Spring
The harsh year past caused a blow to the Redlios Tribe, yet the tame winter was enough to lighten their spirits. The hunters headed out again, cautiously as before to hunt for small animals to give the upcoming feast some meat. The women split into two dedicated groups, one repeated the duties of the previous year, searching for softer ground to grow crops on, whilst the others continued working with the captured animals. The deer were fairly complacent among the Redlios now, having been fed over the winter and kept warmer that they usually would have been out in the wild.
The men returned regularly and with steady supplies of small animals they were not in wanting for food at the feast.
The day before the feast approached and everyone began preparing accordingly. Later in the day dark clouds began rolling in from the horizon. The tribe recognised this as storm clouds so everyone was quickly ushered into their huts and hit away. The rain hit hard but the people were safe in their houses, the ferned roofs letting only the occasional drips in. Thinder and lightning raged outside and continued throughout the night. In the morning when the people left their houses they found the staff still erect but split in two once more, this time cleft at a long angle and burnt at the fracture point.
One of the tribespeople walked out toward the fallen half of the Staff and picked it up, raised it aloft and cried "No More!". He ran full pelt up alongside the river and off into the wilderness. Search parties were send after him but to no avail, they counted him lost to the wild.
Over the next two months the tribe were fortunate, being gifted 6 baby deer by the domesticated animals they had as well as a great deal of wood, thrown into the valley as a result of the large storm. The farming continued when the soil was soft enough and the men diverted the remaining time before summer crafting more weapons for defense in the wild.
The spring started as the entire tribe helped to nurse the injured hunters back to health and hoping they'll recover from their wounds. The one with the most serious injuries across his chest died after contracting a fever as the new year passed. The other two were healed for the most part, yet wouldn't be fully strong enough to walk about and hunt for at least half the year.
The hunters ventured lightly into the forest, and some out and towards the open plains so find light meat. They decided to take along some of the women, the more hardier, and the older children to get them trained up for adulthood. The remaining women headed to the farmland to resow their crops. A pinch of luck led their farmland to be supple enough to still be grown on, this early. They planted the seeds on their second trip out and set to work on other issues. As a tribe they decided they needed a more strucured way of working with wood. In the center of the cluster of houses they began to erect a larger building with the full intent of holding wood stores within and specific places to hold wood and work on it to make it more uniform.
As spring came the tribe continued training the seabirds to catch fish and bring them back to shore, with moderate success. Most of the birds brought them back, the few that didn't however eat them when they caught them then returned. More training was needed for them, whereas the others were put into use fairly quickly. The birds were used to fish while the ice flows still happened. People headed off to gather wood from the northern forests, knowing how to defend from the barbarians they were confident about travelling to the forest. The remaining villagers began to dig at the land and plant crops and vegetables for the autumn festival. The rafts began to be repaired for the coming second half of the season when the ice stops. Which it eventually did. The fishers returned to their jobs, yet didn't stop using the birds, keeping them as extra help it provided more food as well as kept the birds trained so they wouldn't have to retrain them during the next winter. The opening season of the year being a mild one the people were happy that they managed to make it through and looked to the coming months with anticipation.
The spring warmed the earth and returned the basements to their previous dampened status, and they could grow mushrooms in bulk again. Now that they could grow their staple food they realised that they needed as much help as possible to grow the food to survive. They drafted the children and began to teach them the ways of growing mushrooms.
Alongside the growth of mushrooms the villagers began digging out an open pit to keep the goats in whilst they were taming them. The villagers regularly fed them mushrooms to gain trust and give them a reason to stay, rather than heading back into the mountains.
During the evenings when they weren't growing mushrooms or helping with the goats the people began making more wheels and working on a new wagon, having not seen the other one in over half a year, with full intent on finding out what had happened to them and if they found any other tribes, to trade. They began crafting items out of stones as an added tool to bargain with if tribes were found by the wagon.
The militia continued training with their weapons, as well as creating more and more. The more bow's they made the sturdier and forceful they became, however constant training is required to use them, as they were now too stiff to be used by one of the regular people from the village.
As the mild summer rolled about the mushroom farms had recovered fully and gotten back into full swing, the coming year looked very promising.
As the spring came for the Hullen the hunters and food preparers departed to return to their village, The children were given free reign now to play with their flatlids further and the artisan's weapon was noticed by the elders. Some of them persuaded her to keep the new item as it was, but strengthen the head to keep it in place. They began speaking with other people in the village to help her with her research. 3 of them volunteered to help her out, and so the 4 of them laboured on the new weapon.
