On the shoulders of giants: a new multiple choices LP!

[Lindblum]

Agreed, our long-term prospects are good but we really need to push on the weaponry and defense front so we can settle down and focus on growing to a decent size (which shouldn't be too hard with all the fish, grass for the zebras and good agricultural land).

Got to agree here, people are bound to be attracted towards the mountain, without ample defense out tribes first-mover advantage is worthless once people start coming in.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ok. The hive mind council of elders has spoken again, and hunting expedition it will be. Onwards!

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The council was overwhelmingly fascinated by the tales of strange animals brought forth by the hunters and quickly authorised an expedition. At the first light of the following dawn, ten of our best hunters left our camp at the river's bend, heading straight for the nearest mountainous slope.

Days passed, days of apprehension and fear, days of waiting, bereft of any news.
Finally, the hunters came back, eight of them, most sporting wounds but with a satisfied glimpse in their eyes and bearing gristly trophies.

The council convened immediately to hear the tales brought back by the survivors. The head of the expedition came forth, holding a strange, bloodied, horned skull in his hand.

'The mountain is rife with animal life as the scout reported many seasons past. We spotted many new beasts, many flying animals soaring high overhead, but we especially bring tidings of three new species'.

He tossed the skull in front of the fire: 'This beast is a peaceful grazer of grass, moving in small herds on the steepest slopes, yet can be proud if provoked – he points to a large bruise on his chest – the creature charged me and hit me with great force, tossing me to the ground. If not for my comrades I wouldn't be here recounting the tale. It's meat is difficult to chew but edible, it could be a good food resource. It seemed to be protecting an herd of animals similar to it yet different, without horns and wearing long, white fur.'

He pauses, then keeps talking: 'The second beast is a great predator, more fearsome and bigger than the greatest beasts we know from the plains. Thick furred, heavy gaited, he lives in the sparse forest hunting for game much like us. We tried to bring one down but lost one of our best to its enormous strength and fierce temperament, before running away and seeking refuge on the nearest trees... yet he climbed after us and managed to snatch down and maim another man.'

He stops again, then finishes his speech: 'The third beast... we're not even sure it's really there. While walking in the thickest forests, we felt... watched. Shadows circled us, never more than half-seen or half-heard. It is a beast that walks on four legs, its mantle grey, its form sleek. Never have I felt such unsettling intensity from an animal. We were never attacked, but always, while remaining in the thick forest, we felt this wary beast looking at us, as if scouting us out and deciding what to do with us'.

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Ok. This is normally where I put the three choices and leave you to your decisions. Not today. I decided to go ahead today and give this 'free-will' nonsense a chance.

You heard it right, this time YOU decide what to do next, no limitations. Well, plenty of limitations actually:

1) I am judge jury and executioner. If I decide a proposal makes no sense or is too metagamey for my taste, it gets axed, no appeal, no Supreme Court.
2) You have to make the decision based on what the tribe knows. First person who, for example, tries to say 'Let's go search for metal' will get a special mention in my next update. And it won't be a good one.
3) You can make a new proposal and vote for a proposal made previously you really like.
4) I'll leave this running for the usual 24 hours. If a decisive consensus is reached, I will implement the most popular choice and keep going from there. If not, I'll keep it open a further 24 hours. If even that isn't enough, I'm going to scrap this experiment and go back to the usual program.
5) To avoid a first come-first served approach, you can switch votes until I declare the voting closed.
6) Don't, I stress again, don't, be afraid to make apparently wacky proposals. As long as they're consistent with the lore so far, I'll probably go with the flow and deal with the wackiness myself.
7) My original stance still stands: this won't become the standard update, but a once in a while deal.
8) Lastly, the proposals don't have to be bound by THIS update. You can safely ignore the new beasts and ask the tribe to do something completely different. It is completely open.

 

[Vernydar]

Proposal -> Study ways to use the rocks in our daily lives.
We have traveled to this big rock, yet here it's full of other rocks of all kind and shapes. From the round ones near the river, to the jagged ones on the slope of the big rock, to the huge ones, bigger than a man, that are here and there on the plain. We should work on finding possible uses for all these kind of rocks in our daily lives.

 

[SCO]

Try to "purify" the hunters game with the holy fire.
(was this already done?)

 

[Vernydar]

Try to "purify" the hunters game with the holy fire.
(was this already done?)

If you mean cooking, yes it was already done

 

[Zero Credibility]

We need better weapons. Is there any sulfur or saltpeter lying around? Just asking.

OK, seriously now, we should master that ultimate weapon technology - the pointy stick. Preferably combine it with Vernydar's suggestion and craft pointy stick with pointy rock on one end. Could be useful to make our hunters actually do more then suck and die against beasts from the mountain or any other threat. Plus it could also be used to catch some fish.

