Cacophonous Interlude is NOT active
(the QMPC does NOT hear what you write right now)
Next story update : Sometime in July would be nice
Next vote closing : TBD
Progress toward next update : 3,146 words
Code:
Anything I post that's not in text blocks or in spoilers
may be understood to be said by the QMPC, with the
exception of the Collaboration Post
(see Collaboration Post for details on itself)
Code:
Players do not need to use code blocks or spoilers
outside of cacophonous interludes
If you use code blocks, please limit yourself to 32 lines
and your lines to 57 characters, so that people on mobile
can read them without scrolling within the code block
Code:
This is not meant to be Plagiarism Quest.
You're not discouraged from using outside reference
material or quoting other sources. When you do, please
cite your sources in spoilers or a code box.
Code:
I have added some players who contributed a fair amount
the last two times as thread collaborators who can update
the collaboration post. If you'd like to update the
collaboration post too, contact me by PM and we'll talk
about it.
Check the Collaboration Post and read the latest story post in the Threadmarks to get a rough idea of where things are at.
If you're not already involved in the game, portions of either of these may be difficult to follow. But you can skip to the line that says "B R E A K" in the latest threadmarked story post and skim from there to get an idea of what's going on.
If there's no corresponding Closing The Vote post in the Informational threadmarks for the latest story post in (normal?) Threadmarks, then the game is in a cacophonous interlude and the QMPC will hear what you post, unless you do so with spoilers or code boxes. The NOTICES portion at the top of this post should also tell you if the game is in a cacophonous interlude.
So you can engage with other players, make suggestions, ask questions, and propose plans and you can compose a message to the QMPC all whether or not the game is in a cacophonous interlude. And once it is, you can vote and/or send a message to the QMPC by creating a post in the thread.
If you want to vote, simply do so as you would in other quests on this board. You may look at other players' votes to see how yours should be formatted. And you may check the tally to see that yours are counted as you intend them.
If you want to send a message to the QMPC, though, keep in mind that they are a creature of their time. They may not understand what you mean if you don't take the time to make it clear. This game rewards and demands work from its players. When a player wants to introduce a concept or tool or technology to the QMPC, that player will probably need to expend effort to explain it carefully, and take into consideration the limits of the QMPC's understanding of the world.
I think this is similar enough to Graeber's 'interpretive labor' that we can use the term colloquially to describe what is being asked of players. Put yourself in the mind of the QMPC and ask yourself how such a person can be made to understand what you want to tell them.
The QMPC has different values than we do. They have different assumptions about the world and objects and forces within it. Their goals may not align directly with number-go-up or color-get-big gaming agendas. But they want something, and will listen most attentively to players that tell them how to get more of or closer to what they want.
The Quest Master posts story updates that have 3 parts.
Quest Master Player Character responses to player posts made during the last cacophonous interlude
An update by the QMPC following a break of varying length but usually some number of years, covering what the character believes is worth mentioning
Requests by the QMPC for direction on a number of issues, which the players will provide in the form of votes
Following each story update, players posts are audible to the QMPC until voting is closed.
This is the cacophonous interlude.
Players may convey any information they can represent in text.
No images, sounds, or hyperlinks will get through (this is my limitation, not a limitation of the game, so please do not try to transcend it with clever protocol tricks).
Players may use spoilers or code blocks to communicate with each other without doing so in ways the QMPC can hear.
When votes are tallied, the QM collects player posts so that it may be known what the QMPC heard.
Votes are tallied in the conventional fashion. So only votes in the most recent post by each player are counted. [X] marks what the player is voting. And only identical write-ins accumulate.
Some votes are querying the players for their preference, in which case the only suboptimal answer is that which does not accurately reflect the preference of the players who nonetheless chose it (I don't think these kinds of misunderstandings can be helped).
Other votes are intended as puzzles where there is a choice the QM believes would best meet what they believe to be the goals of the players.
However, in these sorts of votes the QM has in mind a choice that would provide the players with what the QM thinks they most want, but which is not listed in the available votes.
In this way, clever write-ins are encouraged.
QM reads player posts, researches their suggestions, checks notes for precedent, determines what the QMPC thinks they already know on the topic, what they're right or wrong about, how likely they are to engage with the topic, how likely the QMPC's followers are to follow-through in the matter, and finally what the result is going to be later on.
QM composes QMPC's responses to player posts made during the cacophonous interlude and updates their notes.
When narrative benefits from uncertainty and chance, QM devises tests for QMPC or other characters and makes those tests using die rolls on a post made just for that purpose.
Skill or attribute tests will be made with a largely undocumented homebrew modification of the Burning Wheel system, mangled to suit the format of this game. (The Burning Wheelis a good system and I encourage you to check it out.)
Tests may be a contest between two characters or against a static target with tiered results.
The rules being used and followed will be described in each post in which tests are made by die rolls.
Normal mortals count 7s and better as successes.
Heroic characters and characters who are otherwise innately magical count 6s and better as successes.
Demigod characters and characters who otherwise possess some spark of divinity count 5s and better as successes.
New gods and characters who have otherwise stolen the power of Old Gods count 4s and better as successes.
Old Gods count 3s and better as successes.
Sorcery and other magic skills lower the threshold of success by 1 to a minimum of 3 only when they are the skill being tested, not when they provide a bonus to other skills. Players may note that Old Gods' threshold of success does not improve when they use magic.
Bonus dice provided by Kahl's Warhorses and any incendiary devices more complicated than a burning arrow reroll 9s & 10s and keeps successes. These same bonus dice cancels successes on 1s & 2s, rerolls those, and additional 1s & 2s cancel additional successes. More 1s, 2, 9, or 10s mean more rerolling and more successes or cancelations, but only in the manner of the original die. That is, a 1 or 2 that comes up when a 9 on a bonus die is rerolled don't cancel successes or lead to further rerolling.
Research project results are determined by percentile dice with results falling into 5 tiers.
Uh oh: something has gone horribly wrong
Nuh uh: failure, but the boring kind
Huh: partial success
Uh huh: full success
Whoa: superior special case success
When players expect a test to be coming up -- for example if they vote for an invasion or to send a diplomat to manipulate a foreign leader -- they can improve the odds of the test turning out the way they want by providing the QMPC with advice specific to that matter. If the advice is not mistaken or outright bad, there will be at least a chance it will help. That is, decent advice adds dice.
QM composes the QMPC's post-break update, player vote questions, and player vote options.
GOTO 1
The QMPC is intended to be the only character the players will interact with in this game. (It's kind of possible that the players could maneuver the QMPC to surrender control of the Astute Cacophony to another character, but unlikely.)
The QMPC is a small, evil woman who knows magic and has not died, despite looking like she probably should have at some point. She goes by the name Bianca the Undying. Her early life took place in the Paleolithic, in which she has said that she traveled around quite a bit and came to understand the malleable nature of populations of people and animals and even the land itself. At some point she was trapped underground, to her displeasure. She remained trapped for a very long time.
When Bianca got out, she found her way to a community of eight tribes living pastoral and agrarian lifestyles in the local Copper Age. She made these people hers and they relied on her for magically enriching their fields so that they did not need to slash, burn, and move around a bit, unlike their neighbors. Bianca and her followers formalized their relationships into the Eight Ways Pact. Later, another tribe joined Bianca's followers bringing small horses and the Bronze Age and their pact was updated with a ninth directive.
Bianca has an agenda that requires her to have more power than she does right now. She believes that achieving divinity will get her that power.
"Their men young and old I took prisoners. Of some I cut off their feet and hands; of others I cut off the ears noses and lips; of the young men's ears I made a heap; of the old men's heads I made a minaret. I exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city. The male children and the female children I burned in flames; the city I destroyed, and consumed with fire."
(King Asurnasirpal II)
Many Mini Measurement Methods
Let me instruct you on the making of several tools which may be used to quantify the world. Craft each and become familiar with their use, for they will be important in future lessons, and you may find other uses besides.
Simple scale, principle of the lever
System of standard weights
Measuring tape
System of standard lengths
sand / water clock / pendulum calibration
Density
Measuring volume by displacement
Measuring rainfall
Measuring humidity with hair
What are phases
Defining temperature based on freezing / boiling points.
I want to determine how successful Bianca is at making peace between the starving people of Eppam tribe and the warriors marching through their lands that they're expected to feed and beer.
Boil that down to a single test and, out of the skills Bianca mesurebly possesses, it sounds like we're talking about intimidation. Bianca not only has that skill, but she's developed it over the long, long years of her life, so she's better at it than just her force of will would suggest. She also benefits from the degree to which she knows her own people, which is very well. Her roll gets a little help from the investigative efforts of others, but her singers aren't inquisitors so it's only a little. She gets an advantage for being the goddess of the people she's trying to intimidate, as well. And she gets some help from the many, many armed and angry people who are looking to make their own justice.
So Bianca is rolling 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 in d10s, or 10d10. Mortals who are not doing magic or heroically empowered count a die as a success if it's a 7 or better. Bianca is herself magic, so for most things she tests she gets to count 6s and better as successes.
Bianca's target is static and starts with the best force of will of her targets, which is 4. Her target is increased by 1 because these people are starving, so it's 5.
If Bianca is successful everyone will feel that justice has been done and the warriors will receive sufficient food going forward.
If her roll doesn't meet her target, then actions by the warriors as a whole will have an elevated target because they're not well fed and some of them are sick. This won't affect actions taken by warleaders, because nobody is trying to cheat them. Additionally, when Bianca makes social tests that are opposed by Eppam in the next few years she'll have an elevated target because they'll remember this as an injustice.
Code:
Bianca is unsuccessful in her attempt to
make peace between the Eppam tribe and the
warriors traveling through their lands.
The warriors remain hungry.
The people of Eppam Tribe remain cross.
I want to determine how successful the Nine Nations and Bianca are at making spirits of the Forest People break the truce at the the parley and ambushing them before they accomplish much.
Boil that down to a single test and the greatest determining factor is whether Aklot of Eppam stays cool while pissing off the spirits of long dead Forest People, so that's going to be a test of the Red Hammer's nerve. Now, Aklot is old for one of the fisher people (humans); he's seen a lot of shit. And he's been a warrior since his youth and was one of the chosen when he was in his prime; he's spilled blood and seen more spilled. He's also nearly deaf and tends to cope with his disability not by constantly asking others to speak up, but by staring them in the face like they're an idiot until they better make themselves heard; he has practiced unflappablity. So Aklot's nerve is pretty damn good all on it's own. On top of that there's a plan in motion to step in before he gets full-on dead, which means he doesn't have to hold out for as long and that helps. He also knows what he's getting into, sort of, so he's steeled himself as much as one can. A month ago he'd also have a certain trust in Bianca that would assist him as well; however, recent events have made him doubt just enough that Bianca standing some ways behind him doesn't help, but not enough that it actively hurts.
So Aklot is rolling 7 + 1 + 1 in d10s or 9d10. He's fully mortal and not a hero so he'll only count 7s or better.
