ImmacuNES VI: Dreams and Legends

your guys remind me a lot of dune

So, does my RP count for this update or the next?

next- sorry.

There has to be a link in your orders. You won't lose the benefit- just not get it this turn.

Okay- so i got orders from everyone except Cannae (who can still submit tonight (or even tomorrow if he needs the time)) and Vertinari. Good job everyone. Blackbard and I are working on the update now.

The update is complete. But i won't post quite yet.

Cannae, I told you i would give you additional time to submit orders so you have three hours to submit orders or i will post the update without the Adrialixtla. Sorry- the show must go on.

Vert- I'll also accept orders from you in the next three hours if you don't feel like stagnating.

Looking forward to it!

Me too! Any chance of an ETA?

3 hours from your last post.

11:15 my time. just giving vert and cannae a fair chance to get orders in.

so 1h25minutes.

• Barelhen: “We are a spiritual people. The mists of the spirit world give us a strong link with our totems.”
• Kodama: “The forests speak to us. Our great temple of woven trees reinforces our cultural identity.”
• Mukaki: “Our traditions and blood sacrifice make us strong.”
• Julustrym: “Root ales and glory in battle. May we never fear death!”
• Ixii: “The delicate wing song brings meaning you cannot fathom.”

Wha? Finished that temple in one turn?

Not that I am complaining, just thought wonders were supposed to take longer than that.

shoot- i need to reread your orders.

Sorry for the confusion, I never clearly stated that it was a wonder, didn't know you had to. I just thought with the description I gave it that it would be a given that it was not a normal temple.

Update Two: Thundering Hooves Echo Across History



Baralhen

Baralhen tribes cautiously begin making contact with the hairy bare-footed ground-dwellers from the north, leaving them small gifts, and finally introducing themselves. These people, who seem receptive to contact with the jungle-dwelling Baralhen, introduce themselves as the Siofra.

Over the seasons, traders begin to learn each others language and learn somewhat more of each other- though the distance between the two nations- nearly 2 seasons hike by foot- slows the process considerably. They are a riotously boisterous people with a fondness for drums and wind instruments and a throat-numbing fermentation made from local plants they call ‘Udtcha’. They are divided into tribes or clans which ultimately pay some sort of respect and homage to a central, more powerful tribe, though generally each clan is left to rule itself as it sees fit.

The Siofra do not practice formalized agriculture, relying primarily on foraging, hunting and fishing from streams and a large central river which flows through their lands, and are very interested to learn that the Baralhen collect seeds from the jungle and grow them in one place. Both cultures practice leather-working and the styles are remarkably similar suggesting perhaps some previous undocumented contact in the distant past between these two people.

Barlahen traders are impressed, during a tour of Siofra lands, when they show them small reed rafts plying their rivers and lakes. Other than this, the Siofra have little to offer technically, but are particularly interested in learning Baralhem agriculture.

During one of the traders’ visits to the Siofra lands, they hear tales of others, immense draconian humanoids from the north with a brew as strong as ‘Udtcha’.

Ultimately plans are made to trade jungle herbs and foodstuffs for ‘Udtcha’ and some primitive artwork but for real trade to begin, the two nations will need to develop better trade routes.

Amongst the jungle canopy of the Baralhen homelands, totemic shamans weave arcana to weaken the barriers between the physical and the spiritual worlds. As the two come together the region takes on a spiritual mist, overflow from the aetherium as it spills into the physical world. The spell is successful and to some extent the spirits of the jungle can occasionally be glimpsed by even the most mundane of Barlhem orcs as they visit, however briefly, the physical realm through this realm of mists and spirits.

The Spirit Mists do much to strengthen the Baralhem totemic traditions but because they require arcane to maintain do not provide a substantial net addition to the magical powers of the Baralhem totemic shamans.

Baralhem gain spirit mist asset (requires arcana for maintenance).
Trade route to the Siofra begun (11/15).
Baralhem gain 2 stability.


The Mukakai

When the Mukaki scouts return to the chieftains and report that the strange insect creatures have refused their demands, the chieftains begin to assemble their warbands. They will take what has been refused them and to the hells with the insect creature warriors.

The warbands prepare themselves and after the rains come and go, and the herds have returned to the lowlands, they set out- two separate raiding parties- one striking from the north and one striking from the south. Very soon the centaurs spot Ixii sentinels standing watch upon the ridges and hills of their homelands, their antennae waving feebly but otherwise not responding to the invaders.

The northern warband operates in relatively open terrain and quickly falls upon a mostly undefended minor hive and scatters them to the ridges and captures many more. That night their shamans sacrifice their ichor upon makeshift altars and empower their warriors with the strength of their enemy’s ‘blood’. Over the course of several months the northern warband manages to raid throughout the northern Ixii lands generally avoiding armed confrontation and seeking easier undefended prey. They carry away several hostages, bags of grain and even some dry meats the Ixii had stored for later consumption, this despite often finding abandoned hives with the grain unable to be carried away burnt and herds scattered to the desert or rotting instead of left for capture.

