[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs. [X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
The enemy camp is peculiar to you. It lies on a small, riverside hill, consisting of a number of huts, built of mud and sticks. The pseudo-tents seem to be built in a vague circle around a central fireplace, and one of the huts is larger than the others, otherwise showing no particular differentiation between them. A small pier is built of sticks arrayed into something resembling a broad plank, resting on long, thick poles of wood, speared into the riverbed below. Several rafts are tied to the poles, by way of thick rope, likely made to resist the currents and erosive force of the water. Some place down the river, you see a mysterious wooden structure standing in the water.
So pretty conventional, and interesting fisher tribals. Interesting how Fire Defeats-Many calls their home a camp. We know it's actually a village but it is quite cool to see how quickly the word for "village" is falling out of use on the Long Journey. The village's location is important because the river likely floods and that hill it sits on almost certainly lies above the flood line by dint of experience. We also have some simple huts, in a very very very common style. They probably look something like these:
That pier they have likely floats upwards when the river floods, I believe modern piers will do that in some places. Also, rope! They have rope! Amazing stuff you can do with rope, as shown here, and it also obviously becomes a major component in major workings of physics and engineering later. They probably make it out of plants gathered from the river bank which have their fibers beaten or pulled out and woven together by the women and children and men(when home).
I'm not sure what the mysterious structure is. Possibly a dam or a river boat? I dunno. Could also be a tower to anchor nets to or an artificial sand bank facsimile.
The drums beat, and the black-headed men of the Land of the Gods have taken to half-running; they are led by fearsome Lugalkam with his long spear in hand. You run in a looser formation in front of them, obscuring them totally, turning what would seem like an organized attack from the front into a disarrayed mob of stone-slingers, spear-throwers and hunters; an illusion, but a convincing one. You, yourself lead the hunters, first among them all in a loose formation, bearing a javelin in your throwing hand, and several more in your other.
As the first, confused heads begin to show themselves outside their huts, they quickly call alarm, in some strange tongue, that sounds neither like that of the black-headed people from the Land of the Gods, or your own. They wield fishing spears, bidents and tridents; instruments of hunting like your own, rather than the dedicated instruments of murder, wielded by the people from the Land of the Gods. They take a formation, not unlike that of your current allies, forming a block consisting of rows and rows of spears, although lacking in the rectangular shields that seems to allow the Godlanders to become like a moving wall.
For a few moments, there is, nothing but for the occasional shout thrown your way, or in return. There is nothing, but raving and hollering, seeking to intimidate the enemy, to break their morale and make them flee, to make them chaff to be cut down, rather than an opposing force. Time has slowed down, and were you not in control of yourself, the demon sealed in the mask might overtake you and make you scream and rage at them, You can see their faces from here, how pupils dilate, and beads of sweat form on foreheads, how knuckles turn white, gripping spears meant for fishing.
Nice, drum signalling. Also, excellent use of misdirection and goes to show how much luck and planning both can go into even raiding. Now a thing about javelins in this age they are maybe stone tipped at best and the shafts are going to maybe be as thick around as your thumb and a warrior like Fire will probably carry somewhere more than five of them in his "off hand".
*claps hands* So! Fishing pokey things! We all know what a spear is, and in this case it can be as simple as a whittled stick scraped of bark and possibly wrapped in sinew where you grab it most. There are also possibilities of having it be hooked, through some carving, though I don't know if that was commonly used.
Bident's though are something very specifically for fishing. Their purpose is to pin the fish on the bottom, or catch them on one tine and then have them stab themselves on the others with their thrashing. A common way to make a bident? Take a stick with a Y prong on the end, you know the type, strip the bark and then sharpen the bugger with a stone. Another way is to take a fishing spear and wrap a smaller sharpened stick on the end with sinew which is soaked. As the sinew dries it shrinks if I remember my leatherworking(from my dad) right.
A bident is also not far off from a primitive fork. A common utensil made of wood is a small carved wooden two pronged fork like a steak skewer for your barbecue. Same use really, cept with a bident it's for stabbing food that's still moving.
Tridents are the same sort of thing as a bident, but for bigger fish if I recall properly. They can be made by finding a three pronged stick, which will probably be a bigger stick and or tying smaller sharpened sticks with sinew to a singular spear.
