This is the time before the dungeons, before mortals made swords or learned the power of magic.
From a weak tribe, create a civilzation, one strong enought to left ruins to be delved by adventurers in the millenia to come.
You are nothing, become the equal of Netheril.
We all know the stories. Adventurers from a thousand kingdoms delving into dungeons dark and depths, facing countless monsters. They save the world, fulfill prophecies, and defeat evil.
Around them, powerful mages, the servants of the Gods, agents of eternal evils and, of course, the dragons, play games spanning millennia.
But what of the time before these dungeons ? When the world was young, before the first spellbook was written or the first blade forged, when the mortal races tried to survive a world of gods and monsters ?
You are a band of mortals, in such a young world, recently freed from boundage and trying to survive, below the notices of gods, devils and demons.
Will you rise to your full potential, and create a civilization able to face the danger of this world ? Will you fall and be forgotten ? Will you leave behind dungeons to delve for the brave souls of tomorrow ?
We shall see.
It is a night like many others, for a nameless people. Around the fire, kindled from the precious embers kept by the fire-keepers, they eat meager meals of roots and insects, hurdle together and share stories.
The stories of a people born of…
[] Vermines feasting on a god's corpse The vermines feasted on the result of an unplanned death, and where filled with might, mutated and raised to intellect. They are… -Hard to kill, their body empowered by divine energy able to survive and healed from blows that would have reduced to paste or crippled others mortals.
-Always Mutating, their bodies slowly, but visibly shifting from the uncontrolled power coursing their body. This is a people of all shape, color and size, able to suddenly develop immunity to a poison only to die from spontaneity manifesting tumors.
[] Small servants of a death god The servants/slaves/tools without will of one of the makers of the world, were suddenly given freedom and mortality by the sudden death of their lord, expelled from a divine domain like unneeded waste. They are… -Enduring, able to survive most illnesses and the passing of centuries before their bodies fail, a fragment of their lost immortality. -Fair, with beautiful forms and voices. Such things please the powers of this world.
[] Apes forced to live away from their burned down forests. Below the notice of all, through the slow process of natural changes and thanks to great luck, homeless apes were able to rise to consciousness and to the rank of the mortal races. They are… -Inborn Tool-Users, naturally inclined by their evolution to scavenge, adapt and use everything they can to compensate for the weakness of their bodies.
- Filled with Stamina, mental and physical. This is a people able to run entire days and work ceaselessly for their goals. The endurance of survivors.
But they do not know of their origin, lost in the mist of time and the endless wars the gods fight, their unity when making the world forgotten.
What they know, what they will remember until their nameless tribe is extinct, are their masters. Those that ruled them, protected them somewhat and used them as meals, tools or toys.
Those masters were…
[] Giants Brutish tools of the world-makers, shapers of mountains and rivers, the giants are now free from their duties. They hunt and feast, enjoying the boon of their natural might and size. They regularly bring over mortals to their camps, for the ease of having servants and snacks at hand.
More than all the giants like to eat, and for them the people of the tribe cooked, knowing everyday that their masters could decide on a whim that they would not be the roasters, but the roasted. From their bondage, your people have learned how to survive brutish beasts, and start with more Survival Points, used to hunt, make tools and spread over new territories.
They have learned the arts of :
- Cooking, how to prepare meals that bring joy to the soul and strength to the body, and preserve efficient food for long treks. - Firemaking, how to not simply gather and keep the fire of burning trees, but use the secrets of the firestone and the fire drill to birth fire.
[] Dragons The great flying lizards, born to shape the magic and weather of the world for their makers, they now spread beyond all horizons, each defending jealousy of their territories, the shadows of their wings bringing terror to all beasts and all mortals.
These prouds beasts enjoy power and feasts, but they enjoy even more things of beauty. For the cunning dragon, mortals are the greatest of hoards, one that can produce from raw matters more objects to join a dragon's possessions. And like all parts of a hoard, the mortals are at the mercy of the dragon's whims.
Your people were one such mortal hoard. From their bondage, your people have learned to find new shapes and forms each day to please impatient masters, and start with more Learning points, used to discover and master new knowledge and arts.
They have learned the arts of :
-Advanced Craft, how to make tools of stone more beautiful and precise than those worked by other mortals, and how to martel gold and silver into jewelry.
- Art, how to engrave and paint images of the people and their stories, keeping the past alive in sculptures, beautiful tools and painted cave walls.
[] The Firsts Those made to govern the unseen order of the world and nature, with bodies shaped like those of the mortals but utterly immortal, and souls filled with power, able to command the world with their simple thoughts.
For those beings, mortals are but ornaments, to please the ears and eyes, and never be on their ways, or else. From their bondage, your people have learned to survive the night-incomprehensibles games of the Firsts, and start with more Culture Points, used to advance their society and create new traditions.
They have learned the arts of : -Singing, how to communicate emotions and share stories through the voices, a pale reflection of their old masters' power.
-Hiding and Distracting, how to detect dangers, hide from it, be below its notice and distract it away from our people.
For many generations, the people endured under the cruel rule of their masters, knowing that they could destroy the people of the tribe without effort.
But, like the gods that made the world, our masters began to wage wars against one another, and our people could finally escape them, the old tyrants too arrogant to ever consider their well-cowed slaves could ever seek freedom.
From our master, we took something, a payment for all our sufferings.
[] Their Blood Our people were used in all possible ways by our old masters. As meals, as tools, and as toys. From the "play" of the masters, despite all the tears, we were able to steal some of the powers that flow in their veins.
Even now, each generation, a handful are born with traces of the master's power. Start with a minor amount of the master's racial traits and power in the tribe's population.
[] The attention of one of their God
They are stories of being of good in this world, who do not use or devour those weaker than them. Our tribe did not meet such beings amongst the masters, but one of their gods took pity upon us, and even now, sometimes we can hear the god's whispers in our dreams.
Some say kind gods prefer kind worshipers, no matter their might. Start with a minor amount of attention from a benevolent god of the master's pantheon
[] One of their lesser servant, now our first friends
The masters are not cruel only with mortals, but with all life, and our pain was shared by beings that could not think or use tools, but could feel.
When we saved ourselves, we saved them too, and now we will be companions until the end of the tribe. Start with one animal connected to the master as animal companions.
Now, finally, the stories of the past end, and the stories of now begin, for the tribe has reached a land far away from the masters, where we will be able to live free.
This land is….
[] An endless plain
There is nothing of interest to the masters here, only a great sea of herbs. The wise say this land cannot feed the masters or great monsters.
Life will be hard, but free from those that would crush us.
[] A forest with strangely few animals
Few beasts, no monsters. This land would be a paradise…if we did not feel watched, as if eyes looked at us from the leaves of every tree.
But the watchers did not strike us, and seem to only react when we stay too long in one place or take too much.
[] A cave-filled mountain, surrounded by a rotting divine corpse
Below us there are great battles, as monsters fight over the colossal corpses of the god. But here, we are below notice, above the battles, and with many valleys and caves to explore and inhabit.
Perhaps one day the battle will end, and the monsters climb the mountains, but until them we should be safe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My muse is unruly, and wants to be heard...
This is a story about all those civilizations that had to left behind the ruins adventurers explore. Go wild, and be the Netheril of a fresh D&D world.
[X] Plan: A Fae Beginning
-[X] Small servants of a death god
-[X] The Firsts
-[X] Their Blood
-[X] A forest with strangely few animals
One lost, nameless tribe,
escaped from the clutch of eternal lords, who bend lands and life with their voices and thoughts,
escaped from domain claimed, were the paths twist on themselves and the soil itself obeyed the will of cruels masters,
Now free.
In a land beyond the Firsts sights, in a forest were the trees dreams. In their blood power rightfully stolen, in their mind songs of wisdom.
May they learn from those lands, and may they rise far above the fate they were made to be.
No longer servants of a god or slaves to the Firsts, but a free people forevermore.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Somewhere, in the dense wood of the nameless tribe's new home, Blue Wind seeks food, his stomach grumbling, and his mind filled with worries for his young daughter, back at the camp. He remembers the child that grew with little food, when the Firsts were in a cruel mood, how they grew less tall and less bright.
Filled with resolve that all that is left of his beloved will not share this fate, he walks toward a tall tree, 10 times as large as he is. Around the tree, there is a vine, covered in spines, and on the vine, berries.
With utmost care, Blue Wind sings softly a song he does not understand, but that he hears each night when he dreams, and a hand of winds appear before him, moving according to the change in his song.
Slowly, carefully, Blue Wind send the hand pluck the fat, black berries upon the slowly moving vine, like a sluggish snake under the sun, and fill his pouch with them.
Until, suddenly, the vine strikes like a whip toward the hand of winds, breaking it apart, before loving itself back against the tree.
Blue Wind shiver, if it has been his hand of flesh…
But it does not matter, only the good berries now in his pouch. His daughter will eat well tonight.
Each turn, you will get different kinds of points (Survival, Culture, Learning) that you may spend on actions. When an action has enough points, it is completed.
Your points pools will renew each turn, and some actions will increase the number of points you get per turn.
You may also obtain Resources that will be needed for some actions and are consumed permanently when used.
Survival
Exploration, expansion, crafting and settlement buildings
Blood of the Firsts : The blood of the Firsts flows in our people's blood, and each generation a few are born with faint memories of the Firsts' songs of power, giving them minor magical abilities. +1 SUR point
Enduring : Our people can live many Winters, and few of them ever die of illness. As such, we have a long time to learn and become wise. + 1 CUL point, +1 LEARN point, reduce distortion of knowledge from time.
SURvival Point (SUR) : 6
Available Actions :
Map the paths : The people of the tribes must move to live, to escape dangers and not exhaust their surroundings with their scavenging. The young and strong could find the better paths for our travels, and bring us back in their songs what they learned. 0/5, +1 Survival
Find shelters : The people need places to hide from dangers and to sing unheard by predators. We should seek clearings and hiding spots in the woods, where our people can gather without fear. 0/5, unlock new actions, enhance tribe resilience.
Seek a source of stones : Without a source of good stone, we cannot knapp replacements for the tools and weapons of stone we use. We should find such a source. 0/5, +1 Learning
Follow the herds : There are few animals in the woods, but those that were brave enough to hunt in the land of the Firsts say they have found traces of herds. Finding and following those herds, hunting when we can and scavenging the beast that died or grow weak, will provide us with meat, skin for our clothing and bones for our tools and sewing needles. 0/5, +1 Survival
Stroke the fires : This new land is full of strange dangers, and like in the domains of the Firsts, fire could ward them. Our people should gather more deadwood and raise great bonfires, to protect us from the dark, chase evils and strengthen our spear with heat. 0/3, obtain Bonfires
Spread the tribe : The forest is vast, with many paths filled with food to take. Some say it would be wiser to spread the tribe in many clans, each with their own paths, so that they may each grow and that one strong blow does not destroy the tribe. 0/10, +1 Survival, increase tribe resilience.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a small clearing, the tribe rests and eats a meager meal, visage sullen and tired. None dare stay long or take much out of fear of what they can feel watching from the tree, and the tribe is forced to walk much and eat little.
And each night, they struggle to sleep, still feelings the weight of invisible eyes upon them.
Around the little fire warming the tribe,someone began to sing a tune.
An old song of the tribe, of Yellow Smile the trickster, how he lied to the First who thought himself his master, how he stole from him, made him fight with other First, and drank from the pound where the First stored his might, taking it for the people.
Slowly, people began to join the song, and to laugh.
