Experimentation V: The Trials of Tooth and Tusk (Roll: 2 9)
With their thorough knowledge of domesticating and breeding wildebeest serving them quite well, the Baobabi began to branch out their efforts in animal husbandry applying many of the same principles. At the behest of a Major Founder
(Powder Miner +2I), the targets of the Baobabi's attention for the next few generations were the
Elephants that frequented the area around
Great Baobab, and the
Alligators of
47-B.
The Alligators proved to be the easier of the two to domesticate, if only because their impulsive attitudes made them much easier to manipulate and anticipate. With a steady supply of meat on hand, the population of alligators within
47-B were lured into large pens made of sticks, mud, and logs. Not many people were willing to work with the captured creatures, so a single school of thought wound up dominating the domestication and training of the scaled creatures.
The alligator's propensity toward sudden and overwhelming violence was a key trait the breeders wished to build upon, but two different directions were taken in regard to their purpose. Alligators that grew to a smaller size were selectively bred and acclimated toward Baobabi. This process was remarkably slow, as alligators take about as long to reach sexual maturity as a human, so the physical changes from breeding the smaller creatures over generations (both alligator and Baobabi) were less significant than the Wildebeest comparatively. The
did end up becoming a fair bit more docile and easier to manage than their wild counterparts, and responded well to their handlers placing leads around their heads and "commanding" them through tugs and basic vocalizations. The commands were extremely basic - a sharp tug and single low click to stop, a slow pull and higher pitched pair of clicks to return to the handler's side, and a whip and release of the lead and a sharp "HA!" to charge whatever the thing in front of them was. To facilitate better directing of the alligator's aggression a hood made of woven fibers and blinders of tree bark were tied to the alligator after the lead was secure.
These
"Battlegators" were extremely useful as companions to work parties and travelers on the western edge of Baobabi land. The Others had begin a protracted campaign of kidnapping Baobabi who had gotten themselves lost or isolated, and many who were taken were never heard from again. As it became obvious that The Others were acting aggressively - even if only every few years or so - and perhaps
experimenting with their captives in some way, Battlegators were in high demand as deterrents for the entirely hand-to-hand combatants The Others utilized. Even their stonemen were susceptible, as a Battlegator latched onto a leg would
definitely get what it wanted from The Other (meat) when they inevitably had to move. Unfortunately, the low number of handlers, breeders, and division of focus of dedicated domestication projects meant the Battlegators were few and far between, and the need for nearby fresh water wherever they go hurt those efforts further. They
did stymie The Others' efforts enough to matter, we imagine, and helped keep other threats from interfering with hunters and gatherers abroad.
The large alligators were not just neglected and left to die of old age or harvested for their meat, either. The largest and most potentially destructive (large teeth and pouncing speed were prioritized by breeders) were "community projects". The entirety of
Greenlife adjusted their way of living to accommodate the creatures and integrate them into the village as a means of additional self defense in the face of a persistent threat. This too took generations for both the Baobabi and
"Alliguards" for the project to really come to fruition. The eggs were moved from breeding grounds to locations around the village, and the villagers all encouraged to interact with and feed these slightly huskier stocks of alligators. Over time the creatures came to generally regard the Baobabi as "friends", insomuch as they didn't see them as "food". Large mud pits and ponds were created using the local lakewater in order to give the Alliguards more permanent residence around the outer edges of the village. Stake walls were put up to direct the Alliguards attentions away from the village more often than not, and the locals regularly tossed extra food into their pits to keep them satisfied and generally close by. Due to the nature of familiarizing Alliguards from hatching onward, use of Alliguards is restricted to places with local
Domesticated Alligators.
A single attempt to steal away people of Greenlife ended largely in disaster for them. With less open land needing to be actively watched thanks to walls, night watches were easily organized and left The Others seeking a means around the guards and their torchlight. They believed it was possible to scale the walls and then do away with sneaking once they had a Baobabi or two snatched. By the time the bellowing of Alliguards and pained screaming from The Others summoned the Baobabi guards there was little they could do but watch the beasts finish their midnight snack.
