On a distant shore in a land known to few, the sun sets once more and brings with it the season of cold winds. Again, they bring with them mighty waves that crash upon the rocky coast, before sweeping inland across fields soon to be hidden beneath a cover of snow. Again, they drive the bears into their hidden lairs, the giant rabbits into their burrows, the birds to flee to parts unknown. Again, they signal the changing of times, and again, they come earlier than before. So again, in a cave by the ocean does a group of a few dozen people huddle around a fire in an alcove of rock barely hidden from the wind to discuss the fate of their family. The time where they can remain indecisive, however, is coming to a close.
A sense of dread hung around the air as the elders discussed what would become of the family, those younger having already grown weary of this topic and being ignored. "The Shark Hunters left during these last warm winds, that leaves us as the only ones left," spoke an old lady, her hair long since turned white and wispy from seeing many different changes in the winds pass through. Many of the younger ones present could call her grandmother.
She was rebuffed by another elder, this one a father who was showing the first signs of gray in his hair, but acting as if he had far more. "Good, without anyone to compete we'll be able to survive then."
"There's nothing to compete over you fool," the matron scoffed in reply. She had seen herself as the only true elder left, having been one since the birth of most of the current elders, and did not pay attention to their words as a result, something that bothered the others to no end. "There is barely any food during the cold winds and what little there is less every year. Do you propose your children starve for your own ego?"
Another elder, this one the mother to the father's children interrupted here, "the others have gone across the mountains for mere hints of a promised land where things are better. Forget the journey and how many have surely died along the route, striking out in mere hope that things will turn out for the better is the height of foolishness. We must stay here and persevere through these times if we wish to survive, not run towards our doom, believing it our salvation." It was the argument brought up time and again for why they shouldn't seek haven on across the mountains. No one truly knew what was there and many elders believed that the other families merely died along the journey.
"We die either way," the elderly matron would likely have screamed had she had a bit more of her hair left, "we must at least make the attempt. I refuse to see my grandchildren die because of my own stubbornness."
Before the discussion could go any further, however, a young man who had just had his first child dared to speak up amongst the conversation of the elders, "grandmother, you won't be able to make the journey though. It's too far and harsh." It was a topic that many of the younger ones skirted around and a reason they suspected most of the elders were so against traveling across the mountains. Doing so would likely mean death for those involved.
"If my death saves the lives of my children, their children, and their children's children, then so be it." There was at least one exception to this, however. "You were not there when I was young and still a child. The cold wind didn't even exist then. Most thought them a passing fancy, and yet they come every year now, sooner and sooner. Soon there will be nothing but cold winds, and our family will perish."
There was a scoff from the other elders at her claims, but they had grown weary of arguing with her and let the matter be done. They had the entire season of cold winds to talk this over, after all.
It was then that a young girl, too young to even have children and should likely be asleep while the elders and parents discussed things spoke up, "what, what if we went somewhere else? The rafts we take out fishing sometimes. If we take those along the coast when the warm winds return and the ocean is safer to travel along, we may be able to find another land. One that isn't wracked by the cold winds, or perhaps at least not as much. If we do that, then the elders can travel with us on them."
This was, of course, dismissed by all the elders, "the cold winds come from the ocean, child, we can not find haven from them by traveling along the ocean," the eldest matron replied. "It would achieve nothing but see the end to our family faster. Now head back to sleep." Most of the elders wouldn't survive the journey either, and even fewer of the children than if they chose to cross the mountains, but the matron didn't want to give the others any more reason to be afraid of leaving.
The discussion continued throughout the cold winds, during the days, the nights, and the storms, more and more people joined in as it became apparent that they had to make a decision while they still had time to make one. When the warm winds started to come back, the lone family left in these far lands had made their choice.
It was a decision that, though they would never live to see it, had a chance to change the fate of the world forever.
Or, perhaps, it would amount to nothing in the end.
Migration: [][Migration] Abandon the elders for the rumored lands across the mountains.
-Elders left behind
-Most likely to find habitable land [][Migration] Do not leave, face the adversity head on.
-Face the continued might of the cold winds as conditions get worse. [][Migration] Take the rafts along the coast in search of new lands.
-Elders and Young at extreme risk
-May find better conditions
-May find worse conditions
Race: [][Race] Human
-Highly Empathic: Boost to all social based actions.
-Endurance: Boost to actions that require long, tedious work. [][Race] Beastfolk
-Recently came into existence around the time the Cold Winds started coming. (Will face discrimination amongst humans as a result)
-???: ???
-Beast Trait: Following vote will determine what beast you came from and gain a random trait based on it.
Mechanics
Votes will be approval voting for this first set of votes.
