The young Seymoo sat on the grass, no ordinary grass, but his grass, granted to him by the generosity of the legion. No other man could now claim it. But no other man would want to if he was honest. It was all very picturesque with a hill on one side, a forest to the north and a river bending in between them. And of course the mighty capital to the south, not too far, one day the others would all realise the potential of such a fine location. But for now it was pretty useless, just grass, enough to survive on of course, but what possible use for it? I cannot just spurn such a gift from the legion. I should use it to honour them. However as he tried to think of uses his mind inevitably wandered to other topics, what use for the hill next to here? This line of thought was all useless as it was not his land. Then he was struck by a thought, as he often was. Without hesitation he returned to the city and found the central square. There he waited until it was at it's busiest before making his declaration

"I, Seymoo of the Philosophers legion, do hereby invite all with keen minds to join me for a council, the Minds of Arete, on my land. Here we shall discuss all we can of the world around, we shall observe, think, and strive to know all that there is to be known about it. We meet at dawn tomorrow"

He didn't like the time, but without anyway of measuring the rest of the day, any other meeting time would cause far to much confusion

I am in a similar situation. In my land it also grass, but there is also these plants that stain cloth in different colors.

Here's something for the Phylosophers to debate:

A Cugar in the South
A Bird in the North
Paradise becons
Wet bounty of the East
Promise in the West
New star rising

A young acolyte hears the statement made by Seymoo as he wanders by, and stops:
"This sounds interesting to me. What do you plan to discuss?"
The acolyte looks as being not a day over eighteen but he is still very tall and has a look of authority over him. He is balded and wears simple clothes and no shoes. He holds a small thing in one of his hands, not visible to anyone.

I am currently interested in the world around us, it is imposible to believe that we have all the knowledge of our world that we need. While the warband explores what is beyond our borders, we should discuss what is within our borders. For surely there is more use to be found next to our city. Already we are harvesting the fish of the sea and preparing to tame the beasts of our fields. I am particularly curious in these strange plants ballazic talks of, I see this as a good place to start, perhaps he could bring a sample.

Oh, but most of the issues you ask for, I am sure the Head of Faith can explain to you. His hut is very easy to find. But I am willing to discuss this with you on your hill at sunrise tomorrow.

By the way, as you may or may not need I am a part of the Protectors of Faith and spend a lot of my time... Thinking of explanations like these. I find that this is best done in solitude. Can I live out on your hill for a while? The village here is starting to get crowded.

I am afraid the hill does not belong to me, you shall have to ask badhron, and while you are welcome to use my land I cannot guarente you the solitude that you request.

I am aware of the wisdom of the Head of Faith, but I cannot say it is a good way to understand the world. How are we to advance if we only ask questions of those older than us in the tribe? I am interested in those things not already known by the tribe.

I invisage the mind of Arete to be a small group of the tribes cleverest young men, to think further than our elders and beyond what we now know. We will meet here in my peaceful field on occasion and discuss all that we have thought and considered. Thus with our minds working together we shall be able to conquer every problm this world puts ahead of us. Then afterwards I thought we could pop down to the poverty pub and try and hook up with girls. Contemplating in solitude has never seemed to help me in that respect.

Oh, I am afraid I cannot join you in the fun afterwards, but I will more than happy to discuss issues yet unknown with you. And I just thought you mentioned your ground being a hill... I can do fine on plain ground aswell - if you still want to let me live there - just for a while?

Also I am in the situation of a seemingly useless piece of grassland. But I don't worry about it, for I am still living in the city, studying.

I agree with you, Seymoo, that we should think for ourselfs, and do not need to ask for guidance of the Faith. It may be that grass which I own was planted by some divine being, but it could also be that there is another explanation for this.

Diamondeye, my mother taught me never to refuse kindness to a man of faith and so you are of course welcome to live on my land. The clarity of mind the solitude shall give to you cannot but help the discussions of the group.

Wooter, it is good to meet someone in the same mind and situation as myself, I shall enjoy our discussions and debates, and eventual revelations. Most probably we shall discover the world is exactly as our men of faith tell us, but it is no matter, for oft the journey is greater reward than the final destination.

Seymoo I apalogize for being late with your request, I had business to attend, anyways. The plants is most strange. I have been experimenting with it. It gives off color to cloth. It stains, but mixed with hot water you can change the overall color of the fabric.