Both the Battlegators and Alliguards require feeding to keep them actively friendly to the Baobabi (as well as, you know, alive), as well as nearby sources of fresh water. While they aren't necessarily
harmless to keep around, deaths of Baobabi due to alligator are generally regarded as either an error on the villagers fault or an honest accident, and are rare enough that that may very well be the case.
Modified Resource: Alligators (The hunted
Alligators are now
Domesticated Alligators. Their slow growth and breeding cycles and your aim to preserve their lives instead of hunt them down means they no longer produce
Food on their own and in fact require
1 Food Upkeep. In the event that you spread their population to other locations they will also require access to fresh water.)
New Technology: Battlegators (Requires access to
Domesticated Alligators. Basic training, a leash, and a woven hood with blinders give Baobabi the ability to direct these smaller alligators toward threats both offensively and defensively. Only affects tiles with access to fresh water.)
New Technology: Alliguards (Requires local access to
Domesticated Alligators and fresh water. The large alligators are familiarized with the locals from birth and given mud pits to reside in outside of the settlement. The need to direct their attention outward results in Walled Settlements.)
But, as mentioned before, those Baobabi interested in breeding intimidating animals had split their attention. Elephants, with their massive size and intimidating tusks, were another impressive animal that the Baobabi sought to wrap up into their own web of life. Unlike the alligators, once the Baobabi stopped killing them and began to approach them more cautiously and peacefully, the elephants generally responded more with
curiosity than anything else. It didn't take much interaction for the Baobabi to understand that these were
intelligent beasts. At least moreso than the ones they'd encountered to date. Instead of forcing the elephants into captivity, the Baobabi were able to willingly lure a few elephants from the herd's normal stomping grounds to a nice open area closer to
Great Baobab. A younger breeding pair was tended to regularly by the local Baobabi, and after a few years of travel back and forth between the herd and the tribe their curiosity became something more akin to a friendship. The Baobabi repeated this process slowly with the rest of the herd, and eventually the Baobabi were being brought newborns and youth by the elephants as if they were being introduced to allies. It took generations of cooperating with the large creatures, but eventually both grew to complement one another as they willingly cooperated to their mutual benefit.
The mature males of these seemingly
Domesticated Elephants had a tendency to commit extreme violence on a seasonal basis as they grew older. Apparently aware of the threat they posed to their smaller friends when in this enraged state, males would permit the humans to bind them to larger trees once they started showing signs of musthing. Without food or water for a few days the rage would subside, and the elephant could be released to return to the herd. While unable to direct their breeding habits, the Baobabi were still able to at least observe lineage as the trees used regularly to secure the males became a sort of designated breeding ground.
In return for practically guaranteed food, water, and shelter, the Elephants were guided toward performing two separate tasks to support the Baobabi. The predators that The Others proved to be was a potential threat for both species, but the Elephants were seemingly pacifistic outside of musthing and being forced into self-defense. As a result, the
Bow Elephants were very few in number. But they
exist. Bow Elephants allowed archers to ride straddling them behind the ears. The creatures provided a nice stable, raised platform to fire from, but would try to keep distance between threats and themselves. While they wouldn't suddenly break and would generally keep threats within range of the archers protecting them, they did not use their mass or natural weapons to engage themselves.
One of the more notable Baobabi actions during the abduction by The Others was a retaliation attack on their workers at the Oasis. A pair of Bow Elephants and a small supporting entourage traveled to
45-D intent on taking a few captives of their own. With great fortune or misfortune, depending on how much blood someone wanted spilled, it seemed the infighting caused by the capture of the Baobabi during first contact had bloomed into more aggressive conflict. While aligned with one another in generally violent means of dealing with the Baobabi, their disagreements on the how and why caused a significant schism internally that could very well be capitalized upon. This first manifested during the Bow Elephant attack, where both factions within The Others were already engaged in regular fighting and general unrest. The arrival of the Baobabi bows, elephants, and spears shattered the already brittle ages-long alliance. The Baobabi suffered minimal losses and left rapidly once they realized The Others would finish their task for them.
