Dawnstar has a 0% unemployment rate

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[@goodenoughright5433]

I find it kind of funny that the one town with 0% unemployment is also easily the most depressing town we've seen so far

[@shewithwings]

kind of real

[@CallN0w]

No that’s standard really

[@matt-thorn]

Morthal apparently doesn't exist? But really, Morthal is a group if like 4 houses in the middle of a swamp, with a single relevant/interesting quest. I guess the jarl is an upside, but that's about it.

[@jacket2383]

@@matt-thorn apparently morthal is more interesting in the lore

[@Acre00]

Anyone that could have moved already did so, and now the only ones left are those trapped there

[@treeaboo]

Pros: 100% Employment rate Cons: Plagued by nightmares

[@xandertrell]

Nothing like a healthy motivator!

[@shorewall]

@@xandertrell Work instead of sleep!

[@SOAVGaming]

where there's 100 percent employment there's usually a understaffed workforce, which you see with business owners helping their workers. clearly this town needs more citizenry.

[@Cidiuss]

I mean, aren't we all?

[@kookaburra1701]

Also not one, not two, but THREE daedric murder cults! That's a lot of murder cults for such a small town.

[@fo-ef8qo]

"This isn't a happiness survey. it's an employment survey." spoken like a true bureaucrat

[@gaming-with-rainbow]

I looked at this comment not even 5 seconds before it was said

[@klaykid117]

Straight out of the imperium of man

[@TheMedicatedArtist]

Once you said “mining town”, I knew every living person would be employed; retirement in a mining town usually meant they died on the job or a they got a debilitating injury on the job and couldn’t work anymore.

[@fortniteburger8747]

Just like Fruki

[@seribelz]

I guess it also does not make sense to live there anymore so peple who didnt die move away

[@0730]

Jokes on you, I knew it from the video title

[@sleepykittyMMD]

or the ore ran out...

[@wildfire9280]

@@seribelz It would make sense to live in a mining town as someone unable or unwilling to mine… if there was literally anything else.

[@mantalex4969]

The only person alive to make bureaucracy both fun and entertaining. Fire him from the bureau immediately.

[@asiblingproduction]

Hahaha 😂

[@nonameuserua]

No, don’t, please 😂 it’s gonna spoil him, make him as dull as a regular bureaucrat

[@battlelawlz3572]

goated comment

[@fullofwish]

Unemployment rate up by one more person.

[@ea.fitz216]

Pro - The spirit of bureaucracy survives another day Con - Unemployment rate now >0%

[@sergioabrb]

I love how straight to the point they are when you ask them what they do for a living, makes the job way easier

[@ProfessorSnitch]

There is no trying to embelish it, like all of us do when we run into an old High School classmate. There is no "I work in the field of acquiring minerals and other base materials", there's just "I'm a miner". There is no "I work in the field of import/export, as a logistics specialist", there's just "I just pilot the fucking boat, man".

[@TheRevan1337]

It's a leftover from Oblivion where a bunch of NPCs tell you who they are upon saying hello to them i think x)

[@fareflight2029]

@@TheRevan1337And Morrowind and every other Elder Scrolls game. Side note this video format would be super easy in Morrowind because every NPC literally has a "background" dialogue option where they tell you who they are and what they do.

[@noahwakkure1870]

Flashbacks to Daggerfall

[@nightangelx1513]

Everyone: I’m exhausted, I can’t sleep, I hate my job, and my life is miserable Austin: Great so that means you’re employed !

[@the1misscinny]

The Dragonborn, ignoring the Daedric havoc on the town and chalking it up to overwork lmao

[@matthewbergeron3641]

It's also clearly overwork though. They'd just do it with an extra hour of sleep every night

[@LuckySketches]

Let's go! We finally killed unemployment!

[@LuckySketches]

Darn, it's because of fascism.

[@Satellaview1889]

What a mood swing, amiright.

[@klaojungwiwattanaporn6927]

Call unemployment Alesan's parents because they're definitely dead

[@user-rb3yx1bf6g]

At least the wagon trains run on time.

[@Fusseliko]

Fun fact: A 0% unemployment rate is actually a bad thing for Dawnstar. If you want to grow an economy, you need to be able to hire new people. If everyone already has a job, this would cause labour shortages. If, for example, the blacksmith saw an uptick in demand (maybe because of some civil conflict going on?), who could he hire to meet this demand and expand his business if everyone is already employed? The only way to expand his smithy would be for some other area of Dawnstars' economy to shrink. 100% employment makes economic growth very difficult. The Jarl would be wise to encourage immigration with land grants, subsidies or similar programs to encourage population growth in order to facilitate future economic growth.

[@RGC_animation]

Austin when surveying Pokemon cities: This person in a business suit made a remark about this port he's standing on, and working people would make random remarks about ports, and he's wearing a business suit, so I'm gonna say he's employed. Austin when surveying Skyrim cities: Is this person retired? They seem retired, ah, she literally told me she's retired, well that's good.

[@SpiritofLibegon]

Pokemon people are just so unwilling to talk about themselves. Bunch of unsociable pokemaniacs.