Moratorium: [][Moratorium] None
-Vote opens as soon as the relevant post hits. [][Moratorium] 2 Hours
-Vote opens two hours after the relevant post hits. [][Moratorium] 12 Hours
-Vote opens twelve hours after the relevant post hits. [][Moratorium] 24 Hours
-Vote opens twenty-four hours after the relevant post hits. [][Moratorium] Scaling
-At an average of 10 players there will be a moratorium of two hours, 25 players, twelve hours, and 50 players, twenty four hours.
Voting: [][Voting] Single Vote
-Players are allowed one vote for each possible action. Highest votes win. [][Voting] Approval
-Players may vote for as many things as they want, but only the Highest votes win. [][Voting] Ranked
-Players vote as approval, but rank votes as they most prefer them.
--For example [1] for the vote you most want, [2], for the vote you want the second most, etc.
--Players do not have to vote for every option. [][Voting] Single Plan
-When actions allow for it, players will vote for a single plan, otherwise the same as Single Vote. [][Voting] Approval Plan
-When actions allow for it, players will vote for plans they approve of, otherwise the same as Approval. [][Voting] Ranked Plan
-When actions allow for it, players will vote for plans they like in rank, otherwise the same as Ranked.
Information: [][Info] Mysterious
-Little to no OoC information given. Rely predominantly on insight to figure out many mechanics. [][Info] Hints
-Simple hints will be given at the beginning of most, if not all updates. Insight will still be paramount. [][Info] Open
-Most intended mechanical consequences of actions will be listed next to them from the start.
--There will still be a significant possibility of actions having unintended consequences.
---Attention should be drawn to the phrase 'significant possibility'.
*Wants to run a quest, but wants it to actually finish and makes several quest ideas around that.*
*Picks the one quest idea that is basically guaranteed to not finish.*
This is how you QM, right?!?!
As this is my first quest, and a rather ambitious one at that, I don't know how far it will get, but I do hope to provide some enjoyment to people at least.
Tools:Moderate Rafts: 1(2)/1 Culture:Middling Prestige: Very Little Population: Low Authority: Little
Traits
???
Omnivore: Access to all types of food.
Playful Fox: Bonus to social interactions.
Statuses
Value Clash: Increased chance of social crises and miscreants. Decreased chances of heroes.
Fisher Faction (Ruling Faction)
Goals: Catch Big Fish
Power: Very Little
Bonuses: N/A
One's Own Way
The Better Way is not merely a single path, but a path that is different for each individual. Pros: More options when facing a crises, the top two voted for reaction actions will be chosen. Cons: More things are considered a crises by your population, reaction effectiveness is decreased.
Symbolic Community
When in doubt of what someone stands for, or how they fit into the world, you merely need to look at what they adorn themselves with. These symbols create order and understanding within a community. Pros: Gain bonus to actions based on population. May spend immense amounts of prestige to prevent Authority loss. Cons: Population Cap Decreased, tiny relationship penalty to those with low prestige.
Organization Type: Early Despotic Tribe:
A form of government where a group is headed and led by an individual, who controls the overall aspects and goals of how the Tribe operates.
Leadership: Tribal Chief
Tools
-Upper Paleolithic Stone Tools
Construction
-Early Tribal Shelters
Culture
-Early Tribal Ornaments
Food
-Hunting and Gathering
-Fishing
Transportation
-Rafts
-Rafting
Spiritual
-Stone Seeing
-Primitive Singing
-Fishing Grounds
-Rock Outcrop
Boundary: Where the Colored Ocean abruptly ends and the Deep Ocean begins. You currently have your only camp located here.
Colored Ocean: A vast ocean filled with numerous colors, from interesting colored rocks to fish of many different colors as well.
Deep Ocean: An Ocean that doesn't seem to have a bottom. It is home to many very large fish.
Mist, The: An area of what appears to be dense water within the air, increasingly obscuring vision the deeper you go into it and cooling the otherwise very hot air.
Mist Mountains: A strange set of mountains that lie in what seems to be a fresh water sea teeming with life. It is located in the Mist.
Mist Raft Camp: An unofficial camp of Foxes located in the Mist near a known large outcrop of rock. Lived in by many foxes and used for repairing rafts that travel the Mountain Sea.
Mountain Sea: A series of mountains located in what appears to be a giant fresh water sea within the Mist.
Moratorium: Moratorium is suspended until further notice.
Approval Voting: People are allowed to vote for as many options as they wish for what they want to pass.
Omakes are a stories that players have written themselves about the world and setting at large. For the purpose of this quest they are to encourage further world building than what I participate in. That said, the mechanics of the quest are not built for bonuses being haphazardly thrown in so I can not offer direct numerical bonuses to them.
I can, however, offer other benefits. I am more than willing to make Omakes canon for the quest, and if players are clever they can get in some benefits or effect the narrative of the quest as a result of this. Omakes will be roughly judged on the following criteria.
