UPDATE ZERO: A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY
The Sheim has risen upon an island to the north of the main continents. They built cities there, their capital, Bair Lacuna, settled into a small valley between two peaks near the top of a central mountain, and a second city, Galveholm at the mouth of a fertile river. Their island was a place of extremes. During the summer season the skies were clear and sunny for up to 22 hours every day; wildflowers and conniferous trees grew in abundance. Beavers and abundant greyling and other fish swam throughout the streams and rivers promising an abundance of life from the rivers. In the south east, great herds of caribou roamed the land growing fat for the long winter. The winters were just the opposite. The skies were often cloudy and it would snow for weeks at a time. The sheim quickly learned to build snowshoes and insulated stone longhouses to survive these times. Food was scarce as the various animals either hid beneath the snow or competed for hare other game. The nights were long, up to 20 hours. These were long frightening nights filled with the distant cries of wolves and perhaps other animals as well. Trappers and more courageous men and women who had traveled far from the cities had seen strange sights. Abandoned campfires… boat prints in the snow… strangely filed fish bones. No, the sheim were not alone on their island.
Some spoke of a place of ruin not far north of the capital, a place to commune with those from distant, perhaps magical lands, but only a select few knew the truth of the matter.
To the south of the Sheim grew the great
Kuriotate city of Averlorn. It was a cosmopolitan place with races from throuhout Erebus including elves, dwarves, centaurs and even some llamas. The lands were filled with birch and ash near the coast and some wild goats could be found throughout. The higher hills turned to pine and spruce. A strange plant in a sort of peapod gerw near the capital and had a sweet smell and bitter taste. What was this enigmatic plant? The Kuriotates had built a small outpost to the west of their lands, a place they called ‘Fort Katamin’ though it could hardly be called more then a collection of huts and ramshackle houses. Surely it would hold great promise for the growing empire. Some had said they saw herds of wild horse on occasion near this fort but they were rare and elusive.
The
Bannor had escaped hell, and found a beautiful valley nestled between two mountain ranges. They built their city, Sabel Upon Gate at the south of this valley, at the mouth of a great river that flowed into a central lake. Some explorers, trying to find the sea said that the outgoing river from the central lake flowed through a series of caves before it reached the sea. They said these caves were home to unknown creatures and were a dangerous place. These tunnels were occasionally made of worked stone of a great quality and strange glyphs from another time were carved into the stone tunnels. These tales were strengthened by the finding of other carved stone obelisks throughout the valley, most broken and in pieces, but the occasional one still rising high into the sky, a testament to a different era. Near the tunnels and throughout the lands, some had found strange footprints, like a 10 year old human child with a long stride and clawed feat. Heaps of small animal bones would sometimes be found nearby. Like the other nations, the Bannor were quick to expand; they moved south and founded Vaelyn in a fertile bay. This too appeared to have once been the home to another people but little remained of their passing save some ancient ruins and herds of wild cattle that had somehow managed to survive the age of ice.
To the east lay the lands of the
Amurites. They had settled on the northernmost reaches of a fertile land. Their capital, Cevedes was built at a fork in a river at the edge of a great forest that rose serenely into the hills and mountains. Explorers had travelled into those hills and found a giagantic inland lake, so large its distant shores could not be seen from the shore. The hills also hid other treasures, herds of wild sheep abounded and flourished throughout these lands. To the west lay a great forest, dark and foreboding and full of oak and other hardwoods. A river flowed from that forest into the sea and at the mouth of that river lay the Amurite’s second city, Nimarail. Nimarail lay in a great plain and these plains were full of a strange weed with bright white fluff that grew from them.
To the south of the Amurites lay the burgeoning tribes of the
Hippus. These proud people were masters of the horse and whether horse had been drawn to them or they had been drawn to the wild herds in the area, Altheriol-ta-Meaelthiel lay directly within the grazing land of several wild herds of brown, pinto, and white plains horses of slight and trim build. With time these might be tamed even. To the south of Altheriol-ta-Mealthiel lay a second river valley and this too was home to wild herds of herbivores, these one cattle. But the cattle were not free to graze as they like for a tribe of wild me who called themselves the ‘Hupoo’ lived at the fork of this great river. They claimed the cattle, the horse and all the lands were theirs, a gift from their god, lord of the wind-swept lands. They do not look kindly upon the Hippus tribes and though the cultures are similar, the Hupoo claim to be an inherently superior people. Hippus traders have already seen Hupoo spearmen drilling and this could be cause for alarm. This is all the more alarming when one considers that the second great Hippus city, Conrond Mor lays beyond the Hupoo lands at the mouth of a third river system. Conrond Mor lays in a fertile plain and wild barley grows everywhere. The rivers that feed into this basin all seem to come from hills to the west, within which is situated a giant fresh-water lake. This lake bears marks of other inhabitants as well. Campfires have been seen near the shores at night and booted prints can be found in the muddy banks. There are no trails near the banks so one must wonder how these unknown people navigate the great lake’s shores.
