The Whispering Lake has been a curiosity that has drawn the attention of your tribe for some time now, and even with the "discovery" of the Attuned it largely remained a mysterious point of interest. Without much regular interaction with the Lake, it took the tribe until just now to test the waters in a most literal sense.
A small group of Attuned waded into the lake to fully immerse themselves in the souls of the dead in an attempt to finally reach out and make some sort of real connection. Most were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of voices speaking directly into their minds and either abandoned the lake or fell beneath the surface. Only one Attuned was able to endure the Whispering Lake, staving off madness and enduring the pains of hunger and thirst. After a few days, this
Lake-Attuned found themself no longer able to differentiate between the Lake and themselves, filtering through the voices of the dead in order to find and speak to specific spirits passing by. They learned much about the Mourning Dew in their conversations with the dead (although no individual knew much on their own), and discovered that each of these spirits had lived a relatively normal life, doing a little bit to help others here and there, providing for their tribes, and not going out of their way to cause undue harm. As a result of their fairly uneventful lifestyles, they had a slow but steady and reliable path to The Whispering Lake and then the afterlife beyond. The savage spirit scouring the surface was becoming increasingly frustrated due to a degradation of the memory of it's order over time, resulting in an endless loop of task repetition delaying their peaceful path to providence. The Lake-Attuned was able to reach out to this accursed surface spirit from their permanent spot standing at the middle of the lake chest-deep in water and called them back.
The
Lake-Attuned found that they could also reach out to their Attuned tribemates, acting as a relay between the living and the dead and passing messages back and forth across long distances. This meant the tribe was able to give clear instructions to the dead that wished to provide aid (and not just recently deceased Attuned) and give them something to do while they waited for their turn to pass on
without forcing them to work "overtime". If this link were to ever be broken, any spirits working alongside the tribe would likely lose direction and revert back to a more aggressively agitated state.
As time passed, the
Lake-Attuned found themself no longer wanting for food or drink, their bodies seemingly provided for in all manners by their attunement to the Lake, but they still aged. Having already been fairly old at the time of their lake attunement, it was only a few years before an Attuned heard the first "call". Being intimately entwined with death, the Lake-Attuned could feel their own spirit trying to break its mortal bindings and reached out to the Attuned spirit they felt most closely resonated with the spiritual energies of the Whispering Lake - one who had lived a life that would guarantee their passage through The Whispering Lake. As the tribe had begun to see the
Lake-Attuned as a sort of spiritual leader (in a few meanings of the title), the Attuned had little hesitation in answering this unique call. The Attuned waded into the middle of the lake unbothered by the spirits congregating in the Mourning Dew, where they met a wrinkled, hunched, withered, but smiling
Lake-Attuned. They both held out their hands and grasped one another for a few moments until the
Lake-Attuned seeming dissolved into the lake. Their knowledge melded together within the new
Lake-Attuned as the old spirit passed all of it's experiences onto the new spirit, leaving the tribe with a seamless transition in the position.
NEW DISCOVERIESLake-Attuned: An Attuned who has more specifically attuned to The Whispering Lake. Lake-Attuned allow the tribe to make requests of and utilize the spirits of the dead passing through the Lake without much complication. Only one Lake-Attuned exists at a time, acting as both messenger and spirit guide until they die of old age. Lake-Attuned choose which Attuned will inherit the position based on how closely their lifestyle aligns with The Whispering Lake's denizens - generally the more unremarkable the lifestyle, the better the fit. The tribe sees the Lake-Attuned as a sort of absentee leader who speaks to them through the Attuned. Requires access to
The Whispering Lake.
Lake Spirits: Spirits from The Whispering Lake are fairly passive as they likely were in life, and eagerly await their turn to pass into the afterlife (whatever that may be). Lake Spirits are relatively simple, and work best on simple or fairly easy tasks (such as exploration). Their passivity can erode rapidly if overworked, especially without a
Lake-Attuned in the tribe. There is no direct cost for
Lake Spirits, as any upkeep is reflected in the discoveries that utilize them.
MODIFIED DISCOVERIES-Soul-Scouts: Spirits from the Whispering Lake who have answered the tribe's call to aid in exploration. They provide very accurate data to the tribe through the
Lake-Attuned. 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. While
Lake-Attuned is properly funded, Soul-Scouts have no downside. However, if access to The Whispering Lake is lost, Soul-Scouts will provide areas they Explore with the (Lethal Spirits) modifier and hamper any actions in the area unless
Lake-Attuned is properly refunded or the spirits are otherwise dealt with. Requires
1 Mourning Dew Upkeep.
TERRITORY MODIFIED16-M loses (Lethal Spirits [Surface]).
Surface Granite (Stone x2) is no longer blocked.
