A Guide about being Bristol's Mayor

Article 8 in Book 1 of the Somerset Laws

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Article 8 –Town.

Art. 1.8.1.: The citizens of the Duchy are also citizens of a specific town of the Duchy. The towns constitute the primary political unit of the kingdom.

Art. 1.8.2.: Each town is governed by a mayor elected by a simple majority vote of the citizens of the town. In case of a tied vote the older candidate shall win.

Art. 1.8.3.: The mayor has the responsibility of the management and development of the economy and social life of the town.

Art. 1.8.4. : In the case a mayor resigns or is unable to administer the office of mayor properly, the Duchy Council can appoint a replacement administrator, through a sanctioned revolt if needed, who will have the same rights of an elected mayor, and administer the town till the next mayoral elections

Art. 1.8.5.: The mayor shall ensure that the laws of the Duchy and Ducal decrees are followed in the town.

Art. 1.8.6.: The mayor can file and prosecute a case in the County Court in the name of the town.

Art. 1.8.7.: The mayor has legislative power over the town. He can make municipal decrees that will have the force of laws for a limited time as long as such decrees don’t contradict Duchy and king laws and they receive the approbation of the Duchy Council. This approbation is given when the Duke ratifies it. Duration: This decree shall remain in force for 6 months from the time of ratification. At that time, its effectiveness, and the need for it, shall be reviewed. If it is decided that the law still fills a need, then it shall again be presented to the County Council for further approbation.

Art. 1.8.8.: Citizens of the town have the right to oppose a municipal decree if they feel that the decree is contradictory to existing Duchy or Kingdom laws.

Art. 1.8.8.: The Duchy councilors have the same right mentioned in article 1.8.8 but don’t need to live in the same town.

Art. 1.8.9.: The mayor has the right to collect taxes on fields and workshops. They can only levy taxes every 15 days. The delay of the payment is 7 days. If someone doesn’t pay his or her tax, it will be prosecutable as a crime.

Being Mayor of Bristol

When I first became Mayor I needed a lot of help getting off the ground as well as a lot of time to familiarize myself with the new screens. I also need to decide how I would run my office as Mayor, what Town Hall Polices I would follow and pursue, what of the old ways I would discard and keep, etc.

In addition to all of this I restarted the Bristol Town Council to help me and future Mayors out in the running of the game. Some of the work for being Mayor falls on them as well.

This is therefore a guide to future Mayors of Bristol to help them out. You should also read Baiboe’s guide in the University Library of the Kingdoms.

So what is it like in the Daily Chore Life as Mayor?

Well, first you have to be active as Mayor. You usually have to log in more then once every 24 hours to do things like check the market and the status of the Town Hall. Also in my case, I had to check every 4-6 hours or so for additional mail that got sent to me. Over my term as Mayor I clearly got more mail then I had every gotten throughout playing the game, and I played the game a long time before I ever got to be Mayor of a town.

Upon logging in I usually checked the status of myself; I fed my Cows, milked, slaughtered, and bought new ones too, sold stuff, bought stuff, went to get that class when it opened up in the University, etc, you should get an idea of what I’m getting at. After this I would check on the Town.

First, I checked my Mail. Mail is important, it tells you things, especially in my case as Mayor; I learned more through my Mail then I did viewing screens in the Town Hall. I also would look into completing requests, such as finding out when a Blacksmith wanted ore or would accept some work for the Town Hall. Then I would go to the Town Hall. I would scan the Town Information to see if any specific names stood out, after which I would go to My Office in the Town Hall.

If it was a new day I would go to the Statistics first, copy it, and then paste it into the Town Hall message. This was so that everyone in town could see the statistics if they wanted too. After doing this, I would check today’s statistics against yesterday’s statistics and possible the day before as well to see what had changed. Past Mayor’s have been known to post the statistics to the forum as well.

Then I would buy goods for the Town from the Bristol Market. I’d set buying to the Town Hall and head into the market to see what I should buy. Generally I bought items greatly under the price of my suggested price range and if the Town didn’t need them, place them back on the market in the suggested price range. I may also save items for selling to merchants or the county fair which I often did as well. From the County Fair I would also buy items as well, needed by the town. Generally this focused on ounces of Iron Ore for Blacksmiths in town when the Town Hall was running out of ore to give out. The process required I mail the Trade Minister and get him to put on the Iron Ore for the town to buy. Similarly, I would also place items on the County Fair after getting a price on the current item.

After this I would check on Axes and the supply of items in the Goods inventory of the Town Hall. If supplies began to get low then I would know what to buy here, if supplies began to get high I would sell it to the Town Hall. If Axes were getting blunt or broken I would issue our Iron Ore ounces to get them to produce more or sharpen the blunt ones.