How well it fits within current canon.
How well written it is.
What the magic eight ball tells me to rate it as.
Please do note that length is not in that list.
All Omakes that I accept will be put into two categories. Sidestory and Apocrypha. Sidestories are canon, Apocrypha are non-canon.
Migration: Take the rafts along the coast in search of new lands.
Race: Beastfolk
Moratorium: 2 Hours
Voting: Approval
Info: Hints
A New Land
Risky, such is both the fault and grace of youth. It was this risk taking that won out in the end, convincing those that wished to travel across the mountains that such a place held no land for their family. After all, that was where the human families had gone, and they had often looked down upon the family's people, calling them cursed and blaming them for the ill fortune of the ever increasing cold winds.
With those who wished to remain being talked over by a combination of the youths and those who had been proposing to travel over the mountains for many of the past cold winds now, the family finally had a direction to take. With a sense of purpose and determination they set about gathering up as many logs and branches as possible and lashing them together to form several rafts. On them they put what tools and food they could fit along with the entirety of the family.
It was quite an impressive sight, to see several dozen rafts when there only used to be one or two made during the warm winds. Of course, it quickly became apparent that the rafts weren't meant for these long voyages, but as luck would have it many of the families that had long since abandoned the land had been forced to leave many of their belongings behind. Stashes of tools, combined with what wood they could find allowed them to rebuild the rafts time and again. Each time getting incrementally better at figuring out how best to lash branches together, finding the appropriate size and place of wood needed, making the rafts a little bit more stable.
It was this practice and surplus of supplies that likely saved the family in the end, as eventually they came upon the cliffs. Giant walls of rock that bordered the ocean, too steep to climb and with precious few places safe to put their rafts up for the night. Sometimes they weren't able to find a location in time, and more than once the rocky coast tricked them and damaged or destroyed a raft. Many members of the family were lost this way.
Still, as they traveled, a hope began to take hold of them. The air grew warmer, more so than any could remember, and eventually one of the youths leading the small group of rafts noticed something off in the distance. A strange mist that resembled the color of the crests of waves was on the horizon, and they seemed to be getting closer to it as they traveled down the shoreline. Coupled with the increase in warmth, many were starting to consider that this must be where the warm winds came from.
Before they could reach the source of the distant white mist, however, the family ran out of supplies.
Reaching shore and exploring the land, it was discovered that they were rather fortunate in their landing. A wide river, much more so than they had ever seen flowed through steep hills with great forests covering the landscape. Lacking enough tools to shape the wood available into rafts, and worried about the winter winds still returning, the family set about gathering food and preparing lean-tos in preparation.
And they continued doing so, and continued doing so, waiting for the cold winds to come, and when they finally did come, far latter than all but the eldest could remember them coming, they barely stayed and quickly gave way to a rain with a slight chill, which in turn quickly gave way to warm, if somewhat hot, winds.
The family rejoiced, though some still worried that one day the cold winds would overtake this land as they did their old home. Still, for now, they were safe, they had come out of this alive.
The Beastfolk family, through luck or insight, have managed to find a new home. This risky action and the success of it has instilled a new value within the family.
New Cultural Value: A Better Way
When someone is forced between hard choices and a need to sacrifice something, it is because they have not found the correct trail on which to travel. Pros: More options when facing a crises. Cons: More things are considered a crises by your population.
But what sort of Beastfolk are they?
[][Beastfolk] Origin Animal Write-In
In the coming years, the family did a lot to settle into their new home. What was their focus?
Choose two Actions. Please use the following Format:
[][Action] Action here.
If you wish to repeat an action, put a x2 next to it to differentiate it from other actions.
Actions:
Be Creative: Encourage discussion, storytelling, whatever people can think of in order to enrich the lives of your people.
Craft Ornaments: Create extra decorative pieces with which to adorn people and their dwellings.
Craft Tools: Create a stockpile of tools with which to work on major projects.
Migrate: Perhaps, this land is not good for your people. Migrate to a new land. (Current Targets are the White Mist Coast, the Rocky Mountain Coast, and Upriver)
Refine Story: Discuss the true meaning of a story and how your family should interpret it. (Current Target is A Better Way)
Scout: Explore your surroundings to see what you can find.
Hint: Some actions are locked until you have higher stats.
Hmm... That should really be making more of a 'Knock' sound.
Klunk
Better, but the stone still wasn't making any sense, much like the other stones. Maybe if she aimed to make a 'Klink' it would make a 'Knock' instead?
Plink
Well, that's a new one.
Stonetail growled as she looked over the stone. It was another one that refused to make sense, but why? What was she missing here? She tossed it into a new pile, determined to come back to it when she found more like it so she could look it over properly.