The
Lake-Attuned gave the tribe a sort of leadership figurehead to begin rallying behind, but the day-to-day operations of the tribe was largely beyond their scope. Instead, three families of the tribe were recognized as having a high level of influence on their tribemates. With the tribe clearly heading into a New Age, the strong leadership of these families has seen their opinions and goals weighed much more heavily than the average tribal family.
Maximum Spin,
Powder Miner, and
Crystalizedmire become
Major Families.
There was a little negativity from a family that felt like it was being ignored, but it was unlikely that it would bloom into a larger issue for the tribe. At least for now.
With the advent of the
Lake-Attuned, the tribe has grown much more attentive to the
Mourning Dew that they once feared out of ignorance moreso than anything else. The Attuned within the tribe have grown more confident in their abilities to push the boundaries and pierce the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead - although your tribe has come to understand that those worlds are one and the same. The tribe has entered
The Age of Attunement, the new Major Families receive
1 Prestige and all Influence has been reset.
During
The Age of Attunement, any proposals utilizing Mourning Dew are guaranteed to have a larger impact than actions based around the more mundane resources. As a result, any proposals that do
not use or interact in some way with Mourning Dew will have results rerolled on a 1, 2, 8, 9, or 10, while proposals that
do use Mourning Dew will be rerolled
until the result lands on 1, 2, 8, 9, or 10. This is to reflect the weight of the impact Mourning Dew is having and will continue to have on the tribe.
----
It is now the Exploitation Phase. Remember that you can choose a resource to begin exploiting in a neighboring area, or propose a development that would facilitate or build upon your ability to gather, identify, or otherwise interact with the resources of the world around you. Your tribe also remains nameless until there's a clear decision on what to name them! Since it is your first turn in a new zone as nomadic tribals, you do not need to choose a resource to exhaust.
READ THISWith the ascension of the first Major Families, the way you vote is now changing to reflect the instructions in the original post. Major Families (Maximum Spin, Powder Miner, and Crystalizedmire) will vote in a separate votebox from the rest of the
peasantry players, where their vote counts in its entirety. Minor Families (everyone else) vote in their own box, adding a single vote (with tie-breaking power) in the Major Votebox to whichever proposal the majority of the Minor Families vote for. You don't
need to account for the Minor Vote in the Major Votebox as I'll obviously be checking both before working on results, but you can if you feel like it.
The Tribe Name Vote will still account for everyone equally.For the duration of this Age, all proposals related to Mourning Dew reroll until they result in a 1, 2, 8, 9, or 10. All proposals that do not use or otherwise revolve around Mourning Dew will be rerolled until they result in a 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.
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.
-Lake-Attuned: An Attuned who has more specifically attuned to The Whispering Lake. Lake-Attuned allow the tribe to make requests of and utilize the spirits of the dead passing through the Lake without much complication. Only one Lake-Attuned exists at a time, acting as both messenger and spirit guide until they die of old age. Lake-Attuned choose which Attuned will inherit the position based on how closely their lifestyle aligns with The Whispering Lake's denizens - generally the more unremarkable the lifestyle, the better the fit. The tribe sees the Lake-Attuned as a sort of absentee leader who speaks to them through the Attuned. Requires access to The Whispering Lake.
Lake Spirits: Spirits from The Whispering Lake are fairly passive as they likely were in life, and eagerly await their turn to pass into the afterlife (whatever that may be). Lake Spirits are relatively simple, and work best on simple or fairly easy tasks (such as exploration). Their passivity can erode rapidly if overworked, especially without a Lake-Attuned in the tribe. There is no direct cost for Lake Spirits, as any upkeep is reflected in the discoveries that utilize them.
-Soul-Scouts: Spirits from the Whispering Lake who have answered the tribe's call to aid in exploration. They provide very accurate data to the tribe through the Lake-Attuned. 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. While Lake-Attuned is properly funded, Soul-Scouts have no downside. However, if access to The Whispering Lake is lost, Soul-Scouts will provide areas they Explore with the (Lethal Spirits) modifier and hamper any actions in the area unless Lake-Attuned is properly refunded or the spirits are 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)
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 x5 (Surface Granite x2,Granite Stalactites, Granite Stalagmites, Native Silver Vein), 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)
Major Families
Maximum Spin - 0I/1P
Powder Miner - 0I/1P
Crystalizedmire - 0I/1P
Minor Families
The Canadian kitten - 0I/0P
NUKE9.13 - 0I/0P
Quarque - 0I/0P
A_Curious_Cat - 0I/0P
m1895 - -/-
chubby2man - 0I/0P
Author
Topic: Founding Families - A Semicompetitive Civ Building Game [Explore IV] (Read 11153 times)