Fire hardening is also a big thing for these. It makes the points harder and dries the wood, making it contract which I think lightens it as the water weight evaporates? Sharp animal bones like Fire's tusk spear can also be done and used. Bone is quite a good material when treated properly.
Anyway, one thing I find interesting is the lack of nets used in fighting. If they have rope then they can make nets which will be useful if we are ever by a river and know how to make them.
We also scared the shit out of these poor people. Up till now they might have thought it was simply another raid by the Black Hairs, but then they see that the Black Hairs somehow literally summoned demons who cannot be hit and who's darts strike with terrible accuracy, led by a massive furred demon beast with a terrible roar. At least that's what the river folk would see. One things masks do is make it hard to keep track of numbers if they are all similar. This means the illusion of invincibility can be maintained because the demons just come back if you stab them or brain them with a rock if you do things right.
That we came at dawn is not helpful, everybody was probably in the middle of breakfast.
Then we peel off and reveal the Oh Fuck which is Lugalkam. From what I can gather the formation the fishers took was likely adopted from fighting Lugalkam's people over time, and they would usually rebuff raids because of superior numbers(being twice the size of Lugalkam's retinue).
The women that lived in the village, seem to have retreated completely, either huddling inside the houses, or taking rafts to flee with children, or some even joining the battle from afar, pelting you with a hail of objects. While their contribution is slight, their participation troubles you, for you know well that it is a breach of the sacred wisdom of the ancestors of the ancestors to lay hand on a woman with violent intent, lest one risk to be devoured by a wolf and have one's soul spat out at the feet of the Lonely Ancestor.
This little bit is so intriguing. I have no idea what to make of it. I honestly don't really know how that belief might have come about besides common sense that angry women are scary?
A scream of triumph, a roar of success. With a mighty heave, Lugalkam separates head from body, on some man in the middle of a shout, who must have been their leader, and you can see the already falling morale of the fishers break and shatter, like clay pottery dashed against the ground. Now comes the next part, the encircling, the looting, the taking; running at the speed which only hunters can, and bolstered by the demons that are with you, for they taste blood, and they have feasted, you encircle the place, cutting off exits and leading those who did not manage to flee into the center of the settlement. Those who managed to flee are pursued by younger hunters, either with the intent to capture, or to slay, for there is not much glory in the slaying of those who flee, but a hunt is a hunt.
Of major note, this battle was glorious for our people and it seems Lugalkam's. How we did this will influence how we see what is glorious and what is not.
Lugalkam goes to search within the buildings, and returns a few moments later, followed by a woman of descent reminiscent of his own, although her eyes are more slanted, and her clothing is of better quality, stained as it is. She wears a lavender gown, covering her left arm and hanging loosely down her body, but leaving her right arm, neck and shoulders free. Her hair is done up with elaborate jewelry, although it has been ruffled significantly. She wears bracelets around her wrists, and sandals on her feet, like the other people of the Land of the Gods. Realizing that this is the first woman from the Land of the Gods that you meet, you introduce yourself with a greeting that Lugalkam has taught you, internally amused greatly with yourself over her shocked look at your knowledge of their tongue.
Noble breeding, interesting. Also good to see the sense of humor. It's a good one to have, for it encourages cleverness.
So what we can see from this particular exchange is that these women priests are of some high authority in Lugalkam's culture. Which makes sense since they are emissaries of the gods, the particular god the woman supports obviously being determined by the city she is born in or raised in and serves under. Her god sounds almost biblical, like Moloch. Also very interesting take on property and fealty and devotion. She is not her own woman, she is Merthoch's. He owns her loyalty, oath, personage and spirit. The Abyssal Seawater sounds like some kind of Flood Myth, in which case these people have a loooooooong oral memory. For some perspective, we don't really remember it.
The leader of soldiers marrying a priestess is not something I've ever seen before, and speaks evidently of Lugalkam's motivation here. We were helping him rescue his sweetheart. I'm not sure what this particular practice evolved from, I would guess some ancient raiding practices of women taking mixing with woman priests. Potential indication of a military coup at some point? *shrug* Dunno. I think the role it stands now is to give the warrior men a link to the gods so that they feel connected to the divine and that their spiritual needs are met, so that they believe that their families are receiving proper blessings so they don't die. More materialistically it means they also have access to a lever of their societies probable forum which means they feel like if there is a problem, their complaints can be heard by whispering to their wives who whisper to their superiors who whisper to whoever runs the cities.
[ ] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[ ] Chains - The men may be taken with you, and set to work for you, making them servants and slaves. Lugalkam has explained to you, how a woman in the Land of the Gods, may become property, so could men and women not become the same to the Kin to Air?
[ ] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
[ ] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[ ] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
Life is very normal for this time and these societies. Every group of people here is pretty solid for doing this sort of thing except possibly the Kin's. And well, as a side effect? You might have women throwing themselves at the men who conquered their people so they have a family structure of some kind so they can live. Because an iron clad rule in this time is that people without family structures die horrible horrible deaths of deprivation. Also here, family is super important. By taking their blood we make them Kin. They have the privleges of the Kin, our traditions and practices apply to them. Yes their life will be different and harder, but in large part they will go on. I doubt Lugalkam will have much issue with us taking this.
This one is pretty huge, since it basically makes them Family. With a big fat capital F.
He says that he only wants to retrieve the stolen goods, and make off with the priestess before it is discovered that she is gone, for if that were to happen, she could be declared "huarthum", which you don't understand, even after several explanations; how could a woman be like a rock or a stick or a hut?
So Life is probably fine. Also for Life? It means Fire Defeats-Many gets a wife, because I don't think he has one right now. Ick I know.
Chains is interesting, though I don't think we have the right society yet to have proper slaves who are also nomads. The Arabs did stuff like that, but they generally had defined territories and moved in predictable patterns while we are moving in a Long Journey. I am also not sure if it will offend Lugalkam. I don't think it mixes well with Life for what should be obvious reasons.
Land is not something I am interested in. And the simple reason for that is that Land is something the Kin is letting go of and I want that transition to complete. More practically, this is not the Land For Us. It is still suffering under The Hand of Drought. Just look at how our supplies lasted as we traveled through it. No, while the river is nice it is too close to the valley and might turn on the tribe as well as the drought continues. Better to continue on.
Riches, I would like to take, but I think they actually belong to Lugalkam based on that quote I had about stolen goods so I think it better to leave those to him. Best not to bug him about those I think.
That leaves Sacrifice. I'm not entirely sure what is the enemy here. I'm also not sure at all how Lugalkam will react to us killing the enemy and laying them out for the scavengers ritualistically(I.e human sacrifice of a kind). I don't think it's the women and children since it isn't mutually exclusive with Life. It also sets a protocol of deference and thanks for great battles, a form of humility and thanks for the great victory. Could also evolve into an attempt to not make the Lonely Ancestor lonely? Push him towards a death god type deal?
Not sure.
Out of them all... uh
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
This one for sure.
I'm tempted to request Lugalkam speak of us so that we are known to his blood and the blood of his compatriots, so that respect and acclaim may be shared between them and the Kin.
E: Right, after thinking of stuff I decided to just write something in. Let's make ourselves legends.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jul 17, 2018 at 2:47 PM, finished with 277 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
[X] Chains - The men may be taken with you, and set to work for you, making them servants and slaves. Lugalkam has explained to you, how a woman in the Land of the Gods, may become property, so could men and women not become the same to the Kin to Air?
[X] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jul 17, 2018 at 3:10 PM, finished with 279 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
[X] Chains - The men may be taken with you, and set to work for you, making them servants and slaves. Lugalkam has explained to you, how a woman in the Land of the Gods, may become property, so could men and women not become the same to the Kin to Air?
[X] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
I think even the ancestors would nod with approval when our fame and stories travel into other clans.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
Let the tales of the Kin of Air be carried beyond memories of Ancestors and into the halls of legend.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
Don't get distracted by the write-in just because it seems interesting. Having bling is the only thing that really matters in the world. Better than becoming a bunch of glory hounds.
Don't get distracted by the write-in just because it seems interesting. Having bling is the only thing that really matters in the world. Better than becoming a bunch of glory hounds.
He says that he only wants to retrieve the stolen goods, and make off with the priestess before it is discovered that she is gone, for if that were to happen, she could be declared "huarthum", which you don't understand, even after several explanations; how could a woman be like a rock or a stick or a hut?