The southern warbands have less success and are almost immediately met by the Ixii defenders near a wide ridge which funnels into a sort of canyon. Here the raiders and the defenders meet in violent collision, the Ixii defenders moving with unexpected coordination despite their meagre training. The Ixii make multiple hit and run attacks, always melting away as quickly as they strike, their capacity to jump great distances of great value in the high canyons and ridges. While the centaur raiders are able to inflict grievous casualty, killing many of the jumping defenders, their own casualties are just as great and they must ultimately return home empty-handed.

The following year the Mukaki send more raiders, this time on a wider front, using multiple smaller groups. Four different groups of raiders are sent and these have varying degrees of success. Some are almost immediately intercepted in a manner which might suggest magical pre-sentience of where the centaurs were attacking, while others are able to raid with much greater impunity. One group of raiders, boosted with the blood magic of slain Ixii prisoners is even able to run down a lone group of Ixii warband, unprepared for the sudden appearance of the highly mobile centaurs and kill them almost to a man.

Generally the raids are seen as a success though some losses were incurred. The unexpected coordination of the Ixii defenders who were able to meet the centaurs prepared, and in number, does however suggest that the enemy might well adapt to the centaur raiders quickly. Additionally there is the matter of the defender’s willingness to destroy their own fields and herds rather than leave them for capture.

Back in the centaur homelands, a permanent structure is being built with wood and stone dragged from across the steppe. The structure is a stadium- larger than any building that the Mukaki centaur have ever seen, let alone built. Its ultimate purpose has yet to be determined however and will perhaps be uncovered when its construction is completed.

Additional investments in expanding the herds and in scraping the earth where copper veins are superficial have yet to bear real fruit.

Scouts are dispatched to the south-east in search of the campfires spotted there but few return. Those that do report seeing giant apes with jet-black fur amongst the forests. These carry spears and are painted in red, yellow and blue dyes. In one case the scouts report seeing a group of such ape-warriors led by a humanoid creature with the head of a tiger dressed in shining yellow metal and dyed robes. The apes and their tiger-headed masters are obviously highly territorial and the centaur scouts report being repeatedly set-upon by these strange creatures. Many of the scouts have fallen to spear or javelin thrown by their patrolling warriors.

An outlying tribe with little interest in the wars of the west brings their herd to pasture in the south-east, following the scouts who explored that way and find fertile valleys well-suited to their herd’s needs. Over the course of several years the tribe’s herds expand greatly and bring great wealth to the Mukakai people. They too report seeing the ape-warriors to the south and east and are careful not to travel too close to the woods despite good pasturage there for fear of their javelins.

Mukaki begin construction of a stadium (10/15)
Mukaki begin expansion of the herds (5/15)
Mukaki begin scratching in the earth to look for suitable place to develop surface mines (5/15)
Mukkakai gain a rank in their herd asset as a consequence of their decentralized tribes’ efforts.
Mukakai gain 2 resources from raiding.
Mukaki lose 1 warband.
Mukaki make contact with ape-creatures to the south-east.


The Neirygine Confederacy

The Sjaerbast does much to enforce his will and centralized command when he orders the mass construction of many suits of armor made from sewn together bronze scales. These are patterned upon the Neirygine’s own scale but are much harder and easily turn aside many a spear that would otherwise peirce an unarmored lizard. These are accompanied with bronze swords and a small bronze shield. The soldiers who equip them are the favorites of the Sjaerbast and the officers his personal family and most trusted strongmen.


This show of force and command does much to impress the population and secure the Sjaerbast’s political power base.

But the soldiers are not just a show of face, they are meant to assist in a project the Sjaerbast has planned for the west. Clanless commoners, many wagons of resources, a warband and the new soldiers are sent to the western plains where in decades past mounted men have been spotted in the distance. They are under orders to establish a settlement or even a fort. The horsemen of the plains decide they are not fans of this plan however and after keeping careful watch on the lizardmen encampment soon return with a larger force including many infantry warbands. This is hardly surprising to many considering their past reception of Neirygine explorers to the plains.

As the sun is falling one night they attack the Sjaerbast’s new swordsmen. The bronze-armored swordsmen more than prove their muster however and not only turn back the warbands and their lancer escort but manage to pin and kill many of their infantry.

The human prisoners are questioned and the Neirygine learn that the humans call themselves the Vahid and make their home in a river valley to the west. They are a led by a despotic chieftain who styles himself ‘Sultan’ and who’s ‘royal’ family ensures the loyalty of the various Vahid tribes through force of arms and a professional army loyal to the ‘Sultan’. The Vahid warriors are operating under orders to remove the lizardmen from the plains the Vahid consider theirs.

After the initial attacks the Vahid become much more careful, none-too-eager to lose more soldiers to Neirygine bronze. Instead they use their lancers’ greater mobility to harass and slay foragers and hunters who might wander too far from the armed escort. They identify and repeatedly strike at the supply columns for the expedition and on multiple occasions make feinted frontal assaults whose primary purpose is to distract the Neirygine soldiers while flanking attacks set fire to to grain or lumber depots and carry off tools and on one occasion several commoners. Ultimately while the Neirygine are able to defend themselves again and again their smaller numbers and relatively immobility in the face of the lancers has resulted in the construction camp failing to progress into anything further whatsoever and the loss of many resources.