Next I would check the state points of the town to see what it was like. If they were going down and we would need more soon I would know and look into purchasing a civil servant if necessary.

This about covers what I would do daily as Mayor of Bristol, later I’ll explain a bit about Grants, the Mayor’s Message, and other things as well. First however, let me explain the Bristol Town Council.

The Town Council of Bristol

I restarted the Town Council to aid me in decision making and delegate some of my duties out to other people. This would allow me to focus on other duties instead of worrying about those specific delegated duties.

The Town Council comprised people who would discuss and vote on issues concerning the town in their own forum. Additionally some of them would have special positions to handle. The different positions and such that I decided on were:

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Mayor –
Well, I think it should be obvious who gets this job, as for what he does: He runs Bristol, decides how he wants the council run, etc, etc. He gets elected by the people of Bristol.

Mayor's Right Hand –
Essentially the person who's job is to be the replacement to the Mayor should the current one be incapable of performing as one (death, retreat, breaking the law, whatever). His job is to go to the County Council of Somerset and get a Sanctioned Revolt should it ever be needed. He is usually the runner up in the election for being mayor, or one of the people who were in the election to be mayor.

Town Mentor –
Basically a person who helps out the new players in game, and possible then some. He gets chosen by the Mayor.

Town Hall Tavern Bartender –
He's in charge of maintaining order in the tavern as well as attempting to make it as lively as possible. Another job is to give advice to people who drift in. Last, he listens and tries to learn information that might be helpful to the Council. He gets chosen by the Mayor.

Bristol's Lieutenant –
He's in charge of the safety of the citizens and providing escorts to people. He's also in charge of recruitment for SAS in Bristol. He is given this position through the SAS military structure.

Bristol's Home Merchants –
Essentially a person who is in charge of bringing in goods from out of town for sale here and exporting goods out of town. The Mayor can also grant him the representative status of the town to make purchases in places like Bridgewater or Gloucester. Anyone can choose to be a Merchant but not all of them may get representative status for dealing for Bristol.

Bristol Deputy's –
A cop who people inform about lawbreakers in the capital. He attempts to catch people and resolve the situation if it is possible before making a note of it to the Public Prosecutor. He gets this duty at the request of the Mayor.

Town Elders –
Extremely well versed about the mechanic of things, the Elder's job is to provide advice to the rest of the Town Council when they are having difficulty doing their jobs or are faced with complicated decisions. The Town Elder is usually just known through their long term experience.

Granting Citizens of Bristol

For giving goods and money to certain people you would have to give them a grant. Commonly this involved the Blacksmith profession as you would give them many blunted axes and ounces of Iron ore.

Essentially you make a grant, write the terms of the grant and add any money you plan to it. Then you transfer items from the goods of the Town Hall into the grant that is needed. Finally you give the grant to the person you intend to work with. Since Blacksmiths are commonly who you grant too I will discuss the grants pertaining to them: Iron Ore Grant, and Sharpen Axe Grant.

-For the Iron Ore Grant you essentially make a grant for an ounce of Iron Ore to the Blacksmith, to make into Blacksmith Items to sell. Essentially you just tell them to the price to buy the Iron Ore at and then add what Ores you wish to grant to the person. Additionally you may grant them things like unhooped buckets or shafts as well if you wanted them to make specific items.

-For Sharpening the Axe I work with this grant a bit differently then other Mayors in the past. First, I have trust for Blacksmiths since they are given a lot of responsibility. Therefore I do the following, which I learned from practices in Chard’s Town Council:

I make out a grant with whatever number of axes to be sharpened (will call this number ‘n’) and then I decide what wage they should get for their service (will call wage ‘x’). I then multiple n by x to get the total wage for all the axes and I issue this amount of money into the Grant. I then write in the terms or something similar-

“Please sharpen these axes and return them to the town hall when you’re done.

Sell the blunted axe from the grant in the market for ‘b’ price and buy it with your own money. Work on it for the day. The next reset put the axe on the market for ‘b’ + ‘x’ wage. Then go into the grant and buy it for that price into the grant.

Repeat process ‘n’ times. When all axes have been sharpened and the money in the grant is 0, cancel the grant.

I suggest that you should sell the blunted axes out of the grant to yourself for 150-170 pounds as to avoid someone coming along and buying the cheaper blunted axe. Then just add ‘x’ wage to the finished axe to buy back into the grant. This will result in the axe going back into the grant and you getting your wage. Cancelling the grant will automatically send all the axes to the Town Hall’s Good Inventory.

Axes can not be sold or bought for less then 140 pounds, so make sure when selling the blunted axes that they are 140 pounds - ‘x’ wage or more or else you will have less money in the grant then 140 pounds and will not be able to buy the sharpened axe back into the grant.”

