Year 1
Spring
At the new year rings about and the Tribes awaken from the coldest winter they have experienced for many years preparations begin.
The Women of the Redlios tour the Valley searching for soft ground in which they can farm for the coming year. They came across soft ground which they had to wait to soften more before they began ploughing and planting.
The men of the tribe headed off to provide for the fast approaching Spring Festival. Opon reaching the grasslands the men spread out, usually into groups of 5 to hunt for foor. The majority found food in one form or another and swiftly returned with it to the village. Of the remaining 10 men, three of them return with tales of a large black bear just emerging from hibernation as they came across it, hungry from it's deep sleep it slaughtered the remaining 7 and chased the survivors for a while before retreating for it's prize.
The Spring Festival to the Earth Mother was marred by the death of the 7, yet it did not stop it from going ahead. Gathering at the lake by the Old Man's Staff before the dawn of the festival They prayed to the Old Man to carry their souls onward and thanked him for a kind winter. As the sun rose over the edge of the lake the villagers began digging about the base of The Staff to remove it when the earth gave way and it fell toward the lake and split in two across the center. The villagers Were shocked at this and took it as a bad omen of worse to come.
As Winter winds to an end the Havasupai send their hunters out to the forests and grasslands to gather meat for the people. The people are apprehensive as there has been a great evil stalking the forests of late and many screams and unnatural noises are heard eminating from the deeper areas of trees. The people in the Village head out of the forest toward the lake to set up farming operations and begin quickly to irrigate and soften the soil for planting. While half the tribe are farming the others head into the forest a little way to begin gathering wood by cutting down marked trees for that year. Not wishing to give up natural defences the Tribe raze sporadic trees to keep the density of the forest constant. The Hunters return from the forests with many fine specimins, yet with stories of great marking across some trees at head height of the people.
The Hullen begin Winter by reparing their fishing rafts, the cold of the lake caused a considerable amount of damage to the existing rafts, so much so that now they were good only for fire, and even then after allowing them to dry out for a while. The tribe exhaust their remaining wood crafting the new rafts. They begin fishing when the ice flows from up the lake recede and make the waters safe to travel. The remaining men and Women begin to Farm the farm the land and attempt to plant vegetables and fruit trees for the coming time.
The Tribex in their mountainous region began work on Bows and Arrows, from scavenged wood and plants, stone daggers carefully scraped into sharpened edges and the wheel, their latest technological advancement. Every person in the tribe who was fit enough was trained in these weapons. Everyone in the tribe made sure that if they were attacked they could defend efficiently as they had their backs up against the wall, literally. When not Making weapons or training they dig their homes into the mountain side. While not being able to see below ground they keep their houses just into the side and built the remaining walls and ceiling from stone cut into shape. Those with existing homes grew mushroom plots beneath their houses in the basements.
Across the season people were more involved with developing their tools than homemaking which reulted in overcrowding in the houses which had been built. However the people continued to farm their mushrooms as they did not wish to starve themselves to death and so they had plenty of food to go on with into the following season.
The Luzia begin the year sending a runner to the hunters village as a request for food. They had stockpiled much over the previous winter and began the year using up the stocks and giving the hunters a rest. The stocks slowly dwindled and so the hunters decided to head out and capture smaller foods and keep the food supplies bolstered. At the main village, the tribe begin making bows and arrows to send up to the hunters to replace worn or broken sets and to provide for younglings who wish to train to hunt.
Over the course of the season 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl, leave to join the hunters village and learn to hunt. Once of the boys is sent back after 2 weeks, not being made of the right stuff. The remaining people keep their clay making skills up by making clay pots to store personal food in and to send up to the storehouse to allow more food to be kept in.
The Yittrasei begin the year much like the Hullen, they fish in their lake as usual, not being phased by winter. The Chief finally succumbs to the lashings of age and dies peacefully one night. His personal history is written up taking the archivist two full days to complete owing to the mans great achievements and he is cremated. The oracle says that Dvaisse is happy to take him onward. The nomonist then names his successor and begins to teach him the chief's code. The commoners begin to make crafts from common fish bones, pike bones set aside for the Interpreter. The chief one night persuades the Archivist to begin crafting a mythology linking him to the gods.
Summer
After a cautious season where The Redlios' remained in the Valley for months Spring gave way to Summer. The women and children ventured out of the valley with the Men for protection. Over Spring they had worked feverishly on more weapons to use against wild animals. Once the gatherers were gathering the plants at the head the men continued onward to hunt for smaller creatures, not daring to head out into the field.