They laugh when they hear how Yellow Smile convinced his master that he had found invisible clothes, and the First walked naked for days, or when he ate a nut, and told his master another First only gifted him the shell.
For the time of a song, the tribe forget the pains in their lights, and the grumbling of their stomachs.
This night, they will sleep with a smile on their face
Culture
Traditions, cultures practices and societal changes
Fair Songs : Our people were forced to learn of singing from our old masters, and are gifted with beautiful voices. Even as the Firsts forced us to sing of their glories, we created our own songs, of the pains of bondage and the hope of freedom. Now, our people can sing freely, and use songs to transmit our stories, share their feelings and bond with others. +2 CUL points, help communications
CULture Points (CUL) : 8
Available Actions :
Honor the Elders : Our people live long lives, and our elders are known for their wisdom and the many songs and stories they had the time to learn. As such, we should elevate the eldest and wisest among us to lead us and share their wisdom. 0/5, Develop tradition Elder Council, +1 CUL and +1 LEARN
Protect the Yongs : It is a sad truth that few of our childrens live long enough to reach adulthood, for they are weak and defenseless. In our time under the Firsts, we were forced to hide and disperse the young, for the First liked to take and use them, but now that we are free, we should gather and protect the young, and care for them until they are adults.0/5,+1 SUR
The Firekeepers : Since Purple Tongue befriended the bound fire of her master, our people have carried with them embers born of this fire, and used them to light our fire. The firekeepers that care for the fire and ensure light, warmth and protection for our people could be elevated, ensuring they will be able to take apprentice and spread their knowledge and song. 0/5, Develop tradition of the Firekeepers
Song Keeping : Our lives are long, but our memories imperfect, and for an elder at the twilight of their life, their childhood is but a blur. Our songs are how we preserve our memories and stories from the passing of the year, and those that can remember the most songs, respected. 0/5,+1 LEARN
Festivals : Songs are how our people find joys in their lives, and in the long, dark night, singing and creating new songs are how our people forget the pains of the day. It would be good if each year our people could unite in a feast, where the inventive amongst us would invent new songs and our best singers sharpen their art in contest against one another. 0/10, +2 CUL, Develop Festivals tradition
Offerings for the Woods : When we were under the Firsts, we used offerings of food and songs to appease and obtain favors from their servants, creatures of stone, fire, water and winds. We could perform such offerings to the woods around us, in the hope that those watching us can be soothed into ignoring us. 0/5, ???
Spite upon the Firsts : We shall never forget how we were used by the Firsts. Let us ensure that every member of our tribe hears the songs of how the Firsts took our childs and the most beautiful amongst us for pleasure, how they could maim a man for a gaze, how they forced us to sing without rest songs that made the tongue bleed. 0/3, Preserve hatred of the Firsts
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As the tribe sleeps, Red Twilight watches the sky.
She is old, and like many elders, does not need to sleep anymore, simply falls in a half-slumber where one cannot move but can see, and dreams with eyes open.
She remembers the time under the Firsts, when there was no sky to be seen, hidden by their power. For the first 250 winters of her life, she had never seen the stars, the sun or the moons, or the colored cloud and light of the godwar. For in the domains of the firsts, the light of the sun could be seen, but nothing else.
Now, in this new land, she try to use all she has learned to help her people, to understand the world around them, free from the will of the Firsts.
She was not blessed with any songs of power at birth, and knows her time in this world will soon be over.
So until then, each day and each night, she opens her eyes and ears, and tries to feel and understand. She opens her mouth, and sings what she can share.
Learning
Learning about the world, testing new tools and reaching new understandings
Hiding Art : We have learned from painful experiences how to notice dangers and powerful creatures, hide and live below their notices, and how to distract them away from us. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters and other supernatural threats.
LEARNing Points (LEARN) : 6
Available Actions :
Colors of hidings : Songs tell us of how the people of the tribe hide from the Firsts by rubbing the right soil and the right leaves on their skins. We could adapt the lessons of those songs to this new land. 0/3, Develop Camouflage
Plants and herbs : This is a new land, with new bushes and trees. The wise among us should study what grows here, and separate food from poison. 0/5,+1 SUR
Watch the Watchers : All our people can feel hidden gazes from the leaves around us, but we have no understanding of what those gazes are, for they do not feel or act like the Firsts or their servants. We could study those gazes, and try to learn more of them. 0/5, learn of the Watchers
Gather the Inborn Songs : Each generation, a few are born knowing songs of power, in a tongue we do not understand and cannot imitate. By speaking those songs, one can create a hand of winds, or guide their spear, or whisper a message without speaking to another. Who is born with those songs and with witch power follow no logic we can understand, but taking the time and efforts needed to learn all we can about them would help our people. 0/20, unlock Ressource : Arcana (ARC).
The Sky : We lived without the sky for generations, and now that we can see it, there is much we could learn from its movements. How to find our way, some say. How to know when a day will be hot or cold, others propose. 0/5, Develop Skygazing
Bark weaving : Now that we live surrounded by trees and with little animals around us, it would be useful to learn how to replace skin by bark for our clothes and sacks. 0/5, +1 SUR
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our people never had a name, for the Firsts did not let us have one.
We are no longer bound by their will.
[X] Plan Food and Shelter first.
-[X] SUR Actions
--[X] Find shelters 5/5
--[X] Stroke the fires 1/3
-[X] CUL Actions
--[X] Protect the Yongs 5/5
--[X] Spite upon the Firsts 3/3
-[X] LEARN actions
--[X] Plants and herbs 5/5
--[X] Watch the Watchers ⅕
[X] Freesingers
Many winters have passed, and the people have named themselves, they are the Freesingers, those that sing because they want to, and not because one forces them to do so.
They have learned to gather in the clearings and hollows of trees that they could find, where they protect their young and send the adults to gather in the forests around, until they inevitably need to leave.
For inevitably, the gazes from the leaves will grown in intensity, until they cannot sleep at night. Until the few birds that live in the woods stop singing, and leave. Until the plants that hunger come.
Blue Wind still seeks food, even if his daughter will soon be ready to go out with him. Normally, with what the Freesingers have learned, he can gather more easily, knowing what can be taken and what will poison his people.
Normally.
For this day he flee, heart beating fast. For behind him are bushes, seemingly dry and simply drifting and tumbling between the trees. But those bushes tumble without winds, and move almost as fast as a running Freesingers. When they reach a being of flesh, the songs say, they open like flowers and cover them in thorn-filled branches, ripping them apart and draining their blood.
Blue Wind know what it mean, when the Wolfbushes began to move. The tribe will need to move soon.
Before the Wolfbushes reach the shelter.
Survival
Exploration, expansion, crafting and settlement buildings
Blood of the Firsts : The blood of the Firsts flows in our people's blood, and each generation a few are born with faint memories of the Firsts' songs of power, giving them minor magical abilities. +1 SUR point
Enduring : Our people can live many Winters, and few of them ever die of illness. As such, we have a long time to learn and become wise. + 1 CUL point, +1 LEARN point, reduce distortion of knowledge from time.
SURvival Point (SUR) : 8
Available Actions :
Map the paths : The people of the tribes must move to live, to escape dangers and not exhaust their surroundings with their scavenging. The young and strong could find the better paths for our travels, and bring us back in their songs what they learned. 0/5, +1 Survival
Hollows of Birth : Some of the great, hollow tree we have claimed as shelters could be turned into place where our women can give birth more safely, protected from predators and spirits attracted by their blood, and from the elements and dirts by mats of dried grass on the soil and entrance of the hollows. 0/5, Hollows of Birth
Sanctuaries : There are shelters in the forest too small for our entire people, but safe and with enough resources for a few people. We could spare those places from gathering, and prepare them so that Freesingers that are too wounded or poisoned to walk, or the most vulnerable in bad times, can live in them until they can join us again. 0/10, +1 SUR, set-up sanctuaries
Seek a source of stones : Without a source of good stones, we cannot knapp replacements for the tools and weapons of stone we use. We should find such a source. 0/5, +1 Learning
Follow the herds : There are few animals in the woods, but those that were brave enough to hunt in the land of the Firsts say they have found traces of herds. Finding and following those herds, hunting when we can and scavenging the beast that died or grow weak, will provide us with meat, skin for our clothing and bones for our tools and sewing needles. 0/5, +1 Survival
Stroke the fires : This new land is full of strange dangers, and like in the domains of the Firsts, fire could ward them. Our people should gather more deadwood and raise great bonfires, to protect us from the dark, chase evils and strengthen our spear with heat. 1/3, obtain Bonfires
Spread the tribe : The forest is vast, with many paths filled with food to take. Some say it would be wiser to spread the tribe in many clans, each with their own paths, so that they may each grow and that one strong blow does not destroy the tribe. 0/10, +1 Survival, increase tribe resilience.
Keeping away the hungry plants : There are plants in the woods that hunger for flesh like beasts, and can rip our skin with thorns sharper than stone knives. We should ensure those plants, Serpentvines, Wolfbushes and many more, do not spread in or near our shelters. 0/10, Hungry plants keep away, unlock actions using what can be gathered from them.
Upward : Our gatherers have shared songs of how they have climbed on trees to sleep when away from the tribe and the fires, to protect themselves from the hungry plants and poisons that await on the forest's floor. We could spread this, and even in our shelters, rest high on tree's branches, away from dangers. 0/10, +1 SUR, Reduce dangers
In a clearing, next to the vast hollow tree where the tribe sleep and keep their fire, childrens sing the old stories of clever trickster mocking and stealing from the Firsts.
Those are the happier songs they know about the first, not the others, whispered by their elders in dark nights, that fill their dreams with terrors.
Around them, the adults listen, as they pack.
The Freesingers will need to move soon.
In low songs, away from the ears of their children, they worry, for their tools and clothes grew used and hastily patched.
The forest is not kind for the tribe possessions, even if the songs to forget hunger have not been sung in more than 10 Winters.
Culture
Traditions, cultures practices and societal changes
Fair Songs : Our people were forced to learn of singing from our old masters, and are gifted with beautiful voices. Even as the Firsts forced us to sing of their glories, we created our own songs, of the pains of bondage and the hope of freedom. Now, our people can sing freely, and use songs to transmit our stories, share their feelings and bond with others. +2 CUL points, help communications
CULture Points (CUL) : 8
Available Actions :
Honor the Elders : Our people live long lives, and our elders are known for their wisdom and the many songs and stories they had the time to learn. As such, we should elevate the eldest and wisest among us to lead us and share their wisdom. 0/5, Develop tradition Elder Council, +1 CUL and +1 LEARN
The Firekeepers : Since Purple Tongue befriended the bound fire of her master, our people have carried with them embers born of this fire, and used them to light our fire. The firekeepers that care for the fire and ensure light, warmth and protection for our people could be elevated, ensuring they will be able to take apprentice and spread their knowledge and song. 0/5, Develop tradition of the Firekeepers
Song Keeping : Our lives are long, but our memories imperfect, and for an elder at the twilight of their life, their childhood is but a blur. Our songs are how we preserve our memories and stories from the passing of the year, and those that can remember the most songs, respected. 0/5,+1 LEARN
Festivals : Songs are how our people find joys in their lives, and in the long, dark night, singing and creating new songs are how our people forget the pains of the day. It would be good if each year our people could unite in a feast, where the inventive amongst us would invent new songs and our best singers sharpen their art in contest against one another. 0/10, Festivals tradition
Offerings for the Woods : When we were under the Firsts, we used offerings of food and songs to appease and obtain favors from their servants, creatures of stone, fire, water and winds. We could perform such offerings to the woods around us, in the hope that those watching us can be soothed into ignoring us. 0/5, ???
