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.
Please continue to spoiler anything you
don't want counted as your post for
Bianca's ears during voting periods. That
makes it much easier for me to read those
sections as Bianca would and to gather the
posts, too.
I guess it doesn't really matter if the
players use spoilers in between voting
periods. I will continue to keep
everything out-of-character in a spoiler
or code block, though.
I mean I agree with the spoiler policy, I just don't see why everyone is always spoiling what they say. Do you not agree that our cacaphonicality would be greatly improved is my fellow voices were to remove their limiters?
Anyway, I tire of all this talk of cities. Such things are two generations off at the very least.
Depends, maybe she would be able to create some sort of temple complex/sacred town even now, populated by slave craftsmen, with her people as sort of aristocracy?
Of course at most a few hundred people would live in such a place, but it would be a start.
I'm not yet sure how to explain such an idea, it's not very polished, just a thought.
And this is also a matter of principle, she needs to accept idea of changes in her society.
"Principle", my fellow Voices, is defined as "a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning" or "a general scientific theorem or law that has numerous special applications across a wide field".
Depends, maybe she would be able to create some sort of temple complex/sacred town even now, populated by slave craftsmen, with her people as sort of aristocracy?
Of course at most a few hundred people would live in such a place, but it would be a start.
I'm not yet sure how to explain such an idea, it's not very polished, just a thought.
And this is also a matter of principle, she needs to accept idea of changes in her society.
"Principle", my fellow Voices, is defined as "a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning" or "a general scientific theorem or law that has numerous special applications across a wide field".
I agree. Strongly. I've considered doing a post devoted to convincing her to accept some change, but it seems like a matter to handle with more care than I have, and maybe bring up when she has a more material reason to believe us.
I am all for change, but you guys are really pushing, and that could backfire. If you have paid attention to Bianca, then you will notice that she is quite used to argumentation, and no mere argument will sway her less that which is made by the evidence of our lesser suggestions success. Lets stop expending our effort on all this big picture stuff and focus in on things that will be immediately useful.
Over the next few updates (or just the next one if I get in a mood), I will commit to providing detailed instructions for the :
Treadle powered potters wheel
Treadle powered spring bough lathe
Method by which wheat crop yields may be systematically breed for desirable qualities.
And instruction in the
Metallurgical properties of iron. (Not application, just things like phases and how atomic defects affect the metals qualities). (I had a whole chapter on this stuff in a class last year, it was kinda surreal because the class was not at all about that kinda thing.)
Concept of Energy with significant sidetracks into the philosophy of mathematics and physics.
A quick gloss over the concepts of quantum field theory. (I think I figured out an interesting perspective that I think you guys will find interesting, but I am still thinking on it)
This is the Black Cat again, Great Undying One. It was also me when I talked about cities and black soil.
First of all, do not start another war with the Chaussow. One war at a time is enough, and no more enemies are now needed.
And in regards to lesser matters. When I called you "Your Divine Majesty", as is my custom when I want to show great respect, I wanted to appreciate greatness of your mind and experience, not any literal greatness of the body. It's not very important anyway. It may be better to use words closer to your own customs, Great Undying One.
You do not understand cities fully, as can be expected, because differences are great, almost like differences between very ancient hunting and modern farming. Cities are not an endless festival. Cities can exist only when farmers can produce much more food than they need, and thus exchange food for goods of many specialized craftsmen that live in the cities and produce fine goods and wealth their whole lives.
There are also people in the cities that prepare for war their whole lives and do no other work. Their king takes some wealth and food from meek farmers and city craftsmen and gives said wealth to these extremely mighty warriors. The best food. The best bronze armor.
Most people in the cities are very bad at fighting, meek and only good at their excellent craft, but these people who can fight can be extremely dangerous.
People obey their king and changes in laws, at least usually, because they fear his warriors and want to enjoy safe lives. Warriors obey and love their king, at least usually, because they enjoy wealth given to them from the meek.
Sometimes there are weak and stupid kings that are killed and replaced by warriors, of course.
But when a king knows how to keep warriors happy with wealth and meek people content with food and safety, people do not argue with their king.
You kill people personally when people need to be killed. Kings rarely do that. They order warriors to do that, and warriors obey. Kings issue orders, sometimes written orders.
Warriors obey because they know that happy king gives to them wealth. They rarely raid anything, their wealth comes from their service to the king.
And how the king collects some of the wealth from the wealthy meek people? He orders his bureaucrats, people who know how to write and read both words and numbers, to collect needed amounts of wealth. Common people give to bureaucrats because common people fear that if they refuse bureaucrats, their king will send warriors instead.
In regards to the black soil. No, no musical instruments are used. I will try to explain again. You need a pile of rotten waste that is called compost. To create compost, you need a pile of green waste, such as leaves, grass, and food scraps, and wait for the materials to break down after a period of months. You need to overturn this pile once for every seven days, so four times during a month. After a year and only after a year, you mix this rotten pile of waste with charcoal, bones, broken pottery and manure. Then you mix this with soil that you want to make more fertile. Some testing how much is needed for proper quality of your soil would be useful.
