Dear Holden
I am glad to report that the 'Hammer' handguns you sent my marksmen last month work splendidly! The ability to reload prone and from trench works without exposing yourself is only a few of the benefits i can see why you praise this weapon with this in my hands I can see the whole of Tilea coming into my grasp! I used the first batch in my victorious attack on Tranito at Vittoria Viccia they struck down their opposing handgunner's beyond the range they could reply at! In fact they struck down the gunners manning the cannon battery supporting their army as well as many of the officers sitting on horses behind them as well!!
I am willing to allow a ten percent reduction in the transit fee through the tunnel if you can expedite another shipment along with the patterns for the ammunition and handguns themselves?
The hated Skaven continue to confound myself and my advisors there have not shown organised behaviour for over half a year now. There continue to be raids on the 'warehouses' for the product but raids for food and other materials appeared to have dwindled? The most curious incident regarding their evil kind recently is the number of corpses appearing on what must be the shortest route to the stores of the product from the nearest entrance to their foul lairs.
I can only conclude that your plan must be working they seem obsessed with this drug of yours above all else!
I have begun to export this product to Estalia as you have paid me to do and set up similar drops and warehouse in some of the main trading ports there.
The improvements to the sewer system have progressed to the point where if you walk down the main street of my fair city you no longer smell the reek of human waste! In fact the expertise my engineers have amassed is bringing in a fair amount of money as they sell their services to the other cities!
The sewage treatment plant continues working well and i am sponsoring another facility to treat the waste produced by the people flooding into my New city constructed on the drained land outside the old city. In fact the manufactories are producing more profit for the city's coffers than the tax on Salt!!
The naval architects you sent along with the shipment of Hammers have proved most interesting and are causing a few heated words in the shipbuilder's guildhalls i am told by my spies!! Still the suggestions they have put forward in terms of armament alone have intrigued me enough to match the investment you have offered in the shipyards here immediately!! I hope this finds you well
Your loyal brother Grand Duke Borgio
Dear Grand Duke
I am glad that your troops like the new guns and they are just one of the designs i am willing to share with in return for better prices on raw materials and access to your markets!
I would caution you that military conquests are transitory and I urge you to consider my concept of a Tilean federation rather than domination? A united state can resist the pressures of these times better than small polities I feel!
Please let me know if the assistance with producing the Skaven drug i provided has sorted out the production issues you mentioned in the letter before last? I hope that this drug will disrupt their society to such a degree as to make them unable to disrupt our own!!
I am glad to hear that the Sewers in your fair city are better performing their function now! I hope that the Canals smell better than i remember than on my last visit at least!!
I hope the new city you are constructing will help your cities rise to dominance and the growth of order in your homeland overall! At least in the terms that you employ the poor to make the tools to kill your fellow men! I digress in my preaching my friend!
The new machine tools you requested are on the way to you as i write and should enable you to start production of the cartridges. Your alchemists should be able to manage the primer formula but if they run into problems let me know and i can send assistance if required.
Letters to and from President Borgio 'The Besieger' of the Tilean Federation of States to Engineer Holden spring-summer 2501
My Dear Engineer Holden
I am glad to say I am home at least for the present, enough to write you a long letter regarding our mutual aims and interests as always for our eyes only, yes? The school of Architecture you suggested that I found is now in full operation as far the building is concerned anyway. There are many difficulties taking master tradesmen, removing the apprentice system and sending them to the school room or workshop even if the schools are the domains of the respective guilds. The other educational ideas you and your associates have suggested with examination taking the place of the existing patronage networks for burghers and the urban nobles, is a step too far for now old friend.
The dockyards are putting the finishing touches to the Lustira fleet, only waiting for the logistical difficulties of trained crews, weapons and provisions to be solved. The arrangements for the other elements of the fleet are well advanced and the details are being dealt with by the respective clerks at this point. I have high hopes for its successful conclusion, though with the sea you never know what the result might be until the ships sail safely back into their home port!
