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[andrea]

i was a bit sad when i saw that forest colony failed. but i was happy when i saw that you used my animal from the seranipedia for that

good turn, i enjoyed it.
and i like also the temple that was built.

the lack of both endren and joulan/jouli's worshippers will make it harder for me to start my religion... i'll have to do that next turn.


edit: will map be updated today?

[Iituem]

TURN TWO

Fifty years have passed since the stones fell...


Local Scenario: The Highest Peaks, The Darkest Deeps

Affects:  Bhuur, Golems, Urist

Despite (and indeed, encouraged by) the failed attempts at colonising the mountains at F20, explorer/adventurers from both the Bhuur and the Golems have periodically wandered into the mountain ranges there in search of food, ore or opportunity.  Many golems have attempted to climb the peaks and been waylaid and damaged or destroyed by the giant birds that nest there, as well as the harsh weather around the peak.  Those that return have brought tales of rich veins of ore at the peak, as well as small deposits of some of the rare crystals Urist has been attempting to teach them to use for magic.  Similarly, Bhuur delvers have followed the natural cavern network that honeycombs part of the mountain towards the deeper regions of the mountain, but have been attacked by nameless, near-silent horrors.  Survivors tell tales of a whooshing sound, followed by the screams of the unfortunate and a piercing cry.  They also report curious new types of stone in the deep, as well as reports of hearing a river somewhere in the catacombs.


Local Scenario: The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings

Affects:  Xenopross, Xenocon, PPT, Madric

Madric's inexperienced tampering with the weather has had unforseen side effects.  For decades now, yearly hurricanes have struck the northern coast and are increasing in ferocity with each passing year.  Adherents of Madric are crying out for succour, whilst the Xenopross are frequently washed out of their homes by flooding.  On the bright side, the fish stocks are booming.


Local Scenario: Shin-who?

Affects:  Serani, Endren, Joulan & Jouli

Although initially inspired by the words of the three deities, cultural and religious development amongst the Serani has given rise to a multitude of little faiths based around worshipping the spirits present in everyday objects.  Although currently lacking the actual power the manifest deities possess, this faith is proving extremely popular and shows signs of unifying into a single body that could wield significant political and spiritual power.


Local Scenario: The Elephants' Graveyard

Affects: Monoliths

The desolate sands at F16 bear witness to a great failure of the Monoliths; hundreds upon hundreds of dead black oblongs stick out from the sands, the wind whistling through them in an eerie melody.  Now and again, lone Monoliths have attempted to scout or scavenge from the area.  Many of them return deeply unsettled, talking of strange visions and broken fragments of thought, as if the ghosts of the dead were calling to them from the sands.


Local Event: Raiders

Affects:  Jottarians, Verinaath, Jeff

Ever since the failed expedition to colonise the northwestern forests, there have been scattered reports of the strange black creatures in the home forests.  In more recent years these beasts have become more brazen, attacking and raiding Jottarian villages for food and sometimes even tools.  At present, they show no sign of stopping and are getting more brazen each season.


Turn Two Map

[andrea]

now, do you somehow know what i wanted for serani's religion, or are you just being lucky?

[Dark]

Looks like this isnt going to be as easy as I thought! I'll have to switch from talk to action this turn, if words don't work then it's time to show off your power. The Serani will soon understand what the three strangers are capable of.

[andrea]

nothing dangerous please... i don't want the newly built temple to be destroyed

[rickvoid]

Madric looks upon his temple, and sees that it is good.

Also, oops. 

I'll think of something to try and fix those storms here in a bit. I'm debating just claiming responsibility, declaring it a "punishment", and calling it a day. 

Lastly, do the gods upgrade points come from their worshippers? I guess I'm just trying to figure out how long it'll be before Madric gets better at this sort of thing.

[omagaalpha]

Question do EP you spend take effect on action you specify on that turn?


On another note I realize Monolith at least when I think of 2001 and 2010 that religous is something you don't think of Monoliths having. So if that ever happen will be very interest thing to figure out how to do it.

[Iituem]

You spend EP to upgrade your traits permanently by that many points.

And entity upgrade points come from the number of units they control, yes.  So Madric will get one PP/turn when he has 5 religious units under his influence.

[Gantolandon]

10 years after the Acquisition

The herd mother was unsettled.

The homelands begun to get crowded. It was easier to encounter another fellow lizard than any other plant or animal. Some herds begun to raid burnlands above in search for more food. But some preyed on the flesh of their own, killing gatherer parties and taking their food. Invading nests and eating the young ones were not uncommon. While the herd mothers were strong enough to repel a lone predator, they hardly could manage to survive a fight with about eight Bhuur. Life in homelands really became somewhat stressful.