Anyways I named the plant Tintura. Also I can't really organize a full scale harvest and development of this until i have a better way to organize time and labour. Until know i will continue to tinker with it and hopefully some day it will greatly benefit our city.

I do not see the potential of colouring animal skins. Will it strike fear into our enemies? Will it enhance the durability of our animal skin clothing?

Do not be so hasty Wooter to dismiss it. Pray tell me Ballazic, what colour does this tintura stain? Can you bring us a sample of the clothing? I am not a big man and I have been thinking I could use a way of standing out from the crowd

Do not underestimate the power of this strange colouring plant. If used right, color can be both weapon and enjoyment, just think of the poisonious insects that are acidgreen or all icky yellow or the beautiful and enjoyable flowers and fish. I think this will greatly benefit us once you have mastered it's use.

And thank you for your kind offer, Seymoo. How many will the Minds of Arete be?

I see more use for this plant extract in other ways. We could maybe use it to draw symbols of power for our rituals! Speaking of symbols... do you think there is a power behind special-shaped carvings?

That is a tough question... My immidate thoughts would be that symbols do have some sort of power. Perhaps patterns do... I mean, if you look closely on a piece of weaved cloth, you can see that it is a pattern with small, greyish "knots", but when seen from a distance, it looks as one, plain colour. In the same way, I guess one could cut a stone or paint clothes or tents...

But there are some powers innate to colours. I feel comfortable when seeing blue as that usually represent the ocean and the sky, as these things are steady and calm, so am I when spotting blue. Red, on the other hand, is the colour of blood and intestines, signs of battle. I am upset when seeing red. And so on.

Hmm. That question deserves a well-though-through answer, I might have to use some time to think it through.

(OOC: We need Writing or Aesthetics or summat soon for this to make sense, it is difficult to answer a question like that without revealing some simple knowledge of either)

((OOC: That is why I kept it as vague as possible :P))

Indeed these are interesting subjects to research, but we are also here to see what we need most at the moment.

So in other words, what are our problems, or what could still be optimized?

Would anyone disagree when I state our most obvious problems are:
Food,
Safety,
Shelter,
Room to Expand our tribe,
and spiritual enlightment to the entire tribe?

I don't think that food is a problem, we've got more then enough fish to feed our people, and we already know the way of how to catch these fish.

Our scouts have not reported any signs of barbarian activity, so safety is not our goal at the moment. We are save.

Shelter, expansion and elightment are indeed the things to focus on. Although our new found settlement has enough room for our expanding population, we should look to found a new settlement for securing the rich and furtile lands the Warlords have discovered.

And thank you for your kind offer, Seymoo. How many will the Minds of Arete be?

Well we it is best not to be a large group, the quality of the discussion is more important than the quantity. Those who have already shown the desire for discussion here today should be more than enough.

On to the matter at hand, and it appears we move on to greater matters, the very direction of the tribe. We should be careful lest our young heads grow too large. I disagree that we should relax as we have not found the enemy yet, Be assured there are enemies out there.

You have no doubt heard rumours of another tribe, called the spanish, let me confirm to you that they were spotted very close to our borders, and destroyed a nearby town little worse off than ourselves. As glorious and beneficial as the warbands exploration has been, it must be remembered that they have taken the best warriors from our tribe, anything more than a disorganised rabble could destroy us utterly right now.

I have spoken a little hastily perhaps, this is information I have gleaned from my position as apprentice to way of the word, and is not yet fully public knowledge. I must ask you to not divulge it to others as we must avoid a panic amongst the tribesfolk. The warband I believe is to return and specially trained scouts sent to explore instead. I hope I can trust in your discretion.

Some time later and the Minds of Arete reconvene, on the same spot as their first meeting. It has been a short time, but Seymoo looks troubled and drawn. He has heard rumour of rebellion and fears the consequences for him personally as a member of the philosohers

Hello once more my friends, I am sorry to have troubled you with so much foreign policy last time, but I must again trouble you with politics. Is it just me or do I smell rebellion in the air, is there anyway to stop it?

I feel the same thing. It troubles me, but the only thing I can come up with to prevent a rebellion is tyranny, which I am unsure if it is better than a rebellion. I'd rather have another coalition run the nation than one omnipresent dictator.

