It is the nature of all things to pass away with time. Rivers carve their way through countries, mountains become pebbles and yes, even the names of gods are forgotten. Likewise, it is the nature of new things to arise from the passing of the old. Where rivers dry canyons remain, where mountains fade new will arise and new rites will be made for newer gods still. Order, likewise, fades and returns with time. It was the course of fate that the order that had reigned in the Greatwater Valley, would eventually find itself disrupted and rendered a thing of the past. When this course of events was set in motion is unclear, but historians shall since agree that it was precipitated by the arrival of a migrating tribe from the south.

Unused to the mores and traditions of the valley culture, the new tribe was outsiders, bringing their own gods and rites with them. They obeyed strange traditions and paid obeisance to foreign names in their bizarre ceremonies that were alien to the peoples of the valley. They would be called barbarians, foreigners, aliens and many more names by those who dwelt in the valley, but in their own tongue, they returned the favour and gave a hundred names to those who came before them. In their own tongue, however, they had a single name for themselves: The People. As unitary as such a term sounded, the People fragmented and never truly considered themselves one entity. All illusions of unity born from the migrations were quickly broken as they settled separately, warred with each other as they warred with the natives and many a chieftain among the People called those very natives to war against the greatest threat to one settlement of the People: other settlements of the People.

Over time, the People transitioned from migratory nomads who never settled down for long, to seasonal settlers and eventually to almost completely sedentary. This had of course been disconcerting to the peoples of the valley, who did not want to cede a whole area of the valley to strange foreigners, even if those foreigners had arrived a hundred years ago and all who could remember the days of their arrival now were dead and gone with the turning of history's pages. Historians disagree on where they first settled in the valley, and which people were most antagonized by their settling. Eventually, however, the people did settle down more or less permanently around...

[ ] ...The highlands: The People settled the foothills of Highwatch Peak and continued, undisturbed by the traditions of the valley-dwellers, to drive their sheep by seasons and tend their gods of old. They built fortified settlements on the hills, which they surrounded with walls of sharp logs bound by rope. They learnt to work the stones of the earth and made quarries, from which they extracted copper and the riches of the earth. When they settled, they drove out the Metal-Workers, who had known how to make many fine works in copper and other metals.

[ ] ...The lowlands: The People settled the fertile floodplains around the Copperflow and Swiftflow rivers. They multiplied and became numerous with time and they cultivated the land, leading to great bounty in crops, which they farmed and let their rulers control. They built large settlements and adopted the ways of the valley-dwellers over time, never sacrificing their own gods, but worshipping old names along with new arrivals. When they settled, they subjugated the Tower-Builders, who had lived there before them and built many great buildings.

[ ] ...The coast: The People settled the fish-rich coast by the sea and adopted many new habits. Here, they learnt to construct boats and traded with people up and down the coast. In turn, they became the gateway for new ideas to enter into the valley proper, where pottery and trade would flow upstreams and enter the valley. They built settlements with harbours and though disparate, remained in contact with each other. When they settled, they slew the Dye-Makers, who knew how to use the colours of nature to make new ones, including purple for which they were famed.

In time, the People too became inhabitants of the valley and adopted many of their customs, although historians debate how much they kept of their own. The other valley-dwellers traded with them and named them in their own tongues, they warred with them and they sacked their settlements, and the people answered in kind as it is the nature of men to do. So, the foreigners became inhabitants of the valley as well and a new order was established. Loanwords were traded between the immigrants and the natives, wars were fought and customs were exchanged. Thus, the memory of the great migration first became a memory, then a story and finally a myth. What had once been a journey burn out of resource scarcity in a now-forgotten homeland became a divinely inspired travel. The customs of the People became valley customs and valley customs became theirs.

Especially pertinent among customs is the system of rule, by which the People governed themselves. While it is known that a single chief would always rule their settlements, no direct historical accounts would survive from these early times, so later historians would fumble in the dark. They would guess from the few remains of material culture they had and extrapolate from records that would not appear yet for many thousands of years. Therefore, the specifics of how the disparate settlements of the People governed themselves and resolved their disputes, beyond the rule of the chief, remains a mystery. However, it is generally agreed that the political structure most common among the People generally resembled…

[ ] ...A despotate: The People lived under a single chief, who held theoretically absolute power, contained within the royal family. The chieftain's power was based on the control of a palatial centre, from which his territory would be administered. This allowed for high degrees of royal intervention into society and gave the chieftain power over even food. However, it was also troubled by a great degree of inequality and could be burdened by economic changes.

• Phase 1: Establishes the supremacy of a palatial centre.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Palace mechanic that allows favourable resource allocation.
• Phase 3: Risks creating massive inequality and gradual societal collapse.

[ ] … An aristocracy: The People organized themselves into a system of legislative councils convened by aristocratic families. These councils advised and elected chieftains, although they were not true parliaments. They did, however, allow for surprisingly responsive governance that was capable of compensating for poor chieftains. Their primary limit was the tendency towards gridlock between powerful families fighting for control.

• Phase 1: Establishes several powerful landowning families.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Council mechanic that allows favour-trading for advantages.
• Phase 3: Risks creating stasis and civil strife between faction and family conflicts.

[ ] ...A commonwealth: The People never developed a true monarchic state, instead organizing themselves into loose clan-confederations centered around settlements. There was no real central authority except in times of crisis, otherwise clans would be lead by local chieftains. This allowed for a system that allowed the individual person a large degree of freedom. It was limited, however, by the very looseness that characterized it and often hard to coordinate.

