Year One: Summer
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The City-States of The Great River Valley have begun to build and to prosper in these dark times.In Frosthilt, Marrow Ironblood orders his Fishermen to begin large-scale Fishing operations on The Great River using nets, [7] the Fishermen aren't having much luck, perhaps something else is eating the fish?
Acting under Ironblood's orders Hunters to begin stockpiling food for the winter, [19] Their Efforts are bountiful, there's enough Meat to last for two years, Thankfully they don't have to worry about preservation, as the Ice Flats naturally refrigerate Food. However, they've overhunted the Ice Flats and the ecosystem will need time to recover.
Seeking to gain Mineral Wealth Marrow sends a fairly large mining party to the Eastern Hills to search for ores, A third of the Frosthilt Army accompanies them. [8+4=12] The Miners are fairly successful in digging out a few reasonably deep mining tunnels, Although they don't find as much as ore as expected, the Dwarves say that the Mines are fairly rich in minerals deeper on.
Unfortunately several prospectors didn't notice the wet stone on the roof of one of the Tunnels, and the Two Dwarves with them were to preoccupied with digging shiny Iron to survey their work environment. [1] A Redguard struck it with his pick and the thin layer separating the Tunnel from a large underground lake shattered, causing the Tunnel to Flood, Killing 18 Humans, a Redguard, and Two Dwarves who weren't fast enough to outrun the torrent. Frosthilt is a predominantly Male Civilization and none of them had children but their Friends are very upset by this and the popularity of Marrow Ironblood's leadership decreases sligtly. Miners realize the dangers involved and demand a higher payment for their efforts.
Despite the set-backs the Miners do manage to retrieve roughly 300 pounds of Coal and 100+ pounds of low-grade Iron. The success of the Mining Expedition balances out Marrow's Unpopularity, setting at roughly the same level as before.
The Dwarves of Frosthilt proceed to carve an underground Mushroom Farm out of the Ice, [4+2=6] They immediately run into some problems, the Ice is extremely fragile and difficult to mine, the climate isn't suited to growing plump-helmets, and a few extremist worshipers of Veranis are angered by the Ice carving, claiming that they are, Quote:"SPITTING ON THE GREAT AND HOLY ICE BRINGER'S FACE!" Unquote. Tensions boil over and they attack the Miners, [5+2=7] VS [14+4=18] And are slaughtered because they were foolish enough to engage them in their own tunnels without any weapons, apart from their faith and a few knives, as opposed to Dwarven Pick-Axes. The conflict results in a small feud between the Dwarves of Frosthilt and the Church of Veranis, People on both sides are demanding that Marrow tries the other side for treason.
Out of curiosity, Marrow Ironblood begins to ask around about the Mutant Immigrants he's let into his City, It seems that the vast majority of them are the children of Radiation victims that have been ostracized from their former societies. A handful have been born in Frosthilt, As a whole, the Mutants are all extremely hardworking and are grateful to Marrow Ironblood for his openness.
In The Western Confederacy Tholin Bronzehelm commands the Confederate stone masons to ensure that the Border Outposts are still in working order, [4+8=12] It seems that the harsh winter storms took a toll on them, but they are still functional and the masons immediately go about fully restoring them with the prediction that they'll be done by summertime.
River Forts are order to Tax any vessels trafficking The Great River and to turn away anyone who refuses to pay. [14-6=8] The few Merchants desperate enough to sail through confederate waters pay heavily for the privilege, making up for the lost trade that the Confederacy's self-imposed isolation has brought.
Tholin mandates that the Citizens begin to commence agricultural work on the surface, [16-2=14] They manage to get plenty of crops planted and growing by the end of the season, [10-2=8] The Fishing Projects are less lucrative but they manage to feed themselves and their immediate family members. [3] The Goat Herding goes remarkably well, until a mysterious species of winged monsters that look like a cross between a Lion and an Eagle begin to abduct mountain goats and slaughter any of the Ranchers brave enough to fight against them. The Orcish Scouts say that they have several Nests in the tops of a few of the more isolated Mountains of the Confederacy, The People have already come up with a name for them: Griffins. They are harassing above-ground activities and will continue to do so until they are stopped somehow, So far, 28 Dwarf Ranchers and 17 Orc Ranchers have died to the Griffins, Over 200 Mountain Goats have been abducted and taken to their Nests.
