Remove ads

Paths of Civilization

Reader mode
pbluekan said:
So, I'm looking at what we should be doing next turn, based on what we've been talking about, our current stats, our new hero's stats, and the new government type. This is all pretty malleable based on what happens, but I'm thinking this:

[FUT][Main] Build Wall - Lower Valleyhome
[FUT][Secondary] Trade Mission - Thunder Horses
[FUT][Secondary] Expand Farms / Expand Fishing

So, the logic here is that the village chiefs should take care of minor walls around their settlements. It's prudent and seems like something they would do. However, Lower Valleyhome is right in the firing line. It needs a wall like Redshore(which ironically never needed it), especially if the DP come in force. Next up, if we are sporting a Trader Hero Chief, we should use him and get the most out of it. Firming up our ties with the Thunderhorse for more than just a generation or two is absolutely necessary if we are even thinking about conflict with the Dead Priests; a conflict that is looking ever more likely, even if we don't start it. Finally, we do need to keep our Econ up. While we can certainly go towards zero, our people have become inured to a ridiculous abundance of food. This will only get worse as our population starts living longer with the lack of certain diseases. With a war in the wings that will be eating up a secondary action, we should aim to keep our econ up/raise it while we can.

I would continue on to do the next turn after or two, but I've realized that it's entirely useless to do so. Too much happens and the dice are fickle creatures.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The whole point of staying up here is that the DP won't notice us, so making a wall against them is atm less worthwhile than expanding the forest during the last remaining turn of nomad immunity. Farms are good.
 
Trails, trails, trails. We boost our Centralization with more trails, as our people our connected. When the new government kicks in, the provincial chiefs will likely begin setting up settlements that need to be hooked up to our system. If we have more paths the casual traveler can move about our lands more easily, meaning reports will come back to our King through both official and unofficial channels. Which means while the provincial chiefs will do their own thing, they'll likely try to line up with the general flow.

We don't have to get paths right away, but we will need them soon.
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom, alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)

@Academia Nut.

I don't want our High Chief being called king, i want him being called SUPREME HIGH CHIEF!
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom, alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)

Changes are a thing and all. Shame about this guy's martial ability, but you don't turn down heroic anything.
 
NotAlwaysFanfic said:
Trails, trails, trails. We boost our Centralization with more trails, as our people our connected. When the new government kicks in, the provincial chiefs will likely begin setting up settlements that need to be hooked up to our system. If we have more paths the casual traveler can move about our lands more easily, meaning reports will come back to our King through both official and unofficial channels. Which means while the provincial chiefs will do their own thing, they'll likely try to line up with the general flow.

We don't have to get paths right away, but we will need them soon.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Trails, walls, lapis quarry at the same time so that we can use extra stone from mining and set up trails to the new place early.
 
hylas240 said:
That would give us econ and act as a natural barrier against any nomadic raids (in case the trade mission doesn't net us better relations, and they'll still come at us in 2 turns).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm not really sure why you think expanding forests would give us econ, at least in short term. Even the description says it takes considerable effort, and if you remember, the Blight War cost us like 2 econ per turn. I would love to main trade mission, but wouldn't you agree that the Dead Priests are more obviously and immediately hostile? Our northern villages can deal with some raids. Our south has no walls at all.

Not that I'm against Expand Forests. I'm all for it. I just don't think it's an Econ producer.
 
Last edited:
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom (Elected), alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)

We would have to expand our trails and Blackbirds soon to keep a better track on the governors.
 
@Malevolo fool, King is a fitting title, especially for one who sits in the lands cultivated by our people for generations. Supreme is a title given to the spirits, for men who bear it are surely full of arrogance.
 
Last edited:
pbluekan said:
I'm not really sure why you think expanding forests would give us econ, at least in short term. Even the description says it takes considerable effort, and if you remember, the Blight War cost us like 2 econ per turn. I would love to main trade mission, but wouldn't you agree that the Dead Priests are more obviously and immediately hostile? Our northern villages can deal with some raids. Our south has no walls at all.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, it would take an investment, but it would pay off.

I've said nothing against walling our southern settlement? o_O

Also, totally forgot about trails...we're gonna have to do that.
 