I know that you have received reports as well as my letters regarding the negotiations leading to the formation of the Tilean Federation of States (TFS) but I do have a few questions and requests for advice that I don't want to include in the regular letters or put on the semaphore network. To recap the initial member states consist of my own 'principality of Miragliano'
The 'Principality of Trantio' was the first to join under the auspices of their prince Mario Colombosi descended from the legendary Marco Colombo. The thing that sold Him on the deal was the transferring of several thousand Hammer's and 30,000 rounds of ammunition to his control. That my army was armed with many more, along Cannons whose range and power are such that his city could not resist was another. Trantio also has a very poor state of relations with Pavona at present, though that can of course change.
The 'constitution' was formulated with the help of the foremost minds that I could gather and of course you remember the experts in law and governance that you either sent to me or suggested as the right kind of man from your own personal travels and correspondence.
We the rulers of the Tilean Federation of States in order to protect our citizens have established a more perfect union than mere commonality of language and culture. This is to establish domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our people
- All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States of Tilea, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
- The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every fourth Year by the People of the several States, the people being defined on a state by state basis.
- No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States of Tilea, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
- Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every 10,000 'people' as defined by the laws of the individual states.
- The Senate of the United States of Tilea shall be composed of ten Senators from each State, chosen by the states according to each states own law for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
- The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments of the President for life. The President is to be elected by a simple majority of the senate and the House of Representatives combined. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation under the gaze of the goddess Myrmidia affirmed by secret ballot their preference.
- When the President of the United States of Tilea is tried for incompetence, being a traitor to the state or madness the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
- Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States of Tilea: There shall then be held another election using the preceding rules. The Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law on a state by state basis.
- All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
- Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States of Tilea; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated
- The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States of Tilea
- To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
- To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
There are of course many more provisions that took what seemed an age to be agreed and are as always with us Tileans subject to revision and alteration.
The 'principality of Tobaro' joined under the terms that I described above, so the senate was increased to thirty. Of course the people chose the patriots that let my forces into their city, after all we Tileans are a practical people. The Punishment of those who had sponsored piracy against me and my people was of course my priority but appearances must be maintained! The land route to the Estalians was secured at least for now, though the foes of all right thinking beings always try to disrupt things. The rank and file of the surviving pirates were scum, most of them were tilean scum however and worth using up at least. I set them to clearing the blasted Greenskins from the southern Isles of the Sirens and along with some of my battle wizards the Sirens themselves.
'the Republic of Remas' was defeated in battle of course and following the formation of my State their new 'senators' chose to join the UST after a disputatious election. The elites of course retained power as in all the other newly 'democratic states' Of course there were many possibilities in Remas not least in better communication with our ethnic brethren in the south for economic and military expansion.
As insurance several second sons have 'volunteered' for the second Lustira fleet along many of the disposed craftsmen, farmers and burghers that caused all the trouble in the first place. The terms of the peace treaty said that Remas had to pay for half the cost of the trackway. Under the terms of accession that I am sure you know of, all infrastructures leading from state to state is maintained and expanded at the cost of the states common budget derived from customs duties and exercise incomes.
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I have sent emissaries to all the other princedoms seeking their joining with the UST but as of the writing of this latter I have heard nothing in return. If they joined my nations strength might be sufficient to resist all that is dark in this world today! As ever I hear tales in the tavern and from courtiers of more chaos beasts in the forests, more bandits raiding small farms and settlements. I pray every day that this course of 'unification' is the right one, if not I do not know what will befall my people.
There has also been a most unusual discovery my friend that I think you should be the first one to tell, My gardener is most assiduous in making sure that my grounds are kept pristine and ordered from the deprivations of nature. There was during the usual wet autumn that we suffer from here a large infestation of fungus all over the gardens coming originally from the cellar of the old boathouse facing onto the canal which is now used for a dumping ground.