Memories of Pain : The Freesingers remember the cruelty of the Firsts, each generation raised on the song of suffering of our people. It is said by some that those who put those songs of sufferings in their heart can see in their dreams memories of our time under the Firsts, born of sufferings so strong they are now carried by our blood. What could be learned from those memories ? 0/20, ???
Rites of Initiation : The young learn and play, protected by the adults. The adults craft, gather food and decide what the Freesingers should do. The transition between an innocent child and a responsible adult should be marked by rites and trials, to symbolically welcome the child into the circle of the adults and give them their first taste of the trials of adulthood. 0/5, +1 CUL
Honor the Mothers : Children are our future, those that will sing our songs when we cannot. As such, there are no greater duties amongst the Freesingers than to bring new lives in this world. Let us honor the mothers in our songs, and praise the fertility that allows us to persist and grow. +5, 1 CUL
Learning from Games : Our children play, they play the finding game, where one must find a shiny pebble in a pile of grass and wood without dirtying their fingers with the clump of dirt spread in the pile, the throwing game where they pass an overripe fruit between them without rupturing it and covering themselves with sticky juice, or the stacking game where they must make the tallest mound possible with thorny branches without pricking themselves. We should encourage those games. 0/5, +1 SUR
Will the child sing and the adults prepare, Red Twilight do her tests.
Next to the fire, in the hollows, she uses hot stones and boiling skins to boil and infuse roots and leaves, she crushes berries and mushrooms with a flat piece of wood and a heavy stick.
For many Winters, she had tested the plants of those woods on herself, learning those that could be eaten safely, those that are but poison, and those that could be made edible with the help of fire. For her age had accustomed her to act despite pain.
But now, she has grown weak, and has few Winters left for her tests. With a little luck, she will confirm the inner bark of the trees the youngs call the White Sticks can be safely eaten boiled, and help prevent the bleeding of the gums and the losing of teeths before she grows too weak to walk.
And her people have to leave her behind.
Learning
Learning about the world, testing new tools and reaching new understandings
Hiding Art : We have learned from painful experiences how to notice dangers and powerful creatures, hide and live below their notices, and how to distract them away from us. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters and other supernatural threats.
LEARNing Points (LEARN) : 6
Available Actions :
Colors of hidings : Songs tell us of how the people of the tribe hide from the Firsts by rubbing the right soil and the right leaves on their skins. We could adapt the lessons of those songs to this new land. 0/3, Develop Camouflage
Watch the Watchers : All our people can feel hidden gazes from the leaves around us, but we have no understanding of what those gazes are, for they do not feel or act like the Firsts or their servants. We could study those gazes, and try to learn more of them. 1/5, learn of the Watchers
Gather the Inborn Songs : Each generation, a few are born knowing songs of power, in a tongue we do not understand and cannot imitate. By speaking those songs, one can create a hand of winds, or guide their spear, or whisper a message without speaking to another. Who is born with those songs and with witch power follow no logic we can understand, but taking the time and efforts needed to learn all we can about them would help our people. 0/20, unlock Ressource : Arcana (ARC).
The Sky : We lived without the sky for generations, and now that we can see it, there is much we could learn from its movements. How to find our way, some say. How to know when a day will be hot or cold, others propose. 0/5, Develop Skygazing
Weave vines and bark : Now that we live surrounded by trees and with little animals around us, it would be useful to learn how to replace the skin for our clothes and sacks with the barks of the trees and the less dangerous vines that grow upon them. 0/5, +2 SUR
Poissons and cures : There are plants in the woods that bring illness to even our people, and that we must fear. However, some of the poisson fight each other, and can be used to help our people. With practice, our people could use the pollen of the Birdeater Flowers to lessen their pain and sleep better or Yellowfern to purge their bodies of poison. 0/10, +1 SUR and +1 LEARN
The leaves of dreaming : Atop hollow, dead trees, grows the Bluclimber, of a blue so dark it looks almost black. When the leaves of this plant are gathered, infused in warm water, and the water drinked, our people can dream awake, seeing many strange and wonderful visions. Our people are ready to climb for those leaves, and our wise to learn what they can from the visions they bring. 0/5, +1 CUL
The Trapmaker's craft : The Freesingers have learned of the dangers of the woods, of the plants that trap, strangle or glue to them the few, skittish animals of the woods to feed on them. Some of our people that have seen those plants think they could imitate them, and create traps to bring meat, skins and bones to the tribe. +1 SUR
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vote by plan, like this :
[ ] SUR Actions
-[ ] Action
-[ ] Action
[] CUL Actions
-[ ] Action
[] And so on
[X] Plan: FIRE
-[X] Stroke the fires 3/3, obtain Bonfires
-[X] Seek a source of stones : Without a source of good stone, we cannot knapp replacements for the tools and weapons of stone we use. We should find such a source. 5/5, +1 Learning
-[X] Follow the herds :1/5, +1 Survival
-[X] Honor the Elders : 5/5, Develop tradition Elder Council, +1 CUL and +1 LEARN
-[X] The Firekeepers : 3/5, Develop tradition of the Firekeepers
-[X]Watch the Watchers: 5/5, learn of the Watchers
-[X] Colors of hidings : 2/3, Develop Camouflage
Many Winters have passed again.
Now, around great fires, weakened elders share their wisdom, and brave gatherers have found knapping stones in cliffs of clay, bringing new tools to the Freesingers.
More importantly, the songs now tell of the Watchers, who watch over the woods. Off their anger when too much is taken from the woods, and how this anger watches the dangers and angry plants sleeping around us.
How their anger can be appraised by moving away, and their attention weaken at Dawn, Dusk, and during Winter.
And of their place of power, where none can walk unwatched, in the places where tall trees seem to reach the sky.
Watchers : The Watchers mostly ignore us
Yellow actions are new
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blue River dig in the chalky cliff, a piece of hard riverrock in hand.
Her father need a new knife for gatherings, like many of the Freesingers.
So she dig, until finally she reaches a piece of harder rock, and carefully dig it out of the cliff.
Then, on an old, battered hide given by her father, she put the knapping stone, and strike with a round, hard rock.
Twenty shards that can be turned into knifes, and a few smaller ones for lesser work. Its a good day.
Survival
Exploration, expansion, crafting and settlement buildings
Blood of the Firsts : The blood of the Firsts flows in our people's blood, and each generation a few are born with faint memories of the Firsts' songs of power, giving them minor magical abilities. +1 SUR point
Enduring : Our people can live many Winters, and few of them ever die of illness. As such, we have a long time to learn and become wise. + 1 CUL point, +1 LEARN point, reduce distortion of knowledge from time.
Bonfires : Our people build at each camps great bonfires to kept darkness and monsters away, and use their light to craft tools and their heat to cook food and strengthen spears.
SURvival Point (SUR) : 8
Available Actions :
Map the paths : The people of the tribes must move to live, to escape dangers and not exhaust their surroundings with their scavenging. The young and strong could find the better paths for our travels, and bring us back in their songs what they learned. 0/5, +1 Survival
Hollows of Birth : Some of the great, hollow tree we have claimed as shelters could be turned into place where our women can give birth more safely, protected from predators and spirits attracted by their blood, and from the elements and dirts by mats of dried grass on the soil and entrance of the hollows. 0/5, Hollows of Birth
Sanctuaries : There are shelters in the forest too small for our entire people, but safe and with enough resources for a few people. We could spare those places from gathering, and prepare them so that Freesingers that are too wounded or poisoned to walk, or the most vulnerable in bad times, can live in them until they can join us again. 0/10, +1 SUR, set-up sanctuaries
Follow the herds : There are few animals in the woods, but those that were brave enough to hunt in the land of the Firsts say they have found traces of herds. Finding and following those herds, hunting when we can and scavenging the beast that died or grow weak, will provide us with meat, skin for our clothing and bones for our tools and sewing needles. 1/5, +1 Survival
Spread the tribe : The forest is vast, with many paths filled with food to take. Some say it would be wiser to spread the tribe in many clans, each with their own paths, so that they may each grow and that one strong blow does not destroy the tribe. 0/10, +1 Survival, increase tribe resilience.
Keeping away the hungry plants : There are plants in the woods that hunger for flesh like beasts, and can rip our skin with thorns sharper than stone knives. We should ensure those plants, Serpentvines, Wolfbushes or others, do not spread in or near our shelters. 0/8, Hungry plants keep away, unlock actions using what can be gathered from them.
Upward : Our gatherers have shared songs of how they have climbed on trees to sleep when away from the tribe and the fires, to protect themselves from the hungry plants and poisons that await on the forest's floor. We could spread this, and even in our shelters, rest high on tree's branches, away from dangers. 0/10, +1 SUR, Reduce dangers
Carrying the weaks : The Elders' wisdom is worth more than their strength of body, and we could carry them even when their legs cannot support them. We could make rough stretchers and spare enough strong bearers to carry the elders, and perhaps even the wounded and ills. 0/10, +1 CUL, reduce mortality.
Making axes : With the knapping stone we Freesingers gather from the clift, we could craft strong axes, to help us in gathering the many woods that can be found on our travels, prepare our camps and clean our paths. 0/5, +1 SUR
Shovels and Hoes : Our people spend much of their time gathering herbs and roots, and have been forced to dig with hands and sticks. Shovels and hoes made of fired wood and knapped stone would make this work both safer and easier. 0/5+1 SUR
The Cliff Camp : The chalky cliff that holds the knapping stones we use for our tools is in a region that has little food or useful vegetation, and our people rarely come to it. However, with the relative safety of this cliff, we may come to this cliff more regularly, both to rest and to carefully knap the best possible tools. 0/5, +1 SUR, +1 LEARN
Cleansing fires : There are places in the wood filled with tangled dead woods, filled with poisonous plants and without food. Those places are without Watchers, and by letting fire devour them, we may create new shelters without angering the Watchers. 0/5, use fire to cleanse dead woods.
Watch Fires : We could create small fires at the borders of our camps and shelters, to better ward away any coming ills and warn us of coming monsters that cannot be seen in the dark. 0/5
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Twilight died last night.
The old woman, full of wisdom, even with all the care of the Freesingers and her will stronger than the great tree of the forest, could not keep her broken, aged body alive.
So, until twilight comes, the Elders sing around the great fire, remembering long years spent with their tribesister. Around them, the young and the few adults that did not have to leave for gathering listen.
The Freesingers are mortals, but songs do not have to.
Culture
Traditions, cultures practices and societal changes
Fair Songs : Our people were forced to learn of singing from our old masters, and are gifted with beautiful voices. Even as the Firsts forced us to sing of their glories, we created our own songs, of the pains of bondage and the hope of freedom. Now, our people can sing freely, and use songs to transmit our stories, share their feelings and bond with others. +2 CUL points, help communications
Elder Council : The Freesingers are guided in their lives and journey by a council of centuries old elders, sharing their hard-earned wisdom. Those elders are greatly respected, always listened to, and kept alive by the Freesingsers even when their bodies grow weak. +1 CUL, +1 LEARN
CULture Points (CUL) : 9
Available Actions :
The Firekeepers : Since Purple Tongue befriended the bound fire of her master, our people have carried with them embers born of this fire, and used them to light our fire. The firekeepers that care for the fire and ensure light, warmth and protection for our people could be elevated, ensuring they will be able to take apprentice and spread their knowledge and song. 3/5, Develop tradition of the Firekeepers
Song Keeping : Our lives are long, but our memories imperfect, and for an elder at the twilight of their life, their childhood is but a blur. Our songs are how we preserve our memories and stories from the passing of the year, and those that can remember the most songs, respected. 0/5,+1 LEARN
Festivals : Songs are how our people find joys in their lives, and in the long, dark night, singing and creating new songs are how our people forget the pains of the day. It would be good if each year our people could unite in a feast, where the inventive amongst us would invent new songs and our best singers sharpen their art in contest against one another. 0/10, Festivals tradition
Offerings for the Woods : When we were under the Firsts, we used offerings of food and songs to appease and obtain favors from their servants, creatures of stone, fire, water and winds. We could perform such offerings to the woods around us, in the hope that those watching us can be soothed into ignoring us. 0/5, ???