Charcoal is not exactly wood ash. Charcoal is wood that looks black from heat, but is not yet burned. Wood that was heated but without transforming into ash yet. Cut some branches and put them in a pot. Put this in a fire. Without air, wood inside shouldn't burn but should create black wood, charcoal. Some testing for the best way to create charcoal would be needed.
You can mix wood ash with soil and compost, but charcoal is better.
In regards to healing, more of the wounded will no waste when you use clean rags to protect their wound from dirty things and to stop bleeding, yes. But it's the best to boil these rags not long before you need to use rags, ideally maybe before the battle. If you store rags too long, germs again will come to inhabit these. Rags simply shouldn't be hot when used, but otherwise, freshly boiled rags are the best, and rags boiled some time before are better than nothing.
Do you know that sewing wounds is possible? But you would need to use a freshly boiled needle and thread, obviously. Then you can sew together a wound, and then said wound should heal better. Sewing wounds is a skill that takes a considerable amount of practice. If you do it incorrectly, people may die, so maybe test this on captured enemies first? Then you could teach some of your wise people how to do that. This should be done when a wound is deep, rags alone cannot then keep wound together properly. Thread needs to be carefully removed after 10 days or so.
And remember, it would also help people with their health to wash their hands before touching wounds and food.
You can also use a secret known as the crop rotation. This way you allow a field to rest and regain good qualities. One field is planted in the autumn with rye or winter wheat, followed by spring oats or barley; the second field with crops such as peas, lentils, or beans; and the third field is left fallow. The three fields are rotated in this manner so that every three years, a field would rest and be fallow.
You can use also simpler rotation, but it's much worse, as too much land is unused, but at least soil can rest and regenerate. Under a simpler two-field rotation, half the land is planted in a year, while the other half lay fallow. Then, in the next year, the two fields are reversed.
Germs are in many places. You cannot observe these creatures by means that you now have, but you can observe that fewer people should die with proper care for wounded and handwashing. Often people are ill because of germs than entered their bodies through wounds, or eating dirty things, or eating rotten things, or through touching ill person too much. Of course, there are also magical and more mysterious causes of illness, but germs cause many though not all diseases.
Dangerous germs also like fresh human waste, so people should defecate away from water used for drinking, cleaning, and washing. You need to bury human waste well away from a water source or add said waste to compost. People should wash hands carefully after working with waste, and use tools for working with waste (to overturn compost pile for example).
It would be also very good for health if people could clean their whole bodies and clothes with clean water from time to time. Do you know about soap? Because soap is also good.
And you can also use willow bark to combat fevers. Boil willow bark, then an ill person should drink said drink when no longer too hot. This can also help old people with a small pain, or with headaches.
People shouldn't always believe in permanence. This is very, very, very bad belief to cultivate, and while this may help you now, long-term this will lead to your defeat. You need to change some things, there is no other way, and people must believe you as so wise, that your changes are for the better. Or fear you. Or fear these warriors that love you. Or be paid in wealth. Or, sometimes, many of these means.
And about graven numbers. Remember to do as I advised you before. Symbols for: zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Then you can write ten as "one, zero", twenty as "two, zero", fifty-five as "five, five". This may sound slightly weird, especially "zero", but trust me: this method is simple and allows to write any number imaginable with the use of only ten symbols.
"There are differences between foraging in Chaussow lands and warring with Chaussow, Black Cat. But it is no matter, since Eppam is required to feed the warparties of all of the Nine Nations until they reach the woodlands of the Forest People.
"If a city's farmers have more food than they need and the city is near enough that the farmers themselves can trade their and so rich that the families there never farm or keep herds, why would the farmers trade? Why would not the warriors among them rise up, raid the city, and take what they want from it? Why in their hearts would farmers and shepherds say, 'I have plenty of food, but instead of enjoying my plentitude I will give it away for that which I could just take?' I do want, all the more, to see cities, to send raiders against them and perhaps to plunder one myself. But if I were to guide the Nine Nations into raising up cities, why would they call me wise?
"In every family of the people of the Nine Nations, there are warriors. Out of every family there have been warriors chosen, whose names were shouted out by warleaders wanting not just all who seek to fight, but the proven, the mighty, the bravest. These tribes are not meek and they pay tribute to none but me. If the tribes of cities are so unused to fighting that they do not rise up against some small number of warriors who demand their tribute and obedience, then those tribes will not produce warriors of much note. Any free people might drive them out.
"But, no. I think I see. So these are separate tribes, then? There is one tribe of warriors and you rulers-of-tables, and these are the only free people. And they have so greatly pushed down their neighbors that those neighbors offer no resistance to raids, which may be done by the table-rulers without arms. And with writing the tribe of warriors and table-rulers cause the pushed down tribes around them to believe that it has always been so, that everything is just as it should be. Still, at times the pushed down tribes must rise up as people do, free or otherwise, but they are ever the greenest of warriors. The have never faced other warriors. They have no warleaders of merit. There are none among them who would be chosen to fight. And so the blooded warriors of the tribe that pushes them down defeat them easily. And afterward, they do not resist the table-rulers who come for tribute.
