ThatGazzer
Minds Eye Bind
- Location
- PNW
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
Tales of History - A Civ-Builder Quest
- Thread starter Azel
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Hollister
[X] Allow it to continue for now. Any new dead will be buried as their kin sees fit and as the remembrance of the fighting fades, the skulls and bones can be disposed.
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
Santation HO!
Santation HO!
- Location
- United States
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
[X Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
And then every city in the polity had the catacombs.
And then every city in the polity had the catacombs.
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- Location
- United States
Heads up that your brackets aren't closed.
- Location
- Britain
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
- Location
- Germany
Vote closed. Skulls for the skull throne.
Heads up that a few things are going to change with the coming update. I've been debating with myself on when and how to switch to longer turns and when to migrate from the current, rough system to the civ-sized one. Since the changes to the White Clans culture you guys want to pursue require long term effort, I'm going to start now. At least one more year will be done on a slightly lower resolution, then I will see how and when to migrate to full generation sized turns.
So you will now get seasonal turns and population-units instead of monthly ones and vague notions of "too few people, so malus".
Heads up that a few things are going to change with the coming update. I've been debating with myself on when and how to switch to longer turns and when to migrate from the current, rough system to the civ-sized one. Since the changes to the White Clans culture you guys want to pursue require long term effort, I'm going to start now. At least one more year will be done on a slightly lower resolution, then I will see how and when to migrate to full generation sized turns.
So you will now get seasonal turns and population-units instead of monthly ones and vague notions of "too few people, so malus".
- Location
- Australia
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
I am glad for the new burial practice, good to reduce cultural friction, better to reduce disease. I wish we had more time to stabilise the factions before going to long turns though.
I am glad for the new burial practice, good to reduce cultural friction, better to reduce disease. I wish we had more time to stabilise the factions before going to long turns though.
- Location
- United States
It would be beyond amazing if we eventually got a Skull Throne.
- Location
- Germany
That's the point of the long turns. The effects of your actions won't really show on a month-based resolution any time soon. You are trying to change ideals and beliefs there, so don't expect any great progress within this generation.
- Location
- Australia
The original Factions, not the long term cultural differences of the White Clans.
We need to get the angry and marginalised Elders and Hunters happy so that in the long run White Clan size:10 can be happily assimilated into the Original People rather than vice versa.
- Location
- Australia
"You cannot reason with such people, they have a Throne made of Skulls!!"
"They are the skulls of our Ancestors, Wise and Fair Leaders all who brought peace and prosperity to our lands and the lands of our neighbours. You are being disrespectful."
- Location
- Chile
So a King of the people would dream of his deeds and skill being deemed enough when he dies, so that his skull can join the throne? I could live with that.
- Location
- Germany
There is actually rather little that you can do in that regard after the hunt.
The elders are pretty much broken as a faction after repeated marginalization and combat losses. They are currently wasting their remaining influence by a mix of stubbornness, bad leadership and trying to oppose pretty much everything. Either they fade completely as a faction soon or they will take a generation or two to get back on their feet. There was simply too much changing circumstances and innovation going on for them to stay relevant, especially as their group has the hardest time to adapt to these things and gaining more members.
In regards to the hunters, the bear hunt will make or break them.
- Location
- United States
At long last we will eat the bear.
@Azel, I bet we can make some truly badass winter clothing out of it now, right?
- Location
- United States
I've noticed that everyone seems to be forgetting the Matrons, who are about as large as the Clans and who will likely be the most useful faction in the coming Spring.
They made it big from the loss of basically everyone else, and will likely be the defining faction for at least the next few generations.
They made it big from the loss of basically everyone else, and will likely be the defining faction for at least the next few generations.
- Location
- ?????????
The true winners of war are the ones that are left after all
- Location
- Australia
Not forgetting, just not worried about them. They are size 8, the others are 2 and 1. Just enough to outnumber the size 10 Whiteclans.
The Matrons are leading The People, the other two need to be made happy enough to join them.
Weaving Ties - 2
- Location
- Germany
[X] Embrace the practice. Come spring, build a central place for all remains to be gathered and encourage everyone to burn their dead and inter their remains there.
The elders shouted and raged about the new practice. They claimed it a perversion of the tribes rites, a debased monstrosity introduced by the cannibals and an insult to their honored ancestors. Nobody listened to them. For the first time, the still young council showed cracks as it became increasingly apparent that the elders would denounce and try to sabotage every decision, though as long as Crocus and Snow-Fox could agree with each other, the old men and women had little power to stop them.
So against their protests, it was agreed to support the emerging new rite and even to go so far as to build a place that would be dedicated to the dead. Back in the steppe, there was no use in even trying to mark the place where someone had been left and the knowledge that their spirit would join the grass was comfort enough. Now though, the tribe's world was divided into so many things. From meadows and forests to rivers and mountains. Yet at the same time, they no longer moved and thus could make a place for the spirits of their ancestors to gather. It would be a slow process, both for the people to accept the practice and for said place to become more than a memento to the fighting, though many thought it would be richer for such a place.
