The fall and winter months proved difficult for farmers this season. Something about the earth just wasn’t right; perhaps it was the slightly warmer heat, or the loaminess of the soil. Whatever it may have been, it certainly stuck through the summer and through the rest of the year, because yields that should have been considerable simply became yields that were mediocre and nothing else.

[-10% food production map wide]

————————————

The Blackpark administrative region of the MacDonald Estate always stuck out like a sore thumb for the Clan. It represented a nation — an administration — which had lasted through a flood that destroyed most parts of the city and flooded the rest heavily, leaving only suburbs and outlying farmlands to rebuild the largest population center in the Highlands. And for some reason, the Inverness City Council never died out like its counterparts in every other Scottish city, it actually prospered. Government data had been secured by the local democratic government which allowed them to rule a welfare city-state that would provide resources for its citizens according to their needs as though there never was a societal collapse. It was a little slice of prosperity in Scotland; one which would continue on through the rule of the MacDonald Clan, which found it beneficial to sign a pact of federation with the city-state instead of completely wiping it from the map like they had done with so many other Highland cities. This, however, caused great strain to the Estate, as there was a liberal democracy within the nation that stood against every value the Clan supported, naturally causing tension between the two competing administrations..

But now Blackpark was in the hands of the equally-as-liberal Moranians, and the Clan no longer needed to worry about the pestering of welfare and equality from the Blackpark City Council, and could rest easy knowing that their nation’s politics no longer needed to be invaded by soft, democrat Highlanders, at least for now.

[ 4 DP Allocation for Clan MacDonald of Clanranald]

————————————

Luckily enough for the Black County Industrial Congress, the drought which ravaged most of the Shattered Isles’ countryside had hardly any effect on the burgeoning syndicate, as their efforts laid within that of blood and iron. For them, the drought did nothing but increase the number of men and women who needed work, and therefore the number of men and women who could work in the industrial sector. Food was no worry, as their imports stayed steady so they could continue work on what they craved the most: a communal industrial environment free from the yanking needs of agriculture.

[ 5% IG Production, 10% Faster Build Times for Black County Industrial Congress]

————————————

Refrigeration, as useful as it was in developed nations, suffered critically when everyone needed to use it all at once in full force. This problematic design flaw was exemplified in Jerusalem, where the decadent lives of the western citizens were suddenly interrupted by the news that the entire nation’s expansive electrical grid had been temporarily disabled due to the overextension caused by refrigeration, which was oh-so-important during warm times like these.

[-5% Pdev in all provinces in Jerusalem]

————————————

“Bring out’chere deaad!.. Bring out’chere deaad!”

The car rattled by the neatly-organized homes in the quaint — be it a little old-fashioned — neighborhood in Abington. Piles of pox-ridden corpses dotted the street as the convoy of hearses moved slowly down the roadway to collect the fallen acolytes of the Holy Mission. It wasn’t a pretty sight, to be sure, but everyone figured that the Lord had his reasons, and this was clearly a test of their will.

Many were sick and dying, sure, but this would be nothing more than proof that they truly were the chosen ones of the Lord and nothing else. Additionally, the blighted corn crop which had ridden the countryside last year — and had only gotten into the common markets several weeks ago — was another test from the Lord to prove their wills. Yes, this sickness truly was a gift from God!”

[-10% Population for the Holy Mission]