What Can SV Teach an Evil Sorceress? (abandoned)

LoserThree · Aug 30, 2020

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                         NOTICES

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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

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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)

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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

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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.

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 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.

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                    Collaboration Post!

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.

LoserThree · Mar 19, 2021

Pandemonious Ivy said:
Can Bianca ensoul us so we get a different timeline perspective or additional dice to certain actions she takes?

So based on my notes and memory -- both of which are fallible, of course -- souls aren't an established part of the setting.

One thread search later:

Bianca used the word once, but the case was figurative. It didn't fit the theme that I try to hold included euphemisms to and wasn't necessary to the post, so I've retconned it out and replaced it with simpler language.

With that out of the way, I also don't understand what you're asking.

Players can add dice directly to tests by giving good advice for how to accomplish the task that the test is simulating. That is, if players advise Bianca to send assassins against a particular figure, they might get to add dice to that test by also describing to Bianca the ways commandos may eliminate sentries without raising alarm.

Players can indirectly add dice to tests by voting such that the tested actions taken are those for which the people taking them have ample skills. That is, if players want the best surrender negotiated, the test will start with more dice if they vote that Bianca should send the smoothest singer rather than the greatest warrior.

I'm very curious about what you mean about timelines.

Rafin said:
Eh. Most progress currently comes from Bianca smuggling "ancient" wisdoms into the populace through religious control. And altruistically speaking there's no reason to have Tenner internal R&D completely outpace that of their neighbors.

That's not actually how it's been working.

It turns out that when your student doesn't have access to refined materials or standard measures, you might not be able to teach them how to make, for example, glass.

So instead, players have informed Bianca that some wonder exists and have given her a rough idea of how that wonder is achieved. Then Bianca passes that on to whomever and those hapless mortal try to make it work.

There was a time when Bianca had a more-or-less dedicated R&D in the form of a faction within one tribe that somewhat fervently wanted to curry her favor. That's how wildcats were (kinda) domesticated. That's how icehouses were built (and a crit success resulted in frost wights being incorporated in, resulting in magical freezers). That's how iron blooming was discovered, also astronomy and the presence of 'wanderers.' Unfortunately, that faction only acted that way because they wanted something. And when it became clear they weren't going to get what they wanted, they shifted their focus to literary self-pity and lamentations expressed through art. But they do keep building vaulted halls and at least some of those haven't fallen down.

There are exceptions, like the cipher wheel for example. But most big deal innovations require a lot of unpacking on the receiving end because they can't be transferred such that they're functional on delivery.

Rafin said:
From a personal power perspective it might be the best idea to reinforce Bianca's ideas of deliberately spreading tech beyond her borders. Then foreigners can advance and perfect it while Bianca uses futuristic weaponry and anachronistic tools to conquer it back into her empire.

While some external innovations on Tenner tech are inevitable, keep in mind that the rest of the region is still in the Bronze Age. For millennia, selection pressures have reinforced zealous adherence to rote repetition rather than innovation. The people you're hoping will innovate don't have much in the way of social or cultural infrastructure to support deviations from accepted practices. They have to adapt in order to incorporate whatever they can steal from the expanding Tenners. But selection pressure for, "Figure out how this foreign tech works," isn't exactly pressure for, "Stop beating the curiosity out of your apprentices."

Rafin said:
I'm a bit confused here. I mean rampant xenophobia is to be expected, but among "trueborn Tenners" how can the "you have so much and we so little" phrase simultaneously be effective enough to hinder progress and ineffective enough to not make for below average economic divides between families of the same tribe?

The plurality of the first person pronoun in that oft-repeated declaration of inequality is important. Most Tenners do not think in terms of individual wealth. Most possessions are owned by the clan as a whole.

Or, I suppose, I'm not sure what you're asking about, here.

The wealth of one family is going to be very similar to the wealth of other families in the same village. It's going to be similar to the wealth of families in neighboring villages. And it's going to be something close to similar with the wealth of families in villages just a bit to far away to be neighboring.

People are still people and they still take advantage of each other. In the Tenner Homeland there's no law but the Ten Ways Pact, the judgement of local political powers, and whatever practices are customary. There's little reward for restraining one's temper and a lot to gain from being respected for one's capacity for violence. No one gets that respect without demonstrations. The Tenners would have words for the kind of person who acts dangerous but lacks follow-through in a fight and those words would not be kind.

Yes, it's much much worse when similarly violent people fight over less food than will see their whole family through the winter and in places with wide gaps in resource access. But something close to food security is not, on its own, sufficient for utopia.

Rafin said:
What does "evil" actually mean in this context? I mean we know that Bianca is selfish, power hungry and a bit lazy when it comes to having to personally resolve disputes. She also doesn't care about individual human lives or suffering beyond how useful they are to either her personally or the empire she built as a whole. But is there anything beyond that? Is she genuinely sadistic or are her elaborate spectacles of punishment just her best guess at effective and low effort messaging? Does she have any irrational hatreds beyond the dislike for heroes (which she has shown to be more than able to keep in check IMO)? Does she have any long term goals that are intrinsically inimical to the prosperity of mortal races more so than just having a certain amount of taxes go to a single individual God-Queen?

Bianca's long term goals haven't been shared in much detail. You can ask her or you can find the times others have asked her and she told them to buzz off, same as she does for questions about her physique, what made her special, or the nature of magic.

But I think you covered most of how Bianca is evil outside of maybe her liberal application of violence.

Rafin said:
How much is she aware of these takeovers? Is it even felt as a takeover in cases where we vote for things that she proposed (i.e. not write-ins), but weren't her first choice? Could this be the reason that the frequency of use seems to become less and less? And how does it feel?

