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Worldbuilding the Quest 2a, The Outland

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[X] North-Western River

[] With the settlement set so deep and high inland it would ensure minimal damage from the yearly storm surges. Thanks to the thick jungle the pixie can use their short burst of flight to lose tail of possible predators by navigating through the trees or flying straight up. The tree tops also provide decent living place hidden from ground-bound predators and a bountiful food source like fruits and insects.
[X] With the settlement set so deep and high inland it would ensure minimal damage from the yearly storm surges. Located some distance from the river it also ensures protection from the effects of flash flooding and the river breaking its banks while still being close enough to a significant source of fresh water. The higher elevation from the surrounding area is also boon as it prevents the build up of stagnant water and as such all the diseases and illnesses that come with it. Thanks to the thick jungle the pixie can use their short burst of flight to lose tail of possible predators by navigating through the trees or flying straight up. The dense forests of this area also make it a lot harder for predators to get at a pixie in the first place as the darker wetter undergrowth provides lots of camouflage. The myriad hollows in the trees themselves also help by providing places to hade in when a predator is near. The tree tops also provide decent living place hidden from ground-bound predators and a bountiful food source like fruits and insects. However most home will not be located at the very top of the trees unless they are located in a hollow in the tree itself so as to have a safe place to hide from the harsh winds and heavy rain that comes with every storm season.
 
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Improved version of Maestonz's vote

[X] North-Western River
http://i.imgur.com/sTBkecQ.png
[X] With the settlement set so deep and high inland it would ensure minimal damage from the yearly storm surges. Located some distance from the river it also ensures protection from the effects of flash flooding and the river breaking its banks while still being close enough to a significant source of fresh water. The higher elevation from the surrounding area is also boon as it prevents the build up of stagnant water and as such all the diseases and illnesses that come with it. Thanks to the thick jungle the pixie can use their short burst of flight to lose tail of possible predators by navigating through the trees or flying straight up. The dense forests of this area also make it a lot harder for predators to get at a pixie in the first place as the darker wetter undergrowth provides lots of camouflage. The myriad hollows in the trees themselves also help by providing places to hade in when a predator is near. The tree tops also provide decent living place hidden from ground-bound predators and a bountiful food source like fruits and insects. However most home will not be located at the very top of the trees unless they are located in a hollow in the tree itself so as to have a safe place to hide from the harsh winds and heavy rain that comes with every storm season.
 
veekie said:
[X] Eastern Lake
[X] The large herbivores keeps the jungle clear, and that means less predators that fancy a taste of pixie getting a shot at ambush. And if you can get SOME kind of way to manipulate the beasts, then you have something to use as beasts of burden. And camping on their backs a way to cope with flood surges safely
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So you want to put our village on the backs of dinosaurs/elephants/whatever? I suppose that sounds cool enough for me to look over the lack of easy food that a treetop option would give, but I do have a bigger concern. How do we move/establish the village whenever one of the animals dies? It might be okay for now, but it would start getting annoying after too long.
 
bluefur87 said:
So you want to put our village on the backs of dinosaurs/elephants/whatever? I suppose that sounds cool enough for me to look over the lack of easy food that a treetop option would give, but I do have a bigger concern. How do we move/establish the village whenever one of the animals dies? It might be okay for now, but it would start getting annoying after too long.
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I think the bigger concern is that if we can even build anything on it in the first place. And if those beasts sleep standing because otherwise the settlement will crash in a day.
 
I have to say though, tree cover is much more dangerous to us than open space, because we have quick burst flight...but it does nothing for tree based gribblies.
 
veekie said:
I have to say though, tree cover is much more dangerous to us than open space, because we have quick burst flight...but it does nothing for tree based gribblies.
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Open space will also make sure that the fairies has nowhere to hide when encounter endurance predators and flying ones will make a quick grab of them too. Unless we dig down having a prey species living in plain view is just asking to be a quick snack, in my opinion.
 
@TerrisH , what aerial predators are we aware of?

Also, veekie, I am still curious as to any plans you have on rebuilding our village every several years? That's a lot of pixie labor to tie up, not to mention securing our dwellings onto these animals. It's a pretty tall undertaking that I would like you to expand upon as, even if it turns out to not be worth it, the very act of brainstorming can be enlightening. We absolutely should consider multiple options for our settlement and not be afraid to get creative.
 
bluefur87 said:
Also, veekie, I am still curious as to any plans you have on rebuilding our village every several years? That's a lot of pixie labor to tie up, not to mention securing our dwellings onto these animals. It's a pretty tall undertaking that I would like you to expand upon as, even if it turns out to not be worth it, the very act of brainstorming can be enlightening. We absolutely should consider multiple options for our settlement and not be afraid to get creative.
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I am wondering if we can go down instead of up. It will definitely not escape destruction when the flood come but digging burrows would probably be easier than erect and fortify a new settlement every year.
 