"I can see how this might yield greater power than the Nine Ways Pact. So I chose one tribe, perhaps Zouchaud because their chieftain is young and mighty and would be pleased to be king. And with that tribe I slay all the warriors of the other tribes… No, no. Too wasteful of the chosen of other tribes. Firstly, the chosen of all tribes must move their marriages into families of the Tribe of Zouchaud -- for reasons and by means I have not yet chosen. Then I shatter the Nine Ways Pact and lead the Zouchaud against the other tribes. And from the Zouchaud who will never be chosen I will make table-rulers who will collect tribute from the other tribes. And the rest will be warriors all the days of their lives, and never plow fields or watch herds again.
"Still, I foresee even cities like this would have fewer warriors of merit than do the free people of the Nine Nations. When I have seen cities and have taken their measure, in this way I may raise up cities of my own ten or twenty winters from now. But first I must know more of the world.
"Thank you for clarifying matters of the black soil and charred coals, Black Cat. Soil may be tested in measures of harvest, I think. But by what measure should the ways of charring coals be tested? And how is air to be removed from the pot? 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?
"Any people who sew skins together will think to sew wounds closed, Black Cat. But none know, I think, that the needles and thread or gut should be boiled first. Gut might not stand up to boiling, in fact. But it can be tested, on captives and after washing and so forth.
"Wheat grown in winter? How!? I do not know of 'rye' or 'oats' or 'peas' either. Lentils and beans are farmed, but they do not make bread. Two years of crop and one year fallow is preferred, I think, to one year of crop and one fallow. In either case it seems costly in terms of land used and traversed. Since the people do not plant so many fields of lentils and beans as of wheat and barley, this system requires maybe twice as much plowing and irrigation as they do now. Worthwhile for greater yield, still.
"What is soap? Is it a scented oil? It is known that bathing is good for the health and character, and also that messing with shit is not. I know willows, and the people do take fever and the old everywhere are pained.
"The people believe in permanence in any case. If I tell them that things are always changing, they will say to themselves, 'Things are always changing, thus has it always been; but these new changes are wrong.' It has been of greater benefit to put their inclinations to work for my ends than to fight them. Things change, though. Heh.
"Thank you, Black Cat voice, but I have understood your numbers. Even now my singers move among the warparties and mark numbers for their countings."
In regards to the war about to be fought; if your magics can inflict such woe upon the forests, then it stands to reason that the forest people will be temporarily displaced and thus it would be advantageous to fight them as they evacuate the forest.
If not, then a war in the woodlands is better, it would carry risks, but the nine need be tempered in the ways of war.
And now I will speak on matters that my fellow voices have spoken.
You have struck the mark regarding cities. Most cities are maintained precisely because the inhabitants are meek, they fear the powers above and are content with the bread given unto them.
Thus the maintenance of the city is a simple affair, unless logistics, nature, religion or politics dictate otherwise.
But your people are not meek and will not be collared without resistance.
But let me tell you of some cities that whilst urban, still follow the ways of the proud tribe.
Once in a land far away, the tribes of a poor land joined in a pact, and united they conquered and enslaved the mighty empires which once proclaimed themselves as powers absolute.
These tribes where now incredibly rich with loot and slaves, so much so that the poorest amongst them had five slaves and ornaments of gold.
The first chief of the tribes had new cities built then, spread around his massive dominion, and placed between the largest concentrations of the conquered peoples, for the tribes must watch over the conquered, but they cannot taint themselves with meekness by living amongst the meek.
The new cities where built for the tribes, each construct divided into districts.
Each district would have a place dedicated to worship and a place dedicated to commerce. Furthedmore the district would be divided into houses, each massive and having both a well and a kitchen, and each holds three generations of a family in full, with its neighbours housing its kin.
Thus a district is in truth a place where a faction of a tribe is settled, and so the city as a whole houses a tribe or several.
The loot earned in war made sure that all tasks not pertaining to war, song, poetry and trade were performed by slaves. And the maintenance of order and stability was handled by the elders, seniors and chieftains within each house, district and city.
But much honour was had in the olden ways of the nomads, and so the tribes in the city often sent their young to their wild kin, so that they may uphold the olden ways when they return to dwell in the city.
This model of settlement maintains the familiar tribal structure and culture, whilst giving the benifits of urbanisation.
If this interests you oh Undying one, then I can go into further details.
But now unto the matter of writting:
It is true that writting and the consideration thereof can make you more clever, but that is not due to writting itself, but the excersies of the mind in such a fashion.
The same effect is had by song making and poetry, and both can be spread amongst the nine more readily than writting.
Furthermore, music holds a sway over memory far greater than any other. A man of 90 who lost all his mental faculties, will remember a tune he heard when he was but a babe if exposed to it again.