In the north, Neirygine establish a permanent diplomatic embassy within the Taha’ar confederacy where many of the humans treat them with a mixture of fear and distaste. As a result of this embassy they hear rumors of another people, slender of build and from the north, arriving and making contact with Taha’ar tribes in the far north. The Neirygine have yet to confirm tales of these foreigners for themselves.

In the homelands, the Sjaerbast has initiated a program to bring water from the hills to the fields. Much remains to be accomplished.

Neirygine resources spent on establishing settlement outpost largely lost (2/15 developed)
Irrigation begun (2/15)
Neirygine gain 3 stability.
Vahid lose 1 warband.


Kingdom of Celestia

The people of Celestia are particularly interested in the flightless birds that periodically migrate through their southern regions; their king orders that they be captured and domesticated. After counsel with the magi, nobles tasked with the job decide to raid the nesting ground of the flightless birds. Again the magi are brought in and through their divinations, their breeding grounds are divined, far to the west upon mountainous plateaus. Warbands are dispatched with specially enchanted ceramic pots for the creatures’ eggs to be transported in.

The lands these warriors travel to are elevated in the mountains and the animals they track are much more fleet of foot then they are. Travel is difficult and when the snows come, they have only just begun to crest the foothills of the mountains they venture into. The winter is cold and the snows are thick and many of the warband succumb to frost or hunger. When the spring comes the men of Celestia consider turning back but their morale and training is good and they press onwards into the mountains. When spring comes, so too do the flightless birds, fleet and sure of foot, using their small wings to help them leap across boulder fields in minutes- while it takes the men of Celestia most of a half day. For a few brief weeks the warband feasts and morale recovers. They think they must soon arrive at their destination. They follow the tracks of tens of thousands of the birds for some weeks before the rains and time make the task impossible- afterwards they travel in the direction outlined by their diviners. Before they arrive the birds return eastwards, many smaller birds from this year’s clutch travelling with them. Soon afterwards the snows come and again the warband is forced to stop its expedition for the season. They feast on tarn meat gleaned from the autumn migration and soon turn to rabbit, highland sheep, and ravenous hunger. Again their numbers dwindle from cold and hunger. When the springs comes, the remaining warriors squabble over whether to continue or not. Several are killed in the resulting battle but ultimately the mission resumes. Again the spring migration comes and again the warriors feast on Tarn. Finally, after only twenty more days of highland hike, they arrive at a wide valley where the squawking and trumpeting of the baby tarns drowns out all other sound. The remnants of the warband do battle with several protective mothers and fill their enchanted pots, those that remain anyway, and immediately turn around and make for home. Two more winters come and go and several of the now-enchanted tarn eggs are eaten to stave off hunger and mutiny. Finally after almost six years in the highland wilderness, the remnants of the warband, now only twenty-two individuals, return to Celestia with sixteen eggs.

The eggs are removed from their magical pots and within a few short weeks twelve hatchlings break from their shells. Under careful supervision these are raised to adulthood and in winter, seem to take quite well to indoor living, snug and warm in their stone barns.


In the spring, new tarn eggs are laid, and once again the magi provide magical pots for their incubation. Over the course of a few years, the population is expanded and begins to recover. Potentially, productive tarn ranches are in the near future for the Celestians.

While this is taking place, in the homelands of the Kingdom of Celestia, the priestess-sorcerers are enchanting the son of the King with great powers that he might assume his mantle as the heir to the crown. The enchantments are highly successful for when the old king passes away and it is time for the ceremony of the ‘crowns of fire’, the prince-reagent easily defeats his rivals and assumes the throne.

Not all are happy with the enchantments and some claim that it goes against tradition but the grumblings are generally limited to a few of the noble houses and the people generally accept the transition without fuss.

Danaan traders are increasingly common in the southern lands of the Celestia.

Celestia learns animal husbandry.
Celestia will gain tarn ranches in 1 turn
Celestia loses one warband.
Celestia transitions to a hereditary monarchy.
Celestia transitions to greater authority.
Celestia transitions to reduced respect for tradition.
Celestia gain 2 stability.


Kodama
While the Kodama see little of the southern humans who have explored their border region in the past and the eastern elves seem suspiciously silent and the physical plane is relatively quiet, the ethereal plane is anything but.

At first it is the western Kodama who begin speaking of aetherial tendrils slipping between the trees from the west, snaking their way amongst the forest and seemingly exploring the forest in a wide front. After contact with the Kodama they all but disappear for a short while but are shortly followed by more and more tendrils, these with seeming interest in the Kodama and their lands.

The Kodama are a very spiritual people and for them, the aetherial is as simple to perceive as the physical realm and so this invasion goes anything but unnoticed. And yet the tendrils seemingly have little desire to harm the forest spirits, they are there, apparently, to gather information, to serve as the eyes and ears of some greater power.

Some can be discerned of the tendrils. They are made from the corrupted spirit of sacrificed animals and perhaps people. Their touch upon the spirits of the forest has a mild corrupting influence but does no permanent damage the forest cannot quickly heal.