The next stone she picked up had a streak of, something reminiscent of distant memories as a kit of the ocean at sun set, alongside another band that resembled the sun itself, all surrounded by a stone that reflected the night sky they had been finding everywhere, complete with little stars. A sea sun stone then, she mused. The sort of stone that made her quite sure that stones had a deep connection to the sky, though the elders simply rolled their eyes when she suggested it.
It was also the sort of stone that she had long since learned could not be fashioned into even a passable tool, likely brought in by a pup new to hunting that thought it pretty.
Picking up a knocking stone, Stonetail wondered if she aimed it just so, could she combine the sunset with the sun? What would happen if she did? All of the stones that would make for decent tools were snatched by others as soon as they came in anyways, so no one could really complain if this was what she spent her time on.
The sense of frustration from a lack of proper stone was a common theme throughout the makeshift camp. Very little stone found was of a singular type. That which was, was often of a sort that wouldn't break cleanly, instead fracturing into strange shapes and sizes that made even the most experienced of stone workers try pulling their tail out in frustration more than once.
In response to this, many of the hunters had taken to going farther and farther when out. They searched the land for appropriate stones, often bringing back samples for the vixens to test and see if they could do something with. These rocks usually didn't form proper tools for one reason or another, but every now and then there were a few stones that did. None of those stones were so kind as to be in singular large deposits, and most were used up quickly upon being discovered. So the hunters continued their search, joined more and more by pups and those growing frustrated with a lack of progress in trying to shape useless stones.
Searches along the hills were not met with much success. Much of the area was covered with trees and bushes that not only made travel difficult and easy to get lost in, but covered the ground, making stone incredibly hard to find in the first place.
Along the beach was much easier, the wide and often flat sands allowed them to travel long distances at ease. Long distances that ended in cliffs of more of the damnable rock they could not shape in less than a day's walk as they headed away from the mist and was met with the mouth of the Great River in the other direction, of which they did not have the rafts to spare to cross often enough to thoroughly explore.
It was along the Great River where the most success was met. As one headed along the river away from the ocean the hills became more pronounced, the trees thinner, and often there was an entire hill seemingly broken in half, exposing a massive amount of rock. For the most part these rocks were also of the wrong type, but as the hills became higher, eventually the rocks transitioned into another type.
This type was the sort they could use for making tools.
Once they discovered this, the family gathered up a set of stone tools and was about to start debating whether to build rafts to bring the stone in or to just move their camp closer to the site when one day the stone tools, along with roughly half a dozen foxes just disappeared when no one was looking.
Panic immediately took hold over everyone and searches were extended farther and into areas that the family had not previously ventured to. Rumors began to fly rampantly and it was quickly getting hard to discern what was a theory and what was speculation. Some insisted that they had seen a wolf stray too close to the camp several days beforehand, while others claimed that the land was cursed, and one person told of how they disappeared in a flash of light during the night as a comet shot overhead.
The warm winds were nearly half over and foxes starting to give up before they were found. Far upriver, well beyond where the good stone was, a hunter who had still been searching in desperation for his childhood love had persisted. There he found a much more permanent camp than the family had yet, filled with very familiar tails.
The foxes, it turned out, had been gathered and led away by Stonetail who claimed to have seen this location, where stone touched the sky, in the various shards and flakes made in the process of making stone tools. Knowing that the elders and most of the family would simply try to stop her, she secretly gathered those that would follow and left one night, taking the tools with them to help set up the camp.
Here she guided the foxes by studying the remains of stones as they made various tools from them, using them to seek guidance and predict the future.
How should the family handle Stonetail and her renegade group?
[][Stonetail] Ignore them and go back to making more stone tools to replace the ones lost.
[][Stonetail] Demand that they return the tools they took.
[][Stonetail] Force them to cease this foolishness and return to the family.
[][Stonetail] Take the tools back during the night, when they aren't looking.
[][Stonetail] Throw yourself on their mercy and ask for their guidance.
Hint: Miscreants are characters that rarely (hopefully) appear and cause problems for your society.
[Stonetail] Throw yourself on their mercy and ask for their guidance.
The Sky Stone Tribe
The question of what to do in regards to Stonetail was one that weighed heavily on the family. Some claimed that she was merely being foolish and that the family needed to work together in this strange new land, that she should come rejoin the family and stop this nonsense. For others, the tools belonged to the family as a whole, and not to one individual or group that could just take all their hard work and leave the family.
However, many couldn't help but consider the possibility that she was on to something. Her intense study of many of the stones that they had found and incessant talking about some random bit of knowledge she had found, while dismissed by most as not being relevant to making tools at the time, may have given her some insight lost to others.