• Phase 1: Establishes many tight-knit clans.
• Phase 2: Opens up for the Election mechanic that chooses a strong leader in crises.
• Phase 3: Risks creating conditions for society drifting apart and too weak state control.

The People would eventually establish many settlements under different names and different leaders. While some of these are only known to historians through the medium of a single mention in an obscure letter or forgotten name in an epic poem, others are more well-documented. These settlements were so numerous that only a very small minority of them had a documented effect on the region and time in which they existed, however that is not a universal pattern. Others have been the attention spot of scholars both modern and ancient for decades and centuries, having well-documented king lists, intact archaeological remains and similar. However, even among the most well-documented ones, a few stand out far beyond the others. The most well-documented of these proto-state settlements is generally held by modern historians to be the settlement of:

[ ] ...Optional name vote: Vote for a name. Construct it out of English words or suggest a language that you'd prefer to be used for the People in general. This vote is a suggestion, not a binding vote and should therefore ideally be backed with some reasoning if you really want to convince me. Don't stress it too hard, though!

MD: Okay, so this is a very traditional civilization quest in many ways. It doesn't need much elaboration, but it is also a bit of an experiment on my part. So, first off:

This quest will have a maximum of 60 updates. An update will be provided every Monday.

This quest is divided into three phases, each of which represents a specific amount of time in the history of your people. The phases constitute 60 updates in total, of which 10 constitute the first phase, 20 constitute the second and 30 constitute the third. A total of 1230 years will be covered over the span of these updates, 100 per update in the first phase, 10 per update in the second and 1 per update in the third and final.

To elaborate on this somewhat unusual way of arranging the quest, the first phase covers the establishment and mythical history of your people. You can view it as an extended character creation in which the starting situation of your people is fleshed out and your myths and legends appear. It is in this phase where you get the opportunity to truly distinguish yourselves from your neighbours! This phase will have no focus characters and will be primarily historical.

The second phase is the more standard political history of your people, which covers your conquests, exploits and similar. In this phase, you produce philosophy, art, vast legions to conquer your neighbours! Either that, or you're conquered yourselves, outcompeted by the teeth of time. This phase will be seen through the lives of kings or similar ruling figures.

The third and final phase should be seen as a vast endgame crisis, similar to the collapse of the Roman Republic, Alexander's Conquest of Achaemenid Iran or something in that vein. Surviving this will take all the skills and advantages you can muster and failure should be expected. But if you manage to drag yourselves to this phase in the first place, you can expect a place in the literary canon of later historians. This phase will have a single focus character.

Failing doesn't mean that you stop playing the quest. The maximum and minimum amount of updates is 60, nothing more and nothing less. Think of it less like win conditions and more like achievements. If you fail uniting the People in the first phase, you're still playing through phase 2 and 3, just as a city-state or tribe at the periphery of greater states. You could still catch up, but would inherently be more limited to another kind of "narrative" so to speak. However, it should be said that this quest uses dice, and while player decisions take precedence over their results, that also means that a good dice roll cannot save you from stupid decisions. Discussion will be necessary, otherwise you will fail.

In addition, whenever I speak in italics, it should be understood to mean an authoritative QM statement. When I do not, assume it is me posting as a regular poster.

Population: Approximately 39,000/Increases by 1000 per turn in phase 1.

Location: Built on the northern Twin Peninsula, close to the Copperflow river, Eskeragal is a coastal settlement that enjoys trade with both inland Tower-Builders, Metal-Workers and other coastal settlements as well as further trade ventures across the sea.

Governance: Ruled by a set of aristocratic families, the onenamekene, who elect a chieftain to govern with their power, the central authority of Eskeragal is weak and constantly under threat by a revolt against the current chieftain. Most of the time, the chieftain can do little more than act as mediator between two families.

Religion: Worshipping a variety of gods, Eskeragal is polytheist as the People traditionally are. The gods of Eskeragal are weather gods and sea gods. Foremost among them are the Storm King, crown prince of heaven; the Winged Lord, ruler of heaven and the world and his consort Lady Ocean, who was taken in the chaos before the world was created and the dragons of the sea brought to heel. All gods of Eskeragal are either children of Lady Ocean and the Winged Lord or were admitted from barbarian gods, who saw the rightness of the Winged Lord and became his children by filial servitude, if not by blood. The Storm King was married to the Wild Lady, a fertility goddess who ruled the domesticated beasts of Eskeragal.


Centralization: 4; Steadily more centralized, power in Eskeragal has been almost entirely monopolized by the priesthood-bureaucracy and the palace that sponsors it.

Sedentism: 4; The rural population surrounding Eskeragal has begun to settle more, staying in its vicinity rather than leaving for better pastures when the opportunity comes.

Urbanization: 5; Heavily urbanized by premodern standards, Eskeragal is urbanized enough to look like a city, however its lack of other dominating buildings give it away.

Ilduxti: Range: Close; Population: 2,000; Coadunation: 2/2.
Babbarak: Range: Close; Population: 3,000; Coadunation: 3/3.
Hastal: Range: Close; Population: 2,500; Coadunation: 1/2.
Gaftan: Range: Medium; Population: 5,000; Coadunation: 0/5.
Askotikan: Range: Medium: Population: 4,000; Coadunation: 0/4.
Softxal: Range: Medium; Population: 6,000; Coadunation: 0/6.


Askomekane


The Harbour of Zaharal IV: Built by chieftain Zaharal IV to accomodate the expanding naval trade network, expansions upon this harbour would service ships many decades and even centuries to come.