Then something strange happened. The offspring changed rapidly, as if they tried to become accustomed to all the changes. After an epidemic of stillbirths, the next generation became much more intelligent than their parents.

The herd mother couldn't grasp all the changes, let alone comprehend what did they mean. She knew only that her offspring scared her somewhat. Some sounds they did make didn't seem to mean anything. Yet they could comprehend themselves. Now the maternal instinct fought the hunger successfully. But Bhuur have eaten anything what differed too much. Now the herd mother was satiated, but no one could tell what will happen if the gatherers don't bring the food she needed...

Unfortunately for her, her offspring knew this too. That's why they crowded her when she had gone to sleep. The gatherers indeed did not return for a long time, but it was meaningless. The bloated body sustained the new herd mother until their arrival.

And this is how the first Feast begun...

40 years after the Acquisition

Bhuur was their name. The Eaters.

They stalked the Homelands and the Burnlands. They gathered the Bhuuree - the food. Was it a plant, an animal or one of the less developed lizards - it didn't matter. One could eat or be eaten.

In fact, similar changes afflicted several herds. All of them had grown and split, eliminating those unlucky ones who couldn't communicate between themselves as good as they. The contact between them was occassional, so their speech differed much. But one word were common for all of them - the one which told them who they are.

There were some occasions, when a Bhuur could become Bhuree. In fact, it could happen very often. Failed gathering. Crippling injury. Being in a wrong place in a wrong time. In fact, some herds still regarded everyone who were not them as Bhuree...

50 years after the Acquisition

"Water. Not-stone.", burped the Mother.

The Spike-Rock herd were the first one which discovered the new lands below. Now they didn't know what to do with their new knowledge. If there were no food below, what dit the deeps matter? But the perspective of acquiring more not-stone excited almost every Bhuur.

But there was the matter of horrors below...

"They Eat", said one of the gatherers.
"No. We Eat.", said another one.
"They too."
"They Eat. We Food?"
"We Eat them. They Food then", one suggested.

The Herd Mother thought for a while. If the horrors were the Bhuur, it would definitely mean they're Bhuree. She have never thought about herself as Bhuree, but it was a matter of fact. None of those, who had confronted the horrors, returned.

"Mother? What we do? What are we?"
"We Eaters. They... Eaters Eaters? (Bhuurubhuur). They want Food. We give they Food.", the Mother responded.
"How give Food? Little Food here."
"Other herds. Those regard we Food. We make them Food. We give them to Eaters Eaters. They leave we."
"They leave we?"
"I leave you if you bring Food. They leave we if we bring Food."

The gatherers thought about it for a while. It made sense.

Spoiler: Evolution Points (click to show/hide)

New Trait: Social: Action: Language (T1: 2)
Development of the language gave great advantage to some Bhuur, which could wipe out the unfortunate majority.
Population: Action: Foraging (+1)
Failure of the colonization attempts forced Bhuur to improve their foraging methods, as only the best gatherers could survive.
New Trait: Military: Action: Fighting (T1, 1)
Being a gatherer was not as safe as before. Some herds began to practice cannibalism. The other ones had to defend themselves. Many understood how to use claws, teeth, and even vomit spitting...

Spoiler: Actions (click to show/hide)

1. Some herds became annoyed with constant raids of cannibals. The one thing is to eat themselves when the Mother needs food, the other is to eat themselves constantly. Their Mothers declared the cannibals Bhuree, meaning it was OK now to eat them...
2. Another scouts were sent to the underworld, this time with some food to tame the horrors. Much of this food seemed to originate from captured cannibals...
3. Another cautious colonization attempts. Bhuur try to re-populate F22. Some more adventurous herds even try to colonize Burnlands in H20, making burrows. The Burn does strange things with their skin, but there are plenty of food...

(I'm not sure about the grammar in this post, as it was quite long. If you spot an error, just let me know and I'll correct it)

[Servant Corps]

I'll try editing in an RP post and later on think of actions.

Spoiler: "On The Madric Hurricanes, by Wimania Red-Dot, Published In The Ten Hunderth Changing of the Glorious Xenopross Intergalactial Emperor" (click to show/hide)

After the death of Engles of old age, the PPT went through a small political struggle, over that of the issue of Madric. Some people saw "Madric" as an invention by the Ruling Classes, a mere 'opium of the masses' to motivate workers to toil for the elite, and pointed to the brutality of Salmon Blue-Stripe as evidence of this. Others saw Madric as a member of an advanced species, not exactly a god per se, but is someone who can help the Xenopross prosper, and hence is deserving of honor and praise. They saw Salmon Blue-Stripe's actions as immoral, but necessary for the good of society.

