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Total Members Voted: 15

[A_Curious_Cat]

Draw a question mark, to indicate your curiosity and to hopefully indicate that you’re still confused about what they’re saying

They most likely wouldnt know what that meant either

oh right, cancel that
I need to think of a way to draw you following them home without depicting an arrow as an arrow could be interpreted as a spear

Unless our wayward pal is an artist, non-verbals (pantomime and body language) are probably a better bet.  Inviting himself for a meal would be a good start.  Point to your mouth, rub your stomach, and hope they have a culture of hospitality.

What if he points to himself, then points to their mouth, and then rubs their stomach?

[Fluffe9911]

Lets be honest guy is probably gonna end up indirectly incapacitating if not out right killing most of em in like a week with all the dangerous as hell future diseases he may or may not of brought with him.

[King Zultan]

Lets be honest guy is probably gonna end up indirectly incapacitating if not out right killing most of em in like a week with all the dangerous as hell future diseases he may or may not of brought with him.

"I've come from the future to save you people!"
*a few weeks later*
"OH GOD, everybody's dying, what have I done!?"

[ConscriptFive]

Draw a question mark, to indicate your curiosity and to hopefully indicate that you’re still confused about what they’re saying

They most likely wouldnt know what that meant either

oh right, cancel that
I need to think of a way to draw you following them home without depicting an arrow as an arrow could be interpreted as a spear

Unless our wayward pal is an artist, non-verbals (pantomime and body language) are probably a better bet.  Inviting himself for a meal would be a good start.  Point to your mouth, rub your stomach, and hope they have a culture of hospitality.

What if he points to himself, then points to their mouth, and then rubs their stomach?

On one hand, affirmative consent probably hasn't been invented yet.  On the other hand, that works both ways.

[Stirk]

Draw pictures of animals and see how they react.

I drew a stick picture of a dog. They made arf arf noises. I nodded then posted this. I didn't really have any message after that so I think they just got confused again.

Remember that you are now the lowest person on the totem pole.

Good luck working your way to the top!

I might be above any slaves and food they have! Or on the same level if I'm unlucky.

Unless our wayward pal is an artist, non-verbals (pantomime and body language) are probably a better bet.  Inviting himself for a meal would be a good start.  Point to your mouth, rub your stomach, and hope they have a culture of hospitality.

They talked among themselves for some time. I think they understand. They started walking back in the direction they came from looking for me to follow.

We walked back to the creek. On the other side. On the path I saw earlier actually. There is a camp not too far from it. I don't think I'm a prisoner or anything, they let me keep my phone.

I called it a camp because its mostly tents. I guess it could be a village or something. I think its buffalo? Bison? I never could get the name right but it doesn't look like they treated the skins with anything fancy so you can still see the head skin. They are basically just a step above my leentoo, like if I threw the rabbit skin on it and called it a day.

At camp there are several people working. A young woman is weaving a basket. An old man is hitting rocks together. Both are setting on logs around a fire and chatting. They have the same hair as the others.

My escorts point to my phone a couple of times. I think they wanted to see my light trick, so I showed it off again. Both are vaguely interested. The old-man hunter talks to the other old man who went and dug up something with his hands. I think it is a basket. He pulled out a bone rapped in skins and handed it to me.

I think this is their hospitality. I have no idea how to eat this without seeming rude.

Lets be honest guy is probably gonna end up indirectly incapacitating if not out right killing most of em in like a week with all the dangerous as hell future diseases he may or may not of brought with him.

Oh. Well that would probably stop my new society right in its tracks. Maybe I could get some advice on medicine before that happens?

[King Zultan]

My escorts point to my phone a couple of times. I think they wanted to see my light trick, so I showed it off again. Both are vaguely interested. The old-man hunter talks to the other old man who went and dug up something with his hands. I think it is a basket. He pulled out a bone rapped in skins and handed it to me.

I think this is their hospitality. I have no idea how to eat this without seeming rude.

Are you sure it's food and not a tool or some kind of token, look at it further and describe it to us.

