Exploration II: Moving On
Your people, nomadic by nature even if stuck underground, itched to pick up and move once again. To see
different cave walls. To hear how dripping water echoes in
different caverns. A small group stayed behind to continue harvesting the hairy lichen, with runners bringing the resource to the tribe as it moved through the caves and toward a new home.
At the instruction of one of the Founding Families
(Crystalizedmire +1I), a general direction was chosen for the migration to occur. The tribe packed their things and headed south into
16-N. With Stonebreakers traveling a couple days ahead of the rest of the tribe, paths could be widened, carved, and smoothed out to ease travel as they went. Small groups would break off from the main party to explore forks and branches in the paths they took, and eventually one of these teams found themselves led by a curious light. Following the glow led them to three massive interconnected caverns that each required days to comb through.
Glowing Mushrooms sprouted from cracks in the stone where water had carved a path generations ago, and their relatively plump helmet-like tops proved more than adequate for eating (with some occasional
mild discomfort). Some curious materials were woven in veins along the cavern walls, giving the tribe their first glimpse of
Casserite within the
Granite. One of the caverns even had a pool of
Mourning Dew gathering at it's center.
The tribe, used to the feel of water dripping from the ceiling, were significantly less enthusiastic when they were setting up a camp for resting and felt something significantly harder falling on them from the ceiling.
Poisonous Cave Centipedes as long as a tribesfolk's forearm dropped from above, landing on this perceived threat with aggressive intent. The bites from the animals were painful, and they were never satisfied with just a single assault, often attacking in conjunction with a few other centipedes dropping onto the unfortunate someone or someones passing underneath the centipede clusters. The horrors of these large insects did not end there, as the bites festered and blackened while the venom spread through the victim's body. An incredibly powerful but brief illness struck the victims before they passed away curled in a ball and covered in their own fluids.
While the threat of the centipedes was not constant, it was present enough that the tribe made sure to quickly pass through the region and into
17-N.
This area was full of steep inclines as the passages wove into and through the mountains separating the empty wastes the tribe inhabited from the rest of the world. Fearful of any return through the centipede-infested caverns after having already suffered a noticeable number of losses, the tribe was intent on finding someplace sufficient to stay within this twisting maze. Fortunately, the tribe was able to locate a very large passage that led to the surface. The entirety of the winding passageways within the mountain crossed at a single point with a cave that passed through from one side of the mountain to the other, terminating at each end above the surface.
Haircap Moss was abundant in the area, giving the tribe a sufficient and plentiful source of food. Tunnels closer to the surface also cut through significant deposits of
Lignite layered above the everpresent
Granite. One branch of tunnels beneath the mountain proved most intriguing, as it terminated at a very large squared chamber filled with a dense collection of
Mourning Dew that wasn't flowing into the tunnel for some reason or another. Neither did any voices, as our Attuned were keen to point out. Once they entered this chamber, their interactions with the Mourning Dew were as expected (overwhelming numbers of casually mumbling voices).
As the tribe set up near the intersection between the underground and the cave tunnel, a small party went to check out the ends of the cave tunnel. While they did manage to get a good view of their surroundings, less of them returned thanks to a family of
Cave Bears that made their home in the tunnel and hunted nearby prey on the surface. Survivors were able to spot a distant tower of smoke, and noted that it likely belonged to one of the tribes that forced yours into hiding.
Neither of these zones are safe, but the
Cave Bears are something your people could evade, at least. While they aren't immediately disturbed by or disturbing the tribe, continued habitation of the area without decisively dealing with the bears could result in...animosity.
With the tribe setting up in
17-N, the group working the
Hairy Lichen in
16-M could continue their work. All other resources in that region are currently unworked, largely due to the fact that those workers have moved on to harvest the resources in
17-N.
RESOURCES IDENTIFIED16-NGlowing Mushroom Clusters (Food+Chemicals)
Granite Caverns (Stone x2)
Casserite Veins (Stone?)
Poisonous Centipede Colonies (??)
Mourning Dew Pool (Mourning Dew x2)17-NHaircap Moss Growths (Food x2)
Granite Mountains (Stone x2)
Lignite Beds (Stone? x2)
Cave Bear Family (??)
The Misty Chamber (Mourning Dew x3)TERRAIN IDENTIFIED16-NInterconnected Caverns16-OMountain RangeHilly Grassland17-NThe Tunnel Pass17-OMountain Range
Hilly Grassland
Deciduous Forest
Mountain-Fed Streams18-MMountain RangeHilly Grassland18-NMountain RangeHilly Grassland18-OMountain Range
Hilly Grassland
Deciduous Forest
Lake-Fed StreamsUNKNOWN TRIBE----
It is now the Expansion Phase. Remember that this phase is for expanding in the sense of proposing technology to build up your military, society, industry, or culture in addition to the expected meaning of expansion by declaring an "attack" on a zone within or along your borders if you have an identified threat you wish to eliminate. As a Nomadic tribe you may choose to move or settle during this phase as the phase's Action. The name will also continue to be a point of discussion until the vote is more decisive.