Once the gatherers had filled their holds they returned to the village with the men. The next few weeks continued in this fashion until enough food was to be had by all. The men continued hunting for small game while the women continued to tend the fields. When the meat stocks were replenished the Men set about fixing the houses and setting up pens on the outskirts of town. The Elders now taught the children rope weaving as it was important to hold their weapons together and to capture animals with. The season moved onwards and moved into the season of The Vagabond with little drama.
The Hunters from the forests decided to head out to the grasslands, as the hunters who ventured out that way had not been heard from since mid spring. The remaining tribespeople continue their maintenance of the farmland and begin to repair and build more huts for the tribe, as it is constantly growing, space is a good thing. After a month the tribespeople began to grow more and more worried as they had now not seen the anything from the hunters in three months. There worry was broken when the menfolk returned each with a great haul of deer and rabbit. The tribe eat well for the rest of Summer, venturing out of the trees only to see to the farm plots and gather water.
The Hullen, having planted their fields send their gatherers to the northern forest for wood. In the village the fishers are still fishing and the women continue tending to the crops. The fishers try to capture seabirds as often as possible as the Spawing Festival was approaching. Time passed and the tribe began to worry as the wood gatherers had not yet returned from their expedition to gather wood. A month passed from their leave before they were seen again. They brought wood, and armour. They had been attacked in the forests by a roving band of Barbarians. They quickly evaded them and were persued for a number of days before they brought one down through controlled fire. The others quickly fled on seeing one of their members set upon by flame from above.
The people of The Tribex decided that the overcrowding was too much of an issue to ignore any longer and everyone started work on their families homes. The elders continued to farm and make tools as they weren't able enough to lift the vast amounts of rock from the quarry or dig into the side of the mountain. The Children were let loose to play and explore. This was a godsend to the Tribex as the children who ventured down the mountainside saw a band of Barbarians heading up the mountain path they had made toward the village.
The people prepared themselves and gathered as many weapons among the people as they could. The barbarians continued to make a beeline for the village and when they came in range the tribe let loose volley after volley of arrows and thrown rocks. The Tribe had the upper ground and ranged weaponry which forced the barbarians to retreat back down the mountain. The people cheered at their success and dedicated the tribespeople with the best shots as a militia. The people who weren't accepted for military duties continued farming and toold making, now beginning work on the wagon base to attach the wheels to.
The warmer weather brings an abundance of larger animals to the plains for the hunters to begin bringing down and storing. The new bows and arrows provided by the main village came in much use, as did the two new recruits who began to show great proficiency in using varied weapons in such a short space of time. The food preparers worked overtime in processing the large stock of meat and separated the bones into bundled piles set aside for the upcoming celebration. At the Main village news came of larger stocks of meat to be brought down for the people. The majority set to work taking down the old storage room in the village's central ring and began recreating it larger and more open.
The hunters were seen approaching from the grasslands 3 days before The Creation was due. They brought the meat stocks and bone bundles for the festival. The three days passed quickly for the tribespeople as The Creation was upon them. At sunup everyone in the village made a procession through the center of the village, each person taking an armful of clay and following on toward the outskirts of town. Downriver from the village there stood previous clay men from years past. The tribe set about each adding to the clay figure. The animal bones were placed by the hunters and preservers who were the only people to make contact. As the sun approached it's peak the last person had added to the figure and returned to the group. As they stood and watched, each willing Zeke to have granted them the power of life, they were disappointed that they not gained the power that year and returned to their homes in the knowledge that they would work harder over the next year.
Summer was a harder time for the Yittrasei as the increased heat led the fish in the lake to seek cooler climes, however the hardier species, adapted to the heat remained. The Yittrasei however made their offerings as usual to the God of the Lake to refrain from devouring the fish. The crafts created in the spring were offered along with flowers to Dvaisse. At the cave nearest the lake, the people gathered. The interpreter read from the archives and the people each laid a craftswork and a bouqet of flowers per family at the cave entrance. An abandance of fish across the following months the people began to believe it was their chief who brought about the favour of the gods and began trusting in him, seeing this as a sign. The archivist began to weave this into his new work.