[@MenwithHill]

Bethesda cares deeply about the plight of census workers

[@ryang1202]

Kanto citizens beat around the bush too much

[@Lemonnitenite]

Maybe plus in pokemon you're a child, so people in the game don't talk about it compared to Skyrim where you're an able bodied adult (idk haven't played Skyrim)

[@dreamerofthorns]

"Working people would make remarks about ports" I... he... YOU'RE NOT WRONG

[@12isaac00]

6:49 Pouring molten metal without breaking eye contact, such a dominance asserting move.

[@reibarker9784]

I love this. I do think it's worth mentioning that there was only one child in the entire town. Dawnstar's future seems grim

[@dogdog357]

One and a half. The smiths are expecting, afterall

[@MsMtheory]

And a ghost girl 👻😂

[@dogdog357]

@@MsMtheory That's Morthal. I've spent enough time there and done that quest too many times to not know.

[@tonyhakston536]

to be fair that’s the case for all mining towns. If the mine collapses or runs out of ore, that’s it, the town is effectively dead.

[@BezoomyKoshka-ip4dz]

And it's a boy so he's probably just gonna grow up to off himself out of lonliness

[@moltenlavacore]

Never played Skyrim in my life but I think this brand of digging deep into one-off branches of video games that the devs clearly didn't intend you to think about all too much is my lifeblood. Glad you included the full writeup cuz god forbid these little guys go forgotten.

[@PensFan35]

You should play Skyrim

[@prizmatik8696]

You should play Skyrim

[@anttixz3797]

You should play Skyrim

[@The_Sharktocrab]

You should play skyrim

[@athenabrown3117]

Honestly it's one thing that's making me appreciate Skyrim a bit more, this and stuff like how the geography/geology of the map and its climates actually make a good bit of sense apparently are pretty cool to look into.

[@tylosaurking]

You would think that after a while a series like this would get stale, but this has to be one of the best episodes yet

[@Matty002]

things only get stale when its repetitive. thats partly why skyrim is so replayable. the structure will be the same, but the details change. like being a mage instead of a brawler, or being a thief and stealing from everyone will lead to different npc interactions. its why procedural tv shows were so popular.

[@DilesQueNoMeGraben]

Absolutely agree

[@pavuk357]

It is actually surprising for me. Even though many of these small to medium town are looking same because of assets limitations, they all are somewhat different as you stay for a little longer than needed to buy or sell some stuff and go doing your business.

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

@@Matty002 Although it doesn't change much and melee combat is super shit in Skyrim (well, combat in general, but you can have some fun with magic or a bow or as a big scary werewolf) so who even wants to play a brawler.

[@mariothane8754]

He knows how to keep variety going. That means he’s good at this.

[@oogliebooglie8796]

“Where are your parents, kid.” “They’re…dead” “Oh, Okay” The only appropriate response to lifelong emotional trauma

[@-_minttea_-5841]

"That's rough, buddy"

[@elijahcraig3477]

"Facts don't care about your feelings. Even if that feeling is positive excitement." That's a phenomenal line.

[@CesuraWhidden]

The triple "rest in peace Fruki" killed me for some reason

[@Kiloku2]

I bet he just recorded the three thinking "I'll pick whichever is best" and only decided on making it a joke while editing.

[@CesuraWhidden]

@@Kiloku2 Exactly why it killed me 🤣

[@bentpen2805]

Rest in peace CesuraWhidden

[@diamond_3716]

​rest in peace CesuraWhidden

[@Subjecttochannel]

Rest in peace CesuraWhidden

[@omatoxin]

Rest in peace Fruki. Rest in peace Fruki. May you rest in peace Fruki.

[@virdamofromko-metru1161]

Gotta also remember about the museum. It being freshly opened is an unusual sight in Skyrim due to civil war. Take the situation of Temba Wide-Arm of Ivarstead for instance - all of her employees have ran off to fight in war. A museum being opened might be a sign of town's economical growth as it attracts the tourists even now as we see with Erandur, which is further supported by Dawnstar being the only Skyrim middle-sized city providing transport service. Both mines working successfully might also suggest that people immigrate there for work. And the current political situation (no high king) as well as his time in office might be a better read on why jarl accumulated much wealth.

[@doughboywhine]

Erandur is far from being a tourist and Silus is most definitely having a midlife crisis

[@reibarker9784]

I can't see how the Museum turns a profit tbh. He owns the premises, which is good, but entry is free and there's no gift shop. It's also the equivalent of opening a 9/11 museum in Appalachia and being like 'my uncle flew one of the planes!'

[@Andyatl2002]

@@reibarker9784, you can theoretically turn a profit with free places because that still brings people in and those people go to businesses in the area like the tavern. If the museum is better this works better

[@lorehammer40k4]

There's really a Skyrim character named Temba Wide-Arm? Does he hang out with Shaka Wall-Fell and Mirab Unfurled-Sail or what?

[@Themokk55]

Quicksilver is just an old name for mercury. We definitely mine it on earth too. However the miners aren't using anything to protect themselves and the community from the highly toxic element they mine, which is probably why everyone is having nightmares.

