Turn 5Sorry for the lateness! Darn Ehndras and Civilization games. Civilization really sucks up your time! I was also writing a short story about carnivorous flowers on a jungle planet (don’t ask). Also: unless you are changing or removing people from hunting/gathering, I’m going to assume they do so on (r)epeat to avoid you having to say “I send people to hunt,
again.”
It’s been a really busy week with the starting of school and things, so I haven’t had very much free time in which to write updates. I actually wrote the bulk of this during class.
SnaugThe capitol (Refered from now on as "Impact".) Will send out another 10-Snaug hunting party, with the rest building the walls.
Mudpost will finish constructing their outpost.
Even though the walls are already completed, Snaug begin to pile on mud even higher. The hunters bring back a smallish crab and dip a little into the stored food to feed everyone. Back at Mudpost, the colony is completed and the foundation laid for any new buildings to come. In fact, they already hatched their first baby Snaug! Since they’re still putting the finishing touches on the place and can’t go hunting, a few Snaug from Impact ship over some food for them (it’s close enough that they can easily travel between the two colonies over the course of a day).
The mud begins to shake, softly at first, but then harder. The seaquake does no damage because of the absorbency of the mud. In the distance (over the Clay Mountains) a plume of water saturated in volcanic debris begins to rise. Something definitely happened over there. Perhaps there is a fault line nearby? You wouldn’t think that were the case since the water is so shallow, but there doesn’t seem to be any other explanation for it.
Snaug (Yellow)
Impact, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 20
- Leader
Food: 19
+28 Mud Crab
-31 Eating
Buildings:
- Pod (Can be deconstructed for 18 scrap metal, 8 metal plates, 3 circuit boards, 13 glass, and odds and ends)
- Mud Wall (75% Shell Reinforced)
Materials:
- Mud (18 OMU)
Items:
-
Mudpost, Camp
Population: 11
Food:
Buildings:
Materials:
Items:
Gather more copeloids and oysters with methods as used before.
Send a hunting party equipped with shields, spears, and bullets (the polished stones) to gather food from the kelp forest. Look for fish and such. If any eggs found, bring back to Deephome for hatching.
Cut up some kelp to use as bags for the bullets
Set some lofani to making even more bullets
Scavenge the chasms for more shields and spears
Use sharpened rocks to "mine" stone from the chasms. Sharpen these new rocks.
Explore the larger crevice mentioned a few turns ago.
Set up a small outpost at the end of the chasms and the edge of the kelp forest. To be used by the hunting party and the scouts as a resting place between trips. Hide it with kelp and rocks.
Continue training anemones
A hunting party heads out to the seaweed patch ((there isn’t any kelp here, think eelgrass)) equipped with the Lofani’s newest weapons to scout around for fish and their byproducts. There are fish in abundance far above, skimming the tops of the seaweed as they swim in their schools, but for the most part are completely out of reach. Not only that, but the fish are much,
much larger than you and would take substantially more than your current weapons to take down without too many casualties. That is– unless you have some ingenious plan to take one down. The hunting party does gather up a large amount of pale red fish eggs to bring back. They are able to harvest quite a few due to their siphons. On their trip back, the party takes note of a large, spiny creature slowly moving around. It has six arms that are covered with tiny bony plates and radiate out from a central point. The center of the creature has long spines that jet out in all directions. It moves so slowly on its incredibly small tube feet that it appears to be stationary.
Although the chasms nearby are thoroughly searched, no more Marblit remains are found. The creature must have somehow ended up in here and gotten lost. The other large crevice is also searched. At first glance, there appears to be nothing inside, but there are actually tiny crystals in the wall. They are gold in color and appear to be a variation of quartz.
The anemones continue to be trained, and are showing much less hostility for their trainers. Training should be complete by the end of tomorrow. The scouts have reached the end of the seaweed and settle in a small knoll to create an outpost for future scouts. Back in Deephome, a skilled craftsman fashions a detailed shield and spear from the crustacean’s remains. He quickly crafts the rest into more refined tools as well.
