Expansion II: The Fall Roll: 9 (society speedrun any%)
For the longest time the only real means of hunting and self-defense your people held was the spear. Thanks to the drive of a
Minor Major Founder
(NUKE9.13 +1I), a means of binding multiple stones together with a length of rope was devised that allowed the wielder to throw the device with relative accuracy and ease. Three or four stones were bundled separately in reed cords that met at a singular rope used to swing the stones in a circle over the hunter's head. When tossed, the momentum of the of the stones kept the
Bolas flying forward as opposed to spinning off to the side as their attempts at using a single stone had shown. Bolas were made in a variety of sizes to take down small and medium targets by either wrapping around and binding their legs or outright breaking them.
Technology Discovered: Bolas (Requires access to
Stone, costs
1 Textile for Upkeep)
Bolas were used by the tribes hunters with alarming efficiency, whipping through the Savannah's grasses and allowing the tribe to easily isolate and take down healthier Wildebeest than the stragglers they often had to wait for. Instead of having to follow the herd, your people were now able to lie in wait for where the herd would pass through and pick and choose their targets - not unlike another predator plaguing the Savannah.
Technology Discovered: Efficient Hunting (Provides
+1 Food to exploited, hunted
Food resources)
The
Wildebeest Herd in
47-D now produces additional
Food.
Hunting wasn't necessarily the only thing your tribesfolk had in mind with the advent of
Bolas. It wasn't long before a lone young lioness stalked over from the East, emboldened by the successes she'd had hunting your people in the days before the Bolas were utilized. She'd gotten the jump on a pack of hunters, and as with most of her ilk had learned to prioritize avoiding the bite of spear thrusts. What the beast could not comprehend was what one of the hunters nearby was doing while swinging his arm wildly but purposefully over his head. The bolas wrapped around a foreleg and bruised the lioness, but was ineffective at halting her assault on one unfortunate hunter. She grabbed the tribal by the nape of the neck and attempted to run off with the fresh meal, but her efforts were hampered when her hind legs were bound by a second bolas. The maneater flailed and thrashed but to no avail, and the hunters, instead of delivering a final blow, waited for the lioness to exhaust herself. They suffered some serious but nonlife-threatening injuries when they worked another rope around her front legs before binding them all together and dragging her back to the tribe.
While they'd been hunted by this pride of lions and rightfully terrified of them, the tribe also respected the creatures to a high degree - the tribe was acting much the same to the local wildlife, after all. Without the predisposition of seeing themselves as a superior species, your tribe instead sought to teach the lioness to understand them, and perhaps leave them be. A rope was tied around the lioness' neck at one end and anchored to
The Baobab. Days turned into weeks as the tribesfolk regularly brought meat and water to the lioness for nourishment, and eventually she stopped aggressively swiping at every human who came close.
Of course, she eventually broke loose from her restraints and entered a
Pit House where she slaughtered the family inside, but even though she had to be put down her change in behavior based on her treatment in captivity left a mark on your people. A less aggressive creature would have perhaps been a better foundation for learning the intricacies of how wildlife behaviors can be adjusted through human intervention, but the groundwork has been done and the theory spawned regardless.
Technology Discovered: Early Animal Domestication (while this technology provides no bonuses itself, it allows your people to attempt domestication of an animal-based resource)
After being killed, the lioness' body was laid before
The Baobab but its remains were left untouched by scavengers, the offering not taken in its entirety by the mighty tree from the perspective of your people. Instead, her body rotted away and bones left to bleach in the sun. Your people took these bones left to them by
The Baobab and crafted accessories from them - the first body alterations appeared at this time as string looped through pierced ears dangling a tooth or piece of claw, the piercings being created by thin pieces of bone sharpened to a very effective point. Necklaces of bone fragments woven into thicker cords also appeared during this time. The recent losses of a few of their pride shifted the lions' attentions to other less lethal prey, but your people believed it was the bones of the Lioness, blessed by
The Baobab, that had begun to ward them off.
Technology Discovered: Animal Bone Accessories (Requires access to a living animal, improves Tribe morale)
No longer hunted relentlessly, your people no longer feel the need to mass produce spears for their defense.