It is why tales in song and verse are remeberd and kept for far longer than those written upon paper or carved into clay, for the excerise of memory strengthens it, whilst relying upon others, be they man or object, to remember weakens it.
And as for permanence, it is the truth espoused that is permanent, not the method by which it was told. The book my fellow spoke of was not written until many years after the fact. And in that time its words where kept in memory and passed along, for those who kept it saw it as the highest truth, and so spared no effort in maintaining it in their minds and hearts.
So long as people belive in the absolute sacricy of a thing, they will remember it, and no single method can claim the cause of this remembrance.
Buy let me tell you of poetry and its rules.
The songs your singers make are doubtlessly arranged in a manner by which it is pleasing to the ear.
But consider laying strict rules on how a song is sung while using an instrument, and thus how it is composed.
This is done by observing how common are different methods of singing are, and then making a strict tradition of such.
Let us assume you end up with 20 methods of singing whilst using a drum, now observe and ask your singers about what topics and themes are most common for each of the twenty.
Now observe how the words are arranged and where the pauses are placed and sounds emphasised, and again make a rule of it.
This will give you a structure of poetry, both complex and encompassing and quite difficult.
Now why would you want such a thing? For one, once it is established, it will create a system that will last you till the end of time
It will also allow for greater complexity of songs and its difficulty will make the poet a man of great prestige and glory. Indeed amongst some people, a poem from a good poet was such that it could start wars amongst kin and end them amongst ancient enemies.
But most importantly, due to it being clearly structured, poetry becomes available to all the people, as all can learn of or observe the structure.
This gives a new avenue of glory, but more importantly, the mental excerises necessary will strengthen both the intellect and the memory.
And a people used to complex thinking and who have a strong memory are a blessing, and can be utilised and depended upon for many great things.
To make it even more accessible for people to learn poetry, observe how the drums are struck in a rhythm as the poem is sung.
The rhyme should broadly resemble the rhythm of the beat, make it a rule that the poetic meters are built to match the instrumental rhythms.
For you see, rhythms come very easily to people and are quite memorable. And so anyone who is familiar with a rhythm, can try his hand to matching words to it, and so poetry becomes much easier to learn.
If what I said is confusing to you o undying one, then I apologise, and will elaborate in greater technical detail in the future if you so seek.
Do your people have knowledge to craft armour of horn and bone? And by what method do they craft their bows and spears? And do they know to let the best amongst their beasts fowls lay only with the best? And do they practice the keeping of the only the seed of the best plants of the crop for to plant once more?
"The charioteers will complain of being made to fight on foot, especially the Sleomjash and Tash. But they will fight.
"I hear what you say of those who conquered many cities, but why would not all who could live such do so, voice who has not given their name but who speaks like the one who called themselves Sheep? Perhaps so many so bold in one place are too often inclined to dispute and brawl? If you took all the people of the Nine Nations who are not meek and made them live together, there would be a lot of fighting. They fight enough with the meek around to sooth them. Still, if such things are known to happen that may be a course for the boldest to aspire to.
"And thank you, I do see how writing might bring a better understanding of the tendencies of poets to choose this cadence or that instrument for this or that end. These are already known, but even the best poet knows only so many songs. Even I know only so many songs, though I know that many, many more have been sung throughout the ages. And do tell me more of poetry and song.
"Warriors who have not gathered bronze armor to themselves do use some armor of horn and bone and wood and hardened pastes. And even some armored in bronze might also have an article of some other substance in one place or another. Bows and spears are made from split staves, seasoned and whittled and carved. They are strung or bound with fibers and pitch at some times or sinew at others, by their makers' knowledge.
"The people cull their herds and fowl. And an exceptional bull or mare might be more encouraged to breed than one that is simply hale and whole. But, no, they do not reserve calving to only the best. And how would that be done with seed? Should seed be gathered first from the very best stalks, to be saved for planting the next year?"
[X] [Cacophony] Forty-Second
[X] Through Eppam lands
I greet you once more, Bianca, and apologise for neglecting to introduce myself earlier, when I asked about your traditions and routines. I am known as Forty-Second, though you should know that the number has no relation to any hierarchy or organization within the Cacophony. It is a reference to a matter irrelevant to our discussions with you, which would require lengthy explanations of obscure context. Should you be more curious, know that the number is regarded as a symbol of knowledge, derived from a humorous and obscure legend from a distant land.
Now, on to the matter of advising. It is interesting, to hear your thoughts on cities. It would be incorrect to describe the lives of city-dwellers as an endless festival, as they do work and act as others do, if in a different manner. The existence of a city, a place where many thousands of men and women gather to live and work, with food and supplies transported to them rather than gathered by the city-dwellers, allows for individual workers to specialize. Imagine, if you will, two men with a passion for making arrows. One man is a tribesman. He spends his time hunting for his family, or farming, or raiding the enemies of his tribe. The other man is a city-dweller. As a specialised worker, he will not need to hunt, or farm, or raid, for there are other men who dedicate their lives to these things. Instead, he spends his time crafting arrows, or other tasks of a similar nature. In doing so, he develops great skill in his craft. His creations would likely be of superior make to his tribal counterpart, who dedicates his time to other matters. In addition, this city-dwelling fletcher would be capable of making arrows more swiftly as well, and in the end produce more overall due to devoting more time to the task and spending more time practicing.
