This quest uses a modified FATE system for it's rolls. Each time a check is made, there are 4 dice rolled, each of which can show -1, 0 or +1 with equal chance. The result of this roll is added to the relevant score for the check. Should the score be higher then 4, then dice equal to the score are rolled.
Cultural Ideas
As the history of the people grows longer and the world around them more complex, they will form ideas about their own place in all of this. Be it something to aspire to, a belief that they have a predetermined place, or simply a rule that governs how they interact with each other, these thoughts will shape them and the communities they build.
Cultural Ideas come in three levels and usually give specific advantages or drawbacks to certain actions. They will also shape the way the group will interact with others and might block certain actions, enable others, or even force the group to do something specific. The deeper the idea is ingrained into the group's culture, the stronger these effects become. Acting against an idea can cause strife and will slowly degrade it to a lower lever, before it passes away entirely. Reinforcing an idea by acting in accordance with it will keep it alive and lead to it reaching a higher tier. Over time, an idea might change and evolve through time, interacting with other ideas or simply changing circumstances of the group.
Fad - A short-lived idea that will fade within a few generations at most.
Ideal - This idea has gotten some traction and is viewed either as commonly held goal or widely-held belief. It will last over many generations, unless actively worked against.
Identity - Due to being held in the common consciousness for so long, this idea has become a defining trait of the group. It will never fade on its own and is very unlikely to degrade, even if actively worked against, though it can evolve normally.
Factions
Factions represent groups within an organization that have specific goals or wish to promote their own ideas and opinions. They have three stats, ranked from 1 to 10:
Size - Represents how many members a faction has. This is relative to the size of both the polity they are part of and the other factions of said polity.
Influence - Shows how much pressure a faction can apply to further its own goals. This can represent a wide array of tactics, from popular support by the masses over economic might to having many members in a kings court.
Mood - How happy the faction is with the current state of things. This usually has also an impact on how loyal said group is to the current leadership, though specific circumstances can have even disgruntled factions stay loyal and ecstatic factions attempt to overthrow a ruler.
Furthermore, each faction as Main Issues and Secondary Issues, representing their goals and desires. If their issues are addressed and support, their mood will rise, while failure to satisfy these demands or working against them will lower it.
Like full polities, a faction can earn and retain cultural ideas. This is either a result of a long existing faction developing its own self-identity or because the faction itself formed around the promotion or opposition of an idea.
Some very large factions might even form sub-factions.
Religions are one form of factions.
Settlements and Population
Settlement Statistics
A settlement is a large or otherwise important center of habitation, which usually controls minor sub settlements in its vicinity. This can cover just a single hex field on the map or large areas, depending on various factors from political system, specifics of the settlement or the structure of habitation in the area. Each settlement has the following attributes:
- list of important buildings it houses
- natural resources that it controls
- stability score
- mood score
- list of the local population units
- dominant factions in the settlement
Other attributes might be added as a result of specific political circumstances, forms of government, or other special cases.
Stability
This is a measure of how coherent and functional a community is, ranked from 1 to 10. At maximum stability, the government can control the community without problems and the social and political order of the polity is upheld and functional. At low stability, order in the community is breaking down, leading to criminality, chaos, and anarchy.
Whenever an event occurs that can negatively affect stability and at the end of each turn, a Stability Check is made. Penalties or bonuses might apply to this check due to circumstances or the work of factions. Roll with a score of 2, plus any bonuses or maluses gained from political system or ideals to stability checks. If the result is more then 1 point above the current stability score, it is increased by 1. If it is more then 1 point below the current score, it is decreased by 1.
Specific actions, depending on a polities Cultural Ideas or the circumstances of the underlying crises, can add or detract to the stability score directly.
Other events, such as political upheaval, natural disasters or similar will make a check against this stability score. This uses the score plus any bonuses or maluses that apply to it and is rolled against a DC defined by the event in question. The consequences of this check depend on the event in question.