After this I issue the number of axes that need to be sharpened corresponding to the wage, find a Blacksmith to sell it too and send it to them. Eventually I notice sometime later that Axes have magically appeared in the Goods Inventory of the Town Hall.

As a reason to why I do this instead of just granting them a blunted axe and telling them what price to sell it to themselves for, and what price I’ll buy it for later: If you do it this way, people can get their wage much faster. As a Blacksmith myself in the past, being able to do it this way provided greater benefit then if I was just to wait for the Mayor to get around to buying it. Plus, if I’m gone, I might not be able to buy it. This way the Blacksmith will at least get his money.

Civil Servants

You would be hard pressed to run the town without state points so it is important to keep and eye on them and replace them as needed.

First, check to see if you need them, if they are getting low you should look into contacting a civil servant. Contact a civil servant who can produce the appropriate state points and come to Bristol. Pay out 30 pounds for 10 points or 50 pounds for 20 points.

Check Suan's post below this one for a list of Civil Servants and what they may issue. You can also find one in the Somerset University as well should this one be out of date. If all else fails you can ask the rector of the university about who to contact.

Civil Servants available to hire for State points for towns.
Please contact them IN GAME a day or two ahead, so they can travel to Bristol. Once they are in town, you can post the job from the mayor's office.

Adams
10 State Finance Points
10 State Justice Points
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points


Allikath
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points


Budicca
10 State Justice Points
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points


Giangio
10 State Finance Points
10 State Trading Points


Lord_justinan
10 State Justice Points
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points

Redxiii_
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points


Sammal
10 State Finance Points
10 State Justice Points
10 State Communication Points
10 State Trading Points

The Mayor's Message

The message in the Town Hall that you can modify is an important one. It should be geared toward out of towers and citizens of Bristol a like. It should be as readable and organized as possible. It should also contain what you believe is relevant, or should be known then say it out loud here.

When writing your message you should probably base it off an outline of some sort. For me I based it off what Fateofdreams had used in the past term and edited out or made new sections.

You should take the time to totally review it and modify it as you please, possibly even before being elected a bit if possible, but mostly in the few days after being elected.

Be very careful when saying anything in the message. Not everything is appropriate and should not be mentioned here. Don't for example make a campaign slogan for yourself in the message, or don't publicly endorse candidates. Try and abide by laws of the King and county as well.

Town Hall Policy

Being the mayor, you decide the polices on things. In my term I changed a lot, I increased the number of axes offered to woodcutters, made an attempt to alter the land structure, revived the town council, and generally changed the profit and wage scheme for all the citizens.

What should help you determine what policies you will set should be the situation of the town and what you deem to be problematic, now or in the future. If you feel something is a problem then you should move to rectify it; if you think something will become a problem then you should move to prevent it in the first place.

Some policies you may want some help deciding on, this is where the Town Council comes in. When I enacted my policies, some people were quite angry about it, as well as how I went about it or the policies themselves. So discussion about them is a good thing to consider before enacting yours.

Town Hall Tavern

One of the last things you want to keep an eye on is the Town Hall Tavern. This is usually the main Tavern in the town. It offers multiple benefits in initiating policy regarding other taverns and foodstuffs. It can also be used to the citizens benefit.

By policy, you can set the price of beer or basic food stuffs as a top line that people can sell food for. For example, if you set a beer to be 0.75 pounds, mostly all the taverns will set it at this price or lower. In regards too food, if you set bread at 6.25 pounds, most other taverns will not exceed this price when selling bread.

You can also use it to portion food. For example, if you sell 100 pieces of meat in the market, it is possible for 1 person to buy 100 pieces of meat. If you sell 100 pieces of meat in the tavern, it is only possible to buy 1 piece of meat.

Another benefit, though used less, is that you can offer giant stat meals. Essentially you could offer a fruit and a piece of meat for example and provide a +1 Cha, +2 Str meal in one day.

Town Hall Treasury

When it comes to handling money, you have to be very careful. It costs a great deal of money to acquire new axes and repair old ones, as well, you lose 50 pounds daily due to waste. Therefore you have to look into how you can generate new money to combat this.

Several ways to raise money include buying goods from the Bristol Market as well as taking Wood Bushels from woodcutters and reselling them at higher prices when they were too low for what you wanted, or to sell them to merchants, other towns, or the county. Other things include controlling specific goods such as buckets or knives and being the sole supplier to ranchers and buyer from Blacksmiths.

You may also be able to get help from the county council in supplying funds as well. They may be able to supply you money if the capital is really down on its luck.

Of course too, you can issue taxes to increase money as well.

Special Credits and Thanks

Special thank you to Suan for helping put together the list of Civil Servants.