[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.
Or it could be that too much food, sugar and evergreen tea made her have a delirious fever dream. We should go with what's safest in general, regardless of any haphazard oneiromancy.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone who covered her weaknesses.
Good in the short term but probably won't have much lasting effect once we get to a point where population is so high that we need to delegate leadership.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone she could control.
First move to subordinate second in commands and hierarchy between the settlements. Dangerous short term if she dies before him and doesn't have a good heir. Could even have long term bad repercussions if that happens.
[X] [Big Man] Someone she could mold in her image.
Heirs and delegates that are chosen instead of born into it. Might last a while and might make it more acceptable in the future for king's to forego their oldest child for someone more competent/obedient when necessary.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone who could claim the title of Big Man without help.
Meritocracy for now. Dangerous in the short term future. Unpredictable in the long term.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone who was close kin.
Start of a spread out dynasty.
[ ] [Big Man] Someone favoured by the elders.
Gives more power to the elder council and aims to rule with consent of the people.
[X] [Spirit] Recall the violence, the People must be prepared for war! (Promote Folk Wrestling and Increase Wolfpacks)
[X] [Spirit] See the starvation, lean times are ahead (Increase Hunting + Harvest Water-Grass)
Independent from the dream, there are many tribes northwards that I'm less than comfortable with. We have our first enemies, whose descendants might well still be raiders, we have the Hundred Bands, a warlike people who don't seem to particularly like us and are demanding more sugar, we have whoever is scouting us, and we have the bad memories spread by the old Fingers tribe. And even the far South could spit out some less peaceful refugees at some point.
But abundance of food is always a good idea, especially now that we have a new preservation method. Weather and disease are still very unpredictable and can have devastating consequences.
Are you sure? People can have weirdly vivid dreams without necessitating drug use. And Miri has spent hours overeating and ingesting sugar and "evergreen tea" (whatever that actually contains) like maybe never before in her life. How many people have had "visions" without resorting to drug use in the real world? And not only crazy people who frequently hallucinate. People have changed religions over an impressive dream.
Are you sure? People can have weirdly vivid dreams without necessitating drug use. And Miri has spent hours overeating and ingesting sugar and "evergreen tea" (whatever that actually contains) like maybe never before in her life. How many people have had "visions" without resorting to drug use in the real world? And not only crazy people who frequently hallucinate. People have changed religions over an impressive dream.
Heirs and delegates that are chosen instead of born into it. Might last a while and might make it more acceptable in the future for king's to forego their oldest child for someone more competent/obedient when necessary.
I also agree with this, it might lead to a tanistry lite where we choose the heirs. That way even if the first born is retarded due to some mental deficiency, we have other children to pick!
Chances are not ALL of them suck...
In least were talking about my CK2 Zoroastrian Run
That wasn't pretty (Having Genius attractive inbreds is weird... inbred is VERY detrimental)
[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.
Good in the short term but probably won't have much lasting effect once we get to a point where population is so high that we need to delegate leadership.
[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.
Evergreen also has some drug-like properties, though. It's often taken by those whose bodies hurt (especially for elders) in order to reduce pain. People who have been injured or suffering from fever also use it for the same reason. The People have also noticed a slight increase in how long many elders live after use of the tea became widespread.
Evergreen also has some drug-like properties, though. It's often taken by those whose bodies hurt (especially for elders) in order to reduce pain. People who have been injured or suffering from fever also use it for the same reason. The People have also noticed a slight increase in how long many elders live after use of the tea became widespread.
Yea someone mentioned that later on, I just really want no magic... in least its explicitly stated from the offset (Thats just me though, if you really want magic in this quest, i guess i'll just have to make a hill and get over it)
Also, our pop is SO BIG (not being sarcastic), its almost the size of a very small sized village (from our perspective)
@Ghostdevil Many people would argue that there's stuff that could be essentially called magic in the real world. Though admittedly not so much in this particular forum, I think.
@Ghostdevil Many people would argue that there's stuff that could be essentially called magic in the real world. Though admittedly not so much in this particular forum, I think.
@Ghostdevil So? Redium could add all kinds of magic to his world specifically designed in a way that it can't be scientifically proven by the people within it until they develop some tools that are beyond what we have in real life. Say, the ability for one person in a million to see visions that accurately predict the future if interpreted correctly, except that said ability gets cancelled whenever one is within a one mile radius of a strong electric current.
@Ghostdevil So? Redium could add all kinds of magic to his world specifically designed in a way that it can't be scientifically proven by the people within it until they develop some tools that are beyond what we have in real life. Say, the ability for one person in a million to see visions that accurately predict the future if interpreted correctly, except that said ability gets cancelled whenever one is within a one mile radius of a strong electric current.