A man clad in bronze walks into the room, His eyes a bright yellow.
The Rebellion will procide Seymoo. The City of Arete is not safe now, I urge all of you to find shelter we will need you later.

Yes, there is a rebellion at foot... Vandal has put it in motion. The tribal council will likely back him until the triad is at least removed from power. I think its too early but agree. My plans, which i kept secret until now. I planed to use IWMF as a central alliance fraction against the triad. Three members from each fraction included in the alliance would join IWMF and represent the fractions. IWMF would have then changed its charter and become a republic. But yeaaa that's probly not going to happen now

Duke, have you voted in the rebellion poll yet? We need many more votes!

Been there :) good work

Seymoo, and the rest of the assembled minds, just sat there and stared at these two strange men in disbelief. He had respected the boldness of Vandal, although he had not been too convinced by his warning. But now here both of them were talking of plans of forming a future government, it could not be told whether they even remembered the 3 other men who had originally been sitting there. Clearly they were military men and thought little of men of thinking such as Seymoo and his friends. Finally Seymoo collected himself, and as it was his land they were on, took it as his to reply to them.

You speak a little hastily Vandal and Blackstone, I do not see the threat that you speak of. Your rebellion has less support than you, or I for that matter, thought; the triad is still too powerful on its own to be defeated. Do not be disheartened though, for you have caused much soul searching and asked many much needed questions, not least in my own mind. If the Triad does not change it will die, it will certainly lose me. Even before you declared your little rebellion, I was in the Legion's Halls, calling for the implementation of a long overdue policy on the very subject of the governance of the people. A policy I believe will set aside the concerns of the Tribal council and yourselves. If they do not, I cannot very well see myself remaining in their number.

Then curiosity overcame Seymoo, for he realised he had not much knowledge of what these men's faction stood for. He assumed military power, but that did not appear to be the cause of most of the rebellions followers.

Pray tell me, what would the IWMF have done differently? What would you do now?

Vandal turns to them and laughs. He then abruptly stops and crosses his arms.
Seymoo, minds of Arete, this rebellion has several factions behind us, though I belive Timus is the only one who hasn't thrown support.Hmm...... Oh well, Duke lets pack up and go, you got a draft to write, and I got a Rebellion to oversee!

Pray tell me, what would the IWMF have done differently? What would you do now?

I would have not done anything any differently. We are constantly gaining support so, yeah. Seymoo, I might want to warn you that the Triad will most likely split after the rebellion, if it fails or not.

Diamondeye laughs at the last comment from the Vandal.
"I believe my friend Seymoo meant what the Infinite Weapons Master Faction would have done differently concerning settling, concerning foreign politics, concerning the improvement of the land and concerning the inventions and discoveries of our civilization?"
He looks at Vandal and Blackstone questioningly.
"I am sad you started the rebellion this early. You are hurting your own cause more than you might think. If you attack an enemy that is not split enough, you unify them. What you have done will probably make the Triad work better together as well as be aware of usurpers such as youself."

Vandal turns to face Diamoundeye. He grips his axe as he begins to pull it from his belt. Then he stops and lets it slide back into position.
Diamound, this rebellion may have solidified the Triad for a short time, but the Triad will collapse. My doing or not. If my rebellion fails it will leave an open door for many more rebellions to come and attack the Triad, Which will eventually tear the Triad to peices. But, If no one chosses to Rebel, the Triad will destroy itself. For the Warlords faction, and the Church, have not had their part of the Triad Coltalation fulfilled yet. And if it is not fulfilled soon the Triad will fall into a civil war.

You may be right in these assumptions, but they are merely speculations as of now.
Diamondeye stands up and walks slowly towards Vandal Warlord, clearly unarmed and with his arms hanging at his sides
I am, however, glad to have enlightened and idealistic people such as yourself and Blackstone among us. I wish you good luck with your faction.
Standing only a couple of feet from Vandal Warlord, Diamondeye blinks at him before turning away from him with a strict face.
Go now, let thinkers be thinkers and warriors be warriors. I am sure Joe Harker and the Rebellion needs you on the barricades, Vandal Warlord.

Vandal grinns and turns around when his son,Cedric, runs into the hut.
Father! We are gaining more and more supporters we need you NOW!
Vandal bolts out of the hut twords Arete.

