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++++TIMES BEFORE TIME++++
==An Anachronistic Copper Age==

This mod is set during the pre-history (or more, very early history, due to the presence of writing.) A time before sprawling kingdoms, proper fortresses, or metallurgy. A time where great beasts such as the Terror Bird and Deathweaver roamed freely, and trolls were a many and varied lot. Or perhaps it is a time between great empires, collapsed into ruin and disorganization. In any case, this world is dangerous, and life is often brutal and can often top out in one's fourties if you're lucky before something unfriendly kills you.

The time before time is a massive anachronism, with creatures from many different time periods around. There is also no real organization above the tribal level.

FEATURES

• Play as the plainsmen, who are made up of several speciaized castes.
  - Farmers - One of the two common castes, they learn food related castes faster than everyone else, with a deficit to all other skills except basic combat and the club and mace skills.
  - Warriors - Tied with farmers for commonality, they are fearless fighters who learn melee skills faster than anyone else besides the rarest caste, but aren't much help in other areas.
  - Crafters - Obviously they focus on non-combat and non-food related roles, and are vital to your industry.
  - Hunters - Your animal and fish related skills and ranged fighters, though with the rise of agriculture they aren't as common.
  - Brain men (AKA Thinkers) -  Your inventive types, they are the only ones with natural metallurgy and mechanics skill. They don't take as bad a hit to other areas, and are able to enter martial trances.
  - Shamans - The magic caste, only they can use the spirit totem to gain powerful abilities. Presently however, they simply learn all combat and medical skills faster, being a de facto leader caste.
• All manner of new animals, such as new variants of trolls, aurochs, and terror birds
• Armor is mostly poverty level materials in modern DF: Wood, bone, and leather. Expect injuries.
• With weapons based on Stalhansche's handiwork, combat is much deadlier
• New names and a background for current factions, and one new one.
  
  Plainsmen: The player faction, and the origin of most fo the others. UNIQUE WEAPON: THE LONG SPEAR: A primitive form of pike, plainsmen use this weapon as a coutner to the large beasts of the world and are the only ones large enough to wield it in most tribes.
  
  Hill-men: Plainsmen who eventually decided the high ground was the best ground, and so settled in the mountains, eventually becoming the dwarves. They would become shorter due to constant attrition bottlenecks caused by dangerous mountain beasts they would eventually hunt to extinction. UNIQUE WEAPON: THE BATTLE HAMMER - Unlike most hammers which are simply tools pressed into military use, the Battle Hammer is purpose built to splinter wooden armor and crack the bones of large beasts.
  
  Forestmen: The elves of ancient times, descended from plainsmen shamen who wished to remain in tune with nature. Their limited but innately spirit-touched population has lead to the stunted height of modern elves. UNIQUE WEAPON: THE ELVEN BOW - This bow is far more potent than the war bows used by other tribes. Lure them into close quarters to help negate this advantage.
  
  Green Men: Unlike elves and dwarves, these fiends have no link to thier now-distant plainsman cousins. They are a cruel race who follow dark powers. UNIQUE WEAPON: THE GOBLIN AXE - A superior form of serrated axe rather than the typical hatchets and war axes used by others.
  
  Madum: The Madum (tearers, as in flesh-tearers,) are tundra-dwelling tribes of plainsmen who have fallen on hard times, and so have resorted to cannibalism. They often raid other tribes in desperation, and often kidnap children in a bid to maintain thier own tribes' sizes. UNIQUE WEAPON: THE MANRIPPER CLUB - The earliest form of morningstar, and unlike other clubs capable of tearing flesh and puncturing skulls to kill enemies more quickly.
  
• A crude form of archaeology, potentially yielding advanced bronze weapons and armor.
• And a whole bunch more. Feel free to ask for specifics.[/url]
  

BUGS
Currently several custom reactions don't take their needed inputs for some reason. Feel free to abuse this for stoneware body armor and helmets.
The Welled Spring has a major bug that will crash the game: If you do not have a few rocks, log, rope, and bucket, attempting to build it WILL CRASH YOUR GAME.
Feel free to report others.

Download here.

DISCLAIMER: This mod is not finished, and as such many planned features are unimplemented. The mod is due to be rebuilt from the ground up, hopefully with other mod authors to assist in quality control.

[Splint]

PLANNED FEATURES FOR REBUILD

Integration of Lands of Duality and What Lurks Below by ZM5 (Permission granted)
Integration of Fungal Expansion by MottledPetrel (Permission granted)
Integration of dinosaurs by Enemy Post (Permission granted)
Properly credited integration of Arctic Additions by Malecus (Open Use, credits given)
Integration of my most up to date version of Prehistoric Critters, by myself.
A properly functioning magic system based around the sacred totem building, allowing shamans to gain new abilities such as fireballs and web immunity
 - And related to the above, the ability to offer new megabeats bits for Spiritbone weapons or armor, the best non-adamantine material in the future of the mod.
New megabeasts and other assorted monstrous beasts, notable or not.
Animal Man tribes, both hostile and not.
Papyrus Processing change: press and dry it direct to usable paper.
Plant Drier workshop, to process papyrus to usable paper without the slurry phase and thatch-class plants into wicker (instead of using vanilla workshops for the task.)
Other properly functioning systems.
Whatever suggestions you guys deem worth the inclusion.

Please, note, suggestions should cap tech at bronze age at most (since the copper age is considered a part of the bronze age by some.)

[MottledPetrel]

In any case, this world is dangerous, and life is often brutal and can often top out in one's fourties if you're lucky before something unfriendly kills you.

Sounds like a normal game of dwarf fortress, I'd be shocked if any dwarf has ever lived more than 40 years in a player run fortress.

Also, papyrus as a growable crop that can be refined into paper without the whole slurry process would be both useful and in theme.

[Splint]

In any case, this world is dangerous, and life is often brutal and can often top out in one's fourties if you're lucky before something unfriendly kills you.

Sounds like a normal game of dwarf fortress, I'd be shocked if any dwarf has ever lived more than 40 years in a player run fortress.

Yeah, but the difference is on the whole you don't have metal armor, much in the way of traps, or iron and steel to defend yourself with. Just honest rock and bone. 

Also, papyrus as a growable crop that can be refined into paper without the whole slurry process would be both useful and in theme.

Added to the rebuild plans.

[UristMcTurtle]

....You have an idea about how much time i searched for a ancient-esque mod? Man, this is a blessing.

I will follow really, really close the development of this mod. Looks very promising.

[MottledPetrel]

Some kind of mud bricks for ziggurat building would be nice.

[Hugo_The_Dwarf]

Some kind of mud bricks for ziggurat building would be nice.

Would that be mud and straw?

[Splint]

Some kind of mud bricks for ziggurat building would be nice.

Funny enough, I had actually thought of that, to make sun-dried bricks and pots from to store food in. Wouldn't be worth much and be limited to those two uses, but they'd be a nice, fuel-free way free people in clay-laden soils to at least be able to build shelters and store food.

....You have an idea about how much time i searched for a ancient-esque mod? Man, this is a blessing.

I will follow really, really close the development of this mod. Looks very promising.

Silly as this sounds, it confirmed even just a tiny amount of demand. Figured I'd post it as is and then work out to to rebuild this trainwreck of a mod from the ground up.