Wait, but what's the life expectancy? Does this mean the Elders would be willing to raise the maximum age to join the workforce?

To leave the workforce, rather.

Magistrate: We do not have a detailed enough census to answer that, but it is known that the Elderly do not live long.

magistrate we are asking questions and the elders are not answering even though we requested they be here for a meeting. I suggest they answer our questions to better help us find compromise. they do wish to cooperate and work with us as equals correct?

Also, when I gave the specific policies out that reinvigorated the workforce, I asked if anyone thought any of what I was assigning was too much work for anyone, and no one spoke up.

@CB ... we are going to have to reach out to them. This apology is a good step. Please be patient with them.

@Bo- I am patient to an extent the problem is we requested they come meet with us they agreed and now aren't talking. I want to work with them but I also want them to work with us. The reason we are in this mess is that they made us wait a month to talk to them. If they came and spoke last month this would be a nonexistent problem.... where the hell is my smallpox... lol

The reason we are in this mess is because we were shortsighted and didn't take the time to make a fair arrangement with them before enacting the policy. I put part of the blame on myself for voting yes. I shouldn't have. Regardless, we need to approach them cordially, patiently, and sincerely, and it seems to me that you aren't in the right mind to do so right now. As such, I recommend you step away from that plan and let those of us that are ready and willing to be each of those three things take care of it so that it goes as smoothly as possible. At the very least, then you can turn the blame back around on me if we manage to offend them again.

The Elders are a problem, but there are more than one way to solve it. Magistrate, from the adult male workforce, would any of them be considered "leaders", or candidates for leadership?

The Elders can hold the workforce over our head... but if we divide the workforce, the leverage the Elders have disappears. I propose we invite some of the adult males, of the stronger variety here. Offer them additional food, and royal seals, and make them our ambassadors. Abolish the council of the Elders. Sideline them, and have our loyal new lieutenants establish control of the colony.

The elderly cannot do anything by themselves. Any "uprising" would require the adult males. If we buy them to our side, diminish the importance of the elders, then they are irrelevant.

Hold on, we shouldn't abolish them. Not outright. But by creating a proxy group that we have more control over, we could undermine them. We could actually turn them towards it, as they are constantly looking out for the younger generation. If the younger generation itself was making decisions, surely they wouldn't object.

Good idea. Take the power away from them, but make it something they cannot argue against. Yes. I like it.

That is a great idea. We should still issue the apology and suck up to them as much as we can and hopefully it'll take them a little longer to realize what's going on.

@HR- we should be wary of starting civil conflict in the colony. but as a precaution can we order a vial of smallpox and vaccines. we could vaccinate our loyalists and then let the smallpox kill off the rebellious colonists.

I like the plan, but it makes me curious about how loyal the people are to the Elders.

I am pro biological warfare; in the most extreme of cases.

@CB ... http://media0.giphy.com/media/GgSlRWjU3NjSU/giphy.gif

I think TrP brings up a good point. if the people are super loyal to the elders they will simply see through our attempt and attempt to overthrow us..... all the more reason to invest in smallpox.

You're just trolling me, aren't you?

@bo- there is a smile at the end of that no...

It's Taylor Lautner. His smile is gold.

CB: Biological warfare goes way beyond anything. We have the Royal Guard (which can withstand any uprising of the people) AND additional weapons. And making the authority of the Elders moot would solve our biggest problems. The real question is: What authority do the Elders really currently hold?

Pretty sure there's nothing we can offer them that will let them happily watch their family and friends die for disobeying us. We're not going to use biological warfare. We represent the King and Civilization!

I'm sure their loyalty can be bought, TrPrado. The carrot of good food, and the stick of military force. The Captain of the Guard should be present when we meet with the adults, along with one or two other guards. No need for spoken threats, just a little intimidation, whilst also showing the riches that await. We have bolts of cloth, and we have ale. These would make suitable bribes.

Alright, I suppose that's true. As part of our apology, is anyone willing to go with any bit of my 530 Gold Coin Plan?

Halve that number. They clearly have an interest in gold, so let's make it an amount that we can afford to increase if we need to. 530 is too much to increase.

We should first see what price we must pay for the adults. Talk to the adults first, make clear we are willing to apologise and be flexible, and ask their suggestions on how to go about it once we have their loyalty.

I am tired so please excuse everything I say after this point *

Lets kill them all. every single one of them, lets just massacre these heathens and introduce the civilization that our king so graciously bestowed upon us when we were raised back home. WE need to repopulate this pagan colony with true believers in the crown, the his faith. Remember we are in a time where morality was different than that of the 21st or 20th century. The king would, being historically accurate, be completely unopposed to biological warfare; it is the missionary who would oppose and I say we kill him too. Lets take the easy way out and shape this colony in our image....Alle begrüßen den König! Für das Vaterland!

Bo: My general idea was pay only once. 530 would be all of what we pay.

CB: This is pretty much the main reason you aren't HC.