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Part 8
Inns and Outs
Merely months after ascending to the throne, Rayan gains a reputation for being fair and kind to all his subjects. He is known throughout Pala and all of India as "the Just".
Let's look at our monarch.
He's got Strong, which is a pretty good trait and in my opinion is tied up with Quick in terms of usefulness. For a ruler who leads from the front, Strong is a pretty good trait, seeing as it gives +2 health. That means that he could get maimed (-2 health, -2 martial, -15 attraction) and still live for quite a while. Strong also adds +1 diplomacy, +2 martial, +10% fertility, +10 attraction, and +10 to vassal opinion. I would have liked Genius, but you can't get everything.
He's also Ambitious (+2 to all stats), Kind (+2 diplomacy, -2 intrigue, +10 vassal opinion), Just (+2 stewardship, +1 learning, +10 vassal opinion), Honest (+3 diplomacy, -2 intrigue), and Gregarious (+2 diplomacy, +5 vassal opinion, + 5 attraction).
I might as well explain what "attraction" is. Attraction is essentially the bonuses and maluses that you get from people who are attracted to your gender. With Strong and Gregarious, Rayan gets a +15 opinion bonus from straight women and gay men. Attractive, which is a trait of it's own, gives +1 diplomacy and +30 attraction. This means that Attractive queens can get away with a lot of stuff. I'd like to see an Attractive Jain queen with Buddhist vassals (Buddhists don't care if their ruler is female) and see how much she could get away with.
Also in the traits list you might see a shield with books on it. This is Rayan's lifestyle trait - Scholar. This gives him +2 to learning and +20 opinion with other scholars.
Finally, Rayan has "the Just" nickname as a result of Just and Kind.
Rayan begins his reign with the birth of a son.
Rayan's mother, Shataladevi, calls him into a war with the Solankis. Following the proud Pala tradition, he drags a family member along with him.
"But big brother, I don't want to go to war with you."
"Shut up, I did when I was your age and you're going to like it."
It is perhaps this frustration that Suvrata feels that causes her to make this disturbing comment. Rayan quickly corrects her on it.
This is probably one of the worst events when raising a kid. The only trait that won't cause us problems is Proud, but since Suvrata is unlikely to be a ruler, this isn't all that bad.
While on the march, Rayan hears some disturbing news. Caravans have been disappearing and the agents Rayan sent to investigate have also disappeared. Rayan orders that larger parties be sent to escort them.
This is another new event with Rajas of India and it's one of the most eerie in the game. I've only seen this a few times and I've solved it the same way each time. I send larger parties to investigate, though this is expensive.
Rayan's marshal is sent out to increase the troops' morale during the war.
This is a random event with your marshal. We're at war and our levies are raised, so the choice is obvious.
Rayan's agents still have been unable to find the source of the attacks, but they have noticed an intriguing pattern. Only the long range caravans have been targeted. Rayan orders that the patrols be increased.
The attacks stop, but the killers were never caught. While Rayan is relieved that the attacks are over, he is still uneasy. Who would do this? And why?
After some research, I believe this event chain is a reference to the Thuggees, professional assassins who haunted India for centuries until their eradication by the British in the late 19th century. You may be familiar with the version portrayed in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The Thuggees were worshipers of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, time, and darkness. What the Thuggees would do would be to gain the confidence of caravan travelers and then when the caravan would drop its guard, strangle the travelers and make off with the goods.
I've always put all my resources into protecting the caravans, so I don't know what happens otherwise. It's probably bad.
Rayan receives a message from his wife detailing how Vigrahapala is constantly getting in fights with the other children. Rayan advises that Vigra's energy be directed elsewhere.
It seems to work and Vigra is a hard-working little boy.
Diligent is great, giving +1 to all stats and +10 vassal opinion
During a rest at the camp, Rayan orders some of his officials to find concubines for him.
Concubine time! The frustrating thing about hunting for concubines for Jains at this stage in the game is that there aren't a lot of them. This means you can't use "My Religion" as a filter and you have to search for Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain girls by hand.
You might think Catholics are boring, but one of their main advantages in post-1066 is that there are so many of them. You have a very wide pool to work with. But smaller religions have to work much harder to find good people. Trying playing as the Jewish Khazars and you'll know what I mean.
Rayan asks one of the local Hindu rulers if he can take Kuladevi Tustikarid as a concubine, but the ruler refuses to allow someone so closely related to him to serve as a concubine.
Rulers don't like giving close relatives away as concubines. I believe they also don't like giving away people with claims as concubines.
The war ends, but on the way back, Rayan gets an unpleasant letter from his chancellor. Rayan's wife has been around court talking about how great it would be if her friend was the new chancellor. He then receives a letter from his wife asking him to make her friend the new chancellor. Rayan refuses.
Unless your wife is the spymaster or you suspect she's plotting to murder you, there's no reason to switch chancellors.
Rayan's powerful physique is drawing a lot of attention from some of the local women. Rayan refuses their advances, however.
Rayan increases his authority in his homeland of Bengal.
Remember, we need to change our succession to primogeniture in preparation of the day we convert to Hinduism. Believe me, it will be rough.
Bookkeeping has been a problem for the Palas since Ramapala. While he considers asking his wife for help, Rayan decides to figure it out for himself.
If your wife has higher stats than you in a certain area, you have a chance to get this event. Asking our wife for help has a small chance of increasing the stat in question, but it has a very high chance of giving us Content (+.5 piety per month, -1 intrigue), which would erase Ambitious.
The Crown's power increases in Orissa.
This is part of the "Improve Stewarship" ambition. We have an opportunity to make a nice profit and get 2 stewardship from this.
To kill time while the inn is refurbished, Rayan declares war on the Satrubhanjid Raja.
Continuing the old family tradition of running things via mail, Rayan calls his new inn the "Bottomless Tankard".
You can get a small increase of profit depending on your choice here. From top to bottom the best choices are 3 2 1 4. So choose 30%.
Rayan receives a letter from his steward if it's okay to beat peasants for their money. The steward is chastised for his unethical behavior.
We have a choice of getting some money and revolt risk or upsetting the steward. I don't want any more peasant revolts, mostly because they're more annoying than anything else. And I wouldn't get a lot of money anyways.
Indians don't get as many choices for entertainment as other cultures do. We book the bard. The ass just poops on the stage, IIRC.
Easy as pie
Money! 
Rayan ends his correspondence with a letter of sale to the Bottomless Tankard's new owner. Back to war.
While he has been a Jain since he was a boy, Rayan never really thought about that much. Hoping to gain some more insight into spiritual matters, Rayan becomes a Digambara Jain, like his father.
The war ends and Rayan returns to court. Upon arrival, Rayan is immediately accosted by his wife, who goes on and on about how bored she is and how boring all the courtiers are and how she wants to try on some new dresses. In order to get her to shut up about those stupid clothes, Rayan gives her a bunch of money.
We get Charitible.
Hoping to learn from the master, just like his father, Rayan asks his spies to find the old man.
I like to think that there's this one immortal warrior who goes around teaching monarchs how to be badasses.
Vigra is learning how to control his appetite. Rayan is proud of him.
Temperate! 
Weeks later, the Maharaja of Solanki is interrupted in one of his meetings by a messenger.
"What is it?"
"Sir, it's a letter."
"From who?"
"The Palas. They're coming for Rajputana."
The Maharaja gets up, muttering and cursing the whole time.
"Sound the alarm. We're about to get hit hard."
Next Time: State of the World