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[piratejoe]

Ariella would have been surprised by the speed at which the pregnancy was going, but it certainty confirmed at least to her that this was from Fanw, especially with the dreams she had been having which, while quite gruesome, she thought looking past that it was an insight into something, perhaps a omen of the future. She would make a note to, if she could, focus on the dreams and try and see just what were being killed to cause such blood, that way she could tell if it was either the predators simply slaughtering prey, her people, or each other. If it was her people, then either something terrible was coming, or someone like the people to the south were with weapons and an army, and as such she would need to prepare her lands with defenses to better take advantage of them. If it was each other, then it could mean instability, or a civil war, possibly by a few of the clans particularly against the sacrifice to Fanw...She couldn't tell what the first option that came to mind could be however, there were far to many options. A great hunt and many feasts was one possibility, and yet a number of predators taking the reign deer that they had caught was another, and then there was the possibility that predators simply would be more active and cause a compitition between the hunters and themselves, a test of sorts, another one that she would have to go through, but this time while leading the people of Llychlyn. And yet another possibility, it related to her child and their birth, would it mean that their child would be attacked and she would have to defend them or...

Then there was one final thought of what the first option could mean that came to mind, one that she considered contrary to what she knew about Fanw's nature, but yet the thought lingered. Another possibility like the many others the dreams could mean. However there was a fourth option, it could just have no meaning what so ever and just be a simple if somewhat bloody confirmation from Fanw that this was her blessing and she was simply overthinking about this, but to Ariella that possibility seemed far to simple. However, as she was thinking, her train of thought would be broken by the midwife, who she would let come in and do what she needed to check the health of her unborn child...then, the midwife gave her an offer... And Ariella would stare at her for a minute, trying to tell if the midwife was actually serious before she would shake her head and say "No... If you are done with what you need to do, I request that you please leave..." her tone was quite serious and had a slight hint of malice that was quite contrary to the usually cheerful and calm way she usually acted and sounded. Yes, the child was painful to have and meant she couldn't go out to hunt much, especially in her current state, but...she was very certain it was a blessing, even if an unusual one. Besides, it was still her child, and she wasn't going to do something like that to her kin, and the thought of even thinking about doing such a thing to her kin, and unborn at that, was revolting to her to put it lightly.

She would turn her gaze away from the midwife and sigh. She needed to calm down a bit, that much was clear. Still, how she felt was...odd to her. She didn't feel anger often, but the anger she felt when she realized that the midwife wasn't just offering some kind of sick joke was one that boiled more than any other in her entire life. And despite her best efforts, she was sure some of it slipped through her voice... Hopefully this would not negatively impact her child, and at least she didn't lash out at the midwife... Once the midwife was gone, she would stay where she was for a bit, alone by herself until she felt like she was calm enough to leave. So, once she went off, she would go to get a large chunk of venison. Surely, one of her favorite foods would help her calm down and improve her mood...


Hopefully in the future I can make longer lore posts like this more often. Speaking of, I probably should add more lore when I get the chance...

[mightymushroom]

Arman felt relieved when someone with obvious authority arrived and ordered the warriors to calm down. That would be the easiest part of the meeting, though, as the foreign official (Chief? Master trader? Guard captain? All three? The trinkets he wore suggested rank, but no telling which one) immediately began asking questions in an unknown language. Arman tried his best to hide a grimace, but he had been chosen because of Threia's long-standing trust more than his communication skills. From the first group's report they wouldn't easily find a common tongue, but he gamely tried his own. Then, less hopefully, a smattering of languages he knew, mostly from north of Carazan lands.

After a long interlude, they were allowed to approach the strangers' island home. Arman's face ran with sweat after the effort; leaning on much prompting from Shaxa who had spoken with these people before, he had managed to more-or-less convey his name and his membership of the Carazan tribe. The opposite man introduced himself as Okkatavin and his people as Kippers. Hopefully the exchange of tangible items would flow more smoothly.