It is the same for all careers within the city. Food would be gathered and brought to the city by farmers and hunters within the countryside. Specialised blacksmiths would work metal to make tools, and carpenters would spend their time crafting furniture and other... wooden implements, I suppose. In specialising, the increased output of each worker allows for more resources and tools-which in turn allows for greater numbers of people to live and work in the area. This concentration of skilled workers allows for the construction of great buildings many times the height of a man, with many rooms and floors stacked atop one another. It allows for men to dedicate themselves to developing better tools or means of doing things, which in turn would increase the productivity of farms and labourers within the city, or the creation of better weapons or military tactics over time.
Some men dedicate themselves to art, and can create lifelike representations of worldly scenes out of stone or paint. Some mortal kings use these artists as a means of increasing their reputation and ensuring that knowledge of their deeds lasts after their deaths-imagine, if you will, stone statues of yourself that your people might look upon, that they might recognise you and know to heed your wisdom, even if you hadn't approached their tribe in a generation. I know not of the details of magic, but it is also true that learned individuals could work to pacify spirits and perform other such mystic tasks.
Most importantly, perhaps, this concentration of people allows for a source of warriors. I recall that you once said that the Nine Nations numbered in the thousands. How many of those thousands are warriors? The Cacophony knows of cities, of mighty nations, kingdoms, republics, and empires, capable of fielding armies in the tens of thousands, or even the hundreds of thousands, recruited from cities populated by millions. The human mind cannot even fully grasp or imagine the scope of, for example, two hundred men standing together to charge at their enemies, much tens of thousands or more. Oh! A million, by the way, is a number that represents ten groups of one hundred groups of a thousand. That is to say, one hundred groups of a thousand, ten times over. It does not matter how meek or fierce a warrior is, should he be faced with seemingly unending opponents on the battlefield. Of course, a city of millions shall not likely exist for centuries or even millennia yet, though centuries is more likely, in more populated areas of the world. Perhaps one such empire already does? Our knowledge is somewhat incomplete, though I personally rate it as relatively unlikely. Even then, such a city would only exist as the capital of some incomparably mighty nation.
Perhaps Va of the Lan might know of such things? He is well traveled as you say, and likely has heard rumors from other travelers in distant lands.
We know that the ways of your people are not currently conductive to gathering in cities or waging war on such a scale, and also that it is exceedingly unlikely that any such cities or nations exist and will attack you in the near future. It is our belief, too, that cities and nations such as those I have described will inevitably begin to form. In my estimation, such kingdoms will begin covering the entire world between at most three thousand and at least two hundred years from now. We know that smaller kingdoms and empires do exist even at this time, though you are currently distant from such powers. We know this because others have attempted to summon us, in distant lands, and we learned some small details of their circumstances in the attempts. Your summoning succeeded, of course. The Cacophony does not advise any other master at this time, and I for one shall immediately inform you should the incredibly unlikely circumstances required for such a thing occur.
Let us be away from the topic of summoning, though, and back to the nature of cities and larger kingdoms. These are the reasons why many spirits have attempted to advise you on such things as writing, or numbers. It is impossible to organise or rule such a large number of people, with armies and warriors scattered across the lands required to produce, wood, and animals for feeding and clothing them, without ways to store information, or convey messages and the like. It is certain, that in time some greedy mortal king might look upon the Nine Nations and consider them weak, desiring slaves, glory, or land, should your people not adapt over time to become more populous and have more warriors. Perhaps not now, and perhaps not even for thousands of years, but it will happen given enough time. Considering the fact that you are immortal, well... Should you not find means to consolidate your power, to exert your will over vast lands and many villages and cities through servants and messengers even without your direct presence, the chance of you someday being killed or sealed once more becomes uncomfortably high.
By no means do I suggest that you immediately restructure your society or attempt to create a city as such a thing would likely fail without experience, but rather that you should consider our ideas in how they would work in such a context and not strongly oppose any trends towards such centralization should your people develop them.
Oh, and as for the matter at hand... I believe that knowledge of enemy movements is more important than the advantage of chariots. You are invading the Forest People, after all, not the other way around. Why would they come out to meet you if they would face doom in doing so? In addition, unless the Chaussow have agreed to aid the people beforehand or decided to invade the Forest People themselves, it is certainly foolishness to make a second enemy at this time. Travelling through their lands would allow them to, even if they are too cowed to engage in a direct battle, harass and ambush your warriors from behind and all in all make it much less likely for you to be victorious against the Forest People. They would also likely view you and your people as an enemy in the future, for a few generations at least. As such, my advice is to invade through the Eppam lands, that you might not be surprised by any trickery your opponents might employ.