That's not really the point of the issue. The fact is that there is some of it which probably is and that's hard to sort out when it's right after a battle and tempers are still high.
I'd really rather not have a stupid argument escalate. That'd just suck.
That's not really the point of the issue. The fact is that there is some of it which is and that's hard to sort out when it's right after a battle and tempers are still high.
I'd really rather not have a stupid argument escalate. That'd just suck.
There's fourty of them to our thirty and if a fight breaks out we are literally in the middle of them. This a bad idea.
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jul 18, 2018 at 8:48 AM, finished with 292 posts and 19 votes.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
[X] Chains - The men may be taken with you, and set to work for you, making them servants and slaves. Lugalkam has explained to you, how a woman in the Land of the Gods, may become property, so could men and women not become the same to the Kin to Air?
[X] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
Thinking on it a bit further, I am actually a bit hesitant on taking Life. We chose matriarchy as our ruling and this may reduce that.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
Thinking on it a bit further, I am actually a bit hesitant on taking Life. We chose matriarchy as our ruling and this may reduce that.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
If we were taking them as property like the men in Chains, then we'd be pushing against matriarchy for sure. In this case it is making them family, which is basically everything in our society. The foreign women themselves may have slightly lesser standing in themselves but their children, already living, and children who come later would very likely have completely equal since they really are Kin to Air just like Fire Defeats-Many is. Those children would be fully capable of becoming part of the councils if they are women.
Also as an aside, the knowledge of the spirits and life-lore that the foreign women have will also be listened to, examined, debated on and integrated into ours.
And now here I go into something else entirely!
It's interesting when you begin to consider the varieties of societal power, the varieties of personal power and familial power, and martial power. All different forms of it and each with their own varieties. Like described in the informational tabs on our civ the elderly matrons hold power in our civ by literal case of them raising most of the people in it at any given time. Most folks are a bit unwilling to gainsay their parents, and the same applies to Fire Defeats-Many and the other warriors. Their moms are on the council most likely, or their grandmothers.
Life experience is also a massive marker of import because it means you've seen super important shit like what plants are dangerous, what marks what for the weather and where the tribe has gone before and found good hunting. Women in the Kin to Air are... sort of invested with a sense of import and respect. See this quote here:
While their contribution is slight, their participation troubles you, for you know well that it is a breach of the sacred wisdom of the ancestors of the ancestors to lay hand on a woman with violent intent, lest one risk to be devoured by a wolf and have one's soul spat out at the feet of the Lonely Ancestor.
As also mentioned in the same update their... the reason they are listened to in our society is that they are the repositories of wisdom and authority. That's the bigger thing. People have the power of choice and can make their own decisions but the council provides counsel and advice. They also raise the small children by immersing them in stories and lore of the tribe shaping the general sort of responses a person will have when faced with a situation. If that situation is similar to one of the stories they know, they will likely default to a similar response as was had in that story or metaphor.
One of these responses is the respect of wisdom and age for the reasons I have mentioned before. If you have a question about life, the mothers and grandmothers can likely answer it. This is huge, in any time. Especially when you are growing up and trying to figure out what the world is about. They are not the repository of all skills however, but cultural skills, behavioral skills and interaction are all under their purview and what I mean by "life".
And then outside of matters of counsel, you have another role for with the women. That of Intercession. As has been shown in every society we have interacted with in more than stabbing, there is a class of people who are Intercessors. They who place themselves, or are placed, between the mortal personage and the spiritual realm, realm of the strange unknown. Observe as the first piece of evidence: Air herself and the reading of the signs in the valley before the Great Journey started. In the minds of the Kin Before They Were Kin Air and her council were communing with strange knowledge and the signs, interpreting them, and then Air tells them what they must do in her role as the bridge between one realm of being and another.
Another huge piece of this is the elder matrons interacting with the Spirit Stones. That is a case of them and Air herself, interceding and placing themselves between the tribe and the depredations of any demons who lived in the stones in the minds of the tribe. Actions of cleansing, protection and negotiation with the spirit realm are all part of this concept. The concept of Intercession is one where the people who are Intercessors appease or drive away the frightening and powerful things in the realm of the strange unknown. This is especially apparent in very old stories about spirits and divinities where they needed to be appeased instead of entreated or other states. Their default states were terrifying and angry or otherwise requiring of some method of respect(as with our ancestors of ancestors, who smite you if you behave counter to their teachings).