Tholin Bronzehelm orders the Dwarf Miners of the Confederacy to search for untapped ore seams, [17+4=21] After weeks of hard searching they haven't found anything of value. Finally, when even Tholin's famous patience was nearing it's end one of the searchers reported that they'd found a mysterious steel door at the bottom of an unexplored cave, The door was supposedly indestructible and had many strange and ancient runes carved into it's surface. The Miners who found it didn't tell anybody but Tholin about their discovery, fearing that it would be pillaged before they could have their fair share of the treasure, if there is any behind the door, of course.
The labors of the already existing Mines are enough to supply the Troops for now, but in a few years they will certainly be depleted. Some of the Orcs have sent a petition to Tholin Bronzehelm asking for permission to build a few Raiding Skiffs to attack and loot Riverside Villages from other Regions.
In The Paradise of Argonia King Sasslartaas has commanded his Followers to build a more complex irrigation system using slave labor, [9] Their efforts are partially successful and the growth of crops seems to be slightly faster as a result, However, several dozen Mutant Slaves die from exhaustion while working, Significantly lowering the Mutant Population their opinion of the King.
The King orders his Hunters to find and catalog the desert Beasts in the hopes of taming them, [20+4=24] While they were searching One of the Hunting Parties found an enormous golden Dragon hibernating in the sand dunes. The Hierophants say that it is an omen and that it may be an incarnation of Thrallax the Wise One, sparking religious upheaval. Coincidentally, this also increases the Argonian Citizenry's Loyalty to King Sasslartaas. The Hunters that found it were afraid to wake it up so they decided to tell King Sasslartaas about their discovery and they await his orders.
[13+4=17] The other Hunting Parties managed to bring back a few strange, snake-like lizards, that are about the size of a large dog, they seemed to be tolerant of their Argonian captors but when they tested their fighting capabilities by putting one of them into a pit-fight against an unfortunate Mutant Slave it showed no hesitation and viciously assaulted the Mutant. The Mutant managed to get a lucky hit and clubbed it's face in but he was bitten in the process, After two days of a strange illness that caused muscle spasms and delirium his primary heart stopped, putting the Slave into a coma. The Hierophant Scholars suspect that if the Mutant had had only one heart instead of four the consequences would've been far more dire.
[3+4=7] The last of the Argonian Hunting Parties vanished without a trace.
Foreseeing the eventual need for expansion King Sasslartaas has sent a strong band of elite Warriors to explore the neighboring Jungle, in search of possible settlement locations, as well as the Citadel rumored to be there, [18-4+2=16] They found a few small Mutant hamlets near the border, [5-2=3] VS [19+2=21] which they destroyed with minimal effort. [19-6=13] While they were looting they managed to find a large amount of Jungle Fruit and Wood Crafts, they also captured 47 Mutants and brought them back to Thrazxallaahk to labor as slaves. Interestingly enough, most of them had rotting flesh and a few where almost as large as a Redguard in terms of sheer muscle. When they were interrogated about the Citadel it was discovered that they couldn't speak the Argonian Language, Instead they babbled incoherently, but they did repeat the words 'Necropolis' and 'Gul'Oonter' repeatedly. The Warriors were too preoccupied with their minor military campaign to search for settlement locations.
In The City-States of Vaulzenk, the ruling Monarch Gold Turtle has instructed that a Metalworker's Guild should be formed to unify the Six Great Houses. [19] The idea to share their Metalworking knowledge to gain Six times as much knowledge about Metalworking for free was met with enthusiasm, to say the least. The Metalworker's Guild is prospering with the help of the Six Families, although each Family has insisted on maintaining it's own branch of the Guild.
