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[Shikogan]

okay Aqizzar just letting you know that im going to be out of contact for 10 days so yeah ill post my turn and yeah...
R.P.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

StarGazer's descendant WindWalker heard the voice from a very young age. His father told him that it was the spirit of a demon and that the true gods dwelt in the stars that lay above them. WindWalker knew this to be false, his father though great, knew only what he thought was best for the flock. He refused to listen to the constant whisper of that great being who dwelt in the storm to the Northeast, WindWalker was the only who believed that this was how they could grow and this was the way of the future.

This was the reason he was the only Ahkarii who was willing to attempt a flight into that great maelstrom. For those who knew what he had done, when he returned he was different more assured and flew with such passion and grace that none had before. His flight seemed to be powered by the air itself as his wings had never to move.

His experience in that maelstrom he could only describe as a communion with a god, who had chosen the Ahkarii as his race to make his will felt known to the low creatures who crawled and scrabbled along the ground. WindWalker would not tell any, of the knowledge that the god had imparted to him he only said "Venture into Fury and you shall know what i know and then we will be equals."

Once others had the courage to attempt this feat they too came out the same as WindWalker. They too had the power to seemingly manipulate the air around them to accomplish and end. With this journey the builders also seemed to have great ideas from the storm, one that seemed to occur within the minds of all the builders was that of a great forest, but not a natural one, one that the trees were artificial and had Ahkarii dwellings all over them.

Actions

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Investigating the maelstrom and attempting communication with it. also developing building and construction methods to improve the housing and also to allow Ahkarii to estanlish colonies in places with no forest, basically building huts on upraised poles. They also attempt to colonize T-6 to allow greater influence for the maelstrom.

EP

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Telepathic communication: +3
Wind Manipulation: +7
Building: +1

hehe...the maelstrom could be a benevolent being wishing us well and giving us good stuff, but it could easily turn on us and swallow up all our young and whatnot...that wouldn't be very nice at all.

[Draigh]

Once again there was a strange sight in the forest somewhere in the Lanlar lands. Council was called and birds from all areas gathered together to discuss the current situations. The successful expansions were greeted with solemn nods, the Chibor scouting with barely anything and the Fungus forest with concerned thoughts that almost drowned out the Council leader's plea for silence.
And observer would not see much happening, but those with the ability to hear minds would hear heated discussions about the past and the future of the Lanlar race. In the end decisions were made. An expedition team of talented psychic Lanlar and psychicly handicapped Lanlar would be made and send out to the Fungus forest to explore and maybe make contact with them, if possible.

Salome leaded her group of Lanlar towards the forests. Slowly gliding on the air she looked down towards the fungi and wondered when they would get in range to hear those calls. As she was thinking just that, a soft murmer emerged around her. It would be time to act now, for better or worse. Some of the group were more or less oblivious to the murmering and would only hear mindspeech when you shouted at them. They would maybe be immune to the effects of those voices, if things would go out of hand. Then again, maybe those with supreme developed minds will have less trouble resisting it. Time would tell...
And with that she gave the order to move in. As one the Lanlar dived towards the fungus forest.


Actions

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Expansion:
Some Lanlar are expanding towards D-26 (mountain), F-26 and G-25 (forests)

Fungi:
A group of Lanlar are exploring the Fungus forest. Strong mental Lanlar who might hold out against the mental barrage and less psychic Lanlar who simply might be deaf for it. Their task is to make contact with the fungi mind and learn if their intentions are hostile or friendly. If they need help in something the Lanlar will look if they can help.

Chibor:
A 'warrior' group of Lanlar are going to use their mindpowers to coerce the Chibor to expand away from the Lanlar (there is no food here, its dangerous here). If this does not work, they are going to use their creative mindpowers for simple illusions that might scare them. The Lanlar themselves are trying to remain invisible or at the least unimportant to the Chibor.

EP Spending

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Physique +1
Senses +2
Nest building +1
Language +2

Psy Creativity +2
Psy Farsensing +1
Psy Kinesis +1
Psy Coercion +1
Psy Redaction +1

[Duke 2.0]

 The Shrike were growing peaceful with their new ways. Because they did not need to hunt as long with these new plants, they could spend more time not hunting. They talked more, observed more. They started to name their surroundings. The Tallweeds, the Deep Fat, the Plague, and all other sorts of things important to them. The air was filled with the clicks of their speech, mixing well with the churps, croaks and calls of the local animals on these riverside lands.

 Some Shrike even started to not attack anything on sight because food was so plentiful. Some even started to sentry the plant clusters from the swarms of insects that tried to devour them. hey found the best method was to have one member just within shouting distance on the border. When they found a small swarm, they held them back with their shocks. Larger swarms they called in others to help.