"Sea Father's Curly Beard!" He stumbled backward with an oath when the great turtle lazily lifted its head. By all the gods, they really did build on the backs of giant creatures! Shaxa laughed aloud at his startlement. But though he was no explorer and no trader, Arman did have a good head for opportunities. If these people spent even more time at sea than the Carazan, who were halfway to being a land tribe, then perhaps the trading wealth of furs and a few weapon grade flints would be that much more valuable to them. From what he saw, many of those harpoons were sharpened bone. He wouldn't care to fight one, but a proper stone tip would be even better. On the opposite hand, though, the first order of business was the presentation of their Tullyfish and he had a sinking feeling that Kippers wouldn't be much impressed by seafood. In the worst case, they already had their own shoals and would merely shrug at the Carazan's most abundant resource.


((I wonder what they're going to do with the literal boatload of fish fillets we're about to dump on them?))

[Roboson]

Roboson's entry:
First thought: in b4 the North men show up in the far south
Second thought: I wonder if having two backstories featuring volcanoes makes that stuff more likely to happen in the future, too.

If I get in, perhaps there's a lore opportunity there. A single event which caused the volcanoes to go off. That would be cool. Would have the potential for intertwined backstories. I didn't realize someone else was already doing a volcano thing, I probably would have gone with a different theme, but I was reading about Yellowstone and volcanic swamps and was like "Ok, how do I get my people to live there? Fight a volcano god. Sounds legit."

[omada]

PTW

[Glass]

Octavian investigated the presented fish. It was significantly... redder than any of the fish he’d seen before. It almost looked like venison.

He cut a thin strip of it off with his knife and tasted it. Salty. Very salty. Even more than everything else was, out here at sea. And even under the salt, he could still taste a very meaty flavor to it. This wasn’t like normal fish at all!


After a few more gestures requests to the “Karezin”, and an order to the turtle-city’s chefs, a small feast was in preparation, with the main course being the new “Tulli” fish, prepared in the same manner the Keepers made their meats when on land. If nothing else, these Tullis would be valued as a substitute for what would otherwise be a relatively rare delicacy.

For trade, the Keepers had brought out turtleshell and shark-tooth jewelry, as well as a few pieces of their fish leather, if only to show their visitors a material better-suited to the sea sprays than the furs they had brought. Now, they waited to see the response.

[mightymushroom]

Arman thought the Kippers were unusually eager to trade, bringing so many wares out on the first day, even before setting the feast. Perhaps their turtleback villages didn't stay in one place long enough for leisurely bargaining. Or maybe they simply had different customs, it was so hard to read their faces. Best to go along with it, he decided. Although he hadn't seen much that caught his eye, yet. His tribe had leather of their own, of course, but hadn't sent any on the calculation that intact furs would be more valuable. The other tribe didn't seem interested, though, showing off their own – was that sharkskin? Arman had bad experience with sharks.

If Arman was having trouble getting into the swing of things, the younger members of his party had no such difficulty. He saw many of the women, especially, fawning over the turtle shell jewelry. Several gave a pointed nudge to the men standing around, with hints about what their sweethearts might like. Arman resolved to get some for his own wives and daughters, they would never forgive him if they missed out on this exotic new trend. Threia, too, I'm trading on her behalf mustn't forget.

Mostly, though, he wandered and observed. He noted how the village buildings accommodated the slope of the great turtle's shell. He watched the native turtle riders walk with ease sideways along the natural ridge patterns, and when he imitated them instead of charging straight up and down he slipped at least a little less. He spent quite a bit of time studying the strange small-boats from a respectful distance, trying to memorize their shape in case he couldn't trade for one. They wouldn't replace the Carazan's sailing ships, but the smaller craft might be useful in some situations.

Eventually he had to admit to himself that he was trying, and failing, to wish away the prickling unease in his spine that he couldn't put a name on. Was it the alarm that the Kippers made when the Carazan first approached? They had seemed like a fishing ship whose lookout spotted a razortooth; but that had subsided. Something deep inside him was still reacting with fear in this strange village. It was like a mosquito you couldn't shoo: it bothered you even more when you couldn't hear the whine, wondering where it had gone.

[TankKit]

Alright, I think it's been long enough that we can safely say Ragnar isn't going to post.

[Glass]

Octavian could see that their guests were still somewhat on edge. It made sense, of course; they hadn’t been greeted terribly kindly, and even if all the Keepers were trying to hide it, many of them were still wary after the fight with the Azan. If their guests chose to stick around for a while, Octavian was confident the problem would dissipate, but in the meantime, he was doing his best to make sure that any tension was swiftly defused.

