From Stone to the Stars

Stealing food. That's a big deal, even if it's to prevent starvation. The theft of food could very easily cause someone else to die, especially since you're still primarily hunter-gatherers. There's not a lot of extra food to go around, especially during winter. If someone takes more than their fair share, other people starving to death is extremely likely. Those most affect by theft tend to be young children, who are protected by their parents, and elders who are protected by their adult children.
It is true. Was framing it as a looking forward thing, since this IS a foundational trait that informs future justice pursuits?
 
8.0 Festival of Fire
[x] Put the man to work on behalf of the People, his food ration will be given upon him working.

[X] [Diplo] Create Annual Festival
[X] [Admin] Great Trace 3/4-6?
[X] [Action] Great Trace 4/4-6?
[X] [Action] Increase Hunting

Slowly, Miri walked along the southern edge of the great river. A path had slowly been worn along the southern bank, cut by thousands of feet passing by in ones and twos. In her youth, when she and her friends frolicked along the Fingers' rivers, she had noticed small traces leading away into the forest. Most of those trails were made by game; bears, wolves, antler-bearing animals of all types, but some had been made by the People. Hunters, woodsmen, and sugar makers going out to fulfill their duties.

The changes were small, but she noticed the paths grow deeper and deeper every year. Some of the more widely traversed paths were slowly worn down to bare dirt. Trees and grass no longer grew there and made it significantly easier for the People to pass.

If the People could create a networks of traces cut through the wilderness by pure happenstance, what could they do if they put their minds to it?

The greatest challenge that the People had faced in Miri's time was in the sheer distance between Crystal Lake and the Fingers. It was only the skills of the Brothers Three, her grandfather and her granduncles, and then her own subsequent leadership that had allowed the People to continue as one, unified being. The discovered of tree sugar had staved off the difficulties. The subsequent building of the palisade and the movement of woodworkers from the Fingers to Crystal Lake helped heal the divide. Even the discovery of the Peace Seekers to the south helped bring the People closer together by giving contrast against Outsiders.

None of that, though, healed the underlying issue. The journey from Crystal Lake to the Fingers took half a moon. The journey in the other direction took three times as long. There were many of the People who made the trip down and then decided not to return, deciding the trip back was too long and too difficult.

The river was clearly the problem. The solution, then, became simple: remove the river.

Over the years, Miri had slowly encouraged hunters to range further and further along the south shore of the great river. They took furs and explored and she organized the transport of goods along the river. It was the work of years; five sets of ten, before the wanderings of hunters firmly cut a trace into the ground. Miri had been insistent. She had bribed and cajoled, encouraged and even threatened, but the cut through the wilderness was slowly made.

She didn't even have to find the best way to make the path work; the People she assigned made it work all on their own. Miri simply trusted that the People would make their own lives easy, taking the past of least resistance. Grasses and shrubs were slowly pulled out, the path meandered left and right in order to follow the natural curvature of the land and trees stuck in the way were girdled.

That was an interesting technique, Miri thought; a failed experiment on extract more sugar from the sugar trees. Tearing a circle out of a tree's bark didn't cause it to release more sap to turn to sugar. Instead, it simply killed the tree.

The cutting of the Great Trace had also paid dividends in an unexpected direction; the hunters working on the Great Trace had stumbled across a way of making dried meat keep forever. The meat that they caught and dried was often crushed into powder for convenience when they carried it or set it by canoe to Crystal Lake or the Fingers. The processing tended to leave the meat bland, however, so many of the hunters added rendered fat, berries, and even tree sugar to improve the taste. A single handful could feed a working hunter for a full day!

Coming out across a hill top, Miri smiled. A tall, interlocked wall of cloven logs ringed an enclosure, from which smoke lazily drifted into the air. A massive lake was tucked into the far side of the palisade, gleaming in the slowly setting evening light. Crystal Lake almost looked like the village she had grown up in. It was even full of friends, new and old.

The trip she had just completed up for her the recognition of cousin's true relationship had taken her less than the turning of a single moon. It was a hard trip, walking constantly for most of a day again and again and again, but the Great Trace worked. Now, the People could move from the Fingers in small groups in a fraction of the time. It still was not as fast as going by canoe down river and couldn't bring as much baggage back, but it was immensely faster.

