It's still far to early in the quest for windmills or watermills. The earliest practical windmills were invented around the early middle ages (around 600 ad-ish). And the earliest watermills were invented around the 3rd century bc.
Early mills will probably be powered by humans or animals rather than wind or water.
It's still far to early in the quest for windmills or watermills. The earliest practical windmills were invented around the early middle ages (around 600 ad-ish). And the earliest watermills were invented around the 3rd century bc.
Early mills will probably be powered by humans or animals rather than wind or water.
I said it as a joke, though I'd genuinely rather have windmills bringing up groundwater, but I rly didn't know it took that long for them to be developed. They're not much harder than water mills, and can be much more widespread.
If we attack now we would probably have a penalty due to our Eye for Eye trait. But f we defended ourselves then we get a defence bonus and turn our Eye for Eye penalty to a bonus when we retaliate.
Im more worried about integration. Either choice(bedez remainjg friends) will make people unhappy. Confederation will make our tribe unhappy since they think its a net loss. But since everyone keeps doing their own small stuff i dont think it would be that bad. Assimilation is hated by the traders and fishers since they are directly endangered. This could go very bad unless the Random Number Goddess smiles upon us...
Hence i will stick to my vote of confederation ad staying put.
If we attack now we would probably have a penalty due to our Eye for Eye trait. But f we defended ourselves then we get a defence bonus and turn our Eye for Eye penalty to a bonus when we retaliate.
Im more worried about integration. Either choice(bedez remainjg friends) will make people unhappy. Confederation will make our tribe unhappy since they think its a net loss. But since everyone keeps doing their own small stuff i dont think it would be that bad. Assimilation is hated by the traders and fishers since they are directly endangered. This could go very bad unless the Random Number Goddess smiles upon us...
Hence i will stick to my vote of confederation ad staying put.
The conference between the tribes eventually produced the agreement that the people of the valley really knew what they were doing with their centralization ideas, and that despite the obvious hardships that would be caused during the switch over period, the other two tribes should take up similar organizations. Each tribe would of course have to have its own chief to take care of immediate and local problems, but there should be an overall chief who stood above and could direct the people as a whole. However, as a bone to fears of the farmers becoming utterly dominant, the agreement worked out said that not only would the 'Big Big Man', or 'High Chief' as it was eventually decided, be elected by the subordinate chiefs and clan leaders, but that the high chief and the heir could not be of the same tribe. Thus there would be an extra counterbalance to the biases of the High Chief, and over the generations no single tribe could come to dominate the others.
And thus a great experiment in integration was set up. There were immediate complaints and problems, especially with how to communally share various luxury goods produced by the communities or traded for should be handled. In a stroke of brilliance it was decided that such productivity, when not traded away, would be distributed as their own rations, but with adjusted rates based off of occupation, and extra given out for meritorious work. Warriors got extra rations for their jobs, so they got less regular amounts of luxury items, but could earn extra for valour. Skilled crafters like potters or masons often didn't need quite as much food as those with more intensive jobs, so they got a slightly lower standard ration, but were given larger regular payments of luxuries. The leaders got various significant items to help them stand out, but these items were considered to be communal property, owned by the communities, and were in large part expected to be turned over upon retirement or death. How everything was tallied up and divided and distributed became the occupation of a small group of elders who had worked out a system of arcane markings to keep track of how much food from what part of the stores to distribute when during the worst period of the drought.
There was a noted side effect though, in that there were large numbers of people who had stronger expectations about rewards for their efforts, and started working out new ways to acquire and accumulate wealth outside the normal channels, the two most popular being prostitution and gaming. The first was known from before, but had never been particularly stand out because it hadn't been quite so blatant. Some people were willing to have sex with others in exchange for gifts, but usually they settled down with someone after their behaviour annoyed their families. It was similar with gaming, which could be anything from contests of strength or skill to games of chance, which had always been there but now allowed people to accumulate significant wealth for not doing very much at all in the opinions of many. Some suggested that these activities were in fact skills and brought happiness to the people, and others saw the favour of the spirits in such things.
In the end, the response to such behaviours was...
[] Ignore the issue
[] Regulate such activities
[] Restrict such activities
[] Ban such activities
Five years into the integration project and the people were starting to think that perhaps the rumours of the spirit talkers preparing some grand revenge against the lowlanders had been overblown, and that the preparations they were making in stockpiling food and bringing extra lands under cultivation to have extra in case of drought were paranoid. As the clan heads were starting to call for the High Chief to start rethinking priorities, something funny happened.
It started to rain in the winter.