Because to be honest, I don't feel like this could be discerned from the text. Whenever we vote against her first preference (like when she learned reading) it read like she was annoyed but "saw sense" (or pretended to) and acquiesced, if there was any value judgement on her part at all.

I wasn't talking about the things Bianca puts up for votes. That's not how she was made to learn to read. Bianca never put that up for a vote.

Instead, @Demonic Spoon made their own [issue block] in the voting leading up to part 15. When enough others joined in on that vote that they had a majority of total participants, it ended up working more or less as though Bianca had put it up for a vote.

And Bianca is definitely aware of how she's compelled to follow the votes. For the rest, you'd have to ask her.

fasquardon · Mar 19, 2021

LoserThree said:
It is widely accepted as true that progress relies on people seeking an advantage over their fellows. And a system where advantages are (relatively) quickly eliminated by equanimity would, under that widely accepted rule, be one opposed to progress.

This is indeed widely accepted, but there's no actual proof for it.

There are alternative theories about what motivates people to seek progress. We can't prove them either. At least not last I read into this. It seems the human drive for improvement - at least if we speak of it in general terms - is rather mysterious. Though of course it is easier to go ask an individual who has done something "what motivated you to make things better?" and get a specific answer that is true for that one person.

Anyway, I am glad to see this quest is still alive. This is such a unique and fun story!

fasquardon

liberty90 · Mar 19, 2021

LoserThree said:
But selection pressure for, "Figure out how this foreign tech works," isn't exactly pressure for, "Stop beating the curiosity out of your apprentices."

At least inside of the Ten Nations crafters can more clearly see that during their times crafts changed for the better. So perhaps among Tenners there is some understanding of progress, even if it's far from our understanding.

LoserThree said:
There's little reward for restraining one's temper and a lot to gain from being respected for one's capacity for violence.

Well, I think that currently Bianca grown to like her table-rulers. Perhaps this can slightly change how much honor (in the sense of social status) inside of the family/clan is determined by capacity for violence. It's not too wise to beat Bianca's Singers, I think. Perhaps it wouldn't be too wise to beat Bianca's bureaucrats (table-rulers/literate people), and I don't mean any formal authority that Bianca still dislike, but perhaps increasing informal custom.

Of course Singers are taken outside of families and their power, and table-rulers I think are not taken out of families (outside of education period and perhaps special cases like the First Table-Ruler or teachers?), but still...

Edit:
While re-reading old updates I found interesting quote, by the way:

LoserThree said:
"Yes, yes. I see that when numbers get so great that people can no longer live freely then some manner of people must be lifted over the others to make order."

So, currently she tolerates formalized hierarchical social structures only in cities outside of the Homelands, but if the population inside of the Homelands (and I suppose Homelands size) continue to increase, then Bianca already admitted (decades ago) that people to "make order" may be indeed needed. Obviously her definition of order is nowhere near our definitions, and current situation to her still looks like order... Or perhaps not? The recent civil war? We will see I suppose.

FwiffoForce · Mar 25, 2021

Huh. The Galugr are orcs? I've been thinking of them as ogre-analogues this whole time. Orcs aren't actually much bigger than humans so I didn't really see the similarities with giants.

liberty90 · Mar 25, 2021

Lesser giants are orcs, so giants are probably ogres? ^ ^

Lesser giants (Galugr, orcs) rule the city of Wreol (and small territories around the cursed forest/Stormwoods Host).

Giants ruled Liavint before Bianca allowed the Ten Nations to destroy her vassal Liavint Empire (that was accused of not spreading their wealth to Tenners, and other violations of the Ten Nations customs & sensibilities).

(Currently the city of Liavint is called Unnamed and ruled by the Tash and Burgeck tribes like a giant village, with people travelling outside to their fields.)

LoserThree · Apr 12, 2021

20c

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These secretive killers that might regard the QMPC with
religious zeal and who are sneaking into a castle to kill
a ruler and some other religious figures are not intended
to reference the Nizari Ismaili state or the followers of
Hassan-i Sabbah any any sense beyond the etymological.

I want to determine whether the killers Bianca's sends are successful at murdering Gazark son of Yash daughter of Haput daughter of Kuwuzt the Great, and the priests of Erweh that accompany him.

Bianca has sent killer magicians, so this is going to be a test of the best of their sorcery (4), which is very noteworthy but not the best out there. The best sorcerers are less fixated on murder. But that's not this crew, which is made up of experienced and enthusiastic killers (1). Bianca has taught them her super-secret 'invisibility' spell (2). They're walking into a trap, but it's not only not a trap set for them, it's a trap set by one who is unaware Bianca has access to something like the 'invisibility' spell (1). (Turns out Bianca has kept the thing pretty secret. The only big use she made of it was against the camp of the Last King of Wrul. No one there who figured out what was going on survived to tell anyone about it.) They have some limited intelligence about the situation and some limited assistance from local agents (1). And hell yeah, they'll bring explosives into this, and not small amounts (2 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 cancel successes on 1s & 2s, reroll 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.).

The assassins will be rolling 4 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2* = 9d10 + 2*d10. The killers are entirely mortal but testing a magical skill so they will count 6s and better as successes.