As their parents were off working the children were being trained in the three main subjects of village life; Hunting, claymaking and religious ceremonies. The best being taught more delicate skills in claywork.
Work continued on improving the village as well as building more housing as well as an idea for a training area for archery when disaster struck. The skies darkened and the winds picked up. From the west great winds roared across the plains bringing great waves of foliage falling into the Village center. The people all took as much as they could inside and hid until the storm subsided. When they emerged all the buildings remained standing, yet the village was heavily wrecked and covered in all types of plants and wood. A pair of hunters arrived the day after having been sent to see how the village fared in the wind. The news from the hunters was of a large pillar of cloud from far in the horizon moving slowly along the horizon, yet they felt it's inference that far. The rest of the season was spent on clearing the villages in the aftermath of the great wind.
The spring came to the Yittrasei with no more difference that from one day to the next. The adults all fished, the children played and the leaders led. The Archivist continued his writing of the history of the Chief's family all the way to the gods, The Nomonist continued teaching the children common script and the Storemaster recorded all the supplies the people had. The Interpreter's spring was taken up mostly with attempting to decipher the meaning of the robe, he was making progress and regularly consulted the bones for advice, gaining flashes of inspiration from them and making significant breakthroughs in the meaning of the gown, yet a complete meaning eluded him.
The council met once more to discuss the hole to the surfacem with which the storemaster mentioned it would be in their best interests as they were running out of wood for rods, the only wood they had having been taken from trees growing adjacent to the cliff wall. The interpreter mentioned he believed the gown was referring to the surface but he needed more time to be certain. The chief stood and made the decision they would begin to look outside and see what there was.
Not long after the meeting a great storm began brewing to the west darkening the sky and stirring the lake with the wind. The people saw the changing of the skies colour as a sign that Elta was displeased and they laid crafts at the opening to the surface, seeing it as a direct window to the sky in hopes that she would see their offering and calm down. Over the rest of the night the wind continued to pick up before subsiding not too long into the night.
Summer
The Summer came about slowly, it seemed like it would be a mild season making it easier for all.
The Redlios decide on reinforcing their homes, making them more secure in case the wolves decided to return again. Using the supplies of wood to strengthen the walls of their homes. The majority of the men, the better hunters, headed off to the grasslands to catch the summer herds. The remaining men helped strengthen the houses.
One day whilst the tribe were repairing houses on the outside of town a loud crack was heard eachoing about the valley. As they looked to the northern side of the valley they saw a rockslide tumbling toward the village. As it reached the bottom it lost the majority of it's momentum however some trees had been dragged along with it and continued rolling down, one smashed straight through one home causing it to fall sideways and collapse into a bundle of sticks. One of the trees fell very wide and the final came after the first tree and forced it and the previous hut into another hut crashing through a side wall.
The people felt downtrodden and dejected. The breaking of a staff two years running was unheard of and very definately a bad omen, this must have been jut the beginning. No one was killed in the aftermaths of the landslide, two elders were injured as well as one child and one female.
A day or two passed and everyone became more worried that something had happened once again with the men. As they saw them approaching from the valley's head they saw a huge lumbering figure following close behind. As they saw it approach closer they saw it supported on four circular objects and made completly out of stone. Atop it rode 5 other people, with 5 more surrounding it, with one of them dragging the beast behind him. As it neared further the tribe ran to greet this new arrival and found hidden on the contraption the Tribesman who ran off in the spring with the upper half of the staff. As they pried it away from him they saw he had carved the upper half, above the burnt split, into three figures of their gods, each facing outwards from the center.
The travellers on the Contraption indicated they found him further downshore along the lake using simple hand gestures, as each tribe spoke different languages from each other. They traded food supplies, grain for mushrooms, as well as wood supplies for small bundles of stone. After a few days resting in the village, during which time the people erected the god carving where they would usually erect the staff as they realised it had some purpose, the travellers departed.
Over the final month of summer the people began to prepare the skins for the deer to use for more warmth. The washed and soaked them for some time and ended up draping them in the pens over the deer.
The mild summer was a boon to the Havasupai, as it meant they weren't trapped in sweltering heat all year long. The hunters were now returning much small game as and when it was needed, whilst the workers at the village continued work on the wood processing building. Alternating between the building and farming the people kept both their main projects from being neglected. Over a period of weeks they finished up the new building and finally planted all they had.
The wood workers moved all their supplies into the building and resumed their usual carving and creation of wooden crafts. The people decided that if they were to continue living in the forest they would need more technology in case the shadow of the forest decided to come after them. 5 of the hunters headed out , being given enough food and crafts to trade they moved eastwards along the lake and toward the river on the far side.