Prochon The Warlord comes in, as the Vandal Warlord runs past him

These young savages these days, they eat toxic mushrooms and strong berries until they vomit, curse their parents and their lords, claim rights they haven't worked for. What has the world come to? Here we have been traversing a vast continent, meeting foreign tribes, barbarians, persuaded villages to join us with their special tools for cultivating the land and its animals, and this is what we got when we return? Its like feeling a dagger trust into your back, or some looney child opening your hut from the inside after having hid in a wooden rabbit for weeks. This is an outrage.

We think the real Warlords deserve their new city, we have waited for it for 1600 years, and would not see a group of brigands and pickpockets run away with it. We are presently helping the brothers of the Faith of Paradise Hills to stock their waggons and to escort them to the Promised Land, to help build them a shining city on the great hill. The Triad will persist until the three cities are built, then we may decide later what to do with the troubles in the court at Arete.

(OOC: Vandal please keep your Roleplaying within the rules. We are not connected to bronze yet, so you can't be dressed in bronze armour. Also the (bronze?) axe you got must have been made by someone who posseses bronze and has the tools to make weapons. It could be that you made it yourself, but you should post it in some RP-thread.)

Waldheri spoke:

The Vandal has absolutely no idea what he is doing. He does not has that much followers as he claims, and I don't know why anyone would join him except for the conquest of expanding their personal power. This is barbaristic and useless. There are no political problems within the Triad. The church and the Warlords will have their cities in time. Rushing towards this goal would, as any fool could know, slow down if not complety halts our progress. The Triad informs the people enough, and Vandal already said that he will not change anything, so his primary argument for his child-rebellion is irrelevant.
My conclusion based upon my observation are that Vandal has no capable fighting force to 'destroy' the Warlords. Besides, although the Minds of Arete are independent, I personally would not support a barbarian chieftain.

Vandal should also check his eyes, for the Minds of Arete gatherings are not in Arete, but outside the city on a grass field. I see no threat to the Minds, we don't need to shelter for anyone!

Vandal, your rebellion is futile.

OOC- we just discovered Bronze Working, but we haven't connected to Copper yet.

-edited, thnx I forgot.

(OOC: Vandal please keep your Roleplaying within the rules. We do not have discovered bronze working, so you can't be dressed in bronze armour. Also the (bronze?) axe you got must have been made by someone who posseses bronze and has the tools to make weapons. It could be that you made it yourself, but you should post it in some RP-thread.)


(OOC:First of all yes, we do have bronze working. But,we don't have bronze. My apolagies.

Read my other posts on this thread to see what will happen if my Rebellion realy is "Futile"!

I agree with Prochon. We need to have a firm grip on the land around Arete before we can be concerned about "problems" like this... Rebellion. Now, I believe the purpose of this conclave is to discuss important issues through, so I proppose we waste no more time on this and get on with it. Prochon, I would be glad if you took Vandal with you out.

With these words, Diamondeye turns away from Vandal and Prochon and towards the Minds of Arete.

Vandal leaves to go off and look for his son again. That brat was gonna get it now.

There is no way to gain control of the lands around Arete without first controlling Arete itself, there is currently nothing more important to the Triad cause than addressing the peoples concerns

The Triad is in control of Arete. Problem solved.

He does not has that much followers as he claims, and I don't know why anyone would join him except for the conquest of expanding their personal power.
Vandal, your rebellion is futile.[/I]

Hey check the poll and think about retracting your statements, for we are only down by 4 votes. The rebels might actually dislodge the triad. Which tells you a lot about the support for triad by the other fractions... this rebellion was rather... impromptu and hastily planned

Blackstone, 4 votes are 4 too many for your goals to be reached; The Triad is still in power. Now, as I know you are a follower of Vandal, who argues that everyone should be able to criticise, I would be glad if you stopped threatening Wooter to retracts his statement. And then leave us Minds alone to ponder over things more serious than this.

You mean 8 votes too many. We are almost 20% larger.

On an other note, I just want you to know, that I will not try to penalize you or anything like that. I respect you and your allies, and agree to disagree. I found a lot of your critisims inciteful, and while i know you wish you were the one to implement them, may i remind you that i walked into this job only days before this issue. I plan on changing alot of things, and addressing some of these wellfounded grievances. While you are not a political ally, i hope we can work together to make this community and nation better.