To their misfortune, the assassins are opposed by Erweh himself, who prepared to face Bianca with magic but will, to his surprise, be relying on his watchfulness (6), which is kinda 'peak mortal human' but not as good as other skills on which he'd rather rely. Gazark and Erweh's priesthood will eagerly participate in the attempt to preserve their own lives (1). Normal security in the castle isn't too shabby (1), for all that divisions of loyalty are present. Erweh doesn't get other bonuses because he's confident of his read of the situation and expects Bianca to come herself. And he's not wrong: she totally would come herself if that hadn't been one of the choices she sacrificed to open her her most recent connection to The Astute Cacophony.

Erweh will be rolling 6 + 1 + 1 = 8d10. Erweh a new god so he will count 4s and better as successes.

The outcome will be determined by the difference between the rolls.

Erweh gets more successes = No targets are slain and Erweh learns stuff about Bianca's operation

Tie = King Gazark is slain but all priests of Erweh survive

Assassins get more successes = King Gazark and all priests of Erweh slain

Code:

4 to 5: No tangos down & Erweh learns from interrogations

Erweh comes for Bianca and I want to determine how successful he is.

This is going to be a test of sorcery, which Erweh is very, very good at (8). Erweh has very recent information about how Bianca lives and has updated his godlike understanding of her, because he was able to interrogate the assassins sent against his priests (1). He has his priests with him (2) because the assassins failed to kill any of them. His priests have raised zealots from locals (2) because he saved everyone from the explosions and everything. He has improved on the method he used before, based on what he was able to find out about its limits (1). Erweh is second only to Hare in mastery of the Underworld (3).

Erweh will be rolling 8 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 17d10. Erweh is not only a new god but also is testing magical power so he will count 3s and better as successes.

Bianca will also be testing her sorcery (6). The fight is coming to her, and she not only has home field advantage but also chooses where to fight (2). Bianca's singers and other student sorcerers will assist her (2). Bianca escaped from a similar trap once already (1).

Bianca will be rolling 6 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 11d10. Bianca is magical herself and is using magic so will count 5s and better as successes.

The outcome will be determined by the difference between the rolls.

Bianca wins by more than 4 successes = Erweh wounded! - ichor acquired!

Bianca wins by 3 or 4 successes = Erweh driven off - underworld backlash!

Bianca wins by 1 or 2 successes = Bianca escapes in days

Tie = Bianca imprisoned in the underworld for 20 years

Erweh wins by 1 or 2 successes = Bianca imprisoned in the underworld for 100 years!

Erweh wins by 3 or 4 successes = Bianca imprisoned in the underworld for 250 years!

Erweh wins by more than 4 successes = Bianca imprisoned in the underworld for 500 years!

Code:

15 to 7: Bianca imprisoned in the underworld: 500 years!

Even with Bianca out of the picture for generations Gazark the Bright-Eyed doesn't have a chance at winning control of the Ten Nations. Forces loyal to him are difficult to concentrate and already outnumbered, if not always outclassed, by opposing forces in the Tenner Homelands. (Even if the majority of the Conquered Cities had sided with Gazark, there are just so many more ready warriors in the Homelands.) If that wasn't bad enough, his competition for 10N leadership, Kartz of Lan, possesses the greatest military mind his people have yet produced. At question is how much does King Gazark keep and how much damage he does to the TennerLands.

This is a test of the leadership of King Gazark the Bright-Eyed, which hasn't changed much since the last test (5). Gazark is still a king and still respected for it (2). As a King, Gazark is far, far richer than the overwhelming majority of Tenners and can use his wealth to buy all kinds of things that make fighting a war easier (2). Gazark's centers of power are very difficult to reach with large armies (2). Erweh stuck around after trapping Bianca and continues to fuck shit up (1) though not with the goal of specifically helping Gazark, whom Erweh is kind of done with. At some point during the civil war, the Tenners are going to become fully aware that Bianca isn't around and there will be chaos about it (2).

Gazark will be rolling 5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 14d10. He is mortal and not heroic so will only count 7s and better as successes. His task is made more difficult because his opposition welcomes his own troops to their side with an inoffensive amount of wariness and will allow his troops to return to their lives simply for laying down their weapons and walking away (1). His opposition has also been confusing his correspondence with false messages and misleading intelligence, and also fouling his supply lines with logistical sabotage (2). When they notice it's a good idea to do so, his opponents will deny their roads to him with barriers or artificial wash-outs (1). Although Gazark's strongholds are not easily reached by overland routes, improved and waterproofed shoes will help a lot (1).

5 or fewer successes = Gazark slain in battle, entire Kuwuztian dynasty executed for their betrayal of the Ten Ways Pact

6 successes = Gazark slain in battle, his kin keep their cities as Tenners, Enonl goes to Nuamo

7 successes = Gazark dies but his allies and inheritors fully split from the Tenners, taking most Conquered Cities of Zouchaud, some of Nuamo, and even some coastlands recently annexed into the Tenner tribelands

8, 9, or 10 successes = Kuwuztian Empire founded with nearly all overseas Tenner holdings and even some of the inland Conquered Cities, for the moment

11 or more successes = Kuwuztian Empire with Heroic Dynast!

Code:

4: Gazark & entire family of Kuwuzt executed for betrayal

I want to determine how successful the surviving assassins are at founding an order that outlasts Bianca's imprisonment.

The order lives or dies on its ability to keep how to cast the 'invisibility' spell secret. InfoSec is a 'skill' that organizations may possess and which most have 1 or 0 ranks in, mostly relying on bonuses for any tests. The assassins are a lot better than that (3). The nature of their founding helps (1). The nature of the spell in question helps (1). Cipher wheels guard secrets (1).