[@pXnTilde]

It's just the local name for Elvish Mithril, which would be probably some sort of titanium alloy if it were a real thing

[@butcherpete2286]

"Labor is life, even if it kills you." "Hard work is happy work" So you're a Vault Overseer. I knew it.

[@Undivided_X]

Arbeit mach Frei? 💀💀

[@jinari1509]

It's not the best choice, it's Spacers Choice

[@seamusfinnegan1164]

We should keep in mind Dawnstar is a mining, industry, and shipping town in the middle of a war and could be facing the effects of a wartime economy.

[@Blackcloud288]

If only the developers kept that in mind.

[@YayMiko]

@@Blackcloud288How did they not? (No sarcasm, just curious)

[@neoqwerty]

According to Elder Scrolls Travels Dawnstar, this city has ALWAYS thrived on working people to the bone. It used to use prisoners for forced labour in mining tunnels, and those prisoners came from all across the empire.

[@lindseylindsey9200]

@@neoqwertyAustralia moment

[@wildfire9280]

@@lindseylindsey9200 “from all across the empire” Yup, could easily be any one.

[@joshtaylor731]

"There's spiritual honor in laboring" is such an underappreciated quote and has no business going that hard. I'm coming in to work tomorrow morning feeling a lot better with myself

[@julianlaresch6266]

This is what I tell myself as I roll out of bed and into my desk chair to begin work at 9 am

[@PrismGenesis]

I could be really wrong but I almost felt like that comment was ironic

[@randomb1397]

@@PrismGenesis I was thinking that too. Reminded me of the 'work is prayer' saying used in the animated film 'Wolf Walkers' to criticise misuse of religion to subdue and and entrap the populace into compliance and servitude.

[@katlicks]

@@PrismGenesis to some degree it's a way of saying "Well, it's a living" to excuse an otherwise subpar or even awful job, but at the end of the day, you gotta sweat to live, simply how living goes. We can work smarter and make it easier and healthier, as humanity has done since it's first usage of tools, but, the work still has to be done to keep alive, preferably with a quality of living that is some degree better than living in mud and scavenging berries and roots. One can both say it ironically (Soul crushing work) or optimistically.

[@Kidkid467]

@@randomb1397in germany „Arbeit macht frei“

[@haleffect9011]

Seeing Dawnstar, its a great example as to how 0% unemployement generally means that no one has any backup funds and no options for expansion of any industry. Everyone has to work overtime, and no one has any backup employees in case one retires or dies.

[@Robolewa]

I may have missed them during the report, but it seems like Dawnstar has very few children. I was hoping the Bureau would include that in its report, but as it did not, I would appreciate some elaboration on the topic. For instance, the potential consequences on long term sustainability if there is indeed an abnormally low birth rate. I was also wondering if there was any concerns the working conditions - everyone complaining about the need for more sleep - might be causing a feedback loop that is preventing sufficient leisure time for such activities. I appreciate any insight the Bureau can provide.

[@Janoha17]

There is one orphan, employed as a supply runner for the mines. And the blacksmiths are expecting.

[@Robolewa]

@@Janoha17 Ok, I did miss the blacksmiths expecting. I could only remember the orphan, so the blacksmiths will be increasing the number of children by 100%.

[@BierBart12]

I believe there is also an aethereal girl who "lives" in less than adequate conditions further uphill

[@jiraffe9600]

Well, needing to sleep more isn't due to overworking. Its due to Vaermina's nightmares.

[@The_Sharktocrab]

@@BierBart12 that's morthal

[@MarkTheMagnificent]

I always subconsciously got a sort of weird feeling, almost like an unremarkable and odd one, about the entirety of Dawnstar and was never sure why. I'm thinking now that it might be because there's so few people just enjoying leisure. There are no other towns in Skyrim that I know of where nearly every person is actively working and not just meandering around.

[@Hegataro]

There's also a big tower spewing nightmare goo up a hill from it, which is why they're complaining about getting no sleep

[@EmissaryofWind]

They also only have one child in the entire place

[@sergioabrb]

@@EmissaryofWind that child probably works too

[@EmissaryofWind]

@@sergioabrb he does

[@neoqwerty]

If we're adding the Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar lore into this, you are absolutely correct about your weird feeling: under Dawnstar is a vast tunnel network built by prisoners who were mining for gems that could "absorb evil" -- and could also transform people who used the gems into monsters similar to frost trolls. Oh and they tossed the prisoners in that tunnel system to rot, so there's probably a LOT of monsters teeming under the city, as those gems are also the only source of healing short of resting (which can be interrupted by attacks from competing prisoner factions who want to take the gems you've recovered/mined).

[@VeryPeeved]

I'd love to play an RPG game set in a fantasy sort of world where you play as a census officer travelling to various towns to take the census, and wind up getting embroiled in all sorts of local happenings along the way.

[@ohmygodbeats]

That would actually be amazing.

[@landon8214]

That would be fun to play.

[@Redhead-pf8le]

Initial goal - make a census Final goal - defeat God to reduce Heaven's unemployment rate to 0

[@christoffelsymbol1631]

Like "Papers, please"?

[@Niinkai]

Roleplaying in Skyrim or other Elder Scrolls games is really easy, fun and fulfilling. You can fill a character diary IRL or use a mod, and get past gameplay limitations with a little bit of imagination and creative writing, just like in the video.

[@CreamTheEverythingFixer]

What's interesting is Dawnstar is the highly productive despite the issue of people having nightmares bestowed by the Daedric Prince Vaermina, meaning if you were to remove the nightmares the already highly efficient and productive economy would only increase further. With the decline of Winterhold, it wouldn't be surprising if Winterhold is eventually subsumed into The Pale and Dawnstar's control.

[@Irisverse]

One might argue that the rate of productivity is BECAUSE of the nightmares. See the miners working well into the night. If you know that nightmares are all that await you, you probably wouldn't want to spend too much time sleeping, and while you stay awake you're probably going to want to find some way to keep yourself busy. Of course there's the matter of exhaustion, but as long as they get enough sleep to not hinder their performance in the long term, then Vaermina might even be a boon to the province's economy.

[@rowboatcop4451]

As Bureau points out, the system of governance seems to be keeping the 0% unemployment sustainable, but mining towns famously collapse with time as the resources run out, and that inevitably mixed with the more athoritarian governance leads me to believe that some kind of governmental overthrow is inevitable, violent or otherwise

[@HeyJinx]

Personally I'll be rooting for the anarchist miners

[@Sunlight91]

But the Jarl said he's been running the town for 35 years and he didn't look concerned at all about his local population.

[@Jh5kRadio]

​​@@Sunlight91many despots aren't concerned about their subjects.

[@Quetzietse]

Something keeping any sort of possible rebellion in check though is the old age of the working population: usually one needs a big group of disgruntled young(ish) men for a rebellion to take place, and those seem to be working more as guards&soldiers employed by the government. So any rebellion is likely to come as a coup, not open rebellion.

[@spicyfood6943]

@@QuetzietseI also can't help but wonder if the whole town being plagued by constant nightmares might quell the revolutionary sentiment among the populace a bit

[@TheBoomamatic]

I think one of my favourite aspects of this series is all the people in the comments buying into the theatre of it, like they're reporters at the press conference trying to ascertain further details for their columns

[@dasgelbevomei4739]

Skyrim is a true sandbox, so people will be sandboxing even outside of the actual sandbox. A meta sandbox so to speak.

[@ImNotFine44]

Meta art

[@VeronicaSipe]

“Often forgotten” I will never forget Dawnstar because of the mistake where a chest containing a merchant’s inventory could be accessed through the ground behind a bush so I would go there all the time and take all the stuff. #1 highly rated destination, would recommend.

[@queuedjar4578]

Little did you know stealing from that chest collapsed the entire hold's economy giving it a 100% unemployment rate in your playthroughs.

[@tailscrafted4968]

I love the subtle pen click after every confirmed employment

[@iso-kun1644]

"I want my crewmen to enjoy their work" I'm dying over here, these videos never disappoint

[@jasonkeith2832]

You should probably seek better safety/working conditions, or at least a job you'll likely enjoy more, lest you end up in an even less fulfilling job, like a career in private security as a guard.

[@connormoore8430]

It should be noted that the quicksilver found in-game is used for elven weapons and steel-nordic armor, and is proscessed in a forge. Being able to wear the armor and wield the weapons and not have them melt indicates that quicksilver is not mercury but shares the same name

[@phoenixbrothers5924]

not necessarily. Mercury is commonly used in other forms than liquid. Specifically when mixed with other metals it becomes quite hard. These are usually called amalgams. Dental fillings are a common example but other forms exist.

[@renaigh]

it does look kind of fluid in its ore form.

[@Fisherman4200]

I think its like high speed steel (better grade steel for tools to cut steel)

[@maxhay9098]

Similarly, Corundum is a crystal known for forming some precious gems like rubies and sapphires when around certain impurities. Since it's primarily formed of aluminum oxide I guess you could maybe melt it in a forge, but you probably wouldn't be able to pour a bar of it, because at that point it's just aluminum, not whatever bronze-colored stuff you get in Skyrim. Edit: lol lmao nm, corundum melts at insane temperatures (over 2000°C) so you need one heck of a forge to even try. I doubt even the Skyforge could do it.

[@YourWaywardDestiny]

Considering the only thing that operates as you think it might in-game is iron and food if you squint (popping a thistle branch into a mortar does not, in fact, help your resistance to the cold, for example) it might be safer just to say Nirn isn't likely to conform to your expectation of quicksilver even if they are the same exact thing.

[@takotratheratking7411]

You should do a """second visitation"""" of all these towns, but with every single quest completed. This one would change quite a bit.

[@hiddenleif6854]

I love that classic normal adult judgmental attitude applied completely straight to this high fantasy setting

[@xandertrell]

“Remember labor is life, even if it kills you” 💀💀 Things like this is why I always tune in, keep up the good content man!

[@pelinalwhitestrake3367]

Labor is life, comrade!

[@kiister8126]

This types of videos really makes you think about how bethesda made sure pretty much every single character in this game talk openly about their employment situation 💀

[@neoqwerty]

to be fair, that's just Skyrim honoring Morrowind. (You could ask literally anyone about their trade. Even the ghosts, who would humor you and explain that while they're dead and thus don't have a trade, would still tell you either what they were in life or tell you what a dunmer ancestor ghost does (which is to counsel the living).

[@Undivided_X]

Bethesda bad

[@arirahikkala]

Feels like a cultural thing more than a Bethesda thing. Maybe in a Skyrim made by a different culture, every single character would tell you about their family relations.

[@user-jr3zr2mp9c]

​@@Undivided_Xyes

[@jonahulichny9874]

@@Undivided_X off all the legitimate reasons to get at Bethesda, you chose this?

[@JackTheFoxVA]

I would recommend grabbing the pickpocketing perks that allow you to loot or give armor. And use that to mark generic guards you've surveyed, so you dont over or under count. In a in-universe sense, I'd say give them a helmet or a shield that is better than the one they currently have, so that they equip it. And then say that it is a promotional gift for participating in the survey :3 Edit: The wiki is saying that they will not equip new armor you give them, only armor of the same type they were originally wearing. Ie: someone who was wearing an iron helmet will only wear iron helmets you give them. But! It does say they WILL use any weapon, so long as its stronger than what they had. So you could either steal all the helmets ("If you could please take off your hat so I can confirm your identity.") and then just 'forget' to give it back. Of you could give everyone a very obvious piece of weaponry they wouldn't normally have. Like dwemer or deadric or ebony.

[@neoqwerty]

That's not cheap, I recommend Dragonbone (the bloody things are all over Skyrim, the Dragonborn keeps killing them and then leaving the skeletons right there for the cities to clean up) or seeing if you can get second-hand nordic gear the Dragonborn keeps pawning in Windhelm whenever they get back from Solstheim banditmurder. Guards seem to appreciate dragonbone and nordic weapon upgrades quite a fair bit.

[@screamingcactus1753]

@@neoqwerty Dwemer would be fine, Dwemmer ruins are lousy with scrap you can turn into Dwemer ingots. It would not be hard at all to craft enough Dwemer weapons to outfit every guard in Skyrim, even fairly early in the game

[@diytable6345]

if PC i'd absolutely just use the console, click on the guard, and type tai. they stop their processing and stand still. and using showinventory is another useful tool if you want to have god powers for the bureau. otherwise i fully agree. pickpocketing micromanagement for the win. dwarven daggers are the easiest to grab cuz you can loot Markarth's calcemo's dwemer research for a bunch of stuff smeltable into dwarven ingots.

[@Plant..]

Bing bong

[@BartholomewJelly]

I misread the title as "0% employment" and eagerly watched to see what horrible misfortune occurred during your survey. Still a great episode as always! This data is crucial for Skyrim's budget allocation for better economic health. Keep up the good work.

[@mcloons3891]

I'm pretty sure Fruki (or the command economy) is the horrible misfortune

[@thebanana4263]

The people of Dawnstar are known for their fondness of sleeping pills.

[@amethyst_nyx2768]

You've hit a very particular blend of overanalysis and humor, to the point that I'm super happy every time I see any of your videos on my subscriptions tab! I think I've rewatched these Unemployment surveys and Restaraunt reviews at least three or four times each. Thanks for making these and I hope you keep making more for as long as they're fun to make :)

[@MistaOppritunity]

I think what really sells it is the blend of overanalysis and underanalysis. There have been moments where I went, ok clearly he's played this game before. But he acts as if he doesn't know any of these NPCs, and like he is literally just some random guy taking a census.

[@skelemanbrie]

The restaurant reviews are my absolute favorite things right now

[@amethyst_nyx2768]

​@@MistaOppritunityI think one of my favorite little jokes is that he always refers to Argonians as anything but their actual race but in the restaurant series iirc he is an Argonian

[@cosmicblooper6264]

It would've been hilarious if the employed pop-up appeared next to that guard that did their job by jumpscaring Austin when he broke into the house.

[@pyglik2296]

I love that the result of the survey is directly in the title and I still watch the whole video for the process and the conference. Also, I would have never thought I'd get excited about a city with 0% unemployment.

[@Shuttlekilla]

I wonder if Fruki was the only unemployed person and just died to the elements.

[@daalimbe]

well, whatever the situation is, Fruki better be resting in peace.

[@LunaticKD1991]

She got fired. 😶 That's what happens when you get fired in Dawnstar.

[@VoodooMcVee]

Yeah, the others were probably like "The emplyment census guy is on his way, quick, don't let Fruki ruin this!"

[@Captain_Blackbean]

They heard tell of the travelling civil servant, and the dark wind he carries with him, the merciless report he leaves in his wake, and so afeared were they that they all clambered to shielding light legally definable employment, and thus were spared.

[@totesfleisch258]

I love how you always align the "employed" Sign horizontal to the side of the Head, its such a small thing but the Work you put in it is certainly appreciated for such a small little detail.