Mood
This statistic is mechanically similar to the Stability Score, but measures how content the population of a settlement is. Unlike Stability, the Mood does not generally improve on its own, but fluctuates without a change in circumstances of the population. Settlements with a low Mood are prone to random events that will impact stability, sedition, civil wars and similar detrimental events. As settlements grow in size and importance, the population will begin to demand goods for consumption and will loose mood if these demands are not met. Political circumstances like a lack of government attention, wars or instability likewise impact the mood.
At the end of each turn, roll a check for the current mood. The new mood is equal to the result of that check.
Settlements with high mood will furthermore attract immigrants while those with low mood will loose Pops to migration. Furthermore, should the mood be low, it might trigger checks against the stability due to civil unrest.
Population
The inhabitants of each settlement are split into roughly equally seized units, called Pops. Each Pop has a type, which determines what work they can perform, a culture and a faction allegiance.
Every Pop consumes Food and will, depending on type, consume goods as upkeep and potentially produce other goods. Changing the type of a Pop is generally difficult and restricted to specific events and decisions, with the exception of Workers, who can be freely retrained to other types.
A Pop will always continue with the last action it performed until it receives new orders.
Currently available types of Pops:
Type
Actions
Upkeep
Workers
- Retrain (turns into other Pop-Type)
- Produce Ressources
Basic Goods and Luxury Goods
In each settlement, a number of resources can be produced. For each of them, a settlement has a number of production slots, which give the number of workers that can be assigned to create that good, with events or special actions being able to create additional goods or modify the number of available slots. The number of slots can also be increased by spending a number of Production to do so, depending on the type of good.
For all goods, the income per turn is determined by making a check against the number of Workers allotted to it's production that turn. The result of this roll is further modified by a percentual bonus for each type, which models local circumstances, technology or event modifiers, such as fertile land, overgrazed steppe or droughts.
Goods are divided into Basic Goods and Luxury Goods. Basic Goods can be converted into either Production or Culture by Artisans at a rate of 1 Good to 1 Production or 1 Culture. Luxury Goods are automatically converted to Culture at a rate of 1 to 0.5 unless traded away, or can be turned to Culture at a 1 to 1 ratio by a Artisan Pop. A settlement is assumed to have access to a resource when at least one unit of that good was converted to Production or Culture in this settlement on the turn in question, which is necessary for certain actions to become available. So for example it is not possible to build a palisade without access to Wood or a stone wall without access to one type of stone. Furthermore, for each distinct type of Luxury Good that a settlement has available, it gains +0.5 Culture.
The good Food is handled differently and will be described in the next passage.
The known goods are:
Name
Type
Expansion Cost
Requirements
Special
Plants
Food
-
land that is not desert or contains a river
Game
Food
-
land that is not desert or contains a river
Grain
Food
1
land that is not desert or contains a river
Fruit
Food
1
land that is not desert or contains a river
Fish
Food
1
access to a river or ocean
Cattle
Food
1
land that is not desert or contains a river
Flint
Basic
2
local deposit
Obsidian
Luxury
2
local deposit
can be treated as Flint
Limestone
Basic
2
local deposit
Clay
Basic
1
river, lake or local deposit
Wood
Basic
1
requires grassland (not steppe!) or forest
Sea Shells
Luxury
1
ocean access
Dye (Azurite)
Luxury
3
local deposit
Dye (Cinnabar)
Luxury
3
local deposit
Dye (Ochre)
Luxury
3
local deposit
Copper
Basic
3
local deposit
Silver
Luxury
3
local deposit
Gold
Luxury
3
local deposit
Food
This good differs markedly from others. Each Pop, regardless of type, will always consume one unit of Food each turn. Should there be too little food, stability and mood of the settlement suffer, likely resulting in migration of the population. If less than half the Pops could consume a unit of Food in a turn, Pops will die off until half of the remaining Pops can consume a unit of Food.
