Forces of Nature

[Sonereal]

Forces of Nature

Official Theme Song

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Table of Contents

Foreward/Prologue
Chapter I: Uneasy Beginnings
Chapter II: The General
Part I
Part II
Part III
Chapter III: Gods Among Us

Foreward

Clearly, this story draws heavy inspiration of Princes of the Universe. The differences between the two set-ups, however, are divergent. In Civ5 S&T, I had a story called "The Travelers" which was going to about guys with the ability to walk across timelines saving the world or screwing it over depending on their mood (it was a comedy of sorts). This story will go a different path from both of them (hopefully).

I am playing Cavemen to Cosmos, Eternity Speed, and on a mapscript I won't reveal (some players might figure it out but I want it to be somewhat a secret). There are a crapton of options enabled such as no Tech Brokering, Limited Religions, Barbarian Generals, Complete Kills, and Ruthless AI. I made a slight modification to prevent assimilating vassals.

Another little thing I'm doing is cameos. At the end of the turn, I'll post a list of some of the possible cameo options. If you want me to throw you in the story somehow, just claim a spot. If you want to get really fancy, you can come up with a backstory and personality.

There's a little other benefit to having a cameo. There are two kinds of chapters, normal chapters and "Major" Chapters. During Major Chapters, players with cameos can PM me what their character would do in the situation I threw them in. Note: This affects the personality idea I have for the character.

For the most part, I'm writing this AAR but with player input.

Prologue

Sonereal cracked his knuckles and resumed typing away furiously at the keyboard. "Sympathy for the Devil" plays long as he begins work on History of the Zulu, an AAR he spent several days just trying to finish the game to start on. At long last, the space ship has taken off and he is ready to write.

The Zulu Tribe started off as a minor tribe in the Ulundi region when in the year 4685 BC....

His thumb jabs the space button and the computer monitor dies. The computer fan stops turning before the computer turns off and soon, the power outage is spreading like a plague to all the electronics in his room. After a bout of swearing, he presses the power button and is teleported to another time, another land.
-----------

Sonereal heard the waves breaking against the shore not too far away. Overhead, the sun looks like the same, burning ball of gas. The grass underneath him was soft and green and muffled the sound of the approaching man until he stood over him. Sonereal's vocabulary failed him for the only thing he notices is that there is, indeed, a muscular, naked Asian man standing over him in the middle of God-Knows-Where.

The man grunted and made hand signs. Sonereal passively nodded. The man said "are you ok?" or something like that but how did he know that? Sonereal tried to explain but his voice produced not his comfortable Midwestern English, but grunts. The man rubbed his head, not understanding. Sonereal tried again, this time with the hand movements but he stopped.

His hands were the same color as the man. Well, yes, he's biracial. Was biracial. But these hands weren't his hands. He felt his head. Nope, not his familiar braided hair. As for his clothes, well, he found out the reason why the ground felt so soft. Forget trying to say, "No, I am NOT ok. I'm the farthest from OK a man can be right now." Sonereal closed his eyes and fell unconscious.
---------

Sonereal, you can not return to your home or time any time soon. You have landed in a world far different from what you're accustomed to but at the same time, familiar in some way. However, underneath the surface of everything are forces you can't even begin to understand in this dream. You have already been granted a great gift but also a terrible curse. In this case, they are the same.

You, along with the others, form an axis in which the history of this world will revolve around. If you all die, little changes other than history shall continue on the course you've thrown it on.

 

[Red_Spy]

Wow, this is going to be good.

Edit: I would like to cameo as a Wanderer.

 

[Sonereal]

Chapter I
Uneasy Beginnings

Spoiler :

Well, at least not all the men are naked. After they gave him furs, neither was Sonereal. A small party of men had carried him to a temporary-looking village where they gave him some leaves to eat (something his stomach violently refused at first) and some water (which it accepted). The language wasn't really a language and he couldn't communicate through it effectively beyond "good water here, bad water there" or something concrete like that.

After a while, Sonereal gave up trying to communicate. A few times, he tried to leave but where to go? Since he's arrived here, he hasn't seen anything that doesn't look to be over a thousand, if not thousands of years old. No roads, no cars, no planes passing overhead, no boats on the horizon. There is nothing out here but these people.

Days become weeks.

His communication is getting better though he's' very much depressed. The people seem to be accepting him but why wouldn't they? He looks nothing like he used to. A quick look at his reflection in the water told him that. The men have started teaching him to throw rocks for hunting in the jungle to the west.

Weeks become months.

Clearly, there is no going back. But if he does go back, at least he can throw a stone like a champ!

Months become years.

He's a decent hunter. Nothing much has changed in this village other than that he's met a girl....

Years become decades.

Sonereal is happily married and has several sons and daughters. Yet....something's wrong. His beautiful wife seems to be aging faster than he is. The other villagers are mystified by how he has kept his youthful look. Sonereal watches his wife grow old, his children become adults, and the villagers grow wary of him. His wife dies exactly fifty years after he arrived to this world. Stricken with grief and filled with confusion, he goes west into the jungle. He wants to disappear.