Memories of Pain : The Freesingers remember the cruelty of the Firsts, each generation raised on the song of suffering of our people. It is said by some that those who put those songs of sufferings in their heart can see in their dreams memories of our time under the Firsts, born of sufferings so strong they are now carried by our blood. What could be learned from those memories ? 0/20, ???
Rites of Initiation : The young learn and play, protected by the adults. The adults craft, gather food and decide what the Freesingers should do. The transition between an innocent child and a responsible adult should be marked by rites and trials, to symbolically welcome the child into the circle of the adults and give them their first taste of the trials of adulthood. 0/5, +1 CUL
Honor the Mothers : Children are our future, those that will sing our songs when we cannot. As such, there are no greater duties amongst the Freesingers than to bring new lives in this world. Let us honor the mothers in our songs, and praise the fertility that allows us to persist and grow. 0/5, +1 CUL
Learning from Games : Our children play, they play the finding game, where one must find a shiny pebble in a pile of grass and wood without dirtying their fingers with the clump of dirt spread in the pile, the throwing game where they pass an overripe fruit between them without rupturing it and covering themselves with sticky juice, or the stacking game where they must make the tallest mound possible with thorny branches without pricking themselves. We should encourage those games. 0/5, +1 SUR
Honor the Dead : We did not have the luxuries to care for the dead, when we were under the rule of the Firsts or in our first times of freedom. We were forced to leave behind the weak and dying.
Now that the Freesingers can care for their elders and young, perhaps we can even care for the dead, or at least of those who died when the living have time to spare. 0/5, +1 CUL, choose a ritual. -[] Fire : We shall burn our dead, and keep their ashes. -[] Earth : We shall bury our dead, with the things they cherished. -[] Blood : We shall eat our dead, that they may stay with us, and kept their bones, skin and hair, to help us from beyond. +1 SUR
From the old to the young : Will the adults gather in the woods, the elders will care for the young, sharing what they learned to those who need it the most. Listen to the elder's song, and spare yourself their pains. 0/5, +1 LEARN
Woodsongs : The songs of the birds calm the watchers, our wise have found. Perhaps the Freesingers should imitate the bird, and create chirping tunes for travels and gatherings, to lull the woods around us. 0/5, ???
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As he digs out roots by hand, Blue Wind whispers to himself the songs toward the mushroom spot found by his daughter.
Around the tree dead and hollow, take right…
Firsts Spits, he cannot remember after this !
And soon, Dawn-time will be over, and he will have to come back to camps empty-handed !
Gathering only when the Watchers are less active is truly a pain in the backs ! At least, it give the Freesingers more time before they awake their angers and have to leave.
Learning
Learning about the world, testing new tools and reaching new understandings
Hiding Art : We have learned from painful experiences how to notice dangers and powerful creatures, hide and live below their notices, and how to distract them away from us. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters and other supernatural threats.
LEARNing Points (LEARN) : 8
Available Actions :
Colors of hidings : Songs tell us of how the people of the tribe hide from the Firsts by rubbing the right soil and the right leaves on their skins. We could adapt the lessons of those songs to this new land. 2/3, Develop Camouflage
Gather the Inborn Songs : Each generation, a few are born knowing songs of power, in a tongue we do not understand and cannot imitate. By speaking those songs, one can create a hand of winds, or guide their spear, or whisper a message without speaking to another. Who is born with those songs and with witch power follow no logic we can understand, but taking the time and efforts needed to learn all we can about them would help our people. 0/20, unlock Ressource : Arcana (ARC).
The Sky : We lived without the sky for generations, and now that we can see it, there is much we could learn from its movements. How to find our way, some say. How to know when a day will be hot or cold, others propose. 0/5, Develop Skygazing
Weave vines and bark : Now that we live surrounded by trees and with little animals around us, it would be useful to learn how to replace the skin for our clothes and sacks with the barks of the trees and the less dangerous vines that grow upon them. 0/5, +2 SUR
Poissons and cures : There are plants in the woods that bring illness to even our people, and that we must fear. However, some of the poisson fight each other, and can be used to help our people. With practice, our people could use the pollen of the Birdeater Flowers to lessen their pain and sleep better or Yellowfern to purge their bodies of poison. 0/10, +1 SUR and +1 LEARN
The leaves of dreaming : Atop hollow, dead trees, grows the Blueclimber, of a blue so dark it looks almost black. When the leaves of this plant are gathered, infused in warm water, and the water drinked, our people can dream awake, seeing many strange and wonderful visions. Our people are ready to climb for those leaves, and our wise to learn what they can from the visions they bring. 0/5, +1 CUL
The Trapmaker's craft : The Freesingers have learned of the dangers of the woods, the plants that trap, strangle or glue to them animals and insects to feed on them. Some of our people that have seen those plants think they could imitate them, and create traps to bring meat, skins and bones to the tribe. 0/5,+1 SUR
Smoke-tongue : Some of the plants of the woods, when burned on our bonfires, can create a great amount of colorful smoke. We could use this for our rites and communicate beyond the reach of our voices. 0/5, +1 CUL
Home of the Watchers : There are places in the Woods where the Watchers are more powerful and active , places where the trees are talls and the bushes bountiful. If we could learn to gather even a little in those places without angering the Watchers… 0/10, ???
Of Chalks and Markings : Chalks is the white stone of markings that can color both skin and bark. By using it, we could mark dangers and bounty in our travels, without angering the Watcher. 0/5, +1 LEARN
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vote by plan, like this :
[ ] SUR Actions
-[ ] Action
-[ ] Action
[] CUL Actions
-[ ] Action
[] And so on
[X]Plan: The hidden Song
SUR 8
-Follow the herds : 1 + 4 /5 (+1 Survival)
-Hollows of Birth : 0 + 4 /5 (Hollows of Birth)
CUL 9
-The Firekeepers : 3 + 2 /5 (Develop tradition of the Firekeepers)
-Song Keeping : 0 + 5 /5 (+1 LEARN)
-From the old to the young : 0 + 2 /5 (+1 LEARN)
LEARN 8
-Colors of hidings : 2 + 1 /3 (Develop Camouflage)
-Weave vines and bark : 0 + 5 /5 (+2 SUR)
-The Sky : 0 + 2 /5 (Develop Skygazing)
Again, the Winters pass, all alike, all somewhat different.
And the Watchers still watch us, still awake the hungry plants when we stay too long in one place.
They do not like fire, they do not like us gathering too much bark or wood.
But, as we begin to eat more meat and less plants, their anger rises slower, and their gazes find less rapidly gathered, their colored skins hiding them in the woods.
Still, with clothes of skin and barks, tools of stone and woods, and meals of leaves and meat, the Freesingers have found all they need to live, all they had in the lands of the Firsts, without their domination.
Watchers : The Watchers mostly ignore us
Yellow actions are new Cyan actions are ongoing Green actions are updated
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Freesingers, as they sent more bands of adults to seek herds, and more of those bands came back with songs of traces or even carcasses found in the wounds, have moved slowly, from years to years.
Now, they follow the herds of fast deers roaming the woods, moving like us as they anger the watchers. The young and old go from clearings to clearings, while the adults, in bands of 20, go into the woods for days, weeks, sometimes mouths.
Their body colored greens and brows by earth and leaves, they move during the day, and, during the dawn and twilight, when the Watchers are less observant, they gather berries, roots, barks, vines, for food and craft.
They follow the herds of deers, and when a deer loses the herd, or is left behind, wounded or ill, they strike, bringing back skin, bones and meat. But they do not come near the herds, for the deers are faster than the Freesingers, and the greatest of the herds hard too fell with spears.
Neither do they come near the loud, tusked boars who roam the wood, far too strong and dangerous for the Freesingers.
And always they stay aware of the dangers of the woods, fall, poissons, hungry plants, or the monsters, silent and deadly, who stalk those land, and once ate a band whole, leaving only a cripled, dying Freesinger to sing the tale of what happened.
No lose due to wildlife thank to Colors of Hiding and Hiding Arts
Survival
Exploration, expansion, crafting and settlement buildings
Blood of the Firsts : The blood of the Firsts flows in our people's blood, and each generation a few are born with faint memories of the Firsts' songs of power, giving them minor magical abilities. +1 SUR point
Enduring : Our people can live many Winters, and few of them ever die of illness. As such, we have a long time to learn and become wise. + 1 CUL point, +1 LEARN point, reduce distortion of knowledge from time.
Bonfires : Our people build at each camp great bonfires to keep darkness and monsters away, and use their light to craft tools and their heat to cook food and strengthen spears.
SURvival Point (SUR) : 11
Available Actions :
Map the paths : The people of the tribes must move to live, to escape dangers and not exhaust their surroundings with their scavenging. The young and strong could find the better paths for our travels, and bring us back in their songs what they learned. 0/5, +1 Survival
Hollows of Birth : Some of the great, hollow tree we have claimed as shelters could be turned into place where our women can give birth more safely, protected from predators and spirits attracted by their blood, and from the elements and dirts by mats of dried grass on the soil and entrance of the hollows. 4/5, Hollows of Birth
Sanctuaries : There are shelters in the forest too small for our entire people, but safe and with enough resources for a few people. We could spare those places from gathering, and prepare them so that Freesingers that are too wounded or poisoned to walk, or the most vulnerable in bad times, can live in them until they can join us again. 0/10, +1 SUR, set-up sanctuaries
Spread the tribe : The forest is vast, with many paths filled with food to take. Some say it would be wiser to spread the tribe in many clans, each with their own paths, so that they may each grow and that one strong blow does not destroy the tribe. 0/10, +1 Survival, increase tribe resilience.
Keeping away the hungry plants : There are plants in the woods that hunger for flesh like beasts, and can rip our skin with thorns sharper than stone knives. We should ensure those plants, Serpentvines, Wolfbushes or others, do not spread in or near our shelters. 0/8, Hungry plants keep away, unlock actions using what can be gathered from them.
Upward : Our gatherers have shared songs of how they have climbed on trees to sleep when away from the tribe and the fires, to protect themselves from the hungry plants and poisons that await on the forest's floor. We could spread this, and even in our shelters, rest high on tree's branches, away from dangers. 0/10, +1 SUR, Reduce dangers
Carrying the weak :The Elders' wisdom is worth more than their strength of body, and we could carry them even when their legs cannot support them. We could make rough stretchers and spare enough strong bearers to carry the elders, and perhaps even the wounded and ills. 0/8, +1 CUL, reduce mortality.
