- Location
- Hollister
[X] Plan Brain and Brawn
GODSTAR - a Science Fantasy Civilization Quest
- Thread starter ScottishMongol
- Start date
-
- Tags
- civ quest
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Plan Brain and Brawn
- Location
- On a speck of dust, floating through the void.
[X] Plan Economic Development
Internal trade go brrr
Internal trade go brrr
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Vote closed, Brains and Brawn is the winning vote.
Turn 1 Results
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Winning Vote:
Water Management
The growing urban areas of the League come with growing demands; wood and food must be harvested in greater volumes from the woods, and miners delve deeper for stone and metal, but water requires more complex methods of collecting. The Mechanicals design sluices and dams to collect the water, pipes and aqueducts to carry it to cities, public baths, cisterns, and even sewers.
One skilled man can direct ten laborers, so the Mechanicals not only forge the pipes and sluicegates, but they also direct the construction of dams and the digging of trenches for new sewer lines, earth and stone shifted in great quantities. They also plan the alteration of waterways, creating new lakes and diverting streams. While this solves the problems of demand for larger population centers like Whiteclay, the holy men report that the spirits of the waters do not like being bound. They do not yet rage against the hands that direct the rivers, but they, too, must be accounted for in this plan.
Apprenticeships
For generations, the Mechanicals have been a hereditary caste. The job and its associated lore and knowledge were passed from parent to child, and more often than not Mechanicals married each other exclusively. Now, the growing demand for steel and trade goods, and for knowledgeable architects to plan the water management systems of the League, means more Mechanicals are needed in turn. Families begin to send their young children to take up apprenticeships, seeing the skills as a path to wealth and influence for the family. These apprentices usually seal their entry into the Mechanical class by marrying into Mechanical families, and as the number of craftsmen and architects rises, so does their influence.
+Influence to Mechanicals
Oral History (Tier 2)
Oral storytelling does not simply mean passing information by word of mouth. The storytellers of the True People drill into their initiates the need for continuity, using mnemonic devices and training for better memories so that not a word is allowed to drift. There is no separate class of oral historians, as specialized groups such as the Mechanicals or holy men retain their own oral traditions, in addition to the elders who remember the stories, traditions, and laws of the tribe teaching successors with the same strategies they learned from their elders.
Now, there is the need for a separate class of Historians, those who will not only remember the history of the League buts its laws and local traditions. Young men and women selected for having the best memories are trained from an early age. By the time they are adults they can recall the names of hundreds of individuals, identify hundreds of edible plants, the names of trees and animals, and recall by memory the path through a city or mine. They have become invaluable assistants to Speakers, Miners, Mechanicals, and even holy men, living repositories of knowledge able to recall information at a thought. It is also noted that they are very adept with numbers, able to visualize the addition and multiplication of goods in their heads.
Historians added as class.
Courier System
The need to spread news and messages across the League is important to keeping it tied together. Previously, this was done by word of mouth, or by scouts selected for their swiftness in times of need. Now, news must travel regularly and consistently. From the ranks of the Historians are drawn those who are fleet of foot. They are trained so that they can run a full day, and waystations are built in villages to refresh them and to pass on messages in relays. Waterways are taken advantage of as much as possible to move couriers along, with special canoe teams being stationed at regular intervals with crews that can swap out so that no breaks are needed. These waystations are maintained by nearby villages.
Now, news can travel from one end of the League to another in a matter of days, where before the process could take weeks.
The couriers also borrow something from the Speakers; diplomats are inviolate, and even in times of war no tribe would dare harm one or risk the most terrible curses, and the couriers are imbued with this as well; the idea is in fact so useful that nearby tribes begin to adopt it, the practice spreading beyond the League so that word can travel across the land.
Mine-temples
The miners who dig beneath the earth have a dangerous life. Pockets of poison gas or stale air can suffocate teams of workers, rockfalls and cave-ins can kill dozens at a time, men can become lost. It is backbreaking work as well, and men can spend their days crooked and bent. Still, they are proud, and their work is valued, so they brave the dangers of the underground.
And they are not alone down there.