He does so for a 356 years....
------------
Zered, along with the mortal wanderers of Atsol Neut, gather their meager supplies and prepare to explore the world. Getting adjusted to his new surroundings took a while when he arrived a century ago. For whatever reason, he can speak these people language and he learned a bit since arriving. How to find good water and leaves, how to throw rocks, and he was an immortal.

An Immortal? That's a new one but sure, why not? Zered can dig it. He saw Highlander but he doesn't have an urge to cut someone's head off. The language is rough but understandable enough. Apparently, a long time ago, there was a man who arrived out of nowhere (just like him!) that got along well with the people and mixed in very well. The man, unfortunately, didn't know he would live forever (is it really forever though?) and got married and had children. Apparently, quite a number of people here are descended from that one Immortal.

But don't worry, Zered can dig it. And he did. He did for the century he kept hearing the story and its mutations. He did when he found out he, himself, was Immortal.

But when the other guy showed back up, he didn't know what to think of the wild man who wasn't really that wild. His muscles rippled with every movement and his dark hair reached down to the middle of his back. Zered would hate to have a rock driven into his head at a trillion miles per hour by that guy.

The other villages swarmed the returned Immortal. Sonereal spoke their language (Zered took a mental note that every Immortal acts as an universal translator of sort) and told them that no, he was that man's great-great-great grandson and that the first Sonereal was dead. Zered, in his line of work, spotted the BS right away.

And what is that feeling in the back of his head? Zered wondered how he knew that the wild man was an Immortal just by looking at him. The way the man looked at him, he knew too.

But don't worry, Zered can dig it.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Only 14419 tuns left!

 

[Mosher]

This is going to be awesome, keep it up, Sone!



(And update SonIOT! )

 

[Optical]

I would like to cameo as a Wanderer. (And just use Olaf as my name )

Awesome story! Seriously, I can tell this is going to be up there with the greats

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I would like to cameo as a Gatherer.

That is, if a slot is open.

 

[Mosher]

I'd like to cameo as a stone thrower.

 

[Yoshiegg737]

I'll camo as some random citizen

Good story so far

 

[mayor]

Keeping a close eye on this

I'll also like to cameo as a stone thrower

 

[Tambien]

This is good! Keep it up!

 

[Civ'ed]

i call dibs on the next possible cameo.

 

[MoreEpicThanYou]

This is epic! I call a cameo as the wise man, on a neverending quest for true epicness!

 

[SouthernKing]

If you give me a cameo, I will give you a cameo and/or appearance of some sort in the Mars Chronicles

 

[Sonereal]

Chapter II
The General
Part I​

"Four hundred years?" Zered asked, bewildered by the story told to him in whispers by Sonereal.

Sonereal nods, "You haven't had the Second Dream yet?"

"No."

The two are standing near the jungle entrance from where Sonereal emerged. A crowd stands a distance off, watching the two speak in hushed whispers. Sonereal sighed, "The Second Dream just came to me a couple of centuries ago. You know, until I got here, I use to forget parts of even the most vivid dreams I have. But the First and Second Dream? Still there in their auditory goodness."
------------

Greetings, Immortal, the dream had started...oddly. As an Immortal, you will become increasingly more powerful as you get older, that's just in the cards. However, your life can be cut short at any moment. You've seen Highlander, right? It's like that in many ways only that it doesn't just need to be through decapitation. You can be stabbed, shot, beaten, poison'd, etc and won't die until you run out of energy. Though, you will never age.

I'm the Voice of Neutrality. I'm here to tell you that a simple way or recharging your energy is through time and meditation. No doubt, the Voices of the Shield and Sword will tell you the other ways soon. The Shield will tell you that by performing deeds of great good and killing Sword Followers you will grow even more powerful. The Sword will tell you that through killing mortals and Immortals alike, you will gain power. They're both right, but both of these actions will bring you into conflict.

So why bother?

Just listen to the Voice of Neutrality.
--------

"So, this 'energy' Neutrality keeps talking about is our regenerative ability?" Zered asked.

Sonereal nods, "So it would seem. When I had the dream, I saw it as pointless since I hadn't met any other Immortals until today. Though, I think there is a lot we still don't know."

The two talked for a little longer, namely on the progress of the people since Sonereal left. Notably, the tribe has grown and some are organizing to wander the surrounding world. Zered asked would Sonereal be interested by Sonereal shook his head and said that he would prefer to hang back and catch up. The short conversation led to more conversation, and soon, the sun started to set in the west. The villagers had left by then and returned to their work or, more likely, their homes.
--------------

The General coughed blood into his hand. General Olaf, the most feared German commander on the Eastern Front, now wandered through a mysterious dark jungle and this is night two of his stay on this damned peninsula. During the first day, he fought off a couple of jaguars. Their sharp teeth seemed to have made deep wounds in his leg but they healed nearly instantly and he continued his journey north until finally striking the wrong end of the peninsula. That night, he was attacked again by jaguars.

Again, no problem. However, tonight, his wounds weren't healing. Something inside him was making a death spiral and the jaguars had torn up his leg pretty badly, forcing him to limp and sometimes, crawl.

