stability, sovereignty, political or economical autonomy. Because of their rank, members of the County council expose themselves to high treason for an act of treason. Treason is a Felony.
iv)Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy: Is defined as providing by any means any kind of material to a military force that is hostel to the county. Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy is a Felony.

All three votes, Clan Armies, Rebellion, and Aid & Comfort failed in voting. The Clan Army section was deemed not the area of County Council to regulate. Also Clan armies are not as prevelent as they once were. Aid & Comfort couldn't adequately be defined or tracked for judidical purposes. Lastly, Rebellion, could not be worded in a way (after several rewordings) to get a majority of votes. In the end the discussions were tabled.

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Review of the Galloway University (Public/Galloway Inn) - Vote Passed 9 Aye, 0 Nay, 0 Abstain

In our review of the Galloway University we found the Rector, Laviticus to be doing a superb job of running the institution. We decided no official charter was needed at this time for the University. However we did pass the following amendment to the law regarding the Rector’s responsibilities:

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L. The Rector
i) The Rector is appointed by the Duke from a slate of 3 nominees put forward by the students of the University. The Rector derives his or her power over education matters from the Duke's authority.
ii) The Rector's power is the extension of the Duke's power. The Rector acts as the educational arm of the Duke.
iii) The Rector shall be responsible for the education of the Duke’s subjects, insuring the smooth running operations of the University; maintaining and updating education resource materials and maintaining academic neutrality. S/He has the right to select instructors and create class schedules. They shall insure that all Ways and Instructors have equal access to learning and employment. They shall make public the standards and expectations for employment. They shall post publicly the methodology by which classes and instructors are chosen. They have the right to remove instructors for cause.
iv) The Rector shall publicly report to the Duke on the 1st of each month, a formal State of The University report. This report will include a summary of the University's activities for the month.
v) The Rector can be removed for cause if they fail to insure that the education needs of the county are not met. They have the right to a public hearing the charges, the right to submit evidence in their defense, the right to call witnesses to defend their academic credibility.
vi) Candidates for Rector shall publish their Curriculum Vitae in the University Forum, along with a statement about why they want to be Rector and their goals for the University. The current Rector may submit themselves as a candidate to continue their duties. Use of their position to intimidate, bribe or other wise influence the selection process shall be grounds for removal. Students shall discuss and vote for their top three candidates for Rector. These names shall be submitted to the new duke no later than 12 days after the election of a new council.

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Adopting Standard Port Contracts for All Towns - Vote Passed 7 Aye, 2 Nay, 1 Abstain

Galloway County Council adopted the following standard contracts for all towns that want to build ports. These are now “ready-to-go” contracts that can give out at it’s leisure to all towns wishing to build or upgrade their ports. The contracts are as follows:

Level 2 Contract
[rp]This is a contract between the town of XXX and the County of Galloway.

The Town of XXX seeks to privately fund, finance, build, and maintain the County Port of XXX. This is valued at 4680 pounds for labor, 1500 pounds for stone, 200 pounds for wood, 1000 pounds for Iron. The final cost of the building the port of XXX is valued at 7380 pounds.

This is done under the agreement that the County of Galloway agrees to Pay XXX a Cash amount of 7500 pounds (the cost of labor and materials, plus a one time usury fee of 120 pounds) AFTER it is debt free with 10k cash available to pay the 7.5k cost of the port.

As the town may not have all the funds disposable, the town can request loan of funds or material for the completion of the port, not to exceed the amount or value of 5k. This will be paid off interest free, 1k per month after the completion of the port, no longer than 7 months. After 7 months, a 10% interest will be levied on the total valued loaned.

Until such a Time as the County is debt free, the Town of XXX will be granted autonomy to maintain the port under leadership of the Mayor. The Mayor will be appointed Chief Harbor Master, to be removed from this position only by a joint decision from the Duke and Lord Protector, or either of these and 6 supporting council members. Every 30 days, or IG Town Election, the elected Mayor is automatically re-appointed as Chief Harbour Master.

The Chief Harbour Master my appoint a Harbour master for the port via the MS and an Assistant Harbour Master. {To Clarify, the Chief Harbour Master is a title, and the Harbour Master is an appointed position.}

The Chief Harbour Master is responsible to notify the council of all ship movement within view of the port. The Chief Harbour Master holds autonomous authority to accept and deny ships into dock and repair, via the Harbour Master. The Duke or Lord Protector can Issues a Statement of Non-grata, barring a ship and or captain from admittance to the port or dry dock or redefining the otherwise accepted standard terms of admittance.

Signed,[/rp]

Level 3 Contract
[rp]This is a contract between the town of XXX and the County of Galloway.