I mean, he could also Invert Gravity, and tell us it runs on maple syrup that we create via sacrificing virgins. I don't really get what your point is and how it connects to your previous comment.
What I am trying to say is that as of now we don't know if this quest has any supernatural elements and that even someone going for a "realistic" quest could end up deciding to include some subtle stuff like that.
At the very least we know that this world has at least two deities. One subtly interventionist Creator and a Hivemind national divinity that guides and inspires its chosen people.
At the very least we know that this world has at least two deities. One subtly interventionist Creator and a Hivemind national divinity that guides and inspires its chosen people.
Would be funny if at some point our civ (or anyone in that universe really) is sophisticated enough to accurately deduce our existence. I mean, how else to explain that there is one particular civilization that throughout history seems to follow a clear direction and act as if it remembers past events much more than should be possible even with writing. Anything that has an effect on reality should hypothetically be testable after all, right?
[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] [Diplo] Prepare Trade Goods
[X] [Admin] Harvest Water-Grass
[X] [Action] Raid: South Reach (Disunity: Action stolen by Peace Seeker Diplo Hero) [X] [Action] Lost due to climate rolls.
The years had been harsh, harsher than any of the People could ever remember. The weather had started to turn worse and worse over the years, the winters longer and longer, while the summers grew ever so slightly shorter. Snow piled up and it would be often be more than a moon after the snows were supposed to be gone that they would even begin to melt. Many animals were starting to be born sickly or not at all.
The future did not look promising.
A few years after her cousin's wedding, Miri noticed something strange among the People. It took her a while to source the growing sense of unease, but she eventually tracked to a very recent group of adoptees that had arrived from the Hundred Bands. The group was smaller than usual, and unusually tight knit. They claimed to be close kin that had been captured at the same time, thus explaining their bonds. They were productive and contributed, working the shifts assigned to them as Debtors without much complaint.
That was what really tipped her off. Debtors were required to work extra hours, sometimes a lot more depending on the scale of their debt. They also tended to be assigned duties that were harder or less enjoyable; digging out a canoe with an adze after it was initially shaped by fire, hauling buckets of tree sap to be boiled to sugar, or tanning animal hide into leather. Not only did it help them pay off their Debt faster, but Miri also thought it taught a good lesson about not foregoing your debts in the future!
But that family of Debtors was different. They didn't protest having to pay of their sugary; the price with which they were purchased into the People. In fact, they seemed to view replacing the sugar lost to purchase their freedom as more important than most of the People!
Further inquiries from some of the individuals who had been adopted into the People revealed nothing about the particular family. Literally nothing. That wasn't again, extremely strange, but it was unusual. The conflict with the Northern and Southern Hundred Bands tended to constantly scour the same few islands as raids bounced back and forth. Most who were adopted into the People knew of each other, at least vaguely.
This implied that the Northern Hundred Bands were able to push further south and were winning their confrontation. But that that was thought to be impossible. The Northern Hundred bands were a small minority of all of the Hundred Bands. Most of the population was located much, much further southwest. The river slowly widened until it was at least ten times the size of the Great River. Throughout it, the place was strewn with islands. Many of them were small; holdings fit only for a single family. Others were much larger and could hold hundreds.
Each person who controlled and island had the right to call themselves a Big Man and all were invited to a yearly gathering. In practice, most of the Big Men were irrelevant, only the five Great Big Men of the south and the Northern Big Man who had managed to get himself acknowledged as Big Man of all of the North, truly mattered.
The math was simple. There were five Great Big Men of the south, each one ruling a great island that dwarfed all of the others, and only one Northern Big Man. One could not overpower five. Ultimately, this was irrelevant. The Wars of the Band did not concern the People. But, Miri remembered her dream and she was a naturally curious person, trying to figure out how people fit together. Those meddlesome ways had only intensified in her old age!
When Miri she called the family forward to be questioned about the strangeness of this situation, they responded with instant violence. They were easily overwhelmed, but not before two of them were killed. The People had been on edge for years since her vision, training hard. Virtually every adult carried a staff; any violence was extremely unwise when everyone was armed.
Later questioning of the prisoners revealed that they were not adoptees at all, they were from the Northern Hundred Band! Their leader, a woman named Sasha, was the daughter of the North's Big Man. In order to serve her father and help secure his position, she had convinced a small number of her friends to sell her and themselves to the People. She was apparently extremely adept with crafts and believed she would discover the process by which the People made sugar.
They had succeeded.
The People's own tendency to use Debtors to do the heavy lifting involved with moving tree sap quickly twigged Sasha onto which trees were necessary to tap. In fact, they had actually been planning to steal canoes and supplies to leave only a few days after they were called in for question! None had escaped with the method, so far, but the question was what to do?
