Missionary: I must plead with the council yet again and remind them that we are in a foreign land of peaceful people! Surely you do not intend to let these people die?

Also, 530 plan would probably mean they had a better chance of accepting our counteroffer (and ale).
HR: I was the one thinking long-term. They had no quarrel with us until now. The 530 plan was not "meeting their outrageous demands." It was a counteroffer. See "counter-" in there? The wanted (continuously) 1 gold for every pearl. We couldn't afford that, and we can't afford your plan either. And now, thanks to you, we sure as hell aren't reaching our pearl quota. Oh and "and have them name their price in cloth and ale" their price is GOLD. Considering the conditions now, the best way to begin easing our way out of it is to provide only those loyal to the King with food and wood. And we need to make it illegal for those not working for the King to approach any building marked with a Royal Banner. It's an extreme measure, but we're in an extreme instance.

KC, the granary is marked with a Royal Banner. It would be better if we simply declared it ours.

Oh, and +1 to CB's last comment.

A palisade will do fine, these people aren't armed. Extend it around the barracks, the town hall and the granary.

@CB Their established leadership wasn't respecting the authority of the King. Do we bend the King's authority, or do we change the leadership? The latter sounds correct to me. We can vaccinate the loyal townies now though, that is a good idea. We needed to find out who was loyal first.

Offering to repair and upgrade their huts would be a smart idea, let's extend that to ask them what improvements they want made to their town and offer to construct what they need. Another carrot they cannot provide, but we should do it publicly so if they reject us they lose face.

Prado, we CAN'T let them get gold. It will completely undermine our semi-feudal system.

And yes, we could declare it ours :) Along with the wheel barrow and the wheat fields and docks while we are at it :) But that must be done slowly.

If they get gold, they can bypass us entirely. The ship turns up, they go to it, they buy what they want, we have nothing. We must keep ALL gold for ourselves or our loyal advisors, not the villagers.

HR, I am assuming these carrots we are only offering to the loyalists? And separatists who join the loyalists?

Magistrate, how did meat and fruit consumption go up? We don't even have fruit.

"If they get gold, they can bypass us entirely." NO THEY CAN'T!!! You don't get it!! They are sent by the King!! They will only trade with US!!

We have the loyalists already. We offer carrots to the elders, and sticks as well. Extending the palisade to around the granary will give us full control of their food supply. Royal guard patrols and the unspoken threat of starvation, versus new buildings and a safe food supply? A public choice for them. We split the separatists even further.

Trading ships are not sent by the King. The King doesn't own every merchant in the country. The trading ships are merchants. Merchants want gold. They see gold, they take gold. If the natives can out-pay us, what do the merchants want us for?

They are sent to collect the pearls. By the King.

Mason: I will need 3 more workers to complete the Palisade in 1 month.

Magistrate: Councilor Prado, the new consumption represents the Council's offer of increased rations to those loyal to the King. These may be decreased, if you wish.

Tasks
Assign Barrow to Pearl Harvesting
Recall the LT and have him defend
Offer Loyal colonists a position as Advisor
Give Loyal Colonists 5 bolts of Cloth and increased rations
Have the Mason build a Palisade around the Town Center

Policies
Add new mothers (~80) to workforce and have the Elders watch over infants (REPEALED)
Lower the age of the workforce to 12 (ENACTED)

Correct, but they are traders as well, no?

Magistrate: Councilor Prado, I have never known a Merchant who would turn his back on Gold.

Magistrate, can the barrow be used to increase pearl production?

Proposed policy: Make it illegal for those not loyal to the King to approach buildings and areas marked with Royal Banners.
I don't like having to propose that, but we're being pushed over the edge.

Magistrate: Yes, Councilor HR, although not as much as a wheeled barrow. I have already scheduled to have the Barrow assigned to Pearl Harvesting.

Oh, well too bad the colonists wouldn't be able to approach the docks now, huh? Looks like they can't trade. And you all thought the Royal Banners obsession was a joke to be taken lightly. It was planning ahead.

Tasks
Assign Barrow to Pearl Harvesting
Recall the LT and have him defend
Offer Loyal colonists a position as Advisor
Give Loyal Colonists 5 bolts of Cloth and increased rations
Have the Mason build a Palisade around the Town Center

Policies
Make it illegal for colonists not loyal to the King to approach buildings marked with a banner (PROPOSED)
Add new mothers (~80) to workforce and have the Elders watch over infants (REPEALED)
Lower the age of the workforce to 12 (ENACTED)

Assign workers to the palisade.

Prado, I like that, but it may be too far too fast. I think we can't *expressly* threaten the separatists. Instead, we have to initiate sanctions to burden them to the breaking point, but so that they blame the Elders, not us. Ideally, this could end in the Elders alone and friendless and us executing them as an example. Without the Elders, the villagers have no one to turn to for leadership. But that can only be done after we have won over 90% of the population or so, and after the loyalists agree to something like that.

Excellent. Our wheat stockpile is looking very good, we can afford to take 3 workers from that to build the palisade.

Magistrate: From where should I assign the 3 workers needed for construction?

Tasks
Assign Barrow to Pearl Harvesting
Recall the LT and have him defend
Offer Loyal colonists a position as Advisor
Give Loyal Colonists 5 bolts of Cloth and increased rations
Have the Mason build a Palisade around the Town Center
Assign 3 Wheat Farmers to Construction

Policies
Make it illegal for colonists not loyal to the King to approach buildings marked with a banner (PROPOSED)
Add new mothers (~80) to workforce and have the Elders watch over infants (REPEALED)
Lower the age of the workforce to 12 (ENACTED)

@Councillor Prado - we do not need an express law that will offend them. The palisade will keep them away from the Granary.

And if we don't let them near the Dock, they clearly won't be dumb enough to want gold. They aren't that stupid.

KC: We can't do anything fast enough, our HC has made that impossible. We'll have negative meat after this month. And an even more negative fruit.

Now you care about offending them?

I don't care about offending the elders, I care about offending the adults. As KC says, we have to isolate the elders. That means getting more and more adults onto our side.