Aklot will be rolling against the Forest People spirits' ability to intimidate, which is what they're going to try to do as soon as they understand the demands being made. They have the intimidation skill, mechanically, because they're ghosts and that's something ghosts do. But they don't work at it, so the skill is at its minimum level of half their force of will. There's a group of them and they're awfully tall and that helps in combination. They're motherfucking ghosts, and that makes them really scary all on its own and helps a lot.
The spirits of the Forest People are rolling 2 + 1 + 2 in d10s or 5d10. They're spirits which makes them even more magical than Bianca or heroically empowered mortals so they get to count 5s and better for things closely related to their spiritual function, which includes protecting their descendants and is exactly why they're there.
If Aklot is successful he will hold it together long enough for the spirits to break the truce first, justifying Bianca in springing the trap. That will start the battle with the Forest People on the back foot with their would-be leaders among the spirits of their ancestors caught in Bianca's trap.
If Aklot fails he will break and run. He or someone in his entourage will do something that reveals the deception. That will justify the Forest People in starting the battle, which will keep them on even footing. The honor of the Nine Nations and especially Eppam tribe will also be tarnished. Aklot will probably die while fleeing, which will be injurious to the moral of the other warriors of the Nine Nations, especially those from his own tribe.
Code:
Aklot the Red Hammer of Eppam did not keep
his nerve after he angered the spirits of
the Forest People. The battle begins on
even footing. Morale is degraded, but
this does not stack with the hunger
penalty for anyone but the warriors of
Eppam tribe.
The reputation of the Nine Nations will
suffer a bit, but that doesn't make much
difference because no one is using
treaties outside of the Nine Ways Pact.
I want to determine how successful Bianca and the Nine Nations will be at setting the woodlands of the Forest People on fire kind of while and kind of instead of fighting the Forest People.
That's going to boil down to a test of Bianca's sorcery opposed by the Forest People's forestry.
Bianca is a solid sorceress. There are better, but she's been at it for a long, long time and was throwing wind and fire around back before the first plow cut the soil. She's very prepared for this, having spent the winter doing what passes for research where she's concerned. The tarred boar spirits will help. The thirst spirits have already been drying things out and that will help a lot. The smith spirits will be of some help as well, but they can only stoke fires that catch, so they aren't as helpful. And because the plan doesn't call for a huge number of fire arrow charioteers they've picked the ones that aren't hungry or sick, so they'll be assisting, too. The Forest People do not handle chariots well and are unlikely to meaningfully interfere with them, so they'll be extra helpful. Also, the charioteers are close enough to watch for smoke but not close enough to see the Red Hammer's Fall, so they don't get the moral hit for a little while.
So Bianca is rolling 6 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 in d10s, or 12d10. Mortals who are not doing magic or heroically empowered count a die as a success if it's a 7 or better. Bianca is herself magic, so for most things she tests she gets to count 6s and better as successes. In this case, Bianca is working magic, so she will count 5s and better.
Bianca will be rolling against the Forest People's forestry. This is, as it happens, their thing. This is the thing they do better than anyone else. They know trees and tree problems and a forest fire is one of those. They will have managed the undergrowth to make large fires less likely. And once it gets going they'll have a good idea of what to do. They also have the assistance of the spirits of their dead, which is a big help.
So the Forest People are rolling 6 + 1 + 1 + 2 in d10 or 10d10. The Forest People are mortals and while there will be some magic involved, the forestry itself isn't magic or heroically empowered. Consequently, they'll only count successes on 7s or better.
EDIT: whoops, I forgot to detail what success and failure would be like before rolling.
Code:
The woodlands of the Forest People are
ablaze. Even with their morale and hunger
issues, the warriors of the Nine Nations
are going to be in a strong position in
the fighting that comes after the fires
die down.
Bianca has succeeded in building on her
reputation for horrible power and
destruction. For a time, at least, any
who appear before her are much more
likely to cower or be awestruck.
Story will continue afterward
This whole war is idiotic, we need better agricultural tech and more food for any war with reasonable benefits instead of starving our own people. Not that we had much to say about decision of certainly too autonomous and "free" Mr First Chief. And when he had his idiotic idea of war, it was kind of rational to help.
And I almost feel that i need to "invent" Inquisition again.
This whole war is idiotic, we need better agricultural tech and more food for any war with reasonable benefits instead of starving our own people. Not that we had much to say about decision of certainly too autonomous and "free" Mr First Chief. And when he had his idiotic idea of war, it was kind of rational to help.
And I almost feel that i need to "invent" Inquisition again.
Weeel it is mentioned very close to end of last thread that that was setting up a ton of enemies a decade down the road. This is a very different situation, of course, but I do feel specializing Bianca's singers into inquisition could backfire in the long run. It is likely to be noticed by those who dislike Bianca, and will give them ammunition to get those on the fence.
It is mentioned that already, Bianca's singers disappear in the night. Over the decades/centuries, making them spies seems likely to worsen that.
Please name your write ins so I can tell
who is voting for what. For example,
instead of '[x] [Parley] write in' you
should use '[X] [Parley] Bianca ambushes
the ambush' or whatever you feel describes
the alternate plan for which you would
like support.
Thank you.
"It is settled, then: I will dispense justice, I will ambush the ambush, and this war will start with burning great stretches of the forest!"
[X] [Bad Bread] Bianca investigates and brings justice herself
Well, this was insulting to you and to the war effort. Keep in mind to investigate, though, as probably not all bakers are guilty, and these that were just and offered good bread during hard times, deserve gifts, not punishments. Punish these few that you are reasonably sure, with your great experience, that looks truly guilty. It would be nice if they look guilty also to other people.
[X] [Parley] Write In
Send in the Eppam chief, with not quite intent to betray, but with very strong demands about high tribute. Have impressive magic prepared as show of your power if they decide to attack.
[X] [Battle Plans] Pour everything into the woodlands ahead of the warparties
I see no reason to lose more warriors when you can burn your enemies. Though I hope that forest is sufficiently dry this time of the year.
I probably should also answer to a few of your questions.
I understand that you may not know nor have all the crops needed for perfect crop rotation. Use what you have. Perfection rarely exists in the real world, and it would be much better than nothing anyway. And of course my black soil should also help in its own way. Do you have turnips? Good for feeding cattle and sheep in the winter.
And I probably should mention, that it's possible to have system without any fallow year, but only if you have proper crops. Four different crops are grown in each year of a four-year cycle: wheat, turnips, barley, and clover or undergrass.
In regards to pots containing beer, I need to warn both you and the Voice that suggested this, that indeed it's a bad idea. I mean, the basic idea of purification by such means is true, but I believe that more complicated things would be needed, copper pots and pipes perhaps. As sometimes happens, it's not fully untrue, but currently impractical. I would need to consider this matter. And honey is good for mild burns, but I would have some doubts about usual wounds.
In regards to charcoal: "But by what measure should the ways of charring coals be tested?", you asked, and my answer is: mainly how much charcoal is produced, how fast and how cheaply.
"And how is air to be removed from the pot?". You use a closed pot. There will be air, but probably not enough fresh air for fire, and this is good, because charcoal is better than ash, so fire inside of our pot is undesirable.
"And why not simply wrap clay around a bundle of branches, fire it, and then cast it into the rot waste, bones and worked earth, to shatter then?". This sounds like a pretty decent idea, actually. You should test this. Testing ideas in the real world is very, very important.
When I think about this... You could also use pits to create a larger amount of charcoal. A fire is first started in the pit and fuel is added to make a strong fire. More wood is added to fill the pit, the fire continues to burn slowly. Then a layer of leaves need to be placed over the wood fuel and then some earth shoveled on. The pit is left to complete transformation of wood into charcoal and can be opened in two days. Such charcoal is not uniform in quality and there obviously will be ash and some not fully burned nor charred wood perhaps. Water may be useful to prevent fire when the pit is opened.
What is important in charcoal production is heat, but not too much air and not too much fire.
In regards to beer and bread, not all germs are bad for humans, not all want to eat humans. Both beer and bread are perfectly healthy. Well, you can drink too much beer, but these are special cases.
Rotting leaves, eaten by one type of germs, are much less dangerous to humans than rotting human bodies, eaten by another. Children can safely play with dirt, simply wash hands afterward. Avoiding dead human remains is perfectly reasonable, avoiding rotting leaves would be insanity.
"Excessive measures" about washing? Like what, bathing daily? Probably impossible, but if there is time and reasonably clean water for this, there is nothing bad in that.
By the way, anybody mentioned that recently boiled water is the safest to drink? Then I must mention this. But again, lack of water is ten times worse than unboiled water, so people need to be reasonable.
Your bee-obsessed madmen were sometimes partially right. Bees are sometimes tempted to use empty safe structure with a hole as their home. You can even try to use baskets made of straw placed open-end-down with a small hole. Skep hive. And remember, bees like have their home around flowers.
In regards to soap, soap is not deadly to germs, but make washing away germs and dirt easier.
To make soap, boil hardwood ash for some time. Some new substance known as lye water should be created. Skim the liquid lye off the top. When you have enough lye, boil lye. Keep in mind that lye is not yet soap, on the contrary, lye is dangerous, so people should be careful; boiling lye may also form unhealthy air, so do this outdoors not inside of buildings. Something may also go wrong and lye may be too strong or too weak (test: chicken feather is destroyed/dissolved in lye? Strong enough). Heat animal fat. Then add hot, clean grease to the bubbling lye. Continue to boil this and mix these for a while. The best proportions and time should be tested. Finally, stop boiling and heating the mixture if it's thickened enough. Preferably divide soap into smaller pieces instead of having one giant soap, this would be easier if soap is thick but not yet finished and cold. When the said mixture is hardened into solid instead of liquid and no longer hot, you should have your soap. Still, leave said soap for a few days before testing, to be sure that lye transformed into soap properly.
When somebody wants to wash his hands or body, he should rub wet soap on his body or hands, and then use water to wash this away.
Soap may be hard enough to make at first, so maybe people should use soap mainly for washing hands before sewing wounds, and before helping with childbirth, or something like that, and not for washing of the whole body often. I mean, depends how much you may be able to make. Let's be reasonable, practical and not insane.
There is indeed at least a few ways to make cities. In regards to adopting some of the city customs, maybe you could try to start small. Select ten loyal people that can be at least barely decent as warriors, give them good weapons, armor, and horses, call them your "Armed Forces". This is a very small number of men, so for now, use them to make travelers, traders and most importantly your singers more safe in the wilds that lie between villages. Make this their main work, regularly give them food and some gold. Surely you can find at least ten loyal dogs that do not argue, or not too much at least? Especially young people should be pretty interested. Then slowly expand this idea and your "Army", especially if we manage to produce more food and make people grateful.
If you throw a frog into boiling water, said frog will try to run away in pain. But if you slowly increase heat in the pot with your frog happy inside, then you can boil one easily. In the same way, people with too much freedom can be tamed gradually.
And these customs are not always bad for meek and weak people. If warriors also try to impose peace and order instead of only receiving pretty things, then travel is truly safer, there is fewer raids between villages... This depends and can significantly vary between various cities with different customs.
I don't think so, they are simply... irritated... that their land was selected to supply our warriors, because harvest was bad and some of them starve.