In the Kodama homelands, farms are expanded with the clearance of underbrush and the planting of many new fields.

Additionally, the spirits of the great forest are woven together to form a giant spiritual dome near the center of the Kodama lands. Over the course of approximately five years, the trees follow the spiritual weaving, growing together into a great forest temple dedicated to the veneration of the forest spirits and its inhabitants.

In the south, some Kodama begin exploring the medicinal properties of the herbs and plants that grow in the forests.

Kodama gain 1 rank to farming asset.
Kodama gain rank 3 temple to the higher spirits (requires arcana to maintain)
Kodama develop herbalism.
Kodama gain 2 stability.
(i gave you your story bonus after all)


Aketua

The Aketua engage in wild-scale exploration this decade, sending well-equipped warbands north, east, and south.

Scouts sent south return with tales of how the peninsula between the seas never comes to an end but instead rises into arid hills. Within those hills a series of great valley are populated by large men known as the Taha’ar. These men have little respect for magic and the scouts wisely make little mention of their people’s penchant for necromancy, seeing no use of the dead amongst the Taha’ar. From the Taha’ar they learn of two other peoples, the Vahid, mounted humans in the south west and the Neirygine, lizard people of the south.

Scouts sent north to explore the campfire smoke they saw in decades past from that direction return with tales of lands more and more frequently ravaged by freezing maritime gales. The lands here are rough and mountainous and so the explorers make extensive use of the coast to guide them. From time to time they find evidence of hunting parties or foragers including the footprints of an apparently short-legged people of large stature unused to wearing boots and boasting massive claws. Finally after travelling for nearly three years they come to a land of hills and boreal forests. It is herein that they begin to make more direct contact with the people of the north. It seems that these people have been watching the entry of the scouts into their lands for some time and oftentimes the scouts feel they are being ‘watched’. They find abandoned campfires more frequently and on tree stumps and rocks offerings of ornate seashell and pearl jewelry. The makers of the jewelry are apparently quite shy however as they do not make themselves known. The scouts enter the forests and repeatedly find themselves lost. Winter begins to come and knowing that the forests themselves are enchanted, the scouts begin to make their way back, following a different path and uncovering more unchartered lands along the way.

Scouts sent west return in much smaller numbers. They too travel the coast, this time of a much more temperate and pleasant sea, often with beautiful sandy beaches where the explorers take breaks to bath in the sea and relax upon the sands. They travel for many years and make reports of a mountainous terrain punctuated briefly by beautiful highland valleys full of spring wildflowers and plentiful game.


Some of their numbers are picked off by hunting lions in the night but for the most part the going is peaceful and though slow due to the terrain, pleasant. Finally they come to the far side of the mountain and a wide deciduous forest. Here they finally begin to make contact with a foreign people. These humans are dressed in finished leathers and half-tanned animal skins and wearing sandals, leather boots or going barefoot. They are armed with stone-tipped spears and though fearsome in appearance speak in a gorgeous tongue. The scouts report spending several months with them. When winter comes it is short and mild and the Doreausette, for this is the name these foreigners call themselves, ask that the Aketua scouts leave their lands. This they do but on the way home the Aketua are set upon by strange creatures, stags and lions and even hares, all sorts of beasts of the forest but all changed such that they sport unnatural fangs and claws and bristle with razor-like bone. They are drenched in blood and their eyes slowly steam with some demonic fire. Their assault is unexpected and decidedly deadly and much of the warband is overcome by these strange creatures. Those that escape do not stop at the beaches on their return- for fear brings assured haste to their steps.
Amid the homelands, the Aketua work to develop quarries from which their animated dead can haul stone.

They also begin developing a way of empowering their dead with further arcana but this proves somewhat disturbing for the living. As the begin to take on more complex tasks and act more ‘life-like’ a complicated mixture of grief and doubt sometimes take root amongst the less ‘convinced’ of the peasantry and murmurs of discontent begin to circulate.

Aketua establsh contact with the Taha’ar, the Doreausette, and catch glimpses of a third, amphibious people who stay at a distance.
Aketua lose one warband.
Aketua develop quarry asset.
Aketua begin process of strengthening undead (6/15) (requires arcana).
Aketua lose 1 stability.


Taenar Confederation

Taenar stagnate.
Taenar lose 1 stability due to lack of effective leadership

Update Two: Thundering Hooves Echo Across History (part B)




Jolustrym Kingdom

The Jolustrym send several warbands south-eastwardly into the more temperate lands to find the source of the distant campfire smoke. They quickly find evidence of barefooted hunter parties but all evidence is cold and ancient, oftentimes several years old. They continue their travels and after only a few years, with the winters getting more and more mild and the forests becoming less coniferous and more deciduous, they make contact with a boisterous people who seem friendly when approached. They call themselves the Siofra and are of smaller stature than the Jolustrym but just as wide. They have wild unkempt hair, often falling to the forest floor and just as wild beards. They drink a strong intoxicant called ‘Udtcha’, which has all the kick of the Jolustrym’s own brews but none of the taste. The scouts spend a few years with the Siofra, many of the warriors returning early by request of the Siofra who are somewhat cautious of such a large foreign military presence so near their lands.

