This is my first Omake so idk how good it is but here's the first (of hopefully many) nega-verse omake.
Arrow Lake Nega-verse Omake
[X] [South] Caravans and canoes up the river.
[X] [Lake] Fish for your lives!
The people of the Lake seemed to be in a constant state of grief. Palla saw it everyday, felt it everyday, the gnawing hunger that plagued their every waking moment. Men constantly fished upon the lake, both Full-men and Half-men alike, tirelessly working dawn to dusk. Warriors would escort guard canoes full of pumpkin and corn as they traveled north from the South settlement. Even the women and children took to gathering nuts and berries from the fringes of the lake.
Despite all that, the people of the Lake still starved. From the lowest Half-man to the highest patron, all felt the hunger, all felt the desperation. There simply was not enough to go around with the… Demons killing all who tried to farm or hunt. The jewellery, furs and leather the people prided themselves of now clung to emaciated frames. Palla could only think about how wrong it was, this time was supposed to be one of festival and joy, of dance, song and game. Palla could only see hunger and death today.
The old man's heart wrenched as he placed the blue stone mask upon his elder brother's face and climbed out of the pit. A melancholy consumed him as he watched the Half-men begin to fill Aatek's grave, dirt slowly covering the vibrant blue dye that adorned the many luxuries resting with him. Palla's brother was dead and so he was the Most Ancient one now. Though his brother now toiled in glory to Zilvek, the thought still pained him.
Oh Aatek! So powerful and wise, even as boys, always so sure. When his brother discovered the profit that the indebted brought, he was sure that they would elevate the people to new heights. And it did, the increased production of food and bluestone exalted the people and gave boon to their trade.
When the Elder council of their youth challenged the him over the practice of the Indebted, all looked to Aatek, who laughed at the arrogance of the elders, for he was sure none would take arms against him, a respected warrior, and a wealthy patron, and he was right. Instead many others followed in his steps, ignoring the word of the elders, leading the people into wealth and prosperity.
His brother was sure that the Twin-Souled would submit or crumple to the might of the people. he would laugh when questioned about the reason
"They feed the worker clans to stay in their good graces and sent their hunters and craftsmen to the Meat Eaters to pay tribute in their loss in battle." He'd boom. "They are a wounded stag, stomping and bluffing to appear strong to the wolves that surround them."
He was so sure as always, and like always he followed Aatek. It was the first time his brother was wrong.
"Father!"
The Most Ancient looked up at his son, painted in the dye of his people. Where the elder once felt pride, he now only felt fear. Despite the best efforts of the warriors to portray the strength required of them, the signs of starvation clung to them all the same.
"Speak Parell."
Parell looked nervous, Palla couldn't blame him. All had seen the carnage the Demons brought upon them. The jewellery upon his body rattled slightly as he shifted.
"Th-The Twin-Souled march on our walls, father! They seem to be a raiding party!"
Despite the stone face the Most Ancient adopted, the fear inside him only intensified. The Twin-souled, The Demons were something that kept his brother awake at night in his final years. In the early stages of the war against them Aatek had boasted of the bounties captured from them, how in the ancient times, the demons provided them the gift of brick making, in recognition of the power and might the people possessed, that it was the will of Zilvek that they would serve as indebted and bring even more to the people.
Now they only brought death.
During the warm months the beast men savaged all who left the safety of the walls, transforming into wolves to devour the flesh of the people, while the winter months had them warding off the ice demons, who's immunity to snow prevented the people from any respite. Aatek had slowly began to withdraw more and more as the war effort deteriorated and the hunger continued. None could stop the Demons as they cleaved through the best warriors of the people, countless kin of his own falling in battle. But he was a Bluestone Warrior before an elder and despite his misgivings, one last attempt must be made to protect his home.
He could not fight the sorrow or guilt in his heart as he spoke, for he was a Bluestone Warrior in his youth, and he knew a losing fight when he saw one.
"Then we shall fight with the fury of Kava himself, and we shall emerge victorious."
Grabbing the spear from Parell he could hear the other Elders doing the same to their favored sons. though he had seen over 70 cycles, he still had a bit of strength left in his old bones.
"
We shall lead the men, to show the Bluestone Warriors and the people that we do not bow or break from our grief of losing kith or kin, we emerge stronger!" he rasped.
Drawing his son in close he whispered to his son, "You shall be the next Elder Council, however this battle goes, raise the people back into glory."
Parell's eyes widened in shock.
