The Griffons Rise

I hate mornings.

The blinding light from the sun once again is shining on my face, heating it up in the process along with forcing me to awaken from my peaceful slumber to once again to greet the day.

Groaning and moaning I sluggishly pulled myself out of bed, sat up, scratched my ass before muttering about the sun being an annoying asshole for ruining my deeply cherished sleep. Throwing myself out of bed I did my mourning ritual of taking a piss, shaving my half-ass beard and moustache off, cleaning myself up and lastly brushing my teeth with their weird paste-like substance before finally leaving the bathroom to cloth myself and start the day properly.

With myself ready for the day I grabbed my backpack (laptop back where it belongs) and my sword from its place against the wall and left my room in a somewhat tidy condition so the poor maid doesn't have to work too hard to keep my room clean.

Closing the door behind me I gave a nod to a passing patrol of guards as one of them returned it with a nod of their own, their armor clanking all the way down the hall as I went to the princess's room to get to work on renovating and improving the griffon nation's crumbling infrastructure and technological shortfalls. In all honesty I don't even know if this plan I am coming up with will even work but if there is one thing that I am certain of is that if this does work, than not only will the griffons reacquire the means to not only manufacture everything they can ever need for themselves without having to indebt themselves to a foreign power but also be to further themselves and reclaim everything that was lost over the years.

Hell, I still can't believe that the griffons were nothing more than a bunch of tribals with barely a sapient thought floating through their minds before their goddess uplifted them, but then again seeing how I have a literal godly being watching over me to make sure I do my job so a world of magic and gods isn't really too far fetched. Well that and seeing how humans are non-existent here as far as I can tell and that there are talking ponies, griffons, diamond dogs and a minotaur so the theory of this being a new world is less theory and more fact at this point.

Walking down the hall towards the Eraclea's chambers I saw outside the windows to the garden and training yards below, the griffon soldiers and guards all training together, an exercise I suggested and I must say, seeing the two groups training together to better be coherent in the event of an emergency.

Returning my attention to the hall, I narrowly avoided colliding with a maid, the hen was pushing a cart that was loaded with freshly washed sheets of what I can only assume to be bedspreads and/or curtains that are neatly stacked upon it. The maid in question didn't even notice that I was there until after we have passed each other in the hallway, and if I were just some griffon noble I would be chewing her out for nearly bumping into me but seeing how I am not a noble that would just be both a waste of time to talk down on her and also unnecessary as she did not know that I was there.

Eventually I arrived at her royal pain-in-the-ass's chambers and I must say that this will either go one of two ways.

It can go either A: The innovations and improvements that I will show her will make her much easier to deal with in the future and realize that I am indispensable and important for the betterment of all griffonkind. Or B: She likes what I show her but thinks that she can access this information without me so she has me thrown in the dungeons for no reason whatsoever only to realize that she can't log into the laptop and comes back down to beg me for help.

But seeing how she somewhat owes me for saving her ass and also me being a national hero, I doubt she would be so childish as to imprison me but I would never know that.

Last night I went over everything that the princess gave me, numerous scrolls and letters detailing the many prototypes and half-finished ideas of the dozens of griffon scientists, engineers and alchemists over the past thirty years. What my eyes saw made me reel back in amazement that the griffons managed to come up with these many ideas and absolute disgust that none of these have even been implemented yet due to a failing economy and a destabilized country.

The first things they were on the verge of discovering a breakthrough was the design and creation of aerodynamic armor plating for both their airships and their soldiers. This discovery would have made the griffons into a literal flying missile and with the wingblades that they were designing to match the armor, they would just slice through anything that gets in their flight path and as for their airships, they are still blimps but the armor would make them move faster in water if they ever have to land and be better protected from impacts from below.

The next thing I learned was that they have discovered a rather sizeable vein of a strange bluish metal deposit and that they couldn't remove from the mine through traditional methods of pickaxe and shovel so they requested assistance but they never got it due to the collapse of griffon society. If I know anything from my years of playing videogames, blue ore usually means it is either the lightweight but incredibly durable Mythril, or it could be the heavy and dense Durim, so either way the griffons really hit the jackpot there, too bad they couldn't uproot it and ship it out to be smelted down and tested. I can already just imagine what I would do if I had a sizeable stockpile of the stuff, other than giving the guards better suits of armor and weapons to protect the civilian population but also have them given to the hunters that chase off and exterminate any of the wild beasts with much greater ease.