The spirits of caves and stones are present, as those with magical senses can say. The holy men advise the miners on the best places to carve shrines into the living rock, places where men can leave offerings of precious metals and polished stones; they compose hymns the miners sing as they work, invocations to the chthonic spirits. When twelve men are killed in a collapse in the Third Deep of the Whiteclay Mines, the tunnel is converted into their tomb and sealed off, men venerating the spirits of the dead, asking them to protect those who still live and work.
And the spirits answer them.
At first, they are unusual events, strange echoes or breezes that can be dismissed. Then they start to manifest, stony-faced shapes in the walls who direct men lost in the tunnels. Voices that belong to no living man bounce off walls and down tunnels to carry news and warnings. Something breathes deep in the dark, pumping fresh air down from the surface. The spectral forms of the Miners of the Third Deep are seen just before a cave-in, and every man is able to escape before the roof is sealed off.
The miners give the stones names, and the stones move.
Astrology (Tier 2)
The holy men know the names of the stars and know the realms they govern; the Daystar, giver of life and light; the Wanderer, who watches travelers, traders, and diplomats; the Moon, that waxes and wanes as it collects and distributes knowledge; the Warstar, that brings strife and strength; and the Blue Giant, who guards the secret rites of women.
These are the stars the holy men observe in the long watches of the night, looking for their rise and their position in the sky to determine when the best course of action is for the tribe. They know the holy metals; gold for the Daystar, copper for the Wanderer, silver for the Moon, iron for the Warstar, brass for the Blue Giant.
But how are these things connected, and why? Your holy men are aware that Paradisea is round and orbits the Daystar, which is but one star among millions. These immobile stars have their minor associations but aside from certain guidestars are not as important (though a few Historians have begun to memorize them).
One of your holy men proposes that all light in the major stars flows from the Daystar, claiming that the Moon shines when the Daystar shines on it, explaining its phases – he even demonstrates with a model, to the approval of all who see it. The major stars, by their inherent qualities, must filter and reflect this light as a colored mirror – thus the Moon is silver, the Blue Giant is blue, and so on. This Theory of Stellar Rays is revolutionary in your understanding of magic, even moreso when it is proposed that you can conduct rituals in the light of the major stars to take advantage of this refined light. Perhaps a ritual while the Warstar is ascendant could boost the strength of your Warrior Societies, and so on. Many opportunities are opened up by this idea.
Astrological Architecture
The Religious Lodge is believed to be a microcosm of the universe; the roof is painted with a star map, and the smokehole represents the sun; below, the fire the holy men gather around to commune with the spirits represents the lands of the True People, and the beams of the lodge representing the trees and mountains.
This can be expanded on. Taking your newfound knowledge of the stars, your holy men begin working astrological symbols into their architecture. The Wanderer appears to designate merchant houses or workshops, the Warstar decorates the barracks of the Warrior Societies, the Blue Giant above the threshold of the longhouses where matriarchs hold sway, Lunar symbols adorn the homes of your Historians.
The shift is also more fundamental; buildings are now oriented to face the point of sunrise on important days, or to align with the movement of the stars. The proto-cities of the League are busy with new construction, so there are many opportunities to put these theories into practice.
Alchemy (Tier 1)
Everything needed for an explosion of alchemical thought is here; the True People have access to a wide variety of metals, plants, and other natural substances which could be analyzed for their properties. The Mechanicals have refined containers of glass and metal, and a standardized system of weights and measures. And now, with the ranks of the Mechanicals expanding, there is more chance for these resources to be combined in an experimental environment. Holy men, Mechanicals of a more magical bent, and individuals with access to metals or herblore can begin refining and isolating elements. Their discoveries are many: more potent medicines, refined metals and new alloys, magical potions and salves, alchemical substances like acids...all with various uses, although there is far more work to do to systematize and compile these new discoveries.
Water Management
The growing urban areas of the League come with growing demands; wood and food must be harvested in greater volumes from the woods, and miners delve deeper for stone and metal, but water requires more complex methods of collecting. The Mechanicals design sluices and dams to collect the water, pipes and aqueducts to carry it to cities, public baths, cisterns, and even sewers.
One skilled man can direct ten laborers, so the Mechanicals not only forge the pipes and sluicegates, but they also direct the construction of dams and the digging of trenches for new sewer lines, earth and stone shifted in great quantities. They also plan the alteration of waterways, creating new lakes and diverting streams. While this solves the problems of demand for larger population centers like Whiteclay, the holy men report that the spirits of the waters do not like being bound. They do not yet rage against the hands that direct the rivers, but they, too, must be accounted for in this plan.