While we don't have need for slaves before we manage to improve agricultural production, maybe they could cease raids and offer decently high tribute, and this wouldn't be too bad.
Aaand I'm for bringing evil "justice", I feel partially persuaded, but with investigation at least.
"Yes, yes. I am long aware of the impracticality of punishing too many people who happen to be innocent of the specific, topical slight. I will consider rewards for the generous, but in every place where warriors are given bread and beer it is the entire village that goes hungry, not just the baker and brewer. Loot for the bakers who did not cheat would be… Well, I suppose I can just find out what it would be like. If it's upsetting then perhaps some blood will be spilt, but in time it will be forgotten and only I will know the facts of the matter.
"Aklot of Eppam is no fool. He will know that he is being sent out to anger the spirits of the Forest People's dead. So be it, nonetheless. He can fight as well as any his age can, or he would not be a warleader.
"The gathering of compost for your black soil has begun. It is not clear if the people will long endure the process, as they believe 'compost' deprives their pigs of food. But I will drive where leading is not enough, and in at least some places we will see what comes of it over some many harvests.
"I know of neither turnip nor clover as crops sown. Clover is known, but no farmer grows it as people do not benefit from eating it. Why does your cycle no longer include beans and lentils, Black Cat?
"So you intend for a copper flute to connect two copper pots, one of which is heated to boiling? I think if both are sealed that they will break similarly to the pottery: either the seal or the pot will come apart as though it were struck from within. Copper, at least, is readily available and disfavored in use when bronze may be had. The casting of the flute may be difficult. In fact, I do not immediately see how it may be done. But when I tell the people it is possible and that they should do it, I am confident that something will come up. And the same is true of the varied makings of charcoal. There are portions of your directions that do not immediately make good sense. But when I tell some among the people to produce charred coals for as little wood burnt and that this is done by burning wood with little air then, over time, means will be found.
"In the case of every ritual and observance, there are those who will endeavor to perform them with greater obeisance, greater intensity, and greater frequency. If there are signs of the hands to be made in warding off angry spirits, then some will make those signs only when they have done things that may anger spirits. But others will make signs nearly constantly. Can you not see how knowledge of your invisibly tiny living creatures will affect such? It is unfortunate.
"Oh, good. Woven baskets sound much better than hollowed out logs for keeping bees. There's more to being a shepherd than just building a pen, though.
"To make soap, then, wood ash from firepits or from the charring of coals or wherever is gathered into pots, then water is to be added. How many parts each? The pot is boiled and some other substance should be seen to form on the top and is collected into its own pot. Then that pot is boiled until some manner of feather is destroyed when placed in it. I do not know 'chicken.' Will any fowl do? Following that qualification, melted tallow is added and boiling continues. Is there a sign for the stopping this time? At any rate, the result is poured into clay forms much as tallow is, but perhaps smaller. These soap blocks are allowed to rest for some days. And the eventual result will clean away dirt and germs -- an odd word for something that never grows larger -- and if it is scarce it should be reserved for the washing of hands before handling wounds or midwifery. Is that so?
"Among the people, those who love song and story more than they love themselves know that there is only one way to meet their ambitions: they must leave their family and tribe and seek me out to join my singers. I do turn away some, nonetheless. Not everyone who wishes to sing is worthy. Some do not truly love song and story more than their own selves, but instead hate work and believe singers escape labor, which is very much untrue. But those who become singers receive boons that are not available to others: they learn more songs; they learn to sing better; they learn the making and playing of instruments as do no others; and they travel and enjoy hospitality under my blessing as, again, no others do.
"What exchange is offered for these 'armed forces?' If I am to attract those who love fighting more than they love their own selves, I had better be ready to set them to many, many fights. And, despite what the chosen warriors often believe, even the best warriors are worn away in fighting by wounds and a weariness of character. And if what is promised is only riches, then it is only the promise that they will have more to give away. However, that remains honor, I suppose.
"I am interested in ways to better protect travelers, traders, and my singers, though. Perhaps parties of the chosen could be… I don't know, tasked with walking around the lands between the villages? No. I am unsure how to bring this about.
"I think, perhaps, you do not know frogs. Keeping a live frog in a pot is not possible without a heavy lid. Whether the water is heated or not, the frog will jump out at some near time of its choosing. And throwing a frog in boiling water, whether it lives long enough to jump out or not, is just a wasteful way to kill a frog. Still, it is enough that you know soap and 'germs,' bee baskets and black soil. There is not much lost if you do not understand warriors and frogs, Black Cat."
Greetings once more o Undying one.
And indeed you had the right of it, I am the voice of sheep, strange that I did not mention that prior.
Perhaps disembodiment leads to forgetfulness.
At any rate, let us talk of the matter of the Eppam.
No people upon whose land an army marches are left whole and unscathed.
This is the way of things since time immemorial.
However, to cheat the people is a dishonourable act, to break one's word is twice that and amongst the beakers of the Eppam are those whose honour is twice tarnished.
But amongst the bakers of Eppam are those who, despite the hardship of the season and the scarcity of good grain, provided the nine with whole and hearty bread, even if it meant that they andttheir kin may become ill and hungry.
These men have shown honour twice. They did not break the words as bakers, and they upheld the laws of hospitality in hardship.
Thus I propose this: let the bakers who forsook honour be shamed amongst the nine and their own kin.
Parade them in disgrace and inflict upon their flesh a permanent mark, one that cannot be easily hidden, so that forevermore they will be seen as men of little honour, as thieves and cheats.
And then release them, their kin and tribe of they had shame will never accept them, and so a life of exile will be theirs.
But offer them a choice, should they die in the war or achieve great glory, their honour would be avenged, and their sins forgiven.
If they have shame they would take this offer, for none wants to be remembered by his descendents as a cheat and a liar.
And for those bakers that were good and honest, I say let the singers make songs of them, and hail them as people of great honour and virtue, who would rather starve themselves than let a guest go hungry.
Grant them a favour from your person, or a gift of gold or promise of loot, or even arrange for their children to be wed to good people of high standing.
This would see an example made and a tradition started that strengthens the nine in many ways, and lift your esteem amongst them.
For displays of might, threats of retaliation, and even appeals to tradition, virtue and righteousness can only go so far in the ordering of people.
But where shame and honour hold a measure of sway, then even the most arrogant of evil men will feel the weight disgrace upon their neck and will seek to relieve it.
And so you should spare no effort in ensuring that the nine value honour and abhor disgrace above all, even the will of the gods.
And so if you so chose to meet with the enemy, never break your given word and be first to betray. But if the words of others are broken, then smite them with a power terrible and gruesome.
Now as for the matter of the spirits and magics, I say unleash all upon the forest, strike a blow that will never be forgotten, and have the nine assault those that survive. This will awe both the nine and the forest folks, and should leave the latter in either dissary or exhaustion from countering your works, thus ensuring a favourable battle for the nine.
And on the topic of cities, you are correct that the food and resources that the city consumes is taken by the city from the villages by threat of retaliation and the meekness of the subjects.
The people I told you of who gathered in cities after conquering lands without counting; they did indeed have conflict amongst them.
For no people great and mighty who exult in war can live togather without dispute, but that conflict was resolved by four primary means.
The first was blood gold, whereby the family of one side would pay gold or cattle to the family of the other to stop a fued of vengeance from occurring. And if the payment is taken, then all wrongs are forgiven and the two may live in peace.
The second was by marriage, for of a conflict is in danger of brewing, then the elders and chiefs would arrange a marriage between the notables of the parties involved, and thus no blood may be readily shed amongst them. For it is the blackest shame to slay one's kin.
The third was by poetry, song and feast.
A chief, elder or notable with great wealth and renown may arrange for a great feast, whereby feuding families, clans or the tribes are invited.
As they are guests they may not raise their blades in his hall, and so in the feast he may try to reason them out of the feud, or he will may marry amongst them and beseech them as relatives of his to end their conflict.
But most commonly a great poet or singer would be present, who will grace them with words and songs of such strength, bueaty and artifice, that they will be shamed in the eyes of the tribes for not heeding them.
The last method was the one the first chief would employ.
Whenever a fued got out of hand, he would gather the elders and chieftains of those involved, and offer rights of plunder over the conquered or even for their kin to be wed to his or rise in status as his companions.
If that fails to deterr them, then he would grant them large swaths of lands or establish a new city for them to dwell in, far away where they can cause little trouble, but still be of use.
Rare are the times that a tribe would refuse all these means of settling a dispute, for if they do so, then the first chief would use his considerable resources to ensure they are mauled and savaged by the other tribes until they agree to peace.
And regarding the the Beasts and plants of the people.
It is known that if two beasts of similar properties, say sheep with wool more lustrous and soft than their kin, are bred only with each other, then their progeny will have similar qualities to the parents.
If you where to do that over the course of several generations of sheep, then you will have produced a new breed of sheep, one that offers wool that simply cannot be compared to that of other breeds of sheep.
The same principles apply to size, ferocity, milk production, egg production, speed, and other beside.
If you where to breed the best with only the best and select based on specific properties, you can end up with horses so large they can carry two men on their back with ease.
Cows that make so much milk that you will run out of pots to store it, fowls so fat that one can feed five men or more, and dogs of such strength and ferocity that few would dare risk their ire.
The possibilities are endless with regards to breeding.
The same applies to plants, a stalk of wheat that bears more grains than its kin should be have its seed planted separately.
Thus repeated, you will eventually end with wheat stalks that bear so many grains that they risk breaking the stem.
Or fruits of such size that one is enough to stave off hunger, you can even turn bitter and soul plants into sweet and delectable ones with enough time and dedication.
There are also means by which Bees can be herded like cattle, a fellow voice has elaborated on that, and by which fruit trees can be grown in a few years instead of a decade, and by which two trees can be combined into one.
I will go into details regarding those after the war if you so wish I undying one.
And lastly, regarding poetry and music, first I must ask what instruments the nine use.
And kind of song and poem are most common? What topics do they discuss? how are the singers regarded and treated? And how prevelant is song making outside of your singers?
"As I told the Black Cat, Sheep, rewarding the bakers who gave good bread to warriors is odd when not only those bakers but also all of their family and neighbors deprived by feeding warriors. But some reward does seem proper, still, even if it does not go directly to the baker in every case. Greater loot for the tribes who fed warriors does seem equitable and can be tested out.
"As to shunning, this is not readily done by leading, driving, or ordaining. To be shunned is to be turned away by family, neighbor, and tribe. And so if one who is not of that family or village or tribe calls for shunning of a person, there is resentment and collusion with the ostensibly shunned. It only seems to work when it is a decision made by the tribe with the participation and agreement of the family of the one to be shunned. This is one of the reasons I just kill people who stir trouble: it's reliably effective.
"If the Eppam tribe were to bring justice themselves they might shun the dishonorable bakers. But then again, they might not go far enough to satisfy the ill-fed and sickened warriors and their families. And so there might have been strife.
"Songs of virtue, however, are a fine idea. Honor is not distributed equally and never will be. The bakers who did right can be lifted up. This is doable. Consequently, their own children will be more likely to be sought for marriage by others of greater honor. So that will take care of itself. Otherwise, you have the right of things in matters of honor. One should only break their word when none alive remember it.