 Another group were interested in finding out what was beyond the mountains. They figured that they could use the river to travel faster and safer. Thus a party of hunters started on the river going West, on the lookout for a new hunt. Or at least something interesting.

 

Spoiler: Actions (click to show/hide)

 1. Observation of the creatures deep in the lake, looking for some use other than food. Which they suck at.

 2. I guess this would be a mixed defense of the food and observation of the swarms of insects. I would assume defending something would give you insight on the attackers.

 3. A group of Shrike scout West, hopefully making contact with the Kadesh. Of course, this time they are not bloodthirsty predators.

 

Spoiler:  EP (click to show/hide)

 1 into farming. Just to make it an even 5.
 5 into language.
 5 into Hunters Organ.

 

Spoiler:  Notes (click to show/hide)

 Man, I REALLY hope those useless-for-food creatures have some other use. I would also find some meeting between the Shrike and another sentient species to be interesting.
 Other Species: Eer, hello there.
 Shrike: *Why, hello there!*
 Other Species: *Being shocked*
 Shrike: *Odd, they crumple up every time we talk.*

[Nilocy]

The few remaining worshipers of the magma spirit have been announcing visions from their god of coming greatness and prosperity.  They also think more sacrifice is needed and that wonder awaits those who take the plunge on their own.  A good chunk of O-19 has already melted, but luckily most Jhiar'd elsewhere think they're mad.

Still unconvinced that there is a higher being than themselves, the Heads continue to ignore the words of the cult of Nevon. They arn't causing any harm to the Jhiar'd as a whole, but they are reducing productivity as a whole in that area. They arrive at the descision that they should send more workers to help create more farms and such in the Lava colony to keep the people there alive. The new use of the above ground crop, renamed the Far'sur plant after its discoverer, might come in handy as plants seem to grow extra fast in the ash covered lands of O-19.

Meanwhile, construction of the Great Mound continues in the lands to the east, the Nahuantl, or leathery Bugs to the Jhiar'd. They seem to have a single type of bug that does everything for itself, they bleed like the Jhiar'd, but they don't communicate in the same way. There is no apparent leader to the groups, nothing to distinquish itself from the pack, how odd. They must have some trouble knowing who does what aswell. There are growing talks of a full scale invasion into the fungas colony to rid it from their lands, perhaps the plantwe who so despise it might help? Who knows? The heads decide to send an emissary willing to open some talks with them using the captured plantwe as a barginning chip of somesort. This might be a problem due to the lack of common ground.

Colonisation continues as normal. This time at a slower but steadier pace.

Spoiler:  Actions (click to show/hide)

 
Construction-
Building the 8 foot tall wall around the base of the eastern mountains. The wall is build around the colonies at P-16 and Q-17,19,21. It will follow the mountain around the colonies. Like this >
Large amounts of workers and warriors will be kept along the wall boundries to make sure it gets built super fast.

Colonisation- Move into the desert in P-20, same routine as usual, althought more warriors since those sand creatures are still lurking about, I think.
 And movement into the coast of N-15.

Spoiler:  EP (click to show/hide)

 
1 Into farming... hee hee

[Asheron]

Nevon sighed depressed. For some reason, her followers had the idea that throwing yourself in lava was a way to total ascension. Ignorant mortals.
She looked down on her remaining followers. Together with new followers they began cultivating the land around the lava. Very well. Perhaps a sign that she will cause prosperity would help.
 
The Jhiar'd were puzzled the following morning. Something or someone had dug a network of straight lines in to the ground and had connected them to a source of lava. They were even more amazed when they saw how the Far'sur plants growing around these channels looked healthier then before.
Naturally, the Nevon worshippers praise their god for this magnificent gift.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I use all of my PP so far to dig a network of lava channels to irrigate the Far'Sur plants in O-19. The little lava-lizards that are seen crawling around the channels fertilise the ground and keep vermin away from the growing plants, this increases the yield. I suggest that the J'hiard also gain a basic knowledge of irrigation when my roll is high.
 

 

[Aqizzar]

Yikes.  You guys are really into this thing, huh?  Well, at least it isn't peetering.  Just need to keep me from getting lazy.

On that note, I'm not going to be able to work on responses today, so we're looking at late tomorrow night at the earliest.  Probably more like Saturday, since this still leaves me, a1s, NonAnon, Edmund, Iituem, and Euchre.

How the hell did I wind up with 14 players anyway?  And we're still one God short.

In the meantime, I'll let you guys discuss some things.  I'm trying to tune the mechanics, and I could use some suggestions.  One is the too good Success Roll thing.  The biggest problem is finding a way that gives everyone a reasonable chance at failing or succeeding, without rendering all those points worthless.  I've thought of changing the random number range to something like -50 to 70, but that's just delaying the issue.  Maybe expanding the range to -100 to 150 and widening the scale with more modifiers.  Any ideas?