Autumn
After the wild celebrations of the Vagabond The Redlios people began Winter preparations. The women took the children back to the fields and harvested the grain and wheat which had sprouted. The men left the valley in order to capture animals to survive over winter. THe men remained in larger groups and dared not to venture too far apart. After a month of finding little they decided to return to the old ways and spread out more. Many deer were captured and taken back to the village to be stored in the pens.
Winter was drawing near when tragedy struck in the night. One of the pens was set upon by a pack of wolves who killed many of the animals and dragged a few of them away. The Hunters worked hard over the next month to replace the lost animals.
As the food supplies dwindled the tribes people decided it was time to venture out again proper to prepare for the colder times. The hunters were wary of the forest, yet knew if they wanted food it was their best option, the grasslands now most definately being deserted as the temperature dropped. The men set out with promises of not heading in too far if they didn't have to. The women headed out to the farmland cautiously and carefully gathered the crops which had grown, and set aside some to use to grow more next year.
As meat supplies dropped further the tribespeople became worried again that something must have occured in the forests. One night they heard a terrifying cry echo across the lake from the forests along the direction the men had gone. As time continued onwards fatigue set in and the people began to hunger. The grain and vegetables they'd grown wasn't enough to sustain them throughout this time and they needed meat to survive.
The Hullen now began to prepare for the feast full time. The fishers had caught enough and focused purely on seabirds, occasionally stopping to persue seals. The captured birds they began training to aid in fishing later on. The feast was then upon them.
They spent the day taking the birds to the Riverside along with the seals and this year the set of armour. The animals were sacrificed and the armour drenched in the blood. The elders took the armour to the hall as an artifact to their skills and as a gift from the Mother Fish.
The wagon was finished in the early weeks of autumn and 10 of the people, half of them being militia, were sent along with supplies of mushrooms and weapons down the path to follow the river onwards. The tribe waved them off and watched them head off into the distance down the mountainside. As the weeks passed the people decided to see if there was any wildlife about to capture and train to help in any more defensive stategies.
A small group of 5 headed off further up the mountain to see what there was to find. As they skirted their way around the mountain they came across a small band of mountain goats. They made their way slowly towards them so as not to spook them. They took 5 each by the horns and placated them with mushrooms. They began to lead them back along the path to the village when the goat at the rear of the formation became startled and started thrashing about. It's shephard attempted to calm it down by grabbing onto it and tempting it with mushrooms when sadly it fell off the mountain, shephard in tow, and the both of them rolled and fell down the mountainside before coming to a halt halfway down. The remaining shepards brought the goats back to the village to be tamed before heading back out to retrieve the body of their fallen friend. They carried him solemnly back to the village and they themselves entombed him on the outskirts of the village.
The hunters attempted to hunt as much as possible before the herds of animals moved on somewhere warmer, leaving them with less to hunt. The food supplies were swiftly filled to breaking point. The hunters and preservers returned to the village with their caches of food to find a flurry of activity in the center of town. The villagers had decided to honour Zeke further they would create a temple dedicated to the food providers.
A Hunter's lodge was erected across the clay pit from the new food store for the hunters to use for whatever they as a group needed. One artisan in the town proclaimed her latest strike of genius. She would attempt a larger version of the arrows that the hunters use, to be hand sized and thrown. Over the following months she laboured at finding optimum shaft length to width sizes. When she was happy she asked people travelling to the river to find a rock shaped like an arrow head, yet larger. No one had discovered one as the cold grips of winter set in.
Autumn brought the fish back to the lake and thus provided the Yittrasei with more fish to choose from. The youngsters of the tribe begin to explore the caves further. Over a period of weeks they map the caves to memory and utilise them for amusement and to hide from their parents. One week they come across a corpse, long decayed and now with little left on him. The sun filters through the hole in the roof the man must have caused. They report it to the chief who takes great interest. The villagers back at the main area began gathering thing plants to renew their clothing.
Winter
And the year turned to winter and the Redlios began the festival of the dead. They brought out the broken Staff of the Old Man and floated in on the lake while it was still solid in hopes that it would reach him in his slumber. They then erected the new staff and prayed desparately for safety over the winter period.
The season was a time for families and the families all tended to each other, the elders and the livestock. They began domesticating the deer by feeding them grain, they needed more animals as the previous winter had been a harsh one. The Vagabond had been kind to them over the autumn and provided with a bounty of grain to keep well into the following year.