[X] North-Western River
[X] With the settlement set so deep and high inland it would ensure minimal damage from the yearly storm surges. Located some distance from the river it also ensures protection from the effects of flash flooding and the river breaking its banks while still being close enough to a significant source of fresh water. The higher elevation from the surrounding area is also boon as it prevents the build up of stagnant water and as such all the diseases and illnesses that come with it. Thanks to the thick jungle the pixie can use their short burst of flight to lose tail of possible predators by navigating through the trees or flying straight up. The dense forests of this area also make it a lot harder for predators to get at a pixie in the first place as the darker wetter undergrowth provides lots of camouflage. The myriad hollows in the trees themselves also help by providing places to hade in when a predator is near. The tree tops also provide decent living place hidden from ground-bound predators and a bountiful food source like fruits and insects. However most home will not be located at the very top of the trees unless they are located in a hollow in the tree itself so as to have a safe place to hide from the harsh winds and heavy rain that comes with every storm season.

Well, after seeing arguments and suggestions, I shall vote.
Maestonz said:
I am wondering if we can go down instead of up. It will definitely not escape destruction when the flood come but digging burrows would probably be easier than erect and fortify a new settlement every year.
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Flooding is probably going to be a thing where the water level is several feet for days at least, I wouldn't be surprised if it was weeks. Unless we build into a sheer cliff face several feet above ground, we're going to just not have a village for a significant part of the year. Then there are still other problems, such as soil erosion and ground water. We can probably do something different later, but for now I think a tree is our best bet.

I've been thinking about it and I think our best bet for building defenses at the start is probably building something of a large interwoven defense of twigs.

Also, anyone want to volunteer for the insanely dangerous task of trying to domesticate hawks or whatever the smaller predator bird is? It would likely be hard and incredibly time consuming, probably taking multiple groups to do it, but the rewards would be rather notable. We could also try domesticating the bigger birds to use them to carry our 'houses' around, thus allowing the plan for building on the backs of what I suspect are dinosaurs some more credence. That would be even more dangerous and time consuming most likely though, as we'd need to feed a much larger sustainable population. Speaking of which, we should probably set up some stuff to make it an easier thing to do. We might even be able to hunt by riding hawks and teaching them to fish!
 
bluefur87 said:
Also, anyone want to volunteer for the insanely dangerous task of trying to domesticate hawks or whatever the smaller predator bird is? It would likely be hard and incredibly time consuming, probably taking multiple groups to do it, but the rewards would be rather notable. We could also try domesticating the bigger birds to use them to carry our 'houses' around, thus allowing the plan for building on the backs of what I suspect are dinosaurs some more credence. That would be even more dangerous and time consuming most likely though, as we'd need to feed a much larger sustainable population. Speaking of which, we should probably set up some stuff to make it an easier thing to do. We might even be able to hunt by riding hawks and teaching them to fish!
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How would we do that though given the bird is stated to consider the fairy to be a large meal? The only thing that came to my mind is stealing their eggs and raised the young and selectively breeds friendlier one which would take many bird's lifetime to get right.
 
Maestonz said:
How would we do that though given the bird is stated to consider the fairy to be a large meal? The only thing that came to my mind is stealing their eggs and raised the young and selectively breeds friendlier one which would take many bird's lifetime to get right.
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Yes, that is exactly how we would do this incredibly dangerous endeavor. At least on a reliable level. It would cost a lot of food, likely several pixie lives, and many, many, turns to achieve, but we'd get a domesticated predator bird that could at least defend our nest and be of an immense boon when hunting. It will be even better if we can breed magic varieties of them. I guess setting up parameters for what we would need to start this project would be a good first step? We likely won't manage it on turn one.

I'd say if we could start with a healthy population and don't hit any major hiccups we could probably get initial results within 5 turns (Depending on how long a turn is)? More refined breeding will likely be difficult and slower than we could naturally do, especially since we aren't likely to have a large pop size.

I'm just throwing this idea out there for now. :V
 
bluefur87 said:
Yes, that is exactly how we would do this incredibly dangerous endeavor. At least on a reliable level. It would cost a lot of food, likely several pixie lives, and many, many, turns to achieve, but we'd get a domesticated predator bird that could at least defend our nest and be of an immense boon when hunting. It will be even better if we can breed magic varieties of them. I guess setting up parameters for what we would need to start this project would be a good first step? We likely won't manage it on turn one.

I'd say if we could start with a healthy population and don't hit any major hiccups we could probably get initial results within 5 turns (Depending on how long a turn is)? More refined breeding will likely be difficult and slower than we could naturally do, especially since we aren't likely to have a large pop size.

I'm just throwing this idea out there for now. :V
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If we all agree to do this I would suggest we develop some kind of weapons first. To defend ourselves better and to find food for the bird as they seems to be carnivorous.