Making axes : With the knapping stone we Freesingers gather from the clift, we could craft strong axes, to help us in gathering the many woods that can be found on our travels, prepare our camps and clean our paths. 0/5, +1 SUR
Shovels and Hoes : Our people spend much of their time gathering herbs and roots, and have been forced to dig with hands and sticks. Shovels and hoes made of fired wood and knapped stone would make this work both safer and easier. 0/5,+1 SUR
The Cliff Camp : The chalky cliff that holds the knapping stones we use for our tools is in a region that has little food or useful vegetation, and our people rarely come to it. However, with the relative safety of this cliff, we may come to this cliff more regularly, both to rest and to carefully knap the best possible tools. 0/5, +1 SUR, +1 LEARN
Cleansing fires :There are places in the wood filled with tangled dead woods, filled with poisonous plants and without food. Those places are without Watchers, and by letting fire devour them, we may create new shelters without angering the Watchers. 0/3, use fire to cleanse dead woods.
Watch Fires :We could create small fires at the borders of our camps and shelters, to better ward away any coming ills and warn us of coming monsters that cannot be seen in the dark. 0/3, set-up watchfire around the camps
Deer camps :Camps build around the paths taken by the deers herds in their migrations would help the Freesingers in huntings them and processing our prey. 0/10,+2 SUR
Slaying the Owlbear :A beast stalks the woods, hungry for flesh, its hide stronger than our spears, its claws able to twain in two a Freesinger. We should find a way to destroy this monster. Available strategies
-[] Fire and smoke : The Firekeepers propose to find the lair of this monster, fill the entrance with woods and dried herbs, and set them on fire. Smoke and heat will prevail where spears cannot. 0/10, try to eliminate the Owlbear
-[] Toward the hungry plants : The monster is a great and dangerous thing, and so are the hungry plants that wake when the Watchers grow impatient with us. We could try to let both dangers deal with each other, by leading the owlbear toward some of the dark woods where the hungry plants sleep. 0/10, try to make the Owlbear fight with the hungry plants
Stalk the tusked menace : The boars are terrifying to the Freesingers, moving masses of flesh that seem almost unstoppable and can crush or gut a Freesinger with ease. We could stalk them, to see if they do not move toward our tribe, and perhaps scavenge the corpses of dead or dying boars. 0/5, stalk the boars
Carrying the Fire : The Firekeepers have proposed to safeguard and transport our fire into a vessel of carved light stone, to bring protection to the people during our travels and ensure we do not lose fire. 0/5, create Fire-vessel
Gather resins : Some of the resins from the trees of the woods burn well and spread fire fast. The Firekeepers would like to gather and keep this resin, and use it when the Freesingers need the power of fire. 0/3, gather flammable resins for defense and offense.
Build our own shelters : With barks, vines and skins, the Freesingers can create portable tents they can carry in their travels and semi-permanent huts in their most frequented shelters and clearings, allowing them to sleep and craft protected from the weather. 0/15, +1 SUR, +1 CUL, +1 LEARN, Gateway action
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In each band of adults, there is a Firekeeper, to keep the embers of their fire and use the flames to frighten away monsters, and a Song Keeper, to help the band navigate the woods and know how to act against what they can unexpectedly find in those woods.
Then, when their baskets are full, the band can come back to the tribe's camp. Here, they can sing again without restraint, and spend time with their childrens, here they can hear the wisdom of the elders.
The Firekeepers gather here, lighting and feeding the great bonfire around which the Freesingers gather, their hands unafraid of burn and their voices whispering the fire songs with voices changed by smoke.
The Song Keepers share their song here, new ones from the wilds or old ones made anew, and when the night grew dark and the people tired, they entertain them with their shared songs, each Song Keeper playing a character in the tales sung.
It is said that every child wants to be a Song Keeper or a Firekeeper, until they learn that the Keepers have all the duties of an adult and the duties of their role.
They must, like all others, scavenge, gather, hunt, teach the young, and craft, but they must also either care for the fires or learn and share the songs. Too much for many. Too much to build a bound with their child and mate.
Even still, the Keepers earn respect for their duties, and the Elders wonder if one day, their council will be filled mostly with those that took the duties of a Keeper.
Tutorial : Factions
Factions represent various power groups or cultural mouvement in your tribe. As they grow in power by taking actions connected to them, the Factions unlock new actions, give discount to existing ones and can even begin to generate Points. However, this grow in power can also increse the cost or prohibitate actions opposed to the factions, and give Factions an independant pool of points that they will spend each turn without following the players's votes.
Culture
Traditions, cultures practices and societal changes
Fair Songs : Our people were forced to learn of singing from our old masters, and are gifted with beautiful voices. Even as the Firsts forced us to sing of their glories, we created our own songs, of the pains of bondage and the hope of freedom. Now, our people can sing freely, and use songs to transmit our stories, share their feelings and bond with others. +2 CUL points, help communications
Elder Council : The Freesingers are guided in their lives and journey by a council of centuries old elders, sharing their hard-earned wisdom. Those elders are greatly respected, always listened to, and kept alive by the Freesingsers even when their bodies grow weak. +1 CUL, +1 LEARN. Influence : Moderate
Firekeepers : One of the oldest allies of the Freesingers is fire, befriended by the hero Purple Tongue. The Firekeepers follow his example, caring for the fires, ensuring our people are light and warmth, and that the flames burn only our foes. Combined with Bonfires, +1 CUL. Influence : Minor
Song Keepers : Songs are the memories that endure, say the wisdom of the Elders. Those that spend time and effort learning, remembering and sharing with our people as much of our songs as possible are honored as the living memory of the Freesingers. +1 LEARN. Influence : Minor
CULture Points (CUL) : 10
Available Actions :
Festivals : Songs are how our people find joys in their lives, and in the long, dark night, singing and creating new songs are how our people forget the pains of the day. It would be good if each year our people could unite in a feast, where the inventive amongst us would invent new songs and our best singers sharpen their art in contest against one another. 0/9, Festivals tradition
Offerings for the Woods : When we were under the Firsts, we used offerings of food and songs to appease and obtain favors from their servants, creatures of stone, fire, water and winds. We could perform such offerings to the woods around us, in the hope that those watching us can be soothed into ignoring us. 0/5, ???
Memories of Pain : The Freesingers remember the cruelty of the Firsts, each generation raised on the song of suffering of our people. It is said by some that those who put those songs of sufferings in their heart can see in their dreams memories of our time under the Firsts, born of sufferings so strong they are now carried by our blood. What could be learned from those memories ? 0/19, ???
Rites of Initiation : The young learn and play, protected by the adults. The adults craft, gather food and decide what the Freesingers should do. The transition between an innocent child and a responsible adult should be marked by rites and trials, to symbolically welcome the child into the circle of the adults and give them their first taste of the trials of adulthood. 0/5, +1 CUL, choose one ritual. Others will be buyable at higher cost.
-[] First Scavenging : The young must go out alone in the wilds, and come back to the tribe with something of value, sacks of gathered roots and berries, the carcass of an animal, finely knapped stone tools. This marks their transition from one cared for to one who cares for others. -[] Fire Dance : The young must dance around the fire, jumping over the flames and singing songs of bravery without being burned, until they collapse, exhausted. This mark their transition from one protected from suffering to one ready to suffer and face the terrors of the world. -[] One Song : The young must sing without rest the song of the Freesingers, a shared tale of our lives, how we escaped the Firsts and made a home in the woods. At the end, they must add the beginning of their own song, that they will share in time with their childrens. This mark their transition from one who must learn to one who must teach, and find new wisdoms and songs to share.
Honor the Mothers : Children are our future, those that will sing our songs when we cannot. As such, there are no greater duties amongst the Freesingers than to bring new lives in this world. Let us honor the mothers in our songs, and praise the fertility that allows us to persist and grow. 0/5, 1 CUL
Learning from Games : Our children play, they play the finding game, where one must find a shiny pebble in a pile of grass and wood without dirtying their fingers with the clump of dirt spread in the pile, the throwing game where they pass an overripe fruit between them without rupturing it and covering themselves with sticky juice, or the stacking game where they must make the tallest mound possible with thorny branches without pricking themselves. We should encourage those games. 0/5, +1 SUR
Honor the Dead : We did not have the luxuries to care for the dead, when we were under the rule of the Firsts or in our first times of freedom. We were forced to leave behind the weak and dying.
Now that the Freesingers can care for their elders and young, perhaps we can even care for the dead, or at least of those who died when the living have time to spare. 0/5, +1 CUL, choose a ritual. -[] Fire : We shall burn our dead, and keep their ashes. -[] Earth : We shall bury our dead, with the things they cherished. -[] Feast : We shall eat our dead, that they may stay with us, and keep their bones, skin and hair, to help us from beyond. +1 SUR
From old to young : Will the adults gather in the woods, the elders will care for the young, sharing what they learned to those who need it the most. Listen to the elder's song, and spare yourself their pains. 2/5, +1 LEARN
Woodsongs : The songs of the birds calm the watchers, our wise have found. Perhaps the Freesingers should imitate the bird, and create chirping tunes for travels and gatherings, to lull the woods around us. 0/4, ???
Songs of Purple Tongue, fire-friend : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, a man once spent many nights talking to fire, the ever-hungry, chains by the Firsts to bring light to their lands. Many songs and many scavenged scraps were given to the fire, and many burns doge, until the First Fire acknowledged Purple Tongue as a friend, and gave him its progeny, its embers, to care for. Let us remember him, and remember how to care for our first, and most dangerous friend, fire. 0/10, the Songs of Purple Tongue are known by all Freesingers.
Songs of Black Tooths, first slayer : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, there was a beast of shadows, bound to the masters of the lands. The beast was empty, and devoured the heat of our people, trying to fill this emptiness. So our people suffered, until one called Black Tooths made from a rock shining like the stars a knife, and took it without fear to the innermost of the beast, slaying it and losing their life from the heat the beast had stolen. Let us remember them, and remember how to fight monsters without fear. 0/10, the Songs of Black Tooths are known by all Freesingers
Songs of Green Hands, first gatherer : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our people at first took the fruits of the First's tree to survive, until our old master forbade this to us, and turn inside out the skin of those who disobeyed. Then, a woman called Green Hands found how to gather the roots below the gaze of the Firsts, things they did not care for, like us, for they were unseen in the ground. Let us remember her, and remember how to use what may be ignored. 0/10, the Songs of Green Hands are known by all Freesingers
Songs of Grey Nails, first makers : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our old masters once turned the ground too hard to dig, and our people despaired, breaking nails and making their fingers bleed as they sought roots to eat. Then, a man called Grey Nails tried to make something to dig stronger than a hand. He made many things, out of straws, out of leaves, out of woods, all breaking upon the hard earth. He did not despair after each failure, simply trying something new, until he made from a stone our first tool, and dug unto the earth with it, bringing roots to the starving people.. Let us remember him, and remember to not despair when we fail, and try again, in a different way. 0/10, the Songs of Grey Nails are known by all Freesingers
Songs of White Eyes, first elder : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our old masters once decided to hunt us down as prey for their pleasure,slaying the strong, and keepings the young to make new worthy prey.
With their hunts, they slain many, and without adults to teach them, our people risked to lose their songs, and what made them more than toys of the Firsts. Then, one called White Eyes, whose blindness made him an unworthy prey, and who should have died, worked as hard as he could to keep the children alive, and share our people's songs. He worked all day, and sang all night, never-stopping, no matter how many of the children he had raised became new preys for the Firsts, until finally, the Firsts grew bored of hunting us, and White Eyes finally breathed his last breath, all the songs he knew shared.
