As you enter the year 1904 of our lord, you, Filip Kowalski, reflect on the life you lived in the last few years of your youth and the change it bought to you and your family.
Be it work or study, you experienced success after success, you once again took the top spot in the Unterrealschulen and the Oberrealschulen, beating all previous record, you received congratulations and encouragement from the school management, accompanied by an important increase in your royal scholarship, your acceptance into the Theresian military academy was par for the course from there and despite the love call from multiple university throughout the Austrian part of the Empire you stayed the course, firm in your desire for a military life.
Your work on making the steel factory your grew up in and worked at for some time more efficient seems to have gathered quite a bit of interest from industrialists around northern Cisleithania, apparently a similar method was already pioneered by an American named Frederick Winslow Taylor, but information about it are sparse in the Empire and most of Europe, there’s been some measure of interest from some corners of society, mostly from magnates hoping to make more money, but not enough that someone bothered to translate his work in German, let alone polish or Hungarian.
Now that they not only have definite proof of how effective it is, but also an imperial citizen that attained similar results with his own work, people are urging you to publish your efforts to the rest of the Empire, you are starting to be a gather a bit of fame amongst the local elite as a truly outstanding individual with great Talent.
As of now you are moving into the dormitory of the Academy, after years of preparations on your part, you will work hard for 3 years to succeed and get a posting in the K.u.K army as a leutnant, serving in the common army of the Emperor.
Puberty also left you a present…you were always a big child, but once puberty hit, you swelled in every way, shooting past your father and everyone you knew, reaching a staggering 196 Cm, you also started to put on muscle to match your height, despite not training your body, somehow passing Adonis and going straight for Herculean, coupled with your shaggy black hair and beginning of a beard this apparently make you quite popular with women, not that you pay much attention to that . Your family and friends were shocked at your growth, your now slightly on the short side brother being quite jealous of you.
Speaking of your family, both of your parents are now doing really well, if getting a bit older, your father seems to have benefited from your hard work, obtaining raise and bonus despite not doing an especially exceptional work, your mother on the other hand is now mostly free from the duty of raising children and spend her time socializing or sewing, as for your brother, despite being rather weak and sickly he managed quite well in school and benefit from a slowly but steadily expanding circle of friends, he is now already preparing himself to try the impossible and enter the Theresianum in Vienna to eventually work for the government as a civil servant…your father quietly approached you in hope you could help him pay for it, as he absolutely does not make enough money to even think of sending your brother here.
Unfortunately, all is not well for the Kowalski family, as it happened, your father had a rather brutal altercation with some of his fellow workers that had to be broken up by others workers and management employees, He got quite a few bruises and a split lip for his trouble, turn out those fellows were quite avid readers of a certain manifesto, and they took exception to what was going on in your family, namely, both you and your brother decision to work for the “bourgeoisie” and “nobility” in order to oppress the working class, they particularly resent you for your direct work with the factory management and your reorganization of the work, though they don’t really dare to bring it up with you directly, basically, they can see that you are slowly leaving the working class and are reacting according to their ideology.
It doesn’t help that your parents are devout believers.
Trait
Herculean body +5 Personal combat +1 Diplomacy +30 To health and fertility rolls +10 to rolls when interacting with the opposite gender. Replace Strong body
Gain Trait
Ruggedly handsome +2 Diplomacy +10 to fertility rolls+ 5 to rolls when interacting with the opposite gender
Trait
Master Organizer +3 Stewardship +1 Martial +10 to logistics and organization rolls +2 actions. Replace Organized.
Gain Trait
Well-learned +2 Learning +1 Stewardship +1 Martial.
Extensive Royal scholarship; 400 Krones per turn
8 actions + 1 locked.
Martial: You have finally entered the Theresian military academy, you shall spend 3 years here before taking a commission in the K.u.K Army, the common army that assemble volunteers from all part of the empire in an army loyal to the empire rather than the nations that compose it, it is difficult work that decide your future, but you have prepared hard for it and think yourself ready.
There is always room for more improvement though…
[X] Mingle with the local soldiery – You’ve spent most of your youth spending time with soldiers, and you now aim to be one, being in Vienna is both a boon and a curse for you, on one hand, you do not have any acquaintance amongst the locals soldiers and must build relationship from scratch, on the other hand, Vienna is the beating heart of the Empire, both the military and civilian side of it, high ranking officers and official concentrate here and the Imperial General staff HQ is present here, both Landwehr and K.u.K troops can also be found in the city, making it the perfect place to learn more about the state of the army and create a personal network.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: 10/35/60/100 Cost: None Reward: better relationship with the military, bonus to military academy rolls. ???