Since the drought the rains had been unsettled and sometimes there were years where the rains were late or weak or even one year where they were missed, although that was thankfully just a single year. And then suddenly, as if the spirits had realized that they had rain they needed to get rid of, the skies opened up. The winter rains were unsettling, but the spring rains were apocalyptic. If not for generations of soil and water control, the farms might have been completely washed away, and the farms and any structures down in the valley were in fact completely inundated. The rains out on the sea made the river there turbulent and the seas too rough to fish in. In no time in memory had there ever been a flood so bad, and there was debate over whether the catastrophic damage of the floods or the slow strangling of the drought was worse.
But they had reserves and stockpiles and the villages could coordinate with each other. They had animals to slaughter for food, and the hill farms remained working and the orchards were not terribly affected. People through their everything into constructing levies and retaining walls and holding back the muds and waters. And so it was that they survived.
The rains stopped in late summer, almost by the fall in fact... and then didn't come at all for two more years. Then torrential rains again. And then drought again. Like the beating of some drum of cosmic ruin, the weather came in destructive waves. So enough, word had filtered back that not only had the spirit talkers coordinated this with the beyond, but that it was merely the beginning of the punishments to be meted out upon the lowlanders. In the second wave of drought, word began to filter out of the people fleeing the washed out ruins of the lowlands: disease. Disease unlike any witnessed before, disease that spread like fire through fields of dry grass. It started with a rash, then turned to painful sores and wracking coughs, and then fever and sleep and gruesome death. The High Chief immediately ordered all caravans to avoid going near any place that there was any rumour of such sickness, and travellers were subjected to inspection and quarantine if there were even the slightest suspicion of contact with the places where the demons of disease were given freedom to run wild. Some people got sick, but the illness did not spread like it was said to do so in the lowlands.
Finally, ten years into the vengeance of the spirit talkers, they sent warriors into the lowlands to torch everything they could see and kill everyone they met. How successful they were was unknown, but they had assuredly struck a crippling blow against the lowlanders for generations to come, and the threat of a repeat performance was now a club ready to swing down upon the skulls of any who defied them. Already there were tales of tribes sending representatives and tribute to the spirit talkers to be benevolent and merciful and constrain their wrath, to which there was a large subset of the population of the people who agreed, despite the distance.
Tribute to the spirit talkers...
[] Yes
[] No (high chance of social strife, mitigated by certain other choices)
The weather growing more stable as the vengeance passed, the High Chief found time for other projects to work on.
Build Wall - Long experience with retaining walls has lead to the idea of a settlement wall for protection (Extra benefit if after or during Organize Settlement)
Dedicate Place to Spirits - The people have increasingly much to be thankful for, and while individual observations of respect for the supernatural continues, perhaps something more grand to represent the group as a whole is required
Domesticate Snails - The snails that can have their shells processed into a vibrant dye have long resisted being directly managed, but with the expertise in land, water, plant and animal management they might be made to live as cattle and sheep live
Establish Annual Festival - People already like to celebrate at certain times of the year, but with the level of control over food distribution a new and particularly lavish festival can be established
Expand Farms - The people have brought an enormous amount of land under cultivation in the valley, but there is more available in more marginal areas, and in the forests around the fishing village
Expand Fishing - There are managed cultivation zones along the shore, and dedicating more people to the tasks can increase the yields of fish and luxuries brought in
Expand Pasture - While the traders mostly just take their animals where there is good grazing, specific areas can be set aside around the settlements that can be made ideal for the protected grazing of herds
Expand Managed Forests - The forests atop the hills surrounding your valley are now an integral part of your water management system as well as providing materials and the occasional bit of game. Expanding onto the back side of the hills can only bring more benefit
Expand Warriors - More men can be inducted into the ranks of the warriors every year and not face major food shortfalls
Improve Trail - The path between the valley and the sea has been cut by generations of travellers, but the dirt path is easily disrupted by rain. Infrastructure improvements could be done to reduce this damage
New Settlement - The land is not particularly good for farming in between the valley and the sea, but there are places where a settlement could be set up, serving as a stop over point along the journey between the two settlements (If chosen during or after an Organize Settlement action, automatically Organized)
Organize Settlement - Because everyone contributes to the whole, the borders of fields could be reworked. Perhaps a similar principle can be applied to the buildings in which people dwell [King]
Step-Farms - Bringing the irrigation systems to its limit, the hills can be sculpted into a series of steps, each step supporting a farm plot, the run off from a higher farm irrigating the farms lower down [Gardeners][King]
Trade Mission - Sending a major caravan to another large group can bring new opportunities and find out more about the outside world
Mega-Projects - Mega-Projects can require many generations to complete, take an unknown amount of time to do so, and drain Econ while active, but can produce massive benefits once complete. Once chosen, the occupy the Main Focus slot until either completed or stopped early. Early stopping once started does not refund any of the investments and increases social strife. To reduce confusion, mega-projects are not listed as part of the voting project list and must be "written-in".