The Siofra are a welcoming people and seem to pride themselves on their hospitality. The Jolustrym scouts are provided with plentiful food and even more plentiful ‘Udtcha’. Many, by the time they leave, even develop a taste for the horrible foreign brew. The Siofra practice little farming but forage and hunt widely- sending expeditions on multi-year trips to foreign lands searching for plants and animals of use to their tribes. They also practice fishing in freshwater lakes and rivers and use small skiffs of unfamiliar make. They are accomplished leather-workers and make fine and supple leathers which they use not only for clothes and tools but for musical instruments including a wide variety of different sounding drums. They pair these with carved wind instruments and accomplished, though often overly enthusiastic, singing in frequent celebration, often for no other reason than it being ‘time to celebrate again’. When the Siofra learn of the Jolustrym love for drink and wrestling their relationship only gets much better and many a celebration involves drinking and wrestling competitions between the two very different people.

While amongst the Siofra, the Jolustrym hear tales of a foreign people from the south of diminutive stature and impressive agility who apparently make their homes high in the jungle canopy and are unaccustomed to life on the hard earth.

Meanwhile, from the north, the remaining Jolustrym soldiers find themselves pre-occupied with seasonal attacks by braver and braver packs of wolves but are particularly surprised by the sudden and unexpected appearance of truly monstrous wolves, nearly as tall as they and weighing several times more than a fully armed Jolustrym warrior. Luckily for the Jolustrym, these monstrosities appear frail and sickened and though desperate for food, are slowed by their poor health and easier to kill than their smaller cousins. None-the-less it is a disturbing sign for the those in the northern marches indeed.


The Jolustrym will begin making use of the the abundant fishbanks off their shores when they finish their fishing fleet and smokehouses. For now the project remains incomplete.

The shamans of the Jolustrym tribe are provided with a variety of new reagents and apprentices to strengthen their tradition but this too has yet to bear any fruit.

A coastal tribe develops a brewery, making a strong, and surprisingly delicious brew from birch bark, red spruce root, cinnamon and, this is important for its distinctive flavor, sassafras. Soon a small village begins to form around it and the brewery expands to include the world’s first ‘pub’. Within two years the distinctive fortified ‘root bear’ is a common trade good throughout Jolustrym and no warrior on patrol finds himself without some.

Jolustrym begin construction of a fishing fleet (7/15 resources)
Jolustrym begin exploring the capabilities of their shamans (12/15 resources)(consumes arcana)
Jolustrym gains a brewery asset (and 1 stability).
Jolustrym make contact with the Siofra, hear tales of ‘southern goblin-creatures from the jungle canopy’.


Taha’ar League

The Taha’ar receive unexpected visitors from the north, elven people who seem tight lipped and overly serious. The Taha’ar tribes receiving them are friendly, lest they bring more warriors, but no real diplomatic progress is yet made between the people. The council will have to decide on the fate of these foreigners calling themselves the ‘Aketua’.

Meanwhile the mounted humans from the west also open diplomatic contact with the Taha’ar, introducing themselves as the Vahid and speaking of an armed invasion by the strange-tongued lizards of the south.

Meanwhile several shallow shafts are made into the hills to pursue particularly rich veins of tin or copper. These will be combined and used to make bronze. Increasingly bronze is is wider use amongst the tribes, revolutionizing every aspect of life.

The Taha’ar also begin construction of a place for elders to meet and council amongst themselves. Continued funding will see it completed early in the next decade.

Taha’ar League gain tin mine asset.
Taha’ar begin developing a great meeting place for the elders to confer and share their wisdom (10/15)
Central government struggles to keep up with growth of nation and loses taxes to decentralization (lose 1 stability- you need more governance)
Contact with Aketua made.


Ixii

After the Ixii queens rebuff the Mukaki diplomats their demands for prisoners, they have little time to wait before the Mukaki return in force. Sentinels posted upon ridges and hills report their arrival shortly after the last of the wet season’s rains and relay their appearance via antennae-based aetherial communication.


Soon the western hives are coordinating their defensive efforts. Warbands are sent to meet both groups of Mukakai raiders. In the north, where the terrain is more open and suitable to the centaur raiders, they are able to, for the most part, avoid the defenders and strike in a wide swathe that results in the loss of several smaller hives. The Ixii are forced to burn many of their grain stores to deprive the enemy before they finally turn away, having slipped between the pursuing Ixii warbands for most of the season. In the south the Ixii are able to use the local terrain, canyons and ridges, to their advantage. They make use of an aetherial link between their sentinels and the warriors of various hives to make hit and run attacks upon the soft horse-meat creatures and inflict grievous losses upon them. In one case however, the centaurs prove their superior training and the strength of their blood magic with a fearsome charge that catches the Ixii with unexpected savagery and devastates their ranks. The southern raid is foiled but at the loss of many soldiers.

Captured centaurs are restrained and their thoughts pilfered by accomplished Ixii antennae magic. When and if they return the Ixii will be better prepared.