Roll: 24+5=29
The time at the academy was more time-consuming than you thought, you did not have the time to seek out enlisted men at their garrisons to speak with them, only managing to engage in discussion with some of soldiers and officers coming around the academy from time to time, you didn't learn much but managed to make a few fast friends amongst them. Strangely enough, the officers you talked with seemed really tired, much more so than the common soldiers.
Result: Acquaintance amongst low level officer and soldiers of the K.u.K.
[X] Train your body – Your body is a gift from god, you are tall and your natural strength extraordinary, but you are nothing if not a perfectionist, and you believe you can do much better if you train yourself
Time: 2 Turns
DC: ?? Cost: 30 Krones Upkeep: +10 Krones Reward: Possible Traits.
You train hard, you push yourself even beyond the limit of what they make you do at the academy, beyond what even your body allow you to, you learn to keep going even when your want to give in, in many ways, you rediscover what you thought were the limits of the human body, your muscle become ever more toned, wrapping like steel cord around your form, and yet, you feel that you can push even further...
1 Turn remaining
[X] Theresia military academy curriculum— For 3 years, you shall be trained in all matter of land warfare and soldiery, before graduating a with the grade of leutnant.
Time: 2 Turns
DC: Auto success/ 10 / 30/ 100 Cost: 500 Krones Reward: Possible traits, commission in the K.u.K.
You learn the soldiers life at the academy; discipline, training, shooting, tactics, strategy, everything you need on the field of battle, it is not so much hard as it is time consuming, all you prior preparations and natural talents allowing to advance relatively easily in the courses, not that you would ever relax your efforts anyways.
1 Turn Remaining
Diplomacy: Networking is an important part of life, and the higher you wish to go the more important those connection you made are, you never know when one of them might come in handy after all, and know that you are set to enter high society and getting attention from industrialist, it may be more important than ever.
[X] Help your brother – Your brother is aiming for a career as a civil servant, in the empire, that means getting into the Theresianum, unfortunately, not only is it expensive, it is mostly reserved for the bourgeoisie and nobility, making it extremely hard for someone from a working classes like your brother to enter it unless they have truly exceptional results, your father has asked you for help in that regard, your brother being a tad too prideful to do it, not only does he need a large amount of money, but now that you are in Vienna he would appreciate it if you could try and socialize with the upper crust, so that your brother may enter this otherwise rather reserved academy.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: 45/80/100 Cost: 1000 Reward: Bonus to your brother rolls. Happy father. Networking with the Upper class.
Roll:44+10=54
Getting involved with the high society wasn't as easy as you expected, you try, you really do, you buy yourself an expensive suit, learn to watch your speech patterns, and lay the flattery as thick as you can, unfortunately, this make you look like a nouveau rich seeking favors...which isn't wrong, the older and higher nobility barely pay you any attention, and the younger nobility, that tend to come from more humble origin, dislike the fawning and despite your recents successes and fame that close you a lot of door, oh, they certainly smile and make polite conversation, but nothing ever come off it.
In the end you do manage to get some help in the form of an old man of jewish descent, one Jakob Klein, that received the Von of nobility through a Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph-when it was still possible to gain nobility through them- that he received in thanks to his dedicated years of service as a civil servant.
You met him outside the theater of Vienna, after you got gently rebuffed once again after asking for help, he caught you outside, having overheard your conversation, apparently, he was sympathetic to you situation, having himself been in a similar situation than your brother, he had to climb his way up to success from almost nothing.
He said he would help you out, if you agreed on owing a favor.
You accepted.
Later, Your brother barely managed to clutch his admission.
Result: You owe someone a favor, your brother succeed getting in Theresianum
Stewardship: You are now without a doubt quite good at running thing, your reorganization and rationalization of work has earned you a lot of acclaim, even it is not strictly revolutionary as someone already worked on the subject in the united states, now you have quite a tidy sum of money for an 18 old working-class, but you can always make more and certainly will need more if you want to keep moving up.
[X]
[Double down]Write a book on Taylorism(Filip Kowalski version) – You’re recent work has earned you a great amount of fame and recognition, and you’ve been pushed to write it down and publish it within the empire so that all may read it.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: 30 Cost: 50 Krones Reward: Money, Fame.
Roll: 100 Natural crit, boosted by Double down. (QM:I don't even...)