Thirdly, if I wasn't seeing it for myself then I wouldn't believe it because the griffons have somehow accidentally discovered gunpowder when a griffon alchemist accidentally blew a talon off when his hand was coated in the black powder and he went and lit a candle. They couldn't reattach the talon but they did discover the correct measurements for recreating gunpowder and they were set on finding out what else it could be used for. Now that I know that they have found out about the greatness that is gunpowder I can now instruct them on its uses and how to properly get the most out of it such as the creation of explosives for laying siege to an enemy stronghold and the creation and use of rifles to replace standard weapons in due time after extensive training and education.

Another thing about the gunpowder is that I am thinking of requesting a sizeable portion of it for myself. If I can get enough gunpowder and secretly commission the creation of a firearm then I can more easily defend myself and the princess if things ever go tits up.

And lastly as I poured over the old texts that lay on the table before me is that they were developing better construction methods, trying to create the mixture for concrete for foundation laying, new designs for the airships as they will remove the overly bulky gas bag that sits on top of it and replace it with enchanted fins, fans and sails, crossbows, blacksmith techniques, and more than I could have thought they were even capable of thinking of.

And to think that of all of the scrolls and documents that I went over that I would learn that the griffon kingdom's technological discoveries were scattered all over the place. They learned how to forge steel and create airships and yet they copy books and other documents by hand, don't even know about irrigation, lumber mills, civil engineer and aqueducts, apprenticeships, machinery and printing, metal casting and sanitation and so much more!

If I am going to be the one to bring them the light of civilization and push them towards enlightenment than I will do it even if I have to drag them kicking and screaming into the future.

Standing guard by the door was four imperial guards, their armor polished to a high mirror shine and their halberds pointing to the ceiling as their eyes all snap to me for a few seconds before resuming their vigilance. Upon my approach to the door the two closest to it crossed blades and asked me what is my purpose for being here, my response was that the princess wanted to see me to discuss a project idea she had in mind for the betterment of the griffon people. They uncrossed their halberds and allowed me to enter the princess's chambers.

Pushing open the door I see that Princess Eraclea is laying on her bed, looking at her talons in slight interest but the moment I entered the room she immediately gained interest and greeted me before requesting that I find a seat before we begin with our little planning of Griffonstone's betterment.

The griffon princess looked at me with interest only grew further as she watched me work my laptop as I opened up my documents folder and started to look through the files to find my medieval related content.

"So, this strange device of yours...and only you can make it work?" Eraclea says to me as she looks at my laptop with wonder since she knows that this is a foreign otherworldly object and has no clue on how it even remotely operates.

"Unless you know how to read the letters on this machine and figure out the password then yeah, only I can make this laptop work without any issues." I said as I found the folder I was looking for and opened it, revealing several dozen documents that has the capability to revolutionize and improve the griffon society as a whole.

Moving the mouse over to the folder I read the name of the file and for a moment I thought that they might have this device already but it never hurts to show it to them anyway, who knows, they might not have even invented it yet.

"Okay Eraclea, the first thing I am going to show you is something called the Printing Press. This machine was invented by my people roughly six-hundred years ago and it has been constantly updated and upgraded throughout the centuries to be more efficient and work faster than its original counterparts." and after scrolling down a bit after moving past some history I stopped at a picture of the device.

"This machine was invented for the sole purpose for creation and distribution of books, posters, letters, documents, anything made of parchment to be read by the masses. The purpose of the printing press was to make writing and copying books by hand or talon obsolete as it was too slow and clumsy to be done properly so we had this machine created to do most of the work for us that also allowed us to spread ideas and knowledge far faster than by word-of-mouth would have ever done." I said as I pulled up rough schematics of an old-fashioned printing press/wood press from my documents folder along with a brief history of it.

As I recited this information to the griffon princess I put the machine schematics to the side for later copying onto paper so it can be sent to whoever the griffons trust to prototype and manufacture this marvelous machine. This is just one step onto pushing the griffons back onto the world stage and sowing a bit of chaos into the world.

With this piece of information now out of the way I moved onto the next piece of knowledge to pass down onto the budding griffon princess.