These 'moderates' eventually prevailed, possibly due to Engles' recruitment drive. While the new recruits blostered the ranks of the PPT, they did not have the sufficent "revolutionary consciousness" to reject religion outright. That being said, the PPT as a whole shared a healthy distrust of the Madric Cult. They may be divided on the existance and intentions of Madric, but they do distrust any organization that they did not control.

The leader of the 'moderates', Alcoveria Polka-Dot, soon became the next Engles, and quickly went to work. Three important elements of her rule are brought her:

1."Engles' Method"
Deed: Military
Alcoveria Polka-Dot continued the recrutiment drives, now taking on a more brutal and militaristic flavor. Alcoveria believed that the Oppressed Class have been trapped under a "false consciousness" created by the Ruling Class, which prevents the workers from seeing the truth. By using the "Engles' Method", the workers would become enlightened to the injustice within the land and gain "true consciousness".

In actuality, "Engles' Method" was an operation to capture and brainwash as many Xen as possible. This new Engles knew that if the PPT was to have a future, it needed a new army, and fast. At the same time, a stable method of organization of the army is needed in order to keep track of the loyalty of these "converts" and ensure that the new army will not grow too unweildy to control.

2. "Liberation Theology"
Research: Military
Liberation Theology provided that stable method of organization. While Alcoveria Polka-Dot believed in Madric's existance, she did observe intently the "Madric Hurricanes" that plagued society. Eventually, she concluded that Madric sent those hurricanes as a sort of punishment to the Xenopross elite, especially the Xenocon, which still manitan rule over society long after their prized Stone was stolen. During the power struggle, she wrote the tract "Liberation Theology", explaining her views on Madric. It was later adopted in a 10-5 vote as part of the offical PPT doctrine, to be taught to all recruits. Originally Liberation Theology was meant to be a unifying doctrine that would explain Madric within Socialist terminology, but it quickly became a new religion which motivated the troops.

In this religion, Madric was seen as a diety who represent "natural justice", in the stable "changing of the seasons". Oppression and tyranny upsets this "natural justice", and deprives Madric of his rightful worshippers (as potential worshippers are forced to pevert the "natural justice" in favor of an elite few). With the destruction of "natural justice" within Xenopross society, was it no surprise that Madric would wreck havoc on society as punishment, to try and restore this "natural justice"? In order to fight for "natural justice", Madric blessed the PPT as part of a organized campagin to fight off the perverters of his will, currently the Xenocon. When the unjust Xenocon are destroyed, then, and only then, will nature return to its natural cycle and the terrible hurricanes, that was caused by the Xenocon's dictatorship, will slowly disapper.

3. "Workers' Democracy"
Deed: Military
One of the main goals of the PPT is to formet revolution, and the new Engles was no exception. However, the focus of this revolution made a subtle shift away from the actions of the previous Engles. Alcoveria saw the Universal Worker State as an eventual development, and that, in order to help asssit in such development, actions must be taken in order to secure localized Worker States, which she termed Workers' Democracies, which will then unify together into one Universal Worker State in the future. Alcoveria justified this deviation on the grounds of the Communes that the first Engles had made, declaring such a policy as a natural outgrowth, but in reality, the first Engles saw these Communes as being indirectly ruled by the PPT after the quick overthrow of the Xenocon, and thus, the first cities in said State. Most people however accepted Alcoveria's more reasonable plan for action.

The idea would be to 'liberate' industries that are under the control of the capitalistic oppressors using the armed forces recruited by the PPT. Then, the PPT would hand control over these industries over the Workers, or failing that, Workers loyal to the PPT. Instead of the workers toiling for the capitalists, the workers would be allowed to elect their own Managers (who could be recalled at any time), who would then manage the factories in the name of the Workers. The Workers will then be more motivated to work, as they have a stake in the affairs of the Factory. The success of the factory would mean success of the workers, as the elected Managers are expected to share all profits generated by the industry equally, with a certain amount of resources given to the PPT as payment for the defense of the Workers' Democracy from that of reactionaries. Productivity of the Workers-controlled industries would be increased compared to that of Capitalist-controlled industries, increasing the allure of the PPT.

The industry that was mostly being seized was primarly the fishing industry, as Food was a valuable resource during those dark days, and to a lesser extent, industries that deal primarly in extracting raw resources. However, there was attempts to try and also seize Trade and Social industries too.

All actions typed.

EDIT: Oh, and Wimania and Alcoveria are both fish species, keeping within the style of Xenopross names (altough I did entertain the idea of the PPT eventually fading out the the use of fish names). Both those fish species are extinct, so that may be a reason why you never hear of them.