"If one family has more cattle or trifles than their neighbors then surely they would already share their fortune for the honor doing so brings. I do not understand blood gold. And I think your conquerors reckoned kinship differently than do the people of the Nine Nations. If one person's child marries with another person's child, those two are not kin. Kinship is not lost when one person's child moves their marriage into another family. And that family does gain kinship with the one whose marriage is brought into it. But the remainder of either family are no more kin to each other than they had been.
"I have used celebrations in this way. Four times in five, I think, the joys of plenty and closeness wash away feuds and ill will. One time in five, however, fighting breaks out early in the event when tensions remain high and unresolved. And then I find it best to let the bloodbath ensue. Afterward, there tend to be fewer people living in need of punishment and, since the mayhem occurs in my presence, none can say to my face that I do not know the right of it. At times entire families must be slain to end a feud, but that is even more rare. The addition of songs exhorting virtue is sure to be helpful. Thank you, Sheep.
"I think it is the way of those that keep animals to spare from castration those bulls, rams, stallions, and boars which present the best combination of properties, with special regard for size. In this way they do not limit the numbers of calves, lambs, foals, and piglets, which again can be culled by early slaughter or, if they are twisted or ill, culled by being cast to the dogs. Once a ewe has grown and is capable of producing lambs, should they truly be kept from the rams for the sake of their coarser fleece? This seems wasteful to me and I think it will also seem wasteful to the shepherds.
"However, if the trouble of separating them is not too much, seeking specific properties in progeney to the exclusion of size merits consideration. If a smaller ram with softer fleece is found, and if it is hale and otherwise worthy, then perhaps it should be kept with ewes of softer fleece so that their lambs might have softer fleece still. The issue, I think, is in the benefit. The benefit of larger sheep is just so great.
"And, yes, before the harvest begins farmers can be sent into the fields to take the heads of those stalks with greater yield to be threshed separately and kept separately so that all those grains go into the next year's planting. Or, I suppose, they need not even be threshed. Stalk and all they may be cast into the plowed field. I would hear more about bees and trees and such, as well.
"All of the people beat drums and play flutes. Only my singers make the finest drums and flutes and only my singers make and play lyres. There are, roughly speaking, two kinds of songs. The first is known to many if not all, and all join in the singing. These the people themselves keep and sing even when my singers are absent. The people will make these songs on their own, too. They tend to be short and concerned with a single topic whether virtue, honor, glory, bawdiness or some other.
"The second kind of song is the exclusive domain of my singers, for none other have the time or means to learn them, much less to make them. These songs are long, some take days. The people do not sing along, but only listen. The song is a story and will cover many topics, but must regularly return to subjects of interest to the listeners, lest their attentions wander. These are songs of great warrior of the chosen, or of myself, or of clever people who trick powers and gods less worthy than myself.
"My singers enjoy my blessing. Anyone who strikes one of my singers is likewise struck by me, and slain at my choosing. They enjoy hospitality as would any traveler, as well.
"It is uncommon, I think, for one of my singers to return to me without having learned some song new to them from the people. Some of these songs are not truly new, but only have not been taught to singers in many winters. There is only so much time to teach songs."
You may call me whatever that you want, but I wish to tell you about the time period that you live in. You are in a period, which one could call the Bronze Age, because of the important role of bronze have, at least in some matters, like toolmaking, but also in greater matters like how people interacted with each other.
As an interesting side note, the previous period was called the Stone Age, since in this period stone dominated as the material used to make tools. The next period is likely going to be the Iron Age, when people figure out how to make that metal. Some of the other voices have already told you something about this metal called iron, so for now I will focus on talking about the metal bronze.
The first thing to notice about bronze is, that it is rare, as you well might know, which is also why that in time will be replaced by iron, since it is easier to find a source of iron than a source for bronze.
As yourself have mention, this rarity results in for example that only a few of your warriors use it to make armor. I am unsure of how big difference there is in quality between bronze armor and the other types of armors that your people use, but it might be enough to encourage a focus on ensuring that the amount of training these bronze equipped warriors rather, than focusing on the number of warriors you can raise.
You may wonder how bronze is made. To this I will say is that you first would need two different things, first the metal copper, which you have already said that your people have. The other thing you would need is a metal called tin. Tin is the rarest of the two metals and copper and tin are rarely found together, but if you want to try to look for it, then it can most commonly be found in what might be best described as dark crystals. The proper mix to make bronze would be around seven times as much copper as tin, so luckily tin is the metal needed in the least amount. If you actually find a source of tin, then I might tell you more about to the proper mixing process of tin and copper to make bronze.
There do exist another way to make another kind of bronze without the use of tin, but the metal needed to replace tin, is dangerous to use, because of its toxic nature. This metal is called arsenic, but because of its toxic nature and the fact that like tin, this metal is also rare, I am not planning to tell more about it.
The fact that copper and especially tin are rare and that they are rarely found at the same place means that to create bronze, there can often end up existing long and big trade routes to overcome this rarity. In fact, you are already part of such a bronze traceroute.
I am unsure of what you think, when I talk about trade routes, so I will just quickly explain them. Trade routes is routes on which trade goods are said to travel on. These trade routes can, as earlier said, become quite long. On these long trade routes, it is rarely the same people taking the goods all the way from one end of a trade route to the next, in fact sometimes trade routes can be seen as a long chain of people trading with each other.
Trade routes comes in existing when there is a area that has something in abounds, while there is another place which has not and are therefor willing to trade a lot for it, or at least enough to make trade worth it.
Where these trade routes end or start or simply where they converge on each, there tend to be cities serving as centers in these trade routes. This is because cities serve as both as producers of valuable goods, but also as consumers of them.
As a side note about cities, then one of the reasons that they do not simply get raided all the time, is that they often are protected by grand walls of either wood or of stone, which can make attacks on them quite difficult.
The reason that you have notice that the Nine Tribes is getting less bronze through trade, might be because of a disruption in the trade network, like a big war or the destruction of an important city. It might also be because whoever is making it, has decided to keep more of it for themselves rather than trading it away. It can also be because there is somewhere, where people are willing to give more valuable trade goods for bronze.
Lastly, it might also simply be because the Nine Tribes are not an important stop on any trade routes, so few people are willing to travel to trade here. If that were changed, then people might show up with more bronze themselves.
If you travel to see cities for yourself, then you may also attempt to gain a better understanding of the current trade routes in your area and try to find out from where tin or bronze is coming from. You may of course also simply look for other interesting things or knowledge to bring back with you from your travel.
[X] [Cacophony] Mortenkam
I decided that I would try to join with a post of my own, where I focus on bronze and on trade. Do say if there is anything that could be made better, though we are close to the end of the voting periode.
"Thank you, voice who speaks of ages, for telling me the secret of bronze. I do not know of tin and would like to know more of the appearance of stones from which it is taken. But for now I will have my singers seek dark crystals from among the people and ask where they come from.
"In songs, the greatest of the chosen warriors may slay two hundred lesser warriors. Under the sky, however, it is rare for any warrior to stand alone against as few as five, slay them all, and live to return to their family. Tell me about training, though. What does it mean to you? Among the people the chosen warriors are entrusted in teaching archery and to stand, to attack, and to use shields to those who would be warriors.
"I would have some voice, any voice, tell me of finding and using arsenic to make bronze. Bronze is, yes, rare. And I will decide for myself if the dangers of making it are too much for the people of the Nine Nations. The withdrawing of copper sickens anyway.
"I will admit I had not thought much on the moving of goods. I suppose I thought they spread out like blood in water. But, in truth, they would be more like boats in water, driven here and there by currents and by their pilots' wills. A trader must learn the currents and where the harbors and fishes are. When I return I will speak of this with Va of Lan, if he lives, or some other far-travelled if he does not.
"Our raiders have met with walled villages. Some are not worth the bother. Others the warriors break open by deception or device. And they say there is more loot in walls than without. So the walls of a city must be much greater and their loot greater still. I think there is a restlessness in me that will not subside until I find and sack a city."
On the subject of beekeeping, which is one of interest to me, though I admit to not being an expert, at best a novice, hopefully I can get you on the right track though.
Firstly you will have to double check whether you are using bumblebees or honeybees. This can be tested simply by letting the bee sting someone, if it is a honeybee the bee will die shortly after, whereas a bumblebee will live to sting another day. There are other important differences but that's the easiest one to describe and test through this medium, as saying ones fat and one slim means nothing if you only have one of them. This is important as honeybees make a large honeycomb while bumblebees do not, as well as some other behavioural differences that mean that honeybees are much better for beekeeping.
It is possible that your land has another variant, which could cause issues, however lets keep going with the knowledge we have for now.
Now, bees are naturally inclined to make hives in areas such as hollow trees, rock crevices and other enclosed spaces, so trying to tempt them towards logs is actually the right path, though they might just decide not to die to their being a better spot for a hive nearby. Early beekeeping is a temperamental business.
However you can make a bee hive, or more accurately create an ideal location for bees to nest in, very simply. While the more complex man made hives and bee boxes are extremely difficult to explain using this format and might not be possible with your current resources, the most simple ones are cyrlinders of clay about 80cm long and 40cm in diameter, a centimetre being very roughly equal to the width of an index fingernail at its widest, and your index finger being the one closest to your thumb, if you were unaware of that term. You then stack these horizontally, as this apparently makes the honey easier to remove and makes it less likely for larvae to be stored with the honey, if my information on basic beekeeping is correct, with the cylinders having a removable lid on one end with which to extract the honey and a hole on the other to allow bees to come and go.
They should then make the honey themselves, but the process of extracting honey may have you concerned due to the risk of the workers getting stung. This can be mitigated by blowing smoke into the hive, which causes the bees to become lethargic and tired, allowing easy extraction of honey.
In addition one should be aware that extraction of too much honeycombs will result in damage to the hive, and as such should be careful with how much honey they take at once, it is how your hive feeds itself after all.
The queen is the most important member of your hive and can be distinguished by her larger size and pointed abdomen. It is she who produces the young, if she dies the hive will no longer function. In addition new hives can be formed by wandering queens, so capturing them may allow for you to establish new hives.
Oh! You should also try and make sure there are plenty of flowers near the hive, bees use the nectar to produce honey.
My apologies for the lack of elaboration, but I am not currently in a state to give too much information on this.
I'm not sure how correct this is, it's a quick search and write up done on my phone just after I woke up, if anyone has better info I can edit it in or they can do a better post
"Thank you, voice who gives no name for themselves, for telling me about smoke and bees. No matter how they are kept, keeping them without getting stung so much will be very helpful. Hives such as you describe will be tried alongside the basket hives suggested already.
"How does one recognize wandering queen bees? How are they captured? If one is placed within a lain-down or basket hive, will she build her kingdom there? And what is this about the spirits of the bees being stored with the honey?
We could fake out both sides in negotiations. Allow whichever of our chieftans could go down a peg to attempt negotiations, while Bianca prepares a last second rescue. This is a good opportunity to remind the mortals that she is to be feared.