Apprenticeships
For generations, the Mechanicals have been a hereditary caste. The job and its associated lore and knowledge were passed from parent to child, and more often than not Mechanicals married each other exclusively. Now, the growing demand for steel and trade goods, and for knowledgeable architects to plan the water management systems of the League, means more Mechanicals are needed in turn. Families begin to send their young children to take up apprenticeships, seeing the skills as a path to wealth and influence for the family. These apprentices usually seal their entry into the Mechanical class by marrying into Mechanical families, and as the number of craftsmen and architects rises, so does their influence.
+Influence to Mechanicals
Oral History (Tier 2)
Oral storytelling does not simply mean passing information by word of mouth. The storytellers of the True People drill into their initiates the need for continuity, using mnemonic devices and training for better memories so that not a word is allowed to drift. There is no separate class of oral historians, as specialized groups such as the Mechanicals or holy men retain their own oral traditions, in addition to the elders who remember the stories, traditions, and laws of the tribe teaching successors with the same strategies they learned from their elders.
Now, there is the need for a separate class of Historians, those who will not only remember the history of the League buts its laws and local traditions. Young men and women selected for having the best memories are trained from an early age. By the time they are adults they can recall the names of hundreds of individuals, identify hundreds of edible plants, the names of trees and animals, and recall by memory the path through a city or mine. They have become invaluable assistants to Speakers, Miners, Mechanicals, and even holy men, living repositories of knowledge able to recall information at a thought. It is also noted that they are very adept with numbers, able to visualize the addition and multiplication of goods in their heads.
Historians added as class.
Courier System
The need to spread news and messages across the League is important to keeping it tied together. Previously, this was done by word of mouth, or by scouts selected for their swiftness in times of need. Now, news must travel regularly and consistently. From the ranks of the Historians are drawn those who are fleet of foot. They are trained so that they can run a full day, and waystations are built in villages to refresh them and to pass on messages in relays. Waterways are taken advantage of as much as possible to move couriers along, with special canoe teams being stationed at regular intervals with crews that can swap out so that no breaks are needed. These waystations are maintained by nearby villages.
Now, news can travel from one end of the League to another in a matter of days, where before the process could take weeks.
The couriers also borrow something from the Speakers; diplomats are inviolate, and even in times of war no tribe would dare harm one or risk the most terrible curses, and the couriers are imbued with this as well; the idea is in fact so useful that nearby tribes begin to adopt it, the practice spreading beyond the League so that word can travel across the land.
Mine-temples
The miners who dig beneath the earth have a dangerous life. Pockets of poison gas or stale air can suffocate teams of workers, rockfalls and cave-ins can kill dozens at a time, men can become lost. It is backbreaking work as well, and men can spend their days crooked and bent. Still, they are proud, and their work is valued, so they brave the dangers of the underground.
And they are not alone down there.
The spirits of caves and stones are present, as those with magical senses can say. The holy men advise the miners on the best places to carve shrines into the living rock, places where men can leave offerings of precious metals and polished stones; they compose hymns the miners sing as they work, invocations to the chthonic spirits. When twelve men are killed in a collapse in the Third Deep of the Whiteclay Mines, the tunnel is converted into their tomb and sealed off, men venerating the spirits of the dead, asking them to protect those who still live and work.
And the spirits answer them.
At first, they are unusual events, strange echoes or breezes that can be dismissed. Then they start to manifest, stony-faced shapes in the walls who direct men lost in the tunnels. Voices that belong to no living man bounce off walls and down tunnels to carry news and warnings. Something breathes deep in the dark, pumping fresh air down from the surface. The spectral forms of the Miners of the Third Deep are seen just before a cave-in, and every man is able to escape before the roof is sealed off.
The miners give the stones names, and the stones move.
Astrology (Tier 2)
The holy men know the names of the stars and know the realms they govern; the Daystar, giver of life and light; the Wanderer, who watches travelers, traders, and diplomats; the Moon, that waxes and wanes as it collects and distributes knowledge; the Warstar, that brings strife and strength; and the Blue Giant, who guards the secret rites of women.
