I think we should consider offering the following to separatists:
- Any Separatist who delivers 10 pearls to our walls will receive a single ration for every 10 pearls delivered.
- Any colonist who delivers the severed head of a separatist elder will receive immunity from the king's legal system, and be given 10 rations of food for their family.

@Hellenic Riot- Actually, if you had paid attention when we first arrived we were assured by the king's advisor that 20 RG could hold out against 1,000 colonists+ We have 19 RG now, and can arm our loyalists should we find it necessary. So your above statement is inaccurate beyond belief.

Yes, and when they just refuse to work because we've murdered their families? Shall we get the royal guard to find pearls for us, too?

"Captain of the Guard:
An initial inspection gives the impression there is little to worry about in this town. The colonists are not hostile and they have primitive weapons. None appear to be trained soldiers and even in their greater numbers are no match for the Royal Guard. The empty Barrack appears to have held some hired soldiers for protection of the Governor; the Royal Guard would have remained even after his death. If the Council approves, the barrack will be suitable to house the Guard so they can fulfill their duties. A dispatchment can also be sent on a more thorough investigation of the town and surrounding area." - Page 25. That was when the ratio was 20 to 1,000. Just saying our guard can handle the separatists.

@HR- The loyalists have pledged loyalty. the separatists aren't working for us now anyway. So I am confused what you mean?

They're still related to the separatists. I don't think they want us brutally murdering all their countrymen.

I never said we should murder anyone. I just think that there is a balance between doing nothing and fighting a war of attrition (which we will win but will hurt us over the long term) and a direct military offensive that kills all the seperatists. I think maher has a good thought in assassinating their leadership. I think that coupled with the offers I suggested, and the burning of the eviction and burning of their buildings will serve us well. The only people who will die in this situation are those who attack our guards when they go to burn the buildings, the separatist elders, and those who choose starvation over our crown.

My suggestion even gives a way for us to deliver small amounts of rations to the separatists in a way that will earn us pearls.

earlier I even suggested having clear R.O.E for our guards that would restrict them to defensive aggression even when they move out to burn the separatist buildings. In other words our guards would only be cleared to kill if the separatist attempts to attack them.

I think the loyalists will be targets of violence by the separatists for their perceived disloyalty. I think they would welcome the security that a strike on the separatists would bring.

I volunteer personally to lead any attacks on separatists. I'll put my fate in the gm's hands. Someone has to do something more than just try another bribe.

I don't understand why we can't stall this conversation until we hear back from the Loyal Elders. They are a part of our governing body and they are the representation of our loyal workers. We need their input before we make any sort of decision. Continue jousting back and forth if you like, but regardless of what they say, they ought to be making the final call, not us, because if we go against their wishes, they might start to go against us again too. We can't risk an uprising from the inside.

Maher, you are way too comfortable. I'm sorry, but our lives are at stake. We are not perfectly defended, and while CB is right that the guard can in theory handle what we have against us, we have no reason not to bide our time and cover all of our bases. We are yet to cover any base other than creating a fortress. We haven't even considered how taking loyalists and putting them in uniform would affect our resource output, which, might I remind you, is the thing we care about the most here because it's the thing the King cares about the most. We are yet to hear from the Loyal Elders, we are yet to determine whether or not we can attempt weapon seizures before putting our Royal Guardsmens' lives on the line, and in general, we are yet to hear any sort of compromise from either end of the spectrum.

Long story short - we should be deciding things that we can decide independently during this time. We should decide what to get from the ship, how to handle our workforce, and what kind of information we would like to relay back to the King on the trade ship returning shortly.

"I would rather we simply use what we have in surplus already. Obviously, that's not wheat or fruit." Au contraire! The only surplus we shall have is in tomatoes. Give each separatist family a lone tomato (less than we are giving the loyalists) as the relief package.
"With the gold we have, we need to buy plenty of cloth to keep our promise to the loyalists there. I suggest we purchase 10-15 bolts of fine cloth, which should plenty to supply the loyalist population. I also suggest we purchase a reasonable amount of Salted Beef, as it's very cheap (1 gold per 1000) and would give us a nice stockpile of Meat for emergencies. A 40 gold investment there would be ideal." I'll look back to see how much the cloth costs first, but I am in definite agreement about the beef. I'll also look into the tobacco thing, HR. Also, I thought the 10 rifles we had were in conjunction with how the Royal Guard were already armed. Can I get clarification?
"This council's attempts to play nice have utterly failed. If you have a question about that, go smell the dead bodies that came from the uprising a few days ago." I'd just like to point out that this situation has been a result of hardball policies (first the mothers, then the ale in place of gold, then the rewarding the most loyal, then the starving) that refused to give any ground to the colonists.
"We can't let the loyalists lose faith, Councillor Maher. Showing we keep our word will not only reinforce their loyalty, but also prove to the separatists that we are honest people. And if they see the loyalists wearing nice new cloth, they'll be more tempted to join us, too." Nailed it. Also, I'd prefer not too many separatists die. I want them to pledge fealty. That would make my job easier because of the surpluses thing.

Something I also suggest we do, so we can plan for the long-term, is have all wood production focus on clearing a pathway to the mountains. Eventually we will want stone and iron, and the mountain is where we shall get those.

