The Undertaking

[Content in brackets indicate out of character comments for game clarity.]

 

The following is an proposal by Cartographer Broken to the Four Cannon Council for the purposes of increasing the security and modernity of the frontier town of Four Cannon. This proposal is made in response to the lack of suitable housing for the citizens and non-citizen residents of the town. This proposal is for a great undertaking of many phases, which will result in suitable housing planned with the utmost forethought into the possibilities of later updates to infrastructure. This document is divided into multiple parts.

 

Phase 1: The Creation of a Labor Force

Phase 2: The Gathering of Supplies and Materials

Phase 3: The Catacombs

Phase 4: The Construction of the Network

Phase 5: The Construction of Housing Complexes

Phase 6: Updating Existing Buildings

 

It is my sincere hope that this document will spur discussion beneficial to the town's improvement, as all suggestions listed herein are just that, suggestions. It is my firm belief that with proper housing, access to clean running water and waste disposal, and a time of interdependency, Four Cannon will be able to advance not only from squalor into metropolis, but from division into cohesion. This should also improve the productivity of the residents of Four Cannon, so that we may expedite the process of gaining an export and increasing our town income. This is what our town needs: To band together for our common good, and put forth work that will stand the test of time.

 

Phase 1: The Creation of a Labor Force----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It is necessary for the success of the undertaking that all residents of Four Cannon territory be involved, citizen or not, in labors to make it reality. To this end, expeditions outside of the town are to be suspended until the undertaking is complete. [Don't worry, Phase 3 is a massive, all-player raid event.] Each resident that works eight hours a day towards the events of the current phase will be granted vouchers for three meals and two alcoholic drinks for the next day. The eight ours will be in total throughout the day, with breaks not counted. Those who did not work will not receive vouchers for the next day. As these vouchers are intended for temporary use during the undertaking only, it is my opinion that we utilize the system proposed by Pretty Penny of specially marked sticks for vouchers. She had discussed a system of marking that would be difficult to forge. As the voucher system is temporary, it will not matter in the long term if the sticks are forged. This grant of food and drink should be sufficient to entice those residents of Four Cannon who are not citizens to contribute their labor to the undertaking.

 

[I say this since there is obviously many thousands more people who have posted on /mlp/ than are currently posting on the thread or are in the Census or OC list. I'm referring to these as non-citizen residents. We can now assume that a large amount of the work is being done by these NPCs, while the Citizens are working their trades to contribute.]

 

Those who already work at Cherenkov Light's Inn, Bacon's Grease's Diner, True Strike's Pub or as a members the Guard are exempt from working in the undertaking, as their efforts support those working towards the undertaking. They will be granted meals and drinks as if they have worked a shift towards the undertaking. Those who are injured, ill, or otherwise incapacitated are also exempt. They will be granted their meals, but not the alcoholic drinks.

 

During each phase, a sufficient amount of non-citizens will be allotted to working the farmlands (under the supervision of that farm's owner) and gathering food. These foodstuffs will be distributed between the Inn, Diner, and Pub for preparation and distribution to workers. The remaining workers will work towards the current phase.

 

Phase 2: The Gathering of Supplies and Materials------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Phase 2 will be concerned with the gathering of materials for later phases. These materials are as follows:

 

The woods in the center of town shall be cleared out and taken to the sawmill for processing into planks, dowels, paper, and firewood. If this amount of wood is not sufficient for the other phases, then nearby forests should be cleared. The dowels will be used to make tools, railings and weapons.

 

Red Blast Valley is to be worked for the creation of stone blocks.

 

Sand from the northern riverbank is to be used in the creation of glass for windows.

 

Kiln-fired brick pipes are to be made one hoof in diameter.

 

Phase 3: The Catacombs--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It is agreed by all that the creatures living in the cave system beneath the town are dangerous to all residents of Four Cannon, and should be neutralized. It is also obvious that these caves are vital to Four Cannon for strategic and logistic purposes, and should be made ready for our purposes to these ends.

 

Phase 3 is a multi-squad effort to clear and map the cave system. Each squad will consist of one leader [The DM], a number of citizens [players], and an equal number of non-citizen residents [NPCs to serve as redshirts], and should contain at least one unicorn capable of reliable telekinesis. One member of each squad should be devoted to mapping the caves and marking resources where found. [If we go with this, then I'll build a map of the caves ahead of time for the DMs to use. From there, I'll add resources as the players find them in the adventures.] The squads will be equipped with spears and bags capable of being tied shut. During this expedition, all cockroaches are to be killed. Cockatrices are to have bags tied over their heads to prevent the use of their petrification ability so that they may be captured for later cultivation. If this proves infeasable, killing the cockatrice is allowed.

 

After the first expedition is complete, another will be commissioned to make sure that the caves are completely explored and cleared of dangers. During these expeditions, any residents not involved in the expeditions are expected to continue with resource gathering from Phase 2.

 

Phase 4: The Construction of the Network--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The first of three building projects will be a water purification plant on the northern bank of the river, just northeast of the graveyard. This shall include a large inlet of water that will break into two flows: one unfiltered and the other passed through a series of three filters made from cloth and ground up charcoal that has already been used in the forges.

 

With the caves cleared, portions of the cave are to be dug into, creating basements for the housing in later phases. The piping that was built is to be laid in the catacombs throughout the city limits, linking to the water purification plant. Filtered water will be sent either to houses directly or, if this proves infeasable, to reservoirs near clusters of houses. If the reservoir system is used, pumps will be built to draw the water out of the reservoir. Unfiltered water will be used to create a flow to remove waste to the sewage plant at the south end of town. It should be noted that the sewage treatment plant will be instructed to send all manure they receive to the farms for use as fertilizer. These two pipelines will be laid with extra room around them to allow for electrical and telecommunication lines to be laid when such things become available. [Probably in a few years.]

 

Phase 5: The Construction of Housing Complexes--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The second building project will be to construct housing complexes in the area of the town currently housing tents and lean-tos. There will be two classes of buildings involved in this phase: Class D and Class E.

 

Class D buildings are for the purposes of private business and residence. They will be constructed of stone (or brick) walls, with wood floors and roofs, and will be made in three floors. A ground floor will be made for the purposes of conducting business and entertaining guests. A second floor, on top of that, will be for residence. Underneath the ground floor, in the catacombs, each building will have a basement level for storage, network maintainance, and catacombs access. Class D buildings are built as large structures, subdivided for individual ownership.

 

Class E buildings are dormitories for the purposes of housing large numbers of residents. They will be constructed of stone (or brick) walls, and will be made in three floors. The ground and second floors will be a series of one bedroom, one bathroom apartments surrounding a common room and kitchen. Underneath the ground floor, in the catacombs, each building will have a basement level for storage, network maintenance, and catacombs access.

 

Those not involved in the construction of the housing complexes will be involved in harvesting natural resources for sale to other towns, to increase export.

 

Phase 6: Upgrading Existing Buildings-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The final building project will be to update all Class C buildings to a three-floor, stone-and-wood model. They will be of the same shape they had been, but a residential apartment would be put on top, and a basement below. A this point, all those who own a home and a shop separately will be asked to move either their home to their shop or vice-versa. This will increase livable area and available commercial area. This phase of the undertaking will abandon the "food voucher" system and payment will begin in bits.

 

After this point, all Class #, A, B, and F buildings will be updated one at a time by public collection (# and A) or their owner's cost (B and F).