Time of the Gods: Into the Amber Age

Now that we are physically slapping around our villagers I am a bit inclined to work for something more directly deadly. Either aspect of crustacean or elemental aspect frost. Right now when we are out of the water we are bigger and stronger than any human, but not by much. Unless we get into the water we really can't defend ourselves from numbers or a spirit.

id be fine with either of those or both.

but I would prefer crustacean first.

first step to eldritch abomination hood is inhuman organic components afterall.

got get us some crab claws or armor and what not.
 
Some pretty nice rolls! Critted the Moon Sphere Influence roll, and the Avatar roll was just 2 from the max possible, so we gained over double the amount of progress we had. Also, bought Sea Affinity, which unlocked Ocean Affinity! Increased the surcharge on our available Affinities (but gave a discount for Ocean), and also decreased the DE cost of Control Water.

Saiga does not come
Awe rolled 18
Gained 3 Legend
Aka to mortal perspective, every turn Saiga doesn't come after us while we're messing with his followers, we're winning this phase of our interactions, and so we gain a bit of Legend. Probably will fade eventually, even if Saiga never confronts us again, as the accumulated Legend has the humans cement "Gaerig tricked Saiga into allowing her to do whatever she wants with his followers" into our mythos. But until then... Shows why spirit-spirit interactions are a Legend generator, and how important they are in this iteration of the game: that sole interaction last turn gave us Legend in both turns, and it was the sole Legend gain we got for this turn.

You will ensure perfection the next time you desire this treatment, and the best way to do that is to make sure they know the price of failure
And combining this with last turn, this is a carrot and stick approach. Of course, since our villagers aren't animal handlers or innovators in the study of teaching, Gaerig doesn't have the concepts to understand what's she doing and neither do the villagers. Gaerig's also a Fear spirit, so she naturally focuses on the punishment aspect. Though this does eventually set up a 'Fear of failure' concept for Gaerig to feed off of, removed from the current 'Fear of death' she's currently stuck with, and ensure the Fear ritualized behaviors have an emphasis on precision. Might count against Mischief and Capricious, though, if the villagers come to believe if they certain things perfectly, by rote, they could ward off Gaerig's wrath.

Saiga has sequestered himself in his shrine, and will not leave to face you.
Sleep? We know he's a Faith spirit, but one of our mortal followers was able to peek in on him during the turn, so I don't think that's it. We have some inklings that he might have a Craft skill, and possibly Innovation, so maybe he's following last turn's command and making something to offer to Gaerig? Or he could be waiting for the demand timer to fall off. Since we're not even in a Pantheon with him, let alone his superior in some hierarchy, I doubt will stick for very long.

Saiga is also very restrained from the time of the oldest generations. The grandmothers tell stories that they were told but have never seen, depicting Saiga as brash, adventurous, and far more magnanimous than he is today. For as long as any have known him, he has gone to hunt game and fish when the people need him most, but little else. The last man gives perhaps the most useful information; he had waited, into the Long Night, as Saiga remained in his shrine, hoping to glimpse what the spirit did. Instead, he ducked away as a mortal approached during a time of rest, raising a stone disk with a few images depicted on it. He spoke carefully, and your informant could not hear, but Saiga turned his head and bowed!
...
You have discovered Attrouska, The Crone.
So early!Saiga was like early!Harzivan? Massive blind spot, concerned only with one area of life, blessing like crazy because he didn't know any better, and because of everything above, massively upset the social order of his time? And the current Saiga is sorta, kinda, maybe like Harzivan after River Mother dominated him (in position and importance, anyways -- I highly doubt he has a thread full of SVers who will never ever let any perceived insult go). I don't think we can safely say Saiga provoked the rise of a new spirit, nor that Attrouska is that spirit... But I'm going to assume that, temporarily, for a few guesses: the epithet "The Crone" suggests Attrouska is a spirit of elders, of old wise women who lead and govern the tribe. Saiga, in his magnanimity, nigh-toppled those elders from their position when he started giving the young way more resources and wealth than his village ever saw. The young, naturally, agitated for and got, by virtue of their wealth, leadership positions, and the elders got very upset, particularly because overfishing/overhunting is completely a concern when this is the Artic and you're already living on the edge. They started sacrificing to some honored ancestor, and so Attrouska was born. And then she dominated Saiga (through high natural Leadership?) and made him stop depopulating the local animal species.

I don't think the above guesses are completely correct, but if our village was founded relatively young, in their great-great-grandparents' time, then the timeline would match up, right? Saiga has a decade or two to build up a dedicated core of believers, Attrouska appears and puts a stop to his activities, then a bunch of people (who had benefited from Saiga's earlier efforts) from both spirits' villages became pissed off and left to found our village. Then they lived and died, leaving only their hate (weakening to mere sneers) of the spirit that drove them to this place to their descendants. (And Saiga, who they did worship, still had his proponents, until Gaerig converted or drove them off.)