May the sun shine favorably on you

The Philosophers are a friend of the friends of Aretia

Well I didn't expect to become a centre for political discussion this early when I set up this little group of mine. It is most pleasing. But if we could all keep it civil please and refrain from insults that would be most pleasing, we are Aretans after all, not babylonians.

Ballazic, you have my full support, Shattered was most wise to place you in control in his stead. I am ready to help you in your task however I may.

I agree with Seymoo. For crying out load I find Ballazic both more trustworthy and more skilled than Shattered, when it comes to decisions for our empire. If he can handle the work of the Honored One as fine as he has done as second in charge, our nation is surely off to a good start.

Blackstone, the poll does not show the followers of Vandal, it only shows that people who are not in power, want power. Thats understandable. But also IF there would be more people who want the Triad out of power, that would mean that there will be new elections. And then you will see that the people who now vote against the Triad, are not willing to follow Vandal as their leader, resulting in anarchy because everyone claims that they get their share of power.

Ok, the rebellion has failed blah,blah,blah.

I have noticed an Up in RP the week, good, we eed as much RP as possible.

[ooc:Well then let us try to keep it RP in here as well then shall we]

Since the last meeting of the minds of Arete much had changed, the amount of political debate that had taken place here during the period of the rebellion had made the Minds of Arete a very prodigious group. Seymoo had become even more wealthy and with the help of government workers had built a farm, which supplied food for the city, especially necessary now the pig supply largely went elsewhere. The group was sat in the farmhouse that had been built in the northwest corner of Seymoo's farm, on the banks of the river. Seymoo had chosen it as a good quiet spot in which to think, and discuss. The biggest change however was the absence of Diamondeye, who had left to join the rest of the protectors in New Giruvegan; Seymoo would miss his insight at their meetings.

At the next gathering, Diamondeye declares:
"I am leaving with some of the other people to found a new city, to expand the empire of the Aretans. We are going northwest to found New Giruvegan, and it is there that you will find me if you seek my participation in discussions. I will ofcourse try to create a discussion group like this one in New Giruvegan as well. You are welcome to join me in the journey. We are leaving soon."
With these words he leaves. A few of the listeners follow him to the settlers gathering in the town square.

Waldheri wished Diamondeye favorable statistical outcomes on his journey and then went back to the discussion with the Minds.

So now the pigs have been 'taken' by the Warlords, is there still enough food to feed all the citizens of Arete? And how about the future? I think there will eventually be a limit to our food harvests and with that our population growth. And if we think even further, how can we ever halt our population growth without starving people to death?

Provolion the Historian came for a "State Visit" from the new Warlord City.

Rest assured dear Aretan friends, the Warlord City is very thankful for the swines that feed our soldiers, and its urgent to the needs of our nation and our power that the Warlords retain the swines, as this is our only source of nutrition beyond rice, roots and mushrooms as well as blackberries. Soldiers need meat, and that is a given. I think the Philosophers are better off with their plentiful farms, rivers, coastal fishing with the major fish banks outside Arete, as well as the food that grows on the hills.

The pigs will not be an issue for the Legion at all, as there is food to feed everyone for millenniums to come. The real problem for all of us is to keep our cities happy and healthy, and enough swine comes to Arete for that, and New Giruvegan for that matter.
Fish is always better for intellectual people than swine, and has always been. Horses let your thoughts run away with you, as horseflesh is excellent for Legion as well. So think about the health and happiness, not the starvation, as of now.

I heard learning how to estimate distances and volumes into fixed sizes and so on would help, as we need to bring in the water from the river. It also allows us to chop the trees in a much wiser way, so we do not chop at the middle of the stem, but the bottom of it.

Unlike the rest of the Faithful, civplayah did not leave for New Giruvegan. He perfered to stay in Arete, to be a represenative of New Giruvegan. Although he may occasionally visit New Giruvegan, he has built a nice hut here in Arete...

Badhron entered and addressed the others
"I heard of this group a while ago, but was unable to attend due to the construction of a mine on my land. My time is free now and I am interested in hearing what other great minds have to say"

I was thinking... History has proved that politicians come here for our council. Maybe we should become an independend group which gives council to anyone who wants it. They can come with their problems, and we can think of solutions.

((OOC: Just like in ancient times people would come to the prophets of old. Although we are not linked to religion.))

Vandal walked into the hut and sat down. He spoke,"I have desided to stay here in Arete, I wish to be apart of the Minds now, if you will take me."