This Fungus was accompanied as well with a plague of miniature squigs! Of no threat by themselves they have been postulated by scholars as a precursor of their larger kin. So he asked my wizards council while they were tending to their herb and ingredient garden if they had a spell or a chemical suggestion of what to kill it with and the squigs? They provided a poison fungus bomb, coming in a form of what looked like a small rotund firework. You light the blue touch paper then retreat a long way and when it explodes it produces a noxious fog that kills the fungus and the accursed creatures! They had taken to eating from the bins and had slaughtering several chicken from my kitchens coups. After this was so successful the Wizards looked into this and sent their conclusions further up the chain as it were. Have you heard anything regarding this curious solution to a vermin problem?
Your friend
President Borgio
Superior President!
I am most pleased by your sudden elevation from merchant prince to head of a powerful state! This UST that you and your pet scholars are formulating is interesting and beyond anything that could be considered in my own homeland beset with evil foes, external and internal threats to good order and tranquility. That said I agree that this united front is the way to go for you Tileans as the threats that you have thought of will only become larger and joined by friends as the final battles against the dark come upon us!
On a serious note I have got some interest from the Dawi clans in investing in the trackway to Remas along with other projects If the first Lustria fleet succeeds and turns a profit they also want to buy a share in the second! This will defray a major part of your costs so I have introduced your factors in place here to the right Dwarfs and I hope to hear from them soon. As if the assigns are favorable my own organization and close friends will of course invest further funds in the other projects that we have discussed in the past in the UST.
I have heard and seen intelligence from various sources that the southern Tilean states are not pleased with your attempt at hegemony and are raising armies against you! I have sent for more information but I thought it prudent to inform you immediately of these scraps so that you can remedy a response to them as soon as possible. I have several regiments of Marines that are in the final stages of training, they are an experiment in training and equipment and I will send them to you for evaluation and experience before they are tested in the cauldron of the north. I will write more another day as I am pressed for time at present but I look forward to hearing more from you as it always makes me think which is a treasure beyond compare.
From Engineer Holden
The naval architects received training at Barack Var as well as at the imperial shipyards so they should have a few tricks your guild has not seen before i wager! The investment is merely a way of spreading the risk in this dangerous world we live in my friend! I hope to hear from you soon
Your loyal brother Engineer Holden
Letters between Grand Duke Borgio the besieger of Tilea and Engineer Holden of Greypeak dated winter 2500
Dear Engineer Holden
I am sorry for the lack of personal correspondence recently, I know that the various ministers have been in contact regarding ongoing projects but affairs have taken me away from my desk and into the field and the dockyards I am afraid!
I know you decry the use of force between humans but some people just ask for it. Those fools in Remas elected a bunch of hot headed young men from the losing side in terms of the new ways at least, saner voices were drowned out by the mob.
Our new manufactories are putting many guildsmen in smaller towns out of business and disordering their tiny worlds all over Tilea. These dispossessed mostly end up in the nearest largest city in this case Remas where the same problems of economic dislocation meant that there was no work for them there either which only makes the issue worse politically.
They started by funding a fleet of pirates from the Isles of the Sirens to raid our shipping, this campaign carried on for several months, consisting of ambush and raids before our scouts pinned down a large enough concentration of these pirate scum. Our fleet sallied to deal with this threat once and for all; the new artillery was decisive by the way! This alas was only a ploy to draw our fleet out of port so they could launch a raid on the new city itself! Their dishonorable conduct knows no bounds!!
Their fleet contained many warships which engaged with an artillery duel with our fortifications which led to many sunken hulks in our harbor but little damage to our great forts built on the new pattern. But they were only guarding a fleet of transports made up of a large part of their merchant fleet carrying a sizable mercenary army. This army disgorged onto the undefended portions of the docks and the seashore forming up, assaulting various small garrisons, government offices along with the usual looting, killing, raping and burning. I know you would have already heard of this event but this letter is to ask you for some advice in regards to some of the results coming from it.
The advice is regarding, how to remove the hulks that our superior guns caused in the harbor? Traditional means such as pearl divers with water proofed charges, have so far failed so I hope you have some new idea?
