Tree of Aeons

Year 136

The demon king was still late. This was unusual, and we hear of great battles in the Eastern Continent. Even though there is supposedly an information embargo, there are still leaks. Great, incredible battles of archers and demon-drakes. Of battles in cliff-areas where warriors could ‘reduce’ some of the demon-drakes’ airborne superiority. 

Of great skill and classes. There’s a class of [Drakeslayer-Archers] and [Drakehunters] that emerged from these battles. I would like to get my hands on some of those classes, but I suspect it’ll be a matter of time.

The world thanked their lucky stars that the demons are still confined in the Eastern Continent, despite being able to fly, and the rifts remained only in that continent. I wonder what's keeping them there. From the news, it certainly did not seem like the defenders were able to stop them from reaching the sea. Perhaps there are other factors.

So, we focused on consolidating power, strengthening the Aeonic priesthood across the Freshlands, deploying the young nobles on little adventures.

They were pretty average as a whole, but the little outdoor adventure contributed a few levels to their [lord] class. It’s good progress for a few months’ outdoors, and they helped to stabilise these new territories. I’d also get to get a good sense of the type of rulers and managers these nobles would become. Whether they were kind, ruthless, rational or emotional.

In the same vein, although practical experience is indeed important, I wasn’t about to tolerate the low levels of the Treetiary College’s teachers and lecturers. I had ensured all of them had training of their own, in the form of monthly doses of [dream academy]. I hoped to improve their levels by a bit, putting them in the Level 40 to Level 50 range for at least a single class. They would be teaching young ones who are around level 10 or so when they start off, but because these are noble-classes, the ‘power’ of a level 10 is actually more like a level 15 to 20. This is especially pronounced with those of noble-blood. [Prince] and [Princesses], usually already have some secret hereditary skills, and their class itself is strong as it’s base.

In a contest of wills, it’s usually a matchup of the one’s strongest levels and classes, not the cumulative total levels and classes.  

If the trainers and tutors are too low-leveled in any one class, they won’t be able to suppress or control the tutors. Ideally, I would want someone like Jura as the headmaster. His [warlord] class is a noble-equivalent and as such, nobles don’t get an advantage against him. 

So I focused on training the tutors and I also had taken a liking to one of the tutors. Thordrock, a bearded dwarven man who’s in his late middle ages, a little plump and prosperous. He seemed every bit the old headmaster, and had the cranky, steely disposition to boot. He used to be a [merchant], then he got too weary for all the travelling his class required, so he found this task of educating the next generation interesting. As a merchant, he had been to a lot of places, and fought a lot of bandits and thieves. 

 

Thordrock was a level 38 [mining merchant], level 18 [blacksmith] and level 20 [axe warrior]. In every sense of the word, the scattered levels meant he was close to capping out as a person, since Level 80 to Level 85 seemed to be the usual cap for normal mortals. 

For now, there was no single ‘headmaster’ of the entire Treetiary College, and it is run as if the entire teaching staff is a ‘council’. 

Still, the problem is, once an individual hits a level cap, I can’t really push his level higher with [dream academy]. Still, not entirely useless. If I could somehow trigger or force a class merger, then only the combined class would be able to stand toe to toe with the nobility-classes.

“What do you think of taking the lead?” I asked Thordrock one day. At that point they just returned from the students’ expedition from the new territories. 

“Of?”

“The entire Treetiary College?”

“Well, yes. Finally! Someone needs to be in charge of this messed up school!” He said. “First, we need some booze in the school.”

“Some of them are underage.”

“Well those underage ones have to just suck it.” Thordrock laughed. “Any good self respecting noble who can’t handle a drink’s gonna be in trouble anyway. I lost count of the number of times nobles’ got their drinks spiked.”

Oh. That... was too-much-info. 

“All of these young’un need to learn how to drink, how to handle a drink, and how to handle stuff in their drink. Like me, I have [spiked drink-resistance]. At the very least, they need to have [poison-detection]!”