NotAlwaysFanfic said:
@Malevolo fool, King is a fitting title, especially for one who sits in the lands cultivated by our people for generations. Supreme is a title given to the spirits, for men who bear our surely full of arrogance.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Nah, using King will make people think "other kings have theirs sons become kings" so i want to avoid that, we need a title specific to out people and system of life, like Superior High-Chief, Supreme High Chief, Chief of High Chiefs...
 
Academia Nut said:
*the nomads brought some traditions with them*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
______________________________________________________________

On the 10th year of the reign of High Chief Bynwyn, a matter was presented to him to be judged with the full weight of his authority as High Chief, for the matter had grown to be considered of sufficient import of his attention, as did its nature as a matter that involved more than a single village.

Past the bringing in of nomadic peoples of the north whilst the nomads were in a time of strife, they would as other migrant peoples be inducted into the ways of the People that Harmony may be achieved. Many of their practices would fall by the way to accept the new ways they must learn to be productive members of the community, but on infrequent occasion they would bring with them traditions and ways which do not conflict with the teachings of the People, and so add to the shared culture of the People, strengthening all. With the nomads that had been accepted was a particular tradition which was little of matter in the north, but which has found great purchase in the fertile soil in the land of the People, and begun to grow readily and fruitfully.

This tradition, as it was taken in the northern lands where the people roam and do not settle, involved the locating of a certain plant to be dried and crushed, then burnt. The smoke produced would be inhaled by those gathered, and such produce an effect of similarity and difference to the effects which one might accrue when imbibing beer. In the north this is uncommon due to the plant's relative rarity and it only growing in certain places, and as such the nomad peoples only partook in it on occasion when passing by, perhaps saving some for a later time.

When the nomads had come into the lands of the People they brought with them samples of the crushed and dried leaves, and some seeds as well, for it was known to the nomadics of the People's knowledge of raising plants with mud and water. And so it was that many samples of the smoking herb was being grown and cultivated across the lands of the People. The cases where a new method of creating drinks of alcoholic nature had been brought in by outsiders caused little trouble and was not worthy of the High Chief's attention, for they merely applied the laws of Work of the Third Kind as if it were beer and they would serve well. For the smoking herb, though for its similarities to its effects upon the mind and the body as beer and harder drink, there were indeed differences.

Upon one of those differences was that of its method of drunkenning, where it took upon the form of smoke and not of liquid. For beer, it is only the one intending to reap the natural effects of it who would be affected, but the spreading nature of the smoking herb meant that others who might not want for it would be affected. On this, the matter was quickly settled, and the High Chief Bynwyn declared with great swiftness upon presentation three laws:
The first law, which dictated that the burning of the smoking herb may not be done in proximity towards others but for those that express a mutual interest in inhalation of the smoke.
The second law, which dictated that the herb may not be wilfully smoked by any who have not taken the Rites of Passage, or of women encumbered with child.
The third law, which dictated that the smoking herb may not be lit with flame within a house resided in by any who have not taken the Rites of Passage, or of women encumbered with child.

So decreed High Chief Bynwyn, and so it became law across all the lands of the People, furthering the cause of Harmony with man and the spirits. The next issue with the smoking herb was brought to him immediately following his decree. This was a more serious issue. Those who had been growing the smoking herb had primarily been farmers, who tended the lands of the People, for the People, and entrusted by them a duty to perform Work of the First Kind - the acquiring of food for the community's benefit, upon and with the land entrusted to him by the People. Upon the plots of land upon which they worked, they had taken with them the time, resources, and land to cultivate not food for the benefit of all, but seeds of the smoking herb that may be enjoyed by the farmer and family and friends. Even the fullest extent of these activities were but a fraction of their actions, and they remained putting a great amount more of their labour into their assigned duties, but even so it was enough to be considered a breach of duty.