Let us remember him, and remember it is our duty to share all we know, for this is what makes us more than flesh. 0/10, the Songs of White Eyes are known by all Freesingers
Colors of life : The colors used by the bands scavenging to hide from monsters and the watchers could be far more. By using them, the Freesingers could mark their state of mind and their status. To the young no colors, to the adults the colors of hidings, to the elders the pale colors, to the Firekeepers the white of ashes and to the Song Keepers the vivid colors of the heroes of old. 0/5, +1 CUL, Body Painting tradition
Knots of oaths : With vines and colors, the Freesingsers mark their promise and oaths. A true Freesinger must fulfill their words until the bracelet of vine at their wrist rot, or face the disdain of their people.0/5 +1 CUL, Woven Oaths tradition
Honor the hunters : It takes great bravery to slay the best of the forests, even if they are weakened. Let us celebrate those who dare face them, and bring back to the Freesingers meat, bones and skins. 0/5, +1 SUR, Create Hunters faction
Honor the preys : The animals of the wild are living beings, just as we are. We slain them to live and to defend ourselves , not out of pleasure or pride. Let us honor those we slay in our songs, and remember our shared nature as being of flesh. 0/10, Respect the preys tradition
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But even in the camps, the duties of an adult do not end, and the next scavenging is always near.
What they have hunted or scavenged must be cleaned, the meat prepared or dried, the skin cleaned, the organs and bones turned into tools.
What they have gathered must be shared, preserved for the Winter, or turned into tools.
There are baskets, sacks and clothes to mend, tools to repair or make anew, vines and strips of bark to be dried until they can be used, the stock of knapping stone to keep in mind, and a thousand other tasks.
Until the adults have done what they must, spend what time they could with the others and their childs, and sing as many songs as they could find the time for.
And then they must leave again, in the woods, their skins colored and their voices controlled, able to only whisper songs.
Such is the life of a Freesinger, until they die or grow old enough to become an elder.
Learning
Learning about the world, testing new tools and reaching new understandings
Hiding Art : We have learned from painful experiences how to notice dangers and powerful creatures, hide and live below their notices, and how to distract them away from us. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters and other supernatural threats.
Camouflage : By using earth, leaves and others things, the Freesingers make themselves hard to notice in the woods, their skin colored with the tones of the world around them. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters, the Freesingers are less noticable in the Woods.
LEARNing Points (LEARN) : 9
Available Actions :
Gather the Inborn Songs : Each generation, a few are born knowing songs of power, in a tongue we do not understand and cannot imitate. By speaking those songs, one can create a hand of winds, or guide their spear, or whisper a message without speaking to another. Who is born with those songs and with witch power follow no logic we can understand, but taking the time and efforts needed to learn all we can about them would help our people. 0/20, unlock Ressource : Arcana (ARC).
The Sky : We lived without the sky for generations, and now that we can see it, there is much we could learn from its movements. How to find our way, some say. How to know when a day will be hot or cold, others propose. 2/5, Develop Skygazing
Poissons and cures : There are plants in the woods that bring illness to even our people, and that we must fear. However, some of the poisson fight each other, and can be used to help our people. With practice, our people could use the pollen of the Birdeater Flowers to lessen their pain and sleep better or Yellowfern to purge their bodies of poison. 0/10, +1 SUR and +1 LEARN
The leaves of dreaming : Atop hollow, dead trees, grows the Blueclimber, of a blue so dark it looks almost black. When the leaves of this plant are gathered, infused in warm water, and the water drinked, our people can dream awake, seeing many strange and wonderful visions. Our people are ready to climb for those leaves, and our wise to learn what they can from the visions they bring. 0/5, +1 CUL
The Trapmaker's craft : The Freesingers have learned of the dangers of the woods, the plants that trap, strangle or glue to them animals and insects to feed on them. Some of our people that have seen those plants think they could imitate them, and create traps to bring meat, skins and bones to the tribe. 0/5, +1 SUR
Smoke-tongue : Some of the plants of the woods, when burned on our bonfires, can create a great amount of colorful smoke. We could use this for our rites and communicate beyond the reach of our voices. 0/4, +1 CUL
Home of the Watchers : There are places in the Woods where the Watchers is more powerful and active , places where the trees are talls and the bushes bountiful. If we could learn to gather even a little in those places without angering the Watcher… 0/10, ???
Of Chalks and Markings : Chalks is the white stone of markings that can color both skin and bark. By using it, we could mark dangers and bounty in our travels, without angering the Watcher. 0/5, +1 LEARN
Of Spears and throwings : The Freesingser are weak in body compared to the beasts of the wilds, and cannot catch the healthy deers, that run faster than us. We should study how to make our spears more deadly, and how to throw them farther, to protect and hunt. 0/5, Develop throwing spears
Huntings tactics : Our people hunt animals by surprising them when unaware or by hunting them down when they are weak, ill or wounded. By better organizing the Freesingers and perhaps using fire, we could develop more effective ways of hunting. 0/5, Develop organized huntings tactics.
First Rope : From weaving vines and bark, the Freesingers make clothing, mat and baskets. Could they make something more ? Something strong enough to support the weight of a Freesinger, and more flexible than their rough workings ? 0/10, +1 SUR
Quest for Colors : The Freesingers use what they can to make the colors of hiding. Earth and bark for browns, leaves for pale green, and inedible berries for a few reds and blues. Perhaps there is a way to make more colors, and make them last longer on the skin ? 0/10, upgrade Camouflage
True Clothes : The Freesingers clothes are simple things, covers for the intimate parts, rough cape against the cold, wind and rains, wrapped skins and roughly weaved barks to shield the feets. Now that they have skins again, and have learned more of weaving, the Freesingers could make something better. 0/10, +1 SUR, +1 CUL
Trinkets : From the unused bones, woods and vines of the tribe, our people make trinkets, to busy their hands, to make themselves fairer, or to create mementos. The Songkeepers are known to use such trinkets as props for their songs, ringing bones to make sound their voice cannot produce, and too help their memories. Perhaps something more could be made of this ? 0/10, +1 CUL, +1 LEARN
Art of cooking : One of the greatest gifts of fire are warm meals, cleansed of poisons by its heat. We should honor our first friend with the most wonderful food we can create, and give back to the fire what cannot be eaten or used from our meals. 0/10, +1 CUL, +1 SUR,
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Vote by plan, like this :
[ ] SUR Actions
-[ ] Action
-[ ] Action
[] CUL Actions
-[ ] Action
[] And so on
[X] Plan: Spears and camps
-[X] Hollows of Birth (4/5->5/5)
-[X] The Cliff Camp : (0/5->5/5), +1 SUR, +1 LEARN
-[X] Sanctuaries (0/5->5/10) +1 SUR, set-up sanctuaries
-[X] Learning from Games (0/5->5/5)
-[X] From old to young (2/5->5/5)
-[X] Woodsongs : (0/4->2/4)
-[X] The Sky (2/5->5/5)
-[X] Of Spears and throwings (0/5->5/5) Develop throwing spears
-[X] Of Chalks and Markings (0/5->1/5)
[X] Plan: Step by step to the better tomorrow.
Survival (11 points)
-[x] Hollows of Birth (4/5->5/5)
-[x] Map the paths (0/5->5/5)
-[x] The Cliff Camp (0/5->5/5)
Culture (10 points)
-[x] Learning from Games (0/5->5/5)
-[x] From old to young (2/5->5/5)
-[x] Honor the Mothers (0/5->2/5)
Learning (9 points)
-[x] The Sky (2/5->5/5)
-[x] Of Chalks and Markings (0/5->5/5)
-[x] Of Spears and throwings (0/5->1/5)
Watchers : The Watchers mostly ignore us
Yellow actions are new Cyan actions are ongoing Green actions are updated
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It began as a good time for the Freetimers, with more children safely borns thank to the carefully prepared hollows. From the cliff camp, where there is almost alway one band digging for knapping stone, come stone tools in abundance, helping our gatherers and hunters. For the first time since we earned freedom the tribe's number were growing.
With this new prosperity, brave and young explorers lead their band further than ever before, mapping safer paths for the tribe's journey, and bringing songs of new discoveries.
Some sang of how the woods seemed to never end, trees from horizon to horizon, the path we once took to flee the skyless land of the Firsts impossible to find.
Others sang of vast caverns, near the lair of the owlbear, that they did not dare explore with the beast near.
Some of the bravest of finding powerful rivers in the woods, far bigger than the small waterways near the Freesinger's habitual paths, how those rivers were filled with fish, and how they joined into a calm, vast lake. But more than all, they spoke of the island in the middle of the lake, covered in plants greener than all they have found in the woods, and how the island seemed to sing a song without sounds of calm.
They called the lake and island the Greeneye, for they were like the vast eye of the stony giant bound to the Firsts in the old songs.
But then the good time ended, for the last that had left exploring spoke of woods where great mushrooms grew, almost covering the trees, and brought baskets filled with shrooms, to be separated between food and poison by the Elders.
With them, they also unknowingly brought an hidden death.
Their flesh slowly, painfully rotted, and they were kept away from the band as a few volunteered to try healing them. Mushrooms sprouted in them, and grew, until they the victims were almost covered by them.
Then, the almost dead Freesingers rose and began trying to strangle those caring for them, and so our people struggled against their kin, our spears unable to harm spongy mushrooms and rotted flesh, as the infected that could still think screamed, imploring us to flee, or to kill them, and tears fell on the mushrooms growing out of their torsos.
Then Violet Eyes unleashed the fire.
Now, the places where the mushrooms grow are forbidden, and the Rotting of the Mushrooms added to the songs of spite, joining the Firsts in the things all Freesingers hate.
Survival
Exploration, expansion, crafting and settlement buildings
Blood of the Firsts :
The blood of the Firsts flows in our people's blood, and each generation a few are born with faint memories of the Firsts' songs of power, giving them minor magical abilities. +1 SUR point
Enduring : Our people can live many Winters, and few of them ever die of illness. As such, we have a long time to learn and become wise. + 1 CUL point, +1 LEARN point, reduce distortion of knowledge from time.
Bonfires : Our people build at each camp great bonfires to keep darkness and monsters away, and use their light to craft tools and their heat to cook food and strengthen spears. Hollows of Birth : In hollow trees covered with mats and protected by woven barriers, around a warm fire, the women of our people give birth, protected from the weather and the dangers of the outside. Increase pop growth and resilience to illness and subtle dangers.
SURvival Point (SUR) : 14-1(Rotting Spores)=13
Available Actions :
Sanctuaries :There are shelters in the forest too small for our entire people, but safe and with enough resources for a few people. We could spare those places from gathering, and prepare them so that Freesingers that are too wounded or poisoned to walk, or the most vulnerable in bad times, can live in them until they can join us again. 0/9, +1 SUR, set-up sanctuaries
Spread the tribe : The forest is vast, with many paths filled with food to take. Some say it would be wiser to spread the tribe in many clans, each with their own paths, so that they may each grow and that one strong blow does not destroy the tribe. 0/10, +1 Survival, increase tribe resilience.
Keeping away the hungry plants : There are plants in the woods that hunger for flesh like beasts, and can rip our skin with thorns sharper than stone knives. We should ensure those plants, Serpentvines, Wolfbushes or others, do not spread in or near our shelters. 0/8, Hungry plants keep away, unlock actions using what can be gathered from them.
Upward : Our gatherers have shared songs of how they have climbed on trees to sleep when away from the tribe and the fires, to protect themselves from the hungry plants and poisons that await on the forest's floor. We could spread this, and even in our shelters, rest high on tree's branches, away from dangers. 0/9, +1 SUR, Reduce dangers
Carrying the weak : The Elders' wisdom is worth more than their strength of body, and we could carry them even when their legs cannot support them. We could make rough stretchers and spare enough strong bearers to carry the elders, and perhaps even the wounded and ills. 0/8, +1 CUL, reduce mortality.