The other is diplomacy.  I want players to have a choice in accepting or rejecting offers, but without a certain random element, it becomes just a straight RP.  I'm thinking I'd take both players' bonuses and wills, roll a random or two, and decide the effects of negotiation based on that.  Wide open on that.  By far the biggest hurdle, both for success and just for the rules themselves, will be that most of these species don't even communicate the same way, much less speak eachothers' "languages".

Nilocy - I'm not sure what you think an 8ft wall across a thousand miles of mountain range will accomplish, but it sounds great.

Shikogan - Don't worry, at this rate, this turn won't be over till Saturday/Sunday, and I'll definitely have to delay things next week to write a paper.  (It occurs to me, that I put about as much work into that one turn as I do into most essays.)  About the Maelstrom, since we're short a God for you to worship, I made one.  It thinks with die rolls, so good luck.  Also, I didn't think to mention this, but there is one solid rule I need to clarify.  My fault, so I'll let you make this up whenever you get around to it, don't worry.

RULE: Language and communication are two different things.  Communication abilities (namely all the psychic ones) are useful for exploratory and warfare actions, since they let individuals communicate in more direct and reliable ways.  However, without a language, they just speak in emotions and inflections.  Language measures a species' ability to define and relate concepts, so is used in pretty much any thinking-power related actions, and is a big determinant of how civilized they are.

Tuv - That result might have been a little harsh, but it's hard to make rock breeding interesting.  If you want more to happen, do more.  But for my sake not much more...

Duke - I really need to hammer out those diplomacy rules.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kadesh - croak bipbipbip gurrrgle
Shrike - <<I say old boy, how are things on this side of the mountain?>>
Kadesh - !!! grap grap ! kraag !
Shrike - <<Run that by me again will you?  Sounds like you've a fishbone in the gullet.>>
Kadesh - [smolder]
Shrike - <<Oh drat.  Why does that keep happening?>>

[Nilocy]

Nilocy - I'm not sure what you think an 8ft wall across a thousand miles of mountain range will accomplish, but it sounds great.

Well, theres impending doom awaiting the Jhiar'd from NonAnon's race, so building a wall taller than them makes sense? and the Jhiar'd hate mountains.
And I have to agree that the success thing is a bit crazy, I'd suggest making the areas of amazing sucess and failure smaller, while average larger. So its more likely to land in the middle, either an ok success or an ok failure... while majorly good and bad things come very rarely?

Edit: Oh, and that it's gonna be made outta dirt... so faster to makkkkeeee!

[Iituem]

You don't need to adjust the range, which is quite balanced (0-100, +- 40 from favourable or unfavourable circumstances and skills seems reasonable).  It is also right that someone attempting very simple tasks (establish a colony, farm a region) and has 30 points invested into that specialist skill shouldn't have a problem with them.  To balance things, all you need do is apply an additional penalty to tasks that are more difficult.  Settling a desert, as you've put, has divisions to skill based on environment.  If, say, the Nahuatl build a one storey adobe temple (as one of the earlier civs did) it gets no penalty, but if they try and build Notre Dame they should get a -25 penalty from the complex architecture required.

Do not forget, also, that you can bar the progress of skills at any point and that it would be quite neat and reasonable to do so in blocks of ten (i.e. at 10pts, at 20pts, at 30pts etc).  At these intervals, rule that a skill cannot progress further until some sort of supplementary skill is provided.

Ex 1. Construction cannot advance beyond 10pts without developing 5pts or even 10pts in a supplementary skill, Architecture.  As well as allowing Construction to advance, certain building designs might require a certain level of Architecture skill to be possible at all, or may get a bonus based on it.  Architecture might also allow the Engineering skill to be researched.

Ex 2.  The Hunters Organ cannot advance past a certain level without serious investment in a biological facility that allows it to build up a stronger charge.  Since the Shrike store charge in their fat cells, I might suggest requiring an investment in 'Adipose Tissue'.  In addition to allowing greater charge buildup, the Adipose Tissue trait could confer bonues to Shrike in colder climates, or allowing them to withstand famines more easily.

Ex 3.  Empathy and Sense Emotion are barred at 10pts (and I am doing this voluntarily even if it isn't a rule) until a third skill which requires both skills at 10pts and the Ranged Perception skill at 10pts is researched to at least 5pts.  This third skill has no utility, but is 'academic' and allows other skills to be researched (think along the lines of Mathematics leading to War Machines or Nuclear Physics leading to Atomic Weaponry).