The temptation proved to be too much in the end, and many members of the family spent their time traveling to Stonetail's camp to seek guidance and to be wowed by her skill in reading the stones.
Stonetail responded to the sudden interest in her ideas, that only came after she had given up on the family having any interest in the first place, with disbelief. Then she smiled and exuberantly shared her knowledge to anyone who would listen to her for a moment. She told them how certain stones, when shaped and colored like the dawning sun, could ward off predators and sickness, how a stone that broke in a jagged line that resembled a mountain meant a calamity was coming, but if it was upside down it was a blessing, how to further identify that calamity or blessing by specifically breaking other stones in a certain pattern.
The information was incredibly varied and detailed and while many foxes attempted to learn, the short time they could afford to spend at Stonetail's camp was not nearly enough to understand the intricacies of stone seeing, as she called it. Furthermore, Stonetail insisted on not moving her camp, stating it was the best location for her to read stones, and the spot itself was too remote from anything to properly support the entire family, stopping them from moving there themselves.
In the end Stonetail decided to send one of her best students back to the family's camp in order to help guide them in their daily lives, asking that the family send a fox to her only when they needed a more in depth reading.
This, in turn, raised its own issue, as foxes then started arguing over who would go to Stonetail's camp for the truly important matters.
Some proposed the burden should rest on the shoulders of those who wished to ask the questions themselves, and when the family as a whole had a question they would pick someone to go ask her at that time.
This would leave many foxes to fend for themselves in getting to Stonetail's camp, however, and many did not wish to travel the great distance themselves or could not make the journey due to age. The idea may hold more merit if they moved their camp closer to Stonetail's.
Another, and more sensible to many, proposal was that the most experienced hunter should go since they would know the way best. Such a fox would be able to most speedily and readily make their way to and from the camp as needed, allowing visits to be frequent and done with less preparation.
Others pointed out that while getting there was good and all, it should be one who understood the family's current situation the best so that they could ask the best questions, a position that often fell to one of the crafters as they frequently stayed in camp and heard the comings and goings of others.
A fourth group then proposed yet another fox, claiming that the student of Stonetail should be the one to go, as she would know why the problem was hard to see through the stones in the first place and could explain it in relation to stone seeing better.
Lastly, there was a group that just said that all three should go so that they could cover the areas that the others could not. Many pointed out that the Hunter couldn't travel as easily if he had to wait for the Crafter or Student, nor could the Student adequately explain the Crafter's questions in a depth that required their attendance, making the entire idea potentially incredibly excessive and many worried what would happen to the family if so many important figures were absent at the same time.
In the end, the family decided to send...
[][Stone] Each fox to fend for themselves
[][Stone] The Experienced Hunter
[][Stone] The Wise Crafter
[][Stone] The Learned Student
[][Stone] The Three Greatest Foxes
As time passed and a new generation grew up under the new form the family had taken, the various arrangements and final decisions on who should visit Stonetail were made. And though the problem with a lack of excess stone tools persisted, the kits were joyful in their new game of Stone Casting, there was a confidence that everyone would be alright under Stonetail's guidance, and life was generally good.
But for all her knowledge, even Stonetail did not know how to prolong her life, and all too soon it was coming to its end. She had given this event foresight, however, and not wishing to leave her students aimless without her, had taken on a successor to teach everything she knew, a young kit she had raised and named Skytail.
When the members of the family heard about a young vixen barely past being a kit taking over Stonetail's role though, there was a great deal of skepticism as to whether or not she was up to the task.
Then she visited the camp and predicted every birth for the rest of the season of warm winds, guided many foxes with dilemmas they were too afraid to speak up about, and demonstrated an even deeper understanding of the inner workings of stone seeing than Stonetail had.
Before she left, Skytail gave the family a single piece of advice. They should search the land to find a better source of food so as all foxes could prosper more.
The excitement the following days was palpable as the foxes looked forward to the future, determined to put their best paw forward.
Choose two actions from the list bellow to do. Use the [Action] tag to denote your choices for this and put a x2 next to any option you wish to take a second time.
Special: You have received a quest from Skytail to find a reliable source of food. This can be accomplished by performing a Scout action and indicating it follow the quest.
Be Creative: Encourage discussion, storytelling, whatever people can think of in order to enrich the lives of your people.
Craft Ornaments: Create extra decorative pieces with which to adorn people and their dwellings.
Craft Tools: Create a stockpile of tools with which to work on major projects.
Insult: Show your greatness by insulting another group and showing they can not respond to you. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe
Meet: Sit down and talk with a group to exchange stories and gifts. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe)
Migrate: Perhaps, this land is not good for your people. Migrate to a new land. (Current Targets Available: White Mist Coast, the Rocky Mountain Coast, Upriver)
Raid: Someone has stuff that you want or need. Go take it. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe)
Refine Story: Discuss the true meaning of a story and how your family should interpret it. (Current Target Available: A Better Way)
Scout: Explore your surroundings to see what you can find.