“Ah.”

Thordrock laughed, then he asked again. “Are you serious, Aeon?” 

“What do you think this school should be?”

“Other than exporting your politics?” He asked.

“Yes. Tell me what do you think this school should be?” I didn’t want to share my ideals, of course. I had a certain vision for it, but the locals mostly saw it as a way I was going to strengthen the Freshlands. 

“Ultimately... unity.” Thordrock said, as he rubbed his beard. “Unity of the noble-class, however limited and fickle that’s worth. I saw this as a step to truly build a continental trade system, but in the past 1 year I’ve served as a tutor of these nobles, it is also a place for social bonds to be built among the noble class, which would foster more trade and industry.”

“Where do you see me in this picture?”

Thordrock paused and he couldn’t answer it. But I could read his mind. ‘What am I supposed to say? Do I praise Aeon? Or do I state the truth that he’s seen as a benevolent tyrant? Or...’

“I would appreciate the truth, Thordrock. I have no need for fickle praises. They do little for me.”

“I... don’t know. A school founded by an immortal semi-divine being that’s earmarked as a heretical existence? Just thinking about it makes me need a mug, so I rarely do think about it. But if this school wants to exist, it better damn well train some good, capable, competent nobles.”

“Define a competent noble. What is a good graduate student? What do you think a student who graduates from this school should be able to do?” In a way, this was an interview whether he was suited for it. 

Thordrock paused again. “One that can hold his beer, makes a good deal, can set up a working, functioning town, and is able to defend itself from its’ enemies.”

I paused. That certainly fit the defensive noble. “No part of values or principles?”

“The hell with that.” Thordrock laughed. “The things I’ve done to get a deal...”

Ah. He has loose morals. I wonder whether I wanted to create little Machievellians? 

Thordrock continued. “We all want to live, ayte? Lookit me. I paid bribes to not get killed. I paid bribes to run away from hot zones. I paid adventurers to die so that I may live. Y’know. Principles ain’t gonna cut it, not when there’s a monster in front of me. I bit, I begged, I knelt where I needed to.”

There was a part he didn’t say. ‘And right now, you’re the biggest powerhouse on the continent. If not you, then who?’ 

I paused. Hmmm. He clearly has swaying loyalties. Should I still use him, then? Or someone else? 

There’s this entire Freshlands, home to so many people, surely I can find someone who has the experience to lead a school. Or do I have to make one myself?

So, I had to look a little harder. Maybe someone who isn’t high profile, but is loyal. Quiet and unassuming, but gets the job done. Ah damn, thinking about it, I’ve fallen for the old trick of looking at the most visible candidates, instead of looking at it objectively. There must be someone who’s quiet but I didn’t notice because he’s quiet. 

It’s such a rookie talent management mistake! So what if they talk and are more ‘visible’! Talent and competence is not always visible! If you’ve done everything right, and everything works, it often seems like you’ve done nothing at all! The ability to troubleshoot and solve problems is only one aspect, it’s even better if one is able to prevent problems in the first place!

So... how do I spot people who are able to resolve problems before they even fester or become bad? 

Observation. I had to observe them and see how they resolved problems. How many steps ahead they did things, and how much thought they went into doing what they did. People who could balance thoughtful consideration, and yet take decisive action when the timing is right. 

This demanded a huge amount of processing power and observation, and it’s made possible thanks to Patreeck’s special powers and my artificial mind’s ongoing observation throughout my immediate valley. It required me to constantly monitor my candidates and rate them on a scale of various factors, like forward thinking, problem-resolution ability, ability to work with multiple parties, communication, and even manipulativeness.

All these needed multiple, hundreds of datapoints. Personality. These traits were especially true when looking for a person who’s suited for trade and governance. To some extent, all traders plan. The very nature of a trader meant he had to be aware of market prices and changes, production data, and the ability to locate an opportunity, a gap. 