Lofani (
Brown)
Deephome, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 20
- Kyridgem (Leader)
- Bone Craftsman
Food: 23
+31 Copepods
+13 Oysters
-30 Eating
-13 Training
Buildings:
- Pod (Can be deconstructed for 18 scrap metal, 8 metal plates, 3 circuit boards, 13 glass, and odds and ends)
- Rock Wall (With 7 small anemones and 3 large anemones)
Materials:
- Rock Oyster Shells (16)
- Lapis (3)
- Fish Eggs (30)
Items:
- Marblit Spears (21)
- Marblit Shields (4)
- Bullets (49)
- Rough Rock Picks (
Scout Outpost (50%), Camp
Traits:
- Camouflaged
Population: 10
Food: (shipped in)
Buildings:
Materials:
Items:
My impact spot shall be a (very small) tectonic rift, where the ocean floor is pulled apart and new rock is created in its place. Specifically, I want to be in the very top part of the mantle. So what if such things don't exist near islands? Screw geology, this is a game!
How my race arrives: A small shuttle, completely made of odd, glowing green crystals flies above the planet. At one point, several shards fall off, and the craft flies off, never to be seen again. And while most of the shards burn in the atmosphere, one survives and punches straight through the crust at its weakest point: A rift. The crystal becomes embedded in the viscous magma, and begins to move... (Thumbs up if you get the reference!)
The seeder crystal begins converting the surrounding liquid rock into a proper command crystal and 5 synth ships.
The Pyroids have arrived on Tolla.
The seeder ship crashes like a bullet into a weak point in the crust. The earth around it buckles from the shock and sends out a mini-seaquake, startling wildlife all around and ripping open the once-healed rift. The seeder ejects its synth ships; they promptly begin to break down the now-useless seeder. Because of the intense heat, conversion of the magma is quick. A small Command Crystal should be completed by the end of the next day. The Pyroids feed upon the matter rations from the seeder until matter-conversion is sustainable.
Some of the wildlife returns, skittering fearfully around the open scab in the earth’s crust. Although the rift is only about a foot long, it is hot enough to superheat the water around it and begin to ooze drops of magma. These harden just as quickly as they were expelled and soon the ground around the rift is covered with obsidian and oozing pillow lava. Among the first critters to return are large eel-like creatures, followed by the smell of ozone on the water.
Pyroids (Green)
Command Crystal, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 20
- (Leader)
Food: 14
+14 Matter from Synth
+18 Matter from Seeder conversion
Buildings:
- Synth Ship (Partly broken down
- Small Command Crystal (50%)
Materials:
-
Items:
-
Ul’mare Capitol Orders:
First of all, have Ehndras use the Crystal Welder to fashion makeshift metal spears from plates from the pod shell. Weld some plate into the entrance of the northeastern cave, the north and south entrances, being sure to leave a section that can be opened to travel through. Also, have a small glass portal (window, eyehole) in all doors so that we can peer out to watch for danger.
All this will use whatever metal is left over, including the metal plates from the pod shell. (Wall hatch/door)
Scouting Party Orders:
Take a small sample of blue algae to be put in the 3rd cell for study and slowly travel through both tunnels. Have the Ul'mare analyze the markings on the cavern walls to see what sort of creature this might be, as they go. Perhaps they can track it? The 10 Ul'mare will split into two groups and go down each tunnel, very carefully, so as to remain safe. At first sign of danger, quickly scout out the location and any details on the location and creature to be marked on a map later, and haul ass back to the capitol. Keep their eyes open for any interesting features, so that we may later explore and set up a colony in the deeper caverns.
Repeat Order:
3 Guards on Capitol patrol
Ehndras oversees the disassembling of the Pod’s plates and skeleton, the last parts of it to go. With the final vestiges of their arrival gone, the Ul’mare are completely trapped on this foreign world and all traces of their past gone. Ehndras orders the workers to craft some metal spears, basic but functional, to help protect them if their innate defenses aren’t enough. The spears are about as tall as one of the Seaborn and are quite plain. They are simply basic metal rods with a sharp point. Maybe later they can be refined into something more fitting of the guard. For now though, they work. Two of the eight metal plates are sliced up and fourteen usable spears are made.