[X] cacaphony azerick
Let us not be to hyperbolic in descriptions of breeding. As in all things, there are tradeoffs. If you breed for only the weight of the grain, then you may lose in the quality of the grain. Or in the plants ability to resist drought and pests. The gains in productivity are often greater than the increase in effort, but you must take these factors into account.
Plan [Blood for the Blood (not quite) god] [X] [Bad Bread] Bianca brings justice herself
An army marches on it's stomach. By baking bad bread, the Eppam have personally insulted you, the one who chose to heed their call. Insults cannot go un-punished. [X] [Parley] Write In
Send in the Eppam chief, with not quite intent to betray.
Even were the forest people to surrender unconditionally, we would have little to gain from them. Poor harvests mean we cannot support many slaves, and they make poor slaves besides. Instead, have our chief begin negotiation with clearly unfair demands and threats. Perhaps we will not go through the trouble of killing them all if one in ten willingly submit to be ritually sacrificed. We fully expect that if the negotiator was not already planning betrayal, that this sort of thing will enrage them into attacking.
Be prepared for when this happens. Have your magics held ready. When their negotiator moves to strike, preempt them. Try not to reveal the full plan to the Eppam chief. If he thinks that you have personally saved his life, then all the better. Regardless, I have some specific suggestions for the magics you should use. The most important thing is to at all times play up the idea that you are a god. Try to make your magics seem effortless, your actions larger than life. While fire is a perennial favorite, consider if there is any way you could cause the negotiator to sink up to his waist into the soil. Perhaps you could make the area fall un-naturally silent? Most important I think, is finding a way to amplify your voice, make it sound as though you are many people speaking at once. This seems very possible given what you have said of spirits.
Have some small speech ready. I want to emphasize that all this is more a display for your peoples. This is an opportunity to remind the tribes strongest of your own strength. Again, try to seem effortless, like all the enemies before you are a particularly offensive piece of shit that you have inadvertently stepped in.
[X] [Battle Plans] Reserve spirits and magic, lead the warriors into the woodlands
Reducing losses would be nice, but allowing your warriors to be properly blooded and conserving your magic for when it would be more impressive should be our goals. I do not believe that any have yet asked. Why does Bianca want to be a True God? What does she expect to gain that she does not have now. We know already that gods can be killed, which would seem quite the downside for one who is already Undying.
Also, a big problem people have is that their posts read like a wikipedia quote. You gotta write for you audience. She lacks all that background information. I just know she is gonna be all like "whats oxygen?" "What does this 'bog iron' look like" "whats glass" "why should we bother with all this hard labor when we can just trade for bronze?"
Also why does everyone do their posting right before I go to sleep???
"As I have said, voice which gives no name for themselves, the Red Hammer of Eppam is not a fool. He will understand that I send him out like a bit of flesh on a hook into the sea. Should he live, which I prefer, he might know that I have only saved him from a danger into which I first thrust him. But it is more important that the others know of my power and intercession. And he will not speak against me in this, I think. Some other might, later, but so be it.
"I will have a song and singers ready. This is a clever device and I find I like it very much.
"Regarding my apotheosis, how can one not aspire to godhood? I have the time and the means are somewhere to be found. Why should I not be equal to the gods?"
Code:
B R E A K
"Hah! What a mess!
"It wasn't hard to find the worst of the offenders among the bakers. Everyone was jumping to show me the loaves that smelled wrong, which were said to have sickened warriors. So I traveled to the villages where those loaves had been baked and confronted the bakers in each. With only a bit of work, each confessed to their dishonorable depravity and begged their own families and neighbors for forgiveness bringing dishonor to them as well.
"I suffocated one with dough, but that wasn't as terrifying as I wanted. None of them fit in their ovens, of course. But I executed the remaining by shoving their head and as much as would fit in while it was fired up, nonetheless. I did manage to stuff most of one in by breaking his collarbones first, but it wasn't really worth the trouble. In each case I had their body placed in the midden where I called fire down on it until it was ash.
"Afterward, to my disappointment, when I looked across the faces of the people I did not see as much guilt and shame as I would have liked. And I saw a little more defiance than should have been present, too. I addressed that without killing anyone else, but it was like swatting flies while in melee: a woefully poor use of my attention.
"And Aklot. Poor Aklot. He really did live better than he died, but such is the way of things. I gave him a chance to redeem his tribe from their transgression, and he failed.
"I couldn't hear what they said, but it looked like the spirits of the dead Forest People didn't believe what he'd demanded of them at first. They may have asked for clarification but then one after another they grew to anger, drawing themselves up to greater height and screaming like stormwind. Eppam broke before the spirits had even set foot into the gap, and most of his warriors broke with him.
"Real negotiations are not ended when the shouting first starts. The right thing for Eppam to do would have been to repeat his demands. He should have stood his ground, like he expected them to haggle on the terms. If he'd done so they wouldn't have started in on him just yet and we'd have had time to spring the trap as planned. But instead he ran, and something happened which the spirits took as truce breaking. And then the battle was joined.
"One of the warriors held. I don't think he even know the rest had left him before the spirits tore him to pieces. They tore the others apart as they ran, as well. And Aklot died facing away from his foe, with the mist-like, clawed hand of an enraged spirit tearing through his abdomen from the back and lifting him into the air.
"A shame, in all regards.
"The spirits were not going to cross the field of battle on their own. But after slaughtering the parley they pulled back into the woods with the rest of the Forest People. And I think they meant to wait for us to advance into range of their great bows.
"I began to light the boar spirits as soon as the spirits of the Forest People rose up in anger. And before the last of Eppam's fellows were slain in the midst of the field, the first of the boars was racing toward the woodlands. I had special trouble lighting the fifth, a meaningful delay. But soon enough I'd sent all twelve off.
"The Forest People had drawn back from the edges of their woods, likely to deal with the fire, so the people of the Nine Nations were able to advance with only some small number of arrows loosed into them. I was struck by one, myself, as I came up to their woods to press my own wind and fires into it.
"The more sensible among the warriors of the Nine Nations held back, as is only reasonable, as I strode into the growing smoke and indirect flickering light of the active forest fire. And so for a time I ran about in the woodlands. I set smith spirits on suitable fires here and there. I struck down Forest People where I found them. I drove off their spirits where they came to me. And in their disorder, they could not organize themselves to drive me out.
"I found some of the less sensible warriors of the people in the madness of the burning woodlands. Few were still live and standing. And even those weren't going to make it out in any case. Smoke chokes, confuses, and kills.
"When I returned to the warparties of the people, I did so walking out of a conflagration with my clothing burned or burning, pierced by arrows, and victorious.
"In the days that followed, as the fires burned themselves out, the warriors of the people entered the woodlands in search of loot and glory. They found very little of either.
"We have found the burned out wrecks of the strange shelters the Forest People build in the trees, many of them collapsed to the forest floor. And, of course, the shelters their slaves build for themselves on the ground as well. There were corpses aplenty, there and in the area around each. But the fire also destroyed most of the crafts and goods of the Forest People and those given to them by the spirits of their dead.
"In the years to come, the people of Eppam tribe will finish the spotty and incomplete portions of the burnlands, till the ash into the soil, and begin to farm the lands. But the people of other tribes have little to show for this war.
"Fires wait, also, in stumps and charred woodpiles. Some flare up and restarted fires spring on the unaware. Warriors have died to smoke and flame in areas they thought were burned out.
"There are, as well, vengeful spirits of those newly dead to fire. These are not individually much capable so long as one wise in the ways of spirits is nearby to drive them off. But they have shown up in some numbers and the warriors are inclined to wander off from their elders in search of loot.
"Some, especially the young chief of Zouchaud, claim that we should continue into the unburnt woodlands at speed, find the Forest People that remain, and engage them in battle. I am not opposed to this course. I think some caution of the hazards is important, but I am not well able to restrain the warriors from moving ahead as swiftly as they can.
"The new warleader of Eppam tribe -- another well past her prime, like Aklot was -- says there is little additional glory to be had in killing. She wants the Forest People found, but she wants tribute to be demanded of them, under threat of further burnings. This would, I think, be most effective immediately, while the burn is still fresh and before they've had the chance to prepare against further fires. We can move with caution, but I do not think these same demands are as likely to be agreed to next summer.
"Finally, many in the company of First Chief Haronno say that the Forest People have been chastised and the victorious warriors of the people should return to their homes. The First Chief is notably silent in this matter, but I am sure that is only because he does not wish to take a losing side. His desires are clear by the company he keeps.
"How should the warparties of the Nine Nations proceed from here?"
[ ] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
[ ] [Followup] Cautiously search for the Forest People and demand tribute
[ ] [Followup] What was done is enough and the warriors should return home
[ ] [Followup] Write in
"Already, the warriors bicker over what little loot there is. Normally, those who earned the greatest glory in battle have first pick, then the chosen, then all remaining warriors. And each will know not to take too much for fear of the others. But little glory was gained in a forest fire. Many among the warriors make poor claims at glory which, if better claims abounded, would normally be dismissed. Such is the way of riches, always leading to squabbling people. The eventual solution, of course, is that it be spread thin throughout the tribes and removed from their concern by passing to me in tribute. In the meantime, what should be done with what loot there is?"
[ ] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[ ] [Loot] Divide the loot among the tribes and let the tribes work it out themselves
[ ] [Loot] Divide the loot among families of warriors and let the families work it out themselves
[ ] [Loot] Take all the loot as tribute from the Nine Nations to Bianca
[ ] [Loot] Write in
"Scouts at the edges of the woodlands have seen a warparty of Chaussow tribe on their way to raid the Forest People. They must have seen the smoke, but they did not travel as though they knew the warriors of the Nine Nations were all gathered together here. There is an opportunity here to make battle for those who hunger for it. There would, at least, be trophy weapons and armor and slaves to be taken if not the loot of a place where people live. The Chaussow could also be warned off. What should be done about these interlopers?"
[ ] [Scavengers] Gather the most bloodthirsty warriors and send them to meet the Chaussow
[ ] [Scavengers] Send word to the Chaussow that all the warriors of the Nine Nations are here and they should leave
[ ] [Scavengers] Write in
[X] [Followup] Cautiously search for the Forest People and demand tribute
[X] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[X] [Scavengers] Gather the most bloodthirsty warriors and send them to meet the Chaussow
This is Black Cat, Great Undying One. You asked: "Why does your cycle no longer include beans and lentils"? Because this was a slightly different cycle. But for now you can use cycle with beans and lentils and one fallow year, mentioned earlier. It may be better suited for plants that you know.
Almost all versions of crop rotation are better than no crop rotation...
Though... Let me think, maybe I could supply you with a more general rule, without names of any particular plant... I know. Legumes like clover, then root crops, then fruit crops, and then leaf crops.
You said: "I think if both are sealed that they will break similarly to the pottery", and you are right. There would need to be a small hole in the second one.