Between episodes of peacemaking, he attempted to begin figuring out some of the words the Karezin used, while teaching them the Keepers’ words for them. Hopsefully, it would aid communications in the future.
OOC and just wondering about hypotheticals, could player tribes eventually fuse, and if so, what would be the mechanics of running them?

[Lord_lemonpie]

Alright, I think it's been long enough that we can safely say Ragnar isn't going to post.

I agree. The Reach will become NPC and the Lycians will become PC. I'm up in Finland rn so it might take a while for me to finish up the stats of Lycia.

OOC and just wondering about hypotheticals, could player tribes eventually fuse, and if so, what would be the mechanics of running them?

That would be up to the controlling players. I'll pool resources and army etc. together, but figuring out who controls what would be up to those fusing.

[TankKit]

Spoiler: The Second Tribe (click to show/hide)

The original Plefir tribe was in many ways far simpler than the the Trileb Tribe. Where the Trilebs had a complicated system where the Chieftain had complete control over resources and control over everything else that could be vetoed if the people he was ordering felt it would be in the better interest of the tribe to do so, the Plefir simply had the Chieftain and his three advisors. The Chieftain had control over the tribe, and the three advisors were there to help him govern the tribe as efficiently as possible. There were no specific rules as to what the advisors had to advise the Chieftain on, that being decided by the Chieftain in question, but the rest of the tribe decided who the advisors were, usually being the three wisest men of the tribe in their specific fields, with multiple advisors skilled in the same field being rare. This made the Plefir system rather similar to Sicheft's proposed idea, but there were both differences in the system and differences in the tribe that made it far more appealing to the Plefir.

Firstly, the Chieftain didn't have complete control over all resources. Instead, the rest of the tribe were obliged to send a percentage decided by the Chieftain of all resources they had harvested to the Chieftain every winter, with the Chieftain then having control over the resources given to him. The advisors were also each allowed to ask for a maximum of 5% of all resources harvested by the tribe. At the time of the Plefir's journey to find an ideal home the majority of the Chieftain's resources were being focused on exploration and the warriors. The focus on exploration was due to their need for a large mountain with plenty of minerals in it, preferably with multiple sources of ready fresh water nearby that didn't have any tribe or nomads nearby that could prove a threat to the safety of the tribe. The focus on warriors was a way of dissuading potentially threatening nomads and tribes from settling down nearby or attacking the Plefir, since they were sure that no tribe, no matter how desperate, would want to attack a tribe more powerful than them.

Secondly, the tribe as a whole was quite different from the Trilebs. While the Trilebs were united through the worship of the Hidden God, a mysterious god discovered by their spider loving Chieftain sniffing a plant in the middle of the wilderness and waking up with a spider on his arm, the Plefir were united through a need for survival, with religion being more of a way to explain why seemingly unexplainable things were possible. In fact, the best way to show the Plefir's relatively logical mindset and focus on survival more than religion is how they interpret their Primary god Imvton the Great Gravekeeper and the mountains, which they believe to be the graves of ancient gods that died long ago for one reason or another. If the Trileb tribe of the time believed in a similar god without having met the Plefir, they would likely interpret it as meaning that they should never touch mountains so as to avoid disturbing the resting places of long dead gods and would likely viciously attack any tribe or nomad that tried to colonize it, and would probably even declare their version of a crusade against any tribe or nomad that dared to dig into a mountain. The Plefir, however, believe that the best way to honour and remember the fallen gods is to put their remains to as much use as possible so they never forget the gods that fell long ago and, eventually, after eons of work, give Imvton one less grave to watch over, as a way of thanking him for looking over them too.

Of course, like all humans, the Plefir are not perfect. Even back then there were those who disagreed with the beliefs of the tribe as whole, with the two biggest factions, though quite small when compared to the normal worshippers, being the more fervent worshippers of Imvton who believed they should find a way to live inside the mountains and those who believed that having a gravekeeper for a god would eventually doom the tribe to die, instead worshipping one of the many lesser gods the Plefir had integrated into their pantheon during their travels. You see, the Plefir of the time believed that all gods were real, whether as their own thing or as simply another form of a greater god. In fact, this belief in all gods being real and their relatively logical mindset would play a key role in integrating the other tribes into the Plefir later on. But that is a long way away yet. Now you know about the original Plefir. Next time: Their journey and meeting with the Trilebs.