A very very big indicator is the sort of thinking in our Godlander folks over there. Their gods must be appeased and are generally very rude boy's and girls. And this thinking won't change for quite some time. I'm not sure of what civilizational factors will start having you transition away from this, but getting post Bronze Age is definitely a big part of it. Benevolent divinity is not a common thing before then, if at all from what I can recall.
As a fun little aside, after talking with Manus some and having him point me to Grimm's Law and the associated sound shifts I come to find out two important things. One, Merthoch is Marduk. Patron god of Babylon, or in this case Pepilun. So we are somewhere north of the Euphrates valley. This river we walk along is likely leading to it and the valley we hail from was likely a smaller pocket valley north of the main one. Based on the use of copper and such I would also contend that we are somewhere near the Jemdet Nasr period of 3100 to 2900 BC. The latest we could be is the 5.9 kiloyear event and the end of the Ubaid period I think.
Our friends here are Akkadians who are the ancestors to the Babylonians. I was rather surprised when I figured this out. Based on looking at things, I think we are headed for whatever equivalent to the Black Sea exists in this world.
*puffs out a breath* Done now.
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jul 19, 2018 at 3:15 PM, finished with 302 posts and 22 votes.
[X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
[X] Sacrifice - The wolf is the destroyer of all the works of man, but today, you have become wolves and harried and slain many men. Thus, you slay the defeated foe and lay them together, in an isolated place, and send them thusly to the Lonely Ancestor, as thanks for your great victory.
[X] Chains - The men may be taken with you, and set to work for you, making them servants and slaves. Lugalkam has explained to you, how a woman in the Land of the Gods, may become property, so could men and women not become the same to the Kin to Air?
Okay people, I have an announcement to make. Two, actually.
First of all, we have a Discord Server! It is administrated by me, with aid of the lovely conscript volunteer @BungieONI. I will try my best to keep information asymmetry between the Discord and the thread to a minimum, but I will use the Discord to answer questions, not asked of me here.
Secondly, I am imposing a policy on omakes and art.
Creative contributions to quests and stories are nice, and are also a way for players to participate in the quest without actually writing the quest itself. I would like to reward players for doing that, both because it feeds my ego, and also because I think it's cool if players use my quest as an excuse to grow better at writing or drawing.
There are three kinds of creative contributions, that I generally recognize, although these are nonexclusive, and if someone were to compose a piece of classic music for my quest, I certainly wouldn't complain, and would judge it as best as possible V):
Art: A work of art, is a user-provided and created drawing, painting or otherwise, which resembles or depicts some described aspect of the setting and story. I do not judge for quality (this is a lie, I totally do), merely the effort and time that has went into it.
Omake: Omakes are user-provided and created stories or snippets of writing, which are written from the assumption of taking place in, or relating to the setting and story.
Insight: Insights are user-provided and created snippets of insight into some facet of the setting or story, drawing upon relevant facts and knowledge in order to make a point of some sort.
Art, omake and insights can all be canonized, thus contributing to the quest and setting as a whole, by which they will be rewarded with permission to add new Values, Mythology, Ritual or Practices of the Kin to Air, or any other society. Even to go as far as letting a writer create their own culture, ultimately subject to my approval. A work of sufficient quality may be rewarded with a technological improvement. To create, or add one of the aforementioned, the story or artwork must emphasize or focus on the thing in question, to be added, after which I will evaluate it and make a judgement on it. All omakes, insights and artwork will be threadmarked in the Apocrypha category, while canonized examples will be moved to the Side Story category. In addition, all omakes, works of art and insight will be categorized here.
[X] Land - You will take this place, turning it into a place of the Kin to Air; huts, river, pier and rafts will all become yours, and you will own it as your own. You may use the huts, and all the things within them, for your own.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
Let's get materialistic, baby! Also pls no sacrifices?
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
[X] Riches - Some of the men and women bear shiny necklaces, gold-hemmed shirts and rings, and you have seen other objects of elegant materials, glitter and shimmer within the huts. You will take these, and make them the property of the Kin to Air, showing your victory.