The thing is, alcohol, the substance that gives beer many of it's properties, transforms into steam in lower temperature than water. Thus at first alcohol boils, water boils only later. If some of said alcohol manage to transform back into liquid in the second pot instead of escaping, you should have stronger alcohol than normal beer in the second pot, and mostly water in the first. Ideally the first pot should be hot, but the second one cold. While germs create beer, strong alcohol is poison for most of germs. Not to mention that it's something that probably could be traded away as a weirdly strong drink, new trade good as long as recipe would be known only to a few of your people.
I'm glad about your work with compost, and it would be nice to add proper charcoal to that. My wisdom is not always complete, but 1/10 of charcoal and 9/10 of compost mixed with soil should be enough.
Some people can be insane, this is indeed unfortunate, but worth it in the case of washing and germs. Reduction in deaths should be well worth it. You can also call germs "microbes" if you prefer.
Your summary about the making of soap is mostly right. It would be best to test various types of ash and proportions. Lye water often looks almost like normal water, it's why it can be sometimes hard to be sure whether there is proper lye yet. This is why I suggested testing with feather, any sort of feather really, feathers are not needed at all for soap but it's nice to know whether you have a proper lye or not. When you boil lye with fat, remember to mix these until said mixture is rather thick. "Eventual result will clean away dirt and germs" when wet and together with water, not when dry and alone, but this is mostly right.
Plant oils could be used for soap instead of animal fat, but in practice I'm not sure that you have any source of plentiful plant oil. For example hemp oil, obtained by pressing hemp seeds if you know how to do that, should be probably tested for soapmaking.
I heard a small whisper from a fellow Voice that "for sewing up injuries, long hair is quite good, and it can be boiled without breaking down".
"And if what is promised is only riches, then it is only the promise that they will have more to give away". This custom is troublesome in some cases. I understand that fewer people steal or murder because of equality, but there is also much less motivation to do useful things. Wealth would be often better for motivating useful behavior than honor. There are many great uses of honor, but honor alone is very limiting.
Your Armed Forces could at first also guard roads and roadbuilding. A road is a piece of land which connects two or more places. Usually, a road has been made easy to travel on, easier than usual land, for example by removing trees and other things. Thus traders like to use roads in their travels. Carts, horses, and people could travel faster if people could build roads between villages and other important places. Gravel (very small stones) can be used for road surfaces, but common dirt is often better than nothing. As always, you can give people pretty things, like some small amount of gold, in exchange for building roads in places where you want these. 16–26 average human feet in road width should be enough. Bridges, structures of wood or stone, could be raised over streams and perhaps sometimes over smaller rivers.
You can create also small fortresses with watchtowers to even better guard the most dangerous parts of roads, bridges, or maybe places where two roads meet outside of a village. Watchtower is a tall structure built to create an elevated observation point so that you can watch nearby land; hills are the best for building watchtowers. Fortress is a strong building that would be hard to attack.
A flag is a piece of colored cloth with a special design that is put on a pole (tall stick) as a symbol. For example, a flag with color that you like visible over the watchtower of your fortresses would remind people that these places belong to you and your Armed Forces. I suggest a black flag with a red simplified eye painted on, to suggest to people that you watch over their lives, but this is your decision obviously, use whatever you like the most.
My story about a frog was indeed not too wise perhaps, but it was not designed to be literal. I'm not very interested in true, literal frogs. I wanted to say that you can slowly assume more power over warriors if you create and very slowly expand Armed Forces, composed of these loyal to you and believing in you. And while inequality of wealth cause some problems, benefits can be great.
It's also very important to have your Armed Forces under your direct authority, like your singers, and not under power of the First Chief. There is enough power under him, and not enough under you.
About the new metal, much more common than copper and tin but harder to make, about iron: do you or your people know about metallic ore that is, for now, impossible to melt? From swamps and streams, perhaps? You can melt that with charcoal and more fresh air.
There is also another matter, that may even kill some of your people during winter: your people probably use simple holes to remove smoke from inside, and this is a very bad solution. There is a much better one.
A chimney is a vertical (going up) channel or pipe, not a very wide one but instead tall, which removes highly unhealthy smoke from a cooking fire, heating fire or furnace, typically through the roof of a building. Part of such a structure rises above a roof. Unhealthy air rise through a chimney and is thus removed outside of the building. Taller chimneys are better. You can also use vertical channels to remove unhealthy air and provide fresh air underground, for example to mines - this is called ventilation. Chimneys are much better than a simple hole in the roof, or in the walls; for complicated reasons chimneys and other tall but not too wide ventilation tunnels create a weak force of wind, movement of air. A fireplace is a stone or brick structure used to hold fire. Fireplaces are most often used for heating but they can also be used for cooking. A fireplace should be connected to the chimney. Not only smoke would be removed much better, but also fire should be stronger. In general, the chimney channel can be 1/10th to 1/12th as large as the opening of the fireplace.
New construction material: concrete. You need cement for that. Cement is made from quicklime (heated limestone) and clay. Preferably burn ground-up limestone and clay together. Concrete is made out of cement, sand, very small rocks and water in varying proportions depending on the desired properties of finished concrete, testing as always should be useful. Fresh concrete can be poured like a dense liquid, but after a few days, concrete hardens into a rock. Use of saltwater and addition of ash may result in a much more durable concrete.
Better use of horses: a proper horse collar is oval rather than circular and it is by design not very flexible. It is a padded leather appliance that conforms well to the shape of the horse's body. It is constructed so that at all points of contact with the body of the horse it avoids the air passage. By protecting the airway of the horse it's possible for the animal to use its full force to pull a load, cart, chariot, or something else. Throat-girth harness is much less efficient than a proper horse collar because the harder a horse pulls, the more strongly it chokes off it's own breathing.
Another matter... Mysteries of the human body explained.
Blood is used by the body to transport many complicated things to all parts of the body, things needed to live and to defend against germs. These things are provided to the blood by breathing, eating and drinking water. Heart allows said blood to move. A human mind is in the brain, but without blood, the brain dies very fast, you cease to see and move almost instantly at least without magic, and thus person dies.
Thanks to lungs healthy air is useful for the blood, thanks to stomach and guts food is useful for the blood, and then liver and kidneys try to remove bad things and poisons from the blood - if liver is not in good shape, or poison is too bad, person can die even without germ disease. These mysteries are very simplified here, about details you could talk for days.
Healthy kidneys filter about a half cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder.
Arteries and veins are parts of the same circulatory system for the blood. Arteries may look empty after death because blood then goes mainly to veins, but if you cut artery of the living person, there will be a great deal of blood.
When I said "thanks to lungs healthy air is useful for the blood" this means that part of air known as oxygen is transported from air to blood in the lungs.
Veins are blood vessels that carry blood toward the heart, arteries are blood vessels that take blood away from the heart to all parts of the body. Most arteries carry oxygenated blood, most veins carry deoxygenated blood. Oxygenated blood is bright red, deoxygenated blood is darker, almost blackish-red.
Oxygen is also used to sustain fires, not only by living things. Without proper air, there is no fire.
Open sometimes bodies of your enemies, to learn more and test ideas.
The truth about non-magical and non-divine part of reality: the atomic theory.
1. All matter is formed of atoms. By "matter" I mean all non-magical, non-divine and not-spiritual things, from air to rocks.
2. Atoms are the smallest components of matter. This is not fully true, but it's decent enough simplification and true enough for most practical considerations.
3. Atoms of the same element, copper for example, or oxygen, are of the same type and mass.
4. Atoms that make chemical compounds are present in set proportions.
5. Chemical changes correspond to a reorganization of the atoms taking part in the chemical reaction. For example, in simpler words: "wood on fire" is rapid "chemical reaction" where atoms of oxygen, present in the air, combine with atoms of carbon, present in the wood, combining into carbon dioxide (chemical compound, also part of the air).
And the same is true of the varied makings of charcoal. There are portions of your directions that do not immediately make good sense. But when I tell some among the people to produce charred coals for as little wood burnt and that this is done by burning wood with little air then, over time, means will be found.
Great Undying One, allow me to briefly explain the inner workings of fire, as I believe it will be helpful to you. You should already know that fires burn out given a lack of fuel to consume. However, what you might not know is that fires must also consume air to burn, much like fuel, much like all living things require air to breathe. Fire is not truly living, but in this case the analogy works well enough for our purposes; fires inhale air and exhale smoke. Hence, if you use a closed pot which does not allow air to enter, any fires that sprout inside the pot will quickly starve and suffocate, and the wood will char but not burn, thus giving you charcoal. Alternatively, you can cover the wood you wish to turn into charcoal completely in soil and straw so that air cannot reach it. You should be able to easily test this for yourself.
The same principle may be reversed to produce fires of great heat and intensity, by supplying them with great quantities of air; think of how a man who exerts themselves in physical activity must breathe much more heavily for a time; the principle is similar. The basic idea is to set a fire in an enclosed structure of stone, brick, or iron to corral it, and use a pump to help deliver air into the structure. In this way, you will produce hotter fires than would otherwise be possible, particularly if you use charcoal as fuel for the fire, rather than unburnt wood. This is important to iron making, as very hot temperatures are required for the making of iron.
I think, my fellow Voices that whisper to me sometimes, that on the one hand we need to end this stupid war and improve food production and other production of the tribes; and on the other hand some fun for bloodthirsty warriors is needed, thus active defense against Chaussow.
Adhoc vote count started by liberty90 on Mar 14, 2019 at 5:04 PM, finished with 55 posts and 9 votes.
many voices tried to explain that sometimes moderate greed is good! traders would be more motivated to travel and trade if they could retain more things and not share equally. there would be inequality but production of food and trade and many other stuff could increase MUCH FASTER! reward with wealth are to many better than honor even when nobody wants to admit that because of customs. so you should have more metal for warriors and stuff even though more people would try to steal and some would have more than others
[X] [Cacophony] devilgirl666
[X] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
[X] [Loot] Divide the loot among families of warriors and let the families work it out themselves
[X] [Scavengers] Send word to the Chaussow that all the warriors of the Nine Nations are here and they should leave
Could I again remind everyone that we need to also vote for options, not -only- talk about social reforms and tech? So, as I said, vote for peace with some needed violence added.
Adhoc vote count started by liberty90 on Mar 14, 2019 at 9:39 PM, finished with 8 posts and 3 votes.
[X] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
Could I again remind everyone that we need to also vote for options, not -only- talk about social reforms and tech? So, as I said, vote for peace with some needed violence added.
[X] [Followup] Cautiously search for the Forest People and demand tribute
[X] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[X] [Scavengers] Gather the most bloodthirsty warriors and send them to meet the Chaussow
[X] [Cacophony] liberty90
going to edit this later. in the meantime @liberty90 just going to mention that people recently rediscovered that using saltwater when mixing concrete in addition to ash results in "the most durable material in human history" that grows stronger over time and is resistant to saltwater thus allowing for underwater construction. apparently the Romans thought that which kind of water to use was so obvious no one bothered to write it down, the same way modern recipes don't specify chicken eggs instead of snake or fish eggs
I was also tempted to include proper Roman roads, but no, not enough resources I think. She may, just "may" be able to afford a few dirt roads "guarded" by "fortresses" that may look like stone homes with watchtower added. This sounds plausible for now.
