Keeper of the Breadbasket

Granary outside Hay in Mitwold.

Overview

This Imperial title was created by the Senate during the Autumn Equinox 381YE to oversee the function of the granaries and storehouses in Mitwold and Upwold that make up the Imperial Breadbasket. Prior to the creation of this title, decisions about the Breadbasket were made by the Marcher senators - now such decisions would be made by the Keeper instead.

The Senate voted to amend the position to be appointed by Tally of the Votes at the Spring Equinox 387YE, following a vote of the farm owners of Bregasland, Mitwold, and Upwold at the Winter Solstice 386YE. More information can be found on the Send for me wind of fortune.

Responsibilities

The Keeper is responsible for the great work known as the Imperial Breadbasket. The breadbasket on the whole requires little effort to maintain, being largely run by the civil service. If the structures that make it up were to be threatened in any way, however, it would be the responsibility of the Keeper to deal with those threats. Likewise, if any particular opportunity were to arise related to the Breadbasket, the Keeper would expect to be consulted as to how that opportunity might be resolved.

Benefits

The existence of the Breadbasket boosts the income of every farm in Bregasland, Mitwold, and Upwold. It provides an additional 36 rings to each farm in the territories, regardless of curses and other effects that impact their harvests.

The presence of this great work in the Empire also provides a "safety net" to the Imperial armies. If a nation of the Empire is unable to support their armies (because of a powerful curse or because they have lost a territory, for example), then the Keeper of the Breadbasket can opt to direct the bounty of the Breadbasket to support them. This natural decay of all its armies and navies is then halved. The silos can only support a single nation in this way - if a second nation were to have more armies than it could support, then the Keeper of the Breadbasket would need to choose which nation to assist. The grain stores do not allow an Imperial nation to build more armies than it can support.

Powers

Right of Address

The Keeper of the Breadbasket has the right to make a Senate address once per summit. This is intended to allow them to present important information for the senators consideration. To make an address, the Keeper must inform the Speaker for the Senate of their intention, so that the Speaker can add the address to the agenda for the next Senate session.

When the title was created, an attempt was made to require that the address be used whenever the Keeper sought to exercise their power to determine how the benefits of the Imperial Breadbasket may be applied, but this was deemed unconstitutional. It is not possible for the Senate to dictate how a power such as the right of address can be used.

Distribution of Imperial Bounty

The Imperial Breadbasket can be used to support a single Imperial nation whose armies are suffering from insufficient supply or a single Imperial territory that was suffering from hunger, famine or crop failure.

To use this ability, the Keeper must make an announcement in the Imperial Senate. If the Keeper announces that the Breadbasket is supporting a nation's armies, then the natural decay of all its armies and navies of that nation is halved. If the Keeper announces that the Breadbasket is supporting an Imperial territory, then the support may prompt additional effects, often resulting in an entry into the following seasons Winds of Fortune.

If either of these are employed, then the farm owners of the Marches would receive no additional income from the Breadbasket until it is resolved. Further, the silos can only support action in this way - if a second nation were to have more armies than it could support, or a territory were to suffer a famine, then the Keeper of the Breadbasket would need to choose which to assist. The grain stores do not allow an Imperial nation to build more armies than it can support.

No voting is possible by the Senate at this point, as the power has been delegated to the Keeper of the Breadbasket. The Synod may, however, choose to exercise its veto over the Keeper's decision.

Appointment

This title is appointed during the Winter Solstice by citizens of the Marches who control farm personal resources. The larger the farm an individual has, the more votes they can allocate in support to a candidate. The voting is handled by the civil servants in the Bourse.

Only a Marcher character may hold the title. As a title in the Bourse, they cannot be revoked by the Synod

Orson BogMyrtle, Keeper of the Breadbasket

Summit	Elected	Votes
Winter Solstice 387YE	Orson BogMyrtle	10 Votes
Winter Solstice 386YE	Orson BogMyrtle
Winter Solstice 385YE	Thatcher Grayson
Spring Equinox 385YE	Thaddeus
Winter Solstice 383YE	Lily Guildenstern
Winter Solstice 382YE	Lily Guildenstern
Winter Solstice 381YE	Rowan Merrick

Recent Elections

This title is currently held by Orson BogMyrtle; it will be reelected at Winter Solstice 388YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.