Anyways, since Gaerig now has forgotten her earlier discomfort for land (with the building of her shrine?), if we really needed a inland target for our wrath and we don't want to target these two villages we know now, there's this nice village that our people already have a built-in distaste for. Unfortunately, that epithet suggests she either has a sorceror build (which makes us not happy) or she has a Leadership build (which makes us even more not happy).
 
We did Lure twice in a row already. Trying to do it to the same village too often loses some of its Vehemence.

I want to give them a sense of false security before we Drown them in our uncaring embrace
I want to highlight that this is very poor timing for that, because we might be left high and dry on DE next turn and be forced to fail the Moon Sphere if we roll poorly, and because Saiga's currently not contesting us when we troll his people, meaning we're also giving up fear value and Legend from winning against him.

By undermining his legend and reinforcing "Gaerig does what she wants, Saiga can't stop her" it helps with our next clash

Also, repetitive actions don't taper off so quickly as you think. if we're actually killing people it'd take years before they become jaded to it as part of life. The previous mistake was being too nice WHILE trying to be scary, unrelated to repeating an action.
 
I'm trying to find good future forms for Gaerig...

turns out finding female eldritch abominations that are both horrifying and attractive is harder than you would think.

found a bunch of ideas for monsters though.
 
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I want to highlight that this is very poor timing for that, because we might be left high and dry on DE next turn and be forced to fail the Moon Sphere if we roll poorly, and because Saiga's currently not contesting us when we troll his people, meaning we're also giving up fear value and Legend from winning against him.

By undermining his legend and reinforcing "Gaerig does what she wants, Saiga can't stop her" it helps with our next clash

Also, repetitive actions don't taper off so quickly as you think. if we're actually killing people it'd take years before they become jaded to it as part of life. The previous mistake was being too nice WHILE trying to be scary, unrelated to repeating an action.
This is true. You can generally get at least two turns out of unrestricted terror-sowing - more depending on the reach of your actions - before people start to catch on, alter their culture and taboos to represent the threat you pose. Start luring the strong young men to their doom while they're off fishing, and they'll start plugging their ears or bringing along women to do the actual navigation, or use other, potentially effective defenses against you (and you might be pretty good at luring, but those kinds of things will make it have less Vehemence for a given roll).
 
DE: 0/64
Ambrosia: 1-1(satiation refill)/1
Satiation: 15-4(Moon Sphere)-1(stars)-1(disrupt)-2(lure)-2(demands)= 5/20(Ambrosia refill used at this point. )

[X] Plan Ease off on Locals, Keep Kicking Foreigns.
-[X] Bless Petitioner for Growth - Expend some of your DE to empower those who come to your shrine or pray to you, granting them a bounty of life-giving things. Current Skills that can be blessed: Navigation.
--[X] Expend 2 DE on petitioners
-[X] Control Waters*** - You bend the waves to your command, directing them to rise or quiet at your leisure, to punish your enemies, or reward your friends.
--[X] Whip Waves. Costs: 4 DE
---[X] Use to support Lures where possible
--[X] Calm Seas. Costs: 4 DE
---[X] Use to support our Inspired follower and Navigation blessings, followed by rewarding petitioners who performed well on demands on this year and the last if not applicable.
-[X] Inspire Petitioner - Expend DE to give inspiring visions and dreams to a petitioner who comes to your shrine or prays to you. At 2 Influence, Inspirations are somewhat random in their effects but are stronger than Blessings. Costs: 5 DE
-[X] Study Stars - Study the skies and stars, seeking patterns that will tell you what was, what is, and what may yet be.
--[X] Read the Future - Look forward to what has not yet been, but may yet be. Will aid you in a number of ways during the turn, and warn you of potential dangers. Costs: 8 DE
-[X] QUEST: LABOR OF THE MOON-SPHERE - You will return to the Moon-Sphere's resting place and retrieve it for yourself. Costs: 12 DE. (Note: may need to be taken multiple times) Turns left: 2. x2
-[X] Disrupt Saiga's fishermen to the south. Costs: 5 DE (must reserve at least one destructive act) WARNING: Outside of effective influence range; divine powers will have reduced effectiveness.
-[X] Lure - Seduce and enchant the incautious, leading them to their doom. Costs: 6 DE x2
--[X] Focus on Saiga's village.
-[X] Make Demand - You have need of something and you will tell people what you want.
--[X] Demand that your people find out more about Attrouska.
--[X] Demand that one man and one woman of their most attractive youths serve you while in the village for a year. If they lapse in their duties at all, you will use Lure on their family members.
 