At least, that’s what I thought. But it is not so. The present world rewarded merchants who took risks. Who just made a journey from one end of the continent to the other, with little information to work with. The presence of a system for traders, and the effect of various trader’s skills meant some traders could make decisions based on hunch. Their skills would ‘tell’ them where and what to do. 

I needed someone who wouldn’t rely on their skills, at least not much. Or perhaps a skill that switches their disposition towards long term thinking, despite the system’s tendency of giving skills as mental shortcuts. 

Patreeck and Jasmine took a few months to monitor how certain people behaved in context. 

Then, one day... “Master, would you consider a young candidate who’s currently an apprentice at a blacksmith?”

Huh. He’s way too young to be a master of an academy of young little pain-in-the-asses. But, I could start training him really young, then in a few decades he will be ready. So I decided to have a look. 

The young apprentice was a half-elf boy named Kastua. Despite his youth, he had demonstrated a quiet focus on preventing and solving problems, so he’s likeable but doesn’t stand out. It would be decades before he would ever be a master of the colleges. He seemed to like his work as a blacksmith apprentice, but I got Jura to speak to him.

“Hello Kastua.”

Kastua quickly bowed politely. “Greetings, Counsel Jura.” Jura’s no longer the counsel, but it seemed many still refer to him as such, it’s one of those guarded politeness. Never know when a person of such power would take offense.

“It seemed Aeon saw some potential in you, and would like to include you in training. Would you be keen?” Jura wasn’t exactly sugarcoating. “What he plans for you, I do not know.”

The young boy’s mind instantly had a lot to think about. “Yes.”

Jura paused. “I... will give you some time to think it through.”

“Yes.” He repeated. “No need for the time. My answer is yes.”

“Ah.” Jura nodded. “Very well,  Aeon will speak to you when the time is right.”

-

Kastua was not the only one. It was against our nature to put all eggs in one basket. A tree made many, many seeds. I needed multiple candidates across all age bands, so that I had a solid talent pool for proper succession planning. 

I wanted someone who had that kind of personality, and also faith. The levels and technical ability was something I could work on. 

So, on top of Kastua, we soon located 4 to 5 more people of various ages whom we think have potential. They are mostly young, and are under

Still, I wanted an adult of sufficient stature to lead the school. Else it’s just a council of teachers that doesn’t seem able to make any big decisions. Is doing something better than doing nothing?

“Should we still tolerate Thordrock as a caretaker principal?” I asked the artificial minds, at first. “He is of the right age and has generally good skill, even if his loyalty is a pragmatic one.”

Jasmine agreed. “We will monitor him. The role of a caretaker principal does not require absolute loyalty. A pragmatic, cost-benefit type of personality may be appropriate.”

“Disagree. This is about molding the minds of the next generation of mid-tier managers.” Trevor used some terminology from my memories. “They should be expected to have absolute loyalty. It is expected.”

I paused, and considered it. In some ways, the risk is rather nuanced, having a principal with nuanced and pragmatic loyalty may result in students picking up a similar view of loyalty. That’s a risk in the long run. But then again, even if I picked a loyal principal, that may not result in loyal future leaders. Would a principal’s influence be that pervasive?

Is this a false choice? After all, loyalty is a mutable thing. I could, by my own actions, transform someone who is pragmatically loyal into entirely loyal, and vice versa. The concept that loyalty is for life surely an impossible thing, unless their minds are constructed in such a way. 

Are there any other candidates?

Those capable and with the right skill sets would not want a task to corral these noble children in the first place. So in a way, this wasn’t exactly a coveted job. It’s new. If anything, it’s more important that this newly set up institution does not fail. 

I went back to Thordrock again. “Do you have any ideas on how to improve the Treetiary College?’

Thordrock paused and then answered. “In truth, most nobles do not run their lands alone, and often as merchants, we deal a lot with their adjutants and secretaries. So, I believe each noble student should be allowed to sponsor a few of their adjutants. A noble’s success, I dare say, is also quite dependent on capable subordinates.”