Diplomacy gets handled with representatives, so I would suggest opposed d100 rolls from both sides.  A negotiation is declared, both sides tell the diplomats what they want out of it, the diplomats go to negotiate.  Give bonuses to either side depending on their skills in diplomatic areas (language as a minor, more emphasis on things like Translation, Etiquette etc).  If there are no conflicting goals and they are all possible, assume this is a straight trade and give both sides what they want (this will probably never happen).  Otherwise, compare the opposed rolls.  Depending on the difference, give one side more or less of what they wanted to get out of the deal - this may mean sacrifices for the other party.  Then the deal is presented to both sides.  They can either both accept it, ignore it or go to war over it, depending on their preferences.


Edit:  Also, RP and actions now up on my previous post.

[Nonanonymous]

Meanwhile, construction of the Great Mound continues in the lands to the east, the Nahuantl, or Furry Bugs to the Jhiar'd.

Nahuantl are hairless pseudo-lizards, just thought I'd point that out.

Now, onto the turn...

Xhol-li, leader of the Ti-ec Clan, had been at the forefront of the settlement of Chiloq, and was pleased that the audacious and wasteful Ottati had been deposed.  Now, the Ti-ec Clan had the perfect opportunity to consolidate its power.  Even better, they had discovered some creatures which showed great potential in assisting them, among them, what seemed to be a somewhat larger, but less intelligent relative to the Nahuantl, able to eat nearly anything and having a long, sticky tongue, that seemed possible to domesticate.  Ominously, however, according to the Fangs who had been sent afar, there were reports that a strange construction had been started by the Hard-Skinned, and that, fearing what foul magics they might be working, many of the clans had decided to launch a combined assault against this greater foe.  Truly, the Ti-ec were lucky to have arrived on this sanctum at such a time.

Spoiler:  Actions (click to show/hide)

Colonization of U-17 (a small team of 300 will be sent there), a military strike 2000 strong against the Jhiar'd at Q-17 due to paranoia, possible taking of slaves included.  Also, an attempt at domesticating a creature now known as the Quetza.

Spoiler:  EP (click to show/hide)

Hmm, I guess I'll throw that 1 EP into my Language skills again.

[Nilocy]

sorry man, forgot. The images from last game are stuck in my head

And this is WAAAAR!

[penguinofhonor]

Damn Lanlar, brainwashing my adorable little Chibor.

So when do we get any big awesome global events? Do you roll a dice to see if we get one or not?

[Draigh]

Diplomacy
The suggested system sounds good. Just keep the intention of the concerned parties in mind. If both want peace, then dont get a war started just because the dice are a bit low. And if both are aiming for a war, then I think you can ignore the dicerolling alltogether.
But if there are specific negotiations on the table, the diceroll for each side could be an indication of how well their point gets accepted by the other side.

Skills, skill levels and succes versus failure
Keep in mind what one tries to do. Some things should just be impossible, unless you have very high skills in it. Someone reaching 20+ or even the 50 should get bonusses beyond just a dice modifier. Else it would be more beneficial to just put 10 points into something and then move on to a related skill which would indirectly add to it.
Metalworking -> smithing -> weaponsmithing -> swordmaking
Maybe someone without the specialised skill of swordmaking but with 30 points in weaponsmithing might succeed at making swords just as well as the one with the general and specialist skill at 10 points, yet also be able to make just about any other weapon just as well (as they have spent a lot of extra points to reach that 30th level).
As for the level of success, change it depending on what is being tried, including modifiers in the negative. And make the areas for true failure and true success smaller. (Mathematically speaking it would start to look like this normal distribution

[Asheron]

Hairless psuedo-lizards you say? At war with my followers? Blasphemy! The goddess herself is a lizard. Hmm... I am getting a few ideas here.

[Nilocy]

Well, no worries god mam, we'll take care of these pesky lizard bugs. They'll never get passed our gigantic wall... hee hee

[EuchreJack]

Hairless psuedo-lizards you say? At war with my followers? Blasphemy! The goddess herself is a lizard. Hmm... I am getting a few ideas here.

Jump ship to some more loyal followers?  I wouldn't try it.  Not because they're my follower, but because they only give me 00.5% of their population as followers.  Plus, when you consider how warlike they are, that population figure can only shrink more!  Course, if you were an erratic monkey god, you'd see this as perfect! 

Well, no worries god mam, we'll take care of these pesky lizard bugs. They'll never get passed our gigantic wall... hee hee

Euchre sneezes, and the wall falls down.  Oops.
While that would be an easy thing to do, I don't think it serves my interests.  Unless this becomes a battle of the gods.  You know how use monkeys get about their egos.

Don't worry, I'll post something more substantial a little later.