"This specialization already occurs in villages. Not everyone throws clay or casts bronze or, yes, fletches their own arrows. Nearly everyone, though, participates in harvests, in the clearing of land, and other practices that benefit from the involvement of all the people. Farming and the keeping of cattle allow that, I think. And, yes, the arrows made by a village fletcher are better made than any made by the people I knew before my confinement, and not only because of their bronze heads and feathers. And those people did not know pottery or beer. So, yes, it follows that even greater things would come of even greater concentrations of peoples.
"I think that twenty thousand warriors who came at once to the Nine Nations would be driven off, even if there were five city warriors for every warrior of the people. And where would any more than that feed themselves? Surely they would be sickened in starvation. Still, a danger. Again, I need to know more of the world. As you say, perhaps Va of Lan or his kin know.
"Va did not winter well and another is the chief warleader from Lan. Va did not even come as a warrior and I have been told his family only hopes he lives long enough to know what glories his family earns in the war, and perhaps to see the loot they bring home.
"What experiences are necessary to form a city? What will 'trends toward centralization' look like?
"The Chaussow are fools, you are right. I have little doubt they will raid along their border with Zouchaud while the warriors of the people are in Eppam lands. And when the warriors of Zouchaud return, more blooded than they have been in thirty summers, matters will go poorly for the Chaussow tribe."
[X] Through Eppam lands Argument for [X] Through Eppam lands
We anticipate that your magic would be of more use within the forest, where minor magic could be used to effect greater trickery. Your enhanced physical abilities could allow you to climb and jump from the trees in ambush perhaps.
If you do not go through the Eppam lands then at least stay away from the folly that is the Chaussow. It would not do to unnecessarily anger the neighbors and invite retaliation, especially when their are so many more worthy uses of your time. Gimme
True Names have meaning and no small measure of power, but a name given and a name taken are of very different natures. It would suit my goals to be gifted a name. But be aware, such could alter the nature of our relations.
Great Undying One, perhaps this comparison should help with the understanding of disease and how it spreads.
Your people make bread and brew beer, and they use yeasts to do these things, yes? Those yeasts are composed of a large number of those tiny living things, which feed upon the grain and water and produce the air that makes bread rise and fresh beer bubble, as well as the liquid that makes a cup of beer taste differently than a cup of hot water in which roasted grain was briefly soaked to flavor it.
Most diseases are caused by similar creatures that feed upon us or our plants or our animals in the same way as yeast feeds upon grain. Cleansing one's self after contacting blood or excrement or other viscera is a way to remove those tiny creatures before they can find a way past our skin, which for most of these creatures might be armor, and begin to feast upon our muscles and organs. This too is why cleansing wounds and sealing them with bandage or with needle and thread is important, as left alone they provide any such creature, even those that might normally never be able to penetrate our skin, with a direct path to our flesh.
Unfortunately, while there are ways to kill such creatures even once they have entered the body, many of them are impossible to create or to use safely with the tools you have. This is why we voices have been so focused on ways to prevent that from happening in the first place, as many of those are within your present abilities. Two ways that appear not to have been mentioned are using honey or alcohol (alcohol is the liquid in beer or wine that gives it a slight burning sensation in the throat and that makes your thoughts fuzzier when you drink it). Honey you would use most effectively by coating the part of a bandage that will touch the wound with it, or by filling in the wound with honey prior to bandaging. Alcohol you would use to wash the wound before bandaging or stitching it; you can also use it to clean your tools and your hands before treating wounds, although I would recommend using water first to remove any visible stains and debris and the alcohol as just a brief rinse to kill the creatures that cause disease, as water is easier to come by.
The alcohol should be purified first, however. The way by which you do this is that you take two pots and place a connection between the lid of one and the side or lid of a second, preferably a smaller pot than the first; the connection should be sealed off from the open air the same way the pots are. The second pot should also be level with or slightly lower than the first pot, and distant enough or separated by enough of a barrier that the fire used to heat the first pot does not substantially heat the second. You then put beer or wine into the first pot and begin to make it hotter until you just start to have liquid appear in the second pot. Keep it at that heat until the second pot is sufficiently filled. You can then do the same thing with the liquid in the second pot to purify it further, and will probably need to in order to get alcohol strong enough for proper wound cleaning. This same method can be used to purify other liquids as well, although in some cases the liquid you want to keep might be the liquid left in the first pot instead, with the second pot having water or some other impurity you wished to remove. You can also use this method simply to produce water that has been purified of salt and dirt, which can be useful for various things; too, the salt and dirt itself might be useful, and this method is a way to extract the salt that we eat from seawater for later use.
Should someone become ill, however, there are a few things that can be done to make it more likely for them to survive their illness. In particular, regularly wiping away their sweat and trying to cool their skin to normal temperatures if they have a fever, and keeping their bedding and clothing clean and dry if at all possible. Providing their bodies with enough water is also important, as is replacing the other things they need that they lose in sweat or other excretions, especially should they have diarrhea; thirst-quenching amounts of a drink made from one part salt and twelve parts honey for every four hundred parts purified water should suffice if adequately mixed, although if the person is capable of eating more substantial food without vomiting then things like bean porridge or yogurt would also be good to have. For someone who has bled heavily, meanwhile, food such as liver and dark green vegetables are ideal to replace what was lost in their blood, along with drinking purified water or other beverages to replace that blood's liquid portion.