[TricMagic]

I got Horse Archers, and to answer your earlier question on why.. Mostly cause I was expecting to be a late entry, but Horse Archers. Requires Mounted Units and Archery.

..Well, I'll do my best to keep up. Leader is 24, female, by the way.

[mightymushroom]

Arman noticed the opposite chief speaking amiably and at length with the Carazan party. He wandered over and discovered that they were attempting to exchange words and teach each other's language. Shaxa seemed particularly interested, cozying up to the foreigner and otherwise behaving flirtatiously. Arman sighed, but she had always been like that. He sat in on the mutual teaching even though his preoccupations kept him from fully engaging.

Eventually the day and the talk gave way to a proper sort of feast. The Kippers had prepared the Tullyfish in thin strips marinated by a plethora of herbs and covered in a sweet sauce of indeterminate origin. It should have been tasty, but Arman wondered why they seemed to be covering up the robust saltiness of the meat. Everything was a little off for his palate. The algal beer with its thick, fizzy head was quite fine, on the other hand. Shortly afterward, Arman went back to his ship to sleep since there didn't seem to be much extra room in the turtle-borne houses. Most of the younger members of his band, including Shaxa, stayed late to continue celebrations.

All Arman's worries seemed irrational by the next morning. They wouldn't go away, of course, but he managed to ignore them better. For the second day of trading he brought out his more precious goods: unchipped flint cores and a bag of unpolished amber pieces. The latter he demonstrated by pantomiming a rubbing motion and then holding up his own amber necklace to let the sunlight shine through. If the Carazan desired turtle shell, then he felt it reasonable to offer jewelry for jewelry. Raw amber, so far as he knew, was quite rare aside from washing up along a few areas of his home coastline.

The Carazan end up offering 1 Wealth worth of trade goods in exchange for as much turtle shell and similar Wealth the Keepers are willing to pay. It may be equivalent exchange, or (if the GM is kind) it may be that mutual rarity increases our mutual value. The other unit of Wealth we brought is mostly in furs, which they don't seem to want, but we Arman would be willing to trade for a canoe to take back as a prototype for reverse engineering. (The Tullyfish, of course, was a gift.)

If I get in, perhaps there's a lore opportunity there. A single event which caused the volcanoes to go off. That would be cool. Would have the potential for intertwined backstories. I didn't realize someone else was already doing a volcano thing, I probably would have gone with a different theme, but I was reading about Yellowstone and volcanic swamps and was like "Ok, how do I get my people to live there? Fight a volcano god. Sounds legit."

I'm not doing a volcano "thing" so much as using that eruption as a marker in our oral history, and including one semi-active volcano and some igneous landforms in our local geology. You're clear as far as tribal identity goes. I think intertwined back stories is an interesting idea, however; look at what's happened so far with the spider worshippers. As for an event in history, I didn't have anything grand in mind (my tribe didn't start off as supernaturally as yours) but it could easily be true that the local explosion we remember was part of a more general pattern of divine activity in the world.

[Roboson]

I'm not doing a volcano "thing" so much as using that eruption as a marker in our oral history, and including one semi-active volcano and some igneous landforms in our local geology. You're clear as far as tribal identity goes. I think intertwined back stories is an interesting idea, however; look at what's happened so far with the spider worshippers. As for an event in history, I didn't have anything grand in mind (my tribe didn't start off as supernaturally as yours) but it could easily be true that the local explosion we remember was part of a more general pattern of divine activity in the world.

Also by the way (and I probably should have made this more clear), that backstory is meant to be taken with a grain of salt. It's a mythos, so it's more likely than not that the ancestors of the current tribe didn't actually fight a god or anything that extreme, but more mundane events got inflated as the story was passed down through the generation. Really depends on how magical Lemonpie wants the world to be.

[TankKit]

I too have made my backstory sort of open ended. For example, Sicheft may of been visited by the Hidden God using spiders and plants to communicate. Or he got high on some random plant, a spider tried to nom his arm and he forgot what happened in between.

[mightymushroom]

I do understand that about your tribes, but mine has been a bit . . . lackadaisical. The cult of their pantheon has been taken for granted by younger Carazan and has a more tenuous relationship to their cultural identity; their stories are more often about magic undersea life than their human history. When we get back from trading I think we might see Threia Forne developing some (relative) religious zeal as well as being a stand-in for the ailing chief.