The Divine Engineer decides that their colony could use some extra protection- the floatstone is feeble and a proper Ul’mare city would never have a gaping cavern entrance. He has the Ul’mare place two metal plates over the main entrance and another over the side exit. The plates are welded onto the porous rock around them and fused with the stone and each other. The door from the Pod is directly fused upon the main entrance and is rigged with a glass portal. A smaller window is fused into the side exit. The floatstone barricades, now obsolete, are removed and stockpiled.
Back in the study cells, the larvas are looking much less like larva and more like a recognizable creature. They seem to have molted and their greenish carapaces can be seen on the bottom of the cell. Like the previous form, they have many tiny gill legs that they use to paddle along. However, they have a lobster-like tail and brown coloration. They have much more of the solid green color. The tiny legs have small hooks on them that could probably cling onto something and the claws are larger, one more pronounced then the other. They are very voracious, consuming any vegetation given to them, and they still seem hungry. They are more than half the size of an Ul’mare now ((scaled up, they would be about the size of a very large dog)).
In the cell next door, a runner from the scouting party puts some of the bluish algae inside. Five of the Ul’mare go down each tunnel after arming themselves with the metal spears brought to them by supply-bringers. The scouts going up the tiny left tunnel have to tuck back their wings to fit inside and have to go through on their hands and knees. The echo gets louder and louder until the tunnel suddenly opens up. They are in a pocket of floatstone that is only about one quarter full of water. The rest is filled with an emptiness that is quite surprising. Even more surprising is the fact that they can breathe it. The emptiness in the cave is warm and wet, almost like the water but not. It fills their lungs strangely; it lacks the fill that water provides.
The other scouts head warily down the larger end of the tunnel. The Heart Crystal glow from ahead is becoming more apparent and the tunnel eventually joins with another one. This tunnel is very smooth and the water coming from it is very warm. All the Crystals on the wall glow brightly and are barely visible from the thick, yet trimmed blue mossy growths on the wall. Here and there, mostly near the “top” of the tunnel, are markings scored into the wall, all parallel to each other. One of the Seaborn remembers the previous inhabitant of the cavern, a blue eel. Perhaps they live in this place? Come to think of it, the walls are just about the right diameter to fit an eel snugly… No sign of any eel is present yet, but the walls are warm from the friction of movement.
Ul’mare (Red)
Kye’raeon (Heaven’s Gate), Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 30
- Ehndras the Divine Engineer (Leader)
Food: 10
+29 Larval Shrimp
-30 Eating
Buildings:
- Rough Metal Holding Cells (3)
Cell One: (Empty)
Cell Two: Juvenile Crustaceans (3)
Cell Three: Tunnel Algae
Materials:
- Rough Floatstone Chunks (100 OMU)
- Heart Crystals (2 OMU)
- Circuit Boards (3 OMU)
- Glass (7 OMU)
- Silk Algae (24 OMU)
- Thornweed Thorns (12)
Items:
- Rough metal chips
- Metal Spears (14)
- Crystal Welders
One of the most clever Yaffi will test the bacteria from the mats for edibility or other uses, while the strong Yaffi will split into the Construction group and the Defense group. The Defense group will begin patrols around our territory, looking for likely sites to expand and good food sources.
The Construction group will expand the home colony, using the metal plates to line tunnels dug around the vents. The largest Yaffi elects itself Visionary Yaa, naming the colony "Coilhome"
Visionary Yaa commands that any alien creatures be cautiously greeted, and only gently tasted.
Around dawn the next day, the paralytic agent applied to the Yaffi scouting party wears off and they disentangle themselves from their bacterial net. Upon inspection, the net seems to be the same material as the bacterial mat. They bring a sample back to Coilhome for testing. Although prolonged contact with the bacteria paralyzes the organism in contact with it, the poison is denatured when exposed to extreme heat and the bacteria is killed and rendered edible ((not sure if Yaffi consume bacteria, though)). Speaking of edible, the mussel harvested today was one of the largest harvested so far. It brought in a good surplus of food. In fact, the Yaffi have a huge surplus of mussel meat, they won’t be going hungry any time soon.
