Option 1 wins.
Episode 6. The Swan song.
Entity was not new to war and violence, and Cornucanu's course of action was a sealed deal.
With so much unused wealth of food and craft items being stored in her cave, she could easily afford paying off all the meanest members of the Giant clan to fight on her behalf. They arrived to the big island on their rafts, armed with clubs, spears, and slings, ready to bring woe to their long time opponents from the Swan clan. The war in the lowlands was a disorganized, hectic affair, hunters stalking human game rather than true warriors fighting. As lowly as it looked in Entity's view, it helped it achieve its goal, albeit with its vessel getting her arm broken by a stray hurled rock.
Once the Swan clan warriors were broken or dispersed, the aggrieved Giants couldn't hold back their anger, raising the Swan clan's campsite to the ground and stopping only a step short of eradicating the Swan families completely. Eventually, the survivors were roped and taken to Cornucanuma as prisoners, along with other plunder and fruits of war. From now on, the lowlands of the Big Island were free to be used as the grazing ground for the Cornucanuman herders.
The victory was complete, but it ultimately shifted the balance of power on the two Islands. The Giants clan lost much of its manpower, with its strongest fighters gravitating to Coruncanuma, happy to join the Hill Guard in exchange for the riches of the Medicine Woman of the Hills. With the Giant clan weakened and the Swan clan virtually eradicated, the Millet clan got a chance to prosper, with their increasingly more sophisticated fishing rafts and boats navigating the waters around the island.
However, Coruncanu now had another problem to solve. The captured youths, women, and elders of the Swan clan, along with a few surviving men, crowded Coruncanuma and put a strain on its wealth and food supply. The surplus of meat, leather, feather, and bone provided by the animal husbandry, wasn't big enough to feed the excessive, hostile population which could contribute little besides simple household tasks. As months dragged on, many in Coruncanu's entourage started to question what to do with the surviving Swan prisoners.
What should Coruncanu do with the captives?
1. Release them into the least valuable scrublands as free hunters-gatherers, extorting tribute from them in exchange for freedom from raiding. (Challenge: low (Vitality/Command); Effort: low; Risk: low; Reward: low (Asset: Swan Tributaries +1; Swan clan is reinstated))
2. Keep them as house servants and direct the Hill Guards to raid the Millet clan for tribute and loot, staving off the food shortage for the time being. (Challenge: low (Vitality/Melee); Effort: low; Risk: high; Reward: low (Asset: Slaves +1; Millet clan grows weakened))
3. Use the surplus of material wealth to hire craftsmen from the Mullet clan to teach the Swan captives the basics of woodcraft and pottery, turning them into indentured craftsmen. It would put a strain on the Caruncanuman cattle herding economy, but could improve the town's material culture. (Challenge: low (Intelligence/Craft); Effort: high; Risk: medium; Reward: high (Background: City of Coruncanuma; Asset: Wealth -1; Asset: Cattle -1; Asset: Late Stone Age material culture +1, Asset: Slaves +1))
4. Learn to cultivate wild barley, millet, and oat, and make the captives work on the land. This could lower the town's dependence on grazing lands and produce food surplus in the long run, but could put strain on the cattle herding economy. (Challenge: low (Intelligence/Learning); Effort: high; Risk: low ; Reward: medium (Asset: Grain stores, Asset: Slaves +1))
5. Perform a massive sacrifice to the spirits, impressing all inhabitants of the two Islands with the power of her faith. [Describe your own cult]. (Challenge: low (Charisma/Performance); Effort: medium; Risk: low; Reward: medium (Asset: Sacrificial gifts +1))
6. Force the captives to work on a massive megalithic project, building an impressive stone temple. [Describe your own cult]. It would put a strain on the Caruncanuman cattle herding economy, but could impress all inhabitants of the two Islands with the power of her faith. (Challenge: low (Charisma/Spirituality); Effort: high; Risk: medium; Reward: high (Asset: Cattle -1; Asset: Wealth -1 Asset: Slaves +1; Asset: Sacrificial gifts +1, Background: Megalith of Caruncanuma))
7. Choose your own.
Entity
Attributes
Vitality 1 | Charisma 1 | Intelligence 1
Abilities
Melee 1 | Spirituality 1 | Learning 1
Cunning 1 | Politics 1 | Commerce 1
Command 1 | Performance 1 | Craft 1
Reveries
Entity the Cruel Reroll Vitality rolls once per Vessel's lifetime.
Coruncanu
Attributes
Vitality 1 | Charisma 2 | Intelligence 3
Abilities
Melee 1 | Spirituality 3 | Learning 4
Cunning 3 | Politics 2 | Commerce 1
Command 1 | Performance 3 | Craft 2
Health 5
Sanity 5
Assets & Backgrounds
Medicine Woman of the Hills (B) 1
Wealth (A) 4
Poisons and Potions (A) 1
Cattle (A) 2
Hill Guardians (A) 1