And so, for this threatened to harm the wellbeing of the whole of the People, if only but a little, High Chief Bynwyn thought much on this matter, speaking with his advisors, and the Farming Chieftess for the presence and utmost relevance of her domain. What should have been the topic of minutes became hours, for though the actions of these farmers were clearly disharmonious, their discussion grew quickly, the bounds escaping beyond the mere decision of the punishment for such dereliction of their duty. And so, with the high noon sun's crawl across the heavens and casting an orange glow across the still-blue sky, it was decided a course of action:
The farmers who had engaged in these acts were clearly acting in disharmonious fashion, and would receive a small infraction for their crimes. Their punishment might have been greater, but for the combined lack of both a decisive law in this matter and the ultimately minor nature of their actions.

However, that was not the only decree. This cultivation of the smoking herb will from then and ever more be deigned to be Work of the Third Kind, and so to grow them would be a proper work, but one which must not interfere with the Work of the First Kind or the Work of the Second Kind, such as all other such Works of the Third Kind. To this end, farmers who worked the field to reap food would remain unallowed to be distracted from their sacred duty, but, upon allowance by the High Chief's own inquest, other farmers may work other plots of land to instead grow this new variety of plant, and thus would owe a portion of the People the fruits of their labour - a very large one, alike to beer.

And so it was that Harmony was disrupted by the actions of a few, and so it was that Harmony was restored by the actions of the will of the many and of the spirits, by the High Chief of the People.
 
Last edited:
Ehh...we can shelve the trade mission for now in order to fix our centralization.

The last thing anyone needs is a crisis spawned from too low centralization.

So, I suggest this is what we do next turn:

-Expand Forests in northern steppes
-Wall southern valley
-New trails to NewNet
 
Deadly Snark said:
If you wanna be accurate, almost all the Major Players of that time period were heroic assholes. It's the kind of thing that happens when your civilization is collapsing around you.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That they were, but the guy in particular went and set a new record. Funny to think his first patron thought Lü Bu can be trusted after spending all his life defending his country against the nomadic tribes.
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom, alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom (Elected), alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)

No time for analysis today, so here's my vote.
 
Inserted tally

Really not much of a contest here.
Adhoc vote count started by NotAlwaysFanfic on Apr 7, 2017 at 1:32 AM, finished with 14415 posts and 42 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Academia Nut said:
Nah, the Spirit Talkers had a spread of values across the three types, and you only got one of their three spiritual traits. Their big spiritual trait was the 'Observance' line, which improves tech gain but also causes the accumulation of superstition and orthopraxic cruft over time. They thought they had it dealt with via another trait, and they sort of did, but they were never willing to take the hits to really make use of that process.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thats really potent, but dangerous without a trait to be able to burn off superstitions or memetic mutations. Guessing it costs Stability and Mysticism to declare a new orthrodoxy?
They would have fought but probably wouldn't have run into their territory and then realized that there was no one to stop them from raiding to their hearts content there.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So our failure contributed to their destruction.

You're now the largest centralized, still second to the nomads in terms of total population, but you are starting to overtake them.

Although in world rankings... well, that's for later.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Guess with the WC and ST ruined, that was natural.

bluefur87 said:
@Academia Nut considering our loss of mysticism and martial represents, at least in part, a dip in the number of people we have, does that mean they will slowly and partially recover over time?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Already asked long before, it reflects the loss of institutional knowledge. Dead warriors and shamans lose any tricks they've learned and never passed down to students before their deaths.

Omegahugger said:
It should be noted that of all the local settled civilisations (nomads being recurring barbarians), the two still in play are the only ones we know built wonders.

Not saying this means we should build wonders every turn, I'm just giving people something to think about.
We should totally build a wonder whenever available.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Its an indicator of health, not a cause of it. Sort of like being able to afford a private jet means you probably won't starve to death.
Academia Nut said:
It's almost like this is an era where most groups engage in endemic warfare against their neighbours and the only way to avoid that is geographic isolation, which is no long term guarantee against being attacked. ;)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And heres a hint to look to our defenses
Academia Nut said:
It can distinctly help, although technically the boats already use a sort of planked construction, its just that they don't quite require the same level of sophistication to ensure they don't fly apart while rolling across the ground at high speed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ah, its the wood jointing innovations isn't it?
Academia Nut said:
"What if, what if dude, what if - now follow me here - we made like, a medium sized canal, like one bigger than for a farm but smaller than for a whole region. And now, now follow me here, we used it, we used it to bring water straight to people, you hear? Instead of walking to like, the river or a well, it was just there, in the city, you know? And instead of just buildings, we had like, plants and things we couldn't, you know, water before?"