BTW, how the hell are we even cutting our meat and hides without stone tools in the first place?

 

[Omicron]

Try to construct shelter from wood so that the sun cannot burn us and the rain cannot make us sick.

BTW, how the hell are we even cutting our meat and hides without stone tools in the first place?

Edit: maybe we are using simple bone tools? Or are we already using something similar to an handaxe?

 

[Zero Credibility]

We must be using something, otherwise butchering animals becomes next to impossible. Maybe simple bone or wood tools would do. But surely we must already be using simple stone tools as well - what, no hunter ever picked up a sharp rock to cut a hide? Are we really more backwards than chimpanzees?

 

[SCO]

Lore rape right there.

 

[oscar]

If we're using stone tools, than attaching and tying a sharpened rock to a stick seems pretty reasonable, and despite the summary saying we only have clubs I'd be surprised if we didn't have rock spears. Even something as a sling could be quite handy, both against beast and our fellow man. So one vote on the weaponry front (anything you believe would be reasonable for our people to learn or create in the given circumstances, I wouldn't have a clue myself). Could even be something more abstract like we develop wrestling or boxing as entertainment and become more proficient warriors just through that.

Ah I've had another idea. Seeing our culture is almost as barren as our weaponry, perhaps one of the more creative youngsters hollows out a bone and creates a flute? Music is useful for a variety of reasons, and more culture helps us tighten our social-bonds.

So my proposals:

A -Insert realistic military advancement here- [my personal vote]
B -That young handsome hunter with his head always in the clouds has hollowed out a bone and when he blows on it creates a most pleasant and mellowing noise. This has hardly damaged his popularity with the ladies-

 

[Monty]

Well as we don't have fruit to hand unfortunately I can't suggest experiments in fermentation...

So I second Vernydar's proposal. Seems reasonable and not too 'metagamey'. TBH I think it's quite difficult to avoid utilizing our present day knowledge as every suggestion we make is probably with a certain technological advance in mind.

 

[Jick Magger]

I certainly agree with Vernydar, we definitely should 'research' into bumping ourselves up to stone-technology in general, not necessarily exclusively in the weapons department. I don't believe we've reached the point where we can make an organized military force. For now, we should just rely on the hunters armed with stone axes and spears acting as both the bread winners and defenders.

 

[oscar]

As said, if we have sharp stones for cutting (which even chimpanzees do) than it shouldn't take a whole update for someone to realise you can tie it to a stick. But yeah I don't think clubs are going to cut it now that we've got bears and (maybe) wolves/mountain lions near our camp.

Some sort of ranged weapon could be nice.

 

[Vernydar]

We must be using something, otherwise butchering animals becomes next to impossible. Maybe simple bone or wood tools would do. But surely we must already be using simple stone tools as well - what, no hunter ever picked up a sharp rock to cut a hide? Are we really more backwards than chimpanzees?

Well, since there was no evidence of us ever using stone to do anything, and since it has been written quite a few times by curifinwe that we do only have club wielding warriors, I assume we do not have/understand stone tools. We do not even have in fact wooden spears, just clubs, barely more than branches taken from the ground.

Consider that in the first post we were eating carcasses off the animals. Yes, like, tearing the pieces apart with out hands, nails and teeth. We were eating the meat raw too.

We do not really butcher animals yet, we just sort of dismember them after killing them, throw them on the fire, and then eat them, at least this is what I understood. Which is why I want stone tools. THEN we can start butchering, preparing and such. And then maybe we can at least get stone axes, which most assuredly beat clubs...

EDIT: yes, it might now be historically accurate but this is what I understood for now from the previous posts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age for more info anyway. But let's not be too.. nazi on history ok? It's a game, not an accurate historical reconstruction... If curufinwe says we do not have stone tools in the beginning, we do not have them.

 

[Jick Magger]

Plus stone-tipped spears can be thrown, too. Do we know anything about tanning hide to make clothing, or are we just wandering around naked? If not, I doubt we can make slings yet, and I don't know if we're evolved enough yet to understand the intricacies of bows.
Methinks we should just stick to throwing spears and axes, for now.

Edit: Of course we shouldn't go too Nazi on history, but we should show some level of progression as well. Don't leap from the Paleolithic period to the Neolithic period TOO quickly.

 

[oscar]

No interest in my music idea? Bone flutes seemed to be the oldest known instrument. Plus they sound kinda cool.

 

[Curufinwe]

Regarding stone tools:

You do have some basic sharpened stones for scraping off pelts and meat, but that's pretty much it. Nobody has yet figured weaponization. Sorry, chimpanzees beat you on that front. :p

Regarding meta-gaming, of course you'll have technological progression in mind. As long as it's logical from our extremely backwards perspective I don't mind.