[Kashyyk]

Agreed. You gave them a basket, which they might recognise as a tool, or just think is a piece of artwork. Odds are they've given you something in the same vein.

[Fluffe9911]

Oh. Well that would probably stop my new society right in its tracks. Maybe I could get some advice on medicine before that happens?

I mean some plants/herbs can help ease pain and make the patient feel a little better but as far as proper medicine goes not much can be done until one of them gets sick and we figure out what the disease (or diseases) are you could theoretically make primitive antibiotics but you aint no Doctor Stone and probably aren't lucky enough to find a VERY specific type of antibiotical mold that happens to exist so any attempts to make antibiotics would probably take years assuming you find all the stuff you need by some miracle.

[A_Curious_Cat]

Oh. Well that would probably stop my new society right in its tracks. Maybe I could get some advice on medicine before that happens?

I mean some plants/herbs can help ease pain and make the patient feel a little better but as far as proper medicine goes not much can be done until one of them gets sick and we figure out what the disease (or diseases) are you could theoretically make primitive antibiotics but you aint no Doctor Stone and probably aren't lucky enough to find a VERY specific type of antibiotical mold that happens to exist so any attempts to make antibiotics would probably take years assuming you find all the stuff you need by some miracle.

Well, actually iirc, I believe penicillin mold isn’t that difficult to come by if you have bread.  The bigger problem is that antibiotics only work for diseases caused by bacteria.  They do nothing for viruses.

[ConscriptFive]

Oh. Well that would probably stop my new society right in its tracks. Maybe I could get some advice on medicine before that happens?

I mean some plants/herbs can help ease pain and make the patient feel a little better but as far as proper medicine goes not much can be done until one of them gets sick and we figure out what the disease (or diseases) are you could theoretically make primitive antibiotics but you aint no Doctor Stone and probably aren't lucky enough to find a VERY specific type of antibiotical mold that happens to exist so any attempts to make antibiotics would probably take years assuming you find all the stuff you need by some miracle.

Well, actually iirc, I believe penicillin mold isn’t that difficult to come by if you have bread.  The bigger problem is that antibiotics only work for diseases caused by bacteria.  They do nothing for viruses.

I mean, industrialized medicine is tricky.  I'm not sure there's much he can do there without, well, industrializing a hunter-gatherer encampment.  It's a long road to get penicillin, and I also doubt vaccine development is something our friend will ever manage.

OOC: Kinda assumed GM is going to handwave epidemic stuff.  Realistically, penicillin actually is super hard to harvest in usable quantities.  The naturally occurring strain takes about 15 gallons of culture to make a single dose. ...and you'll need about a week or two of doses for a full course of antibiotics to address an acute infection.  (You do the math there.)  The viable strain used for WW2 was actually created in a USDA lab when they mutated it with X-rays until it made something like 100x more antibiotic per culture.  (No, really: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/11/penicillin-coronavirus-florey-wwii-infection/ )  So yeah, don't know how hard sci-fi the GM wants to go there.

[A_Curious_Cat]

See if you can get the old man to teach you how to knap rocks.

Also, get the young woman’s cellphone number and email address.

[Stirk]

Are you sure it's food and not a tool or some kind of token, look at it further and describe it to us.

Agreed. You gave them a basket, which they might recognise as a tool, or just think is a piece of artwork. Odds are they've given you something in the same vein.

Oh good point. Its a long bone. If I had to guess deer leg or something. I think its covered in its own skin. It has scrape marks from when they got all the meat off of it, then it looks like they put the skin back on and just buried it. Said skin is dry. I'm even less sure how this could possibly be used as a tool unless it is a dog toy or something.

Which it also might be given I did just draw a picture of a dog. Could also explain why it was buried I guess, but not really the basket part.

I mean some plants/herbs can help ease pain and make the patient feel a little better but as far as proper medicine goes not much can be done until one of them gets sick and we figure out what the disease (or diseases) are you could theoretically make primitive antibiotics but you aint no Doctor Stone and probably aren't lucky enough to find a VERY specific type of antibiotical mold that happens to exist so any attempts to make antibiotics would probably take years assuming you find all the stuff you need by some miracle.