Grand Canal - The hills between the valley and the sea are rough and the rivers there fast and wild. In one man's dream there is the vision of an artifical river cut through the land, tame and managed [Gardeners][King]
Great Dam - The river can run wild and dangerous when the rains come strong, but could it not be controlled by the same principles by which the water on the hills is channelled and contained, merely on a larger scale? [Gardeners][King]
Choose one {Main} Focus and two {Secondary} Focus. Unless otherwise marked
[] Build Wall
-[] Valley
-[] Coast
[] Dedicate Place to Spirits
[] Domesticate Snails
[] Establish Annual Festival
[] Expand Farms
[] Expand Fishing
[] Expand Pasture
[] Expand Managed Forests
[] Expand Warriors
[] Improve Trail
[] New Settlement
[] Organize Settlement
-[] Valley
-[] Coast
[] Step-Farms
[] Trade Mission
-[] Lowlanders remnants
-[] Spirit Talkers
Vote formatting should be along the lines of:
[X] [Main] Blah
[X] [Secondary] Blah blah
[X] [Secondary] Blah blah blah
[x] Ban such activities
Nope, I will not allow degeneracy into this society! Sexual diseases, moral corruption and organised crime will grow if we allow this to occur in any way. We will not be degenerates!
[x] No
We will not be slaves to foreign wise men! We don't even know if the Lowlanders are dead!
[x] Build Wall {primary}
-Valley
We have already said we wanted this, if we don't do it then we are just ignoring our own advice
[x] New Settlement {secondary}
[x] Organize Settlement {secondary}
We just took an agricultural hit, best to recover and expand, get our manpower up whilst we still can, before civil strife hits. Also, bonus to the wall! We are gonna build a big beautiful wall!
Overall:
Plan: Sensibly taking our own advice!
[x] Ban such activities
[x] No
[x] Build Wall {primary}
-Valley
[x] Organize Settlement {secondary}
[x] Expand Farms {secondary}
Motherfuckers. I still don't know if they got lucky or there actually is a supernatural here. These are all things that could happen by coincidence, and I still don't want us to give them tribute.
[X] Regulate such activities
[X] No
[X] {Main} Organize Settlement
-[X] Valley
[X] {Secondary} Dedicate Place to Spirits
[X] {Secondary} Establish Annual Festival
Organize Settlement is important now so we should focus on that as primary. We've put off the other two for a long time now, and I think they are both important and can help mitigate the refusal to pay the Spirit Folk tribute.
[X] {Main} Organize Settlement
-[X] Valley
[X] {Secondary} Dedicate Place to Spirits
[X] {Secondary} Expand Warriors
we do not need more food this turn, what we need is more warriors to patrol and protect the larger amount of territory we have. organize settlements as we need to prepare for later, and spirit as a just in case
For those voting for regulation, it doesn't stop diseases spreading...
Nor does it stop women being forced into prostitution in large amounts, just as porno actresses are forced into the business today
[X] Regulate such activities
[X] No (high chance of social strife, mitigated by certain other choices)
[X] {Main} Dedicate Place to Spirits
[X] {Secondary} Organize Settlement
-[X] Valley
[X] {Secondary} Build Wall
-[X] Valley
I don't want a foreign tribe to have quite that much influence on us. More, it seems that either magic is real, or the dice gods adore the Spirit Talkers. Giving everyone measles might be the work of a human, but that drought/rain/drought cycle is nothing that they could have done without magic. Or luck. Either way, we need religion to calm our people down.
Also, this set of choices is quite literally "I'm going to make my own religion, with blackjack and hookers!"
@Academia Nut Can we make the games and whores regulation a part of our new religion?
For those voting for regulation, it doesn't stop diseases spreading...
Nor does it stop women being forced into prostitution in large amounts, just as porno actresses are forced into the business today
Motherfuckers. I still don't know if they got lucky or there actually is a supernatural here. These are all things that could happen by coincidence, and I still don't want us to give them tribute.
[X] Regulate such activities
[X] No
[X] {Main} Organize Settlement
[X] {Secondary} Dedicate Place to Spirits
[X] {Secondary} Establish Annual Festival
Organize Settlement is important now so we should focus on that as primary. We've put off the other two for a long time now, and I think they are both important and can help mitigate the refusal to pay the Spirit Folk tribute.