That sounds like an officer school? But that’s already what the Valthorns’ academy focus on. Combat, tactics and all. But I suppose Thordrock’s point is towards the bureaucracy. Currently, in this magical world, paperwork and administration is inconsistent. 

There are no consistent laws, processes or papers, and merchants have to navigate all of them, often paying little bribes and incentives along the way. Even now the entirety of the Freshland is a complicated mess of laws and regulations, because in part of laziness and my distaste for this sort of work, and also I didn’t want to force the entire country to obey one single set of laws.

Each of these segments brought with them different cultural norms and I had expected to let them run their own kingdom, in the way a federation delegates certain areas to the states. In that, every noble is a minor master of his own land, and so each of them developed their own versions of the law, so all in, it’s a hodgepodge of different rules and regulations. 

But a lot of these can be ‘smoothed over' if the officers and staff of the nobles all communicate, essentially forming a de facto organised unified bureaucracy. Like trade can be more efficient when there’s less paperwork to be filled.

There are a lot of low lying fruits to be made as a whole. Like why is the merchant’s warehouse located in some inaccessible area instead of somewhere convenient for the convoys? Like why are goods not sorted properly. So many mundane areas that need someone to just spend them time to clean up and organise. 

Essentially, what Thordrock wanted was to make the merchant’s life easier, supplement the nobles with capable subordinates. It’s also a good way to transition from a feudal society to a more modern society, since it maintains the noble’s position as a ruling elite, and yet ‘delegates’ out decision making and administration to commoners. It’s also a less controversial way of opening up a wide range of education to common folk without unnecessary noble resistance, since these common folk will be tagged to their noble employers. 

But then, would Thordrock’s influence result in administrators that are pro-merchants instead? I decided to look at all the nobles’ subordinates, whether there were any good teachers. This would take a while too, on top of all the other searches that I’ve been doing. The artificial minds need time to process and assess the nobles, and also the various departmental offices.

At the same time, by allowing these administrators come in, would that not create the noble-commoner dynamic that I wanted to avoid? Unless I separated them. 

But pragmatically, a segregated school is worse. In fact, my initial idea of a school for commoners is essentially elitist because that also implies there is a separate school for elites. 

The relationship between commoners and nobles could go either way, but in any case, I’d like to see these commoner administrators graduating and eventually run my future commoner’s school. 

It’s a rare time where it’s good that I’m a magical tree. I’m seen as outside the whole noble-commoner class system. If I were human, I would most likely face greater resistance. 

“Let’s do it.”

So, the Treetiary College opened up spots for the noble-vassals to join. The pitch to the nobles were simple, they needed competent subordinates to carry out the details and the gruntwork. Studying together gave commoners insight into the noble mindset and thought processes. 

I understood this felt like a caste system, but if I want to slowly supplant and dismantle the noble structures, I’d have to have a bureaucracy capable of operating with noble oversight and direction. 

The initial weeks were rocky, there were some incidences of harassment, and so I had insisted that no bullying was allowed, and used my artificial minds to keep watch. Students are only allowed to fight and attack each other during combat practice. If necessary I would use my own abilities to break up any fights. 

The commoners came in many ages. Some were the old servants and butlers of the nobles, strangely chosen to accompany their young masters to school. At first, I thought whether I should restrict the school by age, but I decided since it was the first year, I’ll let it go. I would introduce age limits in the later years.

Not everyone likes change. Some need to have it in little pieces, ease them into it. Some like to a big bang change. But from what I've observed, change needs to be slow. A big bang change tends to create a larger and more immediate resistance. Slow, gradual change is akin to boiling the frog.

By the end of the year, the nobles have mostly accepted the presence of commoners as fellow students, even though most of them still feel themselves as a superior class. It’s fine. 

Boil the frog. Slowly. 

Spaizzer

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