The night before, Neutrality told him that meditation and time, should he survive these wounds for a time, could help his regeneration but Olaf was in pain now. The moon couldn't pierce the triple canopy above him so he had gathered whatever he could use to make a very temporary shelter before the light left him. What he got was a scratchy, wooden "mattress" and constant bug bites.

"Good," he muttered to himself, "Feed for I won't need to feed soon anyway. I probably won't survive much longer." He coughs some more, less blood than before.

Then the Voice of the Sword came to him in a dream.
-------------

A screaming woman not too far away woke Sonereal from his slumber. He, along with several other men, were instantly to their feet and running toward her direction. The woman's face was pale and she pointed to the caved-in head of the man she was "married" to. To Sonereal, "marriage" around his wasn't the monogamy he'd known in his world but this man had only one wife.

One, screaming wife.

Zered sat the woman down and tried to comfort her while the men fanned out to find the killer. Sonereal eyes the nearest trees in the jungle. To the east is great emerald fields and to the north is the sea. The killer more than likely came in from the west and somehow, he came in and killed the man violently without waking the woman.
------------

 

[Red_Spy]

Well done.

 

[Optical]

Great update!

Naturally, I like being a General

 

[Sonereal]

Chapter II
The General
Part II​

The General whistled as he washed his bloodied, stolen, loincloth in a basin that has collected water during one of the many, many, rainstorms Olaf knows the jungles must get (and thankfully haven't been through with him around yet). Killing the man had been simple, a blunt stick to the head. The General had expected the wife to wake up and for a brawl to break out but thankfully it didn't.

He had skipped back into the jungle after the deed was done. After washing the cloth and putting it on, he stopped to think. The regeneration ability must apply to many things he isn't thinking about, such as curing any poison he accidentally ingests trying to scavenge for food in this god forsaken place. Maybe there's something in the water as well? Well, too late now. He's been drinking it.

As for eating, well, that's been difficult too. He knew he should be starving right now, but he wasn't. Either it means he doesn't have to eat and drink or it means that the regeneration the dreams keep talking about is keeping those at bay as well, sorta.

Of course, all this means is that soon, he will need to kill again. Unfortunately, even he could hear the woman screaming in the distance and no doubt, they will come searching for the killer. Even if they don't, they'll be on the lookout.

He hears a thump nearby and turns around. A naked man is lying on the ground. Olaf mutters, "Just like me I bet."

Inside the General's head, the gears have start turning.
***

Sonereal and Zered gathered a group of hunters around the site of the murder. The vicious murder had to come from an outsider. The two knew that the only reason why anyone would just kill a guy and leave without taking anything is because the killer is either Immortal or crazy. Maybe both.

"I think the killer or killers came from the peninsula. If you want, I can lead a search as I know the peninsula like the back of my hand." To emphasis this, Sonereal waved the back of his hand to the crowd of men. The men, half of whom were relatives of the victim, immediately cheered. Zered sighs.

"This kill isn't fresh," he whispered to Sonereal. "The guy could be in the jungle just waiting for us to go in there. If we travel together, he can simply avoid us. If we split up too much, he'll pick us off one at a time."

Sonereal shakes his head, "Like I told them, I've been around this peninsula for centuries. I've never seen anyone else which means this guy is new. The killer probably got himself injured too many times and couldn't heal, forcing his hand."

"So what? One kill equals one regeneration?"

"Maybe. Maybe it's set so that each kill allows you to recover from one life-threatening injury. I don't know for sure. Time might work the same way. One month or one year is like a full regeneration."

Zered laughs, "Probably a year. Any higher and Neutrality would find himself screwed. Any lower and true Neutrals don't really need to be neutral. Wait, so I can die a hundred times before getting a True Death?"

"So it seems."

"Then we can take this guy easily. If he's already running empty on regeneration, then he might not even survive long on the outside anyway."
***

The new new guy kept screaming so Olaf had to knock him out. Maybe it was harsh to dump the full details of what's going on right away on the guy but it had to be done. "Yoshi" had to know about how they've been teleported to a world full of demons that looked like humans and how they can't return home until they kill all the demons.

In all honestly, the General did not expect that to work as when Yoshi woke an hour later, he seemed content with what has to be done, especially after Olaf told him it's kinda like a game. They didn't have time; the sun is will be directly overhead soon, and the villagers will surely send out a party to track him soon. With quick planning, maybe him and this Yoshi guy can achieve a high level of immortality.

Better than nearly bleeding out any day.
***
Jayavarman hunted. He could hit a jaguar between the eyes with a rock like no one else's business. The second somebody started organizing a hunting party for the man who killed his cousin, Jayavarman was there. One killer or ten killers are no match for the greatest hunters of Khmer! The Immortals look like they can score a kill themselves for which Jayavarman envied them.

After we find the killers, he thought, I should ask them how they became Immortal. If there's anyway I can become one, I will!

 

[momo1000]

subbed!

 

[MoreEpicThanYou]

You... are AWESOME. Sisutil would be proud.

Remember my cameo!