The defense group finds nothing of size small enough to trouble them so far (most big creatures tend to ignore things below them, and not many large creatures trouble the sulfur vents anyway). It appears that they are one of the only predatory creatures living in this inhospitable environment. The construction group begins tunneling for extra space and minerals. They uncover a layer of iron particles from the vent as they dig ((Black smokers mainly give off sulfur and iron)). The iron plates are used to brace the tunnels, ensuring the brittle material doesn’t collapse in on itself. Once they have some way of smelting, they will probably be able to gain back some of the metal used. One of the construction team members and the largest of the Yaffi takes command of what he calls “Coilhome”. Whether or not he is to prove a good leader is yet to be seen, but better to have someone lead than no one.
Yaffi (
Violet)
Coilhome, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 32
- Visionary Yaa (Leader)
- Enslaved Mussels (5)
Food: 49
+51 Mussels
-32 Eating
Buildings:
- Shelter (Shell)
- Low rock wall
- Storage Area
- Living Area
- Mining Tunnels
Materials:
- Stone (48 OMU)
- Mussel Shells (
- Scrap Metal (18)
- Circuit Boards (3)
- Glass (13)
- Iron Particles (17 OMU)
Items:
- Mussel Shell Blades (28)
<Did I miss your post?>
The Flannigans finish construction of the barracks and use it to house the metal axes. A few of strange creatures are also seen swimming around. They are also seen clinging onto the kelp stalks. They appear to be lobster-like crabs that feed on algae found on the kelp’s surface. They are brown and green. One of the Flannigans tries chopping experimentally into the great kelp tree’s surface with one of the metal axes. After chopping through the bark, a stroke of the axe cuts deep into the stalk’s flesh. Vibrant goop (that looks much like blood) floats out in large drops.
Flannigans (Orange)
Colony 1, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 31
- Leader
Food: 16
+42 Young Kelp
-31 Eating
Buildings:
- Camouflaged Pod (Can be deconstructed for 18 9 scrap metal, 8 7 metal plates, 3 circuit boards, 13 glass, 10 Kelp Fronds, and odds and ends)
- Barracks (by shell)
Materials:
- Kelp Fronds (No end)
- Kelp Lumber (43 OMU)
Items:
- Wooden Hammers (27)
- Rough Metal Axes (10)
- Large Rough Saw
GoabuHaving bided their time patiently but long enough, the hatches of the Goabu pod suddenly release in a swirl of tiny bubbles. The Goab exit single-file in quiet procession and carefully survey the murky surroundings through slitted eyes. Several moments pass before they form a closed circle and bow to each other in silent acknowledgement. Suddenly they disperse, darting off in several different directions.
Half of these proceed to the edges of the first rectangular slab of stone, and then the next, inspecting the stones' surface, hardness, and the size and depth of the crevices between them.
The other two fourths swim north and south, each looking for either food (preferably vegetation) or any material that would be useful for digging, supporting weight, or crafting tools.
The impact site of the Pod was a long-sunken cobblestone, one of many uncovered in the shifting sands of this shallow area. Brown, lettuce-like seaweed dots the surface of the sandbar and grows in the cracks of the cobblestone. Shiny barnacles encrust several of the stones and grow in clumps. The slightly fractured cobblestone impact site is about a foot long and six inches wide ((Metric is better, but meh)). They are reasonably hard and seem to be made of a stone not found underwater but rather harvested in quarries, hinting towards its origin. The space between the ancient stones varies, but are generally large enough for a single Goabu to fit into it and peek over the edge. The scouts will search more tomorrow, for now they work on inspecting the nearby area.
Goabu (Ochre Yellow)
Cobblestone Path, Camp
Traits:
- Capitol
Population: 20
- Leader
Food: Rations
Buildings:
-
Materials:
-
Items:
-
Poll
1 (6.3%)
Author
Topic: Smalls of Tolla: A Smalls RP (Read 27418 times)