The Circle of Smoke will be rolling 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6d10. They are mortal and so will only count 7s and better as successes. They are rolling against the likelihood of discovery and subsequent irrelevance over 500 years

2 successes = No one left knows it existed

3 success = Let their mark on history, but now others know the spell

4 successes = Totally existed, might still, spell unknown

5 successes = The Circle of Smoke is a known political player

6 or more successes = The Circle of Smoke is currently led by a Heroic Socialite!

Code:

1: And like that…<puff> they're gone.

Table-rulers are the product of schooling. Table-ruler schooling is institutional. Those institutions will persist. And I want to determine if they're their own unified political entity or if they've become divided so that other powerful factions may effectively have their own schools.

This is a test of organizational integrity in the face of time. Integrity is like the health of an organization. While a unified Great School of table-rulers that survives Bianca's absence would have a high integrity, it doesn't start out that way. When Bianca first vanishes, the institutions that make new table-rulers start out over-dependant on Bianca's authority for their continuity and support. As the physical separation of the schools grows more meaningful over time, the organizational integrity of the entity they all belong to exists in the form of shared texts and techniques and correspondence between administrators.

The already physically separated schools of bureaucracy being tested have at least some integrity (2). Their connection to and reliance on written text helps (2). The student-teacher relationship within the school selects for people who can fit into a hierarchy (2). Everyone who means to rule needs table-rulers (1). They have paper, printing presses, and codices (1). Cipher wheels allow useful details that would otherwise make institutions vulnerable to be communicated mostly safely (1).

The hypothetical association of schools will be rolling 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9d10. They are mortal and so will only count 7s and better as successes.

0 successes = Total fragmentation - a multitude of small schools of dubious quality

1 success = Each polity of significance has at least one school of merit which complies with universal measures of scholasticism

2 or 3 successes = A handful of Great Schools each claim continuity with the bureaucracy that once led all Tenners in Bianca's absence

4, 5 or 6 successes = The Grand Tabulation persists as a polity mostly independent of geography

7 or more successes = The Grand Tabulation has the final say on any matter of Tenner politics on which it wishes to have the final say

Code:

3: There are 5 Great Schools and many lesser schools

To the Tenners, there have been singers for almost as long as there has been Bianca. Without a pseudo-government to support and be supported by, they could eventually come to dissolve in irrelevance. But transformation is more likely.

Unlike the table-rulers, singers won't take lightly to serving any governing institution that isn't Bianca herself. Other institutions may take up their duties and powers without taking on their singer-ness. So this is a test of influence, a kind of organizational power. The better Bianca's singers use their influence, the better the institution that they are part of will persist.

Although they don't start off with the strongest tradition of using their influence in an organized fashion and for their own ends, the hypothetical Singers' Society knows what influence is and how to use it (3). They have been Bianca's voice to the common folk for generations (2). Singers have a shared bond built on their passions and what they sacrificed to them (2). Doves, paper, and printing presses facilitate coordination (1). Cipher wheels facilitate scheming (1).

The Singers' Society will be rolling 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 9d10. They are mortal and so will only count 7s and better as successes.

0 successes = Subsumption: other surviving factions roll to see who suborns the singers, after other organization tests are completed

1 success = Written records of singers and their practices persist and small societies can be found here and there, some with local or regional authority of a kind

2 successes = the Band of Singers functions like a priesthood in 10N homelands while lesser and heterodoxical bands persist elsewhere and strongly disagree about what singers are meant to be doing

3, 4, or 5 successes = Singers spread news and knowledge and gather both as well; they seem to be everywhere and most of them know better than to test the difference with which rulers treat them

6 or more successes = Ascension: The Singers' Society itself controls another faction - roll to see who they get, after other organization tests are completed

Code:

3: Bianca's Singers' Society flourishes widely & deeply

I want to determine if the organization entrusted with the secret of the compass, navigators, scouts, and surveyors, manage to keep that secret and therefore their coherence as an organization.

If the Wards of Fortune don't keep the secret, then the purpose of their organization is undone and they will, at best, survive as a social or prestige group.

As before, InfoSec is a 'skill' that organizations may possess and which most have 1 or 0 ranks in. The Wards of Fortunate are a bit better than that (2). Bianca set them up as secret keepers with social and material infrastructure to support them and their secrets (2). Doves and paper let them communicate with chapter houses (1. Cipher wheels let them communicate with much less chance of interception (1).

The Wards of Fortune will be rolling 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 6d10. They are mortal and so will only count 7s and better as successes. They are rolling against the likelihood of discovery and subsequent irrelevance over 500 years

0 successes = foreign powers learned first & got the jump on subsequent phases of exploration

1, 2, or 3 success = Compass widely known - 'Wards' are vestigial honors bestowed mostly on ships' captains

4 successes = 'Wards' are an invite-only society of explorers

5 successes = Wards of Fortune acquire other exploration- or survey-related secrets and remain relevant after the compass becomes widely known

6 successes = Wards of Fortune still jealously guard the secret of the compass

Code:

3: a successful ships' captain may be a Ward of Fortune

Mekosé is that outsider sorcerer that wanted to join the Forsworn. And she wants a lot more than that. She wants to be in charge of as much as she can get in charge of, which at best will be the Forsworn as a whole. For as long as she believes she'll get what she wants, she'll stick with her table-ruler training and she'll follow the rules set before her. But in the end she wants power. I want to determine if she gets it by following the rules.

This is going to be a test of Mekosé's skill at coaxing (5), which she's developed a good bit. She's a very capable sorceress (1), which helps in a lot of social stuff for various reasons. She's an exceptionally experienced schemer (2). She joined the Forsworn early enough to contribute to the process by which customs of the organization are established and so can steer at least some in her favor (1).