As the grips of winter set in the hunters returned, victorious, yet not without some damage. Three of the men were wounded across their legs and chests with great gashes. They told of a shadow that moved in the forest, dark as night and silent as the moons passing. It came for them in the night and lashed out at finding them in it's territory. They fought it off as a large group, constantly moving and keeping it from choosing one target when it broke off and dived back into the trees swiftly and silently. The meat they had with them however was greatly recieved and the people distributed it carefully to allow the tribe to survive into the following year.
A few of the children, having heard the story of the shadow in the forest, headed into the undregrowth as deep as they dared and, using stolen daggers, cut three gashes into the trees to declare what was their territory, as they thought if the men who passed the gashes in the trees were attacked, it was it's sign to keep away.
The Hullen continued fishing untill the first of the ice flows showed up, then they pulled in and dragged the rafts ashore, taking them to the homes of the raft builders for maintenance during the down time. The Remaining birds left over from the festival were now being trained to fish at this time, as when the fishers couldn't traverse the lake, they needed to fish another way. There was moderate success and they began to see a return on the time invested as the end of the year rolled about.
As winter came about the colder weather led to heavy snowfall on the upper regions of the mountain with lighter sprinklings across the village. The people dedicated all their efforts in this cold time to farm mushrooms as they would need to keep their strength up through the winter. The colder weather however had hardened the soil and frozen the underground reserves of water which had been sustaining the current mushrooms.
The basements the people had dug weren't damp enough for the mushrooms to survive so in desparation they began digging tunnels from the caverns deeper to find a warmer area, damp enough to farm in. After a month of receeding mushroom crops they finally found an area with running water which they took to the surface and used in sub-basements for the mushroom crops. Enough food was grown to keep the tribe going throughout the winter, but they looked to the coming spring with worry as they may not have enougn food to survive through then.
The Hunters resided in their new lodge with great repect put upon them by the people. During their stay over the autumn time they realised that there was something missing from the building which bugged them until winter came about. They needed a large example of their hunting skills. They all left to hunt for a large animal with which they could adorn their wall and use the larger bones as a greater offering to Zeke.
The people continued working lightly whilst they were gone and began work on lids for the clay pots. The children made smaller thinner versions and found that they flew well when thrown so turned them into a new play thing across the village. The artisan headed down to the river to begin searching for stone herself when she came across one of the perfect size and weight, as well as being near enough the perfect shape. She took it back to her hut and incorporated a shaft onto it, waited for it to dry then took some practise throws. Her second shot misaligned the head and try as she might she couldn't dislodge it. She attempted still to use it as a weapon and With her first throw the large arrow began spinning through the air and ended with the head embedded itself into a nearby hut. She was amazed at the raw power the thing had and took it back to her workshop to study further. The Hunters returned after 6 weeks dragging behind them a large brown bear they had ambushed in it's sleep. The preservers skinned it and placed it on the wall in the Hunters lodge, the bones were set aside for The Creation in the coming summer and the food was distributed to all as a feast for all.
Winter passed unnoticed by the Yittrasei as they could still fish with ease. The people who weren't fishing continued gathering thin plants and began to make and repair clothes. One of the tribe, a young fisherman, on returning his catch to the main tribe saw the weavers at work on the clothes. A great vision sprung up in his head and he sat along with them and began to weave a long gown. He saw patterns and shapes whirl in his head as he made them a part of the design.
When he was finished the interpreter was called upon to see the gown. He couldn't believe what he saw when he arrived; Woven into the gown was the script of the interpreter himself and named him in several places. He took it back to his temple to work over.
The Chief held a meeting not long after with the Four other leaders, it took the interpreter some consideration whether to leave his work until he decided it would be safe in the temple. At the meeting the Chief discussed what to do about the wide hole to the surface. The meeting was inconclusive and adjourned until late Spring when the interpreter said he would have finally deciphered what the gown fully said, as it was a jumbled mix of words and letters.
Notes:
I didn't incorporate world events this round but I will if any come up starting next round. Personal events were included along with the seasons they occured so nothing was changed apart from one. A wolf attack on the Yittrasei, since they live in caves with no route to the surface I doubt wolves could get to them. I changed it for something else instead.
If you guys want a world map posted I have one here, but I'm not adding locations of your tribes, you have to assume where you are and discover positions on the map yourselves.
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Topic: TRIBAL LIFE! - YEAR 2 - Turn Posted (Read 4657 times)