The fire crackles and pops in a place with no name, red wolves and yellow foxes chasing down orange coloured prey-things.
It is a time of making merry, of the telling of tales and the sharing of wisdom. An old woman clad in white linen who speaks in a voice smokey from incense and the weight of a long life lived.
"You have all heard the tale of Air, beloved by many for quick witted sense and eyes clear enough to see the path ahead. But," she holds forth a bony finger to silence the crowd of youths, effortlessly cutting off a particularly boisterous girl-child who had opened her mouth in complaint. "have you heard of her secret child, born in the depths below to no father save darkness and rot?"
The litany of shaken heads draws a chuckle, just long enough to get them impatient again.
"Well, it goes much like this."
°^°
There is no such thing as life, in the dusty, musty depths of the World Below. Worms feast as only they can on the leavings of the living, last gifts and tethers of remembrance for the dead. It is no place to grow, and certainly not a place where life may be begotten.
Air, relishing such challenges, saw the silence of gnawing worms as reason enough to bring forth another voice to speak to.
So, she sat down and thought deeply, for many of the things needed for a child were not present. There was no water to be drunk or food to be eaten, no fire to be had for warmth, not even a male to lay with. She certainly would not choose one of the spirits trapped here, too faded and bitter they were, and any child of such a union would be much the same.
In her youth, her mother had taught her how to make a crude doll from twigs, a thing she had cherished. But, there were no trees to be found, no ochre to daub in place of eyes and mouth, nor even fur to take the place of hair.
Walking the length and breadth of the World Below, for the dead have much time and little purpose, Air found not a thing suitable that had not come from the World Above. Only the bones of kinsmen and kinswoman long gone, pale and white and long, and the rotting clothing of the recently passed.
Nodding firmly thrice, Air calls it a task suitable for her and sets out to make herself a companion in this place of grasping shadows and dry, lifeless earth.
In place of dry but flexible wood, she uses rigid and carefully chosen bone. She is saddened greatly at the amount of children's bones she finds, and firmly resolves herself to her task with the same purpose that had gripped her in life's warm embrace.
On greying stone she sets out pale piece after pale piece, starting with the largest and most vital and ending with the delicate bones found in fingers. On her half finished work she looks, and finds there is nothing to bind them together, nothing to simply stop the simplest motion throwing everything askew.
Thinking on this deeply, she binds the bones to each other using torn strips of funerary coverings, before finally covering it all in what clothing she could find.
A moon passes, Air's keen eyes looking for whatever could be missing, why the child of linen and bone on greying stone has yet to move, has yet to show life, when the thought strikes her as a bolt of skyfire does the venerable earth.
A Name.
What is a man without a name to call his own, what is a woman without a name to call her own? What are the deeds of their forefathers and their ancestors?
In a voice soft and sibilant, a tale is told in a world that does not acknowledge sound. It is a tale of life uprooted, of hardship having come and being faced with tragic choices, of a people who wander.
All the while wordlessly caressing the the bone child as a mother would.
The Kin of Air are all her children, and what kind of mother would she be to deprive a child of knowledge of their siblings?
A name passes her still painted lips from a trial long ago, as soft as linen and as brittle as sun-bleached bone.
Pale-As-Air, with a great inhalation of their namesake sufficient to be felt from the World Above, took their first breath.
And on their fleshless tongue? A question of knowledge, of tales of Kin unmet and a great loving cry for its mother.
New [X] Life - There are many women, who would surely make good wives for the hunters who have none, and there are children still, who can become Kin to Air too, by partaking of your blood, as you partake of theirs.
[X] Speak of Us - Lugalkam fought well and earned your respect. You would request he and his compatriots speak of you in great detail so that their blood can remember you in the far future should your Journeys cross again.
Its not THAT rare. The King ritually marrying the Priestess to bind the land/spirits to the people is a common pattern, and the leaders of soldiers are very easy King material because they already have that monopoly on violence. The Priestess thing could very well be descended from a Matron shaman tradition to adjust to changing times.
Overall, I like this omake, although I have a few issues with it (you randomly switch tenses from present to past a few times), but I think it's definitely enough for it to be canonized and threadmarked under side story. Tell me whatever you want out of this story, and what category it should go under on the character sheet, and it'll be done right away.
V):