The assault itself was repulsed from the dock forts with great ease, when the shore defense guns let loose with grape and shell. The fire swept pike and musket men into a meaty rain of body parts along with imbedding various bits of broken metal into the next wave of troops and so on until the force was spent and the troops dead, injured or fleeing. One particular oddity was found after the battle one of the mercenary officers had been hit by a cannon ball below the waist and a charge of grape above at the same time leaving his legs standing upright below the knees the middle carried away by the solid shot while the upper torso was shredded apart from the head which flew up and lodged on the sign of the local inn known as the princes head.
This fire did cause some more damage to the docks but they were due for removal as they were a pest hole of the highest order, luckily the new docks under construction were spared meaning that upon their completion there would be no more need to rebuild the old!
Various fragments of four mercenary regiments managed to seize by storm one tower on the walls of the new city but were not able to reinforce due to the level of casualties sustained in the assault. They surrendered with honor and I took them into service due to their bravery and skill. Three quarters of their comrades were not so lucky that day either dying or being maimed beyond repair.
Overall I was very impressed with the performance of the Hammer and the new revolver design which was a factor in the street fighting that followed their failed assault as we rooted the foe out from the houses and warehouses in the aftermath of the fighting. We also seized a number of their ships and I intended after refitting to use them in the expedition to the new world.
In revenge to this insult I have seized by amphibious assault Remas and Tabaro, the second was the trickiest due to unique structure of the city but elements inside let our forces in. They were displeased with the decline in their fortunes and the rise of the neighboring Estalians under my influence and had heard of your confederation idea and wanted in.
Remas is more troublesome by a large factor and instead of occupation I decided on just replacing their leadership and ransoming back their husbands and sons. Those of them that did not elect to join the great expedition to Lustria and southern Naggaroth of course returned to their fair city after fair payment.
The track way to the Irrana Mountains steel complex is well on the way to completion and the tracks from Irrana to the city are made from rolled steel and creosote treated sleepers hewn from the surrounding wild woodlands. The first Tilean made steam wagons pull the wagons now instead of the horses used previously this is a great step forward and will greatly improve the speed of construction of the trackway itself along with many other things.
As part of the peace negotiations the Remas government has to fund their half of a new road and track leading from Trantio to Remas further spreading the power of the state. This will greatly aid me when they next rise up against my authority in the transporting of my troops no longer dependant of the whims of wave and wind!
The new substance for release to the foul ratmen has been a mixed success the brewing of the drug itself is an order of magnitude harder than the last but has stimulated even more the 'chemical industry' that many of the merchant houses in my fair city are engaged in now, though mostly in the new city thank the gods at least for it does stink mightily. The substance has been liberated in quantity by the scum as per plan and has had no visible sign of effect as yet though time will tell in this case I feel.
I hope to hear from you soon regarding my questions, I hope that this missive finds you well
Your friend Borgio
Dear Borgio
Think nothing of the delay, time is the most precious of resources of which there is never enough of! I heard of the foolish invasion by Remas and considering the provocation I think your response is fair overall. The formation of even a forcible federation is good news and if you can increase your membership by talking more all the better to help you against the dark! I urge you to increase the links between your cities and spread the new ideas widely!
To that end I am sending a educational expedition to your fair federation along with the experts in underwater demolitions that I am sending to take care of your wreck problem. They bring new knowledge and equipment that will allow your men to remove any obstacles to your maritime trade that remain.
Separately to this party my representative and his party for the planned fleet of exploration will be arriving in your fair city soon so please show them all courtesy, until the ships depart.
I am glad that your transport network is growing and improving beyond the projected rate we talked of previously, however I would caution you that the design of your wagons that you sent me is lacking in several safety features that will hold you back in the long term! I will enclose the required changes in this missive.
I am glad the new substance is stretching your chemical industry as I am sending several plans/formulas for the production of artificial nutrients for your wizards to look at, please let me know if you have any problems! The Educational experts will also help with recording the effects of this new substance on the Ratmen
I hope to hear from you soon your friend
Engineer Holden