On the matter of the traders, plus whether or not I should now be able to vote as was floated previously:

http://goo.gl/forms/oTiXErkwD4

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L9-vQeCktSATCh-XpkiSUWmQr9Rlg_qq9zbVPSQJ61E/edit#gid=1837497407

Loyal Elders: Councilors, we have not fought a war, as you would consider them. We have had mostly peace before you arrived. We agree that we can not sit by while our friends are slaughtered, but we too need to consider the dire circumstances that led to the uprising. Perhaps we can give the Separatists one last chance to pledge fealty in exchange for clemency. Also, now that we are producing fruit, we hope the council will honor the promises made when we first joined.

Captain of the Guard: Councilors, my men are ready to seize property from the Separatists as you command. The Guard already have all the arms they need, but rifles could be used for training a militia.

Magistrate: Councilor Baz, is it true you wish the prisoner to stand trial for crimes he did not commit?

Tasks:
Have the Mason build a Guardhouse at the docks
Have the Mason build a Guardhouse by the woods
Have the Mason build a small school
Have the Missionary/Loyal Elders coordinate at funeral for fallen Loyalists
Meet the King's Quota of 1000 Pearls
Sell 25 Pearls to Merchant
Have Missionary begin preaching the Faith
Give one tomato to every Loyalist
Buy 10 bolts of fine cloth
Buy 40,000 Salted beef
Buy 9 rifles
Hire the Physician
Hire the Carpenter
Have Councilor Byron return to the Kingdom on the trading ship

Policies
Allow Loyal Elders to handle punishments including prison of up to 1 year (ENACTED)
Make it illegal for colonists not loyal to the King to approach buildings marked with a banner (ENACTED)
Lower the age of the workforce to 12 (ENACTED)

Tasks:
Have the Mason build a Guardhouse at the docks
Have the Mason build a Guardhouse by the woods
Have the Mason build a small school
Have the Missionary/Loyal Elders coordinate at funeral for fallen Loyalists
Meet the King's Quota of 1000 Pearls
Sell 25 Pearls to Merchant
Have Missionary begin preaching the Faith
Give one tomato to every Loyalist
Buy 10 bolts of fine cloth
Buy 40,000 Salted beef
Buy 9 rifles
Hire the Physician
Hire the Carpenter
Have Councilor Byron return to the Kingdom on the trading ship

Policies
Have Wood workers clear path to Mountain
Allow Loyal Elders to handle punishments including prison of up to 1 year (ENACTED)
Make it illegal for colonists not loyal to the King to approach buildings marked with a banner (ENACTED)
Lower the age of the workforce to 12 (ENACTED)

Mason: Councilors, If we wish to have an easy pathway to the mountain, the wood workers should clear a path as well as fell trees. This will likely decrease their production but will give us a clear route for hauling back resources.

Oh, are the rifles and swords in addition to the ones that the Royal Guard already carry?

Captain of the Guard: Yes, those are for the Council to use as they choose.

Refusal to swear fealty to the king of this realm is treason. The man's participation in illegal acts (the treason and ongoing uprising) led to 54 deaths. He is guilty of felony murder. (At least in any quasi-English legal system)

Does the captain believe the decapitation stroke might succeed?

*strike

@Loyal Elders: It is my understanding that the separatists have enough to survive, but not enough to survive healthily. My counterpart and the Secretary of Resources has informed me that we can afford to give the separatist families a tomato apiece as part of a minor relief package. Along with this package, I would like to extend them, as you suggest, a final offer to pledge loyalty to the King in return for renewed access to all of the goods and services that we have to offer on this part of the island. Would you all care to assist me in this? I would appreciate it if your signatures could be stamped alongside mine in the hopes that they realize that we are in fact working with those loyal to us to ensure that the indigenous culture and people both flourish alongside us. I would also like to ask how you feel about property seizures, particularly weapons, keeping in mind that separatists that refuse this final offer are more than likely going to be subjected to either arrest or open combat, depending on their own actions.

@Magistrate/Mason: With regards to the path up the mountain, it is in our best economic interest that we remove as much dead vegetation as possible, leaving the live vegetation as it is. Environmental conservation is simply sound economic practice so that we might have those resources available to us when needed instead of simply wasting them now, and hopefully a healthy, lush forest will grow more quickly and efficiently than one marred by extensive incursion on our parts.

The Captain of the Guard asks to have Coucnilor Baz outline his plan in more detail.

Loyal Elders: We are happy to assist in brokering peace. One tomato, though, is unlikely to do much to amend their recent losses.

I sign this final clemency offer. I am still open to ambushing the separatist elders if the opportunity arises, but if we can bring this to a peaceful solution, I approve.

I believe we should proceed with the show trial to show the separatists that we mean business if they don't submit.

Farmer: Councilor bo, the forest appears plenty dense to support a clear-cut path to the mountain

Sure. The plan I proposed was that we invite the separatist elders to a "neutral site" outside of the camp where we would offer to offer sacrifices to their gods as an act of atonement and reconciliation with the separatists. However, when we arrive at this site we would have 10+ royal guards present to ambush the elders and kill/capture them.

The big issues seem to be (1) do they know a good neutral site or native religious site that would be conducive to the ambush, (2) do we know how much protection the elders have at meetings like this ordinarily, (3) could the RG be able to execute an operation like that?

Captain of the Guard: Councilor Baz, if you could arrange for such a meeting, my men would be ready.