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I just found rule 63'd fighter jets....

I think that's enough image searching for today.

[X] Plan Ease off on Locals, Keep Kicking Foreigns.
-[X] Bless Petitioner for Growth - Expend some of your DE to empower those who come to your shrine or pray to you, granting them a bounty of life-giving things. Current Skills that can be blessed: Navigation.
--[X] Expend 2 DE on petitioners
-[X] Control Waters*** - You bend the waves to your command, directing them to rise or quiet at your leisure, to punish your enemies, or reward your friends.
--[X] Whip Waves. Costs: 4 DE
---[X] Use to support Lures where possible
--[X] Calm Seas. Costs: 4 DE
---[X] Use to reward petitioners who performed well on demands on this year and the last.
-[X] Inspire Petitioner - Expend DE to give inspiring visions and dreams to a petitioner who comes to your shrine or prays to you. At 2 Influence, Inspirations are somewhat random in their effects but are stronger than Blessings. Costs: 5 DE
-[X] Study Stars - Study the skies and stars, seeking patterns that will tell you what was, what is, and what may yet be.
--[X] Read the Future - Look forward to what has not yet been, but may yet be. Will aid you in a number of ways during the turn, and warn you of potential dangers. Costs: 8 DE
-[X] QUEST: LABOR OF THE MOON-SPHERE - You will return to the Moon-Sphere's resting place and retrieve it for yourself. Costs: 12 DE. (Note: may need to be taken multiple times) Turns left: 2. x2
-[X] Disrupt Saiga's fishermen to the south. Costs: 5 DE (must reserve at least one destructive act) WARNING: Outside of effective influence range; divine powers will have reduced effectiveness.
-[X] Lure - Seduce and enchant the incautious, leading them to their doom. Costs: 6 DE x2
--[X] Focus on Saiga's village.
-[X] Make Demand - You have need of something and you will tell people what you want.
--[X] Demand that your people find out more about Attrouska.
--[X] Demand that one man and one woman of their most attractive youths serve you while in the village for a year. If they lapse in their duties at all, you will use Lure on their family members.
 
If Saiga doesn't show up this year, I'm seriously considering pushing for us going over and demanding to know what's taking so long. I have three reasons why:

  1. By this time, I'm optimistically hoping that we'll have snagged the Moon Sphere, which should give us a nice buff, one way or another.
  2. It's a fresh way of digging for Legend and DE, as well as continuing the narrative, by marching right into the heart of Saiga's territory and demanding to know why he hasn't gotten back to us yet. Any inconsistencies with our previously implied demands will be blamed on Capricious one.
  3. There's no way he'd see it coming, and therefore will not be properly prepared for it. Which is why we should prime Whip the Waves or some other action that we can use to run away with.
There's also the bonus tidbit from the Note in the previous update, that said that Spirit's tend to resume the roles they held on their last encounter. While we'd probably be drifting a bit from our previous role, it's no where near far enough that Saiga shouldn't be wrong-footed straight into a position not too dissimilar from his last one.
 
Ocean Affinity - Sea bumped the price of all other Elemental Affinities, as expected. It's also reduced the DE cost of Whip Waves and Calm Seas. Reflecting Pool is likewise cheaper - do that again some time after we get the Moon Sphere.

Attrouska the Crone is likely - but not guaranteed - to be [Constellation Heart].

Semi-Randomly mixing up actions is one way to prevent opponents from adjusting their society to counter.

Plan attempts to get Capricious One, Ocean, Waves, Exploration, Moon, Lesser Spirit of the Sea. Trickster is possible but unlikely.

[] Plan Calm Seas
-[] Study Stars - Study the skies and stars, seeking patterns that will tell you what was, what is, and what may yet be.
--[] Read the Future - Look forward to what has not yet been, but may yet be. Will aid you in a number of ways during the turn, and warn you of potential dangers. Costs: 8 DE
-[] Disrupt Saiga's fishermen to the south. Costs: 5 DE (must reserve at least one destructive act) WARNING: Outside of effective influence range; divine powers will have reduced effectiveness.
-[] Control Waters*** - You bend the waves to your command, directing them to rise or quiet at your leisure, to punish your enemies, or reward your friends.
--[] Calm Seas. Costs: 4 DE x3
---[] Reserve for Disrupt. Boats can't move when the water isn't moving, can they?
-[] QUEST: LABOR OF THE MOON-SPHERE - You will return to the Moon-Sphere's resting place and retrieve it for yourself. Costs: 12 DE. (Note: may need to be taken multiple times) x2
-[] Wander the Depths - Travel away from your shoal to explore the deeper places. Costs: 10 DE
-[] Bless Petitioner for Sacrifices - Expend some of your DE to empower those who come to your shrine or pray to you in exchange for more offerings. Current Skills that can be blessed: Astrology, Navigation, Perform (Trickery).
--[] Expend 5 DE on petitioners for Navigation.
-[] Make Demand - You have need of something and you will tell people what you want.
--[] Demand that your people find out more about Attrouska.