EDIT2: Just realized that Salmon Blue-Stripe claimed to be Madric, so hm. I'm going to need to edit the background to deal with that new information. But Salmon Blue-Strip is dead, so Alcoveria can still claim to worship him, I guess. Let me think about it.

[Gantolandon]

Something about the Bhuur.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bhuurpedia

1. Anatomy.

Imagine a tyranosaurus, but much smaller. Paint it white. Remove the eyes. It won't obviously need so muscular legs, so you may slim them down somewhat. Arms and tail should be longer. Somewhat enlarge the cranium and rebuild its mouth flatter and wider. Add bat-like, scaly ears. Its teeth should be removed and replaced with some dull ones. And let it close its goddamn mouth, so it won't look like it constantly smiled.

Well, this something would resemble a Bhuur gatherer.

They are equipped to move through the caverns. Clawed paws let them climb through mountainous areas. Their limbs have not yet specialized, but they already have begun to. As for now, gatherers walk on their two often, using front limbs to carry the food.

As there isn't much food underground, they needed to develop effective means of digestion. Their stomach acid, through based on HCl, is much stronger than other animals' and full of digesting enzymes. It can digest not only unprotected tissue (which does not actively try to neutralize the acid), but also bone, wood and some hydrocarbons. Most of them are further reduced in intestines almost to their core components (if it's needed). New proteins are synthetised from reserves stored in various organs - derivatives of the liver. But most substances are converted to glucose.

It does have some disadvantages, as Bhuur regeneration rate is somewhat slow. One of them needs much rest to heal a major injury, which means being useless. Most of lizards just devour their wounded.

Perhaps that's why they seem to rage when severely injured. They are screwed and their organisms know, so they make use of their stored energy fast. Sudden bursts of strength from a seemingly debilitated Bhuur are not uncommon.

Their mouth is adapted to eating just everything. Teeth can grind both plants and meat. If for some reasons it's not enough, vomiting on the food usually makes it edible. As Bhuur esophagus and mouth are protected from the stomach acid, it doesn't hurt them.

This species has no eyes. Their remnants are closed inside the skull and completely useless. They use echolocation to orient themselves and smell to localize their prey. The former is also one of their means of communication (the second one is burping).

Skin barely protect them from anything save cold and their acid. Particularly it offers almost no UV radiation resistance. The light of the sun causes sunburns and sometimes cancer. Even the light reflected by the moon can be harmful if exposure is long enough. They are much more resistant to alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

[Shikogan]

Sorry to be so picky but what you said doesn't make much sense.

Skin barely protect them from anything save cold and their acid. Particularly it offers almost no UV radiation resistance. The light of the sun causes sunburns and sometimes cancer. Even the light reflected by the moon can be harmful if exposure is long enough. They are much more resistant to alpha, beta and gamma radiation.[/spoiler]

If they are vulnerable to UV radiation which has a larger wavelength than gamma radiation, they would also logically be affected by gamma. The wavelength determines the amount of energy that the radiation has and the smaller the wavelength the larger the energy. so yeah you can't be resistant to gamma and not UV.

Just wanted to point that out.

[webadict]

Sorry to be so picky but what you said doesn't make much sense.

Skin barely protect them from anything save cold and their acid. Particularly it offers almost no UV radiation resistance. The light of the sun causes sunburns and sometimes cancer. Even the light reflected by the moon can be harmful if exposure is long enough. They are much more resistant to alpha, beta and gamma radiation.[/spoiler]

If they are vulnerable to UV radiation which has a larger wavelength than gamma radiation, they would also logically be affected by gamma. The wavelength determines the amount of energy that the radiation has and the smaller the wavelength the larger the energy. so yeah you can't be resistant to gamma and not UV.

Just wanted to point that out.

What if it reacted violently with their skin? Don't assume that your science works here...

[webadict]

EDIT2: Just realized that Salmon Blue-Stripe claimed to be Madric, so hm. I'm going to need to edit the background to deal with that new information. But Salmon Blue-Strip is dead, so Alcoveria can still claim to worship him, I guess. Let me think about it.

No, no, he never claimed to be him. He claimed that Madric wanted a temple, which was actually for him. It's fine the way you have it.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post.

EDIT 2:

"On The Madric Hurricanes, by Wimania Red-Dot, Published In The Ten Hunderth Changing of the Glorious Xenopross Intergalactial Emperor"

A Xenocon wrote this?

[Servant Corps]

A Xenocon wrote this?

No, no, just someone who descended from them. "The Ten Hunderth Changing of the Glorious Xenopross Intergalactial Emperor" should clue you in on his bias.