The Town of XXX seeks to privately fund, finance, build, and maintain the County Port of XXX. This is valued at 20700 pounds for the labour, 2600 pounds for stone, 900 pounds for wood, 3750 pounds for Iron. The final cost of the building the port of XXX is valued at 27950 pounds.

This is done under the agreement that the County of Galloway agree's to Pay XXX a Cash amount of 30000 pounds (the cost of labor and materials, plus a one time usury fee of 2050 pounds) AFTER it is debt free with 50k cash available to pay the 30k cost of the port.

As the town may not have all the funds disposable, the town can request loan of funds or material for the completion of the port, not to exceed the amount or value of 20k. This will be paid off interest free, 2k per month after the completion of the port, no longer than 11 months. After 14 months, a 10% interest will be levied on the total valued loaned.

Until such a Time as the County is debt free, the Town of XXX will be granted autonomy to maintain the port under leadership of the Mayor. The Mayor will be appointed Chief Harbor Master, to be removed from this position only by a joint decision from the Duke and Lord Protector, or either of these and 6 supporting council members. Every 30 days, or IG Town Election, the elected Mayor is automatically re-appointed as Chief Harbour Master.

The Chief Harbour Master my appoint a Harbour master for the port via the MS and an Assistant Harbour Master. {To Clarify, the Chief Harbour Master is a title, and the Harbour Master is an appointed position.}

The Chief Harbour Master is responsible to notify the council of all ship movement within view of the port. The Chief Harbour Master holds autonomous authority to accept and deny ships into dock and repair, via the Harbour Master. The Duke or Lord Protector can Issues a Statement of Non-grata, barring a ship and or captain from admittance to the port or dry dock or redefining the otherwise accepted standard terms of admittance.

Signed,[/rp]

Level 4 Contract
[rp]This is a contract between the town of XXX and the County of Galloway.

The Town of XXX seeks to privately fund, finance, build, and maintain the County Port of XXX. This is valued at 36900 pounds for the labour, 6500 pounds for stone, 900 pounds for wood, 1875 pounds for Iron. The final cost of the building the port of XXX is valued at 46175 pounds.

This is done under the agreement that the County of Galloway agree's to Pay XXX a Cash amount of 50000 pounds (the cost of labor and materials, plus a one time usury fee of 3825 pounds) AFTER it is debt free with 100k cash available to pay the 50k cost of the port.

As the town may not have all the funds disposable, the town can request loan of funds or material for the completion of the port, not to exceed the amount or value of 35k. This will be paid off interest free, 4k per month after the completion of the port, no longer than 12 months. After 15 months, a 10% interest will be levied on the total valued loaned.

Until such a Time as the County is debt free, the Town of XXX will be granted autonomy to maintain the port under leadership of the Mayor. The Mayor will be appointed Chief Harbor Master, to be removed from this position only by a joint decision from the Duke and Lord Protector, or either of these and 6 supporting council members. Every 30 days, or IG Town Election, the elected Mayor is automatically re-appointed as Chief Harbour Master.

The Chief Harbour Master my appoint a Harbour master for the port via the MS and an Assistant Harbour Master. {To Clarify, the Chief Harbour Master is a title, and the Harbour Master is an appointed position.}

The Chief Harbour Master is responsible to notify the council of all ship movement within view of the port. The Chief Harbour Master holds autonomous authority to accept and deny ships into dock and repair, via the Harbour Master. The Duke or Lord Protector can Issues a Statement of Non-grata, barring a ship and or captain from admittance to the port or dry dock or redefining the otherwise accepted standard terms of admittance.

Signed,[/rp]

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Kirkcudbright Port Contract (Public) - Vote Passed 7 Aye, 2 Nay, 2 Abstain

Galloway County Council decided to grant the Town of Kirkcudbright the following port construction contract:

[rp]This is a contract between the Town of Kirkcudbright and the County of Galloway.

The Town of Kirkcudbright seeks to privately fund, finance, build, and maintain the County Port of Kirkcudbright. This is valued at 4680 pounds for labor, 1500 pounds for stone, 200 pounds for wood, 1000 pounds for Iron. The final cost of the building the port of XXX is valued at 7380 pounds.

This is done under the agreement that the County of Galloway agree's to Pay Kirkcudbright a Cash amount of 7500 pounds (the cost of labor and materials, plus a one time usury fee of 120 pounds) AFTER it is debt free with 10k cash available to pay the 7.5k cost of the port.

As the town may not have all the funds disposable, the town can request loan of funds or material for the completion of the port, not to exceed the amount or value of 5k. This will be paid off interest free, 1k per month after the completion of the port, no longer than 7 months. After 7 months, a 10% interest will be levied on the total valued loaned.

