Having successfully become the Amani chieftain, Zul'ra Jin felt that he had even less free time than during his two years in Jintha'Alor. The Amani stood at a critical crossroads of reform, with too few capable hands and far too much to do.
A simple meeting alone could never solve all of the Amani's problems. The tasks Zul'ra Jin assigned to Dakkalai, Haimuxi, Maki, and the others were merely a way to identify those problems.
The first to come looking for him were the old priests responsible for the census. They complained to Zul'ra Jin that the task was impossible to complete. They lacked organizational ability; their method of taking a census was simply going door to door and counting heads, but the more they counted, the more duplicate entries they found, and the more wildly inaccurate the totals became.
"Starting today, set up several registration points within Zul'Aman. Then notify every commoner in the city to report to their designated location for registration. Record their gender, age, occupation, and physical characteristics. Also, standardize identification markers and store them by district." Zul'ra Jin was not surprised by the priests' incompetence. The situation was genuinely complicated; the Forest Trolls' population-counting methods were too primitive to keep up.
"But we don't have enough people. We may not even have enough hides or stone tablets to keep records on," the priests said, looking troubled.
"I'll assign a group of people to assist you. As for recording materials, carve them onto bamboo strips and wooden boards. Make two bamboo slips for every person: give one to them and keep the other. Use them to count and preserve population records. Be sure to sort them by area so they'll be easy to use for future mobilization." Zul'ra Jin had prepared for this and gave them