"Alright, now this isn't some fancy weapon or a means to fortify your homes in the traditional sense, but what they can do is fortify the food supply so that you do not have to rely on trading with those outside the kingdom at ludicrous prices. I know that griffons eat meat and fish along with bread but you should be able to eat fruits and vegetables as well so through the introductory of terrace farming can we even turn steep hills and mountainsides into veritable farms to feed the masses and keep our larders full. Now as to the griffon's dietary satisfaction for fish products, by creating and maintaining a proper fishery can we keep up not only the local fish population so that they can be harvested for what can be hopefully an indefinite period of time but with a surplus we can trade the excess." Showing pictures of the varying types of terrace farming and fishery designs, I was hoping that this would at least catch her attention so the kingdom doesn't become a warmongering state because she was only interested in the weapons and tools of war.

As I showed her pictures of what the two agricultural improvements are and for a moment I saw disinterest in her eyes for the terrace farming but a brief sparkle for the fishery, I guess she doesn't agree with farming in its basic form, predators don't have time to plow and maintain the fields when they can just hunt down a beast, gut it, skin it before bringing it back to cook it and eat it.

Scrolling through another file I brought it up to the screen I then brought up a series of armored suits and weapons, showing her human ingenuity at its finest in the olden times, I know this would interest her because if the griffons were armed with stronger and better weapons and armor than the griffons can throw their weight around even though they are smaller and weaker at the moment. A smaller, much more experienced and better equipped army may be stronger than a larger unorganized and poorly equipped one, but in the end it also depends on the commander in charge.

Folded steel, chainmail, scalemail, plated armor, defensive military tactics and maneuvers that I immediately followed it by showing Eraclea all of the various weapons and tools that was invented in the medieval era and I must say that she seems to in them, especially the forging process of how the raw metal is broken down and made into arms and armor.

By showing the griffon princess the heights of human engineering of the past that by the time I am done showing her what we have achieved and went beyond in creating, that when the griffon kingdom finally rebuilds itself that I will then show her the power that is gunpowder.

Just imagining the world leaders being confused and quite possibly scared as hell that the griffons that they have kicked around and abused for all these years is now back into fighting tip-top shape and are now more technologically advanced nation in the world with superior arms and armor, battle tactics, economy and most importantly culturally strong. The looks on their faces as they see us coming to meet them for the yearly international leader meeting, with me standing beside the princess and king and behind us is an airship of unparalleled power and design, our royal guards wearing armor of the finest caliber and defensive quality with a weapon to match it.

The eyes of the foreign royalty will be wide when they see us coming and with this sight they will retain the knowledge that the griffon kingdom will no longer be pushed around by its neighbors and be forced to pay tribute and offerings to those around them just to survive another day. No, no, no, instead it will be the other way around for we will be the ones who will demand tribute from those who kicked us while we were down.

And when those fools dare declare war on us because they thought that we were nothing but tin soldiers, our cannons will rain death from the heavens while our rifles will shatter their soldiers resolve, and when the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled, our soldiers will be marching over their ruined corpses as we march onward towards conquering everything those fools have ever known until all of them are under our banner.

Glancing at my laptop and the numerous files that had details on ways to improve the griffon kingdom I watched as the princess was busy writing down everything she has seen, putting her thoughts onto each subject matter with an almost religious zeal that I have never seen before. Just watching her write everything down, talking to herself under her breath trying to find all of the possible methods to both implement them into the lands themselves and get the proper funding and lands to do it all on.

I just gotta say that to see this girl do all this even with the barest of glimpses at the things I just showed her just proves to me just how much of a clusterfuck situation we find ourselves to be in and just how desperate we both are to climb out of that pit.

Lifting her head up I watched as the griffon princess stretches out her arms and legs out a yawn and to me I found it amusing because all griffons stretch just like a common household cat. But the moment when she was done stretching and saw me grinning at her I watched as the young princess got all flustered and told me to stop looking at her so I heeded her wish and turned my attention to the window.

As time rolled on by and the princess was burning through paper and ink as if they were going out of style to try and formulate I went back to finding things to give to the griffon people and for the time being I too started to copy the images on the screen on a few spare sheets of paper although copying it is harder than it looks with a quill and ink well.