If you use a magnifying glass you might also be able to see the small purple squares in the upper right corner of the areas you have explored on the map.
You can interact with another tribe with any action, provided the proposal includes some flavor involving how it is intended to be used. All actions, even those without flavor, have the potential to cause interaction with other tribes - contact with the outside world is almost inevitable, and you have some power to influence how that comes about.
There is a general feeling among the tribe that there are about to be major changes in the near future. (This is GM-speak letting you know that your Expansion Action, unless it rolls astoundingly average, will be the final deciding factor for how your first Age comes about.)
Advanced Cave Adaptation: A slowly growing percentage of the population has never seen the surface - or the sky. The tribe has greatly heightened senses, although sensitive eyes make the surface less than desirable during the day, and the lack of a ceiling overhead might be extremely unsettling at any time of day.
Subterranean Migrations: Your people can find underground routes through any Land tile.
Stone Tools: Provides basic tools for basic tasks. Requires access to Stone.
Stonebreakers: Your tribe is intimately familiar with various properties of stone, and have a chance to identify an additional stone (or "stone") based resource when exploring or settling a new area. The digging out, smoothing, and marking of tunnels for regular usage also makes all forms of travel easier. Scouts also benefit from the ability to dig around/through obstacles. Exploration Range +1. Exploitation Range extends +1 beyond borders. Only applicable to underground actions.
Attuned: Members of the tribe who are more sensitive to Mourning Dew. Requires access to Mourning Dew.
-Soul-Scouts: Attuned given a request upon their deathbed to scout out a nearby area. Currently too thorough, resulting in lethal "haunting" of the scouted area after a period of time. Provides very accurate data if followed from an ever-increasing safe distance. Soul-Scouts allow Exploration of a tile neighboring a previously Explored tile independent of any other Exploration action, and have a chance to discover additional resources. Soul-Scouts provide areas they Explore with the (Lethal Spirits) modifier and hamper any actions in the area unless otherwise dealt with. Requires 1 Mourning Dew Upkeep.
Early Firemaking: A base tech vital for survival.
Primitive Ropemaking: Provides ropes useful for a wide variety of tasks. Requires access to Textiles.
Cave Homes: The most basic form of housing - caves carved out by nature ages ago.
Key: Resource: Available/Total
Food: 3/3
Stone: 4/4
Textile: 1/1
Mourning Dew: 2/3 (-1 Soul-Scouts)
15-L: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland
15-M: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range
15-N: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland
16-L: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range
16-M: Rocky Wasteland (Explored) (Lethal Spirits [Surface])
16-N: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range, Interconnected Caverns (Explored)
16-O: Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland
17-L: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range
17-M: Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range, Underground Lake (Explored)
17-N: TRIBAL INTERSECTION Rocky Wasteland, Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland, The Tunnel Pass (Explored)
17-O: Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland, Deciduous Forest, Mountain-Fed Streams
18-M: Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland
18-N: Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland
18-O: UNKNOWN TRIBE Mountain Range, Hilly Grassland, Deciduous Forest, Lake-Fed Streams
Key: Identified, Identified but Inaccessible or Useless, Exploited
16-M: Food x1 (Hairy Lichen Walls [SP]) Food x1 (Cave Crayfish), Stone x3 (Granite Stalactites, Granite Stalagmites, Native Silver Vein), Stone x2 (Surface Granite x2) Textile x1 (Hairy Lichen Walls [SP]), Mourning Dew x3 (The Depths)
16-N: Food x1 (Glowing Mushroom Clusters), Stone x3 (Granite Caverns x2, Casserite Veins), Mourning Dew x2 (Mourning Dew Pool), ?? (Poisonous Centipede Colonies)
17-M: Food x2 (Hearty Anasazi Bean Poles), Clay x1 (Clay Soil Deposits), Mourning Dew x5 (The Whispering Lake), ?? (Mud-caked Wasp Nests), ?? (Gray Bat Swarm)
17-N: Food x2 (Haircap Moss Growths x2), Stone x4 (Granite Mountains x2, Lignite Beds x2), Mourning Dew x3 (The Misty Chamber), ?? (Cave Bear Family)
Maximum Spin - 2I/0P
Powder Miner - 1I/0P
Crystalizedmire - 1I/0P
NUKE9.13 - 0I/0P
The Canadian kitten - 0I/0P
Quarque - 0I/0P
m1895 - -/-
A_Curious_Cat - 0I/0P
chubby2man - 0I/0P
Author
Topic: Founding Families - A Semicompetitive Civ Building Game [Explore IV] (Read 11156 times)