Hint: Location based actions can always be targeted, though this will greatly affect their outcome.
Due to events, you have changed you form of government! Primitive Despotic Tribe:
A form of government where there is one individual who the tribe all look to for jobs to assign and chores to do. This individual does not have any tradition that gives them leadership over the Tribe, but there is something about the culture that puts an immense amount of power in their hands to the point where there might as well be.
You have become a Vassal of the Sky Stone Tribe!
At the edge of the valley of the Great River a mountain rose, foremost among its neighbors as if to act as a guard for its mighty brethren behind it.
If one approached the mountain they would hear sounds of a constant, steady series of clacks, klinks, and numerous others, all different, yet somehow meshing into a single rhythm which formed a chant that seemed to be repeated by all the surrounding hills in some strange and eerie form of solidarity to reaffirm the mountain's strength.
If that fox were to then continue their journey and try to climb this mountain to find the source of the strange clacking chant, they may, if they were lucky, come across a small, innocent looking trail cleared of brush. Following this, they would find themselves traveling up a winding, disorienting path, occasionally coming across small widths of rock with a steep drop to one side and a wind that seemed to want nothing more than to see them go down it, all while unable to see the top of the mountain, wondering just how much farther they had to go, if this path even led to the source of the sound, or anywhere at all.
But the path did have an end, and as the fox came upon it, just as even the trees gave up the ascent up the mountain, they would see a series of shelters made from tall grass matted with mud and held together by sold logs trimmed and shaped with meticulous care, all partially dug into the ground and surrounding a flat piece of land that overlooked the entire valley.
In the center of these huts would sit half a dozen to a dozen foxes, hitting, grinding, and digging rock against rock, just as any crafter would to make tools or other things, but they would stare at the rock as if not seeing the rock, the cliff, the others, or anything that the onlooker could discern for that matter.
This, was Sky Stone Camp.
It was this sort of sight, experience, that made Strongpaw so very glad she had managed to talk to the other crafters, promising small favors, giving bits of advice, keeping an ear out for the latest talk, and using it all to convince them and get them to convince their lovers that she was clearly the best fox to send to ask questions of the Great Skytail.
This was, after all, where the real game was.
Ignoring the foxes in the center whom she had long since become convinced were looking at nothing as they attempted to create interesting sounds to alleviate their undoubtedly complete and utter boredom, Strongpaw made for a shelter, one near the cliff that had a window positioned just so, as to give the occupant a perfect view of the trail she just climbed.
As she approached, a fox showing her first grey furs stepped out, "Greetings Wise Strongpaw. Here again with questions from your fellows?"
"You're praise is great and generous, Wise Reader of the Stones," Strongpaw returned, to which Skytail merely smiled bemusedly and nodded, though Strongpaw knew how being referred to by a title and not her name rubbed the vixen the wrong way. "May I be allowed in, to sit in your home and share your soup?"
"It would be my pleasure, Wise Strongpaw," Skytail returned, turning inwards and leading her into the shelter. It was a bit silly of an opening to the game the two played, but that was what made it fun, even if was a bit repetitive. Acknowledgements had to be made, after all.
As they sat down, Strongpaw took the offered satchel of soup and they moved on to the next phase of the game, now that the introductions were out of the way. To see who would get bored first.
Skytail started off quite readily, a bold move that indicated she had plenty to talk about and likely had prepared a devious trick. And she was talking about...
Ah, the clouds. Truly a tail blow, and she somehow had found a way to describe many of them in great detail without ever repeating herself. She really had been practicing, though she should have saved that for latter when she was tired as an attempt at a finishing blow. Patience never was one of Skytail's strong skills.
Strongpaw had sat through worse, however, so she listened intently, and asked pointed and careful questions. If she just hmm'd and haww'd, after all, she'd have lost immediately.
It took awhile, and the sun was definitely not where it was when they had started, but Strongpaw managed to persevere and could tell that Skytail was somewhat put off by it, though she doubted she was surprised. The two had gone on for much longer than this about the lives of insects of all things!
Afterwards, Strongpaw started her move, talking in great detail about all the various plants and animals the hunters had been finding chasing that little request of Skytail's. The foxes back home figured it was part of some grand plan or cunning insight of Skytail's, but Strongpaw knew better. The fox just wanted their camp to start sending food with them as gifts so that she would have an easier time supporting her camp.
It was a simple request, however, and by carrying it out, and giving directions on where and what to look for, Strongpaw could wield the power and respect that Skytail herself had, putting the camp into good order, stopping people from doing things that others had already covered, and actually get things done rather than wasting time talking around the camp.