Azura, Gold Turtle's Head Scribe, has been instructed to build a massive quarry in search of high value marble and strong granite. The Scribe specifically attempted to recruit Laborers who were engaged in Earth Worship for the project, and was given permission to use the Kingdom's reserves of Food and Gold to get the quarry built. [19-2=17] Despite the Enormous, and by that I mean ENORMOUS size of the undertaking Azura has managed to get it up and running within two months.
Gold Turtle has sent a Diplomatic Caravan to The Communist Collective of Carnissia in an attempt to trade Stone, Metal, and Trinkets for Food and Wood. [16] Led by Jaegara the Red, priest of the Sun Dragon, and with a sufficiently large show of force the Caravan managed to make it through the Eastern Hills without any problems.
In The Communist Collective of Carnissia, Overseer Alutol Urner has set up a Food recording system to maximize harvest efficiency, [10+4=14] It shows to be a promising year, but there most likely won't be any lavish feasts occurring as of now. There's just enough Food to meet everyone's needs
and those of the refugees, there's even 34.798 Pounds of Surplus left-over that can be used to trade! (Communists heavily value detail)
A fairly large Caravan made-up of Elf Farmers and Khajiit Guardsmen has been sent to the City-State of Vaulzenk, in order to trade Food and Wood for Stone and Metal. [3] They are attacked by a small tribe of Orc Nomads on the way there, [10+2=12] VS [14+2=16] The savages swarmed out of the hills in the dead of night and cut down the Khajiit Guards before they could organize. The Orcs managed to steal most of the Pack Animals and almost all of the Wagons, they also abducted the most of the Elf Diplomats and Farmers that were sent to negotiate with Vaulzenk, probably intending on selling them to Slavers. [8] 3 Pack Donkeys and a Wagon full of cedar wood manage to escape back to Arbellason. All in all, 17 Elves were abducted, 13 Khajiit were slain, and several hundred pounds of merchandise was stolen! Fortunately, 8 Elves and 2 Khajiit managed to make their way back to Arbellason where they relayed to news to Aluthol immediately. The majority of the Citizens want to send in a search party to rescue the Elves and bring the Orcs back to Arbellason to be tried and executed, Others want to execute the escapees for treason, for not standing their ground in the Attack. In short, the Caravan was a disaster.
The Argonian Refugees and a few Wood Elf Farmers begin to commence small scale farming in cut timber fields, [14-2+2=14] Although the Argonians aren't very good farmers the wood ash helps to fertilize the fields enough to balance it out, The Harvest will be fairly good, according to the Council of Plenty's predictions.
The Caravan from Vaulzenk has arrived in The Communist Collective of Carnissia, They traded 250 Pounds of Cut Stone, 50 Pounds of High-Grade Iron, and 30 Useless Metal Trinkets for 34.798 Pounds of Tasty Fruits and 150 Strong Oak Boards. The Communists warn them about the Orc Bandits and the Caravan begins to head back to Vaulzenk, Both Parties are happy with the Trade.Deep In The Western Jungle Gul'Oonter has taken over Necropolis, establishing his own, mighty City-State. (To be honest, It's somewhat crude and primitive but the last person who told Gul'Oonter that lost both of his tongues.) A virtual Haven for Mutants, they prize strength over all else and want to enslave The Great River Valley.Almost the same week Gul'Oonter took office a Mutant Commander told him about how Lizard-People came out from the Desert, burned several harmless Villages to the ground, and proceeded to Torture and Enslave the few Survivors before heading back into the desert. The Mutants of Necropolis are unanimous in their decision to try and attack the Lizard-People but they're too scared by Gul-Oonter to act on their own and are waiting for his Orders.
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Because of the Massive Cultural Differences between The Paradise of Argonia and Necropolis, along with the unfortunate circumstances of their first encounter the Rule against waging War on other City-States has been lifted for the next three Turns in between the two Civilizations. If anybody has any questions for me just post them in the Thread as an OOC statement or PM me, whichever works best for you. I hope you guys enjoyed the turn!