*the nomads brought some traditions with them*
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Aqueducts huh? That'd help with hygiene and greatly raise maximum sustainable urban populations. Also with avoiding contamination of drinking water by managing the inflow.

Good for colonizing across the hills maybe.
tenchifew said:
...and we, with our step farms and black soil, are the only people around for whom "fertile-ass soil" is not a resource, at all. We make our own.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Still a resource though, it means we don't need to invest manpower and time to get farms up to speed.

I'd wager lowland settlements either produce higher Econ payout or faster payout.

Powerofmind said:
ON ANOTHER NOTE: I believe either @Umi-san or @veekie claimed that the DP were second place to us in population, which inherently means they're going to beat the HK or something?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not me. I said they'd be racing the DPs to claim land up to the western river, but the DPs have the advantage of a better organized army and a two turn headstart.


Chrestomanci said:
.
...you never read any of the posts on the location of the settlement did you?

It is "just past the cataract that divides the valley from the lowlands" not just some random lowland spot, using the map it is where the mountain like part is, or in other words where the green line meets the river.

Imagine a hill and forest filled valley with our People spread throughout. There is a river running through it and many trails for easy travel. North is plains with our fortified settlements where the hills meet the plains. Badlands block us from the lowlands in the west.
But in the south where the valley and the lowland connect there is nothing but the trails our traders use, easily followed into our heartland.
That will give you a bit of an idea of the situation.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
FYI, Badlands are basically desert. They block settlement, but not travel.

Umi-san said:
I think it's better if instead of doing Expand Military we instead do More War Carts or Sacred Warriors. The latter two provide tech improvements that will be used and useful regardless of whether war actually occurs or not, and require more time to practice with and refine than simply taking in a larger number of warriors will. More War Carts, for example, would probably be more likely to result in plank carts if, instead of trying to churn out as many war carts as possible, they were simply creating more in a peaceful environment with the feeling that they could try to refine their craft. Furthermore, people will be more eager to become warriors if war is already occurring due to Honorable Death and, possibly, Sacred War.
Again, the likelihood that we'd need to dedicate actions to defense depends on whether or not the environment is sufficiently difficult that such a dedication of bodies is required to achieve a satisfactory level of defense. The river impedes DP raids, a forest means Blackbirds can do a good showing, and walls mean that a fewer amount of people are needed for a satisfactory defense of our homes and supplies.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...you know...AN JUST gave us a demonstration of the risks of using elite/specialized unit army as primary source of your Martial. It gives a lot of bang for your buck, but it has a glass jaw.

Every successful non-nomad military relies upon an infantry backbone. Nomads only get away with it as they have no settlements. Niche armies generally lose rapidly once enemies breakthrough a hard counter or run into an enemy with a hard counter.
Academia Nut said:
If you didn't have defensive terrain, you would be in trouble. As is, you're going to have to improve a lot before you can start contesting basically anyone else on their turf.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
As we can see here, we're riding on Hills+Forests+Shapers defense bonuses more or less.

hylas240 said:
Not really. While it would give us more bodies to throw at the problem, it wouldn't be focused. Currently, the DP and the Nomads all have cavalry (with the nomads having all their warriors driving war carts). Our own military doesn't have enough people on carts, so having more warriors wouldn't give us an edge really.

If we have more war carts, our cavalry would be much much more effective in routing enemies. If we have more blackbirds, we have more people to assassinate enemies and give more groups information on our enemies' movements (currently we only have a handful of blackbirds).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Uh, no, the DPs expanded warriors and rolled an organizational improvement, unlocking Massed Armored + Shielded Warriors, now with cavalry wings.

Thats more or less the Roman model. Cavalry to scout and harass, then you march your armored infantry over and roll their settlements.