"Father, I-"
"No, you cannot sway me. I will not allow the clan to be robbed of
two generations of leaders. Care for your children." Palla interrupted, his face a mask of stone. He turned away before his son could say anymore, and strode towards the main gate the rest of the council following in his wake to meet their warriors.
The former Bluestone Militia was now a shell of their former power. Now supplemented with retired hunters and half-men promised wives for their service there was much left to be desired, not that it mattered, he planned to follow Aatek like the loyal brother he always was.
"Where are the Leaders?" one warrior asked, in confusion and shock, eyes searching for Parrel and the other men.
"We have decided that the Elder Council will lead you personally in the defense of our home, for the spirit of Kava walks with us today, and with it we shall not fail" The Most Ancient wheezed. The lie tasted foul on his tongue. He could tell the men knew, he could also tell that the men had already resigned themselves to their fate. He turned as he led his men into battle, prepared to see Zilvek's blue face at last.
Kavet sighed, as he watched his many indebted harvest corn. Everything was a mess.
Last night a lone warrior from Arrow Lake had charged into South Reach mad with terror and grief, crying about the fall of Arrow Lake to the Twin-Souled people. After calming him down with a meal of smoked fish and beans, the impromptu council learnt of Arrow Lake's fate. When the warriors of Arrow Lake went to go meet the northern Demons with their spears, the Twin-Souled responded with fire. According to the man, the Demons had complete mastery over the element, able to conjure fire from nothingness and use it as a weapon, he had even claimed that he saw a man create fire and throw it. The Demons had crushed their warriors in battle, the fires consuming any who tried to fight against them. The people inside Arrow lake surrendered after seeing the raw power brought forth by the Demons.
When the tale finished the room exploded into arguement and debate. With the Lake captured, they now became the Council of Elders by default, now it was up to them to lead what remained of the people. Some of the Elders advocated for the immediate continuation of the war, about the need to avenge the Lake, others thought that those Elders should listened to the part where the Demons controlled fire in battle with magic beyond comprehension. They argued to simply concede to the Twin-Souled and pay tribute to them to apologise. The last group thought it important to try to wash themselves of the war and be done with it, to ignore the Twin-Souled in the hopes that they ignored the people back. The arguement lasted long throughout the night, until Kavet called for a reorganization the next night lest blood be draw amoung the Elders.
Kavet was the oldest in the settlement, and knew he was directly on the path of becoming the Most Ancient as soon as the other Elders formally acknowledged it. He felt another headache coming on, he could already tell that the coming years were going to be a pain.
The Twin-Souled have crushed your northern settlement Arrow Lake and captured it, what is your response to it?
[ ] [Twin] Mobilise every able-bodied man, Patron to Indebted, Arrow Lake must be avenged! (Continues war, ++++Martial, -- Staples,-- Luxuries, -- Materials, legitimacy steeply increases, ???)
[ ] [Twin] We cannot endure this war, the cost is too high, ignore them, and they will ignore us. (Attempts to end war with Twin-Souled, Small chance Twin-Souled continues war, Gives a low-medium stability increase with a slight legitimacy decline)
[ ] [Twin] Pay them Tribute and apologize. (Ends war with Twin-Souled, Legitimacy and Stability decrease slightly, --Luxuries, increases the chance that the Twin-Souled will leave you alone, Twin-Souled are more likely to have friendlier relations in future interactions.
The twinsouled were supposed to be weak. Instead they have fire balls. Huh
This is what we get for trying to build tall without enough resources, if we'd of settled a tad bit farther north, we might of had a trade surplus in both Lapis and obsidian. Matter of fact this is probably due to the us actually letting those slaver warriors get into power rather than trying to curb our violence oriented traits.
Well, to be fair our war was a result of a bad roll forcing us to pick a target and the twinsouled looked like a juicy one, till we found out hey had fire jutsus
Okay, @Greenine, whats going on? the twinsouled were supposed to be weakened from their war with the Meat Eaters, that they're low on warriors and giving food to the WC bastards just to stay on their good side, but then we find out they could kick our ass, which makes no sense as they should have never feared the WC in the first place!
They never lost the war, they've actually been in the process of integrating the culture and people of the Meat Eaters into that of their own, and the WC have been surviving off of their food for quite a bit now, they could probably doom them if they chose to. You rolled fairly sub-par on your last few diplomacy rolls with the Twin-Souled so you didn't learn really anything about how their conflicts went.
Wow we really screwed the pooch on this one, someone should really write an omake on this.
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