[X] Paint Her Life - She was a woman of wisdom, and has done many great things that will impact her Kin for many seasons. Paint her life in colours of ochre and red on stone and cavern walls, where she can be remembered and known by all who come by.
[X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them.
[X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice.
[X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them.
[X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Paint Her Life - She was a woman of wisdom, and has done many great things that will impact her Kin for many seasons. Paint her life in colours of ochre and red on stone and cavern walls, where she can be remembered and known by all who come by.
I'm sure on this, don't know about the other choices.
[X] Paint Her Life - She was a woman of wisdom, and has done many great things that will impact her Kin for many seasons. Paint her life in colours of ochre and red on stone and cavern walls, where she can be remembered and known by all who come by. [X] They Might Threaten Us, Prepare A Raiding Party - Such people could easily prove more than just a threat, but an enemy, like the people outside the valley who lived in the mountains and came pouring down to take brides and livestock, before retreating back to the impassable mountain tops, where only they could live. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Paint Her Life - She was a woman of wisdom, and has done many great things that will impact her Kin for many seasons. Paint her life in colours of ochre and red on stone and cavern walls, where she can be remembered and known by all who come by.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Could Be Dangerous, Do Your Best to Avoid Them - As intriguing as the flat-footed people sound, such vast amounts of people can only mean danger for the Kin to Air. Should they find the Kin, the matter can be dealt with at the time, but it is best not to go courting danger. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] They Might Threaten Us, Prepare A Raiding Party - Such people could easily prove more than just a threat, but an enemy, like the people outside the valley who lived in the mountains and came pouring down to take brides and livestock, before retreating back to the impassable mountain tops, where only they could live.
[X] Sacrifice In Her Name - She was a woman of awe and power, and must surely be lonely on her journey into the underworld. Send sacrifices of meat and food into the underworld with her.
[X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice.
Nomadic lifestyle is very well suited to singing, which can be done while walking or riding. But painting sets a person in place for a long time, and while we paint on cave walls our paintings cannot be taken with us when we migrate.
As the 1967 song "Song remains with the human" said: (translation mine)
"O'er the years, over greater distances,
Walking any road over any land,
Song will not 'Goodbye' tell you and slither out
Song will not your joined journey end."
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice.
[X] This Could Be Dangerous, Do Your Best to Avoid Them - As intriguing as the flat-footed people sound, such vast amounts of people can only mean danger for the Kin to Air. Should they find the Kin, the matter can be dealt with at the time, but it is best not to go courting danger.
[X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Could Be Dangerous, Do Your Best to Avoid Them - As intriguing as the flat-footed people sound, such vast amounts of people can only mean danger for the Kin to Air. Should they find the Kin, the matter can be dealt with at the time, but it is best not to go courting danger. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
[X] Sing of Her Deeds - She was a woman of greatness, and has had many children who will consider her an ancestor, and one day an ancestor of their ancestors. Sing of her to never forget her, and sing of her to teach those who will never know her face and voice. [X] This Is Intriguing News, Search For Them As Friends - As cold as the people outside the valley could be at times, they were often tremendous allies against the raids of enemies, and the ancestors of the ancestors did not come to the valley to fight, but to live. The honoured grandmothers will talk to them. [X] Journey - The Kin to Air will journey onwards as the prophecy made in the fire told them to: westwards, northwards and northwards.
The song rises slowly, it is mournful and accompanied by slow, deliberate drumming. The hunters stand in a ring, grabbing the shoulders of each other, moving side to side like the calm river waves of their old home, the greatest among them bearing wolven cloaks and fearsome accoutrements run around them in a circle, bearing masks upon their faces in the shape of terrible beings. They are the demons that the woman named Air will face on her journey into the dark. Inside the circle, the women stamp their feet and sing in synchronized, dulcet tones of her many deeds: reconciler, uniter, leader, hero. They immortalize her journey into the underworld, riding upon the Bull and led by the Bird, for the wise old women who sit within the tent of the elders have told them well of her solemn ride, which they have seen with the eyes of spirits.