Its weak to nomads, but also the best counter to terrain bonuses and fortifications.

bluefur87 said:
You know, based on our society, what sort of military advances do people think we'd make with the expand martial option?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Volley fire.

Block THAT with shields.

tenchifew said:
No, there is always far better chance to find mineral resources in mountains or hills, not on plains.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Though to counterbalance that, most civilizations with early metalworking are on plains with hills. The heavier erosion helps expose minerals by chance and the larger populations plains give allows for the development of specialist miners(who'd take as much food as warriors but produce no food)



Umi-san said:
Expanding warriors isn't creating a system it's expanding the number of warriors we take in. I'll admit it's likely to lead to squads p quickly, though. But the only tech it really helps with is having more warriors. More/better armor comes from better material technology which is more along the lines of War Carts, Study Forest, Trade Missions, and raiding the DP cus they seem good at inventing this kind of stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Also FYI, the DPs developed armor and squads mostly by expanding warriors and war missions.

We developed bows on war missions and boats by fishing expansions.

Study actions are good for REVEALING resources or qualities, but applied technology comes from taking an actual related action. See the STs figuring they can get advancements out of Study, and never getting masonry at all.

*shrug* we could, but again the lower valley settlement is quite a ways away from the actual entrance to our valley. They purposely moved in somewhat far to get away from the entrance and the worse terrain of the badlands and yet not far in enough to run into us. Meanwhile, a settlement in the lowlands that's made for the sake of defense is likely to be closer to whatever the entrance point actually is, though this comes at the cost of having a disproportionate number of farms where the attack is likely to come from, cus the farming is better over there.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Lower valley settlement is as close to the entrance(which is in the badlands, its long stated that south of the lower valley is impassable rough terrain) as can be settled on and expect to grow anything.






Hangwind said:
Cursing with Blessings

The fires burned low as the shaman contingent began to put the finishing touches on their work. The carving had been long and difficult, costing them many precious tools, but now it was coming to a close. Still, there was a finishing touch to be applied: The consecration ceremony. While one of the old men continued to laboriously scratch away at the Star Axe, most were engaged in the task of working out what exactly they were going to be consecrating the axe to.

"Difficult, difficult," the eldest among them sighed as he finished listening to the latest idea. "An axe of this sort; it is powerful, but has no balance to its spirit. Three different symbols of power! Madness, to bind so much in a single weapon. What if it fell into evil hands?" The shamans around him grumbled in agreement. Such an axe was dangerous even in the best of hands. Those here could remember the ravages of the Nomads-certainly none would call any of their hands the 'best'!

"It is meant for a people that understand nothing but power," one of the figures rasped. She, for this shaman was a woman, seemed gnarled like a tree in her advanced age. "How could it be anything else? But perhaps we can channel that power as Feygurthyn intends."

The first shaman nodded at her, acknowledging her point. "You have a plan?"

The woman nodded solemnly. "I do. They wish for us to bless their axe with our spirits? Let us do so, and perhaps help them correct some of their ways."

XXX

Feygurthyn watchednervously from his position next to the Thunder Horse chief as the shaman crafters approached the fire, the newly completed axe wrapped tightly in leather. As the lead shaman approached, he nodded to the guards, who promptly doused the fire, leaving only the full moon to witness their blessing. The old shaman carefully unwrapped the axe, allowing the moonlight to fall across it in such a way as to leave the runes as shadows winding across the head of the axe.

"Chief Wendtikwos, you have asked us to bless your axe with our spirits. We have come here this night to complete that blessing-the blessing of the Crow." He may have been old, but his voice still held the sonorous power of the spirits.

A figure stepped forward, lifting it's head to reveal the mask of the Teacher, the first of the Crow's forms. With a strangely detached voice, it doled out its part of the blessing. "I am the Teacher of all. The Land is mine, and all the wealth it holds. I am the spirit of the Trees to my people, and the spirit of the Horses to yours. Thus is my blessing: May this axe hold the Power of the Land to help its wielder in aid of their home." With that, the Teacher reached out its hand, dipped in precious purple, and highlighted the rune for Horse. Once completed, the Teacher stepped back and bowed its head, becoming anonymous once more.