Mekosé needs to beat the Force of Will of her fellow Forsworn who, perhaps unfortunately for her, are kind of chosen for this attribute and then train it up further (5).

Mekosé will be rolling 5 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 9d10 and must roll 5 successes to secure her authority within the organization. She's mortal and not heroic and so will count 7s and better.

Mekosé's ambition will not be checked by failure in this regard. If she doesn't officially take over, she'll form a splinter faction of Forsworn, into which she'll accept others dissatisfied with the accepted order of things. If that's the way things go, she won't get nearly as far in the years she has left. Also, her splinter group will do a lot more damage than the Forsworn ever would, since their standards will -- of necessity -- be considerably lower.

Code:

4 vs. 5: Forsworn & Oathbreakers both make deals w/demons

Bianca is not the only immortal in the Ten Nations. However, just because Bianca is missing doesn't mean Peyuvo the Graceful can step into her place. First of all, the two are phenotypically distinct: even if Peyuvo didn't have considerably greater stature than Bianca and even if Bianca didn't look like she should have died at some point, Bianca is recognizably of a different people than the people of the Ten Nations. Also -- and readers should understand this was intentional on Bianca's part because she's no fool -- Peyuvo lacks the Talent and so is not expected to ever perform magic. She also lacks that trait that some wise folk have which allows them to compel obedience from spirits (within the limitations of spirits' capabilities and 'normal' behavior). Neither is she as physically resilient as Bianca. Peyuvo has been wounded by misadventure and malicious intent both. And while her recovery was supernatural, few think she's unkillable.

I want to determine what Peyuvo of Eppam, the Once-Blind Devicer, the Apiarist, the Graceful gets up to over the years. Peyuvo is methodical and will stick to a problem until she feels she has solved it. I don't mean that she'll fixate or that she exercises exceptional force of will to stay on task. I mean that she'll keep coming back to the problem in her 'free' time. So first there's a question of intellect: given enough time, how many problems will she solve. And then she'll get to roll on a table to find out which problems she solves.

Peyuvo's intellect was already in the 'peak human' realm when she first became immortal (6), because that's what won her the shot at immortality (that it didn't improve between that time and Bianca's return is more a matter of just how hard it is to improve stats at that level than it is an actual hard cap). She has a cult of personality and while she and her followers are careful to prevent Tenners from giving her tribute, they're certainly eager to help out with Peyuvo's little hobbies (1). Peyuvo will maintain exceptionally cordial relations with whatever comes of the singers and the schools of table-rulers (1). Sitting inside land that's on the Worldwide Top Ten List of Least Worthwhile Places to Conquer means that Peyuvo enjoys years of peace (1). Peyuvo has a lot of time to work on this, 500 years of time (6).

Peyuvo will be rolling 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 6 = 15d10. Peyuvo is magical herself so she will count 6s and better as successes.

0 successes = 1 roll

1 success = 2 rolls

2 or 3 successes = 3 rolls

4 or 5 successes = 4 rolls

6, 7, or 8 successes = 5 rolls

9, 10, or 11 successes = 6 rolls

13 or more successes = 7 rolls

Code:

10: six rolls on the Table of Invention and Progress!

As long as Bianca was gone for at least 20 years, Peyuvo would get at least one roll on this table. The number of rolls she gets beyond that are determined by the previous test. The results of those rolls represent devices which may be manufactured and maintained without Peyuvo's participation or disciplines which may be practiced and further developed without her oversight. (The table of one-off super prototypes that Peyuvo has sitting around is beyond the scope of work that I intend to put into the game at this time, with the exception of the flamethrower Rainbowheart suggested. (The fact that it's fresh in my mind has a lot to do with mentioning it, of course.) Peyuvo definitely built that one time. Probably burned down a barn or something. Keeps it around to frighten singers and table-rulers who come by to check on her.)

You might notice there are no hand cannons on here, despite recent introduction of ideas about them. That's because Peyuvo wants nothing to do with gunpowder for personal reasons like not accidentally exploding. She won't come near the stuff.

1: Osteopathic manipulation then research medicine then antibiotics

2: Osteopathic manipulation then yoga analogue then martial arts

3: Yoga analogue then osteopathic manipulation then research medicine

4: Yoga analogue then martial arts then SECRET PRIZE

5: Yoga analogue then research medicine then martial arts

6: Clocks then watches then longitude

7: Clocks then trigonometry then calculus

8: Trigonometry then calculus then optics

9: Steel-making then steam engines then chain bicycles

10: Cheap papermaking then currency stability then propaganda and agitation

Code:

7: Clocks 2: Osteopathic manipulation 10: 'Cheap' papermaking 10: currency policies (TIER 2) 6: Watches (TIER 2) 1: research as a medical discipline (TIER 2)

Code:

I got mixed up & rolled 10 times instead of 6.
I apologize for the confusion.
It was late & had been an 8k word weekend.

The Noarites absolutely contributed to Erweh's conspiracy against Bianca. The question is, how quickly does that become known.

This is a test of the investigative abilities of Bianca's intelligence services. Spycraft isn't a skill for individuals but a trait of organizations. And the barely organized network of spies, informants, scouts, and thieves that send information back to Bianca or whoever is listening in her place are all about it (2), to the degree possible under the circumstances. Doves and paper allow coordination and communication (1). Cipher wheels make a big difference in both sending directives and reporting findings (2). Rapturous Interrogation -- the technique that Bianca developed while breaking up the Trinket Cult in Lan Tribe in Year 37 -- allows Tenners to extract information from the unwilling that other methods would never get (3).