History

The three northern territories of the Marches - Bregasland, Mitwold, and Upwold - are dotted with public buildings referred to as a whole as the Imperial Breadbasket. These granaries, barns, warehouses, gain silos, and storage houses are maintained by the civil service, and overseen by the Keeper of the Breadbasket who makes any important decisions regarding their bounty. They exist to ensure that the farms of the Marches are prepared to meet any potentially disastrous setbacks such as poor harvests or wide-scale curses. They were completed just before the Spring Equinox 381YE. Any Marcher farm-owner can make use of their services, and at a reasonable price. The great work they represent was created as a result of the disasters that beset the nation in 379YE and 380YE.

The disastrous failure of the Autumn harvest in 379YE was followed by a particularly harsh winter during which the farmers of the Marches suffered significant losses in order to keep the Imperial armies marching. Then the Spring 380YE planting was hit with torrential rains and a vicious blight that devoured many of the seeds before they can be put in the ground. While the rest of the Empire was enjoying a burst of vitality and fertility, the farms of Bregasland, Upwold, and Mitwold were once again labouring under the yoke of a vicious magical curse that ruined the crops, sapped the life from the beasts in the fields, and spread sickness and hunger wherever it touched.

Next came the catastrophic news from the Mourn. Across the Marches morale was low, and tempers frayed. But surrendering in the face of hardship is not really in the Marcher psyche. Rather than turn on each other, the Marchers helped their neighbours - grumbling and complaining all the while, and making it clear their aid was a loan and not a gift.

The plan to construct the Imperial Breadbasket began in the markets of Meade and received immediate support from many of the market towns. The call went out for the construction of a great work, a network of granaries and storage barns, coupled with the creation and cultivation of stocks of seed to be made available to all for a modest price in the face of blight, harsh weather, or similar disasters. Meade has long since grown past the point where it can feed itself. It relies on a steady influx of grain, meat, milk, and cheese not just from Mitwold, but from across the Marches. Its prosperity relies on trade routes supported by well-fed and healthy merchants selling food and metal and wood produced by labourers who are not starving to death. The rest of the market towns are in a similar situation - and recognise a simple truth. When the farmers starve, everyone starves. The alders put their hands in their pockets - but not as a gift, or as charity, but as recognition of the fact the Marches - and the Empire - prosper when the farmers prosper. It was an investment for the future, as well as an effort to "darn the rip" between the folk of the market towns, and the rest of the Marches.

The project required the support of the Senate, and it was not cheap. In the end, even with the assistance of the market towns, building granaries and seed stores for Bregasland, Mitwold, and Upwold still required 100 wains of weirwood and 40 wains of white granite, plus labour costs of 35 Thrones. In the end the project was commissioned in Summer 380YE, and work completed shortly before the Spring Equinox 381YE.

The benefits to the farm owners of Bregasland was lost when Mathilda Fisher and her Jotun allies conquered Bregasland. The granaries and storage barns went towards supporting the Jotun armies until the territory was reclaimed and the barns restocked.

The Mournwold

The Mournwold Breadbasket

Commission Type: Great Work

Location: Mournwold

Cost: 15 white granite, 35 weirwood, and 150 crowns in labour

Time: 2 seasons

Effect: Grant every farm in the Mournwold an additional 36 rings each season Increases the Marcher ability to support armies by one, once Bregasland is back in Marcher hands

Availability: Until another great work increasing investment in farms is commissioned in the Mournwold

As of the Winter Solstice 387YE, the network of granaries and storehouses only covers Bregasland, Upwold, and Mitwold. Expanding the great work so that it includes the Mournwold is certainly possible. It would require a commission as for any other great work, and would require 35 wains of weirwood, 15 wains of white granite, 150 crowns of labour, and take six months to complete (assuming no other great works were built increasing investment in farms in the interim). When finished, it would grant every farm in the Mournwold an additional 36 rings each season. It would fall under the custodianship of the Keeper by default. If Bregasland, Mitwold, Mournwold, and Upwold were all in Marcher hands when it was completed, it would also increase the Marches ability to support armies by one.

A Stitch in Time

• These opportunities are available until the end of the Autumn Equinox 388YE
• Seven wains of white granite will be provided by Stockwater Monastery in exchange for 126 mana crystals
• Five wains of weirwood will be provided by Harry the Axe if the Marcher Assembly supports the Feni's claim to Alderly
• The alders of Wayford are holding ten wains of weirwood, ready for the expansion to be commissioned
• Three wains are being held by Stockwater Monastery ready for the expansion to be commissioned

Once it's agreed by the Senate, then the work can start. The thing's expensive, it'll need 35 wains of weirwood and 15 wains of white granite by all accounts - and at least 150 crowns in labour costs. There's nothing to be done about the fact that it's going to be expensive - "you don't put cheap seed in rich soil" as the saying goes... But there might be a way the Marchers could find to get the resources that are needed if everyone puts their hand in their pocket. Three wealthy citizens have come forward, all of whom are willing to do their bit if asked.