Now, this was your big project in the past two years, you received enough demand from people around you to know that it would be popular, and you needed the money.... and the fame, it would help your career and your family.
So, after buying the necessary supply, you immediately started writing down everything you worked on, the reorganization of work, the method of analysis and rationalization, the ideas of true industrial work, you supplemented it with example and experiment that you did at the factory, after around 8 months, you were done.
As you looked at the results of years of hard work, your first thought was that it was bad, unfinished, unpolished, lazy.
What about surproduction? why did you not think about it? what was the point of ramping up production if no one could buy the product? and so, on top of your existing work, you wrote down a simple theory based on an idea just as simple after thinking hard on it and reading up about the way economy work, cursing your lack of education all the while.
Workers should be paid as if they were going to consume their own productions, because they will, and if they don't, they should.
Then you published it in the language you mastered, Germans, Polish, and Hungarian.
It was an unmitigated success, it first sold in the Empire, amongst German, polish and Hungarian speaking upper class, then it spread across the border, first in Germany, then in Russia, through the small polish speaking upper class that later translated it in Russian, from Germany, it spread to the German speaking minorities across the America and from there, it started selling across the entire developed world, and while this book is rather niche, the sheer size of the market meant that it was sold in great numbers, already, a few adventurous Industrialist are trying out your ideas, it would take years before they were more widely adapted, but it looked to be heading in this direction.
Somehow, the fact that you're only 20 made this even more incredible.
Result: Sold around 400 000 Books across the world, with more to come every years. +1 600 000 millions Krones (around 400K dollars at the time) +500 Fame in Austria-Hungary. +200 Global Fame. Floated Taylorism around.
Learning: You may have finished your schooling, but there is always more to learn, and after you exchange with Mr. Adler over your adolescent years, you are quite interested in learning more, especially now that you are in Vienna, where all the Imperial intellectual gathers.
[X] Finish learning Hungarian—You already started learning Hungarian, and managed to master the basic, now that you are in the Academy, you are required to learn multiple imperial languages, this means more, but also more people with the knowledge you seek.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: Autosuccess/ 20/ 40/ 100 Cost: None Reward: Mastery of Hungarian both written and oral.
Roll: 58+5=63
Between your learning at the academy and personal effort, you manage to learn Hungarian to perfection with no problems.
Results: Perfect mastery of Hungarian
[X] Meeting a Friend—August Adler has become both a friend and a mentor to you, he is a Czech subject living in Vienna and working at the university of said city, knowing that you would be in the city for the foreseeable future he has invited you to join him from time to time so that he can present you to his friends and colleagues and discuss mathematics with you.
Time: 1 Turn
DC: ?? Cost: None Reward: Further advance in the field of mathematics, meeting the intelligentsia of Vienna, more Friends.
Roll:74+10=84
August Adler is just as fascinating to meet in person, he presented you to his groups of friends; a numbers of accomplished mathematician from across the capital, they meet from time to time in one of the more prestigious restaurant, they have a room reserved for their meetings.
At first it was a bit awkward, having this young man in a military uniform sitting amongst this group of intellectual ranging from middle-aged to senior.
But once you started talking, this awkwardness evaporated, eagerly engaging in conversation with them and providing your insight where you could.
At first, you had difficulty keeping up with them, but as time went on, you made progress, both from the talks and book recommendation they made to you, before long you could hold you own with the best, spending your Saturday afternoon sitting in a couch, drinking coffee and discussing advanced mathematics.
It was a very entertaining way to pass time
Result: A number of friends in the intelligentsia of Vienna, Top tier mathematical knowledge, further options unlocked.
Piety: You are now in a new environment, far from your old acquaintance and city, if you wish to attend the church you will have to find a new one, that mean a new priest and a new community.
[X] Attend church—Your parents still want you to attend church every Sunday, but you are now alone in Vienna, so it is your choice whether you wish to attend service or not.
Time: 1 turn
DC: 40 Cost: None Reward: Possible traits, contact with local communities.
Roll:54+5=59
You meet the local people, and meet with your new priest, a kindly old man born in Vienna, in general you just spend your time at the Church listening to the word of god and confessing your sins. You Faith is strengthened and your will firmer.
It also help your reputation with all who have an interest in you.
Results: Bonus to reputation, contact in local communities.
Current Money: 1 599 964 Krones
Income:+400+1 600 000 Krones from book sales
Expense:-100 Krones cost of living -1580 Krones
QM: sorry if the quality is a bit supbar, I am currently sick....again. *sigh*
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