Any fears that Miri had about the People splitting were laid to rest.

Indeed! This was a day of celebration and union! One of her cousins was to formalize his true relationship. He was the son of a woodworker that she'd quietly encouraged to move to Crystal Lake while the palisade was built. The son of a grandson of granduncle Feodor, he had declared his intentions towards Mila, a beautiful young girl of the Peace Seekers. She had come north in her canoe along with others of her tribe, bartering pottery and a mix of red and yellow paints for sugar and Blackstone. Her cousin had seen the Peace Seeker girl and instantly been smitten. It took him a few years, but he eventually managed to win the approval of her tribe and the chance for her hand.

Mila had naturally accepted. Few women were willing to turn down the attentions of an attentive man, much less one who was one of the obviously spirit-touched Winterborn. Her cousin was no Feodor, but Miri knew that he would care deeply for the Peace Seeker girl and any children she gave him.

Their courtship was to be recognized at the holy site of Crystal Lake before the new couple moved to stay with the Peace Seeker tribe. Mila's husband-to-be was smitten enough that he could not deny her the opportunity to see her family. To him, family was someone that could be close to a moon's turn away downriver. What was a few days of travel south?

Crystal Lake had swelled in size from all of the visitors, tents spilling out onto the open fields around the settlement. Miri herself was seated at a place of high honour, across from Mila's father. Food was brought out and offered freely, allowing everyone the unheard of opportunity to eat as much as they wanted. Sweet mixtures of berries and sugar were poured over succulent cuts of meat and served with steaming bowlfuls of water-grass.

Instruments were quickly brought; bone flutes and rawhide drums, setting a comfortable, rhythmic beat as the night wore on. Great bonfires were erected and lit as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. Youths gathered between the flames, wrestling and singing and chanting. Offering thanks to the spirits and requesting the recognition of a fruitful match.

Miri swayed to the beat, smiling and offering constant toasts of evergreen tea while her cousin truly got to know his Peace Seeker bride. The atmosphere was hypnotic and Miri knew that she had eaten far too much. The flames were hypnotic, drawing the eyes as young men wrestled for dominance and shouted encouragement to their friends. She felt light headed, wet with sweat and nauseous, as she stumbled to her feet and begged off from the party. She couldn't make a scene at her own cousin's wedding!

The world seemed to lurch, twisting in ways incomprehensible; Miri was deafened by the silence. Everything twisted as something reached its ice-like fingers deeply into her chest and squeezed. Her breath stopped short. To breathe again was death, she was certain, even if she didn't know how.

Miri's eyes eventually fixated as the world stopped spinning. She saw her cousin, sitting there with the self-acknowledged giddy grin writ wide across his features. He was dead. His skull crushed, brains leaking from his ears even as he closely clutched the savaged corpse of Mila.

The entire camp was filled with silent death. Everyone that Miri had ever seen was dead. Some by violence, but many looked like macabre mockeries of their normal selves. They were reduced to skin and bone, hollowed out and reduced to something close to ash and dust. Their eyes were dried out, the sockets filled with embers that had long since cooled.

Flickering flames lent a ghoulish cast to the remains of the party, burning without sound. Feeling her lungs begin to ache and finally burn, Miri blinked and nearly screamed. A wolf stood before her, stretched and starved. Ribs poked out from under patchy fur. Teeth bared, a grow low in its throat, the beast relaxed, fractionally. Brushing along her flank, Miri represses an instinctive shiver. Whatever touched her could not have been flesh. It could not have been something that had ever been alive.

Miri couldn't turn to face where the wolf walked, couldn't look. The wolf's growl slowly rumbled out of its chest, growing in volume. Turning into a crescendo that ended only when Miri felt something crash into her back while teeth wrapped round her neck.

Starting awake, Miri waved off the worried looks surrounding her. She suddenly felt old, as if her body suddenly weighed three times as much. She offered her sincere congratulations to her cousin, but her heart was not in it. What had happened?

Clearly, it was a warning from the spirits, but what did it mean?

[ ] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[ ] [Spirit] See the starvation, lean times are ahead (Increase Hunting + Harvest Water-Grass)
[ ] [Spirit] Know killed kin, this marriage was a mistake. The Peace Seekers should not be kin to the People. (Raid: Peace Seekers)
[ ] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[ ] [Spirit] Think on what was to be shown, the People must prepare for visitors. (Produce Trade Goods + Investigate Special Stone)

When Miri finally returned to the Fingers nearly a moon later, she felt every one of her years as her advisers filled her in on the situation. The Hundred Bands to the south had greatly increased the price in sugar they demanded for releasing prisoners to the People. There was also a new tribe that appeared from the north. They never moved close enough to talk with the People; cautiously watching from a distance instead. When a few of the People's hunters moved out in canoes, the tribe north of the Fingers quickly pulled back.

There were also a hundred other annoyances that had built up on her trip to Crystal Lake. Tasks that the People as a whole needed to respond to, but which they must be convinced to work on. Miri had hesitated after the death of her grandfather. He had been the People's Big Man, cajoling everyone into working together in order to accomplish what needed to be done. There were many among the People who claimed the title of Big Man, but none who were as elevated as she was amongst the Fingers.

She needed what her fore bearer had. A second Big Man to watch over Crystal Lake while she deal with issues developing in the Fingers. Big Men were those amongst the People who were great. Someone with many friends, a great hunter, an organizer that could get things done, an artisan that made tools everyone used; there were many forms of greatness all of which were near impossible to judge one against the other.

Given her skills, her connections and her friends, it would be trivial to elevate the person of her choosing. A Big Man was built by the connections they formed. The only question was who to push to prominence?

[ ] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone she could control.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone she could mold in her image.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone who could claim the title of Big Man without help.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone who was close kin.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone favoured by the elders.
 
[X] [Spirit] Think on what was to be shown, the People must prepare for visitors. (Produce Trade Goods + Investigate Special Stone)
[X] [Big Man] Someone she could mold in her image.
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.

We want unlocks most for long run. And complementary leaders!
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.

War is going to happen, the head bashing was a sign we are to be attacked, maybe a raid on crystal lake as this happened there on that killed everyone.

I think its time we enter wartime, ration food to those who are not warriors, warriors need the calorie intake to increase their strength, as they are now going to focus on training.

The bit about the wolf I feel is that when crystal lake falls, the wolves will starve, and will turn on us, in a effort to survive, our efforts to befriend the wolves are about to be wasted if we are not prepared to fend off whatever comes.

Edit: Having a big man to cover your weaknesses is exactly the kind of thing we should promote and look for.
 
Last edited:
[X] [Spirit] Think on what was to be shown, the People must prepare for visitors. (Produce Trade Goods + Investigate Special Stone)
[X] [Spirit] See the starvation, lean times are ahead (Increase Hunting + Harvest Water-Grass)
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.

Happy with any of these three Spirit votes winning.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[x] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[x] [Big Man] Someone she could control.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Big Man] Someone who was close kin.
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)

Moving towards stronger familial admin structures is a good way of maintaining unity.

And that northern tribe sounds awfully suspicious, war seems like a high possibility.
Even if its not, its best to be ready for war than get slaughterd due to lack of preparations.
And its about time we further tamed the wolves, and formalised the wrestling into a more intricate and significant practice
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
Adhoc vote count started by Japanime on Mar 3, 2018 at 11:42 AM, finished with 724 posts and 29 votes.
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.

Mysterious people to the North that avoid contact, scouts possibly, and the vision make me wary.

Time to go full Justice Nomads again, I guess.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Spirit] Think on what was to be shown, the People must prepare for visitors. (Produce Trade Goods + Investigate Special Stone)
[X] [Spirit] See the starvation, lean times are ahead (Increase Hunting + Harvest Water-Grass)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
Last edited:
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.

I have no interest in making this one another max shrine pope quest, that role is already being filled.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Feel the spirits displeasure with the People's piety, they require more. (Unlock Build Shrine + Build Shrine: Crystal Lake)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
 
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
Aw is this actually magical bs :(
Ohwell
 
Back
Top