With the wood working facility finished the people began building a large communal building for everyone to meet in, rather than outside during winter. The village house began to take shape as the seasons changed.
The fishers continued fishing, and using the birds. Their fish stocks began to fill up quickly in anticipation for the birthing festival. All the rafts held throughout the season, although one mishap almost lost them the life of one of the fishers when his raft scraped against some hidden rocks during a low tide, he survived and the raft was salvaged and repaired swiftly. The wood gatherers returned a month into summer with enough wood to last the rest of the year, barring any accidents. A roving band of traders were spotted on the horizon headed north following the foot of the mountain. The people sent out a scout party to lead them to their camp to trade with them. The traders turned up and gifted the tribe with clothes and warm blankets in exchange for supplies to allow them to reach the other side of the mountain and down further as they had heard of a tribe there hidden away. The Hullen gave them many fish as they could easily catch more and wished them luck as they went on their way.
The leaders gathered after hearing the news of the new village around the mountain and down the lake to decide on what to do about them. No decision was made at that time and they waited till autumn to decide further.
The Tribex took the mild summer as a good sign, the snow from further up mountain wouldn't melt and bring torrents of water cascading down the river flooding it. The Wagon was now being put together, much like the one from last year. When it was complete another band of 10, 5 of them militia, were sent out this time with crafts to trade as well as food for the journey. As the wagon was sent off down the path the people wondered whether they'd see even the first one let alone this one, knowing that barbarians roam the lands beyond the mountain.
The people needed to have a more sustainable way to grow their mushrooms should the winter freeze the ground once more, so they dug out more sub-basements below the existing ones, and yet more basements further. The access shafts to the surface were kept open to allow the light to filter down so they could see the progress of the farms.
The people continued in their production of weapons for the militia and the villagers, as well as more crafts and wheels, in case they are needed later on.
After the large storm during spring the Luzia cleaned up in time for summer so as not to offend Zeke during the creation. The entire village finished up cleaning the village and resumed their previous activities, the artisans arted, the elders and children crafted and the adults began work on the archery training range. Man sized lumps were erected on a stretch of open land just outside of the village where people went to train.
The artisan and her assistants retreated there whenever they wanted to test out the new throwing weapon. The team of four slowly found the perfect way to use the weapon and began searching for more stone in the same rough shape to create more.
On the opposing side of town a pit was being dug to house small animals. They dug multiple holes as they would begin testing wild fruits on the animals to see how safe they were for the villagers.
The center of Summer approached and the hunters returned with enough food for the feast as well as a very freshly killed deer. They took the animal to the center of the village and propped it up above the clay pit and bled it into the clay pit, infusing it's blood into the substance. The people left it there for the night and returned the following morning. The people again gathered about the clay pit and each took a handful of clay, now a deeper brown than before. The hunters brought the bones of the bear they had killed the previous season out to the village and followed the people to the plain of clay men. As they moved toward the areas the entire village began to sing and chant, blessing the blood filled clay and praying once more that they would have the power to create life. The creature was put together using the bones and clay, this year being more large and burly due to the bones used. As the village stood and watched they were unsatisfied once more and knew that they would try once more the coming year. The hunters returned to their village yet with the instruction to keep a certain amount of smaller game alive for testing. The artisans found some more stone of the right size and shape and began re-creating the weapon they had created first.
Summer came, the people began to chip parts of the cave wall and the shaft to the surface out so they could climb up and see the world above. When the ladder was finished the first people to head up to the surface and look about relayed what the surface was like. To the east a large hill stood, appearing made of rock all the way up. To the north the river led disappearing into the floor where it must have dug through to come out at the cliffside. To the west there was a forest stretching and the south lay the large lake of Dvaisse.
The people decided to make a venture to the forest for wood later in the year, for now they would need to have a way to block the shaft. With little supplies of wood, and unable to keep stone supported long enough they decided to disguise the holes opening and retreat down, not leaving until they had the required wood stocks. Someone decided to see if the ladder idea would work on the outside of the cliff to lead down to the lakes edge. She began to work parts of the rock free and move down the cliff face. Over a few hours she managed to reach the surface of the water, yet didn't reach down to touch it, not wanting to disturb Dvaisse's domain, she headed back up to the caves and was questioned by everyone about the lake. The only answer she could give was to climb down and find for themselves. Few people ventured down and no accidents were to be had.