You carry upon your back, the pillar of the Fox, the god brought up from the underworld by the actions of Air, around you are four hunters handpicked by you, who slam their spears against each other, to produce fearsome rattling noises when the long strings of bones attached to them with safely secured cords rustle against each other. Like the other hunters, you wear masks carved in the shape of fearsome animals, but unlike them, yours are all in a vulpine shape, to emulate the Fox which you carry. By wearing it's mask, you take part of the cunning and great hunting ability that will help you against the servants of Wolven Dream. In the center of the ceremony, stands one of the old matrons, although which one you are unsure. She bears a many-layered dress with many hanging bones and beautiful ornaments, and upon her face, she wears a mask befitting of a spirit on its journey. In the grand ritual, she is Air and has returned to show her Kin the path towards the underworld.
The slow, grief-stricken ceremonies proceed through the week, marking it as a full month since you last turned your backs upon the place which you once called home, and came to this strange place of stone gods and underworldly gates. At the end of the week, an end comes to the procession which has begun by daybreak and ended as the Beauteous Ancestor can hold the attention of his heavenly wife no more, and night returns, every day. The ceremonial masks are to be taken off, for there is no need for demons anymore, although an exception could be made.
Do Some Not Take Their Masks Off?
This vote can influence the rituals, practices and folklore of the Kin to Air. [ ] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[ ] No One Keeps Their Masks - It is unseemly to bear masks and seek to become as spirits beyond the bounds of the rituals. Surely the potters and matrons know well when it is the proper time to become as demons, gods and spirits? To bear them in other situations would be pretense to something greater, and could risk your covenant with all things spiritual.
[ ] You Keep Your Mask - You have gained the favour of Fox, and it is only best to show it in all ways. Pronounce yourself Great Hunter, and bear the mask of Fox to gain great powers over hunting and trickery to rival the cleverest ancestors. Bear the mask with pride and be empowered, but bear it dishonestly and find yourself punished greatly.
As the ceremony ends, there are other things to be taken care of, and you quickly assemble a hunting party with gifts among you. Potters and weavers join you, to carry gifts and weave flower garlands. You set out from camp and follow along the river until you find the original tracks, from which you begin to lead onwards towards their eventual end. The journey goes on for days, as you stop only to tend to the aching legs of your many followers, and to hold camp and plan the trip. The food becomes scarce as the days go on, and you begin hunting and gathering food as normal to forage for the group, as the packed supplies begin to strain.
On the twelfth day of searching, you spot them in the distance; a group of forty, if not more men walking in order, wearing strange wooden blocks affixed with leather on their feet and bearing even stranger rectangles made of wicker in their left hands, while all holding spears in their right. Their hair is shaved in identical styles, and some top their heads with strange, conical caps of some presumed protective purpose, and a few likewise even wear thick shirts of leather coated with metallic splints, seeming nearly invincible behind their armoured panoply. They walk in lockstep to the sound of a drum, which is banged upon relentlessly by one who bears no spear like the others and has hung the strange wicker shield over their arm with a leather strap.
You see them, before they see you, and approach them with hands that are raised in friendly gestures, as you make sure to plant your spears with the head first in the ground where they can see it. You approach them slowly and deliberately, women and young men who have not yet hunted beasts themselves come first, bearing gifts, and one of the foreign men step forward, resplendent in his panoply that would surely make him as almost invincible to your spears, slings and bows. He opens his mouth, and speaks in a hoarse voice, that is tired of shouting.
"Mannu imenzen? Mannu imenzenak lugalzunene? Ammeni nadanu zenee igisumeneshe anna geneo?" he says, in some language which you do not know of, or have heard before. It is rough and guttural, sounding like the tongue of a fierce people, but it sounds most of all like a question of some sort.
"I do not understand what you are saying! Do you speak another tongue?" you respond in your native language, hoping that he will understand you, although you suspect likely not.
After some giving of gifts, and sinking of spears, the heavily bearded man with his proud helmet and splinted armour approaches you, having lowered his weapons, and says to you in a friendly tone, "Imenzen lukurulene!"