The other group of work elephants was known as
Earthshakers. These Elephants could be directed to use their trunks, tusks, and feet to do some
Extremely Basic Terraforming. Trees could be cleared to make way for smaller plants, plants cleared for soil, and in rare cases the soil could be turned to reveal minerals close to the surface. This is impressive, even if it doesn't get a larger entry because there's not much more to say about it.
With ivory being a somewhat important part of Baobabi crafting culture, the Elephants seemingly allowed them the opportunity to harvest tusks from the dead so long as the corpse was otherwise undisturbed.
Modified Resource: Elephants (The hunted
Elephants are now
"Domesticated" Elephants. Their slow growth and breeding cycles and your aim to preserve their lives instead of hunt them down means they no longer produce
Food on their own and in fact require
1 Wood Upkeep in order to prevent musth rampages.)
New Technology: Bow Elephants (Bowmen seated on Elephants to better engage threats. The first real Baobabi combat unit, but very very limited in number. Requires access to
Domesticated Elephants and
Bows.
New Technology: Earthshakers (Elephants that can be directed to clear specific plots of land. Allows
Extremely Basic Terraforming. Requires access to
Domesticated Elephants.)
New Technology: Extremely Basic Terraforming (Allows limited Terraforming actions, which can be taken as a standard Exploitation action. Tree-based resources can be cleared for a random plant-based resource, plant-based resources cleared for basic surface resources, and basic surface resources rarely capable of being cleared to reveal subsurface minerals. Clearing basic surface resources such as Clay or Sand can fail to produce subsurface minerals and be destroyed in the process. Can be performed anywhere within Baobabi borders.)
Over this extended period of time, The Others have seemingly collapsed in on themselves. Your future interactions will have a more direct and clear effect on the future of their factions. Actions made in the coming turn can be flavored in a way to intentionally aid the
Thin Others or the
Stout Others, push some level of coexistence, or stand back and leave them to their own devices. If no clear direction for the intent of interaction with The Others is made, then you are leaving their futures up to chance. But maybe that's what you want.
Pushing for dominance of one side over the other will see relations improved with one and dropped with the other. Pushing coexistence can result in a stale mate or status quo, or potentially even peace. Leaving them to their own devices can result in the same things as coexistence, but without your input affecting relations for better or worse. Leaving things up to chance will help or hinder either side based on the whims of the dice.
It is now the Exploration Phase. Remember that you can either choose to explore up to four connected areas (thanks to Waterskins, Pack Wildebeest, and Way-Finding Pots) or propose new equipment or technology that would facilitate improved exploration in some way. You may also choose to explore specific points of interest for more details on them. The Way-Finding Pots are fundedm so you will continue to benefit from them.
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.
Baobabi Longbow: A composite recurved bow around 175-180cm long. Powerful and relatively silent. A weapon ahead of its time. Requires access to Textile and a Medium+ Animal Resource and costs 1 Wood upkeep.
-Stone Arrows: Stone arrows with wooden shafts and feather fletching. Effective. Requires access to Wood, costs 1 Stone 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.
Waterskins: Animal bladders with wood stoppers and pullstrings used to transport water. +1 to borders around fresh water settlements, +1 to Exploration Range.
Early Animal Domestication: With a very basic understanding of how to pacify animals, your people are capable of attempting domestication.
-Animal Husbandry: Exploited animals can be domesticated in order to produce specific benefits.
-Selective Breeding: Attempts at Domestication roll 2d10 and take the highest result.
--Pack Wildebeest: Wildebeest bred for their strength. Provides +1 Range to all land-based actions. Requires access to Domesticated Wildebeest.
--Long-Haired Wildebeest: Wildebeest bred for their long hair. Domesticated Wildebeest provide +1 Textiles.
-Domesticated Alligators: Allows the use of alligators at the cost of 1 Food Upkeep.
--Battlegators: Smaller alligators bred and trained for use as attack animals against threats. Only affects tiles with access to fresh water. Requires access to Domesticated Alligators. Basic
--Alliguards: Large alligators familiarized with locals from birth and given mud pits to reside in outside of the settlement. The need to direct their attention outward results in Walled Settlements. Requires local access to Domesticated Alligators and fresh water.