I guess I'm going to have to ask the Gods to make sure I was sent here without any diseases.

Actually is there a quick way to check if I brought over any diseases? At least one that is faster than waiting to see if everyone here dies?

Well, actually iirc, I believe penicillin mold isn’t that difficult to come by if you have bread.  The bigger problem is that antibiotics only work for diseases caused by bacteria.  They do nothing for viruses.

So uh...how do I make bread?

I mean, industrialized medicine is tricky.  I'm not sure there's much he can do there without, well, industrializing a hunter-gatherer encampment.  It's a long road to get penicillin, and I also doubt vaccine development is something our friend will ever manage.

OOC: Kinda assumed GM is going to handwave epidemic stuff.  Realistically, penicillin actually is super hard to harvest in usable quantities.  The naturally occurring strain takes about 15 gallons of culture to make a single dose. ...and you'll need about a week or two of doses for a full course of antibiotics to address an acute infection.  (You do the math there.)  The viable strain used for WW2 was actually created in a USDA lab when they mutated it with X-rays until it made something like 100x more antibiotic per culture.  (No, really: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/11/penicillin-coronavirus-florey-wwii-infection/ )  So yeah, don't know how hard sci-fi the GM wants to go there.

I'm entirely willing to try industrializing these guys. And anyone else. That is kinda my long-term goal right now!

See if you can get the old man to teach you how to knap rocks.

Also, get the young woman’s cellphone number and email address.

I try to mime knapping rocks to the old man then mime teaching. He looks at me funny and gets back to work. I can probably just learn by watching him but if I want to actually ask for anything I'm going to have to solve this little communication issue.

I tried talking to the young woman too. Its really hard to mime email address so I just pointed to some of my apps. She finished her basket and left. The hunters took her place around the fire and continue to try and make conversation about the things I'm pointing at.

If my spelling mistakes in the last post didn't tip you off I've already switched back to typing.

[Maximum Spin]

I guess I'm going to have to ask the Gods to make sure I was sent here without any diseases.

Actually is there a quick way to check if I brought over any diseases? At least one that is faster than waiting to see if everyone here dies?

If you have no symptoms, you're probably fine. Even though our diseases could definitely kill these people, you have to be contagious right now for it to matter. How much time did you spend alone here, from your perspective? If it's been much more than a week, you are successfully quarantined against most of the things you could be carrying without knowing it.

So uh...how do I make bread?

You don't.

That shouldn't even be in your field of view right now. That is centuries away. Sorry.

I'm entirely willing to try industrializing these guys. And anyone else. That is kinda my long-term goal right now!

What is their technology level from what you've seen so far?
So the thing is that language is surprisingly easy to learn under these conditions. We can see many examples of successful first contact between peoples in history where somehow they managed to communicate despite having no language in common. First, facial expressions and nonverbal vocalizations are virtually human universals, meaning they are the same for everyone. Gestures based on concrete activities often are too. Even some abstract gestures are - despite the "your finger you fool" legend, almost everyone understands pointing, at least if you do it often enough. You can enhance the impression of indicating some thing by making eye contact and then clearly looking at the thing, too - it is natural to follow your eye movement to see what you are looking at. If you speak a verb while performing or imitating the action, or a noun while indicating the object, you should be able to get people to get an understanding of what you call some things. Once you've started, try to make an expectant face and your interlocutors may get the idea that you want them to tell you what THEY call things too. Adopting their vocabulary will make your life easier, but don't be afraid to use it to express complex sentences using English grammar - some linguists, viewing the incredible success of the English language at conquering the world, have theorised that something about it might actually be advantageous, so it's conceivable that teaching them English grammar will give them a long-term advantage. Plus, it'd be really funny.

