GODSTAR - a Science Fantasy Civilization Quest

In your tongue, you are the True People.

Skin tones range from the merely tan through to brown, hair is typically black and wavy or curly. Men of the True People have little facial or body hair. They are typically short (an average of five feet) and stocky and tend to fat.

The True People organize themselves at the most basic level into extended kin-groups known as bands which are matrilocal and matrilineal. Bands in turn form tribes, who are governed by an assembly of all adults which debate and form decisions based on consensus. In matters of external diplomacy, they imbue Speakers with the authority to negotiate, and in times of crisis they may select one to twelve leaders who form an emergency council that assumes more expansive powers.

What is your tribe?
[] People of the Green River. Dwellers of the vast river deltas, you primarily live by fishing and harvesting shellfish, but also by gathering edible water plants and hunting the waterfowl and other wildlife of the swamps.
[] The Acorn-Eaters. Masters of the coastal rainforests. You maintain sprawling forests, grinding acorn bread and hunting the wild boar that feed on their windfall.
[] The White Clay People. The rare tribe that lives by trade, you dig in the earth, your mine-temples to the land spirits yielding up metal and stones that you shape and trade across many miles.

There are hundreds of tribes of the True People all along the western floodplains from the Arctic Circle to the subtropical southern coast. One or more tribes can organize into leagues, who operate as a representative democracy composed of Speakers who operate on a smaller-scale version of the assembly. Most leagues only consist of three or four tribes, but once all True People were organized into a single Great League of the True People. Just under a century ago, the Great League collapsed.

What brought it down?
[] Ambition. Powerful men seized leadership and fought among themselves to amass yet more influence within the League. It fell apart into civil war.
[] Complacency. The League had too long without a serious rival. It had not changed, and so when a real crisis emerged to threaten it, they were unable to react, and chaos reigned.
[] Competition. Regional identities became more pronounced and inter-tribal rivalries intensified until parts of the League began to secede, looking to their own self-interest rather than the common interest of the League.

Conflicts are primarily fought over land and resources and secondarily for personal status. Fighting takes the form of raid and counter-raid, and is conducted by Warrior Societies, who accrue personal status through deeds in battle. Warriors mostly seek to take captives for ransom – however, in these less-than-ideal days, terrible rumors come down of ransoms left unpaid and captives made to work for their captors.

While firearms exist, they are mostly used against animals – the magics of the Warrior Societies can make their skin turn bullets, so most combat is fought hand-to-hand with axe and spear.

Of course, despite its general lack of stratification, your society does contain "big men", individuals who have more wealth and status than others through luck or skill. Among the True People, wealthy individuals are expected to be generous and open-handed, to redistribute their wealth in communal gift-giving ceremonies (they are also expected to pay their neighbors' ransom if he is captured in battle and unable to pay). This in return bolsters their reputation.

Who is your tribe's big man?
[] The Matriarch. More of a "big woman", she is the formidable head of her band and many other members of the tribe are related by descent or marriage. Through a firm hand and extensive wisdom, what great-grandmother says goes.
[] The Trader. Trade between the tribes is known, but is limited. Some men, however, manage to range far and wide to trade goods, amassing great personal wealth (and his generosity has made him very well-regarded by the tribe).
[] The Hero. An accomplished traveler and hunter, in his youth he traveled far, fought monsters, and returned with strange and wondrous trophies. Now a grown man with a family, he is still regarded as the most famous man in the area and is still a tough fighter.

The True People live not in mere wild forests but carefully managed gardens. Fruit- and nut-bearing trees are planted, trimmed, and carefully harvested to maximize yields, thickets and fields are replete with edible plants, and controlled fires and clear-cutting produce grazing land for game animals. This is coupled with a close relationship to the spirits of the land; a strong sense of respect and give-and-take is at the forefront of their relationship, whether it be hunters conducting rituals to return the spirits of the animals they kill to the wild, or wood-gatherers thanking the tree they harvest from for its gifts. Even the few mines and quarries the True People maintain double as shrines to the land itself, whose bones are harvested in the form of metal and precious stones.

The heart of the True Peoples' faith is the Religious Lodges. These organizations are seen as parallel, or perhaps contrasting to, the Warrior Societies. Holy men (and women) congregate in these Lodges to conduct greater rituals, commune with the spirits, and to improve their own magical abilities. Your holy men serve their daily functions by healing the sick and injured, managing the weather, and occasionally leveling their magical powers against implacable enemies of the tribe.

What is the core of your Religious Lodge's practices?
[] Improving the spirit. Your holy men are strong in the spiritual world. They can leave their bodies and see things far away; they can combat spirits on their home turf. After death they linger as Spirit Warriors who defend the tribe from malicious beings and spiritual attacks.
[] Watching the stars. They know the name of the stars by memory and track their movements in the Heavens. They know the associations of the stars and can read the omens therein.
[] The flow of energy. All things are connected. Life flows from the Sun to the earth and passes through the web of life. The energy produced by thoughts and feelings accumulates over time. It concentrates in times and places like pools – and can be channeled and collected.

What Material Science your people do possess is maintained and reproduced by a class known as Mechanicals. Mechanicals are a combination of metalworkers, chemists, and architects. They produce metal tools, including guns, trade goods like glass and metal tools, and have a wealth of lore of their own. Mechanicals are a hereditary class, and they are not widely lauded by society in the same way the Warrior Societies or Religious Lodges are.

However, your Mechanicals know an art few others preserved. What is it?
[] Boat-building. Your massive canoes can sail father and faster than that of any other tribe, and you know how to navigate by starlight.
[] Solar power. Your Mechanicals can shape glass and metal to channel water and heat it by nothing more than the warmth of the Sun.
[] Riddle of Steel. Your Mechanicals know how to burn metal brighter and hotter to produce a stronger form.

Vote by plan.