The following dry season the centaurs come again, this time splitting their forces into more numerous smaller parties. Two of these raiding groups are intercepted by coordinated Ixii defenders. The centaurs are able to avoid confrontation using their superior speed but due to the knowledge the Ixii gained from the captured prisoners and the coordination afforded by the antennae links, are unable to slip past the defenders to the hives beyond. Two other raiding parties are more successful however, and a few hives are forced to abandon their homes and fields, often to flames to deny the fleet-hooved enemy. One Ixii warband is particularly unlucky when it is unexpectedly surprised by the appearance of a centaur warband very distant from where the sentinels had last spotted it. The centaurs, sensing their opportunity, strike with characteristic aggression and coordinated training. The Ixii warriors take severe losses and those who remain are scattered to the arid hills.

After the assaults one Ixii hive, in fear of future raids, develops a training program for their local militia which soon proves popular and is disseminated throughout the people while a few others band together to raise their own warriors to defend themselves.

In the more peaceful west the hives invest their stonemasons in the construction of semi-underground cisterns to collect water both for the Ixii themselves and for their crops.

Ixii develop cisterns and irrigation infrastructure for their farms.
Ixii lose 4 resources and 2 warbands to the raiders.
Ixii lose 3 stability.
Ixii gain 1 warband and a militia training program.


Many Colored Lands of the Danaan

Eiochar Mor is a wise and extremely cunning king and when he is asked to be godfather to the twins Bres and Bran, by his potential rival, he is quick to accept and to charge them with finding ‘gold not from the river’. And while Bran has been cursed to watch his playmates wear gold and grow their magic, he has seethed in frustration. And so with his twin and the brave Nuadu (who guides them in the beginning as they are still very small), they travel upstream, seeking the source of the gold that flows down the river with the current and the winter spring run-off. The Danaan explorers are accompanied by several warbands, either for glory or loyalty or boredom- few know. Ultimately they use their natural attunement for the yellow metal to scour the streams and on several occasions Nuada and Bres stop to pan a particular rich deposit.

Their travels are smooth but when the winters come and they are forced to stop their exploration, they have yet to find any gold, ‘not from the river’. When spring comes and they can travel once again, they continue and soon their magics reveal gold ‘not from the river’. Their magics identify an alluvial fan feeding into the river which is incredibly rich with the metal.


The Danaan quickly get to work digging up the metal and find that while it is rich here, there is much stone to be cleared above it and the going is slow. For the first time, Bran finds himself empowered with the strength of the mystical metal. While Bres and Bran are busy uncovering it, many other would-be adventurers make their way back to the Many Colored Lands to tell Eichar Mor and others about their discovery. The following spring finds even more of the Danaan digging in the alluvial deposits, decorating themselves in gold.

In the Danaan homelands many of the Danaan are smelting their gold into jewelry and a nascent goldsmithing business has been started and with proper funding will be ready to proceed early in the next decade.

Bored Danaan decide to travel to Celestria and establish permanent trade with them. Already Celestrian goods can be found in Danaan markets.

Other bored Danaans organize themselves into a warband to unknown purpose.

Strange slime creatures have arrived from the east. They call themselves the Paddublin and are very strange indeed.

Danaan find alluvial gold deposits to gather from.
Begin developing gold-crafting industry in their capital.(10/15)
Gold brings coercive power to the king and his family (+2 stability)
Some brave Danaan seek trade routes with the Kingdom of Celestria (gain Celestrian trade routes)
Some Danaan adventurers organize themselves to explore new lands (gain warband)
Danaan make contact with the Padublins.


Iwa-Saalit

The Iwa-Saalit priests, high in their mountainous temples call upon the might of Aerin to give them far-sight. This they are blessed with and travelling without bodies through the aetherium, the priests fly northwards, skimming down sheer mountainous cliff-face that would be impossible to navigate otherwise and along desert sands that would dry and kill the moisture-loving Iwa in brief moments. In this way they explore the great northern sands and find an elven people whose very color changes with the sun and weather. They are well suited to the desert and make use of tamed horses to help them herd goats.

The Iwa priests return to their bodies and inform their clanmates of what they have found. Messengers are dispatched to go and find these desert elves and return a few short months later with tales of success. While trade will require a way of navigating the steep cliffs and roasting desert, diplomatic contact is possible.

Meanwhile, in the highlands, the Iwa priests busy themselves raising multiple stone stele carved from basalt. These are ringed with further basalt statues depicting the gods and Iwa heroes. Dozens of priest-scribes are employed to decorate the stele with the history, mythology and even technical knowledge of the Iwa. They call them the Axsruum, and they are the world’s first ‘library’. Already Iwa scholars wander the grounds between the towering basalt obelisks using the knowledge gained therein to further their own studies.


Exploration of the jungle fauna begins to uncover the medicinal properties of some plants.

Faith in the Iwa-Saalit gods inspires commoners to take up weapons for their cause.

Iwa-Saalit develop new Axsruum asset. (+2 stability)
Gain 1 warband.
Iwa-Saalit gain knowledge of herbalism.
Establish contact with the Adrialixtla.
(I put your extra resources into outfitting your messengers so they wouldn’t die in the desert)


Paddublin

The Paddublin council spends hours in debate, but eventually recognizes (in a vote of 4 to 1) the need to know what lies beyond their isolated homes. Decision made, warbands are assembled and given a task: Explore and learn all you can before returning home. The level of energy in the city increases as people spend hours locked in debate and speculation; what would be found on the outside? Would new sentient beings be discovered? Would new inspiration for pottery be discovered along with a market that craved a good bowl?