Most of the process of learning a language seems to be unconscious, but as some advice, look out for patterns. If two similar things get two different names, but those names share a part, that part probably refers to what makes them similar. This is also a good way to teach and learn adjectives: find things that have that adjective in common but are as diverse otherwise as possible (to limit the number of ways it could be misunderstood), say your own word for the adjective, and then make an expectant face.

It will probably take a long time before you are capable of communicating with them in all but the most basic ways, though. Don't be discouraged: once you can express basic subject-predicate constructions, this will already be a great help to your survival.

[King Zultan]

Try sitting next to the old man and drawing a knife or something and seeing if he reacts to it, or you could just try to knap your own rock and see what he does.

[Stirk]

If you have no symptoms, you're probably fine. Even though our diseases could definitely kill these people, you have to be contagious right now for it to matter. How much time did you spend alone here, from your perspective? If it's been much more than a week, you are successfully quarantined against most of the things you could be carrying without knowing it.

Still only been a couple of days. I was kinda semi-quarantined before that so maybe it will end up helping here. I guess if everyone dies I'll find a nice place to stay alone for a week or two to not murder the next group.

You don't.

That shouldn't even be in your field of view right now. That is centuries away. Sorry.

Well I guess I'm not getting penicillin. Or a sandwich. I'm definitely going to have to hand this whole civilization building thing off to my children arn't I?

What is their technology level from what you've seen so far?

Everything is made of sticks, stones, and untreated animal skins. Highest tech thing they probably have is the dogs. I could probably make a complete list of everything I've seen since it really isn't that much. So Dog-age I guess?

So the thing is that language is surprisingly easy to learn under these conditions. We can see many examples of successful first contact between peoples in history where somehow they managed to communicate despite having no language in common. First, facial expressions and nonverbal vocalizations are virtually human universals, meaning they are the same for everyone. Gestures based on concrete activities often are too. Even some abstract gestures are - despite the "your finger you fool" legend, almost everyone understands pointing, at least if you do it often enough. You can enhance the impression of indicating some thing by making eye contact and then clearly looking at the thing, too - it is natural to follow your eye movement to see what you are looking at. If you speak a verb while performing or imitating the action, or a noun while indicating the object, you should be able to get people to get an understanding of what you call some things. Once you've started, try to make an expectant face and your interlocutors may get the idea that you want them to tell you what THEY call things too. Adopting their vocabulary will make your life easier, but don't be afraid to use it to express complex sentences using English grammar - some linguists, viewing the incredible success of the English language at conquering the world, have theorised that something about it might actually be advantageous, so it's conceivable that teaching them English grammar will give them a long-term advantage. Plus, it'd be really funny.

Most of the process of learning a language seems to be unconscious, but as some advice, look out for patterns. If two similar things get two different names, but those names share a part, that part probably refers to what makes them similar. This is also a good way to teach and learn adjectives: find things that have that adjective in common but are as diverse otherwise as possible (to limit the number of ways it could be misunderstood), say your own word for the adjective, and then make an expectant face.

It will probably take a long time before you are capable of communicating with them in all but the most basic ways, though. Don't be discouraged: once you can express basic subject-predicate constructions, this will already be a great help to your survival.

They've definitely got pointing down already! Alright, I'll try to learn a bit of their language. And more importantly teach them English. They're probably going to need it if I end up dying and they have to desperately beg the gods for help.

I tried it out with "fire". After a bit they're repeating after me. Now I just have to figure out which one of the sounds they made is for fire.

Try sitting next to the old man and drawing a knife or something and seeing if he reacts to it, or you could just try to knap your own rock and see what he does.

I uh, left all my rocks back at the place I got treed. Woops.

I sat next to him and he scooted a little bit away. I think he wants space to work without me hovering right next to his rock. I kinda had to sit on the ground. I draw a knife and he looks in the direction its pointing then looks back to me confused.

The hunters all look in the same then look back at me. I guess my knife is just kinda...a vague rectangle shape so its understandable they have no idea what I'm signing about.

Now that I think about it I can just show them the phone and any images on it. But I also don't have any relevant images. Should I try to go back and get my rocks then just copy him until he figures out what is going on?