Making axes :With the knapping stone we Freesingers gather from the clift, we could craft strong axes, to help us in gathering the many woods that can be found on our travels, prepare our camps and clean our paths. 0/3, +1 SUR
Shovels and Hoes : Our people spend much of their time gathering herbs and roots, and have been forced to dig with hands and sticks. Shovels and hoes made of fired wood and knapped stone would make this work both safer and easier. 0/3,+1 SUR
Cleansing fires : There are places in the wood filled with tangled dead woods, filled with poisonous plants and without food. Those places are without Watchers, and by letting fire devour them, we may create new shelters without angering the Watchers. 0/3, use fire to cleanse dead woods.
Watch Fires : We could create small fires at the borders of our camps and shelters, to better ward away any coming ills and warn us of coming monsters that cannot be seen in the dark. 0/3, set-up watchfire around the camps
Deer camps : Camps build around the paths taken by the deers herds in their migrations would help the Freesingers in huntings them and processing our prey. 0/10,+2 SUR
Slaying the Owlbear : A beast stalks the woods, hungry for flesh, its hide stronger than our spears, its claws able to twain in two a Freesinger. We should find a way to destroy this monster. Available strategies
-[] Fire and smoke : The Firekeepers propose to find the lair of this monster, fill the entrance with woods and dried herbs, and set them on fire. Smoke and heat will prevail where spears cannot. 0/10, try to eliminate the Owlbear
-[] Toward the hungry plants : The monster is a great and dangerous thing, and so are the hungry plants that wake when the Watchers grow impatient with us. We could try to let both dangers deal with each other, by leading the owlbear toward some of the dark woods where the hungry plants sleep. 0/10, try to make the Owlbear fight with the hungry plants
Stalk the tusked menace : The boars are terrifying to the Freesingers, moving masses of flesh that seem almost unstoppable and can crush or gut a Freesinger with ease. We could stalk them, to see if they do not move toward our tribe, and perhaps scavenge the corpses of dead or dying boars. 0/5, stalk the boars
Carrying the Fire :The Firekeepers have proposed to safeguard and transport our fire into a vessel of carved light stone, to bring protection to the people during our travels and ensure we do not lose fire. 0/4, create Fire-vessel
Gather resins : Some of the resins from the trees of the woods burn well and spread fire fast. The Firekeepers would like to gather and keep this resin, and use it when the Freesingers need the power of fire. 0/3, gather flammable resins for defense and offense.
Build our own shelters : With barks, vines and skins, the Freesingers can create portable tents they can carry in their travels and semi-permanent huts in their most frequented shelters and clearings, allowing them to sleep and craft protected from the weather. 0/14, +1 SUR, +1 CUL, +1 LEARN, Gateway action
Fishing Camps : With the great rivers and the Greeneye Lake found, the Freesingers could create semi-permanent camps to fish the life in those waters by spears and hands. 0/10, +2 SUR
Toward the Greeneye :In the middle of a vast lake, there is an island, one that seems to sing a song of peace to all who see it. Perhaps we could find safety here…if we can reach the island. 0/40, send an expedition to the Greeneye isle.
Explore the land of mushrooms : Too dangerous
Clean the paths :The Freesingers have found the safest paths and the safest shelters for our people to travel and live. Perhaps those paths could be made safer, by guiding away dangerous beasts and hungry plants, digging out poisonous herbs and ensuring the paths are easy to treed. 0/15, +1 SUR, increase resilience.
Digging Hideouts :There are few parts of the woods where we can be safe from plants and the Watchers, one of these are the cliffs where we dig our knapping stone and the chalk we use. The Freesingers could begin digging hideouts in the soft chalk, as last resort shelters. 0/5, Begin digging-out underground shelters.
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It was a time for learning, with many new youngs to teach, the Elders grumphing as they tried to focus the energy (and foolishness) of the youth, letting them spent their strength in many games, jumping and running and throwing and climbing, then, when they were tired, the Elders sang them the songs of our people, filling their minds will their body rested.
And when an impertinent youth tried to protest, or stopped listening to the songs, they earned a glare of one at least 10 time elders than them, and if they persisted, a grumph advice that those who listened best to the songs won more games than the disobedient, and if they were foolish enough to persist again, a mocking song improvised on the spot by the Elders and a night without meal.
Those that earned a mocking song would have to heard the mockeries of their fellows youth for at least a week, and learn this way how to better act.
As they grew, the songs grew more complex, and the games slowly morphed into shores, cleaning, preparing food, and learning all the youth needed to thrive far from the Freesinger's camp.
In one way or another, everyone learned, especially those who had been gifted with one of the inborn songs, and who thought that because of this, they did not need to listen to their elder's songs !
And for those who showed little enthusiasm for the plays and spending time with others youth, they could spend it with the elders, learning how to tend a fire well, how to remember more songs than others, how to gaze and learn from the sky above.
Culture
Traditions, cultures practices and societal changes
Fair Songs :
Our people were forced to learn of singing from our old masters, and are gifted with beautiful voices. Even as the Firsts forced us to sing of their glories, we created our own songs, of the pains of bondage and the hope of freedom. Now, our people can sing freely, and use songs to transmit our stories, share their feelings and bond with others. +2 CUL points, help communications
Elder Council :
The Freesingers are guided in their lives and journey by a council of centuries old elders, sharing their hard-earned wisdom. Those elders are greatly respected, always listened to, and kept alive by the Freesingsers even when their bodies grow weak. +1 CUL, +1 LEARN. Influence : Moderate
Firekeepers : One of the oldest allies of the Freesingers is fire, befriended by the hero Purple Tongue. The Firekeepers follow his example, caring for the fires, ensuring our people are light and warmth, and that the flames burn only our foes. Combined with Bonfires, +1 CUL. Influence : Minor
Song Keepers : Songs are the memories that endure, say the wisdom of the Elders. Those that spend time and effort learning, remembering and sharing with our people as much of our songs as possible are honored as the living memory of the Freesingers. +1 LEARN. Influence : Minor
CULture Points (CUL) : 10
Available Actions :
Festivals : Songs are how our people find joys in their lives, and in the long, dark night, singing and creating new songs are how our people forget the pains of the day. It would be good if each year our people could unite in a feast, where the inventive amongst us would invent new songs and our best singers sharpen their art in contest against one another. 0/9, Festivals tradition, +1 CUL
Offerings for the Woods :When we were under the Firsts, we used offerings of food and songs to appease and obtain favors from their servants, creatures of stone, fire, water and winds. We could perform such offerings to the woods around us, in the hope that those watching us can be soothed into ignoring us. 0/5, ???
Memories of Pain : The Freesingers remember the cruelty of the Firsts, each generation raised on the song of suffering of our people. It is said by some that those who put those songs of sufferings in their heart can see in their dreams memories of our time under the Firsts, born of sufferings so strong they are now carried by our blood. What could be learned from those memories ? 0/19, ???
Rites of Initiation : The young learn and play, protected by the adults. The adults craft, gather food and decide what the Freesingers should do. The transition between an innocent child and a responsible adult should be marked by rites and trials, to symbolically welcome the child into the circle of the adults and give them their first taste of the trials of adulthood. 0/5, +1 CUL, choose one ritual. Others will be buyable at higher cost.
-[] First Scavenging : The young must go out alone in the wilds, and come back to the tribe with something of value, sacks of gathered roots and berries, the carcass of an animal, finely knapped stone tools. This marks their transition from one cared for to one who cares for others. -[] Fire Dance : The young must dance around the fire, jumping over the flames and singing songs of bravery without being burned, until they collapse, exhausted. This mark their transition from one protected from suffering to one ready to suffer and face the terrors of the world. -[] One Song : The young must sing without rest the song of the Freesingers, a shared tale of our lives, how we escaped the Firsts and made a home in the woods. At the end, they must add the beginning of their own song, that they will share in time with their childrens. This mark their transition from one who must learn to one who must teach, and find new wisdoms and songs to share.
Honor the Mothers :Children are our future, those that will sing our songs when we cannot. As such, there are no greater duties amongst the Freesingers than to bring new lives in this world. Let us honor the mothers in our songs, and praise the fertility that allows us to persist and grow. 2/5, 1 CUL
Honor the Dead : We did not have the luxuries to care for the dead, when we were under the rule of the Firsts or in our first times of freedom. We were forced to leave behind the weak and dying.
Now that the Freesingers can care for their elders and young, perhaps we can even care for the dead, or at least of those who died when the living have time to spare. 0/5, +1 CUL, choose a ritual.
-[] Fire : We shall burn our dead, and keep their ashes. -[] Earth : We shall bury our dead, with the things they cherished. -[] Feast : We shall eat our dead, that they may stay with us, and keep their bones, skin and hair, to help us from beyond. +1 SUR
Woodsongs :The songs of the birds calm the watchers, our wise have found. Perhaps the Freesingers should imitate the bird, and create chirping tunes for travels and gatherings, to lull the woods around us. 0/4, ???
Songs of Purple Tongue, fire-friend : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, a man once spent many nights talking to fire, the ever-hungry, chains by the Firsts to bring light to their lands. Many songs and many scavenged scraps were given to the fire, and many burns doge, until the First Fire acknowledged Purple Tongue as a friend, and gave him its progeny, its embers, to care for. Let us remember him, and remember how to care for our first, and most dangerous friend, fire. 0/10, the Songs of Purple Tongue are known by all Freesingers.
Songs of Black Tooths, first slayer : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, there was a beast of shadows, bound to the masters of the lands. The beast was empty, and devoured the heat of our people, trying to fill this emptiness. So our people suffered, until one called Black Tooths made from a rock shining like the stars a knife, and took it without fear to the innermost of the beast, slaying it and losing their life from the heat the beast had stolen. Let us remember them, and remember how to fight monsters without fear. 0/10, the Songs of Black Tooths are known by all Freesingers
Songs of Green Hands, first gatherer :In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our people at first took the fruits of the First's tree to survive, until our old master forbade this to us, and turn inside out the skin of those who disobeyed. Then, a woman called Green Hands found how to gather the roots below the gaze of the Firsts, things they did not care for, like us, for they were unseen in the ground. Let us remember her, and remember how to use what may be ignored. 0/10, the Songs of Green Hands are known by all Freesingers
Songs of Grey Nails, first makers : In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our old masters once turned the ground too hard to dig, and our people despaired, breaking nails and making their fingers bleed as they sought roots to eat. Then, a man called Grey Nails tried to make something to dig stronger than a hand. He made many things, out of straws, out of leaves, out of woods, all breaking upon the hard earth. He did not despair after each failure, simply trying something new, until he made from a stone our first tool, and dug unto the earth with it, bringing roots to the starving people.. Let us remember him, and remember to not despair when we fail, and try again, in a different way. 0/10, the Songs of Grey Nails are known by all Freesingers
Songs of White Eyes, first elder :In the lands of the Firsts, where the sky is unseen, our old masters once decided to hunt us down as prey for their pleasure,slaying the strong, and keepings the young to make new worthy prey.
With their hunts, they slain many, and without adults to teach them, our people risked to lose their songs, and what made them more than toys of the Firsts. Then, one called White Eyes, whose blindness made him an unworthy prey, and who should have died, worked as hard as he could to keep the children alive, and share our people's songs. He worked all day, and sang all night, never-stopping, no matter how many of the children he had raised became new preys for the Firsts, until finally, the Firsts grew bored of hunting us, and White Eyes finally breathed his last breath, all the songs he knew shared.