So for now the general consensus seems to be to put your best scientific minds to research ways to use stone, with a focus on weapon technology. Still lots of time for other things though.

 

[Esquilax]

I think that in order to make our time worthwhile, we have to try and make every move one that counts/advances our society in the areas that we are lagging behind in. As oscar pointed out, the areas that we are weak in are military/weaponry and culture. Our strengths at the moment are our organization and our relatively egalitarian approach (a good thing in our tribal society). And of course, fire. On that note, here is what I propose:

We take a few tribesmen to gather stones from the great rock to fashion better weapons than we had before. This is probably beyond the scope of the next update, but I would eventually like to send forth an expedition of hunters (perhaps led by the murderer from the earlier update?) to bring down the great mountain predator that killed two of our people. This could help our hunter's morale, but more importantly, it's useful culturally, because we can hold a great feast for the tribe afterwards.

 

[Lindblum]

Nobody has yet figured weaponization.

A) The oldest "apprentice" hunter in tribe hearing the death of his father, while standing along the banks of river scraping a fresh pelt, cries. While staring at the reflection he thought to himself "If only we could better strike at those monsters , MY FATHER WOULDN'T HAVE TO DIE!!!!".

While scraping the pelt with a sharp rock, suddenly a small 4 legged beast came into the boys view it was those beast that preyed on zebra but this one looked starved and weak. With the memory of his dead the boy slowly backed away from it but the beast pounced on him.

In a fit of panic the boy took the sharp rock and struck the neck area of the beast repeatedly all while being mauled and showered in red 'blood' eventually the beast stopped stopped moving, other hunters came after hearing the boys cry.

They saw the boy next to the dead corpse , upon further inspection noticed a huge gaping wound in the beasts throat.
The hunter placed a hand on the boys shoulder, telling him to explain what happened to the council while dragging the beasts corpse toward the village.
[Unlock Weaponization.]

B) The shamans remind us that we have lost many great people during our journey and that our people fear for the future of the tribe. The shamans suggest that we sacrifice a whole Zebra to the Fire God to gain his blessing of Fertility.
*cue My Glourious Days*

[Have children more people.]

 

[Zero Credibility]

Regarding stone tools:

You do have some basic sharpened stones for scraping off pelts and meat, but that's pretty much it. Nobody has yet figured weaponization as of yet. Sorry, chimpanzees beat you on that front. :p

Regarding meta-gaming, of course you'll have technological progression in mind. As long as it's logical from our extremely backwards perspective I don't mind.

So for now the general consensus seems to be to put your best scientific minds to research ways to use stone, with a focus on weapon technology. Still lots of time for other things though.

Yes, that makes sense. We already are using (very) primitive stone tools so it wouldn't be too much of a leap to make better tools. And better stone tools are the basics which unlocks many, many possibilities. Stone spears for hunting and fishing. Better stone knives and scrapers for butchering, working with leather and bone. Stone axes for woodworking. Stone crafts for culture.

Better stone tools are the absolute necessity. We can figure out the possible applications as we go along.

 

[AstralStorm]

+1 on the stone tools.

Also have some zebra handlers try and catch those fluffy animals alive like they did with zebras...
(Cue highlander music)

Pity we're not at the river, could've learned making rope and nets.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Pity we're not at the river

We are. The venture into the mountains was only by a few hunters.

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Also, + to stone tools.
Don't care so much about weapons, right now: fire should be sufficient to keep the predators at bay, as well as help against other chimps, should they somehow find us (what with being surrounded by a mountain and river).
But whatever new tricks we learn - building, trapping, fishing, tanning, gourmet cooking, etc. - it's only natural we derive some understanding of tool-usage from hunter's clubs, first. And with stone being the hardest material around, it should provide the sturdiest tools available.

 

[Internet]

+1 on the stone tools.

Also have some zebra handlers try and catch those fluffy animals alive like they did with zebras...
(Cue highlander music)

Pity we're not at the river, could've learned making rope and nets.

That's what I was thinking too. Maybe at a certain point we should try a joint hunters/tamers expedition to capture some of those animals. They sound easy to tame and the furs could be useful.

 

[Vernydar]

I am really liking your proposal for music, Oscar. But I still think that a general better knowledge of stone tools would be more beneficial. Apart from the obvious benefits if we get some better weapons, which I really hope we do, it would also improve our woodworking and boneworking. Having better tools would allow us to actually work wood and bone, instead of just trying to scrape it off somewhere. I think right now it's really hard for us to scrape together a single flute.

But if we had better stone tools, THEN we could carve flutes, and maybe cut wood. Which in turn would allow us to maybe build some wood buildings....

So I think stone tools should be first. Not to mention that better weapons, if we get them, would allow our hunters to actually survive, and would be useful in the unlucky case some hostile tribe come here.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

+ to stone tool and weapons