Available Food: 4 Units
Pops: 10
Two Pops die to starvation, leaving 8. Thus half the Pops can consume a unit of Food and no more deaths will occur.
Food can only be traded in limited amounts until the advent of pottery. Without pottery being available in either the sender or receiver of the trade, for every unit the target receives, the sender has to loose two units.
Production
The created Production of a settlement is used up to pay the upkeep of buildings, pops and other expenses, with the sum of the expenses rounded up to the next full number. Any remaining Production above that can be used to convert Pops, build new buildings or be invested in other projects. Any Production not used up is wasted.
Culture
All culture produced is associated with a specific cultural background, depending on the settlement or population that created it. So the Culture created in the same settlement might be of a different type if, for example, two artisan pops with different culture produced them.
A settlement uses Culture to uphold it's own values, to invest them in special projects or to pay for special actions by certain Pop types. Whenever a culture that is not matching the settlements current majority culture is used to uphold values, there is a small chance that it's values chance or that it gains additional values from the group that produced the Culture point. Likewise, when a Pop consumes a point of Culture, there is a chance that it switches to that culture.
The upkeep for Ideas is 1 Culture per Ideal and 2 Culture per Identity. Fads do not require upkeep.
Any Culture not used up is wasted, but may trigger various events, such as societal advancements, additional Pop culture changes, the creation of new values or even technological innovations.
Settlement Action
Each turn, a settlement has one free action. This action can be used to either gain 1 free Production, 1 free Culture, perform 1 Diplomacy action or perform certain special actions.
Military
Basics
A battle has two components, the commander and the forces.
The troops are positioned in three rows, the front row, which usually holds mostly melee units, the back row, which usually is where ranged units are placed, and the reserve row, where units are waiting when not yet engaged in the battle. When battle is given, the front rows can attack each other and the ranged units from the back row can attack the enemy front row, but not be attacked in turn. If a ranged unit is placed in the front row, it can also attack the enemies back row. Units in the reserve row can usually not be attacked or affect the battle themselves until moved to one of the other rows. The special abilities of certain units or special circumstances can alter these default rules.
The back row may never contain more units then the front row and if such a event occurs, the commander must immediately move a unit from the back row to the front row until the front row contains an equal or greater number of units.
The commander of a force has three stats: Strategy, Command, Inspiration
The strategy score is used for opposed checks against other commanders before a battle and determines troop movements, scouting results, and the location where the actual battle will take place. The strategy score is modified by the total Maneuver score of the force, but can never be raised beyond double the actual skill of the commander.
Command is used during battle to give orders to units. Each round, the commander rolls his Command skill and can then give a number of orders equal to the result. These orders can be:
- move a unit to a different row
- activate a units special ability
- try to inspire a unit
- support the attack or defense of a row, adding +1 to their total attack or defense
Inspiration is only used when the action to inspire a unit is picked. Roll the Inspiration skill and heal morale damage taken by a unit equal to the result. If the result is higher then necessary to bring a unit back to full morale, the unit gains a 1 point of bonus morale for each 2 additional points made on the check.
Each unit has the following four stats: Maneuver, Attack, Defense, Morale
Maneuver is mainly used to determine the total maneuver score of an army, which modifies the commanders Strategy ability, though many high maneuver units have special abilities that leverage it for other purposes.
Attack and Defense determine how much damage a unit can deal or take.
Morale measures how much damage a unit can take before fleeing the battlefield. This stat is strongly influenced by a civs Ideas and can be further modified by the circumstances of a battle. While the stat can be 0 or even negative for a unit type, the effective moral of a unit can never be lower the 1.
At the start of a battle, both commanders roll their Command score and can move a number of units up to their result to their front and back rows.
Each round, after the commanders have given their orders and announced which row to attack for any of their units that could attack different rows, sum up the total attack score leveraged against each row and roll opposed checks between the incoming attack and the rows total defense. If the Defense result is higher, the row takes no damage. If the Attack result is higher, the row looses a number of Morale points equal to the checks difference. Which unit takes this damage is the decision of the commander of the attacked force, but he can't assign more then one point of damage for a unit unless every unit of that row has been assigned a point of damage.
