Some opinions from the NPCs:
GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION:
Gadar Siegal, after some light investigations into the Kochikaze administrative structure, came to the conclusion that government reorganization in Kochikaze isn't going to be trimming down or adjusting the structure as much as patching UP the administration. The Kochikaze government is extremely simple, a bare skeleton in comparison to the bureaucratic structure utilized by the Imperium. Furthermore, they're especially lacking in specialists - accountants, economists, lawyers, public project managers, etc. Basically, Gadar finds the government-population interaction in Kochikaze obsolete, to the point of being equivalent to that of pre-modern ages. Villages and towns often still rely upon their elders, tax collection is disorganized with few if any supervisory checks, public works is handled by civilians pooling resources together with the local administrator and hiring some professional, etc.
Gadar suggests that the first thing which must be done is to gather the specialists the the government so sorely lacks, whether it be from the Imperium or be from the local populace. Obviously, some publicizing is required and some incentives need to be given.
[ Actually, you're pretty sure Gadar's comments were getting to the point of being too harsh & blunt, if not outright insulting, towards Kochikaze ].
[ Dave/Drew: Kasai Kochikaze is somewhat annoyed at this. He seems to see absolutely no problem with their current form of government and finds the Imperial version slightly... overcomplicated. Although he seems to be keeping any opinions to himself and agreeing with the plan ]
Balint Erico offers that he might be able to pull some specialists from the Church of Misalin, but they'd be operating as church officials in an administrative positions, and obviously their required condition is that a new Church of Misalin branch gets established with resource support from the government.
TESTING LOCAL OFFICIALS
Kasai Kochikaze thinks this shouldn't be an issue seeing as there's already a shortage in human resources. He also suggests that rather than some sort of 'test' using Imperial standards, how about assigning the officials several government projects and see how they can utilize their methods in getting the job done.
Gadar Siegal sends a private message to Gabriel and Sigmund that there might be more problems here than one would think. Matter of fact ALL Kochikaze administrators probably need to be brought up to date on just how a government should be run this day and age. Their habits and beliefs are simply TOO ancient.
ACTIVE SERVICE MILITARY
No one has any problems with the proposal of accepting volunteers and disarming the rest.
Gadar Siegal brings up the case that when the Imperials first took control of Norinth, they mostly abandoned the Norinthners' traditional armaments (seeing as they were indeed obsolete) and re-supplied them with Imperial weaponry, as well as took over two months to reform their structure and teach them use of the new weapons and tactical doctrines. Much more time was spent after the war, but as everyone knows they were needed on the front asap. Gadar suggests utilizing a similar case here on Chroma. This would also solve the problem of what to do with all that Incarnum-powered military equipment. With Imperial replacements available, the Imperials would be able to scrap the old stuff and free any slaves trapped within.
Kasai Kochikaze does note that while he may be fine with this concept, he can't say the soldiers and commanders will necessarily agree. After all, they're used to their equipment. Furthermore, the signed treaty forbid the Imperium to scrap their armament stockpile or their warships. That of course, means you can't make them useless by taking out their Incarnum batteries. (obviously, we have a problem here...)
SLAVERY
No one seems to have any problems with freeing the slaves and providing money for purchasing Imperial machinery as replacements.
Gadar Siegal does note that this means the Imperium should set up a new commission to take care of the subsidizing, especially since this will be a problem for every Chromian territory taken. No doubt there will be plenty who try to claim their "equivalent replacement" will cost far more than it does. This commission will likely require a number of experienced accountants, businessmen, and engineers from both Chroma and the Imperium, and once again, we need ways of drawing their attention and willingness.
And speaking of education, the Kochikaze education system is pretty behind too.
On the matter of military recruitment, Gadar believes that option should be given to slaves who have SOME military experience of sorts (although he admits that must be extremely rare). Otherwise their ability to fight as soldiers, whether in discipline, organization, or technique, would be so low they have no way of operating with proper Imperial military units. In short, they're more likely to be a drag than be of help.
Balint Erico suggests the offering of the following to all freed slaves:
---1. All will be offered citizenship with the Imperium and exemption from personal income taxes for a period of no less than 5 years (Gadar thinks that exemption is going too far)
---2. New large scale 'refugee' camp of sorts need to be constructed to offer the newly freed slaves free food. The freed slaves will be offered to live in these camps and receive an accelerated education program which will bring them up to the Imperials' ten years mandatory public education. They details of the accelerated program should be decided upon by the Department of Education.
---3. Alternatively, freed slaves who do not wish for education, or believe their existing education is enough, should be given a maximum of six months' of normal government-provided unemployment insurance (as if they had previously been employed in the Imperium), until they do find employment of their own. This needs to be cleared with the Department of Labor.
AGRICULTURE UPGRADES
[ Capabilities of agricultural & industrial equipment is always out there and available... manufacturers need to sell their goods after all ]
Balint Erico informs that after a brief glance at Kochikaze's agricultural equipment, they're nearly the same as the equipment being utilized in the Imperial territory of Shadowshift (formerly west Fens). Although he does admit what the orcs are using aren't exactly the most up-to-date equipment the Imperials have, they're simply willing to accept a much lower standard of living. The problem is that the people of Kochikaze might not be willing to put up with a reduction of earnings, but offering them too much might provoke backlash from within the Imperium when people believe they're treating newly conquered territories better than existing ones.
Somewhat surprisingly, the goblinoids of Terrince currently have the hold on the best agricultural equipment, which is mostly magitech. Their equipment is very reliable, highly efficient, and requires little to no fuel/maintenance. However, they're also rather expensive. If that's what the farmers of Kochikaze demands, we might have some problems coughing up the gold required.
Gadar Siegal believes that based on this information, it would be a fair idea to offer Ivan's suggestion of subsidizing 50% of all agricultural equipment purchase costs, although 4 to 6 months is enough for the window period. This would allow them to upgrade themselves to something better than the lowest level of Imperial tech, but if they aim for the best then they have to pay extra gold from their own pocket. However, no doubt the Kochikaze farmers won't see this as "Fair", because they'll think the Imperials should subsidize ALL their costs.Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:58 pm
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