Three expeditions are sent from the city to much fanfare. The first to leave are tasked with exploring North and West of the city. After years of oozing their way they discover a new people, the Danaan. The Danaan have a shared interest in the bounty of the earth and highly value gold. The Danaan are highly individualistic lot and never seem to be able to come to common agreement upon any proposals of the Padublin explorers, let alone form a common diplomatic front with which to meet the explorers. Future diplomacy may be very difficult indeed. The excitement of discovering a new people clouds the warband’s sense of caution, and while trying to avoid a deep crevasse, a large boulder atop a tall natural formation is jarred loose and falls, obliterating an entire warband. Ooze samples are collected for funeral reasons by the accompanying warband, and they return to their capital city to arrange for a funeral.

The second expedition goes north and encounters the coast. Here they find a vast body of water, that stretches further than the eye can see. Great waves crash against the shore in a thunderous symphony. Gulls cry madly, adding to the din, as they circle in the air waiting for fish and other marine creatures to wash up on the shore. As they curiously approach, leaving the hills and trees behind, it is with great surprise that many of the explorers begin to experience the same tingling discomfort. However, it is not enough to stop them from seeing this vast body of water up close. Everyone stops near the edge of the shore and watch with horrified fascination as one brave soul sticks an appendage into the liquid. Sadly, fascination turns to horror as burbling screams tear the air. The Paddublin’s body is wracked with spasms and he is helped back and away from the water. This liquid was a source of pain! They returned to the city carrying tales of terror.

The final expedition turned east. They traveled for years without any signs of civilization. With resources largely consumed and talk of returning home on the rise, they discovered small signs that gave them all hope. The remains of a small, sheltered camp fire was found, and a short distance from that a sheep carcass that carried what looked to be a brand. They turned back for the city buoyed by the potential good news.

Upon the return of all three expeditions a celebration of the arts began. A competition for an artistic work that would capture and commemorate these three pioneering voyages had to be created. The famous sculptor Snot-Rock sculpts his greatest work to date- a dwarf being trampled by elephants. It wins first prize and is put up for display in the town council offices.

Paddublin lose 1 warband
Paddublin gain pottery workshops asset.
Paddublin gain 1 stability.
Paddublin gain knowledge of masonry.
Paddublin gain knowledge that salt hurts slime-people!


Adrialixtla

Stagnate.

Gain 1 warband.
Adrialixtla gain knowledge of leather-working.




NPC Diplomacy

(after laborious translation)
From the Vahid,
To the Neirygine

Do not again attempt to settle our eastern lands or we will come in greater number and assuredly destroy you.


Unique Units

The Baralhen are developing specialized guerilla warriors able to assume the form of their totemic spirits and travel in that form nearly undetected across the landscape to strike without warning with newly developed bows before melting back into the jungle.

Baralhen Shifter

• Melee: 5
• Missile: 3
• Armor: 1
• Speed: 4
• Traits: natural weapons, animal form, stealth
• Recruit Cost: 11
• Arcana Maintenance: 2
• Culture Design Cost: 15

Requires 6 more resources to complete the unit development before you can start actually training these units. Will 'reserve' 15 culture. If you spend the 6 resources this turn- you can actually start training them whenever you like.


Obvious Non-Player Developments

Siofra begin caring for small herds of goats, having learned animal husbandry.


Map







If you want to discuss with me any aspect of the update that you may have a problem with, I will be on gamesurge for awhile tonight.

Nice picture for the Jolustrym, and a fine update.

Ooooh, mysterious spirit-treadles coming into the forest. Very good RP material right there, and they seem sentient. Not sure if that's a good thing as they are corrupting the life around them.

I should mention that Blackbard was instrumental in writing the update and i want to thank him. Co-modding is not only easier, its a lot more fun.

It comes at the same time every day. The mist thickens, wafts through the door and weaves down the ladder. The mist curls around into a shape, always forming a solid face and misty hands. It then glides silently across my room, to the corner where we eat, and sits there motionless, waiting until I pour it a cup.

I have to confess my fear the first time it did this. Usually even a spirit asks for permission before entering your house, but, I did not want to disrespect it. I offered it some freshly cut fruit, and it swallowed it silently and stood there, waiting. I went about my day, cleaning the house and taking care of the baby, waiting until my wife came home from her turn at the hunt.

I was uncomfortable, I cannot lie, but being rude to a spirit is generally a bad idea. Eventually, I noticed it staring at the Gourd full of Baraudtcha. I asked it whether that was what it wanted, and it turned to look at me, the immobile face having apparently shifted slightly into a smile. I poured it a mug, which it drank. It bowed once to me, then faded through the woven floor into mist.

I thought nothing of it, until the next day it appeared in my house. I again poured it a mug of Baraudtcha, which it drank before bowing and again disappearing. Every day for three weeks, this happened. I admit I was getting a bit annoyed, though I never let the spirit know.