The next figure then stepped forward, this time revealing the face of the Trickster, is strange lines seeming to crawl and change in the moonlight. Its voice was strange too, seeming to shift in time with an unheard cadence, from the shrill voice of youth to the reedy voice of great age, from the deeper voice of a man to the higher voice of a woman, and everything in between. "I am the Trickster, the decider of fates. I reveal myself to you in the Thunder and in its cleansing light. Mine is the power of Justice, in making all things as they should be. Thus is my blessing: May this axe bring Justice to its wielder, giving Power to those that make things right." Like the other figure, the Trickster stretched out its hand and traced a rune, purple outlining Thunder this time.

As that figure stepped back, the final feathered mass showed its face. The Devourer's countenance was grim, harsh lines accentuating a sharp and jagged beak. It's voice was all too understandable; cold and unfeeling, leaving the listener with a primal chill of fear as it seemed to echo emptily from the beak. "I am the Devourer, the death of all that live. I reveal myself in war and death. My Power is that of Destruction and Honor. Have the second, or the first will come all the more quickly and thoroughly, as all that you have ever done will perish with you. Thus is my blessing: May this axe bring Honor to its wielder in life and death." This time, the hand that reached out seemed almost inhuman. Skeletal, but with the bulging veins of great strength. It drew itself on the rune of the Fist, purple dripping in a languid fashion after the manner of blood.

A hush fell on the plain as the final figure stepped back. The elder shaman motioned Wendtikwos forward, offering him the leather covering and the axe that he had been holding. The great chief took it, starting to smile. Then the three figures stepped forward, surrounding the chief and speaking in eerie unison, their voices blending in an uncomfortable chorus. "I am the Teacher, I am the Trickster, I am the Devourer. But more than that, I am the Crow." As each said their name, they took off the mask that they had been wearing, letting the feathery headdress fall forward to cast their face into shadow and remain anonymous. At the same time, they handed their mask to the next person in line, who would fit them together. By the time the Devourer had all three masks, it was clear that they had been made to be one: The pale blankness of the Teacher became the hazy lines of the Trickster which in turn fed into the jagged lines of the Devourer. Finally, the Devourer handed the mask off to the final figure, one that had seemed to appear out of nothingness, who promptly put it on, showing the united Aspects of the Crow.

"i have taught my people many things, but the first was Unity. Many moving as one-this is the strength of the People. Thus is my Blessing: May this axe bring Harmony to its wielder and his people and give them the Power of a single purpose." With that, the final figure stretched out a single finger, this time not following the rune for many as the others had done with theirs, but rather following a simpler design hidden within that rune, the rune for One. With that, the figure carefully pulled the leather wrapping from underneath the axe, leaving Wendtikwos with the naked weapon in his hands and flashing in the light of the moon with black and purple. The Crow walked away, seeming to almost dissolve into the night in a trail of black feathers, his blessing complete.

Wendtikwos smiled, then raised his axe and howled, a cry of victory! He had the blessings of the spirits now, who could possibly stand against him?

-a secret story of the shaman called The Blessing of Deryn

AN: Before you open the spoiler, how do you think the blessing became a curse for the Nomads and Dead Priests?

The first Blessing is both the simplest and the least likely to do something nasty to the wielder. Simply put it is designed to give someone a boost in power, but only when they're on their home territory. It won't be helpful anywhere else, but it won't actively try to harm its wielder either. A defensive blessing from a defensively minded people. It also invokes the Shapers of the Land trait our people have.

The second blessing is a bit trickier. It is designed to help "bring Justice". Great if you're fighting for good, less so if you're in the middle of doing something evil. If you're doing wrong, it will actually help empower your enemies to right that wrong. And since it was made by us, it has our concepts of right and wrong, not the Nomad's. It invokes our Protective Justice trait, and will preform preemptive strikes where feasible.

The third blessing is the most dangerous of all. Martial power and honor. This might sound like it should be right up the Nomad's alley, but remember, our honor is different from theirs. Our honor has two parts: Humility in life, and a death while fighting for your people. So if you are proud and arrogant while wielding this, it will first attempt to teach you humility-through humiliation-and then it will kill you while you are fighting for your people. You will have honor (our honor) one way or another, even if it has to drag you there kicking and screaming. Or cold and lifeless. This invokes both the Nobility in Humility and Honorable Death traits.