Food likely won't be a problem since the fairy is so small. 30 cm tall so I guess one would weigh around 0.5-1 kg (~1-2 pounds) or less.
 
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Maestonz said:
If we all agree to do this I would suggest we develop some kind of weapons first. To defend ourselves better and to find food for the bird as they seems to be carnivorous.

Food likely won't be a problem since the fairy is so small. 30 cm tall so I guess one would weigh around 0.5-1 kg (~1-2 pounds) or less.
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We have stone spears according to the tech, so that's a start. I think having food reserves to help with the initial investment would be best. We also need some way of making sure to continue to get the eggs from the more friendly ones, and since we lack the ability to actually cage off that many birds this size...

I'm actually thinking this might not be possible to do this way. At least not for a long time. Another possibility could be that we put out food scraps leftover from hunting for the birds to eat as some sort of offering. Ideally this would make them come to rely on us more and more, with those that do fighting off others for interfering with their territory.

I'm... not sure how well that would actually work...

Still, I think domesticating them would definitely be worth it. It would be something like flying horses for us. I suppose we could try and domesticate non predator birds first/instead?
 
bluefur87 said:
We have stone spears according to the tech, so that's a start. I think having food reserves to help with the initial investment would be best. We also need some way of making sure to continue to get the eggs from the more friendly ones, and since we lack the ability to actually cage off that many birds this size...

I'm actually thinking this might not be possible to do this way. At least not for a long time. Another possibility could be that we put out food scraps leftover from hunting for the birds to eat as some sort of offering. Ideally this would make them come to rely on us more and more, with those that do fighting off others for interfering with their territory.

I'm... not sure how well that would actually work...
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As the birds are said to be bird eaters and mostly hunts above the canopy I don't think it's going to work.
bluefur87 said:
Still, I think domesticating them would definitely be worth it. It would be something like flying horses for us. I suppose we could try and domesticate non predator birds first/instead?
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Given the fairies themselves can fly how about we try improve their natural ability for that? Increase stamina, try to unlock something like Air Magic or try to find way to glide.

With the size of the fairy and the location of the settlement, our most viable choices of animal to domesticate is small rodents or any tree dwelling critters really.
 
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Maestonz said:
Given the fairies themselves can fly how about we try improve their natural ability for that? Increase stamina, try to unlock something like Air Magic or try to find way to glide.

Given the size of the fairy and the location of the settlement, our most viable choices of animal to domesticate is small rodents or any tree dwelling critters really.
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Sustained flight without having to use magic for it, and likely a larger carrying capacity are both rather good.


That said, I'm beginning to think it is indeed a pipe dream and too expensive to achieve in the near future. :(
 
I was thinking about trying to rush the magic tree and the tech tree with my family. Well that and try create a family of sparks from girl genius.
 
ConfusedPotato said:
I was thinking about trying to rush the magic tree and the tech tree with my family. Well that and try create a family of sparks from girl genius.
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Researcher and Inventor family? Fair enough. Though currently the most advanced magic is to divine a water source and create sparks of fire it would be a while before we have access to anything significant.
 
Maestonz said:
Researcher and Inventor family? Fair enough. Though currently the most advanced magic is to divine a water source and create sparks of fire it would be a while before we have access to anything significant.
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Well that and the knowledge hoarder family, maintain all the books and libraries, that sort of thing.
Also the computers/data sphere if we get that far.
 
ConfusedPotato said:
I was thinking about trying to rush the magic tree and the tech tree with my family. Well that and try create a family of sparks from girl genius.
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Hmm...

If I were to, say, become a family focused on hunting, how would you feel about developing a magic based on song that could be sung to newly hatched chicks throughout their life to help domesticate them?
 
Sure, but might take a bit but I will add it to the list. Though it will take your cooperation to do probably as I plan on having my family be primarily knowledge focused.
 
vote ended.
[X] North-Western River
[X] With the settlement set so deep and high inland it would ensure minimal damage from the yearly storm surges. Located some distance from the river it also ensures protection from the effects of flash flooding and the river breaking its banks while still being close enough to a significant source of fresh water. The higher elevation from the surrounding area is also boon as it prevents the build up of stagnant water and as such all the diseases and illnesses that come with it. Thanks to the thick jungle the pixie can use their short burst of flight to lose tail of possible predators by navigating through the trees or flying straight up. The dense forests of this area also make it a lot harder for predators to get at a pixie in the first place as the darker wetter undergrowth provides lots of camouflage. The myriad hollows in the trees themselves also help by providing places to hade in when a predator is near. The tree tops also provide decent living place hidden from ground-bound predators and a bountiful food source like fruits and insects. However most home will not be located at the very top of the trees unless they are located in a hollow in the tree itself so as to have a safe place to hide from the harsh winds and heavy rain that comes with every storm season.

win, with 7 votes out of 11, with 2 abstaining and 2 for other options.
 
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