When a units morale hits 0, it flees the battlefield and can no longer affect the battle. Once one side has lost all troops in it's front row and back row, the battle is lost, even if the commander still has units in his reserve row.
Unit Types
Type
Maneuver
Attack
Defense
Morale
Special
Mob
-2
+1
-1
-2
- must start a battle in the Reserve Row, unless only mobs are fielded by the commander
Hunters
+1
Heavy Infantry
-1
+2
+1
+1
Regular Infantry
+1
+1
Light Infantry
+1
+1
-1
- Special Ability: Harassment - Add Maneuver to Attack and Defense for one round. Can only be used in the first round or in the same round this units is moved from the Reserve Row to the Front Row.
Archers
+1
-2
- ranged unit
Default Commanders
Default commanders are used when no hero special character is assigned to lead a force. Their quality is determined by the military experience level of the civ. Roll the Military Experience of the spawning settlement. The result of this rule is the number of steps the commander can be advanced beyond green. No more then half the points can be invested into a single skill.
Level
Strategy
Command
Inspiration
Green
+1
+1
-1
Regular
+2
+2
Veteran
+3
+3
+1
Elite
+4
+4
+2
Heroic
+5
+5
+3
Default Diplomat
Default diplomats are used when no hero special character is assigned to a task. Their quality is determined by the diplomatic experience level of the civ. This functions like the generation of Default Commanders, except using the Diplomatic Experience score of the settlement.
The Valley People
Symbol: The heads of a bear, a wolf and a man.
Government: Absolute Directorial Despotism - Mandate of the Ancestors
General rules
- Meetings of all Councils will be held in private. However, each person attending the council may bring an additional guest, who may listen but not speak unless invited to speak by the council.
- All groups setting out to interact with outsiders must contain a representative of the their Council. Low Council representatives can only do so for groups smaller than their own community with larger groups being the domain of the High Council.
- All matters affecting more than two communities must be brought to the High Council. Matters between two communities may be resolved by their Low Councils if they can come to a consensus, or otherwise be brought to the High Council for arbitration.
- Disputes between individuals and families within a community are to be resolved by the Low Council of the community.
- High Councilor, Low Councilor, Mediums, Priests and Vice-Councilors positions are exclusive. Upon gaining one title they lose all others of the list
Organization structure
- High Council:
-- The High Council will be the highest authority of the state, referring to the three who comprise supreme authority.
-- The High Council is advised by Mediums, one selected by each Low Council. The Mediums can be a member of any community.
-- The High Council can appoint representatives from any community to speak with their authority for specific tasks when the Council cannot be present themselves.
-- Each member of the High Council must maintain at least one, and no more than three Vice-Councilors for their council duties. These Vice-Councilors must be taught how to perform and assist with the duties of a High Councilor. They can be chosen from anyone under the authority of the High Council, except for High Councilors, Low Councilors and Mediums.
- Low Council:
-- The Low Councils refer to the local authorities, each governing one permanent(lasting at least one full lifetime from birth to death) community comprising of at least three population units of adults. Such a community may be fixed or mobile in nature, so long as someone can be born into it and die belonging to it.
-- Each Low Council consists of two leaders chosen by the community, and one leader chosen by the High Council. The community leaders must be members of the community, but the High Council can choose either a local or send a representative.
-- The Low Council can appoint representatives from their community to speak with their authority for specific tasks when the Council cannot be present themselves. They may appoint representatives from other communities with the agreement of either the High Council or the other community involved.
- Priests
-- The priests must maintain an advisor to the High Council at all times, who will be allowed to listen to and advise any decisions.
-- The priests may send one advisor to any Low Council, who will be allowed to listen to and advise any decisions.