I greet you, Undying One, and thank you for your listening ear!
When it comes to arsenic bronze, then first worth saying that, there is likely already a very small amount of what is called arsenic in your copper, smaller than a hundred part of it.
There is also other types of stones, ores and crystals that have a higher concentration of Arsenic, than copper. I am unsure if I can exactly describe how they look like, though I know that one of these looks likes red crystal.
Then the point of making arsenic bronze, would be to get a decent mix of copper and arsenic, but I am not much of a smith, so I do not think that I can explain that properly. Sorry about the lack of aid on the subject.
When I talked about a focus on training, then I meant to make sure, that these warriors dedicated their life to the art of warfare, not getting distracted by such things as farming or other types of work.
When it comes to what I see training of warriors being, then I see it as something done on two different levels, the first level is as individuals and the second level is as a group.
At the individual level one part of training is about mastering one's own body by attempting to increase its strength, endurance and agility. The second part of training is getting skilled in the use of the equipment and weaponry that belongs to that warrior to such a level that some may say that it becomes a part of their body.
At the group level training is about ensuring that warriors are used to fighting as a part of a group, that they can maintain a combat formation and organize many different groups of warriors to act as one at the same time.
Something that lies between these two levels is leadership, since it is both something at an individual level about having the intellect and understanding required to choose the correct tactic or strategy against the enemy, while being something that must be practiced at group level.
When we talk about the training of warriors, then I wonder how does the Nine Nations do war?
I know that they make use of chariots, bows, shields, axes, spears, knives and armor made of either bronze or hides, leather and wood, but how are these things used in battle? Are there weapons that the Nine Nations use, that I have not mentioned? Does the Nine Nations simply charge their enemies or how does they do battle as groups?
I will tell you some of my thoughts about the art of war and the different tactics, though some of this you might already do or have heard, or it might simply not fit the Nine Nations.
The first point worth mentioning is that one can categorize warriors out from their equipment, like archers or charioteers. This point is of course rather obvious, but it serves as the basic of a lot of strategies and tactics.
I assume, that one can categorize the current warriors of the Nine Nations in the following four categories, charioteers, who fight on a chariot, heavy infantry, who are heavily armed and armored, light infantry, who is not, and archers, who fights with bow and arrow.
There is likely some problems with these categories, since it might be that most warriors currently all can fight with a bow and arrow, so most warriors can shift between fighting as archers and as infantry. The difference between what is called heavy infantry and light infantry will likely change, but right now I would put the divide between those wearing bronze armor and those who does not.
A new type of warriors, that one day will start existing is what is called cavalry. Cavalry is when warriors fight mounted on an animal. An animal which might one day be used in such way is the horse. It might still be too small to carry a full-grown warrior, but as you told us, you have seen horses grown from small being into the size they have today, big enough to pull chariots. One day they will become large enough to ride, perhaps a small and light person could do so already, but I do not know the size of your horses.
I am, as I said before, unsure how the Nine Nations do battle and what kind of combat formations they use, but I will explain a rather simple one for you, that of the shield wall. The combat formation of a shield wall can be done in quite a few different ways and depends a lot on the quality and size of the shields, that your warriors use, but is it simply that your warriors make a wall of shields on the battlefield by standing in line with their shields. I am unsure of the size of the shields your warriors use, but I guess that they are not that big, so a version that might do is to have the first line of warriors go down on their knees and keep their shields at the ground, then a second line of warriors would put their shields above the first line's shield. Lastly, a third line of warriors would put their shields at the top of this shield wall, and that would likely construct a wall of shields high enough to protect your warriors. There would likely still be small holes in such a wall, but this is where you own warriors is meant to stab anyone getting close.
Such a shield wall, as I have described is defensive in nature and is not that useful, when you are on the offensive, but it can be moved in formation, it protects to a degree against arrows and ensures that your warriors fight in formation. There exist more moveable versions of a shield wall, but that would likely require shield of a larger size.
You seem to have gotten a decent understanding of city walls, though it might be worth mention how difficult attacking walled cities can be. Stonewalled cities tend to be such a difficult target, that most times the warleader of a hostile army would have to put the city under siege for a period time first, where he will attempt to blockade any access to the city. Then there is two ways a warleader might go from here, either he will attempt to starve the city into surrender, or he might spend the time preparing the right equipment needed to assault such a stonewalled city.
Such siege equipment can consist of different things with the simple things being wooden ladders used to climb the walls or a battering ram, which is in its basic form a wooden log given handles, that then is used to batter down the gates, there is in the wall. A more complex example of siege equipment would be what is called a siege tower. A siege tower is basically a wooden building on wheels high enough to reach up to the walls.
There is two another points worth mentioning is, first, that trying to starve a city into surrender can take a lot of time and can in fact turn into of a question of whom runs out of food first. The war against the Forest Folk showed a good example of hard it can be to feed an army. The second point worth mentioning is quite logical and is that one ought to offer better terms to a city, than what would happen to it, if one took it with force.
[X] [Cacophony] Mortenkam
[X] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
[X] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[X] [Scavengers] Send word to the Chaussow that all the warriors of the Nine Nations are here and they should leave
I am open, if anybody have any suggestions about what I have written.
About my vote, I was a bit unsure, but I felt that it will best to finish off the forest folk, now when we got them on the back foot.
...I can hear whispers that were said or may be soon said louder... I shall sometimes answer also to my fellow Voices...
So... Suggestions about combat formations are pretty great, one of my fellow Voices, you can try to explain these certainly, but remember that her warriors are still men of the tribes, all of them, there is not ANY proper Army yet. Obviously they fight individually for individual glory and loot, not as formation that obeys warleader because of gifts of wealth from the Army or oaths to the Army.
I assure you that our main problem lies nowhere near human rights issues, regardless of fried bakers. Our main issues are much worse and culturally deeper than any individual evil of our main char. This is bronze age tribal culture and nowhere near "noble savage" cliche.
6.a. Closing the vote for Falter, Flee, and Firestorm
[X] [Followup] Cautiously search for the Forest People and demand tribute
[X] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[X] [Scavengers] Gather the most bloodthirsty warriors and send them to meet the Chaussow
This is Black Cat, Great Undying One. You asked: "Why does your cycle no longer include beans and lentils"? Because this was a slightly different cycle. But for now you can use cycle with beans and lentils and one fallow year, mentioned earlier. It may be better suited for plants that you know.
Almost all versions of crop rotation are better than no crop rotation...
Though... Let me think, maybe I could supply you with a more general rule, without names of any particular plant... I know. Legumes like clover, then root crops, then fruit crops, and then leaf crops.
You said: "I think if both are sealed that they will break similarly to the pottery", and you are right. There would need to be a small hole in the second one.
The thing is, alcohol, the substance that gives beer many of it's properties, transforms into steam in lower temperature than water. Thus at first alcohol boils, water boils only later. If some of said alcohol manage to transform back into liquid in the second pot instead of escaping, you should have stronger alcohol than normal beer in the second pot, and mostly water in the first. Ideally the first pot should be hot, but the second one cold. While germs create beer, strong alcohol is poison for most of germs. Not to mention that it's something that probably could be traded away as a weirdly strong drink, new trade good as long as recipe would be known only to a few of your people.
I'm glad about your work with compost, and it would be nice to add proper charcoal to that. My wisdom is not always complete, but 1/10 of charcoal and 9/10 of compost mixed with soil should be enough.
Some people can be insane, this is indeed unfortunate, but worth it in the case of washing and germs. Reduction in deaths should be well worth it. You can also call germs "microbes" if you prefer.
Your summary about the making of soap is mostly right. It would be best to test various types of ash and proportions. Lye water often looks almost like normal water, it's why it can be sometimes hard to be sure whether there is proper lye yet. This is why I suggested testing with feather, any sort of feather really, feathers are not needed at all for soap but it's nice to know whether you have a proper lye or not. When you boil lye with fat, remember to mix these until said mixture is rather thick. "Eventual result will clean away dirt and germs" when wet and together with water, not when dry and alone, but this is mostly right.
Plant oils could be used for soap instead of animal fat, but in practice I'm not sure that you have any source of plentiful plant oil. For example hemp oil, obtained by pressing hemp seeds if you know how to do that, should be probably tested for soapmaking.
I heard a small whisper from a fellow Voice that "for sewing up injuries, long hair is quite good, and it can be boiled without breaking down".
"And if what is promised is only riches, then it is only the promise that they will have more to give away". This custom is troublesome in some cases. I understand that fewer people steal or murder because of equality, but there is also much less motivation to do useful things. Wealth would be often better for motivating useful behavior than honor. There are many great uses of honor, but honor alone is very limiting.
Your Armed Forces could at first also guard roads and roadbuilding. A road is a piece of land which connects two or more places. Usually, a road has been made easy to travel on, easier than usual land, for example by removing trees and other things. Thus traders like to use roads in their travels. Carts, horses, and people could travel faster if people could build roads between villages and other important places. Gravel (very small stones) can be used for road surfaces, but common dirt is often better than nothing. As always, you can give people pretty things, like some small amount of gold, in exchange for building roads in places where you want these. 16–26 average human feet in road width should be enough. Bridges, structures of wood or stone, could be raised over streams and perhaps sometimes over smaller rivers.
You can create also small fortresses with watchtowers to even better guard the most dangerous parts of roads, bridges, or maybe places where two roads meet outside of a village. Watchtower is a tall structure built to create an elevated observation point so that you can watch nearby land; hills are the best for building watchtowers. Fortress is a strong building that would be hard to attack.
A flag is a piece of colored cloth with a special design that is put on a pole (tall stick) as a symbol. For example, a flag with color that you like visible over the watchtower of your fortresses would remind people that these places belong to you and your Armed Forces. I suggest a black flag with a red simplified eye painted on, to suggest to people that you watch over their lives, but this is your decision obviously, use whatever you like the most.
My story about a frog was indeed not too wise perhaps, but it was not designed to be literal. I'm not very interested in true, literal frogs. I wanted to say that you can slowly assume more power over warriors if you create and very slowly expand Armed Forces, composed of these loyal to you and believing in you. And while inequality of wealth cause some problems, benefits can be great.
It's also very important to have your Armed Forces under your direct authority, like your singers, and not under power of the First Chief. There is enough power under him, and not enough under you.
About the new metal, much more common than copper and tin but harder to make, about iron: do you or your people know about metallic ore that is, for now, impossible to melt? From swamps and streams, perhaps? You can melt that with charcoal and more fresh air.
There is also another matter, that may even kill some of your people during winter: your people probably use simple holes to remove smoke from inside, and this is a very bad solution. There is a much better one.
A chimney is a vertical (going up) channel or pipe, not a very wide one but instead tall, which removes highly unhealthy smoke from a cooking fire, heating fire or furnace, typically through the roof of a building. Part of such a structure rises above a roof. Unhealthy air rise through a chimney and is thus removed outside of the building. Taller chimneys are better. You can also use vertical channels to remove unhealthy air and provide fresh air underground, for example to mines - this is called ventilation. Chimneys are much better than a simple hole in the roof, or in the walls; for complicated reasons chimneys and other tall but not too wide ventilation tunnels create a weak force of wind, movement of air. A fireplace is a stone or brick structure used to hold fire. Fireplaces are most often used for heating but they can also be used for cooking. A fireplace should be connected to the chimney. Not only smoke would be removed much better, but also fire should be stronger. In general, the chimney channel can be 1/10th to 1/12th as large as the opening of the fireplace.