[@loverunriley]

i love this too! its so funny sometimes

[@SixthUsername]

Other than the harsh working conditions and the nightmare situation, Dawnstar is a really solid town. It's a port that is approximately equidistant from both major war factions' main cities, Solitude and Windhelm, which can both easily be sailed to directly. That means that they can easily get paid for supplying both the Empire and the Stormcloaks with heaps of metal. I imagine once a particular legendary hero comes and solves that nightmare curse, everything'll be just fine for this nice mining town.

[@ReconNite]

At the end of this series, you should go back through all the cities and help them achieve 0% unemployment rate by "any means necessary"

[@rejvaik00]

Uhh no you don't want a flat zero unemployment it's not considered a good thing in macroeconomics

[@tfordham13]

​@@rejvaik00why

[@williamjacobik7966]

@@tfordham13If new jobs are opened, who will take them?

[@tfordham13]

@@williamjacobik7966 people who want better jobs? People who need two jobs?

[@rejvaik00]

@@tfordham13 a zero unemployment means that you have maxed out the growth of your economy

[@duncathan_salt]

Quicksilver is an archaic term for elemental mercury, although it isn't clear whether that's the same in Skyrim. Mercury is typically liquid at room temperature, whereas Skyrim's quicksilver tends to be solid

[@SmileyBMM]

Perhaps Skyrim is actually colder than -37.89°F, you never know.

[@mandowarrior123]

It is probably Gallium, which will melt in your hand or during a warm day.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

@SmileyBMM if the rate you freeze to death in survival mode is any indication, I'd say it just might

[@MisterLambda]

It’s actually still called that in Scandinavian languages. German too apparently.

[@matheusjahnke8643]

@@SmileyBMM ... some places in Skyrim that are actually warm. Like the area south of Windhelm. There are hot springs there.

[@zshinabargar]

I love the idea of a labor investigator wandering through a town while ignoring the evil demon nightmares and the apocalypse death cult museum

[@williamredding8953]

17:08 "Quicksilver" is just an archaic word for Mercury. (à la old thermometers)

[@Banilla468]

This is excellent. Might we eventually be blessed with a meta-analysis of skyim at large? I am curious to know the occupational distribution of the country.

[@any_austin]

Correct

[@peperonypeperony7955]

I just received a letter from the Census Bureau today telling me to complete a population survey online. Very topical video. (Edit: I think Dawnstar might be the biggest Debbie Downer town in Skyrim. I don't think you found a single happy, non-grumbling person in this video.)

[@Halosty45]

I mean they *are* in the middle of a nightmare curse so I would expect them to be pretty down.

[@Acre00]

Eh, I'd put Morthal above it but they both really suck to live in. At least Dawnstar might get better after it recovers from Vaermina's curse

[@bornofthenight3871]

If you want counting guards to be a little easier, then there's a mod that gives unnamed NPC's randomly selected names

[@matthewbergeron3641]

This one is my favourite of your videos so far. Not because it was 0% or anything, just that your humor seemed to stand out more with the characters and the voice acted lines, and the editing

[@toewoe]

I called it. I knew that village was full of only upstanding citizens

[@ZackarySmigel]

You've come to Dawnstar at a strange time, friend.

[@enbyfabulosity2521]

A side note: Quicksilver is what mercury was referred to as historically! So it is indeed a real metal :)

[@sagacious03]

5:25 Winterhold survey hype! Looking forward to seeing the data! 11:07 Aww, I'd like to see a Happiness Survey. Once again great analysis video! Looking forward to more like this from you in the near future!

[@kaponos]

I spend a lot of time in dawnstar whenever I play Skyrim, primarily for its density of merchants and access to resources like ingots, dragonbones, alchemy ingredients, etc. It’s interesting that this efficiency I experience while playing is also somewhat explained by the setup of the towns economy.

[@chrismetzger6746]

The press conferences at the end of these videos genuinely feel well researched and informative, and funny while somehow rooted in reality. This one in particular takes the cake, well done haha.

[@RemixRick1]

I enjoyed this unique perspective on my favorite gaming universe's economy. As for whatever was going on with your agent's hair, the words "quirky, unique, and fun" come to mind...you have my subscription. I look forward to future reports.

[@w0wdonger896]

Would love to see this guy do a survey on the Imperial City, or Vivec from the older elder scrolls. People in them don't visibly work because they didn't have animations for that at the time but the sheer ammount of people and the complexity of the economy of these places would make the video interesting.

[@raditzhoneyham]

But then you have to be in Vivec. I'm happy in Aldr'un thanks

[@peter2996]

Balmora would be good too, I know hed have something hilarious to say about Caius

[@w0wdonger896]

@@raditzhoneyham found the redoran sympathizer, hlaalu guards take away his guars

[@neoqwerty]

@@raditzhoneyham Which of the curses of Vivec struck you first? Getting lost because you weren't informed that each canton has a slightly different door style, or Sheogorath deciding to prank you and leave you swimming after you suddenly became immaterial and went through a canton like it was a mirage mid-walk around the canton?