Let us remember him, and remember it is our duty to share all we know, for this is what makes us more than flesh. 0/10, the Songs of White Eyes are known by all Freesingers
Colors of life : The colors used by the bands scavenging to hide from monsters and the watchers could be far more. By using them, the Freesingers could mark their state of mind and their status. To the young no colors, to the adults the colors of hidings, to the elders the pale colors, to the Firekeepers the white of ashes and to the Song Keepers the vivid colors of the heroes of old. 0/5, +1 CUL, Body Painting tradition
Knots of oaths : With vines and colors, the Freesingsers mark their promise and oaths. A true Freesinger must fulfill their words until the bracelet of vine at their wrist rot, or face the disdain of their people. 0/5 +1 CUL, Woven Oaths tradition
Honor the hunters : It takes great bravery to slay the best of the forests, even if they are weakened. Let us celebrate those who dare face them, and bring back to the Freesingers meat, bones and skins. 0/5, +1 SUR, Create Hunters faction
Honor the preys : The animals of the wild are living beings, just as we are. We slain them to live and to defend ourselves , not out of pleasure or pride. Let us honor those we slay in our songs, and remember our shared nature as being of flesh. 0/10, Respect the preys tradition
Markings of life :Now that chalks are being commonly used by the Freesingers, and markings have proven their worths to warm off lands infested by the spores, the people could begin using chalks to mark and keep track of all the things in life. 0/10, +1 CUL, +1 LEARN, Chalks Markings Tradition
Games for all : More than the children can profits from games, and slowly, game of skills, speed and endurance could spread in the leisure of all the Freesingers. 0/10, +1 CUL, +1 SUR
Songs of the Sky :After the pattern-fire of Violet Eyes, the Freesingers now watch more and more the sky. With time, the course of moon and sky could become a major part of their life, affecting their rite, songs and the name they give to their children. 0/10, +2 CUL
Virtue of Prudence : From the Rotting, the Freesingers may learn the virtue of prudence, and to evaluate with great care what is new and may be dangerous. 0/5, Virtue of Prudence adopted
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Amongst the young that did no like to play, and spent most of their time with the Elders, there was one Violets Eyes, blessed with beautiful eyes that could see far, and cursed with a bad ear that made her a poor singer, despite sharing the fair voices of all the Freesingers.
She tended the fire, she helped the adults in finding the marking of chalk on bark that could be seen far and well in the woods, and most of all, she gazed the sky, fascinated by the strange colors of the God's battles, and the sound like thunder that could be sometime heard from them.
She gazed, as the elders slowly learned the course of the sun and moon in the sky.
She gazed, as this knowledge was spread in songs in the entire tribe.
Then, one night as she gazed at the sky as others Freesingers were listening, fascinated, to the performance of a young Song Keeper, she saw a pattern amidst the light and clouds of the battles, vines of fire weaved into infinitely complex knots, creating a floating burning shroud.
Transfigured, for many days and nights Violet Eyes watched this pattern of fire, until one sad night it faded away. But the pattern had been burned into Violet Eyes's mind, for every night, when she closed her eyes, she could see it, and every day she could feel the patterns pulsating in her mind, making her suffer terrible headaches.
Until an ill -fated band was cursed by the mushrooms, and made to rise as monsters of rotting, sprouting flesh, and as fear overwhelming her mind as the creatures approached, the pattern she had held so long…bursted out.
Without thought, Violet Eyes raised her hands, spread her fingers and joined her thumbs, and spoke words in a tongue she did not know, that sounded like the sound a river of flame would make.
From her finger, a sheet of fire shouted out, striking the poor Rooted, and set them alight, burning them to ashes. They were free, and the band sparred the struggle of destroying them.
But the pattern, now unleashed, had left Violet Eyes, and despite all her efforts, she could not find it again.
Learning
Learning about the world, testing new tools and reaching new understandings
Hiding Art :
We have learned from painful experiences how to notice dangers and powerful creatures, hide and live below their notices, and how to distract them away from us. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters and other supernatural threats. Camouflage : By using earth, leaves and others things, the Freesingers make themselves hard to notice in the woods, their skin colored with the tones of the world around them. Reduce the chance of being noticed or harmed by monsters, the Freesingers are less noticable in the Woods. Skygazing : By watching the sky and the course of the sun and moon, the Freesingers have learned how to better find their ways and predict incoming weather.
LEARNing Points (LEARN) : 12
Available Actions :
Gather the Inborn Songs : Each generation, a few are born knowing songs of power, in a tongue we do not understand and cannot imitate. By speaking those songs, one can create a hand of winds, or guide their spear, or whisper a message without speaking to another. Who is born with those songs and with witch power follow no logic we can understand, but taking the time and efforts needed to learn all we can about them would help our people. 0/20, unlock Ressource : Arcana (ARC).
Poissons and cures : There are plants in the woods that bring illness to even our people, and that we must fear. However, some of the poisson fight each other, and can be used to help our people. With practice, our people could use the pollen of the Birdeater Flowers to lessen their pain and sleep better or Yellowfern to purge their bodies of poison. 0/10, +1 SUR and +1 LEARN
The leaves of dreaming : Atop hollow, dead trees, grows the Blueclimber, of a blue so dark it looks almost black. When the leaves of this plant are gathered, infused in warm water, and the water drinked, our people can dream awake, seeing many strange and wonderful visions. Our people are ready to climb for those leaves, and our wise to learn what they can from the visions they bring. 0/5, +1 CUL
The Trapmaker's craft : The Freesingers have learned of the dangers of the woods, the plants that trap, strangle or glue to them animals and insects to feed on them. Some of our people that have seen those plants think they could imitate them, and create traps to bring meat, skins and bones to the tribe. 0/4, +1 SUR
Smoke-tongue :Some of the plants of the woods, when burned on our bonfires, can create a great amount of colorful smoke. We could use this for our rites and communicate beyond the reach of our voices. 0/4, +1 CUL
Home of the Watchers : There are places in the Woods where the Watchers is more powerful and active , places where the trees are talls and the bushes bountiful. If we could learn to gather even a little in those places without angering the Watcher… 0/10, ???
Of Spears and throwings : The Freesingser are weak in body compared to the beasts of the wilds, and cannot catch the healthy deers, that run faster than us. We should study how to make our spears more deadly, and how to throw them farther, to protect and hunt. 1/4, Develop throwing spears
Huntings tactics : Our people hunt animals by surprising them when unaware or by hunting them down when they are weak, ill or wounded. By better organizing the Freesingers and perhaps using fire, we could develop more effective ways of hunting. 0/5, Develop organized huntings tactics.
First Rope : From weaving vines and bark, the Freesingers make clothing, mat and baskets. Could they make something more ? Something strong enough to support the weight of a Freesinger, and more flexible than their rough workings ? 0/10, +1 SUR
Quest for Colors :The Freesingers use what they can to make the colors of hiding. Earth and bark for browns, leaves for pale green, and inedible berries for a few reds and blues. Perhaps there is a way to make more colors, and make them last longer on the skin ? 0/9, upgrade Camouflage
True Clothes : The Freesingers clothes are simple things, covers for the intimate parts, rough cape against the cold, wind and rains, wrapped skins and roughly weaved barks to shield the feets. Now that they have skins again, and have learned more of weaving, the Freesingers could make something better. 0/10, +1 SUR, +1 CUL
Trinkets :From the unused bones, woods and vines of the tribe, our people make trinkets, to busy their hands, to make themselves fairer, or to create mementos. The Songkeepers are known to use such trinkets as props for their songs, ringing bones to make sound their voice cannot produce, and too help their memories. Perhaps something more could be made of this ? 0/9, +1 CUL, +1 LEARN
Art of cooking :One of the greatest gifts of fire are warm meals, cleansed of poisons by its heat. We should honor our first friend with the most wonderful food we can create, and give back to the fire what cannot be eaten or used from our meals. 0/10, +1 CUL, +1 SUR,
The Pattern of Fire :Since Violet Eyes had the Pattern imprinted in her mind, and cast fire from her hands thanks to it, she cannot remember the Pattern completely, only bits and pieces, that she desperately marks on pieces of bark. Perhaps, with help, she could recreate the Pattern that has left the sky… 0/40, unlock ressource : Arcana (ARC), unlock the Pattern of Fire
Falling Stars :From the sky and the battle of the Gods, sometimes stars fall in burning trails toward the ground. With enough skygazing, perhaps the Freesingers could find if some of those fallen stars can be found near the tribe… 0/10, Find the locations of fallen stars
The Course of the Sky and the dangers of Earth :The Sun and Moon rule over the weather of this world, and seem to affect the mood of the Watchers and the activity of the beasts in the woods. By adjusting our actions according to the sky, we could better protect ourselves. 0/10, ???
Gaze into the battles of the Gods :Above us, the battles of the Gods rage, visible in strange clouds and light that can hide the stars, and the booms and screams that can sometimes be heard if we strain our ears. From those battles came the Pattern of Fire. What more could be learned, if we spend the time to gaze upon them ? 0/10, trigger a random roll to see what is gazed upon in the battles. Will be repetable, at higher cost.
Traveling the waters :To travel in the rivers found in the woods, some of our people have tried riding on the trucks of dead trees that sometimes can be found in the waters. Perhaps we could make some time better from floating wood ? 0/5, develop primitive canoes
Finner tools :The bands spending most time gathering knapping stones and making tools in the camps of the chalk cliffs have grown in their crafting skills, trying to craft ever better tools, smaller, more easily used and carried blades. With a little work, they could succeed… 0/10, +1 SUR, +1 LEARN, Freesingers reach the Aurignacian Industry
Rotting and mushrooms : The Rotting brough pain and death to the Freesingers, but before they came, some of the mushrooms brought back by our gatherers could be eaten without danger. The Elder are ready to try understanding the mushrooms of those woods 0/10, Will trigger a roll (potentially new projects or points gain, potentially a new Rotting outbreak)
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Vote by plan, like this :
[ ] SUR Actions
-[ ] Action
-[ ] Action
[] CUL Actions
-[ ] Action
[] And so on
Two hours moratorium
As you can probably all guess, the rolls for this turn were either very low or very high. I await your speculations !
Of course. Since you do not see the rolls yet, I will indicate in the update when an omake is spent.
You can ask me after making an omake if you want to kept the omake in reserve for a specific things.
More details will be shared as the Freesingers growth.
And it was go toys, go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you'd go
Well, a Free Man am I and I'm sinnin' you no lie
I sang and danced among the cries that trailed across the sky
There was thunder all around me and there was despair in the air
There was a noxious noise that smacked out bell and just all no me heir
And it was go toys, go
And it was go toys, go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you'd go
Well, I've served among the "winners", and I steal the highly cloak
I've shaken up the sheets and it nigh-on made you choke
I've stood knee-deep in corpse bride, got sick with a caustic burn
Been hidinn' bluff, I've seen enough to make your stomach turn
And it was go toys, go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you'd go
There was nigh time and showed us opportunities galore
The young men liked their sunny and they all ran and go back no more
But soon they knockin' on and you book faster than you should
For every set made on the run, you pay with flesh and blood
And it was go guys, go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you'd go
Well, a Free Man am I and I'm sinnin' you no lie
I sang and ran among the cries that trailed across the sky
There was thunder all around me and there was hope in the air
There was manic noise that smacked out bell and just all no me heir
And it was go guys, go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you'd go
They would time our every death
And every day we're in that place
You were ten days nearer death
But you are not