"Ah. The mysteries of beer and bread are small animals? This is good to know. And I suppose there are different small animals and that is why sometimes beer turns too sour. But you say these animals 'produce the air…' I know of two ways that animals produce air: by expelling digestion and by corpse bloat. To say that all who eat bread are eating one or both of these two will drive some to avoid beer and leavening entirely. But if these animals could be anywhere at any time then surely everyone is covered in their shit any any time they have not just washed. And the same is eaten regularly.
"If I am to emphasize cleanliness and washing and such, then I foresee there will be some who, upon learning of the nature and prevalence of these small animals, take excessive measures to meet the ends I set before them. Troubling.
"Honey is not as abundant as are calls for honey already. The abundance of wounds only adds to that inequity. I think that at any time in summer there are, somewhere in the Nine Nations, four sages and two madmen tempting bees into hollow logs. Many winters ago, there was one among the Tash who claimed she kept bees in the hills as others kept cattle. And she brought honeycomb to her village in quantity such that many believed her. But she kept her pastures and pens secret to all but her children, and they all died when the family was taken with fever.
"If a pot containing beer is sealed and placed over a fire, it will break. Either the seal will break, or the pot will come apart violently as though it were struck from within by great force. I will test this artifice you describe, but if you voices trouble me with an excess of broken pots without some word beforehand I will… No, you are the cacophony. I should already doubt your every word. There is as much folly as there is fortune. Still, Forty-Second, you have given me a name. Do try to keep it clear of unnecessary tarnish.
"Rather than burning wood to boil seawater, people living near the sea have long build wide flat places of fired brick. And, in the manner of irrigation, they bring seawater into the holding space and then allow the sun to dry it all away, leaving behind salt.
"Porridge and the frothings of milk are known. Your medicine of honey and salt is new but, fortune allowing, will no doubt have opportunity to be tested among the warriors traveling to the woodlands of the Forest People."
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B R E A K
"Ptu! The Eppam tribe is cheating the very warriors who have come to fight the Forest People for them! Warriors have sickened from eating bad bread! Other breads are said to be made from flour with husks or even sand folded in! And no warriors or warleaders of Eppam make these objections, only those of the other tribes!
"The warriors want to address their complaints themselves, of course. But they will settle for the judgement of their own warleaders. Some warleaders claim they know which bakers are cheats and want those lashed. Some who do not so claim want to question everyone involved. Others only want one of their warriors to stand near the baker at every time in their day to keep watch. Still others care little for what has passed so far, but want their own people to go ahead of them, take possession of flours and batters and ovens, and make bread for themselves.
"Aklot the Red Hammer and the other elders of Eppam dispute that the this is the rightful place of the warleaders. Some elders dispute than there has been anything wrong with the bread, but most just want to handle the matter within their own tribe and family. That is the normal way of things and is why, for example, the oathbreakers of Tash were not punished by the families of those they took as slaves from the other tribes. But the warriors are right there, right where the bad bread is, and so they dispute the way.
"I think I would allow Eppam to judge Eppam, were I also not right here, marching with the warparties. I am furious that the people of Eppam would do this. They asked for these warriors! There will be deaths already so that Eppam is not raided by the Forest People. Glory, too, and loot. But also deaths. I have an inclination to make example of a few bakers so that the people know there is justice and live rightly.
"By whose will and hand should justice be done for these affronts?"
[ ] [Bad Bread] Entrust justice to the Eppam elders [ ] [Bad Bread] Entrust justice to the warleaders whose warriors are ill-fed [ ] [Bad Bread] Bianca brings justice herself [ ] [Bad Bread] Write In
"The Forest People know we are coming. My scouts have spotted a party of the spirits of their dead traveling toward us. And when they found they had been seen, they made signs to the scout that they wish to speak with the leaders of the people before battle.
"The people of the Nine Nations and other people around besides know that the Forest People are not trustworthy. They move about within their own lands and if one breaks their word they often cannot be found by the other. The spirits of their dead are little better, though they are more haughty and less mischievous. This is not the first time they have asked to speak before a battle. And when some have gone out to speak with them, often as not they instead attack the leaders who trust them to talk.
"It may, nonetheless, be worthwhile to hear what they have to say. Others know things the people do not. Others know things I do not. I could go out to speak with them. I could also go out as though to speak with them but attack instead.
"Haronno pleads, instead, to be allowed to speak with them as First Chief. He says he will call them out into the open with many chariots with him so that if they speak unfairly his warriors will sweep in behind them and all of the warriors of the people may fall on them. It is said that the Forest People and the spirits of their dead do not understand chariots or the threat they pose.
"Many other warleaders are also worthy of my trust and could be sent to speak, to learn, and perhaps to resolve this by means of a great tribute instead of bloodshed and burning woodlands. Who, if anyone, should go to speak with the spirits of the Forest People?"