The summer offering to Dvaisse came and the people left crafts at the cave mouth as well as flowers. Three of the people who headed down to the lake previously headed down there too and floated flowers on the lake by hand showing dedication to their god that they would hand their offerings in person and that they would risk their lives climbing down to do it. The mild summer left the lake teeming with fish, leading the tribe to worship those who handed their crafts and flowers over by hand as well as the chief who still held the favour of Dvaisse. The people claimed they would build a platform on the water to be able to hand their offerings personally from then on as well as keep lookouts for Dvaisse himself.
In the back of the cave the interpreter had reashed his final breakthrough and deciphered what the message had claimed. That the people were to claim the surface as their own, to move up and live there. Consulting the bones he saw that it was a guideline for future action and not to move too swiftly. He called the man who made the robe and bestowed upon him the second name of Weft, after the symbol in the robe below the back of the neck. He made him the leader of the artisans, knowing that other people had began weaving the common language into their clothes after his example and gave him leave to co-ordinate people to work more delicate crafts in that vein.
Autumn
Autumn came swiftly. The Redlios has to hold the feast for The Vagabond earlier than usual because of this. They turned the god-staff image of the Vagabond toward the village during the feast, indicating it was his season to watch over them. The people harvested and the men went hunting as per usual. The elders and children continued with their rope weaving.
One day one of the females went into the pens to inspect the deer. She found one without it's covering and found it in the dirt below, trodden repeatedly and covered in their leavings. She took it down to the river and began washing it. As the filth washed off she found the skin underneath harder than before and tougher too. She took it into the village and showed the people what had happened before describing where she'd found it and in what condition. The autumn period led to much repeated variation with animal skins and leaving them on the floors of the pens before they'd perfected the art, though running out of large enough animal skins. They had accumulated 15 failed results to the 3 successful beaten skins. The women turned these skins into clothing for the men to wear onto the plains, being tough it should offer some protection in case of an attack, due to the low amount of material to work with they only hand enough material to cover 5 of the men.
The hunters moved out in force, now rejoined by the two who were injured the previous year. The villagers continued their work on the villagehouse. As the weeks passed they began to harvest the crops from the farmland nearby and give them out to the villagers. Luck provided a bounty of food to keep them surviving throughout the winter period. The hunters continued to provide meat as long as they could, up untill the larger game moved on and they were left with the smaller animals. There was no sight of the scouts they had explore the world outside, they were presumably still looking, or in deep trouble.
The tribe awaited the colder time with good thoughts, they had enough food to survive the winter and were producing crafts consistantly. One night this complacency was shaken as from the deep regions of the forest a deep roar came echoing. The hunters quickly stood their ground on the outskirts of the village and waited for the creature to show itself. The people waited all night, not daring to sleep in case it came for them. As the sun came up the people attempted to sleep off the shock of the night before. The children decided to head out into the forest, this time with some crafts and small piles of grain. They left their offering by the same tree they'd carved the three slashes into. There were no further attacks for the season, for which the children believed they were responsible. They decided to continue the idea of leaving crafts and food at the border each autumn.
The Hullen began the preparations for the feast to the Mother Fish and began catching more seabirds to feast upon as well as rarer fish and aquatic creatures. One day on the water a raftsman was suddenly ambushed by a creature like a seal, yet much larger. Other fishers headed over to help the man out of the water and begin spearing at the water everytime a shadowy figure appeared. After a two hour endurance battle the creature finally succumbed to many wounds and exhaustion. They brought it to shore and found it to have two large tusks and whiskers. They all thanked the Mother Fish for this new creature. The villagers now began the final stage of preparing for the feast by harvesting the crops they'd planted and slaughtering the seabirds they had no use for, as well as bringing out all the rarest fishes they caught.
The day of the feast came and the tribe were well stocked up. At center place was the walrus they had killed earlier in the season, stripped of it's tusks, skin and blubber, set aside for other uses apart from the tusks, now adorning the placement of the walrus in a circle. As the villagers began to eat one of the women bit into the walrus and dropped her plate of food and stood staring out to sea. Many of the people tried to rouse her and to see what she was staring at. When she became responsive again she headed to the walrus' carcus and took the tusks and retreated to her hut. Over the rest of the season people brought her food and water to keep her safe and strong during the season. Those who entered saw her working feverishly away at the tusks whenever they chanced a glance her way.
The tribespeople needed yet more space, having had two families per house since their last flurry of building activity. Plans were enacted and people began digging more plots for houses and digging out the basement levels, while others were building on the dug plots the higher walls and roofs. The people also needed somewhere else to worship the gods, so whilst the majority were building houses the few who weren't needed at each time dug out a wide circular area on the flattest slope they had, and began to build a dome atop the circular base. The de-facto leader decided that he needed somewhere to lead from. He called upon the people working on the temple to create an inverted version below ground, with a flat floor above the curved floor for the leaders to work from. They agreed to his demands, however he would have to wait for the temple to be completed before they began work on the leaders hall, the gods taking precidence over all. Winter was fast approaching and the Tribex would see the wagon return with news, as well as see if the new basement levels would keep the mushroom farms working.