Change in burial practices proposed. Perseverance Ideal trigger Stability Check:
100 - 30 (Existing Instability) - 20 (Elder Agitation) = 50
Critical Success.
Stability increased.
New practic garners widespread support.
100 - 30 (Existing Instability) - 20 (Elder Agitation) = 50
Critical Success.
Stability increased.
New practic garners widespread support.
Yet that was talk for the spring, since nothing could be built while the ground was yet frozen. Though for now, the council had sent a few people forward to keep the existing collections clean and orderly, and to speak with the mourners to gather opinions for how the proposed home for the dead should look. For now, though, something entirely different had to be done.
Ever since that fateful scouting, the hunters chaffed under the disastrous results of their failure. In the meantime, many others had been trained to join their ranks, then many died to the fights, leaving barely anyone among them who was even connected to said event. But still the story of that night was told, and it rankled even the newest hunters to be reminded of folly and weakness of their vocation. The hunter of the hill-folk thought quite differently about these things, seeing merely an insurmountable threat that had bested their new allies. Some even were silently grateful, thinking the fighting would have gone even worse for them, had the villagers not been weakened by the beast. Given the history of their people, it was no surprise that the White Clans tended to such fatalistic acceptance and this probably played quite a part in their acceptance of the tribes merging too.
On the other hand, Red-Wolf saw in it a weakness of her people and one she dearly wanted to purge them from. They had not agreed to this peace because there was no way to overcome the villagers, but because it would have been stupid to waste their lives on it. And said peace would have been for naught if they kept sitting in their camp and seeing the union of the tribes as something that just happened instead of a chance to break out of the bleak rut her people had been stuck in for so many generations. So when Snow-Fox told her the tale of the great beast, him being one of the few still left who had witnessed the event, she immediately saw a chance. To kill it would mean to give confidence to the hunters of both tribes and more importantly, if they did so together, they would see the value of the path they had set out on.
So they set out with a mixed band, equipped with the best gear that could be scrounged up. They wanted to use the plan the now dead Wind had thought up, though with the addition of the vicious traps that Snow-Fox had invented, if it would be feasible. The journey down the hill towards the low-lands took a few days, neither tribe being that familiar with the area. The mood was tense among the large hunting party, many dreading to face the creature that had easily decimated the village's finest. However, there was no disunity among them, the shared experiences as they combed the valley for the dead had seen to that, and the more aggressive beasts of the hills and forests were easily evaded. Once they found the site of the battle from so many months ago, it took two more days to find a sign of monster. A cave had been spotted in the cracked hills nearby and a lone scout braved the darkness to find the beast sleeping not far from the entrance.
Finding the beast:
54 -> Found after some time.
Perils of the journey:
72 - 20 (Winter) - 20 (Snow Covering) + 10 (Winter Gear) = 42 -> No losses.
54 -> Found after some time.
Perils of the journey:
72 - 20 (Winter) - 20 (Snow Covering) + 10 (Winter Gear) = 42 -> No losses.
This was the best outcome the hunters could have hoped for. Nobody had known that the beast slumbered through the winter, fearing that the dispersed scouts would even alert it to the imminent attack, though now they had time to prepare. Of the firewood the band had taken with them, all logs had been carefully chosen to serve as stakes if the opportunity came, and once it was confirmed that the monster would not rouse from their presence, they began to prepare the battleground.
The snow was not that high near the cave, yet the soil frozen, so no pits could be dug, but Snow-Fox quickly showed everyone how to pack to snow so that it would hold an angled stake reasonably firm. It would be no surprise for their foe, all stakes clearly visible, yet it would give the hunters a line to fall back behind. Meanwhile the best spear throwers of both tribes and the few archers that had come from the clans placed themselves above the cave. There they would be safe from claw and teeth, while their weapons could strike down with impunity. A few longer thrusting spears were brought along too, just in case the creature decided to flee back into the cave at some point.
With the hunters ready, their weapons drawn and replacements kept nearby, and a second line to take the place of any who fell or were disarmed, they were as ready as they ever could hope to be. Snow-Fox and Red-Wolf stood near the center of their line, ready to reinforce whatever side would need it and to coordinate the battle. Again a lone scout wandered towards the cave, yet this time he would not merely look. A spear flew into the darkness and out came a roar that made every hunter's hairs raise. The scout ran as fast as he could towards his companions, the furious monster hot on his heels.
It was just as large and imposing as Snow-Fox remembered it. Dark brown, nigh black, fur that hid a skin as tough as bone. A long muzzle filled with teeth as long as fingers. Claws sharper and stronger then any they had ever seen, capable of tearing limbs off a man in a single stroke. Yet one thing was different. Once their weapons had glanced off and shattered on it, yet now a spear was stuck in his back, embedded deep enough that you could not even see the tip. Blood was running from the wound. As the hunters saw this, the fear faded from their minds. No matter how mighty the beast, if they could make it bleed, then they could slay it.
