Fall back deeper into the caves, and hold an event where any of the tribe may present their grievances to us--swearing an oath that we will try our best to fix them--in conjunction with a bit of feasting so that we can get to know our people better.
Let's also establish regular feasting holidays at the change of each season as well, so that people always have something to look forward to.
(5)After listening to the initial complaints made by your people, you come to the realisation that you've been somewhat reckless since you became chief. You've been so focused on furthering your tribe's knowledge of the world that you haven't necessarily considered if that's what your tribe really wants. You took some time to think about it, imaging what their view of the situation was. They live in a cave overflowing with delicious foods, with water in a safe place only a short journey away from the cave. They have been forced to slowly cut down trees, drag them up to the cave, cut them into smaller sections roughly twice a tribesman's size and then use those sections to block most of the cave entrance. They did not complain about this because it actively improved their situation as a whole, creating an easier to defend entrance into the cave in case the beasts of the forest came to attack the tribe. Their chief has taken the title of Mountain-Chief, so dedicated is he to ensuring that their situation is as good as it can be, and he has done everything he can to improve their living situation and make their lives all around safer.
Then he tragically dies after a period of bleeding gums and his only known son is chosen to succeed him, with great hopes placed upon the new chief. He takes the mantle of Maker-Explorer-Chief, not concerning on it's own but more a statement that he plans to explore nearby lands to see how safe they are for the tribe and that he will make many new things to improve it's situation, like better sleeping areas or something like that. He immediately proves himself by discovering the spirits lying within a strange blue rock and experimenting with it while discovering the properties of plant fibres. However, he doesn't just settle for accepting the help of those who want to assist him - he forces people to stick to a schedule and makes liberal use of the Chief's Justice - the rule stating that a chief is allowed to beat any man who who he sees as opposing the tribe as a whole. Over time he continues doing this, getting the entire tribe involved in his experiments which many eagerly go along with in the hope that these experiments will further benefit the tribe.
Problems soon arise, with the destruction of the plant food storage and the deaths of most of the shamans, but their chief is able to stop both of these problems through studying the spirits within the plants and the rocks respectively and explaining how those spirits work to his people. But instead of stopping when he has fulfilled the goals necessary for the good of the tribe, he keeps going. With the fibres, he spends so much of the tribe's effort on creating things capable of storing multiple different objects, despite there being no need for such storage - after all, was it not the chief himself who claimed that taking more than was necessary from the walls of the cave was a sign of greed that would be punished by the spirits? Does he dare believe that the rules of the spirits do not apply to him, and that no issue will arise should he personally take from the plant spirits? There is nothing else that the storage can be used for after all, for rocks simply weigh it down and storing anything else for some sort of journey is pointless if he can not feed himself on that journey.
And it is the same with the blue rocks. He explains that the spirits of the thunder-rocks are easily angered and that the surviving shaman was a traitor who killed the rest of the shamans, as proven by his sudden death, and then he continues experimenting with the rocks only a few moon-turns later. He has discovered as much as he possibly can about how the thunder rocks work, but why? What purpose does this have, what does this do other than put people in an unnecessary amount of danger? They certainly have no normal survival use, and if he is correct about them surely any military use would anger the thunder-rocks against his own people more than it would anger them against their enemies if they are so easy to anger. In fact, surely these spirits would be of the evil kind, as they lash out violently against those touching them and massacred the shamans, those devoted to communing with the good and kind spirits of the world!
All of these issues were small on their own, shared by only a few people, but you've realised that they've come to dominate the minds of many of your people. It has only been worsened by your very own followers, the greatest of which are the shamans, who's support for you make many wonder if it was secretly you who struck down all 10 shamans with the aid of the evil spirits. Your disregard for their opinions, now obvious to you for how often you ignored your people's complaints even from the very beginning, and liberal use of the Chief's Justice has only turned more against you. All of your experiments are questioned by at least some of your people because all of them have been seemingly pointless for the overall good of the tribe. When it comes down to it, you've given them little which benefits them while forcing them to constantly work to assist your somewhat aggressive advancement of their knowledge of the world. For all of your intelligence, you have been incredibly
Narrow-Minded, disregarding the views of those who disagree with you as foolish opinions - which, when it comes down to it, they are.
But, for the good of the tribe and to ensure you keep your position, you must admit that things would probably be better if you simply spent some time talking to your people and fixing your relationship with those under you. To that end you officially announce that, upon the end of this cursed cold, you will hold an event at the beginning of each turns of the season where people can simply relax and enjoy themselves, telling tales, holding fun competitions and just letting everyone enjoy themselves in general. You also announce that, to prove you mean well, you will dedicate your time to creating things that improve the lives of your people during the winter. There is a condition for all of these concessions, that being that your people have to promise to work during the not-winter years, but most of them are perfectly fine with this new arrangement.
At the end of your speech you also announce that, during every winter, you want your people to tell you all of the problems they have, whether they're with you, each other or something entirely unrelated. A tribe that is not honest with itself and falls to infighting is not a tribe, it's a lie.
With the grievances of your people solved during your construction of new fibre mats, everyone eventually settles in to the usual sleeping and eating, leaving you to make your mats. You also surrender your own mat to the same bright young lad who has helped in a number of your previous experiments and who you've been keeping an eye on for his potential as a good future shaman. His name is Ealrad.
let's work on cooking!
(2)On a more amusing note, you try to heat up some meat later on during the winter. Not only do you fail, but you also somehow manage to get the light-stick stuck in a particularly thick area of plants. In the ensuing Struggle for The Light-Stick against the Horrific Plant Republic, you heroically save the stick only to shatter it over your own skull from the force with which you yanked it away from the plants.
(36)Some of your people complain strange whispering when they're the only one awake. That is all.
So,
What are you going to do? You're pretty sure it's about halfway through the winter, and there's no issues of immediate importance. You have, however sworn to dedicate your winter work efforts towards improving the tribe more directly, so you should probably get to that. You're also curious about the whispers, as even some of your own supporters have now apparently heard them and it sounds worrying to you.
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Topic: The History of a Tribe: Year 3 Summer (Turn 38): Glory, Controversy, Death (Read 31302 times)