Hours began to pass the both of us by as we went back and forth on how to help the griffon people with humanity's advancements and during those hours we spent at most half of that time arguing over what was more important for the griffons in general alongside with what was to be focused on first but eventually we came to an agreement of sorts.

"Alright Eraclea, we are going with the fishery project will be an experiment to see where it is a viable means of long-term benefit towards a local area. Now we just need to find a suitable location for it along with the necessary funds and supplies to build it all." I said as I looked over a regional survey map around Griffonstone, and so far I saw quite a number of rivers to choose from but I needed to know which ones had fish swimming through them alongside with the ones that are spawning grounds for these fish.

From where I was standing, the river closest to Griffonstone would appear to be the best choice as it would help feed Griffonstone alongside any nearby villages and towns, but that same river is also running through a discorded zone so whatever goes through there doesn't always come back out the same as they go in. The next river that might be a good choice is the one near Feather Peak, a town of roughly two hundred griffons that is built into the side of a cliffside overlooking a large swathe of griffon territory. And then there is the village of Talon's End, a frontier village that sits near the Equestrian border with the river originating on our side and enters theirs, so if we build the fishery there we can assume control over it and if the equines complain about it then well, tough shit.

"And for the terrace farming project, although I loathe to think that we would ever need to eat what those grass eaters do, the farm can be used for the farming of wheat and barley for the creation of bread. While a normal farm is a bit harder to be done around these parts thanks to the forests, cliffs and mountains that dot our surroundings, those same mountains can be turned into a literal breadbasket if we put our backs into it and make it work." my princess said as she placed a talon on the map, leaving a slight dent in the spot where she thinks it will be a good idea to start the terrace farm.

I have no idea if that was a mountain or just a hill but if that is where she wanted to put that project then I can't really tell her no, and it is not like that she will listen to me anyways seeing how she is rather stubborn.

"And as for the new forges, they will be done here so we can keep an eye on them and see if there are any spies amongst our numbers. I know that bastard has several griffons and other species under his employ when I last saw him, and although we have imprisoned most if not all of them, a few were let off easy because all they did was act as messengers and spies, but the ones that were higher up in the pecking order are currently rotting in a cell along with their master. We don't know if Tazul had any outside influence with the minotaur or diamond dog clans, and gods help us all if it was the equestrians was the one behind this travesty." the griffon princess says this as we resumed our planning, and for now we came to an agreement regarding the payments towards our neighbors as tribute.

"We will continue to pay them, but the moment we have the means to properly defend ourselves and feel like we have finished paying our debts to them then we will stop paying them."

"And if they get uppity because we stopped paying tribute?" I said as I crossed my arms, wondering what her answer will be but I could already guess to what it will be.

"Then we will do what we have always done when a foreign power tries to take what is ours in the past. We will fight beak and talon to protect our home and keep safe what is properly ours, we won't let a foreign power dictate to us what we can and cannot do anymore." and with that satisfying answer we returned to working out what we can do to help the nation get back on its feet and rise above the ashes of its past.

All of this is simply the first step towards a brighter future for the griffons, an experimental steelworks, terrace farm and fishery will both set them up to manufacture their own steel and the beginnings of an unlimited food source. After that it will be the long uphill battle of modernizing their industrial methods, modernize the agriculture sector, literacy campaigns to educate the masses, build railroads throughout the kingdom to connect everyone together, rebuild and restructure the military, revitalize the army, rebuild and refit the navy, and lastly and possibly the most important part, create the air force and establish our superiority of the skies.

We just need more time.

More time and resources, five years at the earliest, maybe even ten or twenty years to get ahead of everyone else.

Sadly I fear that time is the one thing we may not have and we may have to cut corners or outright not even attempt some of the changes that is desperately needed.

But mark my words on this matter, I will make sure that the griffon kingdom is a force not to be fucked with, no matter who comes knocking on our door. They will have come to the wrong neighborhood, knocked on the wrong door, and was greeted by the wrong person, and by the time they realize their mistake, it will already be too late for them to possibly unfuck themselves from this situation.

With the plans created and approved by the griffon princess, it is now time to present them to the king and hope he approves them.

I sure hope to whatever god that is listening to me right now, that the king gives them the green light, otherwise I think this nation is doomed to go up its own asshole and fall apart completely.