Then, one day, as I was standing on the tree branch, watching for my wife’s return, I heard the baby cry in terror. I dropped down into the house as quickly as I can, only to see a snake, violently green, slithering into the crib, baring its fangs to strike at the baby. I could do nothing but weep. And then the mist rose from the floor, spectral hands grasping the snake and pulling it away. And then a white, immobile face rose up, swallowing the snake head-first. The spirit bowed at me again, then faded through the floor.

And then, at the regular time, the spirit again appeared. I poured it an extra large mug of Baraudtcha, and it, before fading, handed me a belt of green snakeskin, prepared as if it had been tanned by the best tanners. It gestured at the baby, making it clear that the baby was to have it.

As far as I’m concerned, any strangers are welcome into my house. There will always be a glass of baraudtcha waiting. And that spirit is an honored friend of the Snake Clan of Baralhen.

The traveller is a very tall and very frail man.
He wears woollen breeches, leather shoes and a leather tunic. A delicateely chiseled golden torc is clasped around his neck. He uses a long obsidian-tipped spear as a walking stick, and a woollen sling hangs at his side.
He walks slowly, and keeps gasping as if breathing was difficult for him, but he walks relentlessy. It's been several months, maybe even years, since he left his homeland to cross the eastern plains in order to finally reach the first foothills of the Paddublin homeland. As he walks upwards, he feels the air becoming thin, but he won't shy away. These strange, slimy people, may live in an world where wind doesn't fill the lungs, but it does not matter. What matters is they seem to know the underworld.

Bran Mac Rosmair breathes even more deeply as he sees the humanoid shape on the slope above him. The creature didn't see him yet. Or if it did, it hasn't reacted in any way. It's the first Paddublin the traveller sees. He heard descriptions of these strange visitors, back in the Many Colored Land, but he couldn't see any of them. When the news reached him, up in the northwest, the slime creatures had already turned back home. Bran had had little time to prepare an expedition. His twin brother had offered to accompany him, but Bran had pointed out that these beings might live by the sea, and Bres couldn't risk breaking his geis. Their father had warned against the expedition, saying Bran was too young, but the son proved stubborn, and his stubborness had finally paid.

Goibniu the jeweller, who had talked with the slime-men, had taught Bran what little words he had learnt from the Paddublins, and with these words Bran shouted a greeting to the figure on the slope ahead.
The creature turned towards him, and stared.
Bran sighed once again, and slowly moved upwards once again.
Now, finally, was time to talk to the creatures and to see if they could help him find riches in the earth that would bring his powers to an even higher level.

Leer was looking at the sea.
White surf rolled upon evermoving blue-green hills like horses on grassy knolls. A small fishing craft was sailing home under the setting sun.
Leer got up and walked to meet the sailors as they would be coming home. Their nets should be full of fish, and a crowd would inevitably gather around the ship in the shallow harbour as Dylan came home. Dylan was the best fisherman in the Many Colored Land, but he was also cursed with a geis that forced him to give up half his fishing to the first who asked him from the shore.
That was the reason why his mate and son dind't go out to sea with him but waited for him on land, trying to shout faster than the spongers on the shore.
But today, as yesterday and the days before for a moon now, Leer's voice would be stronger. Dylan was a good fisherman, but he needed more than half of what he brought back home, and so he would have to give in to Leer's requests or risk starving.
When the boat landed, Dylan gave Leer the fish he owed him, and asked him to follow him to his low house.
"I can't let you continue taking my work away from me, Leer. You use your arcana to strengthen your voice so it reaches me before my beloved's. Noone can beat you with this trick, but I can't work twice as much as I did. You will kill me and my family if you keep abusing my geis.
- I told you what I wanted, Dylan. You can continue refusing me, or you can come with me on that trip.
- Either you take my food away from me, or you take me away from my fammily. How will they eat when I'm not there?
- There's all that fish I took from you. I sold it for jewels and favours. Your family can exchange the jewels back and call upon the favours owed me. It's also time for your son to finally learn fishing by himself. He's what? Twenty? Most boys this age are adults, but yours still behaves like a baby. Let him grow up by himself instead of trying to feed him like a baby. Let him become a man and come with me. Aren't you excited about what lies in the sea?
- Fish lie in the sea. Fish and mossles. That's good, but nothing too exciting.
- Slime-men live in the soil! We learnt this when they came from the east. Humans live in the north. There may be other beings in the south more exciting than fish or squids. Don't you crave for the glory of being the first to find them?
- I crave for food for my family, and you know that. I will do as you ask, Leer, because you leave me no other choice."

When Leer left Dylan's home, he went to meet with a wide-shouldered danaan who waited in the harbour.
" Our crew is complete now. How is your work going?
- The last ship will be complete within a week. They are the sturdiest craft I could build, Leer, but the demons of the sea often take their toll, even of the best work.
- This is why you will come with us, Luichne. We will need a carpenter as much as we will need fishermen and sailors. With Dylan to sail us on your craft, and with my might to fend off enemies, we can only expect a successful expedition. There is no need for fear, my friend. We will come back heroes. Think of the glory, Luichne. Think of the glory."