The world essentially stagnates this turn, expanding by only one tile. Perhaps the gods desire more sustenance?
One new tribe comes into being upon the high mountain slope. A pile of washed-up kelp on the beach almost becomes self-aware, but fails. Nobody knows what effect this might have!
The
Catfish are excited to discover bountiful new vistas opened up to them, and the ten of their number sent out to collect food carry back enough to feed
twice that number. Of course as the Catfish do not
have twice that number, rather less than that will ultimately be saved for next time, but it's still a considerable haul. Of the two others, one prays in thanks to Cait Sith and the other watches the foragers with an eye toward taking notes — and achieves a breakthrough, mapping out more efficient routes through the most valuable gathering-grounds that will hopefully increase the amount of food brought back by every worker.
The Catfish have, through both study and direct experience, increased their foraging level by one! All accumulated Investigation Points in Foraging++, though, have been spent to achieve this outcome, and further development will require more research! Despite the way the flavourtext is written, though, this actually doesn't include the IP gained this turn because of the order of evaluation.The plenty the Catfish discover in the newfound lands strikes them so deeply, in fact, that they all come together at the end of the turn in a great migration, swimming to the kelp forest to shelter there. Whether this will be their permanent home, or they will develop a migratory tradition instead, remains to be seen.
The
Plain Humans put a modest amount of effort into foraging, gathering
14 units of food. Without any storage, the excess is wasted, and without anyone present to make prayer over it,
Phlattus doesn't even get anything out of it this time. Still, the
4 IP they get in Sustainable Foraging completes the tech. Sorry, I should say that in a more interesting way: After carefully observing the monthly growth of the plains plants (including
plantains) and the cycles of the prey animal population, the Humans have developed a schedule by which they can ensure their impact on their environment is within the level that nature can heal.
The Plain Humans have unlocked Sustainable Foraging and can now forage sustainably to avoid depleting a tile. This will result in lower foraging yields, of course, but it might be a footstep toward something more...On the other hand, the eight gatherers have also been paying attention to the cycles of nature for their own purposes, and have learned a thing or two about where on the plains the grains are most abundant, where the rodents hide, and where the plantains are leafiest; they now head straight for the good stuff and waste less time wandering around.
Through experience, the Plain Humans have gained one foraging level too!The
Platipeople, deciding that this whole god business is for suckers, devote all their resources to foraging and acquire
18 units of food, sating the hungry to break-even. Though they have learned the lore of non-food materials, they don't come upon anything useful this month.
I forgot to say this earlier, but the Platipeople could attempt to gather resources, either generally or with specific resources in mind, in order to have a better shot of picking up useful materials — but at the expense of the food gain from foraging, which can also result in materials (though less often).The
Rethi collect
13 units of food (of which the extra is lost, of course) and work on improving their foraging technique, learning the ways of the swamp. They come perilously close to a breakthrough by month's end...
And finally, the newborn
Mountain Zebras set to work much as the others have, snubbing the gods to devote themselves to foraging and studying foraging. Though the rocky terrain of their home offers precious little in the way of sustenance, a foray into the jungle reveals a wealth of greenery free for the browsing, and the Zebras pull together the necessary
12 units of food. The growth patterns of plants by altitude becomes the first observation of the budding Zebra scientists.
The plain at B3t seems especially lush lately.Cait Sith gains 1 power from the worship of the Catfish, offsetting the expenditure of creating the Ravine.
Phlattus gains 2 power. It's not immediately obvious to him why this might be.
keymountainjunglefreshwater bodyopen oceanbasic beachplainwet landsswampier wet landsvolcanokelp forestcoral reefestuaryravineGodsCait Sith:
6 PowerPhlattus:
3 PowerMorbus:
5 PowerTribesCatfish at F6r:
12 Population, 3 FoodPlain Plains Humans at B4t:
12 Population- (C) Sustainable Foraging
- (I) INSPIRATION: Sacred Sites
Platipeople at C3s:
12 Population- (I) INSPIRATION: Hunting Tools
- (C) Materials 1
Retha at F8t:
12 PopulationMountain Zebras at G7s:
12 Population
I have changed the completeness labels on "Foraging ++" techs from (I) to (E) to indicate that these are Endless techs you can pour as much effort as you want into.