Autumn came and the first occurance of the season was the artisans proclaiming they had created a new weapon, it was common knowledge they had been working on something already but people were unsure what. When they came out with the weapon they described it as a bent arrow, to be thrown not spring from a bow. The entire village congrigated to view them showing it off to the entire people. They gathered at the archery range and invited the best archer to fire into one of the targets, which he did with ease repeatedly untill he claimed any animal would have died by that time. The artisans took one of their weapons, the original, and stood up to the range. Drawing her arm back the thrower let loose and with a whistling sound caused the clay target to crumble to dust at the impact point leaving a large dent in the upper half. She turned to the audience and proclaimed, "Dead". The weapon was retrieved and named Thrownax the Range Destroyer. The artisans gave specific specifications as to the size and shape of any more stone found for use in more weapons.
After a month the hunters returned with many pots full of preserved food as well as rabbits and wild birds. These were pitted and the elders began feeding the animals wild fruits and berries the food preservers had gathered when waiting for the hunters to return food. The skins of the animals the hunters had killed were brought back, stripped of the hair and fat and were turned into clothes and bags for general use as well as longer versions to hold arrows in for the hunters.
Once the archery target, destroyed by the Ax, was repaired an archery tournament was held for the hunters to prove their skills and see if any of the village could equal them in accuracy and power. The hunters all hit the targets every time, the majority near to center mass. Those who hit closer the center took repeated shots until two were left. They were placed side by side and each took aim down the range. The one on the right took less time readying his bow and feeling the air and gazing out westwards to see what the conditions were like. The one on the left kept his bow strung and aimed down the shaft and waited for the opportune moment. The hunter on the right suddenly picked up his bow, nocked an arrow and loosed it in a matter of seconds, the arrow being guided by the wind to hit the centermost point. The one on the left stayed dead still untill he let loose too. The arrow flew straight, yet a gust of wind at the final second knocked it off course and off center by two notches. The rightmost hunter had won, the village rejoiced and they held a feast that evening in his honour. He invited his opponant in the final to join him at the head of the feast stating he was a worthy opponant with as much right to be celebrated as he had.
The interpreter brought up the subject of the robes message as well as introducing Weft to the council. They all agreed the surface was safe to explore and asked the tribe for volunteers to explore the surface and find wood for the tribes wellbeing. A band of thirty, 17 men, 12 women and one boy on the cusp of adulthood all asked to explore the surface. The people were given fish supplies in sacks made from clothes knotted at the arms and head. They headed up to the surface and were wished the goodness of Torl to go with them.
As the season moved onward the new faction of people, the artisans, began gathering materials from the surface to weave more clothes and train themselves in their skills. One day a fever gripped the tribe. Many people were rendered ill, the disease claiming three of the elders as well as rendering most of the fishers bedridden. The people were kept separate from the rest of the tribe who were currently healthy. The council met to quickly determine what to do when they were interrupted by one of the artisans who had ran from the shaft to find them. He claimed there were a band of men on beasts at the surface. The chief and the storemaster went with the woman to meet these men and see what they wanted. As they motioned to each other they found them speaking the same language as them with minor differences. They said they'd met some of the people headed for the forest who told them to find the tribe in the cliffs above the lake. They had come to trade with them. The chief said they would be pleased to trade, however a sickness had gripped the tribe and that if they could help it would be appreciated greatly.
One of the traders was led inside to see the people. As he looked them over he said that he had seen this before and they had a mild herb which would alleviate the majority of the symptoms. He headed back to the other men on the surface and took out a bundle of plants and asked if the tribespeople had any more plants like that. They nodded and claimed it grew in the deeper caves. The trader said that that was the cure and that the people would need to separate the leaves, boil them and then feed the leaves to those afflicted. The tribe followed their instructions and the people began feeling better within a matter of hours. The tribe thanked the men by giving them crafts weaved by the artisans and fish caught by the fishers as gratitude for saving the tribe. The traders wished them well stating they may return to trade again and went on their way.
A funeral was held for the three elders who had succumbed to the sickness. The interpreter claimed one sacrifice was needed to placate Dvaisse so the people of the Tribe cast the biggest three fish to the lake for him to devour in place of their souls.
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Topic: TRIBAL LIFE! - YEAR 2 - Turn Posted (Read 4767 times)