South even further lays the land of the
Grigori. Their capital Trodai Yithi lays within a river’s fork upon a small hill. There is very obvious evidence of prior colonization of these lands. Several ruins dot the landscape, a great civilization once rules these lands. Apparently that civilization was fond of lentils because the offsrping of that domesticated species, now wild, can be found throughout the local plains. The second grigori city, Renth Yithi is built on the banks of a great inland lake at the base of great towering limestone cliffs crisscrossed with impressive alkali waterfalls and pools. The ruins continue into this area and further evidence of a great agicultural society can be found in the wild flax that grows in the area.
But the Grigori are not alone. They too have observed campfire remains, booted prints and other evidence of another people in the area. More distressing is the very obvious evidence of their capacity and willingness to raid new cities and settlements. The Herthi people, a newly established trading contact for the Grigori had once had a small trading settlement on the penisula south of the Grigori lands but on the last visit traders reported only charred remains and stinking corpses. The great majority of the Herthi were missing. Where could they have gone.
The
Sidar make their home far to the west on a distant continent. They have expanded aggressively and already established a second city and a small outpost. The lands are rich in agricultural resources. Their outpost is situated near fields of wild sugarcane (home to many rats and the animals that prey on them) while residents of their second city have claimed that they have found wheat grain in the surrounding plains. If only they could be properly farmed, the area would soon be very rich agriculturally.
The mountains inland of the sidar holdings are made of a flesh-stripping stone locals are calling ‘gritstone’ and very few animals make their homes in these lands despite the rich forest and vegetation. The lands to the west of the Sidar seem to go on forever and no one knows what they contain.
New Technologies
Sport (culture and society, government and leadership) (25 rp)
Research of tech grants +1 stability
Sport Arena
Classification: Cultural improvement
Required Population: 5
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: sport
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: Produces 2 stability.
Combat Arena
Classification: Military improvement
Required Population: 5
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 3
Required Technology: sport, masonry
Cost: 50 gold
Game Effect: Produces 1 stability. Increases infantry military quality according to the following formula:
Increased infantry military quality=(number of combat arenas in nation)/(number of cities in nation)
Requires hard stone resource. Requires bannor or hippus
Oratory (culture and society, government and leadership) (25 rp)
Monuments
Classification: Cultural improvement
Required Population: 1
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: oratory
Cost: 20 gold
Game Effect: Produces 1 stability.
Allows
Personality Cult Civic
(requires a story to adopt the civic)
Monuments produce an additional 2 gold.
Linguistics (exploration and trade, scholarship) (25rp)
Increases national research rate by 3.
Allows communication with NPC races not able to speak the common tongue of most of the world’s inhabitants.
Allows ‘streamline research’. Streamline research means that you set your goals to a specific research target (instead of one of the various ‘paths’
that has already been researched by another nation and you research towards it using the shortest possible tech path. (Imagine clicking on a downstream tech instead of sort of guessing at which path will get you to the tech you want.)
Apprenticeship (Scholarship, Government and Leadership) (25rp)
Allows
Apprenticeship civic
(requires a story to adopt the civic)
Allows the construction of the ‘apprenticeship program’ building
Apprenticeship Program
Classification: Research Improvement
Required Population: 4
Required Workforce: 1 domestic commerce workforce
Required Production Capacity: 0
Required Technology: apprenticeship
Cost: 10 gold
Game Effect: produces 3 research points per turn. The apprenticeship program building is destroyed if you ever leave the ‘apprenticeship civic’. If you return to the ‘apprenticeship civic’, you will need to build new programs.
Writing (Scholarship) (60rp) (requires oral tradition and apprenticeship)
Increases national research production by 3
Library
Classification: Research Improvement
Required Population: 4
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: writing
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: produces 3 research points per turn.
Oral Tradition (Scholarship, Mysticism) (25rp)
Elder Council
Classification: Research Improvement
Required Population: 4
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 0
Required Technology: oral tradition
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: produces 3 research points per turn.
Council of the Waned
Classification: Research Improvement
Required Population: 8
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 0
Required Technology: oral tradition
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: produces 2 research points and 3 gold per turn. Requires Sidar.
Tales from the Shades
Classification: Research Improvement
Required Population: 12
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 0
Required Technology: oral tradition
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: produces 1 research point and 5 gold per turn. Requires Sidar
Communal Farming (food and growth) (25 rp)
Organized, community-driven agriculture
Communal Farming
Classification: Farm
Required Population: 3
Required Workforce: 1 agricultural workforce
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: communal farming
Cost: 10 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 4 food per turn. Can be upgraded from land clearance.