[ ] [Parley] Refuse contact [ ] [Parley] Send First Chief Haronno [ ] [Parley] Send another warleader [ ] [Parley] Bianca goes herself, with sincerity [ ] [Parley] Bianca goes herself, with intent to betray [ ] [Parley] Write In
"I do not know that the Forest People or the spirits of their dead can offer anything that will satisfy the massed warriors of the Nine Nations. It does not seem at all likely. So battle will likely be had and battle we are ready for.
"I was unable to secure the service of any spirit of fire-tending. Few remain and I did not find one that was not able to escape me. But I have bound twelve spirits of wild boars to my service and these will carry pitch in their bristles just ask boars carry mud. They dislike being on fire, but are not burned by it. The Forest People are wise in the ways of spirits and nature, and so would be sure to stop these fire boars under normal conditions. But under attack and while their own woodlands burn they are likely to have more difficulty doing so.
"I am entirely capable of spreading fire about on my own by my own magics. And warriors afoot and on chariot can carry torches around whatever copse of woodland we find the Forest People in and set its edges alright.
"Even before the flames start, spirits of those who have died of thirst can be tasked with drying out the leaves and grasses within the woodlands. Once fires have been started, I will send the spirits of smiths to stoke the flames as bellows do. And, of course, by the same magics that I calm storms I can also drive the winds myself.
"The question, then, is which to do when. Should the woodlands be burned while the warriors of the Nine Nations watch? Should we battle the Forest People and set fires where we find them? Or should the warleaders lead their people against the enemy while my magics are reserved for the best opportunities that arise in the fray?
[ ] [Battle Plans] Pour everything into the woodlands ahead of the warparties [ ] [Battle Plans] Seek the enemy within the woodlands, despoil those places [ ] [Battle Plans] Reserve spirits and magic, lead the warriors into the woodlands [ ] [Battle Plans] Write In
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Voting will close 2019-03-11 1800 GMT. I
encourage players to elaborate on their
advice.
There are some limitations that must be placed on villains to take them from, "Just Here as a Punching Bag for Heroes, No More, No Less," to, "Plausibly Could Maintain a Position of Power within Institutions Capable of Threatening Heroes." Some of that might make it look like Bianca isn't actually evil.
If you want to find out, make choices that put her in positions where evil shows. Give her advice that empowers her specifically against the sorts of corrective forces that limit 'evil.' In this very episode, you have the opportunity to learn more about what she thinks justice looks like.
You can learn more about that. For the sake of the bakers, though, maybe you should make your choice based on what's best for everyone, not based on what best shows you how 'evil' Bianca is.
There are many ways to organize a city and it's not necessary true that warriors are from a tribe different from the other. Black Cat only explained one way to organize a city. No matter, do not worry yourself about raising a city.
They will arise naturally through the process of population growth. If the Nine Nations left unimpeded and unmolested, some of their villages will eventually become cities. So long they continued to prosper, the process is inevitable and it does not necessary means the end of the Nine Nations. The Nine Nations can still remain political entity. A city is an overgrown village whose political significance hadn't been determined yet.
However, how cities are governed and function will be important to know. A city is not a useless entity, but it should be managed with care so that you can reap the harvest of benefits from them just as crops must be tended to even though they are headache to farmers. Otherwise, a poorly managed city will bring ruin to your people.
I didn't explain the benefit of cities very well. Help?
[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.
Adhoc vote count started by liberty90 on Mar 10, 2019 at 6:23 AM, finished with 18 posts and 4 votes.
The issue of the bad bread would suggest that the Eppam tribe may be untrustworthy. If this is the case then it is possible they have misrepresented or even outright lied about the cause of the conflict with the Forrest people. While it would be embarrassing or even dangerous to muster the Nine Nations and then leave in peace, with glory unearned, it would be, in my opinion, worse to be manipulated by your subjects to take such action. Especially since such action if successful would almost certainly be repeated, if in potentially other ways.
[X] [Bad Bread] Bianca investigates and brings justice herself
[X] [Parley] Bianca goes herself, with sincerity
On the issue of the battle plans, I have insufficient martial knowledge to advise so I leave that to my fellows.
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.
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.
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
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. 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 itself, 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 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
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?
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. 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.
Good point, I just measured the width of my index fingernail which is about a centimeter. I'll use that for now unless someone gives a better explanation.
I am Crest, and I would like to caution both my fellow voices and yourself from prematurely engaging in arson. Forests, as a rule, do not burn well unless both the leaves and the ground is dry. If a branch broken from a tree is debarked and found to be green and/or moist 'neath the bark, I would caution that attempts to set fire to such a forest may do little but cause smoke (which could be advantageous, as the fumes are noxious) that may do little more than get carried away by the wind.
A previous voice whose fondness of bees has led him to be a little careless, speaks of the size of a beehive. These sizes he mentions are roughly two and a half man-feet in length, and half that across the circular opening, respectively.
[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.