Bianca's intelligence services will be rolling 2 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 8d10. They are fully mortal and lack heroes and so will count 7s and better as successes.

0 successes = It was the High Priestess of Yula all along! (lasting enmity with all followers of Yula, because by the time the truth comes out shit will already have well gone down)

1, 2 , or 3 successes = results are inconclusive

4 or 5 successes = The High Priestess of Yula was right! (10N build special relationship with followers of Yula)

6 or 7 successes = Yulan treaty and Noarites are wiped out for their treachery

8 successes = Yulan treaty, Noarites are wiped out, and inquisition is founded to seek out all conspiracies against the 10N!

Code:

2: Nobody figures it out before Bianca gets back

Code:

Testing is complete
Update to follow shortly
Happenstance willing

Rockeye · Apr 12, 2021

That's a win for Erweh, I think?

RIP, Bianca. Is her whole thing with the tribes gonna die off? She's immortal so maybe she can pick it up again elsewhere, but... This is a damn disaster for her, no joke. I haven't been closely following this anymore, but man oh man.

Ciber · Apr 12, 2021

I was just about to go to sleep. You monster.

Shard · Apr 12, 2021

500 year timeskip, huh.

Mechasaurian · Apr 12, 2021

Oh, come on. I was so ready to join in on the fun.

Where is Bianca storing...us? Will she be able to access the Cacophony again when she gets out?

Pandemonious Ivy · Apr 12, 2021

Mechasaurian said:
Oh, come on. I was so ready to join in on the fun.

Where is Bianca storing...us? Will she be able to access the Cacophony again?

Who do we talk to for 500 years?

That-Random-Guy · Apr 12, 2021

Those innovation rolls are . . . shiny!

Loud SV tech noises

In all seriousness, antibiotics and research medicine are clearly pog, and I'd guess that longitude isn't that far behind

LoserThree · Apr 12, 2021

20d

Pandemonious Ivy said:
Who do we talk to for 500 years?

Having followed the thread, do you know how Bianca activates the conduit through which you respond to her?

I may have mentioned it at one point. And it is something that players might be able to guess at in any case.

But it happens that any hypothetical wizard meddling with Bianca's stuff doesn't manage the unlock.

Rockeye said:
That's a win for Erweh, I think?

RIP, Bianca. Is her whole thing with the tribes gonna die off? She's immortal so maybe she can pick it up again elsewhere, but... This is a damn disaster for her, no joke. I haven't been closely following this anymore, but man oh man.

Erweh has been escalating on-and-off throughout the game so far. It was time for him to make a big move. But that wasn't a win for the game on his part.

Definitely a loss for Gazark and his whole fucking family, though. Grats to the players who made that roll as hard for him as they did.

As the notices in the sticky post indicate, I'm twenty thousand words into the next update. The game isn't yet over.

Shard said:
500 year timeskip, huh.

Just so.

Mechasaurian said:
Oh, come on. I was so ready to join in on the fun.

Where is Bianca storing...us? Will she be able to access the Cacophony again when she gets out?

I don't think it was ever made clear where Bianca keeps the conduit through which she contacts the Astute Cacophony. She gets cagey about stuff like that.

And yeah, she'll totally be able to access the Cacophony within a couple years of getting out, at most.

Aklyon · Apr 12, 2021

One does not simply keep a Bianca down forever, though I wonder if this is a standout length of downness to the Tenners. There is going to be quite the catchup.

LoserThree · Apr 12, 2021

That-Random-Guy said:
Those innovation rolls are . . . shiny!

Loud SV tech noises

In all seriousness, antibiotics and research medicine are clearly pog, and I'd guess that longitude isn't that far behind

Yeah, sorry. No antibiotics or longitude. No yoga or martial arts, either. Those four weren't in the first six rolls so they weren't real.

I lost track of stuff and was pushing to get done.

Three prizes from the middle shelf ain't bad, though.

liberty90 · Apr 12, 2021

A handful of Great Schools each claim continuity with the bureaucracy that once led all Tenners in Bianca's absence

We missed united bureaucracy by one success.

At least Singers are still united into one association.

Singers spread news and knowledge and gather both as well; they seem to be everywhere and most of them know better than to test the difference with which rulers treat them

--

Aklyon said:
One does not simply keep a Bianca down forever, though I wonder if this is a standout length of downness to the Tenners. There is going to be quite the catchup.

Certainly, she was never absent for 500 years. Before us and the non-magical methods of agriculture that we provided, even twenty years of absence would end in famines.

Ciber · Apr 12, 2021

Hm. Maybe we could create some sort of cult that has the goal of helping us return from the underworld in case this happens again.
Actually, the Once Blind Devicer has demonstrated that she will not seek to usurp our power. Perhaps share sorcerous secrets & longer term plans with her. IDK. I really want to include the Blind Devicer more in our planning.

liberty90 · Apr 12, 2021

Even with Bianca out of the picture for generations Gazark the Bright-Eyed doesn't have a chance at winning control of the Ten Nations. Forces loyal to him are difficult to concentrate and already outnumbered, if not always outclassed, by opposing forces in the Tenner Homelands. (Even if the majority of the Conquered Cities had sided with Gazark, there are just so many more ready warriors in the Homelands.) If that wasn't bad enough, his competition for 10N leadership, Kartz of Lan, possesses the greatest military mind his people have yet produced. At question is how much does King Gazark keep and how much damage he does to the TennerLands.