These are the stars the holy men observe in the long watches of the night, looking for their rise and their position in the sky to determine when the best course of action is for the tribe. They know the holy metals; gold for the Daystar, copper for the Wanderer, silver for the Moon, iron for the Warstar, brass for the Blue Giant.
But how are these things connected, and why? Your holy men are aware that Paradisea is round and orbits the Daystar, which is but one star among millions. These immobile stars have their minor associations but aside from certain guidestars are not as important (though a few Historians have begun to memorize them).
One of your holy men proposes that all light in the major stars flows from the Daystar, claiming that the Moon shines when the Daystar shines on it, explaining its phases – he even demonstrates with a model, to the approval of all who see it. The major stars, by their inherent qualities, must filter and reflect this light as a colored mirror – thus the Moon is silver, the Blue Giant is blue, and so on. This Theory of Stellar Rays is revolutionary in your understanding of magic, even moreso when it is proposed that you can conduct rituals in the light of the major stars to take advantage of this refined light. Perhaps a ritual while the Warstar is ascendant could boost the strength of your Warrior Societies, and so on. Many opportunities are opened up by this idea.
Astrological Architecture
The Religious Lodge is believed to be a microcosm of the universe; the roof is painted with a star map, and the smokehole represents the sun; below, the fire the holy men gather around to commune with the spirits represents the lands of the True People, and the beams of the lodge representing the trees and mountains.
This can be expanded on. Taking your newfound knowledge of the stars, your holy men begin working astrological symbols into their architecture. The Wanderer appears to designate merchant houses or workshops, the Warstar decorates the barracks of the Warrior Societies, the Blue Giant above the threshold of the longhouses where matriarchs hold sway, Lunar symbols adorn the homes of your Historians.
The shift is also more fundamental; buildings are now oriented to face the point of sunrise on important days, or to align with the movement of the stars. The proto-cities of the League are busy with new construction, so there are many opportunities to put these theories into practice.
Alchemy (Tier 1)
Everything needed for an explosion of alchemical thought is here; the True People have access to a wide variety of metals, plants, and other natural substances which could be analyzed for their properties. The Mechanicals have refined containers of glass and metal, and a standardized system of weights and measures. And now, with the ranks of the Mechanicals expanding, there is more chance for these resources to be combined in an experimental environment. Holy men, Mechanicals of a more magical bent, and individuals with access to metals or herblore can begin refining and isolating elements. Their discoveries are many: more potent medicines, refined metals and new alloys, magical potions and salves, alchemical substances like acids...all with various uses, although there is far more work to do to systematize and compile these new discoveries.
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
This shit is cool as hell. I wonder if we can expand these animist practices to our Mechanicals and get something like premodern machine spirits. Forge spirits?
Hell yea. Star magic is cool. Also good on our guys for finding out the heliocentric model. Still got some space to go though.
Edit: wonder how star magic is going to work when we have spaceships. Would Planet X be really good for producing warriors cause it's by the Warstar. I am really looking forward to finding out
Edit: wonder how star magic is going to work when we have spaceships. Would Planet X be really good for producing warriors cause it's by the Warstar. I am really looking forward to finding out
Last edited:
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
Astromantic Power Arrays, maybe? Giant ritual machines designed to siphon from the stars vast amounts of stellar magic?
Space travel by traveling along the constellation lines? Maybe a gradual shift from stars and constellations being seen from the home world to starts and constellations as seen from the galactic core?
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
Oh man, that'd be cool as hell: being able to amp up our FTL when travelling within constellations.
Might lead to an wild map though. Constellations tend to be by brightness and where they are as we see them which can lead to some interesting stuff once's we found out where they actually are.
- Location
- E-Girl Deseret
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Imagine having astromancer-pilots chanting a mixture of mathematical formulae and mystic incantions to propel craft between the stars.
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
Definitely want the mentats tech for that but yeah.
Yeah but wild maps are cool.
The shear confusion and panic of science based factions would be funny
- Location
- E-Girl Deseret
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"How do you science?"
"we magic and yell a ritualistic phrase hard enough."
- Location
- United States
Right, a fascinating turn, and really interesting. I think we will need to prioritize expanding the spirit temples soon though, that hint about the water spirits becoming displeased has got me a bit worried, as well as all the talk about how we're expanding our wood harvesting so rapidly