[@raditzhoneyham]

@@neoqwerty for me it was the fact the map displays each canton being in a different spot than they actually are, like one quadrant up and to the right. So I was completely lost, finally made it to the canton I was supposed to be at, THEN didn't understand how the doors worked or how the hell to get around inside. Just to realize each canton had a whole different area on a second floor

[@billmiller5445]

“Remember- labor is life, even if it kills you” belongs on a billboard

[@commondary9953]

17:06 the 'foreign' ore called quicksilver most likely refers to Mercury, from wikipedia: "Mercury is a chemical element; it has symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum "

[@pXnTilde]

No, it most certainly does not refer to mercury. It has nothing in common other than the name. It has much in common with mithril, found elsewhere in Tamriel; and likely is an alloy of it.

[@sunshine_tidings6983]

6:20, the timing of "you seem to being doing all the work, this guy's just hangin out," and the pan over to him literally just reveling with a beer is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[@CGFillertext]

1:46 He owns the quicksilver mine as a sidegig when he’s not running a biker gang, working at a funeral parlor, trying to steal jewelry from french teenagers, or being a detective (reference to Keith Silverstein’s other voice acting)

[@BJGvideos]

Or running a huge British energy company while plotting to summon an ancient entropy dragon

[@delirious8819]

cannot tell you how happy this made me to see it in my reccomendations just now. ive been binging these vids for awhile now bc theyre genuinely just entertaining as hell to me lmao

[@EpicMatthew]

My headcanon is that Fruki had *just* quit her job at the Iron-Breaker Mine and Beitild, having a vested interest in Dawnstar being declared 100% employed, had Fruki killed.

[@girlsmode]

my eyes started to glaze over at the end like a true press conference, i love this sm

[@big_deez02]

this concept is truly hilarious. i've played this game so much and know all the holds vanilla like the back of my hand. but somehow this is still new and funny

[@baneoftechnology]

Truly, the census-worker build is Todd's true vision for Skyrim... It gives the player an excuse to interact with every NPC, a reason for NPCs to hate you on-sight, a drive to travel and explore...

[@casssaph2287]

Good video. A happiness survey could be fun at some point. Could also be interesting to compare said happiness to factors such as weather, unemployment, form of local government/economy, as well as comparing cities between eachother.

[@NebulousJ]

Mental health evaluations would be hilarious.

[@Lovyxia]

A happiness evaluation would be really cool, especially if you factor in both possible governments/jarls based on civil war results.

[@MarcusTheManiac]

Bro this is the first vid I’ve seen of yours and was not ready for that conference at the end lololol amazing work

[@nancekazoo8516]

The little pen clicks are such an immersive sound

[@pieisgood13]

Love these videos. It's very interesting to see how much the developers think about these things, especially comparing Skyrim to Pokemon or Delphino Plaza.

[@blazey51835]

Well that’s the thing, the developers typically don’t think of things like this. But I feel like that’s the beauty of it. As Austin has said before, details like this are a result of multiple things. Due to having a town and putting people in it, there has to be some sort of work for them to do in order for it to feel real, and that’s what’s so cool is because we can make calculations like this. Idk I’m rambling lmao

[@mrdocena8082]

​@@RGC_animation It's less about the genre/audience of a game and more about the need of storytelling. There's not much to say about the world/regions/cities of pokemon through its employments, just its overall dependence of pokemon and bias towards certain types/species (obvious one is the overabundance of Rattatas in Team Rocket). If anything, the employment of characters in pokemon is used as excuses for the writers to add tongue-in-cheek too-real jokes. The cities and cultures are already developed and won't be going away anytime soon: employment won't tell a player anything that they don't already expect from said cities and cultures. It doesn't help that what's truly interesting about the pokemon world isn't its present, but its past and future (oft showed by its legendaries and its criminal organizations). Employment in Elder Scrolls, on the other hand, paints the picture of an ever-changing world - of "regular people" trying to live in a single tenuous moment - when that very moment can be swiftly taken away or alchemized into something abhorringly strange. There's a lot of spotlighting of the past, but what matters more is what you can change about it in the present. Basically, Pokemon focuses on the past and the future - presenting their significance with present events. Whereas Elder Scrolls focuses on the changes of the present - presenting their true significance by spotlighting the past. Pokemon tells their story through god-like creatures and futile human attempts at change. Elder Scrolls tells their story through humans becoming god-like to weave an ever-changing tale. These two approaches to world building are parallel and rarely ever touch. Employment benefits one, but not so much the other.

[@BoldCaster]

Rest in peace, Fruki.

[@ganymedemlem6119]

This was fantastic and the press conference at the end, the details of the report, were phenomenal. Excellent work!

[@smellysoysauce]

I've enjoyed your content (on and off) and your vibe and your personality since early eggbusters, I just subbed to your patreon and I hope you're doing well Austin! Glad to see you still at it. Your content makes the world a better place, things wouldn't quite be the same without it and I'm glad it's here for us all to enjoy. Thanks.

[@Will_._]

Im excited for the press conference justification for 0% unemployment

[@renaigh]

I guess you could say they've had a pickaxe in their hand since they were a Minor.