-Domesticated Elephants: Allows the use of Elephants at the cost of 1 Wood Upkeep.
--Bow Elephants: Bowmen seated on Elephants to better engage threats. The first real Baobabi combat unit, but very very limited in number. Requires access to Domesticated Elephants and Bows.
--Earthshakers: Elephants that can be directed to clear specific plots of land. Allows Extremely Basic Terraforming. Requires access to Domesticated Elephants.
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.
-Lion's Skull: The skull of the lion that led the Maneater Pride. A symbol of hunting mastery, power, prestige, and leadership within the tribe.
Clay Beads: Sun-dried clay beads ran through with string. A low-value trade good. Requires access to Clay, Textiles.
Ivory Pendants: Hand-carved ivory pendants. A high-value trade good. Requires access to Ivory, Textiles.
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.
---Woodsongs: Tales of the Seedkeepers turned into chants and accompanied by a rhythmically plucked bow. Is considered the foundation of the greater Baobabi language.
----Skytales: Tales of the Herbologists. Early Baobabi Astrology used to chart the time of year. Can be a foundation for many things, earthly or otherwise.
Organized Labor Force: Teams of workers organized for improved efficiency. Allows +1 Exploited Resource when Exploiting during Exploitation Phases.
-Industrious Workers: The bones of the Baobabi are not lazy. Allows new SETTLEMENTS to auto-Exploit 1 Resource.
Stone Etchings: A foundational writing technology. Slabs of stone used to keep track of herds and property. The first steps toward something greater. Requires access to Stone.
Accounting: A foundational mathematical technology. Opens up many doors as society evolves.
Bartering: A means of trade that can provide opportunities for interaction with external forces through trade and diplomacy.
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.
Brick Kilns: A fire enclosed in a brick dome that allows refinement of various materials thanks to high heat. Requires 1 Clay for upkeep.
-Kiln-fired Bricks: Clay bricks baked at high temperature. Sturdy, brittle material. Can be used in new advancements at an appropriate Clay cost. Requires a funded kiln-like technology.
Potter's Wheel: Increases the quality and quantity of clay handcrafts. Proves a wheel shape can actually be useful!
-Baobabi Pottery: A premium trade good unique to the Baobabi made of clay with decorative indentations and ash glazing. Requires access to Clay and a funded kiln-like technology.
--Food Pots: Food storage pots that decrease Baobabi reliability on the land for food and protects food from the elements/vermin, allowing them to expand further. +1 Range to All Settlement Borders. Requires 1 Food for upkeep and a funded pottery technology.
--Way-Finding Pots: Pots storing Magnetofumes that can be leaked out to see which way is north. +1 Exploration Range. Requires 1 Magnetofumes Upkeep and a funded pottery technology. Unfunded
Stake Wall: Wooden stakes stuck into earthen ramparts to create a basic but effective barrier. Requires access to Wood.
Very Basic Terraforming: An Exploit Action that can modify a wood resource into a plant resource, plant resource into a ground resource, and has a low chance to change a ground resource into a subsurface mineral deposit.
The Baobab of Bones: A tree used to mark tribal deaths due to lions now adorned by the sun-bleached bones of said 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. The bones hanging from the branches act as a macabre windchime.