-- The priests must preferentially raise their new initiates from the orphans of the People where available. Where there are more orphans than need for new initiates, they will be chosen by lot.
Succession
- High Councilors are elected with a majority vote by the High Council and the Mediums of each Low Council from the pool of Vice-Councilors. At least two thirds of the Mediums must be present to pass such a vote.
- Mediums are selected with a majority vote by the Low Council they represent. Their status can be revoked by the same process.
- One Low Councilor seat of each community is fixed to the High Council's appointment, if this Low Councilor is removed by any means, they will be replaced by the next appointed representative of the High Council.
- The remaining two Low Councilor seats are chosen by the community they govern. Groups with preexisting selection methods may use their traditional methods, or permanently change their process to a simple majority of their community.
- High Councilors will step down in the following events:
-- Voluntary abdication, which will start the process of raising a new councilor while they remain a councilor until their successor is chosen.
-- Death
-- Incapacitation such that they are no longer able to perform their duties for more than a season.
- Low Councilors will step down in the following events:
-- Half or more of the community they govern votes to replace them.
Religion: Faith of Bones
Capital: Greenvalley
Cultural Ideas
At the dawn of time, the people were lost and separated. But in these trying times emerged three great persons that led them together again to build a brighter future. Like the Mountain Father, the Black Bear and the White Wolf, the Council of Three rules to this day, the wisdom of the ancestors guiding them on their path. No higher authority can there be in this world.
Effects:
- gain +2 on combat morale
- gain +2 on stability checks
- troops will never disobey orders or join revolts, but may participate in civil-wars normally
- allow the deployment of military units to temporarily raise stability
- may use Subjugation actions even outside of wars with that war-goal
-- can destroy Pops to eliminate cultural values of a Faction
-- can destroy Pops to eliminate a Faction entirely
-- can forcibly resettle Pops
- using subjugation actions or deploying military units to establish order raises mood
- weaker polities receive -1 Morale when facing someone with this value
- must always treat other polities as lesser and can't interact with them as peers
- Council of Three must always be the highest authority in the state
- factions unable to alter social order or political system, but can still try to gain control of the government
- social change occurs slower, but sometimes breaks violently
- during a civil war, other groups can claim the Mandate of the Ancestors to gain legitimacy
- this idea will be destroyed when the government collapses or the polity is absorbed by another polity
Challenges come and go, but only the steadfast will remain in their wake. Neither directionless action, nor hiding from them will save the people from these trials. One must face these challenges no matter how daunting they seem, and though the price they reap might be dire one will grow stronger for these losses.
Effects:
- gain +1 on stability checks
- gain +1 on Inspiration stat of all commanders
- stability loss when radically changing a started course of action due to difficulties
Blood is life. It is shed when we come into the world and all too often it is shed when we leave it. To willingly give it to another, be they living or dead, is the highest gift one can make, for the giver offers nothing less then a piece of his life. Never should such a deed be done lightly and gravest misfortune will come to those who befoul such sacred acts.
Effects:
- gain +1 on stability checks
- religion more likely to spread to populations who have no codified rites
- religion less likely to be subsumed by other faiths
- lower risk of betrayal by oath-sworn subjects sharing this value
- factions more resistant to size and influence loss, except when caused by population drop
- lower chance to detect faction plots
A man might build himself a home. He can stack stone and wood to find shelter against the elements and make a place he can call his own. Yet many man can build many homes, and with dedication and effort, even greater works they can accomplish. The world is there for man to shape and to make it more pleasing for himself.
Effects:
- bonus to development of landscaping technologies
- large-scale landscaping projects increase mood
- diplomacy malus of -1 with all groups who venerate nature
- malus to stability checks and increased mood loss from natural disasters
Current Factions
Artisans
Description: Having their support chiefly among the miners and artisans of Cliffside, Crackhome and Greenvalley itself, this group is second in prestige only to the hunters and more numerous too.
Size: 7 (Large)
Influence: 7 (High)
Mood: 7 (Happy)
Main Issues: Stability, Ressources, Trade
Secondary Issues: Diplomatic Ties
Fishes
Description: Named after a joking answer to the question who they support, the fishers of Laketop have slowly drifted apart from the rest of Greenvalley to form their own distinct group. While wielding little direct influence in Greenvalley, the amount of food they contribute to the valley gives them still some leverage.
Size: 7 (Large)
Influence: 6 (Average)
Mood: 3 (Unhappy)
Main Issues: Peace, Stability, Segregation
Secondary Issues: Isolationism
Bone Tenders
Description: While they generally try to stay out of political affairs, the Bone Tenders wield quiet some influence among the population and are known to try and keep the peace among the people in times of strife.
Size: 1 (Tiny)
Influence: 7 (High)
Mood: 5 (Content)
Main Issues: spread of Faith of Bones, honoring the Ancestors, Neutrality
Secondary Issues: Peace
Settlements
Greenvalley
Location: Clearing in the forest near a river bend.
Size: Large Tribe
Development: Long House settlement
Minor Villages:
- Crackhome - Limestone Quarry Village
- Cliffside - Obsidian Quarry Village
- Laketop - Fishing Village
- White Halls - Holy Site with Pilgrim Village
- Rivercrossing - Village
Population:
Type
Number
Culture
Faction
Notes
Workers
20
Valley People
Fishes (13)
Valley People
Artisans (7)
Hunters
3
Valley People
Artisans (1)
1x Regular Infantry
Fishes (2)
2x Light Infantry
Artisans
5
Valley People
Artisans (4)
4x Basic Goods -> Production
Buildings:
Name
Upkeep
Effect
Holy Site - Faith of Bones
0.6 Production
3 Culture
Pilgrim Village
1 Food
can generate 1 Culture of own or friendly culture, or create 1 own Culture in friendly polity
Stone Wall
0.2 Production
defensive bonuses in combat
Active Trades:
- give 0.7 Production to White Clans for 1 Dye (Azurite)
- give 1 Culture and 0.2 Production to Lakerest
Resource Production:
Name
Current
Maximum
Bonus
Gathering
2
-
+30% (Base)
+20% (river)
+20% (low area utilization)
Total: +70%
White Clans
Living in the mountains near the valley, these nomadic people have been a constant companion of the Valley People, quite a few even being able to trace their lineage back to the clans. Though since they spent most of the time in the mountains, only coming down to the lower lands to endure the winter, contact is rather rare.
High Herdsmen
Living on the plateaus of the mountain range, these people briefly had a settlement called Softhill near the territory of the Valley people. After said village was destroyed and the counter-raid by the Herdsmen failed, contact broke up again.
Brushcrest
Once a minor farming village, Brushcrest has greatly grown in power in the last generations, creating multiple minor villages around itself. It is ruled by a chieftain, advised by a council of elected people from the main village. The other local power are the Water Maidens, a group of priestesses who venerate the spirits of the seas and rivers. Due to their proficiency in boat building, they have become a great trading power in the region, selling lumber and sea shells in return for tools and other luxuries from both the western plains villages and some settlements to the south-east.
Roiling Waters
Located at a lagoon that falls dry during low tide, this is a young settlement of unknown origin. No formal contact has been made so far, though from their location, it stands to reason that they are at least connected by trade ties to Brushcrest and probably likewise trade in sea shells.
Shallowlake
Sitting near a large, yet shallow lake formed by the Clear River, this community seems to mostly get by through fishing. Ruins of smaller villages nearby and abandoned fields imply a more prosperous past, though the reason for their fall is unknown.
Goldenfields
Further north of Shallowlake on the banks of the Clear River, this settlement is surrounded by vast untended fields of grain. The occupants of the large village seem to fit in badly, consisting mainly of gatherers who harvest, yet not plant, the grain, and large groups of fierce looking hunters.