[@cheezy805]

Brilliant video. One thing I'd like to point out is that at 17:08, you said "quicksilver... we don't have on earth". Quicksilver is actually a dated term for mercury. Taking another look at the quicksilver mine with this in mind, the haphazard and ramshackle construction of the support beams begins to make more sense as life expectancy in that mine is probably nowhere near as high as the iron mine. Playing devil's advocate, it's easier to pass blame to the workers if they make a mistake and are caught in a cave-in or fall from a catwalk, but harder to say the job is safe when people die of kidney failure. Another thing to note is that difficulty sleeping is a symptom of mercury poisoning. In the case of Dawnstar, the town's sleeping troubles are caused by magic shenanigans, but I can't imagine living on a large mercury deposit and probably getting into the drinking water and maybe even plants + livestock being great for you.

[@WHTVRWHTVR]

Austin's commitment to keeping his comments mostly in-universe makes me wonder what a full surveyist playthrough would look like

[@x7Degreesx]

This series is weirdly entertaining and also very calming

[@a62260]

I love these episodes. Perhaps surveying smaller villages/settlements in one video would be interesting

[@brynnbriley4180]

It's excellent that you give the honorable mentions at the end. That keeps shit rolling and hella respectful to the supporters💯🙏🔥 Love to see it.

[@TheWavytree]

The unironic commitment to the bit with the report scratches an itch in my brain

[@JachymorDota]

I'd argue everyone is working way through the night due to all the nightmares they have all the time. I wonder if the employment situation changes if you do the Dream quest in the tower atop Dawnstar.

[@Kwauhn.]

Great video as always, Austin. The bureau is lucky to have such a pragmatic and dedicated pollster.

[@spacesharkarzul6069]

This was another wonderful video! I don’t know what it is, but your way of editing and adding real word sense to it is simply wonderful!

[@thanekrios8]

Why are these so good? Why have I watched like 13 of your videos today alone while I'm working? Great stuff. Keep it up.

[@eshasunrise]

It should be noted that, due to the ongoing Civil War, the Jarl has sent most of the young and sympathetic folk off to fight for the Stormcloak Rebellion, leaving most of the elderly and pre-employed population behind. Incidentally, there's much anti-war sentiment within Dawnstar, with local retired Legionnaire Brina Merilis (the only retired person in town) being actively pushed by most of the remaining population to become the new Jarl, and focus on mitigating further war losses by reigniting trade with the Empire. Dawnstar's low population and numerous political and health issues are actively eroding the pressure current Jarl Skald has been placing on the region. There is not any reason, however, to believe that employment or working hours will decrease after changing the hands of power. Instead, the end of the seemingly infectious insomnia plaguing the area may cause a period of rest in the population, shortly followed by a small increase in productivity. The primary concern is the lack of children. Currently, only one orphan lives in Dawnstar, who is orphaned despite receiving pay from both mines, and the only expectant mother working a labor-heavy job as blacksmith. It's clear that, between the militarism, ongoing health crisis, and complete lack of care for local children (especially as few as they are), Skald's current term has no concern for the long-term health of one of Skyrim's oldest and most potentially lucrative settlements.

[@guswautier9410]

At the end you said that quicksilver is a metal we do not have on earth but I believe that is a medieval name for the metal mercury.

[@gordonstein9803]

It is, but you might have some difficulty making an ingot out of mercury.

[@Janoha17]

Quicksilver may be what the people of Tamriel call aluminum or titanium. It requires a lot of skill to work in a forge, but makes high-quality weapons and armor when alloyed with steel and/or ebony.

[@pinglewingle1304]

"There's spiritual honor in laboring" Any Austin Hegelian confirmed

[@131scavy]

@anyaustin Quicksilver is actually another name for Mercury on earth, which was indeed mined and then used in silver mining, extraction, and refining. Large industries in Spanish colonial South America developed around extracting quicksilver which could be used to extract silver for export back to Spain.

[@rosieleaverton]

These types of videos normally wouldn't interest me, but your sense of humor is so dry and it makes these so entertaining. I love it.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

It's Austin, Anything he says in his deadpan voice is funny even if not intended lol

[@ShieniLicksOnLemons]

High employment rate is known to decrease crime so it is no surprise that the cells would be empty! Hopefully the priest called into town to help will be able to do something about the unhappiness of the fine, employed people of Dawnstar. I think the people are working through the hours of the night because sleeping only means nightmares for them at the moment, which will raise likelyhood of early retirement due to inability to work from burnout. The bureau and the surveior should be more thoughtful of having healthy relationships to work! Also, rest in peace, Fruki. Rest in peace.

[@sagacious03]

Super excited for this big analysis video! The fundamental twist the title presents is also novel, especially compared to typical premises in titles! Thanks so much for uploading! Might comment more later!

[@TheHighEmpyrean]

love how he says we don't have quicksilver on earth despite the fact that quicksilver is just a different word for mercury

[@omatoxin]

Finally, unemployment solved! No sleep! Just mines! Humanity truly only longs for the mines!