Food: 0/5 (Settlement Upkeep(-3), Food Pots(-1), Domesticated Alligators(-1))
Wood: 1/6 (Pit Houses(-3), Baobabi Longbows(-1), Domesticated Elephants(-1))
Stone: 3/4 (Stone Arrows(-1))
Magnetofumes: 3/4 (Way-Finding Pots(-1))
Chemical: 2/2
Textile: 2/3 (Bolas(-1))
Sand: 0/0
Ivory: 1/1
Clay: 0/1 (Brick Kilns(-1))
44-C: Desert, Mountain, Meadow, Impact Crater
44-D: Desert, Mountain, Meadow, Coast, Shallow Water
44-E: Coast, Shallow Water, Coast, Jungle
45-A: Shallow Water
45-B: Desert, Coast, Shallow Water
45-C: Desert
45-D: Desert, Oasis, Mountain [Explored]
46-B: Savannah, Desert, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
46-C: Savannah, Desert [Explored]
46-D: Savannah, Desert, Beach [Explored]
46-E: Desert, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
47-B: GREENHOME (Walled Settlement) Savannah, Freshwater Spring, Freshwater Stream, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
47-C: Savannah, Freshwater Stream [Explored]
47-D: STAKEHOME (Settlement), Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
47-E: Shallow Water
48-B: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water
48-C: GREAT BAOBAB (Settlement), Savannah, Freshwater Stream, Freshwater Lake [Explored]
48-D: Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
48-E: Shallow Water
49-B: Shallow Water
49-C: Savannah, Plateaus, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
49-D: The Cave Hole, Savannah, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
50-C: Savannah, Ferrovolcano, Beach, Coast, Shallow Water [Explored]
Identified, Identified but Currently Useless or Inaccessible and Exploited
45-D: Food (Coconut Palms), Wood (Coconut Palms), Textiles x2 (Reeds, Coconut Palms), Magnetofumes (Fumic Vent)
46-B: Food (Dolphin Pod), Magnetofumes (Fumic Vent), Rattlesnakes? (Rattlesnakes?)
46-C: Food x2 (Finger Millet, White Rhino Herd), Magnetofumes (Fumic Vent)
46-D: Food x4 (Acacia Growths, Giraffe Herds, Horseshoe Crabs, Egrets), Stone (Sandstone Stacks), Magnetofumes (Fumic Vent), Painted Dogs? (Painted Dogs?)
47-B: Food x3 (Barley Fields, Wildebeest Herd, Marula Tree Grove), Wood (Marula Tree Grove), Malachite River Stones (Stone(+1)), Domesticated Alligators (Domesticated Alligators)
47-C: Food (Zebra Herd), Wood x2 (Rubber Tree Copse(+1)), Chemicals (Rubber Tree Copse), Magnetofumes (Fumic Geyser), Cheetahs? (Cheetahs?)
47-D: Food x2 (Domesticated Wildebeest, Acacia Grove), Wood x2 (Acacia Grove(+1)), Stone x2 (Granite Inselberg(+1)), Textiles (Domesticated Wildebeest) Magnetofumes (Fumic Geyser)
48-C: Food (Antelope Herd) Food x3 (Ostrich Flock(+1), Domesticated Wildebeest), Domesticated Elephants (Domesticated Elephants), Ivory (Domesticated Elephants), Clay (Lakeside Red Clay Deposit), Textiles x2 (Lakeside Reeds, Domesticated Wildebeest), Wood x2 (Rubber Tree Hills(+1)), Chemicals (Rubber Tree Hills)
48-D: Textiles (Cordgrass Shoots), Clay (Marine Clay)
49-C: Stone (Limestone Chimneys), Magnetofumes x2 (Fumic Plateau), Sand (White Quartz Beach)
49-D: Food x2 (Crabs, Flamingo Flock)
50-C: Stone x2 (Obsidian, Yellowed Basalt), Magnetofumes x4 (Ferrovolcano)
+Wood Resource
+Domesticated Wildebeest Resource
The Thin Others: Generally aggressive posture, responsible for kidnappings near the border. Use some sort of lizard-based(?) magic or mysticism to enable superhuman speed.
The Stout Others: Generally aggressive posture, responsible for kidnappings near the border. Use some sort of dirt-based(?) magic or mysticism to enable superhuman durability.
Major Founders:
Powder Miner - (8I/2P)
Nuke9.13 - (4I/2P)
Quarque - (3I/0P)
Minor Founders:
m1895 - (3I/3P)
Doomblade187 - (2I/0P)
Kashyyk - (2I/0P)
a1s - (1I/1P)
Taricus - (1I/1P)
Fluffe1199 - (0I/0P)
Light forger - (0I/0P)
sketchykeeps - (0I/0P)
Knightwing64 - (0I/0P)
chubby2man - (0I/0P)
Author
Topic: The Founders - A RiskyArmsCivGodPoliticking Game (Experimentation VI) (Read 19648 times)