If the thieves were executed, it meant that the Northern Hundred Band would seek vengeance on their behalf. Miri knew that the People would in that situation. Of course, if they released the thieves, the Northern Hundred Band might seek revenge anyway and that would mean that the secret of sugar making would get out. It wouldn't be a critical loss to the People; they had Black, White and Berrystone still for goods, but it would immensely hurt their trade.
Miri could also simply keep them with the People and use them to ensure the Northern Hundred Band's compliance, but that would almost certainly provoke some type of rescue attempt or a break out. The People simply didn't have the reliable means to keep someone against their well. They had never learned how.
The last and most unlikely choice was to convince them to stay of their own will. Given the that two of them were dead, beaten by the staves of the People, Miri thought it was unlikely she would accomplish it. She could, but it would be a risk.
[ ] [Thieves] Kill Them
[ ] [Thieves] Exile Them
[ ] [Thieves] Keep Them
[ ] [Thieves] Convince Them
Just as that situation resolved itself, Miri heard news from the Big Man of Crystal Lake. Apparently, the Peace Seekers had come to them, begging for aid. Refugees from the south had come north and dislodged the Peace Seekers from their space along the eastern great bay. The poor weather had caused many crops to fail and inspired a new orgy of violence in the dangerous but fertile regions to the south. Refugees, warriors, and raiders, streamed away, seeking better fortunes elsewhere.
When the Peace Seekers greeted their southern cousins with gifts and welcomed them to warm fires, they were met with only sneers. The tribes from the south were hardened and took what they wanted.
A Winterborn daughter of Mila fled to Crystal Lake and begged their aid. She claimed that her parents were dead, her father crushed beneath the clubs of the enemy while her mother was savaged to death. The Big Man did not take long to offer aid and put together a team of hunters. Mila had married into the People, her daughter was kin and deserved the People's protection and the restoration of her home.
It was a noble sentiment, but foolish. What if the warlike folk of the south turned their eyes further north? Then again, what should Miri have expected? She had chosen someone to compliment her; young, strong, a fierce hunter; someone who was everything she was not. It should not be a surprise that they acted in a way she would not.
Two clashes occurred between the People and those from the south, both were ultimately inconclusive, but the southerners did retreat to their homes. The southerners fought with enormous two-handed war clubs. Each one had a large stone head that could easily shatter the bone armour of the People in a single swipe. Compared to the People, their arms and wooden armour was far more study. A single bad deflection could break one of the People's spears.
Where the People reigned supreme, however, was at range. Their bows had significantly better range and impact than those of the raiders. The wolves that the People brought with them also proved adept combatants; their instincts for war having been honed by recent years of training with the People. During the skirmish and the hunt afterwards for those that fled, the People were unquestionably superior. They lost many in the true clash, however.
Training definitely was on the side of the southerners, but starvation robbed them of any possible gains there.
In the end, the child of Mila had their home back. The question remained, though, for how long?
The Big Man of Crystal Lake seemed to think that the fighting was very informative and really showed where the People were in comparison to many of their neighbours. Those to the south of Crystal Lake were known to be extremely warlike and the People had managed to draw with them. Something would need to be done, an edge gained for future encounters. The answer was simple, on consideration. Where did the People had resources that the southerners simply didn't?
Their wolves. What lesson should be prioritized for the wolves?
For the most part, Miri was content to let the matter lie with the south. She had no need to go borrow more trouble. What required most of her attention was the debate springing up amongst the People in regard to Debtors. The spirits were clearly displeased; winters were increasingly harsh and food was becoming more difficult to find. None could remember tales of a time that were it was more difficult to feed themselves.
On the other side, the spirits also clearly rewarded the useage of Debtor's labour. Many Debtors had spent rotations assigned to harvesting water-grass along the rivers. It was subtle, but the People had clearly noticed that areas harvested by Debtors tended to grow more thickly and yield many more grains in subsequent years. The reason why this occurred completely eluded the People. They could find no reason why except that the spirits were obviously pleased by Debtor labour. Every other source of the People's food was dwindling except for this one.
There were others who argued the opposite, that this was a temptation to test the People. Forcing kith and kin to work was wrong, they claimed. The current state of the world was simply a test to determine if the People would do what was convenient and what was easy, or take the more difficult path.
Still others said that was foolish. The People should focus on expanding their supply of Debtors and look for tribes that they could acquire them from outside of the Hundred Bands. Crystal Lake had the warlike tribe to the south and there was also that group that had skulked in from the north previously.
In the end, they decided to:
[ ] [Debt] Expand the use of Debtors within the People.
[ ] [Debt] Ease off on using Debtors.
[ ] [Debt] Capture additional Debtors from other tribes.
[ ] [Debt] Do nothing for now and let the situation develop.