She finished her incredibly overly detailed report and Skytail took her turn, deciding to talk about the stars. It seemed the head of the Sky Stone Tribe decided to live up to her namesake this meeting.
Skytail, of course, knew that she knew that all of the talk about Stone Seeing was a complete lie, just like how she knew that Skytail knew that she knew, and so on and so on. That was the game, however. One of wit, attention, and cunning. To be pleasant, pretend as if this was nothing more than a friendly talk, all while pulling out and discussing numerous topics to great detail in an attempt to bore the other party into giving up.
Skytail finished her discussion about the stars and Strongpaw picked up and talked about the ocean, which Skytail had only seen once when she visited their camp oh so long ago.
Of course, neither would give up, no, trying to get the other to give up was what they pretended they were doing. Listening to an elder who thinks they know better prattle on and on made one more than able to sit through their deep and intricate discussion if they had the mind for it.
It had been Strongpaw who started it upon her first visit. Carefully, slowly, talking to Skytail and getting her to spill all the little secrets about Stone Seeing, slowly closing the trap in setting her up for countless contradictions to collapse in on themselves. She had come so close, but Skytail had seen her trap at the last second, and with a few clever placed explanations managed to avoid the complete and total collapse of the workings on how Stone Seeing functioned.
While it hadn't been a complete and utter victory, Strongpaw would have been disappointed if it was that easy. Sure enough, when she came back Skytail had been ready this time, having thought over and come up with many clever explanations about Stone Seeing without contradicting anything she had said last time.
And so their game began all those seasons ago and continued to this day.
It was late into the night before they were finished, as always, and they called it quits as the sun set and Skytail wrapped up her explanation on all the various stages of tree growth. Strongpaw was offered a place to sleep for the night, and they would get on to the 'official' business in the morning.
Such was the relationship between the two.
It was several days after returning home when Strongpaw noticed something... off, with the weather. The rains were frequent, the sun gone behind the clouds too long. Most saw it and thought little of the occurrence. After all, there was no torrential downpour that could cause a hill to collapse, not that they were anywhere near the areas where that was liable to happen, so what was the worst it could do?
Then it kept on continuing, and Strongpaw noticed the air began to change, and the rest in the camp began to notice it too. As more noticed it, the feeling of dread and despair spread.
It was getting to the point where all of the foxes in camp were starting to insist that she go and see Skytail, and she couldn't do that because she knew Skytail couldn't actually help here, but if they knew that it would destroy the entire story that kept them in line and able to do anything in the first place!
Then the hunters she had been organizing found an area nearby camp that not only had a great number of the delicious yellow berries, but several giant rabbit dens nearby that fed off of them. The excess and varied food quickly seemed to chase away the oncoming gloom and not a few days later did Skytail come along for the first time since she was a kit. Bringing with her beautiful tools, decorated with feathers from various birds offering them to the camp as a gift.
Strongpaw knew that Skytail couldn't have heard about what was going on, about how her errant request from so long ago, that was made solely to get the Sky Stone Tribe more food, had managed to save her home from a calamity before it even happened by nothing but pure, dumb luck.
She knew she couldn't have known, because it would have been Strongpaw who had told her!
But as she explained what had happened, Skytail didn't seem surprised, and she thought she was rather good at understanding her, merely offering her a bemused smile and a nod.
For the first time, Strongpaw wondered if she knew what game the two of them had been really been playing all this time.
The Sky Stone Tribe has arrived with Stone Tools as gifts! Do you wish to offer them anything?
[][Sky Meet] Nah, we're good.
[][Sky Meet] Sing stories in Skytail's name!
[][Sky Meet] Offer them some of your extra food for the trip back!
[][Sky Meet] Everything! This is a time for celebration!
As the seasons came and went, a new generation grew up and the foxes had a new spring in their step. It was time to once more get to work!
Choose two actions from the list bellow to do. Use the [Action] tag to denote your choices for this and put a x2 next to any option you wish to take a second time.
Special: The Sky Stone Tribe has a quest for you! They would like you to build some rafts. This can be accomplished with the Build Rafts action, no need to specify it as a quest.
Be Creative: Encourage discussion, storytelling, whatever people can think of in order to enrich the lives of your people.
Build Rafts: Use tools to make extra rafts to allow you to travel much farther to get far away resources and explore further, as long as it is along a waterway.
Craft Ornaments: Create extra decorative pieces with which to adorn people and their dwellings.
Craft Tools: Create a stockpile of tools with which to work on major projects.
Forget Story: Some songs are best forgotten, ornaments best left buried where the next generation can't see. Make an effort to forget several traditions. (Current Targets Available: A Better Way)
Insult: Show your greatness by insulting another group and showing they can not respond to you. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe They're awesome!)