He makes motions towards a large nearby stone, upon which he goes to sit, saying to the other men that were with him, something in his strange tongue, and they fetch another, approximately just as large stone and set it in the earth near his own, and you sit on it.
The men with him seat themselves on the earth, and your hunters do the same in a reciprocal gesture, as the gifts are enjoyed and fruit and food are shared around. The foreign people have strange, new food with them, such as dry buns covered in a crust, which they call "bappirene", and offer freely. Through wide, pointing gestures and signs on the earth, made with your spears, the man manages to inform you that he is named Lugalkam, and wishes to learn your name, which you draw the signs on the earth for, and say for him, and he translates it into his own tongue, naming you Izidabduesh with a sandpaper-dry voice.
Time passes, and you slowly learn to communicate rudimentary sentences to each other, and you learn that these are men from a far southern place, which they call the Land of the Gods. The word he uses to describe himself and his fellows has no equivalent in your language, although you come to call them "warriors", or "vultures", for they are a party of those who would be hunters in your tribe, but here fight with shields and spears to kill other men, and not to hunt beasts. The man, Lugalkam, asks if you will send back the gift-givers and potters to the place from which you came, and you will accompany his people in their current expedition, which is a raid against a people who live by the river, and have slighted him in the past, and raided cruelly against his people. He does make clear that he would gladly share the results of the raid with you and yours, if it succeeds.
Will You Aid Lugalkam?
The effects of this vote on the Kin to Air are secret. [ ] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[ ] Do Not Aid the Raid - You will not aid them, as you do not know them well enough and do not wish risking the lives of the hunters. Participating in the raid cannot be an option, and the payment might not make up for any lives lost.
[ ] Write-In - Provide some other service or response. Subject to QM veto.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
We will hightail out of this area if things went poorly. The hunters keeps the mask so we can start caste-lite system.
[X] You Keep Your Mask - You have gained the favour of Fox, and it is only best to show it in all ways. Pronounce yourself Great Hunter, and bear the mask of Fox to gain great powers over hunting and trickery to rival the cleverest ancestors. Bear the mask with pride and be empowered, but bear it dishonestly and find yourself punished greatly.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
Be wary of the Wolven Dream! Instead trust in the quick wit of Fox, for foxes are wise to the ways of wolves!
[x] No One Keeps Their Masks - It is unseemly to bear masks and seek to become as spirits beyond the bounds of the rituals. Surely the potters and matrons know well when it is the proper time to become as demons, gods and spirits? To bear them in other situations would be pretense to something greater, and could risk your covenant with all things spiritual. [x] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
Lets go for the option that isn't prideful, which is generally the biggest problem these quests have.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[X] The Hunters Keep Their Masks - The wolf is a dangerous animal, for it is a demon running wild, but no other earthly beast rivals its prowess. By taking on the demonic aspect before the hunt, the hunters become like the wolves and ensure the greatest hunts of all time as long as they fight like the wolven pack, but may find themselves punished if they fail to give honour to Wolven Dream.
[X] Aid the Raid - You will send back the gift-givers and potters, and follow the raiders as hunters, to aid in their goal, against payment from the results of the raid. This will cement better relations with the people from the southern Land of the Gods.
[x] No One Keeps Their Masks - It is unseemly to bear masks and seek to become as spirits beyond the bounds of the rituals. Surely the potters and matrons know well when it is the proper time to become as demons, gods and spirits? To bear them in other situations would be pretense to something greater, and could risk your covenant with all things spiritual.
"You keep the Mask" could lead to priestly elite down the road, so not that...
[X] Do Not Aid the Raid - You will not aid them, as you do not know them well enough and do not wish risking the lives of the hunters. Participating in the raid cannot be an option, and the payment might not make up for any lives lost.
Here's something to consider: Those people from a land in the deep south. We are going NW, IIRC. Therefore, we are moving away from them and in the general direction of their enemies. Do we want to make enemies out of people we might meet in the future?
The hunters keeps the mask so we can start caste-lite system.