The final blessing is one of Unity. Basically, it will help the wielder unite their people to their purpose. Great if you have a wise ruler. Significantly less so if you have a bad one. Very much a double edged sword. This one is obviously our Harmony trait coming into play.

Get it now? While the axe would be perfectly consecrated for our people, in the hands of someone with the values of the Spirit Talkers or the Nomads, it's almost certain to be bad.

TL;DR: A blessing in one culture may be a curse in another. We made a Paladin's weapon, then gave it to a bunch of Mongols.

Also, a look into my thought process:
Thunder: Trickster: Justice: Spiritual Power
Horse: Teacher: Land: Economic Power
Fist/Power: Devourer: Honor: Martial Power
Many/Uncountable: Crow United: Three are one: Harmony
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Beautiful work there

Academia Nut said:
Pretty much the same as now, but the local chiefs have more authority to do things like settle new territory, raise troops, promote the arts, those sorts of things. The alteration of the action spread would remove the Double Main + 1 Secondary option for actions, as that extra secondary represented enough bureaucratic flexibility to have the underlings do something else while the High Chief is entirely focused on something, as they are now always doing that in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hmm...circumstantial bonus removed for the ability to auto build settlement facilities like we Expand Farms and Manage Forests. Kickass.
VoidZero said:
Is there way for us to ensure the troops are controlled by the central government only? Letting the local control local troops are quite risky.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Local chiefs already have their own warriors loyal to them(see the incompetent chief saga). Nationalism doesn't exist yet.

hylas240 said:
Trade missions would probably get a massive bonus from having a diplomatic hero leader...so grabbing allies will be super easy with him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Agreed.

Academia Nut said:
Both would increase it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Sounds like maintaining the old government is MORE likely to trigger over-hierarchy, and changing government has a chance of buffing tolerance.

Umi-san said:
*sobs at how tru that is* so tru
I still think Expand Forest + Trade Mission is good tho. Expand Forest counts as an econ action probably, and Trade Mission consumes, like... art or diplo or something, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Note that Econ actions produce food. Econ costing actions consume manpower.

Growing forests will consume a lot of immediate manpower(Econ -1?), but will likely generate Econ +2 from Sacred Forest when the forest reaches maturity next generation

VoidZero said:
At this age water shipping is unreliable and dangerous; costs are also high as our society have yet developed regular ship building and non-land trading practices. Land routes are at the moment, safer and familiar.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Land routes currently pass through two different warzones however. And the best way to improve ships is to use a lot of them

notgreat said:
But our new leader has sub-par martial! I think that we should instead do diplomacy with the Thunder Horses and the Highlands Kingdom- the nomads we might be able to get on our side for significantly longer if not permanently with the boost a heroic leader provides, and the HK will basically just be the WC all over again in terms of acting as a buffer state for us, except this time I think they have a reasonable chance of staying together which means that we should do what we can to butter them up.

We're voting for the hero unit, it'd be a waste to not use his unique skill to its greatest possible extent while he's still around.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Logical enough, though we'd want to keep the Econ cost of Trade Missions in mind.
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom, alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)


METAL TOOLS! Copper needles! Copper weapons!
And Metal Miners have smelting. Further proof that we are falling behind on metalworking, which has to be fixed.
Why are people talking about expanding forests (which local chiefs will do on their own) and stuff, when we can and should do a lot of land surveying to discover our own metal sources?

[] [Main] Survey Land
[] [Secondary] Expand Warriors
[] [Secondary] New Trails

Metal is a force multiplier, we have to rush it.
 
[X] Twythulmyn (Mediocre Martial, Average Econ, Heroic Diplomacy, probable two turn lifespan)
[X] Yes (Consumes Econ, establishes permanent oversea trade route with Metal Workers)
[X] Large increase to local power (Changes government type to Early Ancient Provincial Kingdom (Elected), alters action spread, completes prereqs for Scourge Warding early, miscellaneous effects)
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top