DE: 8 + 5 + 12 + 24 + 10 + 5 = 63, 0 remaining.
Sustenance: 15 - 8 = 7, ambrosia expended.
Ambrosia: 1 - 1 (Sustenance) = remaining.

The intent here is to fuck with their heads as much as possible while preventing fishing boats from going anywhere easily, especially in cold water and without/with fewer of Saiga's blessings - but seriously, it's mostly to pick up Capricious One - Arbitrary Cruelty and Sudden Magnanimity. If anyone wants to help me refine the wording here please do so. Wander the Depths is an attempt to put Minor Spirit of Exploration on the list, for Survival so we can explore on land to greater effect. Lesser Spirit of the Sea may well reduce the costs of Ocean Affinity - Ocean and Elemental Avatar - Water further.

Follow-up plan would include mixing lure + Whip Waves on Saiga's village, with other actions depending upon available DE and completion of the Moon Sphere quest.

...another option would be to Bless our own people for Trickery and Navigation... then do the Lure/Roil combo on them, see what happens. /ponders.
 
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If they're kayaks, or similarly sailess ships? Than yes, yes they can. For that matter, if they are using hide boats, I'm not sure how much sail they could have anyway.

Call upon @Powerofmind too check that...
They use kayaks and umiaks, basically rowing canoes. The sail is beyond them for now, considering the cloth to produce one light enough would require the right kind of animal (and the loom).
 
They probably can? Why not just Whip, that's what it is for.

Mostly for a plan that's different to veekie's while still getting similar things done, partly to spark discussion, partly for 'Capricious One'; maybe somebody can help come up with a con including it. They haven't seen us use Calm Seas yet, I don't think, so it would also be 'new'~ish.

They use kayaks and umiaks, basically rowing canoes. The sail is beyond them for now, considering the cloth to produce one light enough would require the right kind of animal (and the loom).

Really should have figured this, I'll try to come up with a con of some kind before I go to sleep.
 
Hey, I'm back! Just saw Moana, and it is amazing!!1! The spirits, the gods, the monsters!!!1 I am now 158346% behind picking up Exploration. If we ever want to go further into the sea, we need to go spirit-hunting for a Craft Spirit to build us boats. Big Ones. Anything that pushes closer for that is getting my vote( well okay may be not this turn but SOONTM)You guys really need to see it! It is amazing!

@veekie How do we know Calm Seas won't lower some of our Fear Vehemency? Their reward could be that we simply don't do anything to them, and that they better not due anything that would grab our attention if they know what's good for them. That's part of why I wanted to go Blessing for Sacrifices/ Inspire route since we can reward them without nullifying that with destructive acts. It was also my understanding that Sacrifices, while definitely not as productive as pure Fear turns or Blessings for Faith Spirits, do help raise DE, albeit at a slow rate to save up for Big Fear turns. However if Powerofmind says we have another turn to milk then sure! But perhaps we can go Wander the depths next turn? Really want that Aspect~

I'm trying to find good future forms for Gaerig...

turns out finding female eldritch abominations that are both horrifying and attractive is harder than you would think.

found a bunch of ideas for monsters though.
Maybe not sexy, but they sure can be cute!

Isn't she adorable???


I'm sure we can find something though, how hard can it be finding something just right in Uncanny Valley?
 
Hey, I'm back! Just saw Moana, and it is amazing!!1! The spirits, the gods, the monsters!!!1 I am now 158346% behind picking up Exploration. If we ever want to go further into the sea, we need to go spirit-hunting for a Craft Spirit to build us boats. Big Ones. Anything that pushes closer for that is getting my vote( well okay may be not this turn but SOONTM)You guys really need to see it! It is amazing!

@veekie How do we know Calm Seas won't lower some of our Fear Vehemency? Their reward could be that we simply don't do anything to them, and that they better not due anything that would grab our attention if they know what's good for them. That's part of why I wanted to go Blessing for Sacrifices/ Inspire route since we can reward them without nullifying that with destructive acts. It was also my understanding that Sacrifices, while definitely not as productive as pure Fear turns or Blessings for Faith Spirits, do help raise DE, albeit at a slow rate to save up for Big Fear turns. However if Powerofmind says we have another turn to milk then sure! But perhaps we can go Wander the depths next turn? Really want that Aspect~


Maybe not sexy, but they sure can be cute!

Isn't she adorable???


I'm sure we can find something though, how hard can it be finding something just right in Uncanny Valley?

To young.
 
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