Until such a Time as the County is debt free, the Town of Kirkcudbright will be granted autonomy to maintain the port under leadership of the Mayor. The Mayor will be appointed Chief Harbor Master, to be removed from this position only by a joint decision from the Duke and Lord Protector, or either of these and 6 supporting council members. Every 30 days, or IG Town Election, the elected Mayor is automatically re-appointed as Chief Harbour Master.

The Chief Harbour Master my appoint a Harbour master for the port via the MS and an Assistant Harbour Master. {To Clarify, the Chief Harbour Master is a title, and the Harbour Master is an appointed position.}

The Chief Harbour Master is responsible to notify the council of all ship movement within view of the port. The Chief Harbour Master holds autonomous authority to accept and deny ships into dock and repair, via the Harbour Master. The Duke or Lord Protector can Issues a Statement of Non-grata, barring a ship and or captain from admittance to the port or dry dock or redefining the otherwise accepted standard terms of admittance.

Signed,

Lance Dunbar, Duke of Galloway



Klovn, Mayor of Kirkcudbright

[/rp]

End of Term Report for the Galloway Embassy

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Greetings Your Grace:

I have managed to get quite a bit done as you know. I am constantly cleaning and organizing the forums.

I had ordered seals for the Embassy from Kleophas Rose, Lord Lyon King of Arms. They are posted up in the Embassy.

We have entrenched ourselves with Holland, Brittany, - Duché du Lyonnais-Dauphiné, Duché de Guyenne, Comté d'Armagnac et de Comminges , Kingdom of Germany, and Duchy of Makedonia (Greece). A few Chancellors were on holidays for the summer.

I have managed to obtain more ambassadors for the Embassy although it is quite hard to get help when but a few answer my messages or look in the forums on a daily basis. Most do not keep me informed on what is going on with their assignments.
I am still posting in the Inn for more however, and I am messaging people I feel would make superb additions to the embassy.

Managed to order a subforum addition to our Embassy. It will be called the "Treaty Library".
In this way, the treaties we obtain can be better organized by Country and or Kingdom. It will be viewed as open to the public so that they may see and know what Treaties we have.

Opened a Tavern inside the Embassy called "Meet and Greet"so that in that way we could get more activity in the forums, and people could meet.

I obtained Treaties between the following Countries, Counties and or Kingdoms.

Treaty between Galloway and Coimbra
Galloway and Glasgow mutual recognition and non-aggression pact
Mutual Recognition Between Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Galloway County
Treaty between Serbia and Galloway
Non-agression pact Artois / County of Galloway, Scotland
Judicial Cooperation Accord Between Galloway and Artois

I still have much more in the works, and that will get done shortly.


Thank you and Kind Regards,

Lady Alanna_kyles
Chancellor of Galloway Embassy

End of Term Report for the Red Army of Galloway

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I've appointed Evan_t as barracks officer to the Red Army and he'll be setting up barracks. We'll start in Dumfries, and then he'll go on a recruitment trip across the County. Our goal is to get 3-4 people from each town who are willing and ready to join the army if called upon. 5 would be even better, but I don't want to aim too high.

The county owes a tremendous debt to the good people of Dumfries who have spent the last months defending almost constantly. It is not easy to live in a Capital, especially in these troubled times, and these people have truly risen to the occasion. I'd also like to acknowledge our handful of dedicated foreign defenders who have spent months away from home and put the needs of the County before their own.

We still need help, and if any citizens are willing to spend a few days (or longer) defending in Dumfries, it would be much appreciated.

Physax
Dumfries Guard Captain
Red Army General

Other Announcements

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Galloway County Council nominated Murial for the first ever round of noble titles handed out in Scotland. Lance Dunbar, Duke of Galloway, nominated Physax for nobility as well. Both these individuals should be well know to Galloway and deserve to be recognized for their political, social, and military services over the course of their life. Thank you both for the effort you have put into our county.

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Introducing the new Coat of Arms of Galloway:



This has deep symbolic meaning for the County of Galloway. The pink unicorn represents Galloway's love for drinking.

The shield depicts Badger fighting an evil cat with a trident. This represents the divine protections we get from our ever benevolent God Badger from all evils that may threaten us.

The shield is flanked by a pink unicorn, representing Galloway's love of alcohol in all forms, but mainly whisky. The elk, well it's just an elk, it doesn't mean anything. However the party hat he is wearing, represents the long tradition Galloway has of putting on hats to make us all look more interesting (it was actually supposed to be a wizard's hat, but we couldn't find any stars or moons).

Just kidding . . . if you couldn’t tell Galloway, need to have some fun though. Thanks for your continued support and making Galloway the best place in Scotland to live. As many of us who served this term as stepping out of the political arena, I think I speak on behalf of us all when I say thank you for giving us the opportunity

Lance Dunbar, Duke of Galloway