New construction material: concrete. You need cement for that. Cement is made from quicklime (heated limestone) and clay. Preferably burn ground-up limestone and clay together. Concrete is made out of cement, sand, very small rocks and water in varying proportions depending on the desired properties of finished concrete, testing as always should be useful. Fresh concrete can be poured like a dense liquid, but after a few days, concrete hardens into a rock. Use of saltwater and addition of ash may result in a much more durable concrete.
Better use of horses: a proper horse collar is oval rather than circular and it is by design not very flexible. It is a padded leather appliance that conforms well to the shape of the horse's body. It is constructed so that at all points of contact with the body of the horse it avoids the air passage. By protecting the airway of the horse it's possible for the animal to use its full force to pull a load, cart, chariot, or something else. Throat-girth harness is much less efficient than a proper horse collar because the harder a horse pulls, the more strongly it chokes off it's own breathing.
Another matter... Mysteries of the human body explained.
Blood is used by the body to transport many complicated things to all parts of the body, things needed to live and to defend against germs. These things are provided to the blood by breathing, eating and drinking water. Heart allows said blood to move. A human mind is in the brain, but without blood, the brain dies very fast, you cease to see and move almost instantly at least without magic, and thus person dies.
Thanks to lungs healthy air is useful for the blood, thanks to stomach and guts food is useful for the blood, and then liver and kidneys try to remove bad things and poisons from the blood - if liver is not in good shape, or poison is too bad, person can die even without germ disease. These mysteries are very simplified here, about details you could talk for days.
Healthy kidneys filter about a half cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder.
Arteries and veins are parts of the same circulatory system for the blood. Arteries may look empty after death because blood then goes mainly to veins, but if you cut artery of the living person, there will be a great deal of blood.
When I said "thanks to lungs healthy air is useful for the blood" this means that part of air known as oxygen is transported from air to blood in the lungs.
Veins are blood vessels that carry blood toward the heart, arteries are blood vessels that take blood away from the heart to all parts of the body. Most arteries carry oxygenated blood, most veins carry deoxygenated blood. Oxygenated blood is bright red, deoxygenated blood is darker, almost blackish-red.
Oxygen is also used to sustain fires, not only by living things. Without proper air, there is no fire.
Open sometimes bodies of your enemies, to learn more and test ideas.
The truth about non-magical and non-divine part of reality: the atomic theory.
1. All matter is formed of atoms. By "matter" I mean all non-magical, non-divine and not-spiritual things, from air to rocks.
2. Atoms are the smallest components of matter. This is not fully true, but it's decent enough simplification and true enough for most practical considerations.
3. Atoms of the same element, copper for example, or oxygen, are of the same type and mass.
4. Atoms that make chemical compounds are present in set proportions.
5. Chemical changes correspond to a reorganization of the atoms taking part in the chemical reaction. For example, in simpler words: "wood on fire" is rapid "chemical reaction" where atoms of oxygen, present in the air, combine with atoms of carbon, present in the wood, combining into carbon dioxide (chemical compound, also part of the air).
I think, my fellow Voices that whisper to me sometimes, that on the one hand we need to end this stupid war and improve food production and other production of the tribes; and on the other hand some fun for bloodthirsty warriors is needed, thus active defense against Chaussow.
I greet you, Undying One, and thank you for your listening ear!
When it comes to arsenic bronze, then first worth saying that, there is likely already a very small amount of what is called arsenic in your copper, smaller than a hundred part of it.
There is also other types of stones, ores and crystals that have a higher concentration of Arsenic, than copper. I am unsure if I can exactly describe how they look like, though I know that one of these looks likes red crystal.
Then the point of making arsenic bronze, would be to get a decent mix of copper and arsenic, but I am not much of a smith, so I do not think that I can explain that properly. Sorry about the lack of aid on the subject.
When I talked about a focus on training, then I meant to make sure, that these warriors dedicated their life to the art of warfare, not getting distracted by such things as farming or other types of work.
When it comes to what I see training of warriors being, then I see it as something done on two different levels, the first level is as individuals and the second level is as a group.
At the individual level one part of training is about mastering one's own body by attempting to increase its strength, endurance and agility. The second part of training is getting skilled in the use of the equipment and weaponry that belongs to that warrior to such a level that some may say that it becomes a part of their body.
At the group level training is about ensuring that warriors are used to fighting as a part of a group, that they can maintain a combat formation and organize many different groups of warriors to act as one at the same time.
Something that lies between these two levels is leadership, since it is both something at an individual level about having the intellect and understanding required to choose the correct tactic or strategy against the enemy, while being something that must be practiced at group level.
When we talk about the training of warriors, then I wonder how does the Nine Nations do war?
I know that they make use of chariots, bows, shields, axes, spears, knives and armor made of either bronze or hides, leather and wood, but how are these things used in battle? Are there weapons that the Nine Nations use, that I have not mentioned? Does the Nine Nations simply charge their enemies or how does they do battle as groups?
I will tell you some of my thoughts about the art of war and the different tactics, though some of this you might already do or have heard, or it might simply not fit the Nine Nations.
The first point worth mentioning is that one can categorize warriors out from their equipment, like archers or charioteers. This point is of course rather obvious, but it serves as the basic of a lot of strategies and tactics.
I assume, that one can categorize the current warriors of the Nine Nations in the following four categories, charioteers, who fight on a chariot, heavy infantry, who are heavily armed and armored, light infantry, who is not, and archers, who fights with bow and arrow.
There is likely some problems with these categories, since it might be that most warriors currently all can fight with a bow and arrow, so most warriors can shift between fighting as archers and as infantry. The difference between what is called heavy infantry and light infantry will likely change, but right now I would put the divide between those wearing bronze armor and those who does not.
A new type of warriors, that one day will start existing is what is called cavalry. Cavalry is when warriors fight mounted on an animal. An animal which might one day be used in such way is the horse. It might still be too small to carry a full-grown warrior, but as you told us, you have seen horses grown from small being into the size they have today, big enough to pull chariots. One day they will become large enough to ride, perhaps a small and light person could do so already, but I do not know the size of your horses.
I am, as I said before, unsure how the Nine Nations do battle and what kind of combat formations they use, but I will explain a rather simple one for you, that of the shield wall. The combat formation of a shield wall can be done in quite a few different ways and depends a lot on the quality and size of the shields, that your warriors use, but is it simply that your warriors make a wall of shields on the battlefield by standing in line with their shields. I am unsure of the size of the shields your warriors use, but I guess that they are not that big, so a version that might do is to have the first line of warriors go down on their knees and keep their shields at the ground, then a second line of warriors would put their shields above the first line's shield. Lastly, a third line of warriors would put their shields at the top of this shield wall, and that would likely construct a wall of shields high enough to protect your warriors. There would likely still be small holes in such a wall, but this is where you own warriors is meant to stab anyone getting close.
Such a shield wall, as I have described is defensive in nature and is not that useful, when you are on the offensive, but it can be moved in formation, it protects to a degree against arrows and ensures that your warriors fight in formation. There exist more moveable versions of a shield wall, but that would likely require shield of a larger size.
You seem to have gotten a decent understanding of city walls, though it might be worth mention how difficult attacking walled cities can be. Stonewalled cities tend to be such a difficult target, that most times the warleader of a hostile army would have to put the city under siege for a period time first, where he will attempt to blockade any access to the city. Then there is two ways a warleader might go from here, either he will attempt to starve the city into surrender, or he might spend the time preparing the right equipment needed to assault such a stonewalled city.
Such siege equipment can consist of different things with the simple things being wooden ladders used to climb the walls or a battering ram, which is in its basic form a wooden log given handles, that then is used to batter down the gates, there is in the wall. A more complex example of siege equipment would be what is called a siege tower. A siege tower is basically a wooden building on wheels high enough to reach up to the walls.
There is two another points worth mentioning is, first, that trying to starve a city into surrender can take a lot of time and can in fact turn into of a question of whom runs out of food first. The war against the Forest Folk showed a good example of hard it can be to feed an army. The second point worth mentioning is quite logical and is that one ought to offer better terms to a city, than what would happen to it, if one took it with force.
[X] [Cacophony] Mortenkam
[X] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
[X] [Loot] Let the chosen take what is there
[X] [Scavengers] Send word to the Chaussow that all the warriors of the Nine Nations are here and they should leave
I am open, if anybody have any suggestions about what I have written.
About my vote, I was a bit unsure, but I felt that it will best to finish off the forest folk, now when we got them on the back foot.
many voices tried to explain that sometimes moderate greed is good! traders would be more motivated to travel and trade if they could retain more things and not share equally. there would be inequality but production of food and trade and many other stuff could increase MUCH FASTER! reward with wealth are to many better than honor even when nobody wants to admit that because of customs. so you should have more metal for warriors and stuff even though more people would try to steal and some would have more than others
[X] [Cacophony] devilgirl666
[X] [Followup] Swiftly reach the places where unburned Forest People are and attack them
[X] [Loot] Divide the loot among families of warriors and let the families work it out themselves
[X] [Scavengers] Send word to the Chaussow that all the warriors of the Nine Nations are here and they should leave
Great Undying One, allow me to briefly explain the inner workings of fire, as I believe it will be helpful to you. You should already know that fires burn out given a lack of fuel to consume. However, what you might not know is that fires must also consume air to burn, much like fuel, much like all living things require air to breathe. Fire is not truly living, but in this case the analogy works well enough for our purposes; fires inhale air and exhale smoke. Hence, if you use a closed pot which does not allow air to enter, any fires that sprout inside the pot will quickly starve and suffocate, and the wood will char but not burn, thus giving you charcoal. Alternatively, you can cover the wood you wish to turn into charcoal completely in soil and straw so that air cannot reach it. You should be able to easily test this for yourself.
The same principle may be reversed to produce fires of great heat and intensity, by supplying them with great quantities of air; think of how a man who exerts themselves in physical activity must breathe much more heavily for a time; the principle is similar. The basic idea is to set a fire in an enclosed structure of stone, brick, or iron to corral it, and use a pump to help deliver air into the structure. In this way, you will produce hotter fires than would otherwise be possible, particularly if you use charcoal as fuel for the fire, rather than unburnt wood. This is important to iron making, as very hot temperatures are required for the making of iron.
Missed the cutoff point, but still wanted to comment that in the future it may be a good idea to adapt our ideas for the culture and context we find ourselves in. In addition we have the basic blueprints of most civilizations at our fingertips. A deep enough dive into the internet should be able to find some example of a civilization that tried X thing and where there isn't an example we can cobble together bits of civilizations until we get something that works.I don't know about the rest of the people reading this but I want to see a civilization that takes what we give it and constructs something unique rather than some optimized state that has lost its culture.
In short let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater
