((For my turn, a second trade route has been established along the eastern half of the river between Aveceleba and Romilath. Liliaceleba has sent a migration to the west to follow Graed and Ter and set up a suitable village between the two locations. This migration has twelve individuals, including an Adept bowmen who doubles as a hunter and a Novice spearman with fishing skill (including big fish, thus why he has spear skill.)))
The sun rose warily over the river, the few silvery shafts of light that poked though the low cloud cover reflecting brightly off the murky water. Though the fog, Cenna watched the northern shore of the river, the other two sleeping soundly as she spent her turn at the watch. They had been travelling for weeks now after the incident, and somehow her relationship with Graed has only worsened thoughout. While Ter was forgiving for her light fingers, the marksman simply refused to let the transgression slide. He refused to talk with her, angry, hurt gaze turning her away every chance she tried to explain.
However, no amount of could shoulder could deny that with three of them she would need to take a watch. At all times somone was required to man the tiller of the raft, to trim the sails and tack against the current, a skill most vulpinan's learned in early childhood. Ter too, had shown himself no stranger to boast travel. Apparently his people lived on the very lake itself, and they had once lived on boats that crossed the ocean! Perhaps it was no wonder that he could handle a small river raft then after all.
As the fog lifted, Cenna watched the sunlight peek down through the clouds. Striking the wooden spire of a palaside of an outpost far to the north. Another argument point, was that. The Roshani had insisted that the outpost was not of his people, and as such Graed insisted that they wait untill their return to Liliaceleba to inform Raom and the council that there was another civilization very close to Liliaceleba. They had spent two days now, constantly travelling east, watching the outpost in in the distance.
As the sun rose higher and the two men began to stir, Cenna came to an abrupt decision. Graed and his Roshani could go onward, continuing on their way to Karatomca. Cenna however, would not let this potentially lucrative opprotunity go to waste. With a quck glance at the set of the sails, ensuring that the small mast would not need to be turned for at least twenty minutes, the lithe woodworker dived into the water, swimming for the northern shore.
Graed could go soak his tail, Cenna was going to get some glory for herself.
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"Kara, wake up." a steady voice said as the vulpinan snoozed in the slowly rocking compartment, the darkness from the outside caressing her as she felt a warm touch, like the sun on a sandy beach touch her arm.
"...don't wanna wake up.." she said, rolling over slightly to push away the hand. Starting as she lost her balance on the edge of the seat and fell onto the floor. Drawing the spiteful gaze of Dolak as she clumsily attempted to get her feet underneath her. Iten laughed from across the room, he was moving under his own power nowc, if clumsily, and a lot bigger. Carrying him wasn't a chore yet, but sooner he would be too big to carry wiht her everywhere. Indeed even now as he played two-a-thwak with the summoners wife it was painfully obvious that he was going to want to meet some children of his own age soon, both to play with and learn from.
As she finally got all four feet underneath her, Kara walked over to the window and looked out, glancing over the brightening landscape as the sun rose in the eastern sky.
Below a city rose up to greet her, a familier city even though much of it Kara had never seen in her life.
She was home
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Cenna carefully crept approached the palaside, her entire body shaking vigorously as she measured the scale of the front gate of the outpost before her. Two... no three lengths tall. The great square gate towered before her as she tried to take the proportions of it into perspective. To the vulpin, it seemed monstrous, in comparison to it she felt diminuaive... tiny.
Nerving herself, the woodworker slowly approached closer, keeping to the shadows of the vegitation that covered the ground. Half-instinctivly she measured the workmanship of the wooden wall. It was strong, and well built, but the construction showed a wanton waste of materials. She had to catch herself as she nearly snorted in disgust at the work, so inefficient, so wasteful. But the construction showed another thing too, whoever did this was intelligent... and physically very powerful. The wood had been hewn with a single axe, rather than by a crew, massive iron nails holding the entire structure together with percision. Even from where she was, nearly twenty legnths distant, she could see no gap. Indeed, it was very likely that there would be no place wide enough for her to fit a handpaw though.
As she reached the edge of the treeline, Cenna hesitated, noting to the far west a place where a strand of trees had been clear-cut to make room for the building. What a waste! Rather than searching for the old and sick trees, or even thinning out the portions of the forest that was simply too thick, these creatures had simply clear-cut it! The growth of that section of forest would take years to replace, wasting far more time than had these creatures carefully trimmed their wood, taking only what they needed. Why...why... it was sickening.
Cenna nerved herself again, sending away her thoughts. It was likely that these creatures were ignorant of the damage they were doing. Now, more than ever, it was imperitive that she meet with them. Explain the damage they were doing, the lives they were ruining. With any luck she may even be able to deal with these... giants... and convince them to let a vulpinan crew come west and work the forest here, preserving the trees and providing labor untill their lumberjacks were informed of how to cut the forest without destroying everything. It would only take a bit.
With a determined look she appraoched a bit closer, looking at the impressive fortifications a mere ten lengths away before stepping fully into view of the gaurdhouse. Calling out: "Hail to the camp! I come in peace from Liliaceleba. Our leaders send you greetings! Um... don't shoot, I want to talk!"
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'Set down there', Kara called carefully over the wind to the Avien in Draconic, doing her best to follow the intonation that Dodek had pounded into her head carefully over the last two weeks. The summoner had insisted she learn Draconic so that she would be able to study the books that he had brought with him during her free time. While she could only speak a few basic words in a very thick and heavy accent, and understood only a little more than she spoke, Kara still had picked up the language with a relitive rapidity. Knowing after four months of travel in the summoner's company enough to address the Avien properly.
'As you wish, friend of Yaris.' the creatures great voice reverberated thoughout it's body, causing the slick feathers that Kara held on to to shake between her fingers. It seemed somewhat grateful for the effort she made to speak to it, although a slight note of contempt still crept into it's voice, as it did for all lesser beings. As it spoke it dipped one wing, turning into a tight spiral towards the courtyard of the vulpinan palace.
Far below tiny red specks were crossing the yard in every direction. Racing away from the great bird as it fell with the speed of a rock towards to the surface. With a great backlash the heavy wings snapped open, causing a small tidal wave of water to eminate from the river and fall upon the banks. For a moment Kara could see nothing but light and color as a pair of bright rainbows appeared in the water spray that rose into the air. And then, quite suddenly, they were on the ground.
The Avien hardly fit into the wide courtyard, its great size drawing a massive crowd of vulpinans as it brought one wing close to the ground, allowing Kara to slide to the ground gracefully. Severl lengths away Eoris, Dodek, and the summoner's wife carrying Iten in her foreclaws, winged down to the ground. Their strangness drawing the eyes of the onlookers nearly as much as the avien.
With effort Kara stood on her hindpaws, bowing deep into a curtsy not that different than the manner of the dracon women. 'Thank you, great one.' she said as respectfully as she could in her slightly broken Dracon.
Slowly the avien began to vanish, the magic that had bound it to this world dissapating along with the compartment that had served as their protection for the last four months, it's final words ringing in Kara's mind. 'Next time apprentice, it will be you who will be bargining. I hope you do a better job than that fool Yaris.'
A few moments later Kara dropped back into her natural stance, loping over to the summoner's wife and gently taking Iten. Her eyes on a young male vulpin who was bounding towards them breathlessly. "Karaman! You've returned. Come this way, the council will want to meet with you and your... friends."
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"That fool!" Graed cried as he struggled to steady the tiller, the boat swaying crazily as a school of carp raced underneath. Their gaping jaws wide to admit chunks of Vulpin and Roshiran. Feverishly he thought as he worked to keep the raft steady, using a wooden pole to beat the fish back. Cenna had left them adrift, there was no mistaking it. It was obvious where she had went too: The nortern settlement, the one he had been insisting was too risky to visit while they were transporting goods for Karatomca, in case they proved hostile. It had taken a lot of convincing to get Ter to agree to wait two days, against the woodworker's wishes, to see how the settlement reacted before boldly walking up to it, and now... now Cenna had gone and blown both of their missions to the Roshani.
With fevor he stabbed the pole into the eye of another carp, his strike so forceful that the creature was killed instantly. As the creature slid from the pole some of the other fish began to feast upon their companion, giving the battered river boat some relief. With an angry look the bowvulpi looked over at his companion and sighed slightly, his other eye watching the water for another victem.
"So Ter, what now?"
((Vulpinan Leadership Lesson:
Vulpinans do not have a single, unified leadership. Rather, each outpost as it is founded brings fourth it's own style of leadership with all laws only pretaining to the town and the area directly surrounding it. The Vulpi as a whole mearly associate with on another as being the same race, their naturally peaceful nature (more peacful than a human anyway) prevents most conflicts from expanding outside of minor lawbreaking.
Site Leadership
Aveceleba: Aveceleba is ruled jointly by the seven "lords" (the heads of the major guilds: The Boneworker's Guild, The Woodworkers's Guild, The Mechanic's Guild, The Leatherworker's Guild, The Fisher's Guild, The Trapper's Guild, and the Farmer's Guild. Each guild recives one vote in all manners concerning the city. An eighth vulpinan who belongs to no major guild takes the office of "High Lord" and has two votes on the council as well as being the head judge in all major trials, and hiring out all of the lesser judges. In order to become a high lord a vulpinan must be the "Lord Elect" at the time of the High Lord's death. The Lord Elect is elected once every six years and may be any vulpinan. Although the Lord Elect has no direct power himself (aside from nearly always being a lesser judge), but often he has the ear of the High Lord. (and traditoinally, the high lord will give the lord elect his second vote))
Of the three settlements, Aveceleba is both the richest (although it lacks metal, the sheer volume and quality of their bone crafts and leather works far outweighs the other two settlements, and the most affluent. Currently they control the trade between the other two settlements, determining what goes up and down the river. The palace in Aveceleba is build directly over the river, a trading location and shops have been set up in the lower levels of the palace as a perfect harbor for riverboats.
Liliaceleba:
In Liliaceleba a council made up of thirty representatives from all sections of the city gather to determine policy. Seven of the representatives are the original founders, who have permanent seats as long as they live. Eleven are the heads of the major families in the city, and the remaining twelve are elected from (mostly) equally distributed districts thoughout the city. The vulpinan who determines the agenda and proceedings of each meeting is the captain of the gaurd, who is currently Raom. Currently there are no methods in place to determine how to replace the captain of the gaurd, however it is likely that when the captain of the gaurd proves unable to continue at his post he will be replaced by a vote of the council.
It is notable to mention that Raom rarly arbitrates meetings, preferring instead to actually doing his job of readying Liliaceleba for combat. Of the three outposts, Liliaceleba has the best defenses (A double-palasade wall) and the best-trained military. (Two Elite bowmen, One Elite Swordsmen. As well as six bowmen of varying skill and four adept+ swordsmen. All of them are also tranined in using their teeth and claws in close combat (wrestling)
Romilath - In Romilath one vulpinan currently has control of every function of government. He has been loath to give up any office or authority, and nobody has been willing to take it. It is likely that the settlement will become a dictatorship.
As a final note, Kara has no idea what sort of government has risen while she has been exploring.))
[ May 26, 2008: Message edited by: Jamini ]
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Topic: Battle of the Gods II: an RP Thread (Read 106413 times)