Meet: Sit down and talk with a group to exchange stories and gifts. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe)
Migrate: Perhaps, this land is not good for your people. Migrate to a new land. (Current Targets Available: White Mist Coast, the Rocky Mountain Coast, Upriver)
New Camp: Use tools to construct more permanent shelters so your Foxes can live more comfortably.
Raid: Someone has stuff that you want or need. Go take it. (Current Target Available: Sky Stone Tribe Still too awesome!)
Refine Story: Discuss the true meaning of a story and how your family should interpret it. (Current Target Available: A Better Way)
Scout: Explore your surroundings to see what you can find.
Tell New Story: Songs can be steered to teach new lessons and ornaments new meanings where they had none before.
Hint: Quests are actions that overlords wish for their vassals to take, but that doesn't mean they will be rewarded for doing so or that they have to be done. Depending on the relationship, though, there may be consequences.
[Sky Meet] Offer them some of your extra food for the trip back!
[Action] Build Rafts
[Action] Scout - Along the coast
What Lies Beyond?
Word had come down from the Sky Stone Tribe, The Foxes were to assemble rafts for the coming times ahead, and so they faithfully set to work, trusting in the Stone Seers' guidance.
For some, the building of rafts was enough, that they felt this was following the guidance of the Sky Stone Tribe, but the vixen who also was in charge of bringing the wisdom of the great Stone Seers to The Foxes pointed out that the guidance offered was always with a purpose. If The Foxes were to create extra rafts, then surely they were meant to use them! It was an idea that sounded right to many and it came from a fox who spent her time consulting with the greatest of the Stone Seers, and so The Foxes took their newly assembled rafts of lashed together branches and set out to explore the edge of the great waters, where the land and ocean met.
Those who sailed away from The Mist, where the land was far too rocky to tread by foot for any reasonable length, found ever increasing cold winds, chaotic waters, and a complete lack of places to safely bring their rafts to the shore for repairs or rest. While the way was difficult and dangerous, it was this very difficulty that began attracting many foxes to hone their skills handling rafts in the most treacherous of waters, causing no end of grumbling from those stuck repairing the rafts back at camp.
The coast towards The Mist, however, turned up far more interesting results.
Shortly past the Great River, The Foxes found a huge bay that took over a day to travel around by paw, with calm waters that not only made navigating rafts through the area simple, but seemed to be greatly appreciated by the fish as they teamed throughout it. And just beyond that bay The Foxes were met with a very strange sight. Whereas away from The Mist, the winds grew colder and the lands higher, towards The Mist, the winds not only grew warmer, but the land lower.
There was what many foxes described as a forest in the ocean!
Though there was land in this strange forest, it was often just barely bellow where the water was, making a nigh unnavigable land mass and waterway where rafts threatened to be torn apart by some plant or debris hidden just beneath the water and traveling by paw was slow, difficult, and likely to lead to foxes getting lost. As such, much of the exploration that way also came to a halt.
While the exploration along the coast had come to a surprisingly brief stop, there was an excitement surrounding seeing where the guidance of the Sky Stone Tribe had led them, and where this would lead them in the future, with many foxes arguing about what they were supposed to do with these discoveries.
Some wished to push into the Ocean Forest. It would undoubtedly push the rafts durability to the breaking point, stopping them from easily being maintained and undoubtedly requiring future generations to rebuild them, but the fascination of what could lie in, or beyond, the forest was incredibly tempting.
Others argued that if they were going to damage the rafts beyond repair anyways, then they should do it training the kits in the Coldward Coast, so as to improve the practice of navigating rafts altogether.
A third group, mostly consisting of those who built the rafts and did not want to spend all their time desperately trying to repair them before they would finally be gone for good, suggested that they should move their camp to the bay, where the fishing would be easy.
Though to this, many pointed out that they would be not only much farther from the Sky Stone Tribe, but from where they were currently getting the rocks for making their tools. Perhaps if they built a camp at both locations, but that required more tools and time than they had at the moment.
In the end, The Foxes decided to...
[][Scout] Use the rafts to explore the Mistward Ocean Forest
[][Scout] Use the rafts to train their kits on the Coldward Wild Oceans
[][Scout] Migrate to the Fish filled bay
[][Scout] Migrate to the Stone Outcrop
[][Scout] Stay put, make tools
Hint: Authority is a stat that represents your ability to control your tribe and those under you.
QM/N: So, a couple of things on this update. First, no moratorium as it isn't generating the needed discussion. Second, updates for next week are going to be Monday-Wednesday-Friday. This second one is to allow players more time to discuss and to give me time to iron out any system problems that pop up and allow me to organize and streamline my update procedure to lessen the burden so that I can make updates more easily.
These are both subject to change, but should last a minimum of one week.
