Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

The first ten days or so, I had to fetch Tiberius to make sure he arrived at the tide pools in time to properly work.  After that though, I was surprised to see that he began going to the tide pools of his own accord, and seemed to be getting along well with the fishergoblins while he worked.  In the meantime, I was hauling stone to build the jetty, and using pulverize on some of the fields.  Some of the float vine had begun regrowing in the area around the jetty, so I spent some time harvesting that as well.

There is definitely a surplus of stone in the other valley where the new artificial tide pool area is being slowly dug out.  I helped the construction teams with a problem that they had which I had solved years ago.  The artificial tide pool they're excavating has started to fill with water slowly as they dig deeper and cover a wider area.  They had been using goblins with buckets to clear the water out, but I had Karsh make a long screw pump using copper and steel that they can use to pump the water out.  The pump is overly long right now and has to be supported, but eventually it will reach all the way to the bottom of the excavation area.

Unfortunately, Tiberius has been only doing one harvesting at the tide pools a day, which means that it has run into winter, so I'm actually going to be gone when he finishes his punishment.  I've gathered a handful of individuals to come with me to the other side of the island to handle trade.  I'm bringing along Elora to handle the payment we have to send to the elves, along with a handful of goblins to help haul things.  We might end up staying there for a while, depending on when the elves and dwarf trader arrive, though they usually show up pretty early in winter.

The elves were the first ship to arrive, twelve days into winter.  We'd only been on this side of the island for three days at that point.  I was glad that I'd brought Elora along, so I didn't actually need to deal with the elves myself.  Ultimately, we brought out literal tons of paper crates which they promptly loaded onto their ship before leaving.  They didn't even end up staying the night.  I wasn't sure if Elora would be staying or not, but it seems like she is staying.  I'm not too keen on the fact that she seems to have received a bunch of different written documents which I can't read.  I got a peek at some of them, but it's all in a language I don't recognize.

While we've been over here, I've continued cleaning the beach, this time with the help of a handful of goblins.  Things have almost returned to their pre-war state, which is nice.  When I have mana I've been using it to begin building a new inn building, larger than the other inns.  We've been staying in the fort, and sharing it with the salvage crew.  There is enough sleeping space, but I imagine everyone would prefer the extra privacy of an inn space.

The dwarven trader arrived eight days after the elves.  First, we negotiated for a handful more bargas to be brought next year.  I had previously wanted to be done with trading bargas, but we culled some of the herd before the war, and two of the original males haven't been very lively after having been trapped underground for almost a month during the war.  They got a little fresh air each day at that time, but regardless, the experience seems to have traumatized them.  We also traded for more waterproofing materials, as we used quite a bit making our salvage ship.  I also traded for a handful of goods that the Rathland refugees and the dwarves asked for.

We ended up loading up the merchant's ship to capacity with gypsum in exchange.  The merchant and his crew ended up also staying in the fort, which made the place pretty packed.  We discussed a few different matters while he was here.  He asked about our odd ship, and I explained how we were recovering materials from all the sunken ships from the war.  Given how the ship was designed, he thought it was pretty convenient for loading and unloading in the natural bay.  When they load and unload currently here, it involves loading a rowboat with one or two crates, rowing it out to the boat, and using ropes and pulleys to bring the goods onto the ship.

Given that we were only able to load about half our gypsum onto his ship before they were at capacity, he strongly encouraged that we start considering building a proper harbor for ships.  Not many merchants are willing to load ships like they have been.  Most merchants are willing to pay a fee to use a harbor equipped with proper loading and docking facilities, and won't actively go to places without a dock.  Though we'd also need to have steady supplies of repeated goods year after year to properly attract most merchants.  Most merchants prefer following a set trade path every year, rather than trading for random odds and ends.

He also gave us an update on the conditions going on in Rathland, something Elora 'wasn't in a position to discuss'.  Well, I say in Rathland, but the country seems to have completely dissolved into six different nations.  Four of which are still fighting for control of each other, and two of which have bowed out of the war, and have made peace with the others.  This has caused an upset of existing trade practices across the various nations bordering the inland sea, and there is a lot of unease about how everything on the human continent is going to shake out.

Outside of Rathland, there are a lot of different rumors going around about our country.  The general consensus doesn't seem to be animosity though.  Things like, "Well, if the elves and dwarves both think they're all right, then it's probably fine.".  Though there does seem to be an undercurrent of fear based on the fact we seem to have decimated Rathland to the point of non-existence, even if the official story is that most of the damage was done by leviathans and Rathland's own hubris.  I suspect this undercurrent is part of the reason Elora didn't want to discuss the situation with us.  Though I suspect that she's learned so much about the situation with Rathland's civil war that she's concerned about letting extra information leak is the primary reason.

After spending the evening discussing with the merchant, they set out in the morning.  The rest of the group headed back to the city, but I've decided to stay for a week or two to finish building the inn.  I don't like the idea of leaving it partially completed and exposed to the elements for an extended period of time.

After another twelve days of work, I finished the inn building, and told the salvage crew they could stay in it while they work.  When I got back to town, Tiberius had finished his punishment work in the tide pools, so I went to find him.  Ultimately, all the previous fish blood and organs had rotted, and had been cleaned up in the lab, though he wasn't there.  When I heard that he was working with some fishergoblins again to catch more of the electric fish, I got a little nervous.

Thankfully, I found him on the extended jetty with the goblin and hobgoblin he worked with before.  Thankfully, when I talked to them, it seemed that he had agreed to help them with work in the tide pool, and when they were free, they worked with him catching fish here, and they kept all the fish that weren't the electric fish. 

Upon seeing a much more constructive relationship formed between Tiberius and the goblins, I thought that perhaps the 'punishment' Zaka assigned was more effective than I had anticipated.  Zaka might be more effective as a leader than I had thought, and is probably why the country operates as smoothly as it does.

Considering how smoothly everything was going now with Tiberius, I felt much more comfortable with the idea of leaving him to his own devices over time, though I still wanted to help him with his current research.  I told him that when he needed help making anything from stone or metal to reach out to me in the city.  I'll be spending the next couple of weeks using pulverize on the fields around the city, so it should be easy enough for him to find me on any given day.