It is now the Exploitation Phase. You may designate an unexploited resource to exploit or propose a new or improved means of exploiting resources. As always, you can ask me about whether or not a proposal is valid, clarification on things, and other questions related to the game either here or in the discord server linked in the OP.
Improved Stone Tools: Provides durable tools for basic tasks, doubling Wood and Stone Exploitation, requires access to Stone, Wood, Textile.
-Stone Spear: Allows Exploitation of larger beasts for Food, requires access to Stone.
Bolas: Stones bound by rope used to ensnare and capture or cripple prey at range, requires access to Stone and costs 1 Textile in upkeep.
Primitive Rope: Dried, braided reeds that let the tribe secure and bundle objects. Allows for Wood Exploitation 1 square outside of the civilization's borders, requires access to Textiles.
Primitive Firemaking: A base tech vital for survival.
Persistence Hunting: Allows for Food Exploitation 1 square outside of the civilization's borders.
-Efficient Hunting: Smarter tactics allow your hunters to gain +1 Food from hunted resources.
Early Animal Domestication: With a very basic understanding of how to pacify animals, your people are capable of attempting domestication.
Animal Bone Accessories: Jewelry, wards, and charms made of bone that provide a positive impact on tribal morale, requires access to a living (nonhuman) animal.
Subsistence Foraging: Allows for the bare minimum of passive Food collection for low populations in plentiful regions.
-Societal Herbalism: Your people as a whole have a basic familiarity with how to utilize the plant life around them. They are beginning to understand the life cycle of plants.
--Guarri Bark Paste: A bark and water mash that can be spread over open injuries to provide a level of pain relief and infection resistance.
-Primitive Dendrology: The tribe can identify the useful parts of trees better, providing Food or Chemicals in addition to Wood.
--Seedkeepers: Tribal collectors of seeds who spread them as they travel. They also keep track of tribal folklore using local trees as reference points for certain events.
Hide Tents: Provides basic shelter.
-Pit House: A semiburied wood and grass structure that provides good environmental protection, improves quality of life, and sets the stage for further enhancements to bolster a more sedentary lifestyle, requires 1 Wood per Settlement for upkeep.
The Baobab: A tree used to mark tribal deaths due to lions. The deceased are left as offerings at its base. Is not a health hazard thanks to local scavengers stealing away with corpses in the night.
Food: 3/3
Wood: 0/2 (Pit Houses(-2))
Stone: 2/2
Magnetofumes: 0/0
Chemical: 0/0
Textile: 0/1 (Bolas(-1))
Sand: 0/0
46-C: Savannah, Desert
46-D: Savannah, Desert, Beach
46-E: Desert, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-B: Savannah, Freshwater Spring, Freshwater Stream, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-C: Savannah, Freshwater Stream
47-D: SETTLEMENT, Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-E: Shallow Water
48-B: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
48-C: SETTLEMENT, Savannah, Freshwater Stream, Freshwater Lake
48-D: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
48-E: Shallow Water
49-B: Shallow Water
49-C: Savannah, Plateaus, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
49-D: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
Identified, Identified but Currently Useless and Exploited
47-D: Food x3 (Wildebeest Herd(+1), Acacia Grove), Wood x2 (Acacia Grove), Stone x2 (Granite Inselberg), Magnetofumes (Fumic Geyser)
48-C: Food x2 (Antelope Herd, Elephant Herd), Ivory (Elephant Herd), Clay (Lakeside Red Clay Deposit), Textiles (Lakeside Reeds)
49-C: Stone (Limestone Chimneys), Magnetofumes x2 (Fumic Plateau), Sand (White Quartz Beach), Lions? (Lion Cubs?)
Major Founders:
m1895 - (2I/1P)
Nuke9.13 - (3I/0P)
Powder Miner - (3I/0P)
Minor Founders:
a1s - (1I/1P)
Taricus - (1I/1P)
Fluffe1199 - (0I/0P)
Light forger - (0I/0P)
Doomblade187 - (0I/0P)
sketchykeeps - (0I/0P)
Kashyyk - (0I/0P)