This is a test of the leadership of King Gazark the Bright-Eyed, which hasn't changed much since the last test (5). Gazark is still a king and still respected for it (2). As a King, Gazark is far, far richer than the overwhelming majority of Tenners and can use his wealth to buy all kinds of things that make fighting a war easier (2). Gazark's centers of power are very difficult to reach with large armies (2). Erweh stuck around after trapping Bianca and continues to fuck shit up (1) though not with the goal of specifically helping Gazark, whom Erweh is kind of done with. At some point during the civil war, the Tenners are going to become fully aware that Bianca isn't around and there will be chaos about it (2).

Gazark will be rolling 5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 14d10. He is mortal and not heroic so will only count 7s and better as successes. His task is made more difficult because his opposition welcomes his own troops to their side with an inoffensive amount of wariness and will allow his troops to return to their lives simply for laying down their weapons and walking away (1). His opposition has also been confusing his correspondence with false messages and misleading intelligence, and also fouling his supply lines with logistical sabotage (2). When they notice it's a good idea to do so, his opponents will deny their roads to him with barriers or artificial wash-outs (1). Although Gazark's strongholds are not easily reached by overland routes, improved and waterproofed shoes will help a lot (1).

5 or fewer successes = Gazark slain in battle, entire Kuwuztian dynasty executed for their betrayal of the Ten Ways Pact

These rolls sometimes are like epic short story. Like, I can imagine this war.

LoserThree · Apr 12, 2021

20e

liberty90 said:
We missed united bureaucracy by one success.

At least Singers are still united into one association.

There were a number of near misses, there.

The assassins almost got Gazark, which would have prevented the civil war roll, saved Gazark's family, and left room for dynastism of some sort. Knowing that the family of Kuwuzt the fucking Great was killed to the last child is going to sap the enthusiasm of other family members when nepotistic succession gets proposed anywhere Tenners rule or have ruled. It's just not going to be nearly as popular.
That Singers' Society only just missed schism, itself.
The Wards of Fortune just missed surviving as some kind of institution, which would have improved Tenner understanding of the distant parts of the world, likely including a very roughly accurate globe. Instead, the push for new frontiers was and is driven by and limited to commerce and conquest.
Mekosé just missed succeeding at her goal of running the Forsworn instead of setting up race-to-the-bottom conditions for an entire field of supernatural research and practice. Expect some dark shit on that front.
And it's hard to say what a near miss would mean on the innovation table, where the rolls were sort of one step away from three different top shelf discoveries -- and real ones too, not duplications of lower tiers. (And I'm grateful to happenstance that my over-rolling screwup didn't reveal the nature of the 'SECRET PRIZE,' so if it never happens any other way, at least the rest of you don't know what you're missing.)

liberty90 said:
Certainly, she was never absent for 500 years. Before us and the non-magical methods of agriculture that we provided, even twenty years of absence would end in famines.

Eyeah. About that.

The Tenners don't actually have a system of crop rotation that fully replaces Bianca's revitalizing magic. Their agriculture is less desolating than what anyone else in the area uses. But it's not good enough to both feed everyone and avoid eventually draining the land of critical resources and will inevitably lead to underproduction.

They're definitely going to be relying on unconventional solutions. (Un)fortunately, violations of convention abound!

Ciber said:
Hm. Maybe we could create some sort of cult that has the goal of helping us return from the underworld in case this happens again.
Actually, the Once Blind Devicer has demonstrated that she will not seek to usurp our power. Perhaps share sorcerous secrets & longer term plans with her. IDK. I really want to include the Blind Devicer more in our planning.

You may be assured that before the schismatics drove in wedges, the Grand Tabulation investigated the possibility of propping Peyuvo the Graceful up as a ruler or figurehead, whichever she wanted.

But in a world where there's magic, replacing a sorcerous authority figure with a non-sorcerous pseudo-ruler isn't easily done, even if they're both functionally immortal.

Peyuvo herself wouldn't have been opposed. Decades as a (local) authority figure gave her the impression she could handle it. And her followers are as fanatical as followers of a strictly non-magical cult-figure can get in a world where there are people with real magic and it's not hard to tell the difference between sorcery and artifice -- particularly because Peyuvo won't go near gunpowder.

Even if they'd put her in power, the ultimate problem for Peyuvo would have ended up being that it wouldn't have occurred to her to formulate an exit strategy until it was too late. And the bureaucratic leadership wouldn't have focused on one that preserved Peyuvo's immortal life. That Might've Been ends with one fewer immortals in the world when schism finally came for the Great Tabulation.

liberty90 said:
These rolls sometimes are like epic short story. Like, I can imagine this war.

Thanks!

I'm given to narrative decompression, myself. I can't promise canonicity, but I'd like players to feel free to post stories outside Cacophonous Interludes (or inside, I guess -- it'd be weird but cacophony is Cacophonous). I understand English isn't your native language, though, so maybe you'd find it more fulfilling to write a story in your mother tongue for an audience of your fellow speakers of Polish? (I mean, I hear Becket chose French specifically because it wasn't what he started with. But what works for some don't necessarily work for all.) And I do want anyone reading this to know that, for what it's worth, they have my permission to make broad and liberal use of whatever they get from my text in this thread.

Ciber · Apr 12, 2021

If 500 years past, surely Devicer is not the only source of technological advancement. Or at least anything we were not keeping secret has probably become fairly common knowledge by now. Surely some people have been inspired by Devicer's original masterpiece the reaper machines. Maybe no derivative machine has worked out economically or become widespread, but we should now have access to a pool of talent & experience with machinery that was not available before the skip.

