First I have to say that it was a pleasure to continue on such great setup that Yena had left the game. I only changed couple of tile assignments to speed up forges.
I decided to go for Currency, because Optics is not enough to get anything really evil done on other continents

We better get our economy fixed first and I think we're heading to right direction.
Turn 1
Nothing else to do besides burning the barbarian city. We get a lousy sum of gold for it, but the pleasure is prize enough
Turn 2
Karma strikes back with this event. I pick the middle option as we were not working the mine and saving it would have cost a half of our treasury
Turn 3
Capital finishes a forge and starts a settler for that juicy gems site.
Turn 4
We get a great prophet, meh

. I'm wondering if I should bulb him for Meditation, just to piss you guys off

mwaha

, but ultimately decide to settle him at our capital. Shrine might have been a better choise in practise, but that would have increased the change for religion spreading. And I really have no intention to give our citizens that pleasure.
I also decide to declare Julius again, mostly just to amuse myself. Well, that also let's our galley to continue exploring.
Turn 11
Capital finishes the settler quickly with 2 forest chops and starts another one right away.
Looks like we're not completely hopeless on techs. Nothing that little trading wouldn't fix later.
Turn 18
Old Sarai settled. We already have an army of workers ready to farm the rice. Let's try to get those gem mines online asap.
Turn 20
I'll close my turns by leaving a keshik and Julius's former worker in a tight spot. Barbarian axeman and warrior are also wandering nearby, so if it seems hopeless, just execute these guys.
We also have a settler ready, and here's what I propose as our site. But should we delay settling?
Then couple of random notes:
Capital is set to max growth, but we should employ scientists back once we get the additional citizen.
Turfan could definitely use more cottages, but our workers were busy with preparing new settlements. Should be looked as soon as possible.
I also started couple of more keshiks, but no hammers are invested.
I would continue to Code of Laws, courthouses would be helpful.
Good luck