"Mana is money", Tom Draughtsman, is fond of saying. It's not exactly a common Marcher proverb, more a reference to the way that landskeepers can use mana to make the land more productive - and ultimately more profitable through the use of rituals like Blessing of New Spring. The monk is one of the leaders of Stockwater Monastery in Upwold. Besides tilling their own lands, the monastery earns good money every year overseeing a roaring trade in mana with the local yeofolk and landskeeper circles. The monks have been discreetly buying white granite for years now, intending to completely rebuild their increasingly threadbare monastery building. This however is a better cause by far Tom reckons, so the monastery is prepared to contribute all ten wains of white granite they've got to finish the Breadbasket. In return they'd like the folks at Anvil to provide them with 50 mana that they can earn the money back selling it at the seasonal fayres they hold. If one or more Marchers heads down to the monastery they can provide mana - and the monastery will contribute a wain for every eighteen mana crystals to the 'Basket, to a maximum of ten wains.

Money is like muck. Only any good if it's spread around.

Marcher Proverbs

Tom is not the only wealthy Marcher willing to dig deep. There's a group of alders from Wayford who are enthusiastic to do their bit. These hard-working merchants ran an import business shipping salt, cloves, and other spices from Faraden and the Delves. One of them, Anne Craig, has a tip for a cheap consignment of weirwood from a merchant in Sarcophan who is looking to be rid of it, no questions asked. It'll cost a pretty ring to ship it to the Marches, so it's too rich for her tastes, but if folks at Anvil can find 28 thrones, then that's ten weirwood that can go to the Breadbasket. Sadly it's an all or nothing deal - the Sarcophan merchants need to unload the lot in a hurry, but Anne's group will handle all the logistics.

A few years back, one of the Marcher armies attacked the Feni settlements in Alderly. They killed all those that fought back and the rest fled. As far as any honest folk are concerned, that was the end of the matter. In truth, many that got away ended up in Liathaven, but folks who know Alderly well say some went deeper in the woods. They put a lot of portentous emphasis on "deeper", like it should mean something to people who know. One of the Marchers who spends more time in the woods than is good for anyone is Harry the Axe. Harry is a broad-shouldered draughir woodcutter with a very poor reputation. Chopping trees down is hard work and poor pay - "there's precious few wealthy woodcutters in this world, and Harry the Axe ain't one of 'em" as locals quip. None-the-less Harry sells wood cut from Alderly, and he's wealthy enough, there's no denying either of those two things.

Liars and gossips sleep in the same bed.

Marcher Proverbs

Harry the Axe has said he'll provide five wains of fresh cut weirwood for the Breadbasket, but he wants what he wants for it. Namely a clear statement of principle with a greater majority from the Marcher Assembly saying "Alderly Woods belongs to the Feni and nobody should go in without their say-so". It's raising more than a few eyebrows in the Mourn, to put it mildly. The prevailing view in local taverns might politely be summed up as derisory contempt for Harry, the work he does, his ancestry (there are always muttered rumours that the Marchers of Alderly are closer to the Feni than to their neighbours), and his offer to "buy half the Mourn for five flaming weirwood".

Still... even damp wood burns in a hot fire, as the saying goes.

Participation
Any Marcher character can send the required materials to take advantage of these offers to the appropriate party by putting them in their pack after the event and then emailing plot@profounddecisions.co.uk to let them know to take the materials. In the unlikely event that there are more materials than required, we'll take a portion of the payment from each contributor and return the rest.

Further Reading

• Search high and low - 387YE Winter Solstice wind of fortune that laid out how the Breadbasket could be extended into Mournwold, and the construction of a cottage for the Keeper
• Send for me - 386YE Winter Solstice results of an appraisal that established how the title might support other nations

The Title in Play

The role does not provide additional information about events in the Empire, nor allow the player holding it to request special reports or downtime actions. These details are assumed to be below the abstraction layer. The title holder is encouraged to create their own stories about their activities within reasonable limits and to get involved in events appropriate to their title during the game, but they do not have any powers beyond those explicitly listed in the section on powers.

These details exist partly to provide context and character to the role - and partly to allow our writers to use the title as a plot hook. Plot that involves the position will be rare - but all the campaign positions in Empire have these details to create the potential for it to happen.