Metals will still be valuable, but people have not stopped mining in the interim , so it should be a bit more relatively abundant depending on population growth. We will need to commission a proper census... Maybe people have played around more with different ores like lead and mercury even if they don't know what to do with them.

What about those guys who sent us the Glass Tree of Stupefaction? Did they ever follow through and attack the Tenners for their crimes against glass making?

Would it be possible for Loser to whip up a quick MS Paint map of our local area? If you do then I will use it as a base for a nicer map.

liberty90 · Apr 12, 2021

LoserThree said:
Eyeah. About that.

The Tenners don't actually have a system of crop rotation that fully replaces Bianca's revitalizing magic. Their agriculture is less desolating than what anyone else in the area uses. But it's not good enough to both feed everyone and avoid eventually draining the land of critical resources and will inevitably lead to underproduction.

They're definitely going to be relying on unconventional solutions.

You probably suggest dark magic or something, but the most obvious solution is IMHO territorial expansion of the Homelands and expelling former inhabitants (well, sometimes marrying the most interesting), perhaps in some cases - expelling them to cities after a period of bond service.

If this world is/was anything like bronze age Europe, then some areas were very lightly used.
(of course there were also highly populated exceptions, at least before these exceptions collapsed - Settlements of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture - Wikipedia ).

PS. I'm not saying that such stuff is moral or nice, that's of course evil. But obvious evil imho.

LoserThree · Apr 12, 2021

Ciber said:
If 500 years past, surely Devicer is not the only source of technological advancement. Or at least anything we were not keeping secret has probably become fairly common knowledge by now. Surely some people have been inspired by Devicer's original masterpiece the reaper machines. Maybe no derivative machine has worked out economically or become widespread, but we should now have access to a pool of talent & experience with machinery that was not available before the skip.

Metals will still be valuable, but people have not stopped mining in the interim , so it should be a bit more relatively abundant depending on population growth. We will need to commission a proper census... Maybe people have played around more with different ores like lead and mercury even if they don't know what to do with them.

What about those guys who sent us the Glass Tree of Stupefaction? Did they ever follow through and attack the Tenners for their crimes against glass making?

Would it be possible for Loser to whip up a quick MS Paint map of our local area? If you do then I will use it as a base for a nicer map.

You hit this world early in the Bronze Age. Regionally, in fact, it was very early in the Bronze Age: basically the Copper Age with some fucking Super Copper showing up that has everyone in a tizzy.

When the B R E A K line shows up in the next (real) update, it will leave a world that is, in historical terms, still at the very beginning of the Iron Age. It might not even be fair to say the world is in the Iron Age. "It's the Early Bronze Age but there are these motherfuckers who are cheating," is more like it. "Hax." And while there were definitely some dramatic innovations in the first five hundred years of the OTL Iron Age, you may note that it's more characterized by disruption of authority, breaks in the continuity of practices, and differing degrees of dark ages.

You're right that Peyuvo isn't the only possible innovator. And five hundred years is long enough for several waves of colonization and exploitation to settle in and find their new normals. But no one else was going to build a clock or formalize osteopathic manipulation or figure out how to produce plentiful paper. Other innovations will be more in line with what you'd expect from the earliest centuries of the Iron Age.

liberty90 said:
You probably suggest dark magic or something, but the most obvious solution is IMHO territorial expansion of the Homelands and expelling former inhabitants (well, sometimes marrying the most interesting), perhaps in some cases - expelling them to cities after a period of bond service.

If this world is/was anything like bronze age Europe, then some areas were very lightly used.
(of course there were also highly populated exceptions, at least before these exceptions collapsed - Settlements of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture - Wikipedia ).

PS. I'm not saying that such stuff is moral or nice, that's of course evil. But obvious evil imho.

Despite their apparent mobility within the scope of the story so far, the Tenners don't have the cultural and social infrastructure to pull up whole communities and go to new places, or to form communities from fragments of old communities that then bond together to go to new places. They've been in their villages for a long, long time. Conquest is different because traveling out for conquest is going and finding someone else's stuff and making someone else make it work for you: Iron Age colonialism.

Real expansion, the kind I think you're talking about, is driven by calamity. Now, the Tenners are that calamity to everyone around them, who in turn is that calamity to everyone they run into a so on. And the Tempest Composite was such a calamity to the Tenners, too.

When the homelands start under-producing and the bureaucrats inform the public that calamity approaches, a bunch of different Tenners will try out a bunch of different solutions in a bunch of different regions of the TennerLands. Some will uproot and relocate to new fields and pastures, but they won't be the ones changing how things work in the homelands. And you called it right, problematic magic is absolutely going to be employed.

Earth-Destroyer · Apr 12, 2021

How interesting to see this again, look like Bianca will need a few generations to reestablish unity, and clear out any bad traits that have popped up in her absence.

liberty90 · Apr 12, 2021

LoserThree said:
It might not even be fair to say the world is in the Iron Age. "It's the Early Bronze Age but there are these motherfuckers who are cheating," is more like it. "Hax."

I would say that the Tenners are cheating much more than only with iron. To put it mildly. ^.^

The Homelands have more, much more than the early iron age out of cheats. And some among the conquered cities, especially Biancvint and Wreol, likewise.

But anyway, I understand your explanation.

TheBiggerFish · Apr 12, 2021

...Wow, the dice did not like us, did they?

What Can SV Teach an Evil Sorceress? (abandoned)

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Evil Neoliberal Cat

Evil Neoliberal Cat

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Plausible Engineer

One and Many

Big Bossu

Panties, Revolution. Big Drawers. Parachute.

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Evil Neoliberal Cat

Evil Neoliberal Cat

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