A hail of spears and arrows struck it from behind, a few missing, others burying deeply into its flesh. Again it roared in wrath and turned around to see what had struck it, which was just what the hunters on the ground had waited for. They rushed forward, their longs spears held high as they rammed the night-stone tips into its flank. For the first time, the band was sure to hear pain in the beast's cries, even as it spun around again to scatter the attackers. Spears broke or had to be hastily tossed aside to evade the gargantuan paws, yet all managed to break away without injury.
The beast was confused, that was clear to all. Its foes were not coming close enough to use its strength against them and yet they were all around, inching closer to it whenever it was not looking directly at them. As another volley struck it from behind, it tried to run for the safety of its cave. Yet as it did so, more spears were thrust at it from above, narrowly missing its skull and neck. Again it swiped at the weapons and again they broke like dry twigs, yet more hunters had rushed it again, burying their weapons into its legs and back.
As it turned around again, reared up on its hind legs and thus dwarfing the men, one lone figure rushed forward instead of scattering like the rest. His target was high above, even his long spear barely bringing it into reach. The danger was great, for he faced the monster instead of attacking it from the side as all others had done. Yet the man's daring was rewarded. The pained roar of the beast was cut off abruptly, ending in a wet gargle as blood rushed from his pierced throat like a fell river. One last time it tried to raise its paws, to take its killer with it if nothing else, but they did not fall down with terrible might, just the limpness of death.
Traps:
59 -> Decent defense, but nothing more.
Round 1:
75 -> Doing some damage.
Round 2:
56 -> Beast tries to break off.
Round 3:
81 -> More damage, beast gravely wounded.
Going for the kill:
87 -> The beast is slain.
59 -> Decent defense, but nothing more.
Round 1:
75 -> Doing some damage.
Round 2:
56 -> Beast tries to break off.
Round 3:
81 -> More damage, beast gravely wounded.
Going for the kill:
87 -> The beast is slain.
And thus the great beast died, falling to the feet of Snow-Fox who had struck the killing blow. Many times the story would be told over the coming days, as the victorious party returned to the valley, parading the spoils of their hunt through village and camp alike. One little tidbit, that Red-Wolf had given her husband the sign to end it instead of doing it herself, was oddly absent in the retelling, instead congratulating them both for leading the hunt. As the one who felled it, Snow-Fox was awarded the right to claim the first trophy, claiming the head and a good deal of pelt to make himself a headdress and cloak from it. Thus clans and villagers feasted on the flesh of the once terrifying creature, basking in the victory they had achieved together and looking up to the couple that had made it possible.
What did the tales of the hunt focus on?
[] How the beast was felled by many working together. (Gain Cooperation (Fad))
The lone wolf is a dangerous foe, yet it is the pack that makes him truly fearsome. When working together, people can become stronger then they would be when alone.
- when a combat unit's morale breaks, it has a small change to rally as long as allied units are nearby
- lower chance to produce great personalities
- when a combat unit's morale breaks, it has a small change to rally as long as allied units are nearby
- lower chance to produce great personalities
It takes many people to achieve great deeds, yet that alone is no guarantee for success. It takes the vision, skill and greatness of those selected few who stand out of the masses to give direction and guidance to their fellows.
- greater chance to produce great personalities
- factions become more aggressive
- greater chance to produce great personalities
- factions become more aggressive
It is folly to trust only in skill and bravery. Those who prepare themselves for the challenges ahead and plot their movements carefully will see rich rewards for their work.
- bonus to military movement rolls
- coups and internal intrigue actions more likely to succeed
- bonus to military movement rolls
- coups and internal intrigue actions more likely to succeed
While there is wisdom in trusting tried and true methods, they should not be taken as absolutes. Though new ideas might not always be beneficial, only through trying them can new knowledge be found.
- small bonus to innovation checks
- cultural ideas might be easier gained and lost
- small penalty to stability checks
- small bonus to innovation checks
- cultural ideas might be easier gained and lost
- small penalty to stability checks
The world is a harsh place and many dangers lurk in it. Yet man is not helpless against them and through effort and skill, those dangers might be banished.
- small bonus to stability checks caused by natural disasters or wildlife attacks
- diplomacy penalty with all groups that venerate nature
- small bonus to stability checks caused by natural disasters or wildlife attacks
- diplomacy penalty with all groups that venerate nature
AN: The first half of this chapter could be titled "the dangers of Perseverance". You've caused a check with endorsing the new burial method and got a glimpse of what the idea might do to the general psyche if you have a long enough streak of misfortune. Meanwhile, the elders have begun to double down on their stances and are running to their doom with flying colors in the process.
I would advise to keep this in mind when picking your newest Fad, since they too can lead down problematic paths.
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- Location
- United States
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