Wheat Communal Farm
Classification: Farm
Required Population: 3
Required Workforce: 1 agricultural workforce
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: communal farming
Cost: 10 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 6 food per turn and wheat resource. Can be upgraded from land clearance.
Rice, Corn, Soybean, Barley, Oats, or Hops Communal farm
Classification: Farm
Required Population: 3
Required Workforce: 1 agricultural workforce
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: communal farming
Cost: 10 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 5 food per turn and rice, corn, soybean, barley or hops. Can be upgraded from land clearance.
Allows
Agrarianism Civic
(requires a story to adopt the civic)
May apply ‘domestic commerce’, ‘trade’ or ‘industry’ workforce to ‘farms’
Fishing (food and growth) (25 rp)
Cast nets, traps, hand-gathering
Shore-based fishing
Classification: fishery
Required Population: 3
Required Workforce: 1 agricultural workforce
Required Production Capacity: none
Required Technology: fishing
Cost: 10 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 4 food per turn.
Pottery (crafts and metals, food and growth, exploration and trade) (30 rp)
Granary
Classification: City Infrastructure
Required Population: 2
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: pottery
Cost: 25 gold
Game Effect: Normally, when a city grows, you have to spend food from your central pool. With granaries, you get some of that food back. The amount you get back is based on this formula:
Food Returned=Food Spent to Grow*[number of granaries/(number of cities*2)]
Clay Quarry
Classification: Quarry
Required Population: 1
Required Workforce: 1 industrial or domestic commerce workforce
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: pottery and (open pit mining or masonry)
Cost: 10 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 2 gold per turn and the clay resource.
Potter’s Workshop
Classification: City Infrastructure
Required Population: 4
Required Workforce: 1 domestic commerce workforce
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: pottery
Cost: 35 gold
Game Effect: Generates 5 gold per turn and the pottery resource. Requires the clay resource
Open Pit Mining (crafts and metals) (25 rp)
Without other industry-improving technology, the maximum production capacity of a province is 4.
Open Pit Mine
Classification: Mine
Required Population: 1
Required Workforce: 1 industrial workforce
Required Production Capacity: 0
Required Technology: open pit mining
Cost: 15 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 1 production capacity
Flint Mine
Classification: Mine
Required Population: 1
Required Workforce: 1 industrial or domestic commerce workforce
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: open pit mining
Cost: 25 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 1.5 production capacity and the flint resource
(cannot be upgraded, requires a local limestone resource aka- requires a limestone quarry)
Mica Mine
Classification: Mine
Required Population: 1
Required Workforce: 1 industrial or domestic commerce workforce
Required Production Capacity: 2
Required Technology: open pit mining
Cost: 25 gold (in addition to the workforce cost)
Game Effect: Generates 3 gold and the mica resource
(cannot be upgraded)
Small Water Craft (exploration and trade) (15rp)
Allows trade along inland rivers
Allows
canoe fleet
Reconnaissance (exploration and trade, military) (25rp)
Reconaissance military quality increased by one.
Allows
scouts
Basic Warfare (military) (25rp)
Allows
spearmen militia
Allows
flint axmen (requires flint)
City Watch
Classification: Defensive
Required Population: 2
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: none
Required Technology: basic warfare
Cost: 45 gold
Game Effect: During defensive operations within this province, a variable militia unit will appear to defend the city. Cities with a population of three or less will receive a peasant militia unit. Cities with populations of 4-11 will receive either spear or axe militia. Cities with populations greater than 12 will receive a unit of either spear or axe militia and an additional militia unit dependent on the technology development of the civilization (maybe more spear militia, maybe slingers, javelinmen or archer militia), Not available to Bannor
City Watch (Bannor)
Classification: Defensive
Required Population: 2
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: none
Required Technology: basic warfare
Cost: 60 gold
Game Effect: During defensive operations within this province, a variable militia unit will appear to defend the city. Cities with a population of three or less will receive a spearmen militia unit. Cities with populations of 4-11 will receive either spear or axe militia. Cities with populations greater than 12 will receive a unit of either spear or axe militia and an additional militia unit dependent on the technology development of the civilization (maybe more spear militia, maybe slingers, javelinmen or archer militia). Increases infantry military quality according to the following formula:
Increased military quality=(number of Bannor city watch in nation)/(number of cities in nation)
Barracks
Classification: Military improvement
Required Population: 3
Required Workforce: none
Required Production Capacity: 1
Required Technology: basic warfare
Cost: 40 gold
Game Effect: Increases infantry, cavalry and missile military quality according to the following formula:
Increased military quality=(number of barracks in nation)/(number of cities in nation)
.
